FAMILY March 2017

OUPA:

ISIDORE ELKIN OWSIANICK (OUPA) was born
in Wishtinez (Wysztynisc, Wititen) Poland on 4th May 1892.

His parents were Barney (Yehudah Dov) Owsianick and Paula Owsianick (Starfield)
andhe was one of seven children.

Oupa’s grandmother was Etel Starfield and Aunty Effie (Ethel) is named after her.

According to travel documents, Oupa boarded a ship
from London toPort Natal (Durban) South Africa, and arrived in 1913.

First he lived in Pretoria and that is where he met Granny ((Toube Rachel – ‫ )טויבה רחל‬as she
frequently visited there with her older sister, Annie Joseph.

On Wednesday 28th November 1917 they were married in Klerksdorp at the Palace Hotel.

Oupa opened a General Dealer Store in Hartebeesfontein, a small village some 15 miles from
Klerksdorp and this is where they set up home for two years and then they moved to live in
Klerksdorp.
Oupa passed away in 1946 when I was four years old. I do not have any memories of him but
when I page through family photo albums a scene flashes through my mind as if he were
holding my hand and showing me flowers in a garden.
Of course, I heard many stories from Granny and Mom and Dad and others as to how noble,
kind, gentle and righteous a person he was and all about his contribution to the Jewish
Community and the people of Klerksdorp.
He served on many of the Shul committees together with his father-in law, Chaim Boner and
Dad and he was a prominent member of the Hebrew Order of David (HOD) Lodge .
Oupa was a learned man and an astute businessperson and his business ventures included a
Bottle Store in Klerksdorp, a concession store on the Western Reef Gold Mone site and the
Astra Cinema (Bioscope) on Louis Botha Avenue in Johanneburg.
Oupa died on 6th June 1946 at age 56 and he is buried in The Klerksdorp Jewish Cemetery.

Klerksdorp Hebrew Congregation Committee ±1938.
Sitting on the left of Reverend Rudy is Oupa – Isidore Elkin Owsianick

And sitting on the right of the Reverend Rudy is
my Great Grandfather – Chaim Chaikel Boner.



OWSIANICK FAMILY ± 1938

Back Row left to right: Sylvia Rosalin. Oupa. Granny. Ethel (Effie)
Front Row: Joyce Beryl.

 Sylvia married Morris Kaufman and they had two sons, Cyril and Basil.
Morris died in 2004 and Sylvia died in 2011.

 Effie married Hyman Schauder in 1945 and they had a son, Donald
Elkin and a daughter, Valerie Rose.
Hyman died in 1994 and Effie lives in Cape Town.

 Joy married Arthur Lewin and they had one daughter, Estelle Ann.
Joy died in 2010 and Arthur died in 2016.

CYRIL & BASIL DON & VAL ESTELLE

KLERKSDORP 1953

Birthdays:

Aunt Effie – 15th February 1925
Cyril – 14th May 1942
Basil – 7th July 1945

Don – 16th November 1946
Norma – 31 January 1948
Sharon – 25th October 1948
Cherryl – 2nd March 1949
Raymond – 4th September 1949
Brian – 8th December 1949

Val – 22nd June 1950
Estelle – 13th October 1951

Yarzheits:

Oupa: 6th June 1946 - ‫ז׳ ְּב ִסיוָן תש״ו‬
Granny: 27th March 1981 - ‫כ״א ַּב ֲא ָדר ב׳ תשמ״א‬

Hyman: 2nd August 1994 - ‫כ״ה ְּבָאב תשנ״ד‬
Morris: 6th January 2004 - ‫י״ב ְּב ֵט ֵבת תשס״ד‬

Joy: 27th August 2010 - ‫י״ז ֶּב ֱאלּול תש״ע‬
Sylvia: 13th April 2011 - ‫ט׳ ְּב ִני ָסן תשע״א‬
Arthur: 28th July 2016 - ‫כ״ב ְּב ַּתּמּוז תשע״ו‬

Wedding Anniversaries:

Cyril & Norma: 22nd December 1968
Basil & Sharon: 30th March 1970

Don & Cherryl: 14th December 1969
Brian & Estelle: 5th April 1973

Raymond & Val: 16th December 1973

Klerksdorp: Mom and Dad

My Great Grandfather, Chaim Boner, was one of the founders
of the Jewish Community of Klerksdorp.

