Sacks

Chapter 106 –SOLLY AND GERALD SACKS

SOLLY AND GERALD SACKS – EX ARCADIANS

Gerald born 1943 and his brother Solly, born 1944 were placed in the care of Arcadia in 1954. Gerald left Arcadia in 1957 and Solly left in 1960.

THE PROTTER INCIDENCE

Gerald Sacks writes I was in charge of El Al Security for a while and in fact the first night they ever showed TV in South Africa, my brother and I were on the news broadcast by Hugh Rouse, about the shooting in Fox Street at the Israeli Consulate

Attack. The person who perpetrated the attack was Protter.

Solly Sacks writes I also worked in El Al security for nearly 20 years and for some of this time Gerald was also employed in the security. During the infamous incident of the siege of the Israeli Consulate in Fox Street, I became the main negotiator between the police and David Protter who was holding our people captive in the consulate. The night after I was the first person to appear on South African TV which had just started that night in April 1975 and they opened with this story.

THE GERMAN BEERHALL INCIDENCE

by Gerald Sacks

The German community in Johannesburg had decided to celebrate Hitler’s birthday by having a large party

under the Hippodrome in Hillbrow. Several of us young Jewish men were not going to allow that to happen. I was part of that group that included Anthony Lipschitz, Harold Jankelowitz, Basil Platzky, and many others.

Solly in a news cutting of the siege

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About 14 of us managed to get into the beer hall which was down stairs, by using broken Yiddish sounding like German. The place was packed with young Germans. Outside my brother, Solly Sacks, who at that time was head of Bnei Akiva, arranged for several hundred youngsters to demonstrate outside on Kotze Street. Their numbers kept increasing until there were a thousand protestors outside.

When the Germans stepped onto the long thick bar in their Nazi uniforms shouting, “Raus tzu de Yuden”etc we started throwing our bar stools at them causing them to fall back bringing everything including the big mirror crashing down that was behind the bar and holding all the ceramic mugs. Of course, all hell broke loose. We were fighting with everyone.

We managed to get up the stairs and out of the beer hall and into the big crowd outside. The police arrived with dogs and using a bullhorn, asked for me by name. Harold and others came with me to stand in front of the police captain. He noticed the bag Harold was carrying and asked “Wat het jy daar in jou sak?” I told Harold to open it. It was full of rand note notes.

The captain asked immediately “Het jy hulle gerob?”

We told him that it was our bond money in case we were arrested. He could not believe it.

In those days, we had people like the late David Olitsky

and Colin Kerzlan who is today I believe high up in the police force in Johannesburg as reserve policeman at the Hillbrow police station.

I could not get to my car to go home, at the time I lived on Hagen Rd in Greenside. Stanley Seef was able to pick me up and take me home. My wife, Gloria, had received several phone calls threatening her and our young children at home.

After a few days Harold Jankelowitz and a few others went with me to the flat where the head of the young German community lived. It was dinner time when we knocked on the door. We burst in and in front of his wife told him that if one Jewish person was attacked in any way we would make German biltong out of him. That ended this episode.

The Sunday Express had a full page picture of us holding up a sign we had taken from the beer hall that was celebrating Hitler’s birthday.

CHANGES IN SOUTH AFRICA

Solly Sacks was one time Chairman of the South African Zionist Federation.

He now serves on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization and on the world body of World Jewish Congress

Nelson Mandela meeting the leadership of the Jewish Community after he was released from prison Seated: Helen Sussman, Nelson Mandela, Ex-Chief Rabbi Harris, Judge Izzie Maissels
Standing: Solly Sacks - Chairman SA Zionist Fed. Honorable Abe Abramson-President SA Zionist Federation, Professor Michael Katz-Chairman South African Jewish Board of Deputies,
Thabo Mbeki one time SA President and Mr Surtees.
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“A very significant and historical letter from then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir to me as Chairman of the Zionist Federations where he agreed after our request and very important behind the scenes negotiations to lift sanctions against South Africa. Israel was one of the first countries to do so” Solly Sacks

COMPILED BY DAVID SANDLER
EMAIL sedsand@ca.com.au