Abstract
This chapter focuses on the social and political history of Yiddish in Southern Africa. South Africa is the only country in Southern Africa that attracted a sufficiently large Eastern European Jewish population to develop a Yiddish culture and a literature. Yet from its inception, the Yiddish language in South Africa came under siege, both from the government of the Cape Colony and from the Anglo-German Jewish establishment. In 1902, the community had to fight to have Yiddish recognised as a European language for the purposes of immigration. Moreover, because of its association with leftist politics, Yiddish was continually undermined in favour of Hebrew culture and Zionism. Nonetheless, its adherents created a rich literature that is discussed in this chapter.
In memory of Dr Joseph Sherman (1944–2009)
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Belling, V. (2018). Yiddish. In: Kamusella, T., Ndhlovu, F. (eds) The Social and Political History of Southern Africa's Languages. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-01593-8_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-01593-8_20
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