Early Jewish Settlers

Molopo Road Sign

Jews reach Vryburg:

Amongst the first Jews recorded to have arrived in the Vryburg area seem to have been the Isaacs family. I presume they were not the only Jews. What we do know from War Records is that Albert Isaacs, the son of Pauline and Samuel Isaacs, was born in 1880 in Vryburg. Pauline was not Jewish.

The reason we know so much about the family is that Albert, tragically, took his own life. His sister Lillie, who was born in Vryburg in 1887, married Max Sonnenberg in 1906. In April 1898, an Archibald Isaacs passed away in Vryburg. It is not clear if her was related to Samuel Isaacs or ncessarily Jewish. He was 24 years old and working as a bookkeeper. He was buried in Vryburg, in a funeral ceremony conducted by a local priest. Albert's father, Samuel Isaacs, would later move to Johannesburg and become a prominent stockbroker. He passed away in 1924 and was buried in Brixton Cemetery. On his death certificate he is listed as being born in England.

Crucially, Charles Sonnenberg and Samson Solomon reached the town in 1884 with the invading Warren War party. This is the second documented Jewish presence. The two literally set up shop, founding a trading entity that would define the town and the allow the emergence of a Jewish community. Isaac (Ikey) Sonnenberg also reached Vryburg around this time, but he left soon afterwards for Barberton. Charles was joined by his siblings. They, in turn, were joined by other relatives. The first local wedding of a Jewish couple confirms this. Caeser Gers a local auctioneer from originally from Sondershausen in Germany (which is not far from Kassel) wed Mathilda Wallach on 12 September 1885. The Wallach's were related to the Sonnenbergs and Matilda's aunt, Amalia married a Rosenblatt.

Millicent Rosenblatt and Josephine Rosenblatt were also born in Vryburg around this time. They were the daughters of Herman and Jeannette Rosenblatt. Herman and Jeannette Rosenblatt were married on 26 October 1886. Herman was by then an established lawyer, who would go on to become mayor of the town. Herman was a partner in a law firm called Rosen & Wessels, which later became Wessels, de Kock and Frylinck. Rosen may also have been Jewish. Julius Rosenblatt, brother of Herman, was involved in S Solomon and Company. To confound matters, a different Jeanette Rosenblatt (related to the other Rosenblatts') married Charles Sonnenberg in 1866, after meeting in Queenstown. As we will repeatedly discover, the German Jewish families were deeply intertwined.

In 1895, the Jewish Chronicle of London announced the birth of a son to Harry Sonnenbrg and Rosalie Abrahams. Though the birth took place in Cape Town, the couple were Vryburg residents. They were in fact married in Vryburg on 17 September 1894. According to the wedding certificate, Harry had been living in Vryburg for two years. Rosalie was a resident of Kimberley and the daughter of Reuben Harris Abrahams (from Poland) and Miriam Cohen (from Bohemia). Her parents were married in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1872. Rosalie's siblings were Lilian Charlotte, the eldest child, and her younger brothers Lionel, Alfred and Arthur.

Jeanette Sonnenberg and Herman Rosenblatt were married in Vryburg in October 1886. Jeanette was the daughter of Louis Rosenblatt. Based on Herman and Jeanette’s marriage certificate, we see that Louis was present at the wedding. Louis passed away, aged 70, in 1896 and his death certificate lists him as a general dealer (algemeene handelaar) from Calvinia. He also had a son called Julius. Both families were from Germany. In 1895 Maurice Sonnenberg married Betty Sonnenberg in Vryburg.

Years later, Fritz Sonnenberg, the eldest son of Theodore Sonnenberg and Bertha Sonnenberg (nee Bing), returned to Vryburg, after serving in World War One in Namibia, in order to do his articles at the firm Herman founded. Fritz would later serve as Mayor of Cape Town. Julius Rosenblatt who worked at S Solomon (the firm was later re-branded as Solomons Stores) and later bought into the business, was married to Max Sonnenberg’s half-sister Lina – the sister of Theodore.

Julius Rosenfels appears, from his estate, to have had a share in farm called Mooifontein near Kuruman, purchased around 1888, in partnership with a JC Chase. Julius Rosenfels and his brothers Max and Jacob were from Forchheim in Germany and were the children of Sigmund and Regina (nee Bergman) Rosenfels. The three were active in the Free State - Rouxville and Hoopstad. Forchheim is near to Nuremburg and south of Kassel.

In the ensuing section we will explore the German Jews who made Vryburg their home and the familial and geographic ties.

