Oswald Pirow - Final Years

Final Years

Pirow was counsel for the defence of Dr Ernst Jokl and others when they were sued in the F. M. Alexander libel case in South Africa in 1944-1948, which Alexander won.

Having been removed from the political scene, largely by Malan's influence, Pirow became a friend of Oswald Mosley and with him developed an idea for the division of Africa into exclusively black and white areas. The two met after Pirow read a copy of Mosley's book The Alternative and by 1947 they were in discussion over founding an anti-communist group to be known as the "enemies of the Soviet Union" (although this plan never reached fruition). The two co-operated during the early 1950s, with Pirow writing articles for the Union Movement journals Union and The European, some of which were reprinted in German magazine Nation Europa. By 1953 however Pirow had lost interest in Mosley due to his lack of real influence and instead began to co-operate with A. F. X. Baron's NATINFORM, which was largely hostile towards Mosley.

Pirow acted as a prosecutor for a time during the Treason Trial of 1956. Despite his Nazi past some admiration for him grew amongst the African National Congress defendants, with Nelson Mandela being said to have 'developed a certain affection' for him, largely due to his politeness in referring to the accused as 'Africans'.

Following the trial Pirow largely lived in retirement, publishing several books on wildlife and adventure books for boys. He died of heart failure. He was cremated and his ashes are kept at his Valhalla Farm residence near Pilgrim's Rest.