Book Description

This book tells the story of a forgotten part of Jewish History; a period completely overshadowed by the Holocaust; the horrors of war and pogroms and starvation and disease suffered by Jews in the 'Pale of Settlement' from 1914 to 1922. It details the horrors and the help given to these desperate people by Jewish communities established in the USA, Canada, Palestine and South Africa. The book then focuses on, and follows up on the lives of the 181 Jewish Orphans rescued from the 'Pale of Settlement' in 1921 by Isaac Ochberg, the representative of the South African Jewish community. Half of these Ochberg Orphans, on arrival in South Africa, were placed in the care of the Cape Jewish Orphanage (later known as Oranjia) while the rest were sent to Johannesburg and placed in the care of the South African Jewish Orphanage (later known as Arcadia). While the firsthand accounts of the Ochberg Orphans are included in part one of the book, the secondhand accounts, as recorded by their descendants, are in part two and part three of the book. Part two, Cape Town, South Africa, contains the history of Oranjia and the life stories of the Ochberg Orphans in its care and similarly part three, Johannesburg, South Africa contains the history of Arcadia and the life stories of the Ochberg Orphans in its care. This book a third volume on Arcadia (the Arc). The first volume published in 2006 100 Years of Arc Memories celebrated the centenary of Arcadia and contained the Arc memories of over 120 of its children. The second volume More Arc Memories published in 2008 contains the memories of over 100 further children including a section of 17 chapters on Ochberg's Orphans and it was almost complete when I started to receive, via the Jewish grapevine, the life stories of the Ochberg Orphans and I realised that we needed a third volume to properly record their history. In total we have made contact with the families of over 140 Ochberg Orphans and this book contains the life stories of 130 of the 181 Ochberg Orphans. No doubt more will come to light in the fullness of time. The book has three aims: -To record the forgotten history, the horrors suffered by Jews in the 'Pale of Settlement' from 1914 to 1922 and the help given to them by their brethren, the Jewish Communities worldwide. -To provide a legacy for the descendants of each of the Ochberg Orphans; a book which gives the history of the Ochberg Orphans and preserves the life stories of their Ochberg Orphan relative. -To raise funds for Arcadia and Oranjia, the two Jewish Orphanages in South Africa, in whose care the Ochberg Orphans were placed. Both of these institutions still exist and still take care of Jewish children in need and part of the proceeds from the sale of this book and all the proceeds on the sale of the two previous volumes on Arcadia will be donated to them. Related books also available are - The Pinsker Orphans, telling of the life and times of the children from the three Jewish Orphanages in Pinsk in the 1920s. -This was a Man, the life story of Isaac Ochberg as told by his daughter Bertha I Epstein.