Beyond politics? German Jewish refugees and racism in South Africa

Shirli Gilbert explores how German Jewish refugees’ historical experiences of antisemitism informed their engagement with South African racism before and during the early years of apartheid.

Beyond politics? German Jewish refugees and racism in South Africa

Author

Prof Shirli Gilbert

Abstract

Between 1933 and the outbreak of the Second World War, around 6,000 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany landed on South Africa’s shores, becoming the largest group of Jewish refugees on the African continent. This article by Shirli Gilbert, which is part of a larger project, explores how German Jewish refugees’ historical experiences of antisemitism informed their engagement with South African racism before and during the early years of apartheid. While a limited body of research has documented the refugees’ contributions to South African social and cultural life, as well as the close-knit communities they established upon arrival, we know very little about how the Nazi past informed their engagement with the post-war world’s quintessential racial state. Their responses to the racist policies of their country of settlement are not easily generalizable, but do reveal some distinctive patterns. Of the minority who concerned themselves with racism, few chose the route of radical political activism. Instead, they challenged the racist underpinnings of apartheid in the social and cultural spheres, as journalists, educators, social workers and intellectuals, or via legal political routes, through parliamentary opposition. Multiple factors shaped these responses, including most obviously the traumatic circumstances of the refugees’ migration, as well as gender, class and generational belonging.

Citation

Gilbert, Shirli. 2023. “Beyond Politics? German Jewish Refugees and Racism in South Africa.” Patterns of Prejudice 57 (4–5): 231–47. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2023.2304513.

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