Series - Zelda Rapeport Photograph Series

The Zelda Rapeport Collection donated by Naomi Rapeport comprises a number of photographs documenting the life of Zelda Rapeport. She was born and schooled in Johannesburg. She grew up in a traditional Jewish home, At the age of 16, she matriculated from Johannesburg High School for Girls (Barnato Park School). Due to financial constraints, she was unable to go to university. She did voluntary work with the Red Cross during the Second World War and wanted to pursue nursing as a career, but her parents objected. Instead she did a secretarial course and worked as a personal assistant at the law firm, Werksmans.

Following her marriage to Jack Rapeport, she lived in Rustenburg. She worked in the family’s business and was very involved in Jewish life in the town, running the children’s services at the shul and being a member and chairlady of WIZO. In 1966 she moved to Durban. She continued to partake in activities in the Durban North Jewish community, WIZO and the Union of Jewish Women. She ran one of the few kosher homes in the suburb. Guests included the Chief Rabbi of the Israel Army. She worked with her husband in their retail clothing businesses and travelled extensively abroad sourcing fashion goods.

Her home was always filled with visitors who arrived en masse to spend school holidays in Durban. She was an ardent Zionist and in 1982 she and her husband went on Aliyah. They lived in Haifa and spent their last years surrounded by their children and grandchildren in Israel.