Boris Gersman

Boris (Dov-Ber)[1] Gersman (or Gershman; 8 May 1900 in Upyna – 3 April 1953 Johannesburg) was a Jewish musician and businessman from Lithuania who emigrated to South Africa and became the publisher and editor of the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung (The African Jewish Newspaper).[2][3]

Early life and education

Boris Gersman was born on May 8, 1900 in Upyna near Šilalė.[1][3]: 15  He was the eldest of five siblings born to his parents Zalman (alternatively: Zelik)[1] and Fayga Gersman. After Zalman emigrated to South Africa for economic reasons and took care of the family from there, Fayga moved with the children to Vilnius, where Boris attended a Russian high school and later studied violin at the music conservatory. During this time, the  family could not follow Zalman to South Africa due to the outbreak of the First World War. After the end of the war and a stay in Berlin, Fayga took the children to Vienna, where they took English lessons and Boris continued to study violin. In 1920 they were finally able to follow their father to South Africa.[3]: 15-16 [4][1]

Career

After a few months in Wepener, Boris Gersman moved to Johannesburg. Initially earning his living in physical labour,[1] he then came to work there as a violinist in a silent film orchestra. With the advent of talkies he looked for other job opportunities, but continued to play with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra.[3]: 16 

While some sources imply that Gersman founded the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung himself,[2] others (both older and more recent studies) elaborate that the weekly newspaper had actually been founded by Dr. Ben-Zion Almuni (or Almoni[5]: 22 ), another journalist from Vinius; with Gersman working as this Yiddish newspaper's advertising salesman before he bought it in 1931 and became its publisher, and later (from 1949) also its editor.[5][6]: 13 [3]: 16 

Gersman married Fanny Cecilia, also from Šilalė in Lithuania. The couple had two daughters.[3]: 17  In addition to the newspaper, Gersman bought a printing factory that not only printed the newspaper, but secured the family's financial livelihood.[3]: 17 

Gersman is credited for running the newspaper with great enthusiasm,[3]: 17  being especially competent at securing its funding[6]: 13  and expanding it into one of the country's most important Yiddish newspapers.[3]: 26  Particularly, two other Yiddish newspapers in South Africa, Der Afrikaner (in 1933/1934)[7][8][9] and Der Yiddisher Express (in 1937)[10], were incorporated into the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung,[3]: 17  at times even resulting in a twice-weekly from 1936 to 1942 (then returning to weekly publication).[5]: 22  Having started with just eight pages, the newspaper expanded to eight and later 20 pages, with special issues on holidays.[3]: 17 

In 1946, Gersman, together with Solomon Kartun, also briefly issued an irregular humorous magazine named Der Blitz (The Lightning).[11]

According to Joseph Sherman, the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung maintained a high standard of journalism.[12]: 9  Gersman was in close contact with correspondents abroad and strongly objected sensational reports.[3]: 20 

In July 1947, Gersman travelled to Europe with his wife Fanny. With the permission of the American authorities, the couple visited various DP camps, "on behalf of the South African Jewish War Appeal to survey the situation of needy Jews on the Continent."[13] A photo shows the encounter with Eliyahu Jones in the Berlin DP-Camp Schlachtensee – Jones was editor of the Yiddish DP newspaper Undzer Lebn.[3]: 18-19 

On the trip, Gersman also met Levi Shalitan (later Shalit),[3]: 19  who had founded Undzer Veg, the most important post-war Yiddish newspaper in Munich.[12]: 182  The two agreed that Shalit's articles should also appear in Gersman's newspaper.[6]: 14   During the trip and visits to the DP camps, Gersman suffered his first heart attack.[14][3]: 20 

Back in Johannesburg, the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung published Shalit's reports on the situation of the DPs. Shalit soon became the main journalist for the newspaper. The editing was led by Shmaryahu Levin.[6][3]: 20 

In addition to his publishing activities, Gersman was an enthusiastic promoter of Yiddish culture in South Africa and supported many Jewish artists in South Africa as well as in Europe and Israel. Cultural issues played an important role in the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung and Gersman's private home was a meeting place for Jewish artists, writers and musicians. In Johannesburg he supported, among others, artist Irma Stern and the Russian actor Ossip Runitsch, whom he encouraged to play on Yiddish stages in South Africa.[3] Gersman was also involved in trying to start a Yiddish theater company in South Africa.[2][15][3]: 21-23 

Boris Gersman died of a heart attack[3]: 20  at the age of 52 on April 3, 1953[1][14][4][16] in Johannesburg.[17]

The newspaper was continued after Gersman's death by Levi Shalit along with Shmarya Levin.[5]: 24  It existed until 1985.[8][6]: 15 

