Milton Shain Livres

This richly illustrated story the first comprehensive history to appear in over 50 years includes a wide range of historically important photographs, many long unseen, and encompasses a broad swathe of Jewish life, from the bimah and the boardroom to the bowling green. Beginning with the first Jewish immigrants to South Africa, and depicting the fragility of the early foundations and the shifting fortunes of this infant community, the book traces its development to robust maturity amidst turbulent social and political currents. These include the strident antisemitism of the 1930s, the moral dilemmas of the apartheid era, the subsequent turbulent transition towards a non-racial democracy, the birth of the New South Africa and the fresh challenges and promise that have followed in its wake up to the present day. The Jews in South Africa will be of great interest to every member of the Jewish community living both in South Africa and in their adoptive countries, as well as for all wishing to learn more about this highly energetic and innovative community whose contribution in many spheres of life has so greatly influenced and enriched the history of South Africa.

Set during the interwar years in South Africa, the narrative explores the rise of Afrikaner nationalism amidst the global economic crisis, which led to a significant population of impoverished whites. The book delves into the societal tensions and the growing animosity towards Jewish communities, highlighting the influence of Nazi Germany on local sentiments. It provides a critical examination of the complex dynamics between different white groups and the unsettling presence of Jews in a changing social landscape.

In the third volume of Milton Shain's history of antisemitism in South Africa, he traces and unpacks hostile attitudes towards Jews and irrational fantasies that accompany them in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.