History of the Jews in South Africa

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The "Alte" or "Paul Kruger Street Synagogue", Pretoria
Pioneers Memorial Synagogue in Port Elizabeth

The history of the Jews in South Africa begins with the arrival of the first Europeans on the coast of what will later become South Africa .
A previously unrecognized group are the Lemba , who live in northern South Africa, in Zimbabwe and Malawi .

history

Portuguese explorations (from 1497)

Jews were already working as cartographers and other specialists on the first Portuguese ship that reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 under the command of Vasco da Gamas .

Dutch colonial period (1652-1805)

Among the Dutch settlers who founded Cape Town around the young Dutch merchant Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 , there were also some Jews who did not practice their religion. The practice of the Jewish religion - and also the official residence in the Dutch colony of South Africa - was only permitted to the Jews by proclamation on July 25, 1804 by the Dutch Commissioner General Jacob Abraham de Mist.

British Colonial Era (1806-1910)

After the occupation of the Cape Province by the British in 1806, smaller Jewish immigrant groups came and in 1841 the first Jewish community in southern Africa, the Tikvath-Israel Community , was established in Cape Town . This was followed by a church in Port Elizabeth in 1857 , in Kimberley in 1875 and in East London in 1901 .

As a result of the gold discoveries in the Transvaal , more Jews immigrated into the country in the 1860s and 1880s, mainly from England and Germany, who were soon to play a key role in the development of the mining industry and trade. From 1886, Jewish communities were founded in and around Johannesburg .

About 4,000 Jews lived in South Africa in 1880.

Between 1880 and 1910, around 40,000 Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, mostly from Lithuania , came here in several waves . Most of them came to escape the pogroms in Russia. The immigrants assimilated very quickly because of the freedom and opportunities for economic advancement.

South African Union (1910-1947)

In 1912 the “South African Jewish Board of Deputies”, the umbrella organization for the South African Jewish communities, was founded.

In the 1930s, there was increasing anti-Semitism in South Africa , when African nationalism ideologically leaned more and more closely to Nazi Germany and Jewish immigrants became increasingly involved in the Communist Party of South Africa . However, there was no openly anti-Semitic policy or even anti-Semitic laws. In 1930, during the term of office of Justice Minister Oswald Pirow, immigration was regulated restrictively with the Immigration Quota Act (Act No. 8/1930) and in 1937 by the Aliens Act (Act No. 1/1937) (German: Aliens Act ) because of the to The immigration of people from certain countries, including Jews, was severely restricted by testing “assimilability”. On the basis of the Alien Act , an immigration authority ( Immigrants Selection Board ) examined the applications of foreigners for permission for permanent residence and made a positive decision if “rapid assimilation with the European residents was to be expected”.

Nevertheless, between 1933 and 1936 around 3,600 German Jews managed to flee to South Africa. In 1936 more than 500 Jewish refugees were greeted with a loud anti-Semitic “protest demonstration” on board the liner “Stuttgart” as it entered the port of Cape Town.

During the Second World War, the total number of Jews in South Africa had grown to just under 120,000, a numerical strength that was no longer achieved later.

In apartheid (1948–1994)

During the apartheid period in South Africa, the Jewish population was classified as “ white ” and thus assigned to the privileged “ race ”. Nonetheless, clear anti-Semitism also developed in the National Party , the apartheid party . The majority of South African Jews advocated the peaceful abolition of the system of racial discrimination. Several were actively involved in the fight against apartheid, including Nadine Gordimer , Albie Sachs , Harry Schwarz , Helen Suzman and Joe Slovo . In the Rivonia trial against the leadership of the resistance movement at the time, four of the accused were Jews, while the prosecutor, Percy Yutar , was also Jewish.

Because of the apartheid system and growing economic difficulties, around 39,000 Jews left the country between 1970 and 1992, while around 10,000 Israelis immigrated to South Africa during this period.

After apartheid (since 1995)

For economic reasons and the high crime rate in particular, around 1,800 Jews left the country annually in the 1990s and until 2003. Since then, their number has stabilized at around 75,000 to 80,000. Other sources give significantly more, for example the New Lexicon of Judaism for 1986 mentions more than 150,000 - mostly Ashkenazi - Jews in South Africa.

