Early days - a fluid community:

A Jewish presence seems to have existed in Vryburg from the outset. Charles Sonnenberg and Samson Solomon were part of the Warren Party. It however took several years for local Jews to coalesce as a community. As set out in the section on Early Jewish Settlers, the pioneer families included surnames like, Sonnenberg, Rosenblatt, Solomon, Isaacs, Abrahams, Blum, Abt, Klisser, Hammerschlag and Blumgart. They were mainly German Jews or Anglo Jews (Solomon) and Dutch Jews (Klisser) who came to Kimberley and then ventured Northwards as the railways moved to Rhodesia. Cecil John Rhodes, minerals and colonial expansion provided a tailwind for Jewish migration. The German Jews were the most prominent and often inter-connected through commerce (Solomon Stores) and marriage. The Hammerschlag family, for example, were pioneers and Herman was born in Vryburg in June 1892. Max Hammerschlag married, Josephine, daughter of Herman Rosenblatt. I will elaborate on the complicated familial connections of the German Jews.

 

Who then were the other Jews who were in Vryburg from the outset?   

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Max Seagull moved to Vryburg, sometime between 1888 and 1894. Daniel Abt was naturalized in 1896 in the town and his listed profession was a speculator. He later became a hotelier. They were all German Jews. 

 

There were however a few Litvak Jews at the outset. One Jewish Pioneer in the area and probably the first Jew to assimilate in Vryburg was Philip Jacobson. He married Lea Magdelena van Rooyen in 1889 and he is listed as a trader. A year later he was naturalized in Willowmore and is listed as a storekeeper. We learn from his naturalization documents that he arrived four years before and that he was from Shavel. He was naturalized along with another Jew - Lipman Freedman. Jacobson later moved to the Transvaal and settled near Schweitzer Reinke. There was also Maurice (Morris) Silverman, who owned the Grand Hotel from 1901 to 1906. He was a Lithuanian Jew and was naturalised in Vryburg. 

Paul Cheifitz confirms that the following Jews were also naturalized in Vryburg between 1896 and 1905: Max Sonnenberg (German), Joseph Abe Bein (a Polish watchmaker), Max Seligmann (German), Ludwig Salomon (a German Jew who fled from the Transvaal), Pinkus Goldberg (a Polish tailor) and Moses Lemkus (shoemaker). Lemkus, from Talsen, was aged 32 when he applied for citizenship on 28 July 1905. He had been in the Colony for two years and Vryburg for 8 months.

 

According to Ludwig Solomon's death certificate (1926) he died in Vryburg and married Annie Church. He is not buried in the Jewish Cemetery as he had married out. Pincus Goldberg was naturalized in Vryburg in 1904 and Anney Garnett found two of his adverts in the Northern News. Curiously, there was also an advert for an A. Goldberg. I presume his brother. From another item Anney Garnett found in the Norther News in 1905 we glean that Ludwig Salomon owned the Vryburg Hotel. Another early Vryburg Jew was Solomon Maurice Redhouse (1902), who is listed as a member of the Local Free Mason Lodge. The Redhouse family were form Lithuania. 

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In Milton Shain's seminal book, Jewry and Cape Society: The Origins and Activities of the Jewish Board of Deputies for the Cape Colony (1983, p. 15), he refers to a journalist Louis Lionel Goldsmid who was a pioneer in print media. In 1902 he launched the first South African Jewish newspaper. He spent time in Vryburg and Mafikeng and it seems he was involved in the Bechuanaland News. He married Isabel Ada Solomon - the daughter of Edward Solomon and Isabella Frances in 1906 in Johannesburg, hence we presume he was in Bechuanaland around 1900. Isabel Ada Goldsmid passed away in 1910. 

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Unlike the German Jewish families, notably Sonnenberg and Rosenberg, very few of these East European Jews seemed to have spent a sustained time in Vryburg. Most of the German Jews were employed by or in business with Solomon Stores. It seems unlikely that there was an organized community till sometime around 1900. This assertion is based on the consecration of a Jewish cemetery in 1905. Such an effort would represent the culmination of a process of organizational incorporation that would have started some time prior. 

 

We also have the death certificate for William Klisser who passed away in July 1917 in Vryburg. William is credited with a Vryburg photo taken of Cecil John Rhodes in 1890. There is also a reference to a Henry Klisser who in 1902 married Hilda Ethel Lollie Decent in Vryburg in 1902. William's wife Emily Klisser passed away in Vryburg in September 1906. Both Klisser's who reached Vryburg seem to have married out. The connection between the two is not clear.  The Klisser's are a Dutch Jewish family and numerous members emigrated to South Africa and Australia. William was the son of Mark Klisser who was very much involved in the Cape Town Jewish community (Herrman, p. 247 & Abrahams, p. 22). Another Klisser who shaped Kimberley and its community was Bernard Klisser. Amsterdam born, Bernard Klisser died a bachelor (Rosenthal, p. 114).

