Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE (née Gavronsky; 7 November 1917 – 1 January 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in the whites-only, National Party -controlled House of Assembly of South Africa at the height of apartheid .

Jan 1, 2025 · Helen Suzman (born November 7, 1917, Germiston, South Africa—died January 1, 2009, Johannesburg) was a white South African legislator (1953–89), who was an outspoken advocate for the country’s nonwhite majority.

Jan 1, 2009 · Helen Suzman (nee Govronsky) was born in the South African mining town of Germiston on 7 November 1917 to Samuel and Frieda Gavronsky, both immigrants from Eastern Europe who had come to South Africa to escape the restrictions imposed on Jews by Russia.

May 29, 2018 · Helen Suzman ranked among the best known South Africans overseas and among the most widely respected. Together with other senior leaders of her party she traveled widely in nonwhite Africa and was received by many of Africa's principal leaders.

A woman of great political courage, Helen Suzman stuck to what she believed. Having battled apartheid ideologues for so long, in the 1980s she found herself opposed from a different quarter, when Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many Africans condemned her opposition to sanctions.

Helen Suzman was a powerful force in the anti-apartheid movement of South Africa. As one of the few left-leaning representatives opposing an oppressive government, she not only used her influence to rally against the apartheid system but also concerned herself personally with those the system affected.

Helen Suzman: Fighter for Human Rights tells the story of Suzman’s rise as the leading Member of Parliament to oppose apartheid legislation during 36 years of public service.

Jan 1, 2009 · Helen Suzman was a relentless critic of South Africa's Nationalist government. For 13 years, as sole member of the Progressive Party in parliament, she was the only MP to speak...

Jan 2, 2009 · Helen Suzman, the internationally renowned anti-apartheid campaigner who befriended the imprisoned Nelson Mandela and offered an often lonely voice for change among South Africa’s white...

Helen Suzman For 13 of those years Helen was the sole Progressive MP in Parliament and for 6 years was the only female parliamentarian. She consistently challenged discriminatory legislation and the spate of security laws introduced by the Apartheid government.