The South African Prisons Act was extended to include his brother's house in Bloemfontein where he died two months later.
In a letter to his parents during his trip indicating that he had become radicalized, he noted similarities between the position of Russian farmers that he encountered along the Volga river and South African blacks.
After the CPSA was dissolved and banned in 1950, he became Chairman of the illegal South African Communist Party when it was established underground in 1953.
[5] Alongside Issy Maisels and others, Fischer played an integral role on the defense team in the Treason Trial of 1956 – 1961 where Mandela and many other anti-apartheid activists were acquitted on 29 March 1961.
In his autobiography, Mandela affectionately recalls Fischer reading the left wing publication New Age at his table during the trial proceedings.
By a coincidence, Fischer had not been present at the raid on Liliesleaf Farm, although he had in fact been part of the trusted Rivonia inner circle.
After the verdict, Bram Fischer visited the Rivonia trial prisoners on Robben Island to discuss the question of an appeal in their case.
On 23 September 1964, he was again arrested and joined the 12 white men and women facing charges of being members of the illegal South African Communist Party.
[11]Fischer returned to South Africa to face trial despite pressure put on him to forgo his £5,000 bail and go into exile.
Indeed I realise fully that my eventual punishment may be increased by my present conduct... My decision was made only because I believe that it is the duty of every true opponent of this Government to remain in this country and to oppose its monstrous policy of apartheid with every means in his power.
In doing so, he went against the advice of Mandela, who had advised him to support the struggle in the courtroom, "where people could see this Afrikaner son of a judge president fighting for the rights of the powerless.
[14] Vernon Berrange led the defence case and Ismail Mahomed (who later became Chief Justice in the new South Africa) and Denis Kuny acted as Junior Counsel.
In March 1966 he was put on trial for a second time on charges of furthering the aims of communism and conspiracy to overthrow the government.
[16] After the revolution, he will be my garden boyIn 1974 Denis Goldberg and another prisoner, Marius Schoon, became concerned about Fischer’s health; his hip was giving him pain, his digestion was poor and he looked gaunt and frail.
Fischer was allowed to leave the prison shortly before his death and placed under house arrest at his brother's home in Bloemfontein in April 1975.
Anti-apartheid political leaders in Parliament Colin Eglin and Harry Schwarz both called for Fischer's remains to be returned to his family, which was refused.
"[22] From a prominent Afrikaner family, he gave up a life of privilege, rejected his heritage, and was ostracized by his own people, showing "a level of courage and sacrifice that was in a class by itself.
"[23] Fischer had been reluctant to serve as leader of the defence at the Rivonia Trial, since many of the witnesses could implicate him in illegal communist activities.
In Country of My Skull (1998), Antjie Krog wrote, "He was so much braver than the rest of us, he paid so much more, his life seems to have touched the lives of so many people – even after his death".
Harry Kalmer wrote The Braam Fischer Waltz a play performed by David Butler at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2013 and 2014.