Updated August 2022

For an alphabetical list of family biographies  – click here (soon to be added). Please use the drop down Menu above to view individual pages.

The pages in this section include a number of family biographies which were originally written and presented to the late Aliza Hatchuel as part of her initiative to collect personal histories of the community. From the somewhat cryptic style of the writing some of the biographies appear to be have been transcribed from interviews.

Aliza’s intention, according to her husband Marvyn, was to collect these records of Rhodesian/Zimbabwe families, their early days in the country, where they came from, other anecdotal information and present this to Beth Hatefutsot (the Diaspora Museum) in Israel.  None of these biographies have been published before.

They were typed and provided (mostly) in two original copies and to save time they have been scanned and transferred the texts using special (OCR) software. This has its limitations and results in some of the text being corrupted or missing. Please note that the first versions posted here have undergone some initial correcting but will need closer and more detailed checking against the originals (another big project…). Families are invited to provide edited/corrected versions of what is available here.

The biographies were provided to Aliza in the full knowledge that they would be made available to the public and wherever available  the source of the biography or the author’s name is provided.

Since the publication of the original batch of 15 biographies which Aliza collected ZJC has received a large additional number from current and former members of the community wishing to tell their story.

The section called Short Biographies Albums 1 and 2 ( containing some 50 biographies) were sourced from community anniversary magazines.

If anyone wishes to contribute their family story and add to this unique collection please use the contact form at the bottom of this page or this online form.