Jewish Migration to South Africa: The Record of the Poor Jews’ Temporary Shelter, 1885–1914. Edited by Aubrey N. Newman, Nicholas J. Evans, J. Graham Smith and Saul W. Issroff. Large format softbound book, 504 pages. Published by JPSA, Jewish Publications, South Africa. Cape Town, 2006.
Compiled from the registers of the Poor Jews’ Temporary Shelter of London, this book provides a database of Jewish migrants from Eastern Europe who came to London between 1885 and 1914, stayed briefly in the shelter, then continued onward to South Africa.
As an essay points out, the records of the Poor Jews’ Temporary Shelter “serve to remind demographers and historians alike that not every Jew saw the United States of America as the so-called Goldene Medinah. The pro-vinces of South Africa, like other parts of the British Empire and South America, were also popular.”
Interest grew among Litvaks and other subgroups in settling in South Africa after an economic slump hit the United States and Canada in the 1890s. Keen on building the market, the steamship lines promoted South Africa with an advertising campaign and reduced passenger rates after 1895. For some reason, Litvak Jews in particular were drawn there, and many stayed in the Poor Jews’ Temporary Shelter en route.
All this is explained in the introduction and brief essay that accompany the database. A chart showing the place of origin of residents of the shelter destined for South Africa between 1896 and 1914 reveals a remarkable fact: 80 percent of them were born in Kovno (probably guberniya). Of the rest, about 3.5 percent came from Courland and 2 percent from Vitebsk, Minsk and Vilna respectively, with the remainder split among various other towns and regions.
The database fills most of the book. It provides the surname of the migrant, but usually only an initial in place of a full first name. Other information includes date of register entry, age, birthplace, ship out and date of sailing—in short, enough details to allow researchers to trace an entire journey.
The book features various maps and illustrations, including a 1909 postcard-like view of the Emigrant Railway Station in Libau, through which many of our ancestors (including my great-grandparents from the Bobruisk region) passed about a century ago. Although none of my relatives appear in the database, I was pleased to see a mention of Simcha Cohen, also known as Simcha Becker, in the essay. Cohen (who was married to a Glicenstein and thus possibly a relative of mine) allowed poor immigrants to sleep in the back of his shop and helped establish the shelter.
I’m not sure how much of this information is currently in a searchable format on the Internet. Somehow, having it complete and alphabetized in an easily thumbable book seems to be an equally convenient format. The Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research at the University of Cape Town has done well to make it available for our worldwide community of researchers.
Bill Gladstone