Jews in local conflicts:

The Blum brothers, Alphonse and Arthur, also German Jews, warrant a small digression. They seemed well entrenched in the district. Alphonse Blum passed away in 1896 and from his estate records we learn that their business was called Blum Brothers. According to his death certificate, Alphonse was born in Dublin to parents Gobert and Wilhelmina. Alphonse, a trader and farmer, was married with four children, Gobert, Mila, Charles and Leve. His wife was Blanche Bora Marcelis. The Blum brothers featured in the Bechuana Rising of 1896, also referred to as the Langeberg Rebellion. The rebellion was triggered by the killing of cattle in order to stem the spread of Rinderpest. As recounted by Max Sonnenberg (pp. 38-40), Arthur was a field-cornet and Alphonse was held hostage by the rebellious indigenous population at his store in Phokwane stad (Hartswater). Local Jews were recruited to local militias in rural South Africa. Bramie Lenoff, who has chronicled the Upington Jewish community, shared a copy of the Vryburg Town Guard and a few Jewish names are mentioned. A well-maintained website called AngloBoerwar.com lists Herman Abt, Louis Behr (Russian Jew who died in 1922), Albert Elkan (German Jew), William Kisser (Dutch Jew), Harry Salomon (passed away in 1973), Gustav Seidel, Maurice Reuben Silverman (hotelier from Vilna), Maurice Sonnenberg and Max Sonnenberg. The Kuruman list includes an M. Cohen

Legal proceedings were initiated against Ludwig Salomon in 1901. According to court archives from a case between Willemina Hendrika Lotter and Hamburg born Salomon, the latter fled from Schweitzer Reineke during the Boer War and rented a farm and store called Mooifontein. The same farm was earlier owned by another Germán Jew, Julius Rosenfels (see above). Salomon had traded with Solomon and Company. Salomon later had the license to operate a bottle store at the Vryburg Hotel until 1910. He ended up making Vryburg his home, marrying out and was buried in the local general cemetery.

After the Boer War Isadore Blumgart was accused by the authorities of selling provisions to the Boer leader General de la Rey. Nothing seems to have come of these charges. There is also reference to an AP Velenski (a farmer and speculator) in a case related to Boer War High Treason charges initiated in 1902. Velenski sought to supply 100 head of cattle to besieged Mafikeng. Velenski would have come through Vryburg. Abraham Phineas Velesnki, whose wife Fanny passed away in 1903 in Oudtshoorn was an active member of the Oudtshoorn community (Aschman, p. 124). His second wife Theresa (nee Hut) was from Koblenz in Germany. She was a widower and was married to Isaac Rosenblatt. The couple were married in Durdan in 1910. What is plausible is that Velenski had partners / acquaintances in far-afield Mafikeng. In 1911, AP Velenski passed way in Baden-Baden.

These four stories highlight the impact of conflicts at the frontier on the lives of the frontier Jews seeking to forge a new life. These conflicts both shaped identity and tested fealty. Did Velenski and Blumgart even know who was against who when they made their trades? Were they singled out by the British because they were Jews? One can only postulate. What seems clear is that Ludwig Salomon probably fled to Vryburg as he had trade ties with local German Jews.

Other early arrivals:

Other Jews who arrived before the outbreak and around the time of the Second Anglo Boer War (October 1899 to May 1902) include the Hammerschlag and Blumgart families, the Abt brothers, Herman and Daniel, Max Seligmann and Albert Elkan. Like the Sonnenberg's, the Rosenblatts and Ludwig Salomon they were all of German Jews. Other early settlers included Morris / Maurice Silverman (Lithuanian), Philip Jacobson (Russia), Joseph Bein (Polish), and Pinkus Goldberg (Polish). Moritz Heiman Kallmeyer from Talsen was also in the area. There are 1899 death certificates for William Ruthenberg (a transport rider) and a nurse called Hannah Marks. Both could be Jewish. The Smollan family (Lithuanian Jews), seem to have opened a trading post in 1902.

As already noted, there were also Jews in places like Pokwani (Hartswater), Taungs and Pudimoe. Pudimoe had a number of Jews: Golstruter, Gould, the Cohen Brothers and Lewis Rosenthal around this time. Other names from the district include Julius Kovensky (Lithuania) and Israel Jacob Blumberg (from Talsen). The well-known Bayers, Raufs and the Senderowitz families – all Lithuanian loomed large in Taung. Then there were the Lithuanian Solomon’s at Brussles siding.

There is no comprehensive list or clear picture of early Jews and I assume numerous Jewish pioneers slipped through the net. Critically, we start to see the arrival on East European Jews.

Most of the new arrivals were bachelors. A few raised families. The Senderowitz family was in Taung in the early 1890s and in 1896 a daughter Eliza passes away in Vryburg- only a few months old. For many, Vryburg was home and families were forged and children raised. Isadore and Hannah Annie's eldest son, Cecil Leonard Bernard Blumgart was born in Vryburg on 21 January 1899. Their next two children, Harold Herman and Marion were born in 1901 and 1905 respectively. No doubt issues of Jewish identity and education in these remote parts emerged.