Introduction: German and Eastern European Jews in South Africa

The history of South Africa’s Jewish communities is inseparable from the migration networks forged by a small number of pioneering families. These networks—commercial, familial, and communal—linked towns in the Cape Colony and the interior to one another and, ultimately, to Europe. Vryburg offers a particularly rich case study of this process.

Although German Jews played a pioneering role in establishing the town’s commercial foundations, the communal and cultural character of Vryburg Jewry would ultimately be shaped by Eastern European migrants. The interaction between these groups—German Yekke Jews and Eastern European Litvaks—mirrored broader patterns across South Africa.

Two families exemplify this process: the Mosenthals and the Sonnenbergs. Together, they illustrate how German-Jewish commercial traditions laid the groundwork for Jewish settlement, which was later transformed by mass migration from Eastern Europe.

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The Mosenthal Model: German Jewish Trading Networks

The story of South Africa’s German Jews is inextricably linked to the Mosenthal family. Their commercial strategies and familial networks served as a model for later Jewish economic expansion into the interior. The Sonnenberg family would later emulate this pattern in Vryburg.

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The Mosenthals were prominent traders who originated in Germany and played a major role in the economic development of the Cape Colony. Joseph Mosenthal was the first to arrive, landing in Cape Town in 1839. In 1848 he moved inland to Graaff-Reinet and later to Aliwal North. His brothers, Adolph and Julius, followed soon after.

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The family operated trading houses in Port Elizabeth, East London, and Kimberley, as well as stores in Rouxville, Boshoff, Brandfort, Jacobsdal, Ficksburg, Thaba ’Nchu, and Theunissen in the Free State. Harry Mosenthal, son of Adolph, was active in Kimberley. At each location, the Mosenthals brought over landsmanne—relatives and townsmen from their region of origin—thereby extending their commercial and social networks.

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Louis Herrman’s study (pp. 208-212) provides context for understanding their significance. As Herrman noted, the Mosenthals were instrumental in establishing a distinctly Jewish form of rural commerce: centrally located trading houses that supplied general merchandise to farmers while purchasing agricultural produce through agents—often family members—dispersed across the countryside.

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Even more significantly, the Mosenthal brothers were responsible, directly or indirectly, for the migration of scores of German-Jewish families from the Duchy of Hesse-Cassel to South Africa. Herrman estimated that they accounted for nearly half of all Jewish migration to South Africa between 1845 and 1870. The Cassel district itself comprised four rabbinates: Cassel, Fulda, Hanau, and Marburg.

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A curious footnote to this history is the appearance of several individuals bearing the Mosenthal surname—Ben, James, and George—listed as “natives” in the Vryburg district. One hypothesis is that these individuals descended from families who worked for the Mosenthals and later adopted the surname.​

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Vryburg and the Sonnenberg Axis

If the Mosenthal family represented the typical German-Jewish business model, the history of Jewish Vryburg is closely linked with the Sonnenberg family. The earliest German Jewish families to arrive in the town were interconnected and mostly centered around the Sonnenbergs and their business ventures, especially S. Solomon & Company.

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The Sonnenbergs came from Kaiserslautern, Germany. The first to arrive in South Africa was Isaac “Ikey” Sonnenberg. He started his Cape journey as a trader and farmer in Aliwal North, where he partnered with his brother Charles.

In 1869, tempted by rumors of gold (Rosenthal, p. 105 & Rochlin 144), Ikey moved to the Tati Concession Lands in northern Bechuanaland. From there, he followed a route common to many European Jews of that period: the diamond diggings along the Vaal River during the 1870s, Kimberley shortly after, and eventually the gold fields of the Transvaal in the mid-1870s.

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Louis Herrman (p. 232) described Ikey Sonnenberg as “one of the most celebrated characters at the diggings,” known for his gambling, wit, and friendly nature. Ikey maintained a strong Jewish identity. In 1887, he chaired the meeting that led to the creation of the Witwatersrand Goldfields Jewish Association (Rabinowitz, p. 167).

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Ikey was joined in South Africa by his brothers Charles and Joseph (“Joe”), later followed by Louis Sonnenberg. Joe eventually moved to Baltimore, while Charles moved to London in 1879 after selling his interests to Cecil John Rhodes. Before leaving, Charles played an important role in Kimberley’s Jewish community, serving as president of the Griqualand West Jewish Congregation. His wife laid the cornerstone for the Kimberley synagogue in 1875 (Rosenthal, pp. 116-117).

