News 8

Kimberley Ex-Pats letter no 8

August 2016

September is usually a lovely month in London. Gail Bernard (nee Levinsohn), Trevor Toube and I hope that any of you with Kimberley connections and within reach at Regents Park will join us there on 11th at 'Klezmer in the Park'. I suggest we make for a spot midway between the bandstand and the community tents where there are things for kids to do and CDs of Jewish music and other Jewish things and food to buy. Look out for the ‘Kimberley’ sign Gail will make. It would be great if you could send me an email to day if you are coming so we can look out for you. It starts at 12 with the JFS band (high school klezmer orchestra) on at 12.15 and goes on till after 6.00pm. Bring a chair or a rug and a picnic and come whenever you like and stay as long as you like. (The bandstand is best reached by the entrance in Park Road, near Baker Street Station).

My daughter Karen, her husband Chris and daughters Bella and Daisy enjoying some cupcakes at 'Klezmer in the Park', bandstand in the background, back in 2010. (They are 7 and 9 now)

'Klezmer in the Park' is something quite special - when this iconic London landmark becomes Jewish for the day! To give you an idea of it, here is a picture of my daughter Karen, her husband Chris and daughters Bella and Daisy enjoying some cupcakes at 'Klezmer in the Park' back in 2010. (They are 7 and 9 now)

It is an event that especially dear to my heart, having brought it into being myself in the early 2000s while I was running the Jewish Music Institute, of which I was the Founder and Director from 1983 to 2011. It is based at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (where we also set up a lectureship in Jewish music within the Department of Music.) I’m so glad the current leaders of JMI continue to mount this lovely event – and that it continues to have the support of the Mayor of London – arguably the greatest city in the world. Wherever you live, you can get a flavour of the event; see the list of bands and listen to the podcast on the JMI website - just click here for this great taster https://www.jmi.org.uk/event/klezmerinthepark2016/

Back l-r, Geraldine Auerbach, Marcia Frank, Sheila Frank and Vicky Capon.
Front Neeta Frank, Noel Kretzmar. Cape Town early 90s

I recently found this picture taken in Cape Town probably in the early 90s. In the back row, I am on the left, (with the huge glasses) then Marcia Frank, Sheila Frank and Vicky Capon. Sitting in Front is Sheila’s mom Neeta Frank and my dad, Noel Kretzmar. We had a lovely afternoon - surely talking about Kimberley days.

By the way, my dad gave a fascinating talk on the History of Medicine on the Diamond Fields – he presented it in Johannesburg and at his old Alma Mater, Edinburgh University and you can read it here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1081541/pdf/medhist00119-0055.pdf as printed in the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine. It showed how innovative the early pioneers had to be, and the several ‘firsts’ in Kimberley medicine.

If you have pictures or any anecdote connected with your family or others in Kimberley that you would like to share in the next Newsletter or on the website – please get in touch.

In fact, if you are reading this Newsletter – do give me a quick email just to say so – and if you want to write more, you can tell me where you fit in to the Kimberley picture what you would (or do) like to read about or contribute. I love it when you write to me – and it’s comforting to know that this letter actually reaches you. Please just click geraldine.auerbach@gmail.com to touch base.

From the Kimberley Community

Barney and co from Kimberley send warm greetings to you all. You might have heard the good news that his son Roy Horwitz graduated with distinction as a mechanical engineer at UCT with first class honours – and the top student in his year. Well done to Roy and congratulations to all the family. They are once more looking forward to the annual influx for Rosh Hashanah of their regular team of former yeshiva bochers, Nachi Ash and Yosef Shissler. They are now married and will come down with their kids and their families to do the honours and create a wonderful chassidishe atmosphere such as Kimberley probably never experienced in its more serious hey-day. Good wishes go to them all from all of us.

Barney reminds us that this year will be the 114th unbroken time the High Holy Days have been celebrated in the shul. Surely a record for SA or anywhere. As you can imagine keeping this 114-year-old, beautiful edifice that we all remember with so much affection in good condition, is quite a task. If you feel inclined to be remembered in the shul this year and to support their efforts, please get in touch. Barney says that this year they are in the process of renovating and repairing the shul and all funds will be welcome for this purpose. So see details at the very end of this newsletter on how to make a donation that will help the community and the shul to flourish.

