"An absolute pillar of strength for her husband and the struggle": Molly Fischer (1908-1964) - wife, mother and struggle activist.
Abstract
This article concentrates on the life and times of Molly Fischer, wife of the
renowned Communist and struggle-activist Bram Fischer. Molly and Bram’s
life was not only woven together by their love for each other, but also by their
love of Socialism and Communism coupled with their sincere endeavours to
uplift the black community. She was as fervent a Communist and activist as
Bram and in these circles was applauded for the unselfish manner in which
she took up the cudgels for the oppressed people in the country. Molly is
probably one of the few white women in the struggle-history of South Africa
who had an Afrikaans background and who made a notable contribution to
this cause. Her contribution remained rather obscured to the general public
when compared with that of her famous husband. Therefore, the purpose of
this article is to emphasise how she played her part as a struggle-activist and
how she, as her husband’s soul mate, supported him throughout his public
and political life and, in the interests of their cause, never backed away
from the mistrust which they were obliged to endure from their Afrikaner
compatriots. Also her role as mother, and for that matter homemaker, is taken
into consideration. A great deal of Molly’s everyday life centred on their son’s
welfare who suffered from cystic fibrosis.