Rosettenville, a working-class suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, boasts a rich and diverse history. From its origins as a refuge for Johannesburg's elite to its vibrant Portuguese community, Rosettenville has undergone significant transformations over the years.
Johannesburg
The Early Years and Founding
Rosettenville was founded in 1886 by the Jewish pioneer, Leo (or Levin) Rosettenstein, after whom it is named. Rosettenstein arrived in South Africa from East Prussia and surveyed the land and sold stands after gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand. The area was subsequently developed by his son, A. V. (Ally) Rosettenstein, with some roads named after his family members. Initially, the area began as a refuge for Johannesburg's elites looking to escape the chaos and noise of the newly minted mining town.
The Rise of the Portuguese Community
The early 20th century witnessed a trickle of emigrants from Madeira whose numbers greatly increased in the decades following World War II. Between 1924 and 1972, over 50,000 white Portuguese-speaking immigrants moved to the Greater Rosettenville area, mostly from mainland Portugal, but also from Madeira and Mozambique, which was then a Portuguese colony. After Angola and Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and 1976, many White Angolans and more white Mozambicans moved to South Africa, and many of them settled in Rosettenville.
Rosettenville in Johannesburg was a significant hub for white Portuguese immigrants between the 1940s and 1980s, they were mostly from mainland Portugal. It is estimated that in this period, 50 000 Portuguese-speakers moved into the area. The largest single event of Portuguese settlement occurred when the former Portuguese colonies became independent in 1975. Most of them went to Portugal and Brazil, but a significant number of black and white refugees from Angola and Mozambique made their way to South Africa. The area became known as 'Little Portugal', with residents celebrating their shared heritage in a number of ways including food and festivals. The first ever Nando's restaurant was opened in Rosettenville in 1987.
Read also: Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority
The Portuguese South African community is highly active within the South African community, both politically and economically. Notable members include Maria Ramos who was the former director general of South Africa's National Treasury and later Group CEO of ABSA, one of South Africa's largest financial services companies. Other Portuguese involvement within the business community includes companies like Mercantile Bank. Nando's is a South African multinational fast casual restaurant chain that specialises in Portuguese flame-grilled, peri-peri style chicken. Most Portuguese, like other South Africans, are Christians. The most popular sport with Portuguese South Africans is football. There are many football clubs in South Africa that are of Portuguese origin. One example was the professional football club Vasco Da Gama which dissolved in 2016.
The Jewish Community in Rosettenville
In a historic occasion, Nelson Mandela, recently released from prison, met with Jewish leaders at the suburb's long-established South Eastern Hebrew Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in June 1990. The congregation was established in 1908, and Eastern European Jewish immigrants brought with them Torah scrolls from 1820 for the congregation's use. Initially the congregation held Shabbat services and minor festivals in a private house belonging to a local Jewish man, Mr Weiss. This was the eventual location of the synagogue building that was constructed in the late 1920s. Mr Weiss' home was struck by a tornado in 1928 and rather than repairing his house, he sold the property to the congregation. The Jewish congregation in the area reached its peak in 1957 when 600 attended the following year's Golden Jubilee with Johannesburg's Jewish mayor, Ian Maltz officiating.
The synagogue was bombed in July 1990, weeks after Mandela's visit, by right-wing extremists and defaced with antisemitic graffiti. The local Shul was the Southern Suburbs Hebrew Congregation in Rosettenville, and the children went to Rosettenville Primary School, where Aunty Anne (Silberman) and David Saiet lived, and then on to high school Forrest High at Forrest Hill where the Pessa (Sandler) and Louis Behr lived. All the children attended Chedar after school.
The Ladies Auxilary of the Rosettenville Shul: Standing: Gertie Sandler (Silberman), Anne Saiet (Silberman), Mrs Sklaar,Mildred Saiet (Friedman)(Benny Saiet’s wife), Mrs Sacks, ?, ?Sitting: Doris Rabinowitz (Saiet) (Anne Saiet’s daughter), Mrs Nossel, Rabbi's wife Mrs Kaplan,Dr Phil Sacks wife and Feiga Klevansky (Zalman Sandler’s sister).
Also we have a current connection family connection with the Rosettenville Shul. I understand that is Rael Cynkin is the current religious leader of the Shul. Gillian his Mom was a Silberman (grand daughter of Solly Silberman one of the six Silberman siblings).
Read also: Discover Thula Thula
The Silberman Family arrived in SA at the time of the Boer War and the parents (my great grandparents) were Chaim and Miriam. They would have passed away in the 1920s and the yortzeit memorial plaque in the shul includes Chaim’s name.