Demographics

year 1880 1911 1936 1965 1980 2001
number 4,000 47,000 90,000 116,000 108,000 72,500
Total population 17,057,000 29,285,000 46,900,000
proportion of 0.680% 0.369% 0.155%

Sources: 1880 and 1911: 1965: 1980: 2001:

Grand Rabbi

The list contains a list of the Grand Rabbis of South Africa: → States in Africa under South Africa.

people

People of South African Jewish descent or Jewish people with ties to South Africa are:

art

Nadine Gordimer, 2010
Surname birth country death country
Johnny Clegg 1953 United Kingdom 2019 South Africa, Johannesburg Musician
John Cranko 1927 South Africa, Rustenburg 1973 Germany Dance director
David Goldblatt 1930 South Africa, Randfontein 2018 photographer
Arthur Goldreich 1929 South Africa, Johannesburg 2011 Israel painter
Nadine Gordimer 1923 South Africa, Springs 2014 South Africa, Johannesburg Writer
Laurence Harvey 1928 Lithuania 1973 United Kingdom actor
Ronald Harwood 1934 South Africa, Cape Town Screenwriter
Sidney James 1913 South Africa, Johannesburg 1976 United Kingdom actor
Hermann Kallenbach 1871 Russian Empire 1945 South Africa architect
William Kentridge 1955 South Africa, Johannesburg film producer
Manfred Mann 1940 South Africa, Johannesburg Musician
Trevor Rabin 1954 South Africa, Johannesburg Musician
Antony Sher 1949 South Africa, Cape Town actor
Janet Suzman 1939 South Africa, Johannesburg actress
Pieter-Dirk Uys 1945 South Africa, Cape Town Travesty artist
Rose Zwi 1928 Mexico 2018 Writer

politics

Helen Zille, 2010
Surname birth country death country
Lionel Bernstein 1920 South Africa, Durban 2002 United Kingdom Politician
Brian Bunting 1920 South Africa, Johannesburg 2008 South Africa, Cape Town Politician
Sidney Bunting 1873 United Kingdom 1936 South Africa, Cape Town Politician
Sonia Bunting 1922 South Africa, Johannesburg 2001 South Africa, Cape Town politician
Abba Eban 1915 South Africa, Cape Town 2002 Israel Israeli politician
Ruth First 1925 South Africa, Johannesburg 1982 Mozambique Social scientist
Denis Goldberg 1933 South Africa, Cape Town 2020 South Africa, Cape Town civil rights activist
Joel Joffe 1932 South Africa, Johannesburg 2017 United Kingdom Politician
Ronnie Kasrils 1938 South Africa, Johannesburg Politician
Tony Leon 1956 South Africa, Durban Politician
Solly Sachs 1900 Lithuania 1976 United Kingdom Trade unionists
Harry Black 1924 Germany 2010 South Africa, Johannesburg Politician
Joe Slovo 1926 Lithuania 1995 South Africa, Johannesburg Politician
Helen Suzman 1917 South Africa, Germiston 2009 South Africa, Johannesburg politician
Helen Zille 1951 South Africa, Johannesburg politician

Legal system

Surname birth country death country
Arthur Chaskalson 1931 South Africa, Johannesburg 2012 South Africa, Johannesburg jurist
Richard Goldstone 1938 South Africa, Boksburg jurist
Albie Sachs 1935 South Africa, Johannesburg jurist
Harold Wolpe 1926 South Africa, Johannesburg 1996 Cape Town jurist
Percy Yutar 1911 South Africa, Cape Town 2002 South Africa, Johannesburg jurist

religion

Surname birth country death country
Joseph Hertz 1872 Hungary 1946 United Kingdom Grand Rabbi

Sports

Jody Scheckter, 1976
Surname birth country death country
Ilana Kloss 1956 South Africa, Johannesburg Tennis player
Sarah Poewe 1983 South Africa, Cape Town Female swimmer
Philip Rabinowitz 1904 Lithuania 2008 South Africa, Cape Town Track and field athlete
Jody Scheckter 1950 South Africa, East London Racing driver
Shaun Tomson 1955 South Africa, Durban surfer

economy

Surname birth country death country
Barney Barnato 1852 United Kingdom 1897 Portugal, Madeira Diamond magnate
Alfred Beit 1853 Germany 1906 United Kingdom Diamond magnate
Sol Kerzner 1935 South Africa, Johannesburg 2020 South Africa, Cape Town Hotel owner
Ernest Oppenheimer 1880 Germany 1957 South Africa, Johannesburg Diamond magnate
Harry Frederick Oppenheimer 1908 South Africa, Kimberley 2000 South Africa, Johannesburg Diamond magnate

