The Jews in South Africa: An Illustrated History, by Richard Mendelsohn and Milton Shain. Jonathan Ball: Johannesburg and Cape Town, 2008; telephone (+27) 11 601 8088. $31.95
This is the first comprehensive history of South African Jewry in more than 50 years. Others were: A History of The Jews in South Africa from Earliest Times to 1895, Louis Herrman. Victor Gollancz: London, 1930; The Jews in South Africa, Gus Saron and Louis Hotz (eds.). Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press: Cape Town, London, New York, 1955. Jews barely rate a mention in general histories of South Africa, and general histories of world Jewry often omit South Africa. Many Jews in Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States have South African connections. For anyone doing more than the basics of genealogy, the socio-historical background of their families and their migrations is of interest.
In addition to some Anglo-Jews, a small number of German Jews were pioneers in South Africa in the 19th century, followed by a large migration of ‘Litvaks’ from the mid 1880s onward. For the authors “…the nature of the book…is to tell the story of how Jews went from being immigrants, to South African Jews, to Jewish South Africans—a transition sometimes subtle, sometimes fraught with conflict.” Both authors teach in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. The publisher’s concept was to produce a book that would be accessible to a broad group of readers apart from academics. Unlike many other history books, this book easily can be read from cover to cover.
Although Jews in South Africa have always been a small part of the overall population, they played a large role in the development of the rural areas and also in the founding and growth of the major cities, especially Johannesburg. The part played in the socioeconomic, political, academic and cultural life of this country cannot be understated.
The book is divided into four chapters. The first is Pioneers—beginnings and into the hinterland. This commences with the first four Jews in the 1652 Dutch settlement at the Cape, who were forced to convert, as only Protestants were permitted to settle. The first professing Jew was a surgeon, Siegfried Fraenkel, who came in 1807. The next period is described as “…depicting the fragility of the early foundations and the shifting fortunes of this infant community, the book traces its development to robust maturity amidst turbulent social and political currents.” The founding of the first organized community in Cape Town in 1841 is noted; some of the participants also were active supporters of the local churches.
The vast majority of Jews in South Africa came from Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus, and the second chapter, aptly entitled “Litvaks,” discusses origins, migration and settlement in South Africa.
The third chapter, “South African Jews,” is divided into two parts. The first section, “the ‘Jewish question’ and beyond, –1930–1948,” describes when the community was subjected to the virulent anti-Semitism of the 1930s and is followed by “At Home in Apartheid South Africa, 1948–1970,” which discusses the moral dilemmas of the apartheid era.
The final chapter, “Jewish South Africans” is divided into “Challenges and Responses, 1970–1990” and “into the ‘new South Africa,’” which discusses the role of the Jews in the subsequent transition towards a non-racial democracy and the contemporary community.
The book is attractively produced and is replete with historically important photographs, many previously unpublished. The sheer scope of Jewish life, religious, industrial and agricultural, cultural and sporting, is illustrated.
Although this is not a genealogical work, many personalities are included, often in windows on the side of a page. These include mining pioneer Barney Barnato; Helen Suzman, the politician; Nobel Prize winners such as Sydney Brenner, Aaron Klug and Nadine Gordimer; Rabbi Cyril Harris; and approximately 300 others who made important contributions in their fields. The book is well indexed and has an excellent bibliography for additional reading. The Jews in South Africa will interest all who want to learn more about this vibrant, creative and innovative pioneer community.
Saul Issroff
