+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ RESEARCHING JEWISH GENEALOGIES IN SOUTH AFRICA - Part 1 of 2 +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ A JewishGen InfoFile SOUTH AFRICAN JEWISH GENEALOGY By: Saul Issroff, London UK NOTE: This InfoFile is a preliminary guide to resources and will be updated infrequently. The major resource on researching Southern African Jewish Genealogy is at http://www.jewishgen.org/SAfrica. This web site is updated regularly and new material is being added constantly. Please notify any errors in URL's, contact names, addresses etc. to: Saul Issroff Roger Harris -- The Jewish links to South Africa are said to start with the Portuguese voyages of exploration around the cape in 1452. Jews were involved in these early voyages as mapmakers, navigators and sailors.The Portuguese were not interested in settling in the Cape, but used it as a route to the profitable trading areas of Asia. In 1652 the first permanent settlement of Dutch colonists led by Jan van Riebeck took place. Samuel Jacobson and David Hijlbron were the earliest recorded Jews, converting to Christianity by baptism on Christmas day in 1669 (these are records in the registers of the Dutch Reformed Church). Under the control of the Dutch East India Company from 1652 to 1795 only Protestant Christians were permitted to reside at the Cape (despite a significant number of Jewish shareholders in the company). This contrasts with the Dutch West India company which sent two hundred Jews in 1642 to colonise Brazil. Greater religious freedom, permitted under the short lived Batavian Republic in 1803 was continued after the British took control in 1806. Early British Jewish immigration occurred with about 16 Jews arriving amongst the 1820 Settlers and by the 1860's other European Jews started to arrive. Colourful characters such as the soldier Isaac Moses, known as "old Moses the Moneychanger" and Joseph Suasso de Lima of Amsterdam who started the first Dutch newspaper in SA, arrived. Nathaniel Isaacs, an early explorer of Natal who befriended the famous Zulu chief, Chaka, was a Jew. Early British families include De Pass, who played a major part in the establishment of the shipping, sugar and fishing industries . Saul Solomon founded the English press in Cape Town and although he converted he retained a prominent position in the Jewish community. The first Jewish congregation was founded in 1841 in Cape Town by an English Jew, Benjamin Norden. He was one of several Jews who arrived in the eastern Cape as part of the 1820 Settlers- the first real British attempt to provide permanent colonial settlement. Most of these early Jewish settler families have totally assimilated. By 1880 there were about 4000 Jews in the country. Jewish immigration increased rapidly. The pogroms (1881-1884) and other catastrophes - droughts, floods, deportation and fires particularly in Kovno Gubernia were major factors in the emigration. The choice of South Africa was determined by special circumstances and not, on the whole by the attractions it offered to the general run of settlers who were not refugees. There was the potential for success - in particular with the discovery of the diamond fields in Kimberley in 1869 and the goldfields in the Transvaal in 1886. Sammy Marks, from Neustadt in Suwalki Gubernia is regarded as the pioneer of Lithuanian emigration - he became a friend of President Paul Kruger and was highly successful as an industrialist. Barney Barnato,London born, was a partner of Cecil John Rhodes in the formation of the De Beers Diamond company (later control passing to the German Jewish family of Ernest Oppenheimer with the assistance of the Rothschilds). Over 47,000 Jews were enumerated in the first nationwide census of 1911. Most of these were Lithuanian (Litvaks) from the then provinces of Kovno, Vilna, Grodno and Northern Suwalki (East Prussia and later Poland) and from the Byelorussian provinces Vitebsk, Mogilev and Minsk. As an undeveloped country SA offered opportunities to early immigrants that were far better than anything they could have had in Eastern Europe. The travelling hawker, or "smous" became an institution in the remote rural areas . Many settled in small towns as shopkeepers and tradesmen . A number of very efficient entrepreneurial farmers were founders of the ostrich feather industry and the citrus industry. THE CONTEMPORARY COMMUNITY The distinctive characteristics of this community as compared to other new world communities are:- 1) The predominance of Litvaks hence the unusually homogenous composition of the community. This appears to be changing with a large emigration of Jews to the USA, Canada, Australia, Britain and Israel. Political and economic change has led to an influx of Zimbaweans, Israelis and Russian Jews. 2. The very strong influence of Zionism in the SA community 3. The amalgam of Anglo-Jewish form and Lithuanian spirit which characterises the institutions, both lay and religious of the community. The Jewish day school movement is a powerful educational presence and its pupils consistently get excellent scholastic results. 4. The distinctive situation where Jews have formed part of a privileged minority dominating a multiracial society. This has also led to Jews becoming prominent in the anti-apartheid and liberation movements. At various times attempts were made to limit the influx of Jews, eg in 1903 by placing them in the same category as Asiatics on the grounds that Yiddish was not a European language. This ruling was successfully challenged and reversed. About 15000 Jews entered between 1925-1938. In 1930 the Quota Act, without specifically mentioning Jews, was introduced with the effect of limiting the influx to a small number by making "assimilability" a criterion for admission. The rise of Afrikaner nationalism coupled with its overt Nazi sympathies led to more severe restrictions. Between 1933- 1936 only 3600 Jews were permitted to enter. Probably less than 500 Jews entered during the Second World War period. Genealogists require a minor knowledge of some historical dates. This is a country initially under Dutch rule, later British, then after a rebellion culminating in the Anglo