(Author: Ivan Kapelus, Vol. 80, #2, Summer 2025)
A new museum, the Chaim Herzog Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II, has been established in Latrun, Israel.[1] Herzog was President of Israel from 1983 – 1993 and during World War II served in the British forces as a combat intelligence officer. A talking time elevator in the museum plays a film stating, “From the start of the war till its end, the Germans and their allies made a methodical effort to eliminate Jews from the face of the earth. But the Jewish people did not surrender – they fought back against those who persecuted them (and) joined the armed forces en masse.”
The museum is devoted to honoring the heroism, volunteering, and contribution of about one and a half million Jews from around the world who participated in the fight against the Nazis and their allies, a quarter of a million of whom paid with their lives. Amongst them were 357 South Africans. This article is about two South African Jews who were among those Jewish soldiers who enlisted to fight Hitler, Ellie and Cecil Hotz.
The writer first met Ellie in 1964. He was the youngest of five children of David and Leah Hotz (nee Abramson), both immigrants from Lithuania, who were married in the Paarl synagogue in 1910. Sister Jessie, the eldest, was born on 27 July 1911, followed by Abraham (Abe) on 21 August 1912 and Cecil on 31 July 1914. After a gap of three years, on 14 November 1917, Isidore (Issy) made it four, to be joined by number five, Ellijah (Ellie) on 19 February 1921.
All five Hotz children were born in Paarl. In 1922, the family moved to Villiersdorp, a picturesque village in the heart of the Drakenstein Mountains, where David and Leah opened a general dealers store. There was no Jewish community, so the Hotz family became members of the Somerset West Hebrew Congregation, which had been established in 1903. Abe and Cecil had their bar mitzvahs in 1925 and 1927 respectively in the Somerset West synagogue, built in 1923.
In 1928, the family moved to Cape Town, settling in the midst of the Jewish community in Constitution Street before moving, in the mid 1930s, to the Tamboerskloof area, where David was co-owner and manager of a dairy. They were members of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation [the ‘Mother Congregation’ of South African Jewry, originally called Tikvath Israel – Ed.] and attended the Gardens synagogue. There Issy and Ellie (who sang in the shul choir) celebrated their Bar Mitzvahs. All the boys matriculated from the Cape Town High School, with Ellie doing so in 1938, just as the clouds of war were gathering.
Whether South Africa would remain neutral (as desired by Prime Minister JBM Hertzog and most Afrikaner politicians) or whether it would declare war on Germany as an ally of the United Kingdom (as Jan Smuts and the United Party proposed) was a highly emotional and divisive issue. It all came to head in a debate in the recalled parliament, where Herzog’s motion for South Africa to remain neutral and Smuts’ proposed amendment that it instead declare war on Germany and join the Allies was discussed. Hertzog’s motion was defeated and Smut’s amendment passed by a majority of thirteen votes. Herzog resigned as Prime Minister and called on Governor General Sir Patrick Duncan to call a general election.
As Richard Steyn comments in his book Seven Votes: How World War II changed South Africa forever (Jonathan Ball Publisher, 2020): “Unbeknown to anyone, the prime minister had already been privately informed in writing by the Governor General that permission would not be granted for the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of an election. Duncan’s reasoning for denying Hertzog’s request was primarily that an election would lead to great bitterness and quite possibly violence, but also that neutrality had been an issue in the election of 1938, only 16 months earlier, when the prime minister had repeatedly declared that Parliament should make the final decision. The House had now delivered its judgement and come down in favour of Smuts’s pro-war motion, and if the Deputy Prime Minister was able to form a government, he (Duncan) would not feel justified in dissolving Parliament”.
As a result of the bitter divide between those who opposed entering the war and those who supported Smuts, the government could not enforce conscription, hence the Union Defence Force became a volunteer force. Notwithstanding the, at times violent, objections of the anti-war Afrikaner Nationalists, 137000 whites volunteered in a short time.
