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Lädt ... Worlds Apart: The Re-Migration of South African Jewsvon Colin Tatz
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If the 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the greatest migrations in the history of the world, then the story of the exodus of Jews from Lithuania to South Africa and then on again to Australia is one of the most extraordinary. For the first time, migrants, family and friends can discover the fascinating details of what led to the migration and re-migration of so many thousands of people. "Worlds Apart" is a study of a unique double translocation. It follows the footsteps of Lithuanian and Latvian-descended Jews (Litvaks) from their ancestral European homes to South Africa and then again, just a century later, to Australia and New Zealand. The authors describe the life of the forebears, both in Lithuania and in South Africa, the so-called South African way of life'; the antisemitic forces there which might have propelled migration much earlier, but didn't; and the political unrest which finally led to this second Diaspora' to the Antipodes and other parts of the world. "Worlds Apart" examines the patterns of recent emigrations, and the real and ostensible reasons for leaving. Based on hundreds of responses to a detailed questionnaire and dozens of interviews, Worlds Apart presents an unforgettable picture of how life for Lithuanian Jews was, what it became, and what it is today in new lands with new hopes for the future. It examines how and why Jews continue their millennia-old quest for a new and peaceful land, and how twice-removed Jews feel today, not just about their new homes, but about the trials and tribulations of their ancestors. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)304.8940682Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Factors affecting social behavior Movement of peopleKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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A book of history/sociology on the Lithuanian and Latvian Jews -- Litvaks -- who migrated to South Africa around a hundred years ago and then more recently from South Africa to Australia or New Zealand might seem ultra specialised, and I probably wouldn't have read it had it not been lent to me by a friend whose family had followed that trajectory. The book turned out to be fascinating. Its story begins in the shtetls of eastern Europe, familiar from Isaac Bashevis Singer's stories and the tales of Chelm, the village of idiots, and reaches Sydney's leafy northern suburbs, by way of the fearful luxury of being White in pre-Apartheid and Apartheid South Africa. The authors, themselves members of the group they are studying, set out to identify the reasons for the exodus from South Africa, in particular the reason why so many people left in the late 80s, when there was no obvious threat to Jews, rather than some 30 years earlier when the elected government had explicit anti-Jewish policies. Unique among large scale migrations, this one was unhurried, uncoerced and un-desperate. (They were a kind of Boat People, Colin Tatz told a Sydney journalist, because a week or so after arrival they will have bought a boat; and when the journalist published the remark, among the letters of protest was one saying that the writer had only been able to afford a dinghy.) What the research found is not at all surprising, but the journey the book takes us on, looking at the situation of tight knit Jewish communities in Lithuania back then, in South Africa more recently and now in Australia and New Zealand, is elegantly executed. What might have been a dry statistical study is leavened with humour (as in the Boat People story), but also with sharpness of judgement (the hideous morality of being White, even marginally as the Jews were, under Apartheid is vividly evoked; New Zealand, that most tolerant of nations, is indicted for pervasive anti-semitism; and Australia doesn't exactly get off scot-free). Among the Litvak émigrés, the answer to the often asked question, 'When did you come here?' is a significant key to the reason for moving: earlier, it's likely to have been because collusion with Apartheid became intolerable; later because of dread of a bloodbath accompanying the change of regime; most recently because of perceived upsurge of crime, though the authors argue persuasively that the last reason may refer to deeper motivations to do with unease about living with a Black government.
So yes, it's a fairly specialist read, but one that holds sweetness as well as light for anyone with a connection to the subject. ( )