Benjamin Pogrund papers

Benjamin Pogrund was born in Cape Town, South Africa on May 5, 1933. He obtained degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Social Science at the University of Cape Town between 1950 and 1956 and of Bachelor of Arts in African Studies at Witwatersrand University in 1971.From 1958 to 1985, Pogrund worked in a variety of capacities for theRand Daily Mail, including African affairs reporter, night editor, and deputy editor. He achieved acclaim and notoriety for his reports on prison conditions and for his coverage of black South African individuals and groups who organized resistance to apartheid. Pogrund also wrote on South African affairs for many publications abroad, including theBoston Globe,Economist,Today,New Republic, andSunday Times(London) and published several books, including a biography of Robert Sobukwe. Pogrund collected extensive materials documenting the struggle against apartheid and donated them to research libraries around the world. He moved to London in the mid-1980s, where he worked in the foreign departments of several newspapers and commented widely on South Africa. He lived for a short while in the United States during the 1990s before moving to Israel to establish the Center for Social Concern in 1997.

An author, journalist, and editor, Pogrund worked for the Rand Daily Mail in Johannesburg from 1958 to 1985, when the newspaper was shut down due to financial trouble and government pressure. Under the leadership of Laurence Gandar, Raymond Louw, and Pogrund, the Rand Daily Mail became internationally renowned for its coverage of the unjust system of apartheid. Pogrund served in a variety of capacities including African affairs reporter, night editor and deputy editor. While a beat writer on African affairs, Pogrund wrote groundbreaking articles investigating the conditions in which black South Africans lived under apartheid, reporting on the unjust imprisonment of black activists, and giving attention to black politics. He covered the activities of black groups such as the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress and activists such as Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe.

Pogrund was imprisoned and prosecuted twice for his reporting. He was arrested in 1961 and spent eight days in jail for refusing to divulge a source that had given him inside information on government protests conducted on Republic Day of that year. In 1965, Pogrund wrote a series of articles exposing the miserable conditions in South African prisons. The government responded by prosecuting Pogrund, his informants, Laurence Gandar, and the newspaper. The trial became known as the "Prisons Case" and became a showcase for censorship of the press by the South African government. Initially found guilty, the verdict against Pogrund was overturned on appeal in 1972.

Pogrund also wrote on South African affairs for a number of sources outside of South Africa, including the Boston Globe, Economist, Today, New Republic, and Sunday Times (London). Pogrund published several books, including How Can Man Die Better: The Life of Robert Sobukwe.

Through contacts made while investigating and writing about black affairs, Pogrund also acquired a large amount of historical materials documenting the struggle by Africans to end apartheid. Funded first by the Hoover Institution and then the Center for Research Libraries, Pogrund collected and contributed greatly to the microfilm and archival holdings on South African affairs in many U.S. libraries.

After the Rand Daily Mail ceased publication, Pogrund moved to England where he worked in the foreign departments of several newspapers, including the Independent. He spent some time living in the United States in the 1990s before moving to Israel in 1997 to start up the Center for Social Concern, an organization established to facilitate the peace process in the Middle East.