Our great grandparents Miriam and Chaim Leib (Liba) Silberman who lived in Riga arrived in South Africa at the time of the Boer war in 1898 with a five children, Esther, Anne, Gertie, Israel and Solly. Later Lena was born in South Africa. From years back they worked with furniture so in South Africa they did the same. The Silberman sons carried on the business line into the third generation. I don't know about today, but until 1987 Irwin Silberman still had a furniture factory.
Our great grandparents Miriam and Liba Silberman came from Riga. They were buried in the Brixton cemetery which later closed because it was full. Miriam died a violent death.
All the Siberman sisters Esther, Annie, Gertie and Lena were good cooks. Esther the eldest sister was good looking and a bit taller than the other girls and she lived in Doornfontein after she had married Soskolne (Sos). She used to come visiting every Sunday.
Gertie Silberman 19 and Zalman Sandler 39 married in 1916. The Sandler Family house stood at 233 Johannesburg Road on the corner of 2nd Street in La Rochelle Johannesburg. All the six Sandler children, Isaac (Issie), Mike (Meyer Lippa), Dubi (Robert), Rae (Rachel), Sarah and Rosie of Zalman Sandler and Gertie (Siberman) grew up in the house.
Read also: Traditional South African Bread
Rachel, the oldest of the three Sandler girls, remembers visiting her Grandmother (Miriam Silberman) who lived in the area around the corner of 2nd Street and Pan Road. She remembers going there as a little girl and seeing a few old houses and a cow wandering around and a large hedge. Also there was a back yard but no servants.
St Peter's College and Anglican Influence
Rosettenville is famously known as a place where the celebrated Anglican school, St Peter's College, where the likes of ANC President Oliver Tambo, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jonas Gwangwa, Hugh Masekela, Peter Abrahams, Henry Makgothi and others did part of their high school education. St Peter's College later became St.
In those days many of the Anglican parishes and organisations in and around Johannesburg had an annual retreat at St Benedict’s, and they all followed the same pattern. The conductor of the retreat was usually a priest. People would arrive at tea time on a Friday afternoon.
Another activity that took place at St Benedict’s was Shoe Parties. These took place once a month on Wednesday evenings. Someone would speak on a particular topic, and people would come from all over Johannesburg and beyond. It would be followed by tea.
The CR fathers ran St Peter’s College, but in 1963 it was forced to move to Alice in the Eastern Cape because of the Group Areas Act, and half the CR members moved with it. They had originally run St Peter’s School as well, but that had been forced to close some years earlier as a result of the Bantu Education Act.
All this meant that the CR scaled down their presence at Rosettenville, and later moved away to Turffontein, and eventually left South Africa altogether. The OHP sisters built a new convent next-door to St Benedict’s, which moved their activity away from the retreat house, and later they withdrew from South Africa altogether.
St Benedict's House
#InFocus - Goldene Medina Exhibition
St Benedict’s, with its enclosed courtyard (not a proper cloister, as there was no walkway round the inside) and walled garden, was a haven of peace in a busy suburb, and its architecture impressed me as the ideal place for such a retreat.
Rosettenville Baptist Church
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, the Sun, The Moon and Stars. God in His wisdom and part of His grand design of the universe created a place situated in the southern suburbs of the ever-growing City of Gold, Johannesburg, a suburb known as Rosettenville. It was at this time that God laid on the heart of a Mr. Surmon (of Surmon Brickyards) that a Baptist Church be established in the Southern Suburbs.
He duly bought the Post Office building from the Government, situated at 219 Prairie Street, just off the corner of Prairie and Geranium streets ( where the Centro Complex now stands) and offered it to the Central Baptist Church on condition that the building be used as a Baptist Church. The Rev. James Walker, the minister at the time at Central Baptist, enthusiastically accepted the offer, and so The Baptist Church of Rosettenville came into existence.
Central Baptist Church decided to appoint an assistant Pastor, to be paid out of their own funds to establish the new Church in Rosettenville. On 9th March,1941 Rev. The first members of the Church, 14 in all, banded themselves together and resolved to serve the Lord with Zeal and Joy. Rev. Poorter continued to serve RBC until 1945 when Rev. E.
The Church has continued to be lead and pastored by a variety of dynamic and influential and Godly characters that have moulded and changed the lives of so many that have passed through the doors of this Church.
Popular articles:
tags: #Africa