My Oupa, Isadore Owsianick continued in the footsteps of Chaim Boner.

I have often thought of how and why my father ever found himself in
Klerksdorp.

Morris Louis Kaufman was born in 1908 in Maitland, Cape Town.

He matriculated from SACS Boys High School in 1925

He studied at Cape Town University for a BA in Basic medical sciences and
Latin and then left for England to Liverpool University where he qualified as a

Doctor in 1931 and he earned a specialist degree in Surgery,
FRCS at the University of Edinburgh in 1934.

After practicing medicine for a short while in England, he returned to South
Africa and the first job opportunity that presented was a locum in
Johannesburg.
Before leaving for Johannesburg Dad went to visit his older brother Isaac who
lived and worked in Van Rhynsdorp, a small town in the North Western Cape.
Isaac worked for the Bobba’s brothers, Max and Hyman Joffe who owned a
garage and motor car dealership in that town – the same two men who had
helped Zeida to leave Lithuania to work in Cape Town.
Max and Hyman were always there to help Zeida and his family.
They loaned money for Charlie to study medicine in Liverpool and also helped
Dad throughout his medical studies.
The picture below shows the details of all loans to Dad from when he travelled to
England to study medicine in 1929.
While on that visit, Dad borrowed two hundred and twenty pounds to buy his
first motor car. As is seen below, two hundred pounds for the car, eight pounds
and nine shillings for insurance and two pounds and twelve shillings for new
tyres.

On the 13th April 1939 Dad made the final payment to square off the loan.

It has been well documented that Zeida's family name at birth was Kropman
and that sometime the name changed to Kaufman.
I have no idea how or why and can only guess that it had something to do with
the way it was written on his immigration papers.

However, what is important here is that the family name of
Zeida’s relatives in Klerksdorp was Kropman.

Klerksdorp was then a small town (it is now a large city) about 160 kilometers
south- west of Johannesburg, so before Dad left Cape Town, Zeida told him that
he had family in Klerksdorp and suggested that Dad stop over and visit.
Dad drove to Johannesburg and after he had completed the locum in
Johannesburg, he began his return journey to begin another locum job in Cape
Town and he decided that on the way he would stop over in Klerksdorp to meet
the Kropman family.
He met the Kropman’s and they told him that there was only one Jewish doctor
in Klerksdorp and they suggested that another Jewish doctor would be most
welcome. This was in 1936.
Dad took their advice, remained in Klerksdorp where he opened his medical
practice which he conducted for 41 years until he and Mom made Aliyah in
1977.
He became very involved with the Jewish community, he met Oupa who was
President of the Shul and through his contact with Oupa and Granny he met
their daughter, Sylvia and they married in 1941.

Dad was a pivotal factor around which the Jewish Community revolved.
At one time or another he was either Honorary Secretary or President or
Chairman of the Hebrew Congregation and a very active member of the Shul
who, in the absence of a permanent Rabbi, was more often than not called upon
to conduct services on Friday evenings and read from the Torah on Shabbat
mornings.

This gold pocketwatch was presented to Dad by the
Committee of the Klerksdorp Hebrew Congregation

on 15.8.1943
for services rendered as Hon. Secretary

Dad was a most respected medical practitioner in the area and an active member
of all Jewish Committees and in addition served for many years as the honorary
treasurer of the Klerksdorp Golf Club.

Sylvia Rosalin Kaufman (Owsianick) was born
in Hartebeesfontein (near Klerksdorp) on 12 September 1918.

She went to junior school at the Klerksdorp Convent (where Granny had gone to
school) and High school at Barnato Park Girls High School in Johannesburg.
After school she decided to become a pharmacist so she did her apprenticeship at
Sammel and Walker Pharmacy in Klerksdorp and then began studying at the
Johannesburg Technical College where she completed the preliminary exam in
1940.

Granny and Mom shopping in Johannesburg Mom - Muizenberg Beach

At this time she was already engaged to be married so she decided to discontinue
her studies.