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The Jewish Life in the Country Communities Study (Volume II), by SA Friends of Beit Hatfutsot includes a Halse family. I have found reference to a Walter Halse who arrived in Vryburg in 1897. There was also a Fred Halse. It unlikely that they were Jewish. The reason why the Halse family are incorrectly listed as Jews in this study is that they supported Jewish causes. This also holds for names like Crosbie, Bruhus, Goodwin  and Fletcher. 

 

There also is reference to a 1910 appeal against a conviction by an Israel Lipshitz. Sometime in June 1909 Israel Lipschitz who was in Lichtenburg Transvaal acquired a horse, a gig and harnesses which he was to sell. He however disappeared without paying for the goods and was arrested at Vryburg about a month later (9th July 1909) and returned to Lichtenburg where he was charged. From the case material we learn that his alias was Mark Liefman and he is described as a “male jew speculator” and charged with the crime of “theft by means of false pretences.” Fortunately, Lipschitz was discharged and returned to Vryburg. In 1910 a warrant was issued to re-arrest Lipschitz and he contested this warrant, hence the subsequent case in Cape Town challenging the arrest warrant.

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Brothers Jos Smollan and Solomon Smollan acquired the Grand Hotel from Morris Silverman in 1906. They owned the hotel until 1917 and were early members of the community. They came from Lazdijai in Lithuania. Leah Smollan (nee Edelstein) who was married to Solomon, passed away in 1917. Their older half-brother, Harris, was also seemingly in Vryburg, as his last will and testament was prepared in the town. Later, his son David Smollan came to Vryburg and played a major life in local affairs and sport. Another important figure who arrived sometime before 1910 was Abraham Leibowitz, who would change his name in early 1910 to Abe Lax. 

 

The wider district:

The route to Vryburg from Kimberley passed Hartswater (known as Pokwani), Taungs and Pudimoe. From the outset there were Jews  here as well. The Blum brothers - Alphonse and Arthur - shaped local politics and  dynamics. They were - of course - German Jews. Anney Garnett  found a notice in the Northern News in 1910 which reports that Julius Kovensky bought store in Rocklands, Pokwani (present day Hartswater) from Israel Jacob Blumberg. I have found very little on Israel Jacob Blumberg - only that he was buried in Kimberley's Jewish Pioneer cemetery. He died on 4 May 1929. Blumberg was in all likelihood from Talsen. Julius Leon Kovensky was born in 1875 in Serey / Seirjai. Serey is not far from Lazdijai, which is where the Smollan family came from. Julius Kovensky was buried in Middleburg on 10 September 1939. His daughter Helen married Abe Bayer. Years later, Percy Friedman and his Afikaans partner Daniel Jacobs bought a store from Samuel John Bayer in Pokwani.

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Taung and Hartswater also had a Jewish presence. The Jewish Life in the Country Communities Study (Volume II), by SA Friends of Beit Hatfutsot count 22 and 8 families respectively. The lists are however incomplete. In the case of Hartswater, the Blum brothers are left off. 

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Taung was an important railway station and trade node. As we will learn, some Taung names are linked to the Vryburg story are the Rauff family, the Jocums, the Senderowitz family and of course the Bayers. Another Taung family that had a Vryburg connection are the Traub's.  Like so many Jews in Vryburg, Harry Traub was from Talsen and married Bella Blumberg. Parts of the Blumberg family came to Vryburg (Jewlers). There was another Traub connection to Vryburg. Isaac Traub of Beaufort West was related to Samuel John Beyer (by marriage) and his son Elias articled in Vryburg as a lawyer. Later, Arthur Getz (son of Dr. Marcus and Tilly Getz) married Bernice Traub, the daughter of Eli Traub. Harry Traub bought his business from from Leon Albow in 1917. In 1920, Traub sold the business to Samuel John Bayer. Curiously, the Albow family are not listed by the The Jewish Life in the Country Communities Study (Volume II) study. 

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The Albow Brothers Centre (Saul, Phillip and Isaac) is a feature of the Cape Town Jewish community infrastructure. From Leon's death certificates we glean that he was from Taurigan (Tavrig or Taurage in Lithuania) and he had a brother Ephraim and two sisters. The latter lived in Leningrad with his mother. Leon was a bachelor and I assume he was a cousin of the more famous Albow brothers who also hailed from Tavrig or Taurage.

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An article in the Northern News of 13th October 1915 sheds more light on the Jews of nearby Taungs and Bloemhof. We learn of a partnership between Herman and Abraham Katzen, Joseph Fisher and Leopold and Max Setzen. From the Beit Hatfutsot Team we know that Herman Katzen hailed form Krustpils/Kreitzberg in Latvia, Latvia. He later moved to Vereeniging and was a pillar of the community. Another Taung merchant was Percy Friedman (later at Pokwane). He was the son of Jacob and Tophilia Friedman and bought his store in 1919.