Recognition

Boris Gersman was referenced in the Leksikon fun der Nayer Yidisher Literatur (1958),[1] a comprehensive biographical reference work on Yiddish literature published by the Congress for Jewish Culture.[18] After the Afrikaner Yidisher Tsaytung had been suspended in the mid-1980s, Gersman's role in the South African Yiddish press also fell into obscurity.[3]: 25-26  Recent scholarship has begun to reassess this legacy. Underlining the significance of the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung within South African Yiddish culture as a successful weekly, Cedric Ginsberg (2011) noted Gersman's "able guidance"[19]: 47  and described the paper as containing "treasures … waiting to be mined".[19]: 85 As Veronica Penkin Belling (2024) observes, the Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung was never systematically archived, yet preliminary research into its surviving issues highlights the contributions of "formerly neglected personalities, such as the editors Boris Gershman and Levi Shalit, which add a fresh new dimension to our understanding of our predominantly Litvak origins, and how they shaped the nature of the South African Jewish community."[20] In parallel, Andrea Livnat (2024) has published a detailed biographical account, further indicating broader scholarly interest in Gersman and his work across Jewish studies and historical research.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., ed. (1958). Leksikon fun der Nayer Yidisher Literatur (Biographical Dictionary of Modern Yiddish Literature), Vol. 2 (gimel–dalet) (in Yiddish). New York: Marstin Press. p. 327. Retrieved 17 December 2025. (English translation for the online CJC lexicon project: "Entry 'Gershman, Boris (Dov-Ber)'". Translated by Joshua A. Fogel. 17 December 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link))
  2. ^ a b c "Gersman, Editor of Jewish Newspaper in South Africa, Dies". Jewish Telegraph Agency. 8 April 1953. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Livnat, Andrea (2024). "Herausgeber und Mäzen: Boris Gersman und die 'Afrikaner Yidishe Tsaytung' (Johannesburg)". In Tobias, Jim G.; Livnat, Andrea (eds.). nurinst 2024 – Jüdische Zeitungen und Autoren. nurinst – Beiträge zur deutschen und jüdischen Geschichte (Jahrbuch des Nürnberger Instituts für NS-Forschung und jüdische Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts) (in German). Vol. 12. Nuremberg: Antogo Verlag. pp. 13–26.
  4. ^ a b "Death of Mr. Boris Gersman". The Zionist record and SA Jewish chronicle: the organ of South African Jewry. Johannesburg: South African Zionist Federation. 10 April 1953.
  5. ^ a b c d Poliva, Joseph Abraham (1961). "Afrikaner Yiddishe Zeitung". A Short History of the Jewish Press and Literature of South Africa from Its Earliest Days Until the Present Time. Johannesburg: Prompt Printing Co. pp. 22–24. LCCN 62005717.
  6. ^ a b c d e Sherman, Joseph (2010). "South Africa's Last Yiddish Newspaper: An Interview with Levi Shalit" (PDF). Jewish Affairs. 65 (1): 13–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025. First published in 'Jewish Affairs', Spring 1993, pp. 49-54.
  7. ^ Poliva, Joseph Abraham (1961). "Der Afrikaner". A Short History of the Jewish Press and Literature of South Africa from Its Earliest Days Until the Present Time. Johannesburg: Prompt Printing Co. pp. 21–22. LCCN 62005717.
  8. ^ a b Sherman, Joseph (31 July 1999). "South African Literature in Yiddish and Hebrew". The Mendele Review: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to MENDELE). 03.012. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  9. ^ "South African Literature". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  10. ^ Poliva, Joseph Abraham (1961). "Der Yiddisher Express". A Short History of the Jewish Press and Literature of South Africa from Its Earliest Days Until the Present Time. Johannesburg: Prompt Printing Co. p. 22. LCCN 62005717.
  11. ^ Poliva, Joseph Abraham (1961). "Der Blitz". A Short History of the Jewish Press and Literature of South Africa from Its Earliest Days Until the Present Time. Johannesburg: Prompt Printing Co. p. 60. LCCN 62005717.
  12. ^ a b Sherman, Joseph, ed. (1987). From a Land Far Off. A Selection of South African Yiddish Stories. Cape Town: Jewish Publications South Africa. ISBN 0799210803.
  13. ^ Letter from the 'American Joint Distribution Committee' to the 'Military Permit Office' (Archival manuscript), 18 July 1947; Quoted after: Livnat, Andrea (2024). "Herausgeber und Mäzen". In Tobias, Jim G.; Livnat, Andrea (eds.). nurinst 2024 (in German). op. cit. p. 18. (Translation by Wikipedia author).
  14. ^ a b "Death of Mr. Boris Gersman". S.A. Jewish Times. 10 April 1953.
  15. ^ Kuttner, Joseph (10 April 1953). "Boris Gersman. His Spirit will never die. A personal Tribute by the Editor". The Jewish Herald.
  16. ^ "Death of Mr. Boris Gersman". Rand Daily Mail. 6 April 1953.
  17. ^ Bernstein, Edgar (1954). "Union of South Africa". The American Jewish Year Book. Vol. 55. pp. 327–339, here: 339. JSTOR 23603638.
  18. ^ Cohen, Madeleine; Lemanski, Dade (April 2016). "'Eight Volumes in Dour Maroon': Josh Fogel on Translating the Leksikon". In geveb. Archived from the original on 8 April 2025. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  19. ^ a b Ginsberg, C. J. (2011). "End of an era? Forty years of Dorem Afrike and Yiddish Kultur in South Africa". Journal for Semitics. 20 (1). UNISA Press: 44–86. doi:10.10520/EJC101180. ISSN 1013-8471.
  20. ^ Belling, Veronica (2024). "Response to Shirli Gilbert". Jewish Historical Studies: A Journal of English-Speaking Jewry. 55 (1): 237–240. doi:10.14324/111.444.jhs.2024v55.15. JSTOR 48756547.
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