Annie, Mom Oupa Granny Effie
Joy
Annie Raie Mom

Klerksdorp Railway Station - June 1941 - the Cape Town family arrives to celebrate the wedding

Mom and Dad were married in the Klerksdorp Shul on 22nd June 1941.

OUPA ZEIDA

Mr. Borer Oupa Dad Isaac Zeida Charlie

Joy Raie Effie

Annie Boner - Granny's brothers Isaac and Nathan

I was born on 14th May1942 Basil was born on 7th July 1945

Mom was very active in WIZO and other communal committees but above all,

she was the most wonderful Mother.
Her kindness and patience, her support and advice, her encouragement and
guidance, knew no limit.

She was always ready to help anyone and everyone and never allowed herself to
be in the spotlight – she was the most unassuming person

and the true Woman of Valor ……… ‫אשת חיל‬

Her children rise up, and call her blessed; ‫ָקמּו ָבנֶי ָה ַויְ ַא ְשרּו ָה ַב ְע ָלּה ַויְ ַה ְל ָלּה‬
Her husband also, and he praises her:

My parents taught my brother Basil and me the basic principles of “love and
respect your fellow man”.
Religion was a very important part of our upbringing and the Jewish State of
Israel was very often a subject of discussion.
Basil and I were encouraged at every opportunity to take an active part in
Jewish Youth movements and from an early age we spent our summer vacations
at Habonim Camps.
My parents were always active members of the school committees, they attended
school sporting events and were always there to help and support in every
possible way.

My childhood and my school days were happy days, filled with excitement,
discovery and surrounded by loving family and the best of friends.

I matriculated from the Milner High School in 1959 and studied Dentistry at
Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg from 1960 -1966.
I had been drafted into the South African Army for nine months of service and
so after qualifying in June 1966 I began basic training and I completed nine
months of active military service in the South African Defence Force in April
1967.

CAPE TOWN: 1967 – 1968

The basic training program in the army finished at the end of August 1966 and
I was posted to the Military Hospital in Wynberg, Cape Town.
During the week, I had accommodation at the military barracks, and on the
weekends, I stayed with Auntie Annie and Uncle Isaac in Highlands Estate at
the foot of Table Mountain.

These were carefree days and as I had spent my whole life in Klerksdorp and
Johannesburg, I now had the opportunity to get to know the Cape Town part of
our family.

 Aunty Annie and Uncle Isaac and Simmy.
 Uncle Charlie - I used to play a lot of golf with him.
 Uncle Toby and Sheila.
 Uncle Mike, Aunty Sonny, Gita and Saville.
 Aunty Raie, Uncle Nat and Zilla-Jane.
 Uncle Benny and Aunty Bess.
 Cousin Isaac and Yvonne Karpas and their children Louis and Lily-Esta.

I also had the opportunity to meet and have some very interesting discussions
with Uncle Hyman Joffe who had been so good to the Kaufman family and to
Dad in particular.
He was a lovely man and lived with his son and daughter-in-law, Phissie and
Ada Joffe on the 3rd floor of an apartment building in London Road, Sea Point.

Later that year I discovered that David and Fanny Fleishman and their
daughter Norma lived in an apartment in the very same building just one floor
above.

I was posted to the Navy Dental Clinic in Simonstown in October 1966 and this
is where I remained for the duration of my military service.
As this posting was very close to beautiful golf course at Clovelly Country Club
in Fishoek and as Dad’s older brother, Charlie was a member at that golf club,
I decided to take out membership and this was the beginning of my serious
golfing endeavors.

Dad’s brother Toby (my cousin Sheila’s father) was a dentist and he and his
partner, Solly Sank, ran two dental practices, one in Wynberg and the other in
Sea Point.
Towards the end of 1966, Toby became very ill with lung cancer and his
partner asked me to help in my spare time.
I agreed and worked for Solly on weekends and some weekdays and then Toby
died in February 1967.
I completed my army service in April 1967 and as I had planned to travel to
England, I arranged to meet with Solly to tell him about my plans.
Solly told me that he no longer wished to be part of a joint dental practice and
was happy to work in Wynberg and he gave me first option to buy the branch
practice in Sea Point.
This was a huge opportunity for me so I decided to cut the trip short and told
Solly that I would return to Cape Town in November and then I would buy the
practice in Sea Point.
I worked in London for two months (July/ August) and then travelled through
Europe to Amsterdam, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Milan, Florence, Venice and
Rome.

