The Roots of Antisemitism in South Africa

Deals with attitudes of the white population of South Africa towards Jews between 1885-1940. Contends that antisemitism in South Africa in that period did not come from Europe, nor was it a result of Nazi propaganda. White South Africa had anti-Jewish stereotypes of its own. Popular aversion was directed primarily against the Eastern European immigrant, who was depicted as a dirty peddler, shunning menial work and trying to outwit farmers and city workers. Later, this image was supplemented by stereotypes of cosmopolitan financiers, and was characterized by a sense of "otherness" on both the physical and cultural levels; in a later period Jews were cast in an essentially racial mold. The 1930s added to this kind of antisemitism a new, programmatic one, whose exponents were the extremist Malan wing of the National Party and some extremist organizations. In the 1940s-50s antisemitism in South Africa subsided; it never played a significant role in the country's inner life and politics.