The Jewish Museum, The Great Synagogue and Greatermans

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Johannesburg always had a large Jewish population, and they played a significant role in the city's economy. There were three iconic buildings representing Johannesburg Jewry in the city centre: The Jewish Museum on the corner of Kruis and Marhsall Streets, the Great Synagogue in Smit Street, and the headquarters of the once famous Greatermans, who had their huge head office at the bottom of Commissioner Street. Let's see what these three places look like today...

First, below, the Jewish Museum at the corner of Kruis and Marshall Streets...

 

 

 

Then, below, the Great Synagogue in Smit Street: long since closed down as all the Jews fled the surrounding residential blocks, and today in use as a fast food chicken outlet..

 

 

 

Below: Ironically, vegetable vendors use the forecourt of the old Greatermans building as a makeshift vegetable shop: they can keep their wares behind the steel fence, 'safe' from their customers, who are just as inclined to steal the goods as they are to pay for them. At day's end, the vendors have to throw all their unsold wares back over the fence, jump over and leave, until the next day...

 

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