The final stop on this tour before returning to South Africa was to visit Israel.

Harold and Edie had settled in Petach Tikvah and they invited me to stay with
them in their apartment and to share a room with their little boy Ilan who was
then 4 yrs. old. Ronen was still a baby.
This was soon after the Six Day War so I toured all the new territories
including the Golan Heights and the West Bank and I spent Rosh Hashanah in
Petach Tikvah and Yom Kippur in Jerusalem at the Wailing Wall.
On one of the days, I reciprocated their hospitality and took them for a day trip
by air to Eilat.

On my return to Cape Town at the end of November
1967, I began with arrangements to buy the dental
practice in Sea Point and it was in the period of the next
30 days that I met Norma Fleishman and it was the

beginning of a new era for both of us.

It all began when some friends of mine from Dental School arrived in Cape
Town for the summer vacation and they had arranged a barbeque picnic in
Simonstown at Boulders Beach.
On that particular day, there was a big golf competition at Clovelly and I had
arranged to play but I wanted to see them so I decided that on the way I would
pass by the beach to say hello.
My very good friend David Maltz and his girlfriend Brenda Saidman were at
the beach and Brenda had brought along her friend Norma Fleishman.
I met Norma and I was suitably impressed (in fact I was bowled over) and after
we had spoken for a short while I asked for her telephone number and if I could
call and arrange to meet.
She gave me her telephone number and that very same evening we met and
went to a friend’s party.

A few days later I met two very special people:

David and Fanny Fleishman (Javen)

What follows is the story of these two people who were so very
dear to me and whose memory will be with me forever.



YANKEL DAVID FLEISHMAN – Pa

Jankel David Fleishman – ‫–יעקב דוד ב"ר אהרון דוב‬- was born to Aharon Dov and
Nehama Dvora, in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Latvia in 1896.

DAVID was the only son and there were three sisters, Mira, Ida and Rosa.

When David Fleishman was a young boy the Fleishman family moved from
Dvinsk to Libau as this was the hometown of David’s mother, Nechama Dvora
and they lived there during the World War 1 and until after the Russian
Revolution.
After WW I, David, at that time 22 yrs., left Libau and made his way to Berlin,
Germany.
At that time, Berlin was thought to be the place where young people could make
a good living and he found a job working for a company that imported luxury
goods such as coffee, perfumes and cigars.
Not too long after his arrival in Berlin he began to feel the threat of Nazism and
anti-Semitism and so he decided to return to Libau and register for a
“Preparation course” to make “Aliyah” to Palestine. (Eretz Yisrael)
Those were the years of the third Aliyah and the document below shows the
“Bestatung” (Confirmation) of his completion of the ‫ הכשרה‬signed on 10th
February 1925.

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN LIBAU BEFORE LEAVING FOR PALESTINE
THIS PHOTO SHOWS DAVID WITH HIS THREE SISTERS AND THREE MEN
WHO WERE MOST PROBABLY COUSINS.

David Fleishman had arranged for his oldest sister Mira to travel to Palestine

with him and they arrived sometime in February/March 1925 and on arrival he

immediately signed up with the;
General Federation of Hebrew Workers in Eretz Israel –
‫היסתדרות הכללית של עובדים העברים בא"י‬





During the few years that David Fleishman lived in Israel, he was able to be part
of and witness many new and exciting events.
He and his friends walked by foot all the way from Rishon Lezion to Jerusalem
to be present on the day of the opening of The Hebrew University in April 1925.

He helped to build roads in the town of Herzlia and one of his jobs was to act as
a night watchman in an orange grove in Rishon Lezio

David and his sister Mira

On the 1st October 1926, David Fleishman was vaccinated for Typhoid fever.
Below is the vaccination certificate.

