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| The Fischer clan: `Central to civic and
commercial life' |
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| By Charlotte Halle |
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There is only one book devoted to the
history of the Jews in Zambia, but its meticulous index duly lists
almost every member of the community. |
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| "Zion in
Africa: The Jews of Zambia," published in 1999 and co-authored by
Hugh Macmillan and Frank Shapiro, makes numerous references to the
Fischer family, who like many other Jews were considered central to
civic life and to the opening up of trading stores and other
businesses in the former British protectorate. Stanley's uncle, Sam
Fischer was the first of the clan to leave Libau, Latvia in 1923,
seeking prosperity in Southern Africa - following in the footsteps
of his cousin Elias Kopelowitz. Also documented in the book is the
career of Jack Fischer, Stanley's cousin, who started out in retail
and went on to become the first mayor of the city of Lusaka.
According to author of the book, Frank Shapiro, a
London-born resident of Ramat Gan, Kopelowitz asked Stanley's father
Philip - then a young bachelor - to manage a store in Mazabuka, some
120 km south of Lusaka on the railway line to Livingstone, and it
was there that Stanley lived until the age of 13, part of the
privileged white colonial society.
Stanley is quoted in the
book, where he provides a graphic description of a typical small
town store in a commercial farming area in the post-war years, and
its colonial context: "Racism was rife, there was no social mixing,
and the school was of course segregated. I remember once organizing
a cricket game with some African children, and being reprimanded by
a passerby."
Though there were only a handful of Jews in
Mazabuka, the country-wide Jewish community numbered 1,200 with six
synagogues at its peak in the mid 1950s. This number shrank
dramatically following Zambian independence in 1964; today Shapiro
estimates there are only some 20 Jews residing in
Zambia.
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