Bram Fischer and the Question of Identity

Abstract

In January 1965, Bram Fischer disappeared from his trial in Johannesburg on charges under the Suppression of Communism Act, beginning a period for him of ten months underground and in disguise. This essay takes that starting point to consider key questions of identity for Fischer, for South Africa, and for a wider world. Fischer was groomed for leadership within an eminent Afrikaner nationalist family, yet came to identify himself with the majority of South Africa’s people, helping to forge a new version of what South African identity could mean. The essay explores key foundations of such a development, based on the concepts of displacement and a ‘grammar of identity’ which works through a principle of combination, both within the self and beyond.