Dot Haymann
Dot Haymann's family story was shaped by displacement and survival. Her mother's parents lived on the Austrian border, where her grandfather was an attorney, before the family moved to Vienna as war approached. Her mother's siblings escaped to Israel, while her mother fled on one of the last boats out of Europe, survived its sinking in the Mediterranean, lived for three years among the olive groves on the island of Rhodes, and was later interned in a camp in Italy. Her father grew up in Zagreb, worked as an electrical and mechanical engineer in the resistance, and was also captured and later liberated in Italy. Her parents met in Taranto and, unable to enter the United States, immigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dot grew up in Johannesburg, where her father, having suffered as a Jew in Europe, kept little religion in the home and sent her to a convent school for its education. Despite this, she became active in Jewish youth groups, and her mother was involved in WIZO. She won a scholarship to study in the United States for a year, and after returning she quickly became engaged to and married her husband, whom she had known from a temple youth group. The couple settled in Johannesburg and raised three children before their jewelry business brought them to America, where a friend, the city manager of Fort Worth, encouraged them to look at Dallas. Her husband decided almost overnight, and they never looked back.
In Dallas the Haymanns built a diamond and jewelry business and became among the very first South Africans in the community. Over the years they sponsored roughly seventy South African families, offering jobs, guidance, and financial help. Dot and her husband became deeply involved in Jewish and communal life, supporting the Texas Torah Institute, Legacy senior living, and the Holocaust museum, and helping to house a new rabbi and later guarantee and purchase property for the institute. After a painful early rebuff from one congregation, they found a warm home in a young congregation that grew into Anshai Torah, where they served on committees and helped fund major projects. Devoted to family and to instilling strong values, Dot hoped to leave her children and grandchildren a legacy of community involvement, giving, and gratitude.
Full Transcript
today's Tuesday the 3rd of May 2016 we're here at the JCC in Dallas I'm interviewing god Heyman as part of the routes to boots project and dot what I'd like to do is start by asking you to tell me what you can about your grandparents on both the maternal and paternal side where they came from prior to their settling in South Africa well it's very simple on my mother's side my grandparents on my mother's side were born on the Ostrow tech border in a small town they lived there for many years my grandfather was an attorney and the great-grandparents were merchants they moved to party
to Vienna as the war started and the family consisted of three siblings my mother she had a sister and a brother when the war started the parents suggested that their children leave Europe and my aunt but I told my mother's that was the first to go she went to Israel and she settled there's a young you know twenties I believe she went to be resign the stick she went to live in Israel her sister my mother and her brother still stayed on my late uncle was the youngest of three children he tried to get out of Europe he was a teenager and young teenager it
was about third two got out somehow I managed to make his way to Israel my aunt took care of him she basically brought tomorrow my mother tried to leave Europe she was on one of the last boats going out of she went from Austria from Vienna to Germany got on a boat and was going to go to Israel the boat got all the way to Israel and the British turned the boat around the boat was sunk in the Mediterranean and everybody on the boat or the people that survived managed to get onto the island of Rhodes where my mother lived for three years in between
the olive groves the italians eventually captured the island of rhodes rounded up all these people and took them to a camp in italy she was in this camp in Italy I don't know how long maybe a year and the British liberated Italy and my mother spoke many choose an educated woman so they co-opted her to work in the naval dockyards in a place called Toronto which is southern parts of Italy mm-hmm right which is where she went to work my father grew up in yoga Slavia in a place called Zagreb I know very little about his history because he absolutely never discussed the words his
it was very and in a very secretive not even secretive he just had to put it out of his mind what had happened in Europe he worked for the newest law of resistance he was an engineer he eventually got captured by the Italians also were put in a camp and when the British came to South Africa to Italy they liberated this camp and they needed engineers so they sent him to the same van a credo quia and down in Tarrant oh that is where my parents met they wanted to get out of Europe at all cost and they applied for exit visas and the only
place the British would make them go was to a British colony they originally wanted to come to the States but they weren't allowed to do so they went to the first place they were offered which was South Africa they were not very happy to go there but that's where they went and they lived in Johannesburg South Africa so your father was an engineer yes electrical and mechanical engineer Judy established its own business there no he worked for a company called human type which made concrete sewer pups and a chemist and they really had a very very very hard time in South Africa they didn't have
any money or anything because of the war having come from Yugoslavia and Austria then neither ever got any more operations or anything they basically lived on what they earn which was not very much my mother had severe health problems because of what had happened during their Park during the war she landed up with all kinds of heart issues and she died a very young she died I think she was maybe 60 when she died my father stayed in South Africa remarried and died in his late 80s and I grew up in Johannesburg went to school in Johannesburg went to a convent from first grade through
