New Research on South African Jews: Who is researching what about South African Jews these days?

New Research on South African Jews

Three sessions: Wednesdays 6 November, 27 November, and 4 December 2024

7.00pm South African time (10.00am California; 1.00pm New York; 6.00pm UK; 7.00pm South Africa, Europe; 8.00pm Israel)

South African Jewish community history offers so many topics for in-depth study. The CHOL community fulfils a great role in eliciting and organising personal family stories and primary research documents for our communities. But we are eager to hear what subjects have been chosen for current dissertations for higher degrees and by leading research scholars. In this series curated by professors Shirli Gilbert (UCL) and Adam Mendelsohn (UCT) we are offered a window into the academic world of South African Jewish research.

To join: please email info@chol.website for the link (to be put on the CHOL mailing list) 

6 November

The Paradox of South African Jewish Emigration, Reviva Hasson (Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies) 

The South African Jewish community ranks as the strongest Jewish community in the English-speaking world and yet Jews have been leaving such that the population today is half what it was at its peak. This paradox underlies our question: why have Jews been leaving South Africa? Using data from three community surveys in the post-apartheid era we explore the ‘what, where and why’ of South African Jewish emigration trends as well as differences based on age, place of residence, financial wellbeing and Jewish identity strand.

27 November

Finding Displaced Relatives: how South Africans found their missing loved ones during and after the Second World War, Gavin Beinart-Smollan (New York University)

In 1944, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies established the ‘Relatives Information Service’ (RIS), to help South African Jews trace relatives in Europe with whom they had lost touch. In this session, we will explore how this remarkable organisation worked and try to understand its place in the massive global effort to help people in the Allied countries, Jewish and not, find their missing European relatives. We will also explore how you might go about searching for the names of your own relatives in the files of the RIS. Please come prepared with any South African family stories of WW2-era relative tracing that you have!

4 December

Who is researching What, about South African Jews these days?, Prof Shirli Gilbert (UCL)

Where are the current scholars based, and what topics have piqued their interest? Shirli Gilbert Professor of Modern Jewish history at University College London, tells us what is currently in the pipeline, who is investigating and on what topic (and give a few examples).