CALVINIA

Calvinia lies at the foot of the Hantam Mountains in the Northern Cape, approximately 370 km north of Cape Town; the furthest point north on my journey.

Driving from Van Rhynsdorp to Calvinia there is absolutely nothing. There’s not a tree out here, not a thing to be seen for miles and miles; there’s nothing even near this place.  Why would people have trekked out here, with a horse and cart? Why would they have stopped anywhere? It’s hot and desolate, and it goes on forever. Up ahead I see a mountain and no sign of a town. The mountain draws closer – still no sign of life.

I look for a pass over the mountain, when I see a tiny patch of green against the empty brown sand. And there it is, Calvinia, a tiny green dot under the mountain, amongst the faceless grey-green-brown landscape. The town is pushed up against the Hantam Mountains. These people travelled thousands of miles across the globe, and picked this spot? It feels like the last road on earth. I almost feel like Mad Max, looking for a safe haven. Of course, for Mad Max, a synagogue wouldn’t be a safe haven, not anymore anyway. You drive for hours, through nothing, and then you get to this tiny little town. Why here? Who would have started this place anyway, what made them walk and walk with oxen and wagons, and decide ‘Here!’ The only reason they didn’t go any further is because there’s a mountain blocking the way.

The Calvinia cemetery is one of the loneliest I’ve ever seen. I feel like I’m the only person to ever visit these graves. The cemetery is down a dirt track on the edge of town, with barren land on three sides, and the town behind you on the other. A tractor churns up a cloud of dust on a far-off farm. A lonesome, sad little breeze blows as I write, a mean-looking wasp-thing buzzes through the headstones, like an airborne sheriff of the insect world, keeping watch. These people lived almost a hundred years ago, died before I was even born, who remembers them? Their families must be many miles and many years from here.

One of the oldest graves is that of Adolph Picard Bauman, a German Jew born in Cassel, who died in 1863. Another German Jew buried here is Louis Abt, who died in May 1873; it’s thought they were brought out from Germany to buy wool from sheep farmers in remote areas. During the Boer War, a Jewish soldier, Trooper E Horwitz (1901) was shot by Manie Maritz. His tombstone declares: “he died for the Empire”.

I’m struck again by the utter desolation of this part of the country and the sheer vastness of the country as a whole. Driving for mile upon mile without seeing another soul. Deserted houses and abandoned farm stalls – awaiting a story of your own making.

The town of Calvinia is a fairly charming place. The town is ancient, and intact. It still looks and feels now like what I imagine it did then. Quaint coffee shops serving scones and Earl Grey tea. The owner finds me a photo of a former rabbi of the town. I felt like I was going back in time in Calvinia. I could literally see what the town was like 50 years ago. It wasn’t hard – the place is much the same now as it was then. There is something about small South African towns. Something familiar.

The Calvinia synagogue was built in 1918 at a cost of £1 400.00, and opened in 1920. Used by the community for the last time in August 1968, the building was donated to the municipality for use as a museum in 1970.

The synagogue is an excellent museum, with a section devoted to the Jewish community; photographs of Jewish businesses, homes and local personalities, local rugby and soccer teams with Jewish members. Curator Maxie Hugo has extensive knowledge of the Jewish community. She drives me round the streets pointing out the Jewish houses, who lived where, what they did, and what happened to them.

My vast findings were a bit of a surprise for me. To find so much for these immigrants here, of all places. They seem to have thrived, everywhere was evidence of their successful lives.

I also found that it was damn hot in Calvinia. That must have been a surprise for them too, coming from Eastern Europe. Their first summer must have been a shocker.

Louis Heilbron was the first Jewish trader in Calvinia in 1843. Other traders came almost entirely from England and Germany before the turn of the 19^th century. Louis Rosenblatt left Germany in the 1850s for America, but ended up in Calvinia, where he established a business which was to remain in the family for three generations. After 1880, the community was boosted by Jews arriving from Lithuania.

I am amazed by the diversity of their occupations. Of course there were the traditional roles – hoteliers, general dealers, professions like doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, town councillors and businessmen, a mayor and a magistrate. But they were also farmers, photographers, owned cinemas and theatres, motor dealerships and garages.

The first pharmacy in Calvinia was owned by Jacob Berelowitz (son of Rev Berelowitz), who also manufactured Neurosan headache powders. Ben Berelowitz owned Calvinia Motors – a Chev dealership – now a Delta dealership. He and his wife Pauline were among the last Jews to leave Calvinia in 1965. Leon Helfet owned Helfet Motors, a Ford dealership. He also served on the Town Council.  M & D Sack had a store which still bears their name.

These Jews were thoroughly bilingual, speaking Yiddish and Afrikaans – no English. And everywhere I go, they are well-remembered, well-thought-of and loved.