the trek and then applied for scholarship which I got the scholarship sent you to the States for a year so I came to MIT in the States and in Ohio for a year but the terms of the scholarship demanded that you go back and I had dated my husband not really dated we would known each other we both went to a youth group at one of the temples so we knew each other from there and we used to go to the movies together there kind of thing and when I came back for the year in the States within a month we were engaged within six
months we married my husband's family is very different his family I'm gonna ask your husband about his family's about what yeah so let's go back to your family in terms of your childhood do you have siblings I had a brother brother and you see older or your Easi younger brother he's very reclusive he's an engineer as well he was divorced his he was married is divorced he has one more time so the child in your childhood you said you you went to a compostable yes from house grades to graduation now what was the decision-making process in your household the center to a convent rather than
to a Jewish day school well my father's attitude was having been Jewish he suffered enough and he really didn't want to know anything about religion or any with religion and if he could deny the fact that he was Jewish he did and he felt that the place to get a good education was not in the public school he felt that a convent would offer good education and that's why he sent me to convert so was there any religion in the home whatsoever very very little my father had a mother who was in South Africa she was a little bit more religious and it's very funny
because I got contacted maybe two months ago by a lady who is living in Salt Lake City which is of the Israeli origin and she turned around and she said she's a cousin of mine right well she and I both we couldn't verify that we were cousins billa's her father had done similar things to my father exactly the same thing and when her father passed away recently she found a knitter and my father's name was in the letter and it said dear cousin ah so she tracked me down we're very involved in the yeshiva in many many many Jewish organizations here and she called Texas
Tory institution which we are founded members and reporters and said she wanted to get hold of me and they were very reluctant to give her a phone number which they didn't they gave me a phone number for murder and poetry and I believe you want to get hold of me who are you what do you want something so she told me the story I said well I've never heard of you and she tells me that my late grandfather on my father's side made being a rabbi so I have no idea what we had absolutely zero information about this so I don't know so you said
that you had you were involved in the youth group when you were in yes and what type of youth group was I was involved in Hibernia and Bnei Akiva and in fact Darryl my rivers who lives in their owner there was my mantra really yes so we go back a long long long way so you got involved in sighing mystical yes and my mother even though my father didn't approve was very involved in wit so witches dasa Bryan's to information says she was involved in it so at any time during your youth did you have a desire to go to Israel oh absolutely always my
late art lividly as she once came to visit in South Africa and one of the first things that my husband and I earn we were married we were married in August end of August it's simple we went to Israel there was a 1968 my perspective long way of and with me to Israel many many many many times and we involved in a lot of projects in Israel and very much involved her to ever think of living there oh yes we did we had the actual opportunity to go and live in Israel my husband was involved in the dharmic business and he had the opportunity to
go and work for somebody that we knew in Israel and having visited numerous times I just didn't think it was a good fit for our family but I mean we go regularly we would just say two weeks ago so we love Israel we think it's an incredible place with big supporters but living there is a very different thing to being as a visitor my husband's brother lives in Israel now he has worked Alton there he's got 23 grandkids of which I think twin five in South Africa at least open in this room so we don't make it so how old were you a numeric 18
18 yeah very elegant how old was your husband he was 21 and were you living in your house burger at that time made over and did you stay there and not sitting we all we lived in Johannesburg until we immigrated to the States and what year was up that's a 60 no no not since NDA's so did you start your family and your buddies how many children you know we have three kids and and what are their what what are their ages I'm saying is by oldest one she was born in 1969 Tracy is my middle daughter she was born in 1970 and Gary is
my youngest son was born in Singapore and what types of schools did your children go to do they go to the heaven years ago they went to the public they went to public school in South Africa and when we came here Gary went to here to the JCC to kindergarten mmm to public school and in my mental daughter HT graduated from holiday what was the reason that you and your husband decided to leave something even a smile when I tell you the reason we've always had our own companies and we had a jewelry company very large jewelry company we came to do a show in
New York and everybody asked us where - American office we really never talked about immigrating and our in fact I had three young young kids at that point and we go back to I would meant to South Africa and my husband stayed he couldn't see himself living in LA he couldn't see himself living in New York and we had a very good friend who was the city manager of Fort Worth we'd met him in South Africa he had done a spectacle teaching at the University in Pretoria and my husband traveled with and he went to Asia with him and mr. piscazzi two daughters and infant the wife and after he'd been LA he called the sky and said to Nakamura's you always said I should come to America I hated New York I hate LA I'm going back won't Robert open an office for me this guy said no I went off in an office for you I've just brought American Airlines to America to Dulles come and see it and will like it and my husband literally landed here and within three days had decided to settle down and called me and in the middle of the night and said to me I want to see you in Dallas
