Oudtshoorn is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. With approximately 60,000 inhabitants, it is the largest town in the Little Karoo region. Wikipedia.
The Jewish Community. [August 2014]
Kehillah Link [August 2014]
1) Oudtshoorn - "Yerusholayim b'Dorem Afrika"; Bertha Widan; SA-SIG Newsletter, Vol.4:2, 2003
2) Articles in JewishGen at SA-SIG - 1, 2 and 3.
3) The Jerusalem of South Africa; David Zetler; Jerusalem Post, 25/1/2007.
4) Ostrich-farming Jews mark 120 years in rural South Africa; Michael Belling; Jewish Telegraph Agency, December 2004.
5) Jews and Feathers; Ellman Crasnow; Newsletter of Progressive Jewish Community of East Anglia, 2000.
6) Fires and Feathers: Acculturation, Arson and the Jewish Community in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, 1914-1948; Daniel Coetzee;Jewish History 19: 143-197; 2005.
JEWISH CEMETERY:
"From 1940 till 1947 a series of fires were set, destroying furniture and tobacco factories, shops in central Oudtshoorn, and after Bennie Gillis won a municipal seat in 1944, the Gillis Brothers tobacco factory was also lost to arson. During these assaults, the fire brigade would often arrive late, find that their equipment was faulty or rendered inoperable prior to the incident. In addition, Jewish farms were attacked, the livestock poisoned and the cemetery was desecrated. Though no culprits for these crimes was ever brought to justice the finger must point to members of theOssewabrandwag, National Party and the cooperative movement. " Source: The Jewish Community [August 2014]
[UPDATE] More than 30 headstones damaged at South African Jewish Cemetery [August 2020]