The Jewish community seems to have followed a special approach to volunteering for the armed forces. If there were only two sons, one would volunteer while the other remained to look after the parents. If, as was the case with the Hotz family, there were four sons, two would volunteer and two remain in South Africa. The two Hotz brothers who volunteered were Ellie and Cecil. Cecil was 25 years old and Ellie only 18 when they joined up and commenced their training, in Ellie’s case with the Royal Natal Carbineers, a local regiment formed in January 1855.
At that time Libya was an Italian colony while Britain maintained troops in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal. When Italy declared war in June 1940 and attacked the British forces in Egypt, the British crossed into Libya, all but destroying the Italian army. As control of the Suez Canal and access to Middle Eastern oil and raw materials from Asia was of vital importance to both Germany and the Allies, Germany then invaded North Africa in February 1941 to reinforce the Italians and prevent an Axis defeat. It made sense to send the South African forces up to North Africa to join the Allied armies there and her forces played a significant role in halting the Axis advance, including at the Battle of El Alamein.
The North African Campaign lasted from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. Ellie served in it from 1941 onwards.
On 21 June 1942, 10 722 South Africans soldiers who were part of the 2nd South African Infantry Division were captured at Tobruk. Fortunately, Ellie was not fighting in that division. The Royal Natal Carbineers played a small but eventful part in the huge and decisive Second Battle of El Alamein in October–November 1942. Ellie had by then been promoted to corporal. It was a difficult campaign, with the thirsty men often fighting in the desert heat among minefields and blinding sandstorms. The 1st Infantry Division was then reorganized to form the 6th South African Armoured Division, a strongly reinforced division incorporating the 1st Royal Natal Carabineers, that was sent to Italy.
The Italian Campaign (July 1943 – May 1945) was a major Allied military effort to liberate Italy from Axis control. The 6th South African Division, which included Ellie, fought in it from 1944. The 1st Royal Natal Carbineers landed at Taranto and took part in the battle of Cassino, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. From there they fought their way up the Italian boot through to Rome. After the fall of Rome on 5 June 1944, German resistance stiffened. The 6th South African Division was a major fighting force as the Allied armies moved northwards to push the Germans out of Italy. The Royal Natal Carbineers took part in several engagements, including the attempt to break Germany’s defensive Gothic Line in 1944. They fought at the Greve river north of Rome, at Monte Vigese, Monte Stanco and Monte Pessa until their final victory in May 1945.
Ellie’s gallant conduct during the Italian campaign saw his being mentioned in despatches. As a result, his service medal was awarded with silver leaves, signifying “Mention in Despatches,” which marks a formal recognition of bravery with the King’s commendation. Luckily both he and Cecil returned home unscathed. Ellie received his formal discharge certificate from the South African Minister of Defence on 15 August 1945.
And so home, to South Africa and civilian life. In the photograph below Ellie can be seen fourth from the front, seemingly dancing his way past the City Hall, Cape Town!
After his discharge, Ellie and a fellow serviceman worked together as commercial travelers for specific wholesalers. Happiness soon followed as Ellie met the love of his life Bella Muller, whom he married in the Gardens Shul in 1949. Sadly, they had no children. He later worked as a junior partner in a business selling crockery imported from Japan. In 1967, Ellie joined his brothers Cecil and Issy in a clothing store in Wynberg, M Siegel and Co, which specialised in school uniforms. They sold the business on reaching retirement age. Ellie passed away on 16 November 2014, while Bella died the following year on 26 July.
- Ivan Kapelus holds a BA, LLB from Stellenbosch University and an LLM (Tax) from Kings College, University of London. He has an extensive legal and international tax planning background. His books include Reflections on a Visit to Lithuania (2009) and From the Baltic to the Cape – the journey of three families (2013). Part 1 of this article appeared in the Vol. 76, #3, Autumn-Winter 2021 issue of Jewish Affairs.
[1] See Jewish Affairs, Vol. 79 * No. 1 * Winter 2024, Naomi Schamroth’s Appendix to article by Alon Shapira, “WHAT ON EARTH IS THERE TO TALK ABOUT?” – AN ACT OF WARTIME HEROISM FORGOTTEN, AND REMEMBERED – Jewish Affairs
