Jews in hospitality:

Vryburg Jews were also very prominent in the hospitality industry, and at one time, Jewish families owned all three local hotels. They were all situated on the main Market Street and offered a warm home for Jewish travelers and several retirees living in Vryburg. Each property featured its own large inner yard with parking garages. Today, none of these hotels remain. The economics of operating hotels in rural South Africa no longer make sense, and travelers now prefer staying in boutique accommodations. Currently, these hotels have been repurposed as shops.

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The Grand Hotel:

An authoritative note on Vryburg hotels was written by Graham Brodovcky. The first hotel in Vryburg, the Criterion, was established by the German Jewish Abt brothers, Daniel and Hermann, in the mid-1880s. After selling the hotel in 1901, the brothers moved north to Kuruman and Geluk. The Geluk property (later owned by Elias Helfer) also included a country-licensed hotel - according to a notice from its sale in 1908, it was the only country-licensed hotel in the entire district. This property was sold as part of Herman's estate in 1908. Herman died in Cape Town in June 1905. Daniel Abt died and was buried in Kuruman in 1936. His physician was Dr. Cohen, and Herbert Kahn, a cousin, signed his death certificate.

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That hotel, which became the Grand Hotel, had a long association with Jewish families. After the Abt brothers, the hotel was owned from 1901 to 1906 by Morris Silverman.

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Morris Silverman, in turn, sold the Grand Hotel to Jos Smollan and Solomon Smollan, who was married to Leah (nee Eisenberg). They jointly managed it until 1917, after which the Grand was owned by Jos & David Smollan. That same year, Solomon Smollan lost his wife. Jos Smollan went on to amass a considerable fortune after leaving Vryburg. Jos was generous and, in his estate, he left money to build a synagogue in Vryburg and other Jewish causes.

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This act of generosity from the bachelor courted controversy in some quarters of the family. One disgruntled member of the Smollan family submits that Jos “cheated” the family. In her book, Snippets of Time: Memoirs of a Maverick, Lola Watter wrote as follows about this decision. “For all those years, Great Uncle Jos had a hidden agenda. He had not assiduously garnered that considerable wealth in order, at the end, to make a grand charitable gesture which would satisfy the greed that he had nurtured in his family. Instead, the bulk of his money was left to the Vryburg Jewish Congregation, to build a new Synagogue in his name.” It seems that members of the author’s family had been led to expect a large windfall. Lola submits: “Flattering relatives always took him out, fetching and carrying him when he called on them. For he always smilingly remind them that one day they would feature in Big Letters in his Wil!” She later adds, “Great Uncle Jos chose this small town of Vryburg as suitable for his memorial – a big fish in a small pond. But by the time great Uncle Jos died, the joke had turned on him. For there were scarcely enough Jews left in Vryburg to make up the ten necessary for a service.”

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It was noteworthy that the sum of money left to Vryburg, although very generous by the standards of the time, was a small part of the estate, which some in the family would dispute.  

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In 1927, Jack Perel and Jacob Cohen purchased the hotel. Jacob Cohen's brothers owned the competing Savoy. From 1929 to 1935, Jack Perel operated the hotel alone. Under the Perel family's management, the hotel became a home for Jewish travelers. Felicia Perel recounts:

 

Bobba and her husband Jack Perel ran various hotels, and this resulted in Bobba being a very fine and proficient cook. Her reputation was such that any Jewish travelling salesman near Vryburg on a Friday would make a point of checking into their hotel, The Grand, for Shabbat, since Bobba’s Shabbat table was legend. She served traditional Jewish foods, including various herrings, cold meats and food from de heim (the home – which refers to Lithuania, where most of the South African Jews originated).

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In 1941, the Grand was sold to Jack Silbert and later to Maurice Aaron (Morris) Rohloff.

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The Grand under the Rohloff's:

Morris Rohloff arrived in South Africa from Windau, in the old country. After a career in farming, which took him from Vryersdale (between Kakamas and Keimos) to Upington, he moved to Vryburg in 1946. In 1947, he bought the Grand Hotel, which the Rohloffs owned until 1981.

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Back then, the Grand was also the town's main restaurant. Maurice Joffe fondly recalls the salted butter rolled on ice. I have many memories of Sunday lunches (lamb chops!) at the Grand Hotel and my mom telling me that my eyes were bigger than my stomach. During this time, the Rohloffs lived at the hotel. I remember the swimming pool and visiting the office behind the reception. Most famously, there was the legendary birthday party for Morris Rohloff and his grandson Justin on December 25th. It was the best Christmas party in town. Frank Rohloff, affectionately called Boytjie, studied at the Hotel School in Switzerland and did a stellar job running the hotel. I clearly remember the hotel being named Country Hotel of the Year by the Travelers Association for three consecutive years in the mid-1970s.

 

After selling the hotel, Boytjie started a textile factory to produce uniforms and also invested in real estate. His venture into that sector was impacted by sanctions and wasn't as successful as his investment in South Africa’s 100th Kentucky Fried Chicken. Boytjie became the KFC king in South Africa, and he and his wife, Christa (née Hendricks), later moved to the Strand.

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The Central and the International:

Directly opposite the Grand was The Central Hotel, initially known as Vryburg Hotel. The original owner was Solomon (Sigmund) Hammershlag, who was married to Jenny Abt (sister of the Abt brothers), owners of the Criterion (Grand) Hotel. The Hammershlags owned the property as early as 1893. Later, it was owned by the Blumgarts and then by Ludwig Salomon. Anney Garnett found an old 1905 ad in the Northern News that seems to confirm this. Later, William Heppel owned it, followed by Harry and Annie Allschwang, a Courland family, from 1928 to 1931. They sold to the Wailer family (1931-1937), who sold to Kevi Levin (1937-1944), then to the Zwarenstein family (1944-1946), and finally to the Jacobsons (1946-1957).

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The International Hotel (formerly the Vryburg and the Savoy Hotel), located opposite the Stellelander and Land Bank, was owned by several Jewish families: Lowitz and Radowsky (1918-1919), Maximillian Isaac Cohen, known as Moses Cohen (1919-1920), followed by his brother Harris Bernard (1921-1924). The next owners were Morris Friedman and David Samuel Cohen (1924), then David Samuel Cohen alone until 1925. Afterward, Jon Mandle Silbert (1925) owned it, followed by Herman Greenberg and Abraham Blashker in the same year. Greenberg continued alone until his death in December 1928. The hotel was then owned by Kevi Levin (1929-1936), John Weinberg (1936-1944), and the Brodovcky-Allen families (1944-1964). Jeannot (John) Weinberg was captured by the British while fighting for the Boers in early 1900 and served as a POW. Graham Brodovcky included an article published in the Jewish Report in 1999 about John. Jeannot (John) Weinberg was captured by the British fighting for the Boers in early 1900 and served as a POW. Graham Brodovcky kept an article carried in the Jewish Report in 1999 on John. 

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Liquor:

Each of the hotels held lucrative licenses to sell alcohol. There are also several standalone bottle stores. As of now, we know Julius Rosenblatt had one in 1910. In 1918, Elias Helfer obtained the Gleluk license, which Morris Bayer took over a year later. In 1919, David Smollan took over the license previously held by Frank Winter—who had passed away. It was a standalone bottle store. He held that license until at least 1926. Max Sonnenberg also had a license as late as 1919. Growing up, we all visited the Rauff family's bottle store. My brother Wayne even studied for his Bar Mitzvah there.