Soon after this he contracted Malaria, he was very ill and felt very unsure of the
future in Palestine so he wrote to his cousin Annie Tocker (Stoller) in Cape
Town and described his situation.
Annie Tocker replied to his letter and suggested that he should consider moving
to South Africa where perhaps he would find an easier life.
David Fleishman took Annie’s advice and when he recovered he bought a train
ticket from Tel Aviv to Port Said and then a ticket on a steamship which took
him to Cape Town via the Suez Canal and down the East coast of Africa where
he stopped over in Lourenco Marques and Durban..
Below is a photo taken in Lourenco Marques, Mozambique and shown in the
photo are the ship’s crew and some of the local population.
The name Lourenco Mar is written in David Fleishman’s handwriting.

The steamship arrived in Cape Town sometime in 1927.

David Fleishman’s sisters: Mira, Rosa and Ida

From the time that David Fleishman left Libau in 1925 and all through his
travels to Palestine and South Africa, he was in constant contact with his family
in Libau and also a cousin, Annie Stoller who had travelled to South Africa and
married a man in Cape Town by the name of Abe Tocker.
David’s two sisters, Ida and Rosa had remained in Libau and Rosa had married.
The third sister, travelled with David to Palestine.
David Fleishman met a man by the name of Aaron Flaxman and they became
very friendly and he introduced him to his sister Mira.
Mira and Aaron Flaxman married and soon after left Palestine and went to live
in Strasbourg, France.
Aaron was an Industrial chemist and Mira had also studied chemistry at
university in Germany.
So they set up a Chemical business in Strasbourg and soon after a daughter was
born and they named her Stella.
Below is a photo taken of Stella with her grandfather Aharon Dov Fleishman
(David Fleishman’s father).
This photo was taken in 1936 in Strasbourg and this was about one year before
Aharon Dov passed away on 8th February 1937.

Even after he arrived in Cape Town, David Fleishman never gave up on his
efforts to try and arrange for all three of his sisters to leave Europe and escape
the threat of Nazism.

Ida:

With Ida he was successful and she travelled from Libau to Cape Town in the
mid 1930’s.

Rosa:

He was not able to save Rosa who had married and had a daughter – Nechama
Dvora.
Rosa and Nechama Dvora perished in the Holocaust and the last that David ever
heard from Rosa was the photo below taken in Libau in October 1938 and which
Rosa sent to him in South Africa.

Rosa writes on the back of the photo in the most beautiful Hebrew script
“For the memory of my dearest brother David – Nechama is two years old.

‫לזיכרון לאחי היקר דוד – נחמה בת שנתיים‬
1938 ‫ליבוי אוקטובר‬

Mira:

Mira and Aaron Flaxman had settled in Strasbourg where they had opened a
business in Industrial Chemistry but they too felt the beginnings of Nazism and
so David Fleishman put even more effort into getting them to South Africa.
Both Mira and Aaron were fluent in Hebrew so David eventually and after much
effort and through the help of Zionist and Hebrew Associations, managed to
arrange for them to travel to Cape Town where he had arranged a Hebrew
teaching job for them with the Maitland Hebrew Congregation.

A NEW LIFE IN CAPE TOWN:

The “KADIMAH” Association of Cape Town.

David Fleishman became a member of the above association on 26thMay 1927.

According to the membership card shown below he was a founder member as

well as a member of the committee.

He joined the group for Hebrew speakers as well as the group for sports

activities.

It is interesting to read what is written in Hebrew on that card

‫ ישראל – עמך‬-:‫זכר‬ Remember :--Israel is your Nation

‫שפתך‬---‫עברית‬ Hebrew : - Your language

‫וארץ ישראל –ארצך‬ Eretz Yisrael – Your Country

Below is a photograph taken in 1931 and which shows the members of the
Kadimah Association of Cape Town.
David Fleishman is standing on the very left of the back row and seated in the
front row and one from the right side is a lady by the name of Miss A. Potash.
Annie Potash would eventually marry Isaac Kaufman, Dad’s oldest brother, and
they would have three children – my cousins Harold, Phillip and Simmy.

