SCHWARZ, HARRY HEINZ

SCHWARZ, HARRY HEINZ (1924– ), South African politician, lawyer, and Jewish communal leader. Born in Cologne, Germany, Schwarz immigrated to South Africa in 1936 as a refugee from Nazism. He served as a navigator in the S.A. Air Force during World War II, after which he qualified as a lawyer at the University of the Witwatersrand. He practiced as both an advocate and an attorney, amongst other things serving on the defense team of Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists during the 1963–64 Rivonia Trial. Schwarz's political career commenced with his election to the Johannesburg City Council in 1951. As a member of the opposition United Party, he was leader of the Provincial Opposition from 1963 to 1974. He entered Parliament on the UP ticket in 1974 and was official Opposition spokesman on finance in 1974–75 and 1977–87. He was leader of the breakaway Reform Party in 1975–77, until it merged with other opposition groups to form the Progressive Federal Party. From 1990 to 1994, although still on the opposition benches, he served as South Africa's ambassador to the United States. Schwarz was an outspoken critic of the government's racial policies throughout his parliamentary career and frequently denounced antisemitism. He served on the management committee of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies from 1983 to 2000. (David Saks (2nd ed.)