The Grinne Shul

I found that I also had some pictures myself of the Grinne Shul. Granted it looks a bit sad – must have been pretty close to its demise - but at least they are images we can keep on the website to remember it and those that regularly worshipped there like Leon Chonin’s grandfather Lipi Weinstein. (You can read his wonderful story on our website here. http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/kimberley/Chonin.html . Trevor Toube writes

I once, as a small boy, went to the Grinne shul with my father (Abe Toube) on Simchat Torah .... and afterwards was distressed to see all these respectable [and in my eyes elderly] men getting drunk afterwards behind the bimah!

Grinne Shul

Grinne Shul

And while you are on the website, don’t forget to look at the wedding picture gallery – http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/kimberley/Weddings.html. Thanks so much to all or you who have send articles and pictures. Eli Rabinowitz, all the way over in Perth Australia has worked closely with me and has done a really amazing job on the Kimberley Jewish community web pages. All the links on the community page are now working again thanks to his diligence. Have a look here http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/kimberley/Community.html

Some pioneer families have retained long connections with diamonds. The Bonas family for instance is still a diamond family. (Gustave was one of the first Directors of the original Diamond Syndicate – that bought all the diamonds from DeBeers and other suppliers). His descendent Charles Bonas writes to me: “Am sad to say we now have very little contact with Kimberley – only thing left is one client who goes to view sight goods every five weeks with my local South African representative for his South African cutting factory in the Cape.

We have shifted most of our operations to Botswana in Africa and are now also representing junior mines from Lesotho, Canada and Brazil. In a sense it is not different to my forefathers, they moved to where the industry was based and so do we have to.” (You can read about Gustave Bonas and about his beautiful his house (first called Lilianville after his wife and then called Dunluce when John Orr bought it) on the pioneer page of the website here http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/kimberley/Gustav_Bonas.html

How to contact the shul and make a donation

I you are thinking of sending a donation to the Kimberley Community this year you should please pay directly into the Shul Bank Account, the details of which are below: Please confirm to: Adrian (Barney) Horwitz [ahorwitz@lantic.net] and tell him which names to mention in shul.

The banking details of the Congregation are as follows:

Bank: Standard Bank

Branch: Kimberley

Branch Code: 050002

Swift Code: SBZAZAJJ

Account Name: Griqualand West Hebrew Congregation

Account Number: 040054446

If you have missed any of my previous ex-pats Newsletters you can find them here on the website. http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/kimberley/News.html. Perhaps you would like to write to me about your family for the next newsletter?

Now a bit of history if you are interested

Veld in area that became Kimberley

Did you know where the name Kimberley comes from and how and when we got it?

As we know, our city came about because of diamonds. And Jews came there because of the diamonds discovered on the nearby river banks in 1867 and a few years later in the ‘dry diggings’ on the hitherto desolate dry and dusty Afrikaner farms of Bultfontein, Dorstfontein, and Dutoit’s Pan in 1871 and soon after, there was a ‘New Rush’ to a koppie on the farm Vooruitzicht.

Following on the heels of many South African adventurers from all walks of life who came to seek their fortunes, came pioneering individuals from Britain and Europe – many Jews amongst them. They mostly had to walk the hundreds of miles from the coast beside ox wagons. They became diggers; ‘koppie wallopers’ - traipsing among the diggings buying the stones; brokers; and sellers setting up their tents in the main street. Jews also came to service those directly involved in the diamond rush – supplying essentials such as transport, tents, tools, food, clothing, shelter and liquor. Many succeeded greatly - and many fell by the wayside.

Of course, it was not originally called ‘Kimberley’ – or even was in the Cape Colony for that matter. This area between the Orange and the Vaal rivers was clearly part the OFS. Once the reality of its jewels was established, Britain backed the Griqua Chief’s claim to the land, and then absorbed Griqualand West into the Cape Colony ‘for protection’. To make it quite clear who was in charge, the names of the territories were accordingly anglicised. The British Colonial Secretary at the time in William Gladstone’s Liberal Government, hated both the term ‘New Rush’ - too vulgar – and ‘Vooruitzicht’ – he could neither spell it, nor pronounce it!