In the pre WWII years it was very difficult for families to immigrate to South
Africa but the process was easier if the head of the family could show that he had
a profession and that he could show documents to prove that had arranged for
employment.
David Fleishman knew that Aaron spoke fluent Hebrew as they had all been
together in Israel so he managed to find a job for Aaron as a Hebrew teacher at
the Talmud Torah in Maitland, Cape Town.
In 1936/7 the Flaxman family, Aaron, Mira and Stella, left Strasbourg to take up
the new job of teaching Hebrew in Cape Town.

Below is a photograph which shows the Cheder Group of the Maitland Talmud Torah in

1941.

In the second row and seated on the left is Stella Flaxman – Norma’s cousin born in

Strasbourg. In the same row in the center is Rev. Kaufman (Zeida) and sitting on his left is
Aaron Flaxman (Pa's brother-in-law and Norma's uncle).

What this photo tells me and what I know for sure is that Zeida and Pa knew each other and
had been instrumental in saving the Flaxman family from perishing in he Holocaust and all this
took place in 1941 - the year that Mom and Dad were married, a year before I was born and
26 years before I met the Fleishman family - is this coincidence or is it fate?

Some photographs of first years in Cape Town

Pa's cousins Louis and Anne Stoller , Annie and Abe Tocker
Louis Stoller was the "Cohen"at Aaron's Pidyan Haben

Pa's sister IDA Aaron Flaxman & Pa - Adderley Street Cape Town

MUIZENBERG BEACH - 1941
Mira Pa Aaron

Ida unknown Stella

David Fleishman settled in Salt River, Cape Town and applied for citizenship of
The Union of South Africa which was granted on 19th October 1934.

He was then 38 years old.

In 1947 David Fleishman and Fanny Javen were married at the Garden’s Shul in
Cape Town.

Back row: Isaac Karabus, Becky Karabus Lily Klein

Front row: Mira Flaxman, Aaron Flaxman, Pa, Ma, Stella Flaxman

Their daughter Norma Deborah (‫ )נחמה דבורה‬was born on 31st January 1948.

Norma's 2nd birthday present from Uncle Aaron, Aunty Mira and cousin Stella



Fanny Fleishman (Javen): Ma – Gama.
Fanny Javen was born in Randfontein on 16th June 1911.
Her father was Abba (Adolph) Javen and her mother Annie Kantor.

Abba and Annie were married in Zaga, Lithuania and their first two children
were girls – Rebecca (Becky) and Lily born in Zaga, Lithuania.
Abba left the family and travelled to South Africa and once settled sent for his
family.
The other children were Issie and Harry, born in Randfontein.

Harry Javen Ma Annie Javen Issy Javen Becky Javen Leon Jacobson

Abba died during the Flu epidemic soon after the end of WWI sometime around
1918 when Fanny was 7 years old.
Later Annie married Nathan Jacobson and together they had a son – Leon
(Jake).
After Abba’s death the Javen family went through some difficult times but when
Harry was awarded a scholarship to study medicine at Witwatersrand
University, the sisters all worked and helped him to qualify as a doctor.
Leon volunteered for military service during WWII and he served in North
Africa and Egypt and spent some of his army leave in what was then Palestine.
Fanny met David Fleishman in 1946 and they married in 1947.

Pa’s cousin Louis Stoller as "Cohen”at Aarons Pidyan Haben (March 1970)

This photograph of Mom and Ma was taken on 10th November 1979 at Harold
and Edie’s home in Savyon on the day of Ronen’s bar mitzvah.
Ma took ill the next day and was hospitalized in Tel Hashomer.
Four days later she passed away on 15th November 1979.

David Fleishman passed away on 9th September 1973 and
was buried in Cape Town.

In 1975 his body was exhumed and brought to Israel
and he is buried in the Holon Cemetery.

Fanny Fleishman made Aliyah in 1974 together with Norma, myself, Aaron and
Sara. She lived a very happy life in Israel and passed away
on 15th November 1979 and is buried in the Holon Cemetery



OWSIANICK / KAUFMAN

Mom and Dad - 22 June 1941

Cyril b. 14 May 1942 Norma b. 31 January 1948

Cyril and Norma – 22 December 1968

Aaron (Adrian) Dov b. 3 March 1970 Sara b. 1 March 1972

CYRIL & NORMA – ALIYAH: 1974