(Reviewer: Lionel Slier, Vol. 72, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2017)
In 2011 the name Isaac Ochberg became well known in local Jewish circles. The main reason was that year, David Sandler from Perth, Western Australia, issued a book about Ochberg, a Capetonian who in 1921 went to Eastern Europe and brought out some 200 Jewish orphans, most of whom came to South Africa. Sandler spent the years 1954 – 1969 at Arcadia Jewish Orphanage in Johannesburg. After qualifying as an accountant, he immigrated to Perth in 1981, but kept in touch with the ‘Old Arcs’ by circulating a world-wide weekly newsletter. He later compiled two books of memories of Arcadia from letters he received, 100 Years of Arc Memories (2006) and More Arc Memories(2008). In the letters which he received, he came across Ochberg’s name and issued an appeal for information about him. This reviewer happened to see his newsletter and as my mother was an Ochberg orphan I wrote to him with what information I could give. Sandler decided to pursue the Ochberg saga further, and asked people connected to him to send in their stories. The prevailing sentiment among Ochberg descendants was, “If you don’t send your information about your connection, Sandler will still bring out a book – your family would be absent, and you would regret your reluctance”.
From the information received, Sandler put together his compilation The Ochberg Orphans and the horrors from whence they came, which appeared in 2011. The re-discovery of Isaac Ochberg led to a gathering in Israel of descendants of these orphans. It was a tremendous success.
Now Sandler has issued a further compilation, with the same title, but called Volume II. This 353- page book continues with stories of the horrors from which the orphans were delivered – war, hunger, disease, pogrom murders and more. It includes an impressive collection of documents and photos and also reports and pictures of the unforgettable 2011 meeting in Israel. There is a description about the unveiling of the Ochberg Memorial Site at Ramat Manashe and its mound with plaques listing the names of all the orphans who came to South Africa. Also in the book is the little known complementary story of orphans taken to Canada from the same area in Europe.
In 2012, an exhibition on the Ochberg story was mounted in Brest, Belarus, from where many of the orphans came. It was attended by many prominent Belarussians as it was combined with the celebration of ‘Twenty Years since the return of Jews to Brest after the Great Patriotic War (1939-45)’. The opening was broadcast live on Belarussian television.
The book informs us that in the 1930s, Ochberg donated a sum of money in a bequest, which is the largest amount made by an individual to the Jewish National Fund, Keren Kayemet le Yisroel. The funds were used to buy land, which included the kibbutzim Dalia and Ein Hasofet (today known as Nachalat Yitzchak, after Ochberg). He also donated a wing to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in memory of his daughter, Ruth, who died as a teenager.
Sandler’s contribution to the narrative of South African Jewry is massive and invaluable. No history of the Jews of South Africa can be complete now without reference to his various compilations. Besides those about Arcadia and the Ochberg Orphans, these include a book about the Pinsker Orphans, Memories of Orangia (on the Jewish children’s home in Cape Town), two books about and entitled Our Litvak Inheritance and a very recent one about the Machalniks, the South African volunteers in Israel’s War of Independence. The books are on sale and available in many countries. Sandler neither receives nor wants any money from the sales, asking instead that buyers make a donation to Arcadia Children’s Home in Johannesburg, Orangia Children’s Home in Cape Town or the local Chevra Kadisha. Banking details of where these donations can be made are in each of the books.
The Ochberg Orphans and the horrors from which they came (Volume 2), compiled by David Sandler, 2017, 353pp. 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.
Lionel Slier is a regular contributor to South African Jewish publications, including Jewish Affairs and the South African Jewish Report.