science

Aaron Klug, 1979
Surname birth country death country
Sydney Brenner 1927 South Africa, Germiston 2019 Singapore biologist
Ruth First 1925 South Africa, Johannesburg 1982 Mozambique Social scientist
Meyer Fortes 1906 South Africa, Britstown 1983 United Kingdom anthropologist
Max Gluckman 1911 South Africa, Johannesburg 1975 United Kingdom Ethnosociologist
Aaron Klug 1926 Lithuania 2018 United Kingdom, Cambridge biochemist
Ludwig Lachmann 1906 Germany 1990 South Africa, Johannesburg economist
Arnold A. Lazarus 1932 South Africa, Johannesburg 2013 United States psychologist
Stanley Mandelstam 1928 South Africa, Johannesburg 2016 United States physicist
Seymour Papert 1928 South Africa, Pretoria 2016 United States mathematician
Peter Sarnak 1953 South Africa, Johannesburg mathematician
Isaac Schapera 1905 South Africa, Garies 2003 United Kingdom anthropologist
Selmar Schönland 1860 Germany 1940 South Africa, Grahamstown botanist
Phillip Tobias 1925 South Africa, Durban 2012 South Africa, Johannesburg Paleanthropologist
Joseph Wolpe 1915 South Africa, Johannesburg 1997 United States psychiatrist
Lewis Wolpert 1929 South Africa biologist
Solly Zuckerman 1904 South Africa, Cape Town 1993 United Kingdom zoologist

Synagogues

The following synagogues are / were located in South Africa:

  1. Kimberley Road Shul
  2. Poswohl synagogue
  3. President Street Synagogue
  4. Park Synagogue
  5. Wolmaran's Synagogue
  1. Tikvath Israel Synagogue
  2. Arthur's Road Orthodox Hebrew Congregation
  3. Garden Shul (oldest synagogue in South Africa, 1841)
  4. Great Synagogue
  5. Green and Sea Point Hebrew Congregation
  6. Chabad Synagogue
  7. Sephardic Hebrew Congregation
  1. Glendinningvale Synagogue
  2. Raleigh Street Synagogue - abandoned, has been home to the Jewish Pioneer's Memorial Museum since 1986 .
  1. Paul Kruger Street Synagogue (inaugurated in 1898, oldest in Pretoria, converted into courthouse in 1952)

See also

swell

  1. ↑ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/South_Africa.html
  2. ↑ http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13936-south-africa
  3. ↑ South Africa. In: Julius Hans Schoeps (Ed.): New Lexicon of Judaism. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1992, ISBN 3-570-09877-X , p. 436.
  4. ↑ Michael Brenner: Small Jewish History, Googlebook
  5. ↑ www. kapstadt.de , accessed on February 2, 2013.
  6. ↑ a b c "Garden Shul" at the Cape of Good Hope - Visiting Jewish communities in the "Rainbow Nation" South Africa ( Memento from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 7, 2013
  7. ↑ To the overview in the Garden Shul
  8. ^ South Africa, National Legislation Index. from www.legalb.co.za, accessed April 21, 2013
  9. ↑ 1937. Aliens Act. at www.nelsonmandela.org, accessed April 21, 2013
  10. ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica: South Africa . at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, accessed April 21, 2013
  11. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1963 . Johannesburg 1964, p. 143
  12. ↑ A short Jewish story by Michael Brenner, Googlebook
  13. ↑ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/South_Africa.html#Apartheid%20Regime
  14. ↑ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/South_Africa.html#Apartheid%20Regime
  15. ↑ South Africa. In: Julius Hans Schoeps (Ed.): New Lexicon of Judaism. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1992, ISBN 3-570-09877-X , p. 436.
  16. ↑ [1] www.kapstadt.de, accessed on February 2, 2013.
  17. ↑ [2] (PDF; 97 kB) www.ajcarchives.org, English, accessed on January 18, 2013
  18. ↑ [3] (PDF; 72 kB) www.ajcarchives.org, English, accessed on January 18, 2013
  19. ↑ [4] (PDF; 420 kB) www.ajcarchives.org, English, accessed on January 18, 2013
  20. ↑ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/synsa.html
  21. ↑ http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/South_Africa.html
  22. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from March 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Photos
  23. ↑ The Gardens Shul

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