(Reviewer: Lionel Slier, Vol. 67, No. 1, Pesach 2012)
2011 could be called “The Year of Isaac Ochberg.” In the course of it, two memorial ceremonies in his honour, including the unveiling of commemorative plaques, took place in Israel and Johannesburg (see Appendix). The year also saw the publication of Ochberg Orphans and the Horrors from whence they came, a compilation of stories and memories from Ochberg Orphans and their descendants by David Solly Sandler.
Isaac Ochberg was born in the Ukraine in 1878 and followed his father to Cape Town at the age of sixteen (1894). He became a successful entrepreneur and businessman, involved in ship buying, ships’ salvage, property and fashion shop, and also being responsible for building Cape Town’s first cinema. He was a philanthropist of note, and served as President of Cape Town’s Jewish orphanage (today’s Oranjia Jewish Child and Youth Centre).
The First World War (1914-18) was fought on many fronts, but it was on the Eastern Front where the German and the Russian armies confronted each other on territory that was part of the Pale of Settlement and caused devastation, destruction and death to the Jewish communities living there. When the war ended, the suffering of civilians did not. The Great Flu Epidemic that now swept the world is believed to have killed as many people as had died in the fighting. Inevitably, among the worst affected were children. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee estimated that almost half a million Jewish children were left as orphans – homeless, verminous, hungry, helpless and dying, Something had to be done to help them.
In Cape Town, Isaac Ochberg was approached to assist, and he readily agreed. He approached Prime Minister Jan Smuts with a proposal to bring children into the country, hoping that the local Jewish communities would adopt them. Smuts agreed but imposed conditions, namely that the local Jewish community had to bear the entire cost of the operation, only orphans aged sixteen and below could be brought out, no families were to be broken up and no physically or mentally disabled children were to be taken. The number of children was fixed at 200.
In March 1921, Ochberg set out for Eastern Europe. In London, a visa was arranged for him by Fridjon Nansen, the Polar explorer who had been involved in food relief for Russia. Russia itself was in chaos. The Bolshevik Revolution had taken place, followed by a civil war; hunger and disease were rife. Ochberg, accompanied by a British Jew, David Dainow, went to Warsaw, then on to Belarus and the Ukraine. Travelling by any means he could find, including by donkey cart, he visited orphanages and shuls collecting children. Ignoring Smut’s conditions in many cases, he ultimately collected 235 orphans, and brought them to England.
After a three-week stay at the Shelter for Jewish Poor in London’s East End, Ochberg having taken ill, 187 children accompanied by Ochberg, set out for Cape Town on the Edinburgh Castle. They arrived on 21 September, 1921. 100 children went to the Cape Town orphanage and 87 were sent to Johannesburg where, after some problems regarding accommodation, the Jewish Board of Deputies bought the Arcadia home of Lionel Phillips, a wealthy Randlord, in Parktown. The Jewish Orphanage at that time was in Benbow Street, Kensington. The children there were brought to Arcadia, where they lived with ‘The Russians”.
Born in Johannesburg in 1952, David Solly Sandler spent the years 1954-1969 at Arcadia. In 1976, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and in 1981 immigrated to Perth, Western Australia. He has produced two books about Arcadia, 100 Years of Arc Memories (2006) and More Arc Memories
The Ochberg Orphans is divided into three parts and eleven sections. Part One is about the Pale of Settlement and what took place there – the war, the pogroms in the Ukraine, the starvation and the death of the children’s parents. There is horror piled upon horror, with what The Hebrew Standard (28 July 1922) called ‘The Ukraine Gehenna.’ There is some relief in the next section, which tells about the help given by Jewish communities, including ‘The South African War Victims Fund.’
Section 3 is devoted to the Pinsk Orphanages and the outrages that occurred there. A sainted man is written about; he is Alter Bobrow, who involved himself in looking after the children as best he could. Bobrow came to South Africa and spent time assisting at the Cape Jewish Orphanage. There is an excellent chapter about him written by Liebe Klug. David Sandler has a work in progress about the three Pinsk Orphanages, in which Bobrow will inevitably feature.
Sections 4 and 5 relate some stories of Ochberg in Eastern Europe, including photos and documents together with an extremely moving story of Feiga Mirel Shamis and her struggle. This was written in Yiddish and later sent to her son Mannie Favish and daughter, Rose Miller, both of whom were both brought out by Ochberg. It is a story of a struggle to survive typical of the Jews of that place and era. Mannie had it translated, and it fills fifteen pages of the book.
Part Two is about Oranjia, the Cape Jewish Orphanage, and includes 37 stories about Ochberg orphans who went there – all riveting, all similar but nevertheless recording distinct, unique experiences. Part Three moves to Johannesburg, with a history of the Jewish Orphanage, the relocation to Arcadia and the stories of a further 35 Ochberg children.
In Isaac Ochberg, the Jews of South Africa had a man who did not hesitate to go and render crucial assistance to their distressed brethren. In the annals of the narrative of South African Jewry, it is a story that the community can justly be proud about. Sandler’s book is a social history about some of the Jews who escaped from the horrors of their existence in Eastern Europe and who were given a new life in South Africa. All their stories are important and Sandler has collected and saved them for us. Lauren Snitcher of Cape Town, herself a grand-daughter of an Ochberg Orphan, has a database of descendants. It currently has over 3000 names of those who owe their lives to one man who was brave enough to go to warravaged Eastern Europe and bring out 187 children to a new life. Twelve years later, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
Isaac Ochberg will now never be forgotten and David Sandler has, with this book, presented us with a fitting memorial to him. Besides the narratives, there are many documents reproduced as well as a great number of photographs. Remember this, “No one stands so erect than when they stoop to help a child.”
- Ochberg Orphans and the Horrors from whence they came, as well as D S Sandler’s previous books on Arcadia, can be obtained in Johannesburg: Sandringham Gardens, 85 George Ave, Sandringham, Jules Gordon (082 552 3148, 011 786 9918) and Max Goldman (011 327 1158); Cape Town: Colin Rosenkowitz (crosenkowitz@mweb.co.za, 021 439 3321, 082 445 0885) and David and Beth Miller (lockman@lockshop.co.za, 021 510-1555); David Solly Sandler, sedsand@iinet.net.au.
Lionel Slier is a regular contributor to South African Jewish publications, including Jewish Affairs and the South African Jewish Report.