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Charles lost his fortune in London and returned to South Africa to rebuild his wealth. In 1884, he joined Sir Charles Warren’s expedition to Stellaland, which brought him to Vryburg. Ikey seems to have settled there a few years prior. Another Jewish member of this expedition was Samson Solomon, Charles Sonnenberg’s future business partner.

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S. Solomon & Company and the Sonnenberg–Solomon Partnership

The partnership between Charles Sonnenberg and Samson Solomon gave rise to S. Solomon & Company, later known as Solomon Stores—described by Max Sonnenberg as the dominant business in Vryburg.

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Samson Solomon was married to Sophie Solomon (1853-1926). Sampson and Sophie Solomon (nee Solomon) were married in England and they had five children, Laurence Sampson, Charles, Nettie (Goldberg), Ruby (surname not clear) and Gay Luis (Weintroub). Little is known about Samson’s early years. Max Sonnenberg described him as a “fine-looking old gentleman with a beautiful white beard.”

 

From Max Sonnenberg’s biography we know that Charles, the second eldest son, ran the business after Sampson Sampson left for the Cape. Sampson passed away in 1916 at the age of 75. From Laurence’s estate we learn that he owned one third of three farms in the Vryburg district – Campden, Havant and Howden. Laurence, who died in 1938, was born in England in 1872. Charles was born in 1876 in London. He married Bertha Schwartz in 1913. Bertha, born in Minsk in 1892, became a pioneering figure in South African law and politics, qualifying as one of the first practicing women advocates in 1933 and later serving as a member of Parliament for the South African Party. Charles Solomon died in Johannesburg in 1944. 

 

Max Sonnenberg and the Next Generation

By 1886 Charles Sonnenberg was elected to the local Management Council of Vryburg, having established himself as a popular and prominent figure. Charles however moved to Klerksdorp shortly thereafter and served as the President of the local Jewish community, established in September 1889 (Rabinowitz, p. 173).

 

It was Max Sonnenberg who would drive this venture along with Julius Rosenblatt.

 

Max Sonnenberg and his father Louis (brother of Charles) were the last members of the Sonnenberg family to settle in Vryburg. Max’s half-brother, Theodore Sonnenberg—born of Louis’s first marriage—had arrived earlier. Theodore moved from the Cape to Kimberley, Klerksdorp, and finally Vryburg, where in 1885 he secured a job at S. Solomon & Company through his uncle Charles.

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In 1889, Theodore returned to Germany to marry Bertha Bing. Soon after, Max (then fourteen) and his father immigrated to South Africa. Economic hardships and family encouragement influenced Louis’s decision to leave Germany. Theodore, Max recalled, was “an excellent advertisement for the new country.” Max Sonnenberg recounts, “Theodore Sonnenberg and his sister Lina (who married Julius Rosenblatt) had given way to the family weakness for Africa.” In his autobiography Max narrates that Theo and Lina sent him stamp issues from Bechuanaland. Later, Max sold his stamp collection to pay for his and his father’s way to South Africa.

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Max joined the staff of S. Solomon & Company, while his father Louis managed a branch of the business and a small hotel in Maribogo (Madibogo). Max famously described Maribogo as a town whose existence was hard to justify, located on flat terrain near Madibogo Pan. Later, Louis moved to Rhodesia where Solomon and Company had a branch. Theodore and Bertha moved to Madiboego at that point. Bertha's brother would also later make his was to Vryburg. 

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Both Max and Theodore later became prominent figures in Vryburg. Max gained national prominence before leaving the town around 1920, while Theodore remained in Vryburg, serving as long-time councillor and mayor until his death in 1949. As we saw in the previous section (Early Jewish Settlers), Solomon Stores and the Sonnembers proved to the nexus of the early Jewish community. It seems reasonable that a large number of the two score Solomon & Company employees and management were Jews. Moreover, the yekke families in adjacent businesses - Hammerschlag, Abt, Blumgart, Rosenblatt- were often connected. 

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The Eastern European Influx: Russian and Litvak Jews

While German Jews laid the foundations of Vryburg’s economy, it was Eastern European Jews—mainly from Lithuania and Latvia—who shaped the community’s demographic and cultural identity. 

