Centre for Migration and Genealogy
Founded in 2002 the Centre is building a comprehensive database of South African Jewish immigration and emigration. It will
- map the entire history of Jewish migration to South Africa with the aim of providing authoritative and definitive data for the Discovery Centre at the South African Jewish Museum.
- integrate the genealogical data in multi-disciplinary research initiatives under the auspices of the Kaplan Centre.
The primary aim of the project is to research the estimated 15,000 core families who migrated to Southern Africa between 1850-1950 from England, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus. In broad terms the research will focus on the locations where the families originated, patterns of migration to South Africa, where families first settled, communities they established, growth of families, and subsequent movements and emigration. As such we are looking at aspects such as passenger arrival lists, naturalisation lists, community records, records of marriages, births and deaths, family trees, etc. The Centre is under the umbrella of the Kaplan Centre and will also have a public access section located at the South African Jewish Museum. It plans to map the entire South African Jewish community with the aim of providing authoritative and definitive data for the Discovery Centre at the South African Jewish Museum.
DISCLAIMER
The Jewish Rootsbank holds data recorded from various Jewish communities and organizations across Southern Africa, and in some cases projects and institutions in the UK.
The only original documents housed at independent researchers and genealogists the University of Cape Town are passenger arrivals lists from 1924 to 1929. Digital copies of shipping manifests from 1890 to 1930 are also available, but please note that we do not hold the original versions.
In order to obtain copies from the passenger arrival lists from 1924 to 1929, or the shipping manifests, please send a screenshot of the Jewish Rootsbank record to KCarchivist@uct.ac.za
The Jewish Rootsbank and the Kaplan Centre do not conduct genealogical research. If you would like the details of independent researchers and genealogists recommended by the Kaplan Centre, contact as at KCarchivist@uct.ac.za