CELEBRATION

100 ‘ LUCKY ’ YEARS

Rose Norwich (BArch 1943, MArch 1988) celebrated her 100th birthday in Johannesburg on 2 January 2021. This Wits alumna was one of few women to qualify in the field of architecture during the 1940s. In 1988, she was awarded her Master’s degree, with distinction, for her Master’s dissertation “Synagogues on the Witwatersrand and in Pretoria before 1932: their origin, form and function”.

Norwich was also the joint convenor of a documentary project to record the history of Jewish communities in country areas of South Africa, co-heading a team with Adrienne Kollenberg and Phyllis Jowell. It was exhibited at the Tel Aviv University in 1980 and has since grown into the publication of six volumes by The South African Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth. With the title of “Jewish life in the South African country communities”, the books cover more than 1 500 centres across the country. The collection provides a unique record of the estimated 10 000 to 20 000 Jewish people who lived in the country districts of South Africa at various times from as far back as the 1820 Settlers, to almost the present day. Norwich’s father was a Lithuanian immigrant who came to South Africa in 1895 where he started work in a pharmacy. Her mother’s family originally came from England in the late 19th century. They were married at the end of World War I. She was one of four children who grew up in Johannesburg. She graduated during World War II, and there were few jobs for architects - even fewer for women architects.

She met and married Isadore “Oscar” Norwich (MBBCh 1933) in 1945. He was a Johannesburg surgeon, who was an avid collector of Africana maps. After his death in 1994, the collection was sold to the David Rumsey Map Centre at Stanford University in the US. In total, he wrote three books: Maps of Africa (republished after his death), Maps of Southern Africa, and A Johannesburg Album: Historical Postcards.

Norwich has always been involved in community life. She served as Vice President and later President of the Union of Jewish Women of the South Africa in the 1970s, at an important time in the country’s history. She was outspoken in her opposition to apartheid, saying at the Union’s 1979 conference that “history has shown us that it is not possible for one section of the population forever to dominate another”. Three of her children live in the US and the fourth in England. She has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Sadly, because of the pandemic, none of them were able to attend the birthday celebrations in early January, but celebrated with her via digital platforms. She modestly describes herself as having been “lucky in life”, with good parents, an excellent education, a happy marriage, and a family who are all good human beings. She is also grateful to her family and friends for the support they give her — “you can’t do it all yourself”.

Source: Ruth Coggin