Forever keen to take on a challenge, and certainly not one to slow down because of age, Shirley Kantor has led a life she describes as “blessed”. And this year will see the fulfilment of a big dream: the publication of her book, Vilna to Calvinia: Words in the Wind.
“Calvinia was the town where I was born and where I spent the first 10 years of my life,” she explains. “My father’s family, the Kleins, were pioneers in Calvinia, and I have long held a strong affinity to the town, its people and the Hantam”. She left Calvinia following the sudden death of her father when she was just a small child, but ‘rediscovered’ it as an adult, when she visited the town in search of a greater understanding of her father. “My dad, Bennie Klein, was born in Calvinia, and lived there throughout his life. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in the town, and I have a strong sense of responsibility for the upkeep of the cemetery because of this,” she says.
With her love of Calvinia bolstered by numerous visits during her adult years, Shirley chose to make the Jewish presence in the town the core of her Masters in Fine Art thesis, an achievement completed at a far older age than most graduates. “I started studying at UCT after my sons, Charles and Daniel, graduated, ” she recalls. “I’ve always been interested in art. After obtaining my Bachelors and Honours degrees, graduating on the Dean’s Merit List, I went on to do my Masters, and I graduated at UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art, with a recommendation for a distinction, when I was well into my 50s.”
The installation, ‘A Klein History maar n Lang Storie: The Jews of Calvinia: dispersed, deceased but not forgotten,’ formed the basis of her Master’s thesis – a visual representation of Jewish life in Calvinia. The exhibit – which includes a recreation of the Ark, photographs and various items, books, kippot, talleisim, and tefillin from the Calvinia shul and from her parents’ home – is today a permanent feature of the Calvinia Museum (formerly the synagogue), serving as a record of the presence of Jews in the town during its earliest days.
Shirley’s focus on the town’s Jewish past during her studies became the impetus for the theme of her soon-to-be-published book. “After I’d graduated, I continued studying as an occasional student at UCT, and did a wide variety of literary courses, including one on creative writing. My story ‘Calvinia Stop’ subsequently became the inspiration for my book,” she explains. The book, which Shirley describes as ‘magical realism’ fiction, is the culmination of her research into the life of her grandmother Anna, her father’s mother. Anna came to Calvinia from Vilna in 1895.
“It was certainly a case of culture shock for Anna to have had to live in this dusty, rural town. Shirley has written of this: “Vilna was the cultural centre of Europe. Theatres and art and music, the Palestine of Lithuania. Calvinia only had a language she couldn’t understand, a windmill squeezing water from dry earth, and a bioscope where the whites were pelted with toilet paper and pissed on by the coloured children who, due to Apartheid, were forced to sit upstairs on broken benches.” And “When Grandpa fetched Granny from Vilna, she didn’t want to leave. ‘I refuse to live in a heathen town without a synagogue,’ she said.”
Shirley credits her lecturers and husband, Professor Brian Kantor, for inspiring her to record her memories of Calvinia in her writing. He has also been a significant force in her academic achievements over the years, capping her at her graduation. ●
The Cape Jewish Chronicle will keep readers informed about the publication of Shirley’s book.
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