 

In 1910 Israel Solomon (son) sold his store to Lazarus Solomon (father). The family also lives at Brussels rail junction outside of Vryburg. In 1913 an L. Solomon took over a general dealership at Lowlands - Brussels siding, in 1913. I assume that it was a transaction that Lazarus initiated shortly before passing away. In 1917 Annie Solomon, who lost her husband in 1912, sold the Poedimoe (Pudimoe) and Mathlaku trading stations to Lazarus Falowitz. Lazarus Solomon (who was from Neishtot Sugint or Naumiestis, Lithuania) and Annie Solomon had six sons: Bernard, Israel, Simon, Reuben, Maurice and Meyer (a minor). The list of Jews who served in World War One, included was an S. Solomon, presumably Simon Solomon.

 

Vryburg thus had two Solomon families - Sampson Solomon and Lazarus - and not one as per the Jewish Life in the Country Communities Study (Volume II) study. There were undoubtedly other Jews who have been missed in this attempt to account for the early Jewish families​​

 

Early Jewish Life

Little is known about exactly how many Jews there were in Vryburg between 1880 to 1910 and how stable the community was. When Sarah Stern who died in Vryburg in 1896 she was buried in Kimberley. On wonders if she was somehow connected to the Stern (German Jews) family of Schweizer Reineke. Her burial in Kimberley would suggest that there was no formal Jewish presence at that point in time. 

 

According to Jewish Life in the Country Communities Study (Volume II), by SA Friends of Beit Hatfutsot study of South Africa's rural communities, the Vryburg community was formally established in 1912. It chronicles that Reverend (presumably Peretz) Boyarsky ran the first services for the High Holidays. It would however seem that a community was founded prior to this. The Sonnenberg Papers Collection, at UCT, submit that Charles Sonnenberg served as the President of the Jewish Community of Vryburg “for some years.” By 1912 Charles had died in Cape Town. It thus seems plausible to assume that a congregation existed well before this date. There is no archival evidence to describe the religious and communal life these Jews led in the first two decades. The first historical evidence of a Jewish collective coming into existence is based on the fact that a group of local Jews petitioned for the Jewish cemetery, consecrated on 15 September 1905. Once can assume that this process took several months, hence Jews probably mobilised as a collective sometime around 1904. As the cemetery was consecrated by the Bulawayo Rabbi, it appears that the local Jews looked both North and South (Kimberley) on Jewish matters. 

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From the writing of Israel Abraham (pp. 40-41) we do know that Upington celebrated the High Holidays as early as 1898 and had two minyanim made up of local Jews and those from the surrounding districts. Upington had a much larger and more established Jewish presence, Hence, it seems entirely plausible that Vryburg Jews gathered for the High Holidays sometime after Upington mobilised. 

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Fluidity:

One can assume a level of mutability as the newcomers pursued opportunities elsewhere, as and when these arose. Max Seagull, a case in point. He was born in St. Louis in the USA to Aaron and Pauline (nee Glassman), lived in Barberton and Vryburg and passed away in Port Elizabeth. We know that Charles Sonnenberg left Vryburg and moved to Klerksdorp, though later returned. Ikey Sonnenberg’s short Vryburg sojourn ended with him going to Barberton. Max Sonnenberg also left Vryburg and returned after the Boer War. Theodore Sonnenberg had moved to Madiboego – possibly after his father left and then returned to Vryburg. This pattern of movement can be assumed for others and was not unique to Vryburg. Indeed, the index of families in the Jewish Life in the Country Communities Study (Volume II), by SA Friends of Beit Hatfutsot for many small towns in the Karoo and Northern Cape are littered with duplications. 

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In his study on the Potchefstroom community, Paul Cheifitz succinctly captures the fluidity of the Jewish immigrants and their communities on page 12: “It was clear that the new immigrants had no fixed ties and could move on to other towns or cities where they saw better prospects without complications. Having left their homes in Europe and travelled vast distances to reach South Africa, travelling within the country did not seem as complicated. When first arriving in or moving to new towns immigrants tended to gravitate towards their co-religionists who could advise them on whatever opportunities existed and new customs that had to be learnt. This type of mutual assistance, which had been drawn from their religious education in their places of origin, would later play an integral role in communal development.”

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Vryburg hotelier, Morris Reuben Silverman is a great example. Hailing from Vilnus, Morris applied for citizenship in 1910 at the age of 41 from Kuruman, where he owned the Kuruman Hotel. Morris, who was born in 1869, left Lithuania in 1886 and after seven years in England he made his way to the Transvaal where he spent six years. He then made his way to Woodstock in Cape Town and after a year he migrated to Vryburg in 1900. After two years in Vryburg, he made his way to Middleburg in the Transvaal in 1902, and by 1903 he was in Joburg for twelve months and then returned to Vryburg for a year. In 1906 he again returned to the Transvaal, spending two years in Pietersburg and a year in Randfontein. In 1910 he made his way to Kuruman. His naturalization application form available in the Cape Archives makes for whirling reading.  [CO, VOLUME_NO 8690, SYSTEM  01, REFERENCE 22, PART 1]

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Paul Cheifitz (p. 17) notes: “Unattached, they were able to move around quite freely and if they did not see a future in one place they could easily move on to the next. We find mention of store clerks and assistants in a number of businesses who appear in no other records and it can be concluded these men stayed only a few months or weeks before moving on to another town.” 

 

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