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Their migration was driven by strong push and pull factors. The assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 led to increased persecution of Jews under the May Laws of 1882. Expulsions, restrictions, and economic struggles caused mass emigration from the Pale of Settlement. Although most emigrants moved to the United States and Britain, a small but important group came to South Africa, attracted by the diamond rush in Kimberley (1870) and later gold on the Rand.

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Between 1881 and 1910, about 40,000 Eastern European Jews immigrated to South Africa. Many rural towns, including Vryburg, probably reminded them of the shtetls they left behind in places like Plunjan / Plungian, Leliunai, Mozheik /Mažeikiai, Vieksniai, Shadova, Gruzd, Shavel, Krekenava/Krakinovo, Židikai, Ponovezh, Skapiskis, Rokiškis, Abele/Obeliai, Talsi, Tukums, Vindava/Valdemārpils, Ilukste, Leipaja and Dvinsk/Daugvapils.

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The bulk of the Litvak Jews migrated from six districts: Courland, Volhynia, Podolia, Kiev, Grodno, Vilna and Sulwoki Remarkably, Herrman (p. 255) submits that three towns, Yanishik, Shalvi and Plunjan accounted for at least 50% of the Russian Jews (Herrman, pp. 254-255). Samuel Marks was from the Sulwoki province and his success popularized South Africa for others from that area (Gershater, pp. 69-70, 73).

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Courland, Talsi, and the Lieberthal Network

Although Vryburg is often associated with Max Sonnenberg, the town's communal life was, in many ways, closely connected to the Lieberthal family. Simon and Lea Lieberthal, who originally came from Talsi (Talsen) in Courland, led the community. Courland was a region with a cultural middle ground between German Jewry and the traditional Jewish world of the Pale of Settlement. As Dr. S. Lipschitz observed, the Courland Jew (Kurischer) was influenced by both German culture and Eastern European religious traditions.

 

This dual identity enabled Courland Jews, including the Lieberthals, to act as cultural and social links—between German Jews, other Jews and non-Jews, and migrants and locals. The Courlanders were a great fit for the frontier and Bechuanaland. 

 

 Networks, Memory, and Silence

Jewish migration to Vryburg was supported by close-knit informal networks. Families assisted relatives and landsmen (landsmanne) in migrating, finding jobs, and establishing themselves in rural businesses. As Herrman (p. 255) describes:

 

"Here [South Africa] they still pursued the occupation of peddling amongst the agricultural occupation. The long distances necessitated a wagon and oxen, and equipped as tochers [smous], they followed the course that had been successful with their brethren. They assisted their relatives and fellow townsman to leave their own unhappy land, and they gradually drained the population from the districts that had originally left in Russia." 

 

This explains how a place like Mažeikiai in Lithuania sent Vryburg Abraham Lubavitch (Lax), the Poliak's (Zirre was the sister of Abe) the Wald's (Pauline was another of Abe's sisters). Brothers, Michael, Samuel and Woolf Friedman and their cousin Louis Sher hailed from nearby Vieksniai and were related by marriage to the Lubavitch family.

 

The Talsen footprint was more pronounced: Friedman, Lieberthal, Blumberg, Immerman, Lemkus, Traub, Sebba, Brenner, Spitz, Hummel, Gluckman, Toube, and the Kaesrtad lived in Vrybrg. Gertie's Sussman (nee Engelberg) mother was a Kallmeyer from Talsi. Talsen families like Sarif, Gabbe and Blumberg made their way to nearby Bloemhof. Vryburg and it surrounds attracted other Courland families: Abrahamson, Rohloff, Jocum, Cohen, Edelstein, Salmonson, Friedland, Weinberg, Levius / Lewis, Jacobson, Fabian, Friedberg, Sure, Creek, Levitas, Perkis, Scheinberg and Slebst. 

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For most families raised in Vryburg, the details of this history and these connections were seldom discussed. Issy Lieberthal vividly highlighted this silence: “We never knew where they came from or what their lives were about and how they landed up in Vryburg. Much of the family remains a mystery. I was sure they were delivered by the infamous stork. We did not even know birthdays or what happened. It was like a closed door once they got onto a boat in Riga.” 

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