Newspaper Page Text
The Jews of South Africa
Continued from page 24.
Board of Deputies, the umbrella
organization of South African Jewry.
Yet. as Katz would probably agree,
the Jewish community has not al
ways been so blessed as it is today.
Daniel Elazar and Peter Med-
ding, in their work, “Jewish Com
munities in Frontier Societies,”
wrote that the period from 1910 to
1948 was “undoubtedly the least
happy” f° r South Africa's Jews. It
was a period, they argue, that saw
an estrangement between Jews and
Afrikaners—the largest white group
in the country.
Jewish immigration was singled
out for restriction by Afrikaner
nationalists and, under the influ
ence of Nazi ideas, anti-Semitism
spread. In 1930, the minister of the
interior and future National Party
prime minister, pro-Zionist Daniel
Malan, introduced the Quota Bill
which favored immigrants from
such countries as Germany, France
and Italy.
After 1933, when increasing
numbers of German Jews sought
refuge, a new Aliens Act was passed
to close this unforeseen loophole.
Malan claimed that the Aliens Act
was really in the best interests of
Jews.
As late as 1941, when the Nazis
were readying the gas chambers for
European Jewry, the National Party
issued a formal statement reiterat
ing support for the Aliens Act. In
1943, the Transvaal branch of the
party officially banned Jews from
membership. And these anti-Jewish
sentiments, say Elazar and Med-
ding, penetrated the very influen
tial Dutch Reformed Church.
Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect
of apartheid, suggested in the 1930s
that Jewish economic activity
should be regulated by a quota sys
tem. In the wake of the Holocaust,
when the full impact of this tragedy
seeped in, the National Party un
derwent a metamorphosis vis-a-vis
Jews.
Six months before the 1948 gen
eral election, which the National
ists won for the first time, Malan
published a policy statement on
Jews. He acknowledged that there
were anti-Semitic members in the
party, but denied that the party
itself was anti-Jewish.
After the election, the Jewish
Board of Deputies held a meeting
with Malan, and Malan said he
“looks forward to the time when
the so-called Jewish (issue) will
disappear altogether from the life
of this country and its politics." He
added: “Apart altogether from the
question of immigration, we believe
that there must be no discrimina
tion in regard to the Jews who are
in South Africa."
The rapprochement between the
Nationalists and the Jewish com
munity was perhaps also an histor
ical necessity: the Nationalists
needed the Jews to maintain a
“united” white community. And,
as Elazar and Medding point out,
the rise of the National Party to
full political power coincided with
the creation of Israel. Since the
Afrikaners had a special affinity
with the Old Testament, they looked
upon Israel with great favor.
Inevitably, Israel’s establish
ment generated “a new respect for
Jews in South Africa,” remarked
Dr. Sylvia Kaplan, national presi
dent of the South African Associa
tion of Arts.
Louis Pienaar, a Cape Town
lawyer, and an Afrikaner, explained
how the complex relationship be
tween Jews and Afrikaners has
changed since World War II: “We
had a mixed approach to the Jew
ish community. Endearment for
those rural Jews with whom we
associated closely, fear and jeal
ously for those in the city who were
economically successful.”
Since then, he added, the Afri
kaners have assumed political power
and have come to realize the impor
tant contribution of Jews to the
economy. “This role is accepted
and respected, and the image of the
Jew as Hoggenheimer(a mythical.
anti-Semitic caricature of Jewish
financial power) has disappeared.”
Kaplan, who lives in the port
resort of Durban, agreed that since
1945 attitudes of prejudice have
broken down. “There is less anti-
Semitism and a greater acceptance
of Jews. Jews have been able to
identify as South Africans. There
are still restrictions in social clubs,
right here in Durban, for example,
but in every day life one is hardly
aware of anti-Semitism.”
Temple Israel, a Reform syn-
agoguein Johannesburg’s Hillbrow
district, was heavily damaged in
August of last year when a limpet
mine exploded. The authorities im
mediately blamed the banned Afri
can National Congress, for South
African President Marais Viljoen
had been scheduled to attend a ser
vice to mark 50 years of Progres
sive Judaism in South Africa. No
one today is certain who was behind
the explosion, but it has caused
synagogues and Jewish institutions
throughout the nation to tighten
security.
Theo Aranson, a Jewish MP
who represents the National Party,
told this reporter that the Temple
Israel incident embarrassed the
government. “Every bomb that goes
off undermines our stability and
foreign confidence in South Africa,”
he observed. Archie Shadling, a
Jewish communal leader in Cape
Town, concurred. “It’s simply not
in the government’s interest to
permit overt acts of anti-Semitism,”
he said.
More recently, the government
expelled Brendan Wilmer, a Brit
ish neo-Nazi, after his application
for permanent residence was re
jected.
Harry Schwartz, an opposition
M P who sits on the national execu
tive of the Jewish Board of Depu
ties, said South African Jewry re
mains vigilant. “This is a community
that doesn’t take anything lying
down,” he said. “We’re a fairly
tough and aggressive lot, and we
don’t stand for anti-Semitism."
it
Wishing All Our Friends
a Happy New Year”
A0(l^
4W379
Atlanta Apparel Mart
By appointment only
Helen Frushtick
(404) 659-2257
, ('//cJewuMiA ,7/or/A'/
. European Designs
• Custom Silks
• Chuppa rental for Weddings
Ask for Jerry or S.C.
Howell Have a happ Y' health y New Year
Mill 351-6623
Square
Southern Region
Atlanta Council/Dixie Council
B.B.Y.O.
board and staff
extend best wishes to
the entire community for a
healthy and happy
New Year.
^L^ShanaTov^__
atbv niSt? aiStf mSty ai^tf
Gteefuujfl And
Wblw Fon A
Oqletree's
FINE FOODS
•Sprayberry Crossing
On Sandy Plains At East Piedmont
•Dunwoody Village
Chamblee-Dunwoody At Mt. Vernon
•Peachtree Corners
5270 Peachtree Parkway
•Merchant’s Walk
Johnson’s Ferry At Upper Roswell Rd.
•Sandy Springs
Sandy Springs At Hammond Drive
aiSir atStr aiSty atSty ciStr
PAGE 25RH THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 3, 1986