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Community

This section explores the evolution of the Vryburg Jewish community.

 

The ensuing pages seek to give a sense of the community's early formation, expansion, formalization and decline. I try to understand which individuals and families were in the community over time. Not all Jews identified or associated. No all lived in Vryburg and we look at Pudimoe, Taung and Kuruman. I suspect that in some situations the Jews in the surrounding areas used the Vryburg community (cemetery) and in others they went to Kimberley. As the speed of modern transportation improved, I suspect that Kimberley became a favoured destination.

 

In essence, I plot the rise and eventual numerical decline. The community grew in the early 1900s - reaching a crescendo in the late 1930s. The early years are divided - somewhat arbitrarily - into: 1880-1909, 1910-1919 and 1920-1929. These were the years which saw German Jews predominate only to be replaces by Lithuanian and Latvian Jews. The latter were more observant and by 1912-104 a community was already established. These appear to be years of high churn. We next look at the periods from 1910-1929 and 1930-1940. By the mid 1930s a Shul was built. The 1940 and early 1950s saw numerical stability. After that, decline set in. Finally, we asses the five final decades - from 1950 to 2000. This marked the period of initial slow stagnation (till 1960) and then rapid decline. From 1963 to 1976 the community shrunk from 35 to 12 families. After a decade plus of dogged resistance the community came to an end.

 

As we have limited archival materials, the picture is partial. I hope that we will have greater clarity over time.

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