Boer War (1899-1902) consisted of four self-governing colonies until the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910. In 1961 when SA left the Commonwealth it became a Republic. The present political process is still, in 1995, undergoing constitutional change and the final structure is still emerging. ARCHIVAL SOURCES: Different archives existed for each original colony or province. (Cape , Transvaal, Orange Free State and Natal). The colonies evolved into four provinces, each with its own seat of administration. Thus several central State and regional provincial archives exist. There are few professional researchers and no-one specialising in Jewish genealogy. A central computerised archive listing of a particular name, and many microfilms of archives are available in the reading rooms of the Human Sciences Research Council and the individual regional archives.These listings may be very informative giving vital statistics( Births, Marriages, Deaths), court cases, passport applications, naturalisations, wills and probates. If preliminary enquiries are unsuccessful it is worth repeating later. SA Consular representatives are often helpful in forwarding enquiries and will take payment in foreign currency. CENSUS RECORDS: South Africa must be one of the few countries where census enumeration records have been destroyed! The statistics from each census have been kept.However, voters rolls are available in certian archives. The State Archives in Cape Town advises that the Cape Colony Publications contain census lists for 1875, 1891, 1904 and 1911 only. These documents provide collective population statitics for various areas throughout the Cape but do not specify names of individuals. Places of birth are mentinoned pertaining to the number of people resident in different areas born outside South Africa. Blue books and statitisical Registers, part of the archives of the Colonial Office (CO) cover the period 1821-1809. The Orange Free State has census reports of censuses taken 31 March 1880,1890 and 17th April 1904. These have information and statitiscal data on birthplaces, ages, education, religions, occupations and sickeness and infirmaties of the inhabitants. No information regarding relationships of individuals is given. In addtition old republican and colonial voters rolls of 1884,1888,1889,1893,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,,1 900 and 1907 are also available. These have surnames, first names, occuoations and places of residence. Some post 1910 rolls are also available. These are accessible for personal research and photocopies can be made. Census and tax Registers for Transvaal : 1873 and 1890 ,1904 - Transvaal Archives . census and Tax Records for South Africa as a whole: Department of Statistics, Private Bag 44 Pretoria. A Johannesburg census was held on 15 July 1896. NATURALISATION RECORDS Naturalisation certificates -State Archives have copies of Naturalisation certificates and background papers to applications . ( copy certificates may be obtained by mail but lot of the background papers are only available on persoanal searches). The majority of Lithuanians applied for Naturalisation and this was usually granted. Many Jews from Britaindid not need passports or any assistance from the Board of Deputies and information about these people may be difficult to find unless they became prominent in the community. A register of Jews arriving at the Cape is in the Library of the Jewish Board of Deputies in Johannesburg. This deals with naturalisation applications in the Cape between 1904-1906. The board had to investigate aliens prior to naturalisation approval. These 1236 appplicants represented 6.5% of the Jewish population of the Cape at that time. Details of birth place, occupation, age, length of residence and addresses are given. Over half were born in Lithuania, 30% from Kurland (Latvia) and 10% gave Russia as an origin (mainly Minsk and Dvinsk). A quarter were under 21years of age. A similar register exists for the 1920's. Jewish immigrants came by ship with the major port of entry being at Cape Town, although a minority entered at Port Elizabeth, Durban and Lourenco Marques (now Maputo). The major waves of migration occured from 1895 onwards. A Jewish firm of shipping agents, Knie and Company, had part time subagents in shtetls who accepted bookings for passage to South Africa. Many of the Jews embarked initially at the ports of Libau and were transported on small cargo boats under crude conditions to England. Few passed through Hamburg. Many came first to Grimsby or London and were taken to the Poor Jews Temporary Shelter inLeman Street in the East End of London. A lot of these records of the inmates of the Shelter are available at the present shelter in London. Some assistance in the form of board, lodging, medical advice and advice on travel was given by the Shelter. In one year from Nov 1902 , 3600 out of 4500 inmates went onto SA. (For a more detailed discussion of these and shipping records see the article by Prof A Newman SHEMOT Vol 1:3 1993). >From here most went on the Union Castle Line to SA . In 1902 the fare was 10.10.0 ( ten guineas)- more than the fare to America. SHIPPING RECORDS : Public Records Office Kew, London (BT76) State Archives Cape Town. Some Hamburg shipping records. DEATH NOTICES are in The Department of Home Affairs (see above). These give name, birthplace and nationality of the person, parents names, occupation, ordinary place of residence, name and approximate date of death of predeceased spouse, place of last marriage, day and place of death, names of children, what marriages they are from, any moveable property and approximate value and whether a will existed. The probate or estate files of people who died in the Transvaal 1873-1970 are in the Transvaal Archives department. Information on wills and estates of people who died in the Transvaal after 1950 available from the Master of the Supreme Court Pretoria 0001. These can be very informative .Enquiries can be made by mail but personal searches are welcomed.For deaths in other provinces consult the Master of the Supreme Court in that province. For earlier estates prior to 1900 consult the Magistrates