So those charged with finding a new name for what was still a mining camp made very sure that he would be able to spell and pronounce the new name.by naming it after the Colonial Secretary himself, Lord Kimberley! At the time that John Wodehouse had received his elevation from Queen Victoria in 1869 and become the 1st Earl of Kimberley, he was living at his huge country estate, Kimberley Hall, in the village of Kimberley in Norfolk, hence the choice of title. Interestingly the name Kimberley is derived from the Anglo Saxon words clynburgh and leah, which sounds to me as though there is a Jewish ring to it. It means "women were entitled to own land". So the New Rush camp on the farm Vooruitzicht, became Kimberley by proclamation on 5 July 1873.

The new name for the neighbouring digger camps has a definite Jewish connection. In the early 1880s, as the Dutoitspan and Bultfontein mining camps began to take on a more permanent look, the inhabitants sent a petition to the Governor of the Cape Colony to change their status to that of a municipality. The petition was granted and on 16 August 1883 the mining camps officially became known as Beaconsfield, named after Lord Beaconsfield. This was the title of the only Jewish-born British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, who had died in 1881. Disraeli’s father abandoned Judaism after a dispute with his synagogue and the young Benjamin became an Anglican at the age of 12. His was Prime Minister twice, the architect of the modern Conservative party, involved in the purchase of shares for Britain in the Suez Canal and widely recognised as one of Europe's leading statesmen – as well as the author of several novels! In 1878 Queen Victoria ennobled him as the 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. Who would have thought!

By 1882 a tramway connected Kimberley to Beaconsfield and the Dutoitspan Road was the first street in Southern Africa to be illuminated by electric lights. By 1912, these mining towns had expanded so greatly that the separate borough of Beaconsfield was incorporated into the municipal area of Kimberley which then became a ‘city’. To complete the Kimberley mines story, the Wesselton Mine, the fifth big mine in the Kimberley area, was discovered on the farm Benaauwheidsfontein 21 years after the first rush to the dry diggings; and two years after the great amalgamation when Barney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes agreed to join forces and formed De Beers Consolidated Mines in 1888.

I collect and read books on the stormy and exciting history of Kimberley and its colourful characters and can recommend as a starter, Brian Robert’s ‘Kimberley, Turbulent City’. You can get it for £6.51 at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kimberley-Turbulent-City-Brian-Roberts/dp/090839652X . on our website there is link to a gallery of amazing pictures of the early days of the Kimberley mine here: https://grahamlesliemccallum.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/a-chronological-pictorial-of-the-kimberley-mine/

Another way I can recommend of reading snippets of Kimberley history is on the Facebook Group page Kimberley Calls and Recalls run by Steve Lunderstedt, which gives a story or two from Kimberley’s history every day. You can have a look here - it’s fascinating. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1374275302814914/) Often Jewish people and places are mentioned. For instance, in August Steve wrote:
19 August 2000, Harry Oppenheimer dies.
Harry Frederick Oppenheimer was born in the family home “Friedberg” at 7 Lodge Road, Belgravia Kimberley on 28 October 1908. His father, later Sir Ernest, was a Town Councillor for Kimberley, and on that eventful day in his family life, he attended routine council meetings. The birth notice in the Diamond Fields Advertiser simply states that Harry was born that day, the “son of Ernest and May Oppenheimer”. The birth entry is recorded in the Griqualand West Jewish Congregation register, with his name recorded as Harry Friedrich, the naming ceremony being on 5 November 1908, the service being conducted by the Reverend H Isaacs. (The family later converted to Christianity).
22 August 1873, The first recorded Jewish birth in Kimberley Victor Rosettenstein.
22 August 1885, Lionel Phillips marries Florrie Ortlepp at All Saints Church, Beaconsfield.

I am preparing an entry for the pioneers pages for some important Kimberley characters: eg Sir Lionel Phillips to go along with other interesting Jewish characters such as Joseph Imroth, Sir David Harris, Barney Barnato and Sarah Gertrude Millin.

I am presently also compiling a fascinating short biography of Alfred Beit – one of the most important financiers and organisers of successful mining establishments in Kimberley and Johannesburg.

Alfred Beit bust outside imperial college London.