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Harry Heinz Schwarz (13 May 1924 – 5 February 2010) was a South African lawyer, statesman and long-time political opposition leader against apartheid in South Africa, who eventually served as the South African ambassador to the United States during the country’s transition to majority rule. Schwarz rose from the childhood poverty he experienced as a German Jewish refugee to become a lawyer and a member of the Transvaal Provincial Council, where from 1963 to 1974, he was Leader of the Opposition. In the 1964 Rivonia Trial he was a defence lawyer. Advocating a more aggressive political opposition to the National Party's racial policies in the 1960s and 1970s, as Leader of the United Party in Transvaal and leader of the liberal "Young Turks", he clashed with the United Party establishment. He pioneered the call in white politics for a negotiated end to apartheid and in 1974 signed the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith with Mangosuthu Buthelezi for a non-racial democratic society in South Africa. He was in the opposition for over 40 years and was a founding member of the Democratic Party. In light of his record, his appointment as South African Ambassador to the United States in 1990 was widely heralded as symbolic of the government's commitment to ending apartheid, and played a significant role in renewing the nation's image as the new democratic South Africa. As a South African Air Force World War II veteran during the 1950s, Schwarz co-founded the Torch Commando, an ex-soldiers' movement to protest against the disenfranchisement of coloured people in South Africa. Described as South Africa's "most feisty politician" and a political "maverick",〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Battling Ways of Air Man Schwarz )〕 he was known for his parliamentary clashes with the apartheid government over its racial and economic policies. In his political career spanning 43 years, in which he gained respect from across the political spectrum, he never lost an election. In 1988 he received the Order for Meritorious Service and received several Honorary Doctorates. He was also one of the South African Jewish community's foremost leaders and spoke out strongly against anti-semitism.〔 *〕 Schwarz was described by the University of Stellenbosch as "one of the conceptual and moral fathers of the new South Africa"〔() 〕 in the sense that he had not only been one of apartheid's most prominent opponents, but his ideas and the initiatives he had taken had played a key role in the development of the concept of a negotiated democracy in South Africa, based on the principles of freedom and justice. Nelson Mandela, a friend of his whom he visited while in prison, described him as a "champion of the poor".〔 ==Refugee from Germany== Harry Schwarz was born Heinz Schwarz to Fritz (1897–1969) and Alma Schwarz (1901–1999) in Cologne, Germany. His family belonged to the Glockengasse Synagogue. He arrived in South Africa as a Jewish refugee from Germany in 1934 with his mother and younger brother Kurt. His father Fritz, a Social Democratic Party activist, left for South Africa the night the Nazis came to power. They boarded the SS Giulio Cesare in Genoa, Italy which took them to South Africa. When they arrived in Cape Town they stayed in one room in a house in Kloof Street. Schwarz described how he was "lucky" as eventually he was able to sleep in a bathroom in a rusty bath. He spoke no Afrikaans or English at first and had strong memories of being taunted on the schoolyard for being different. Schwarz stated in an interview in 1991 that "I know what the word discrimination means, not because I've read it in a book, but because I've been the subject of it. And I know what it means to be hungry." The discrimination and financial difficulties of his family left a strong impression on Schwarz and helped shape his political philosophy with its emphasis on social justice and the rule of law. He attended Tamboerskloof School and South African College Schools in Cape Town and then Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harry Schwarz」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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