(Reviewer: Ralph Zulman, Vol 72, #1, Pesach 2017)
David Sandler spent most of his childhood (1954-1969) in the South African Jewish Orphanage (Arcadia), and now lives in Perth, Australia. With these two volumes, he has compiled an extensive documentary history of Lithuanian Jewry and those who settled in South Africa. During the period 1881-1914, close on three million Jews migrated from Eastern Europe to overseas countries. The vast majority went to North America. The newcomers to South Africa hailed from different parts of Russia, Poland and even Rumania, but the majority came from what was later to become the independent republic of Lithuania. They were all collectively referred to as ‘Litvaks’, and the South African Jewish community was often described as a ‘colony of Lithuania’. The country was second only to North America as a land of destination for Lithuanian Jews.
The two volumes run to some 833 pages in total and are illustrated by copious appropriate photographs. Volume One, Our Litvak Inheritance, is divided into two parts. The first consists of five sections, namely, ‘Our Jewish History’; ‘World War One and its aftermath’; ‘Life in the Shtetl’;‘World War II and the Holocaust’ and ‘Lithuania Revisited’. Part Two has one section – Immigration – that includes the booklet From Eastern Europe to South Africa, Memories of an Epic Journey by Gwynne Schrire.
Volume Two, Our South African Jewish Inheritance, consists of a Foreword, Acknowledgements and Thanks and some fourteen sections, namely, ‘The Early History of South Africa (In the Western and Eastern Cape)’; ‘Kimberley and the Discovery Diamonds (Northern Cape)’; ‘The Establishment of Natal, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Boer Republics’; ‘The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand and the founding of Johannesburg’; ‘The Anglo Boer War (1899-1902)’; ‘Immigration, Yiddish, Zionism and Jewish culture’; ‘World War One’; ‘The generosity of the SA Jewish Community’; ‘Landmanschaten – Mutual Aid Societies’; ‘World War Two’; ‘Jewish life in Country Communities’; ‘Jewish Communities and Personalities’; ‘Support for Israel during the Israeli War of Independence (1948-1949)’ and ‘The Struggle from Apartheid to Multiracial elections’.
The history of South Africa is initially documented from a general point of view and then the Jewish contribution follows.
As Sandler points out in the foreword to the first volume, the compilation is not a single narrative. Rather, “It is the gathering of articles, stories and histories that describe life and history in Lithuania, immigrating to South Africa and early life and history in South Africa from about 1880 to 1990”. The general history is intertwined with personal histories and recollections and includes some which Sandler has collected during his own family research.
Sources of volume Two include The Keidan Yizkor Book, Worlds Apart – The Remigration of South African Jews by Colin Tatz, The Pretoria Jewish Community, South Africa’s 800 – The Story of South African Volunteers in Israel’s War of Birth by Henry Katzew, Boerejode – Jews in the Boer Armed Forces, 1899-1902 by David Saks, Birth of a Community by Rabbi Dr Gerald Mazabow, The Fordsburg-Mayfair Hebrew Congregation, The Jews in South Africa by Gus Saron and Louis Hotz (eds), The Nationwide Survey of the South African Jewish Community by Arthur Markowitz, The War Report and The Vision Amazing: The Story of South Africa Zionism by Marcia Gitlin.
The two volumes contain a wealth of detailed and interesting information, including the following lists/indexes: Boerejode – the Jews who fought with the Boers during the Anglo-Boer War, South African Jews who fell in World War One, Johannesburg, Country Bloemfontein and Durban 1924 Subscribers to the South African Jewish Orphanage (over 6000 names and addresses), South African Machalniks (South African volunteers who served during the War of Independence 1948-1949 – over 800 names), South Africans on Frontline Kibbutzim 1948-1949, South African Nachal (South African volunteers who served in the Israeli armed forces during 1956 to 1972) and South African Fallen in the Defence of Israel.
The compilations should prove a very useful reference source for anyone interested in the Litvak story, the Jewish history of Lithuania and South Africa. All proceeds from the sale of the compilations, as well as from Sandler’s previous compilations (including on the Arcadia and Oranjia Jewish orphanages in South Africa, the Ochberg Orphans and the Pinsker Orphans) will be donated to Arcadia and Oranjia, and to the JDC.
Our Litvak Inheritance and Our South African Jewish Inheritance (two volumes), compiled by David Solly Sandler, 2016. Copies, as well as of previous books compiled and edited by D S Sandler, can be obtained from the author at sedsand@iinet.net.au.
MR JUSTICE RALPH ZULMAN, A FORMER JUDGE ON THE APPEAL COURT IN SOUTH AFRICA, IS A LONG-SERVING MEMBER OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF JEWISH AFFAIRS
