Hyman Liberman (1853 - June 23, 1923) was a Polish-born South African politician, produce merchant and philanthropist. He served three consecutive terms as the Mayor of Cape Town between 1904 and 1907. He was the city's first elected Jewish mayor.[1][2] David Bloomberg, who served as mayor of the city in the 1970s, said that Liberman's appointment was "extraordinary" at the time as much of the Council was made up of gentry from England, Scotland and Ireland.[3] He became the second Jewish person in South Africa to hold mayoral office, after H.H. Solomon in Port Elizabeth in 1875.[4] According to Milton Shain, Liberman may have been the inspiration behind a Jewish caricature cartoon by D. C. Boonzaier.[5]
Hyman Liberman | |
|---|---|
 Bust of Liberman by Moses Kottler | |
| Mayor of Cape Town | |
| In office 1904–1907 | |
| Preceded by | William Thorne |
| Succeeded by | William Duncan Baxter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1853 Suwałki, Poland |
| Died | 23 June 1923 Cape Town, South Africa |
| Nationality | Polish South African |
| Spouse | Esther Liberman |
| Occupation | Politician, businessman |
He was born in Suwałki in Poland and spent much of his childhood in Birmingham, where he served a business apprenticeship, before emigrating to South Africa in 1873 at age 20.[6][7][2][8][9] He was a senior partner in the produce merchants firm, Liberman & Buirski and became very successful. This allowed him to be an active philanthropist, and he also showed great care and concern for the refugees and unemployed that fled to the Cape during the Second Boer War.
He was congregation president of the Gardens Shul and formally opened the new synagogue in 1905.[10][11] The facade of the synagogue also contains the Liberman Memorial stained glass windows. As mayor he also opened the newly completed Cape Town City Hall.[12] He was a member of Cape Town City Council from 1900 to 1916.[13]
He died on 23 June 1923 and is buried at the 7th Avenue Jewish cemetery in Maitland.[2][14]
Legacy edit
He bequeathed part of his personal fortune to the people of Cape Town to create art. The South African National Gallery was being built at the time and subsequently became home to the "Hyman Liberman Memorial Doors" by H. V. Meyerowitz, depicting aspects of Jewish life in South Africa. The main exhibition was also named after Liberman.[15][16] In 1934 the Hyman Liberman Institute opened as a community centre and library in District Six.[17][18] It was based on the model of Toynbee Hall in London and was partnered with the University of Cape Town. It became the centre of "high culture" in the district.[19]
Scholarships were also established in his name at the University of Cape Town from 1927. He also established the Esther Liberman Scholarship at the university in 1918, in the name of his late wife.[20] He also bequeathed money to his synagogue, the Gardens Shul.[21] Liberman's former home, Rosecourt at 25 Breda St in Gardens is now used by Astra, a sheltered employment organisation for Jewish adults.[22][23]
References edit
- ^ Cape Town: Culture and Community Reform Judaism. Retrieved on 26 December 2023
- ^ a b c Death of Former Mayor of Cape Town Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 9 August 1923
- ^ CT history through the yes of its Jewish mayors South African Jewish Report. 2–9 March 2012
- ^ Feldberg, Leon (1965). South African Jewry. Johannesburg: Fieldhill Publishing Company. p. 113.
- ^ The Foundations of Antisemitism in South Africa: Images of the Jew c. 1870-1930 University of Cape Town. 1990
- ^ Made in Wood - Work from the Western Cape : South African National Gallery. Cape Town: South African National Gallery. 1953. p. 17. ISBN 9781874817079.
- ^ Abrahams, Israel (1955). The Birth of a Community: A History of Western Province Jewry from Earliest Times to the End of the South African War, 1902. Cape Town: Cape Town Hebrew Congregation. p. 131.
- ^ Feldberg, Leon (1976). South African Jewry. Johannesburg: Fieldhill Publishing Company. p. 37.
- ^ Baumberg Alexander, Enid (1953). Morris Alexander: A Biography. Cape Town: Juta. p. 28.
- ^ Our history Gardens Shul. Retrieved on 26 December 2023
- ^ The mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town South African History Online. Retrieved on 27 December 2023
- ^ Sweet sound of music kicks of Jewish presence in SA South African Jewish Report. 16 March 2016
- ^ Sibbett, Cecil John (1964). Pictorial Material of Cecil J. Rhodes, His Contemporaries and Later South African Personalities in the C. J. Sibbett Collection of the University of Cape Town Libraries. Cape Town: University of Cape Town. p. 122.
- ^ Hyman Liberman Eggsa. Retrieved on 26 December 2023
- ^ The Lieberman Doors Cape Jewish Chronicle. 1 February 2011
- ^ Jews part of SA National Gallery’s turbulent history South African Jewish Report. 15 August 2019
- ^ Fonds BC1433 - Hyman Liberman Institute University of Cape Town. Retrieved on 27 December 2023
- ^ Chapel Street District Six-Woodstock South African Heritage Resources Agency. September 2023
- ^ Bickford-Smith, Vivian (1999). Cape Town in the Twentieth Century. Cape Town: David Philip. p. 84. ISBN 9780864863843.
- ^ General prospectus: Calendar. Cape Town: University of Cape Town. 1946. p. 82.
- ^ Jewish Affairs - Volumes 60-61. Johannesburg: South African Jewish Board of Deputies. 2005. p. 40.
- ^ How Did Astra Begin? Cape SAJBD. 15 April 2020
- ^ Hellig, Jocelyn (2005). Seeking Refuge: German Jewish Immigration to Johannesburg in the 1930s, Including Aspects of Germany Confronting Its Past. Johannesburg: South African Jewish Board of Deputies. p. 19.