Archives of the South African Republic. BURIALS and Cemeteries:The Johannesburg Jewish Helping Hand and Burial Society (Chevra Kadisha).The major cities in SA have their own burial societies which control burials of all Jewish persuasions. The majority of Jews have been buried in large cities. These records are available they are a very useful source of information. Johannesburg probably accounts for over 75% of all burials. The earliest record is that of Albert Rossetenstein in May 1887. So records start in 1887 for Braamfontein cemetery, Brixton in 1914 and West Park in 1942. Burials still occasionally take place in the two older cemeteries. Registers are kept on the premises but in addition in 1980 the Mormons were given permission to microfilm burial records. LDS Film no 1259151 refers to the Braamfontein cemetery. With reference to other burials the Chevra Kadisha now have an easily accessed database of every burial in West Park, the major cemetery since approximately 1942. A computer terminal is kept at the cemetery and at their central offices. The complete database has been given to the AJGS Cemetery Project and details are available from Arlene Sachs . The records of the two older cemeteries, Brixton and Braamfontein, are small and easy to look up. At present about 700 burials take place each year in Johannesburg. They get many requests from abroad for information and are often stumped by changes in the spelling of names after families have migrated. Anglicisation of Jewish surnames in South Africa was relatively uncommon. Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth have extensive records of deaths dating back to the founding of these communities. In Johannesburg all written records of burial authorisations prior to 1970 have now been destroyed owing to lack of storage space. Smaller country communities have largely vanished and the cemeteries are maintained by the local councils. The LDS ( FHL) microfilms have some details on a few of these, but very little specifically Jewish. The Board of Deputies has a travelling Rabbi visiting the remaining outlying commnuities and he is apparently willing to make specific enquiries. The FHL also have microfilms relating to the following:- Naturalisation ( citizenship) PP 1865-1910, 1883-1908, lists 1910,1901- 5,1909-11 (I-Z). Foreigners in Port Elizabeth 1905-approx 1910. FHL film no.1281594. Naturalisation in the Cape of Good Hope 1904-1908 (H-S) FHL film no. 1281593, 1909-1911 (A-H) FHL film no. 1281594. The majority of these naturalisations were Jews of Lithuanian origin (also some non- Jewish Syrians and Lebanese). Death Notice indexes for the various provinces are also available at the FHL. Jewish Sources Specific information about individuals or communities may often be obtained from the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. The Board controls cultural, educational, religious and social activities . They will arrange for publication of a family query in the Jewish press at no charge. The Library at the Board of Deputies in Johannesburg has:- An extensive collection over at least 60 years of newspaper items referring to individual Jews. These are indexed and include obituaries. The SA Jewish Yearbooks of 1928, 1953/4 and 1961/2 have brief biographies of many well known Jews, including their towns of origin. The Library has microfilmed various publications of the SA Jewish press from the turn of the century. A useful potential source of genealogical information are the several Yiddish newspapers that were published in the early part of the century. In the 1920's many lists of people in Eastern Europe looking for relatives who had moved to SA were published on a weekly basis. In addition many communal records of now defunct country communities have been filmed. Some Landsmanshaften records are also on microfilm. Unfortunately these do not appear to be indexed. Copies of the microfilms are held by the Central Archives of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University and at the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town. The Kaplan Centre in addition has records of small Cape Communities that are not available elsewhere. The records of the Cape Jewish orphanage are also here. There are also Zionist archives that may be of interest. Some individual family trees are in the archives. A number of books have been published on individual Jewish communities in smaller towns and in addition many general town histories give a story of the local Jewish community. Several recent works have dealt with the economic history of the South African Jews and are useful sources. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS: Orthodox : The Office of the Chief Rabbi is not very helpful. However they apparently answer written requests for copies of marriage and divorce certificates. (United Hebrew Congregation) There is also a strong Lubavich movement and smaller Sephardi and Masorti congregations. Reform communities keep separate records. Reform in South Africa equates to Conservative in Great Britain. (United Progressive Jewish Congregation of Johannesburg ). Many Jews remain with a strong identity but outside the religious net. Intermarriage is very common, but emigration is the main limiting factor to population growth. Military records Jews served and died fighting both for the British and the Boers in the Anglo Boer Wars. Many Jews served in the 1914-1918 war and some were killed in action in German South West Africa- now Namibia. By the time of the Second World War most eligible males served, many in the North African campaigns. Records of service can be obtained from the military archives in Pretoria. South Africa is still a small tight community (now probably 70,000) and personal contacts are a good method of starting research. Jewish Genealogical Societies have started in Johannesburg and Cape Town . NOTE: some of the official departments have changed names in the past few years. The addresses should still be correct. continued: See Part 2 ---------------- [12Mar2000si]bik filename ZA-infoA.txt Copyright 2000 JewishGen Inc. http://www.jewishgen.org +----------------------------------------------------------------------+