Texas I think Dallas we would never talked about it and he told me I said to me out of your mind and I slammed the phone on you we had three kids we had in business we had a house we had two dogs we had a housekeeper so he called me back and he said you never told me no before what's wrong with you I said you're out of my mind he said cameo liked it so I got on a plane and I came and we never looked back did you know any of the other other on you is there we were one of the
very very very first people to arrive here I meet one South African when I came I was given one name one who was a dumb Australians and I mean who has the results also identity jewelry business and I called up Darryl and all she did was cry on the phone god-awful places well no I mean happy to get her if I could get out of here go back don't even stay she ain't such so I really didn't get to know her she just turned me off so much that she was just so negative oh dear so we lived here for a long time before meeting
me of the South Africans ruling we were one of them very very very first to arrive yet so how did you begin to get involved with the rest of the community as they became as they emigrated to the country what happened was we started a company yeah mm-hmm and we had it was my husband and myself and we had an endowment broking office in Park Central which is basically off of the LBJ run and my husband used to go back to South Africa every third week because he had an office there in a factory there and I would run whatever he was to run yeah
and on one of those trips back he was complaining to the guys that he worked with that it's so hard that he doesn't know anybody here and one of the people that worked for us in South Africa who was one of our apprentices said my cousin Ezra people to go to Texas and his name was Basso Cohen right so his parents been an itchy Cohen we're here we made them we like them and my husband said to them : if your son wants to join me I'll teach of the business which is what happened and as a result of that I would say I think
or together we must have sponsored maybe 70 South African families really I mean a lot of them came because of direct exposure to us Oh wonderful so that is how a lot of the South Africans came here well it's quite a large community now it's a very large community what Bazin came as a result of him coming sandy fraud sandy and how josh came because ins mille miglia became naval used to work for my husband southern even as a practice law and fiona nazarone came i mean i can real big circle unknown you how many of them came early results well that's wonderful so you
really are sort of the founding member of roots to boots look we really were we know I think Darrell Strelitz and David and the Cohens a double Cohen and they were the only other two South Africans that we have well we didn't meet any of them for solar in here yet or not so okay just about off to us just shortly after us or parallel to us now Souls sunny no Graham was a tennis pro a wheelchair and my husband maintenance if Graham come and work for me I'll teach the diamond business so Graham work for my husband and the Islanders from home so truthfully
when I say that really were about 70 families that really have truly made so many memories that's amazing sir so once you once this kind of group started to grow together did you feel more comfortable being here in balance um you know we have always both of us worked we've had another number of companies and one of the things about a lot of the South Africans were that many of the wives did not work right there people work they were involved in social in bridge and whatever it was and quite honestly that was not my scene so we are we have a small group of
South African friends that we're friendly with the majority of our friends are people that were you comfortable with the Americans they get people from all over the world right and we spend our time with we do not seek outside that because just because it came in general it was a case of many many many people came and knocked on our job door either for a job or financial assistance or help we did not come with a lot of money we came with the ability to start a business very well and so we worked at it and whenever there was a financial need and somebody needed
a helping hand we were they much more so than Federation Federation at that point in time didn't feel that they were able to help us up every once it's a huge number of South Africans came and knocked on our door for financial assistance yes and what about the girls community in general do you feel well integrated into the other you know but it you know what makes you integrated into the Dallas community or a number of things and I would say to the things that make you integrated on the organization's you get involved in how much you committed to be part of the community and
how you can help people I mean we are very involved as I mentioned to takes a story Institute there are amazing people how did you get involved with it here um we had a very good friend his name is art and sex right I've known Ivan Ivan Ivan and I made to his calling I'm sitting in our little diamond office one day and there's a knock on the door and it's this young kid and I mean he was a kid were you 20 and he's got a yarmulke on his head and he says to me I want to speak to husband I said what do
you want to speak to him about he says I'm connecting money why didn't you speak to me first and tell me what you're doing so in a diamond office you've got an exterior little office and then you've got the proper on row so I laid him inside and my husband was traveling somewhere sit down tell me what the story is say sit up there's been a war there are a lot of young people that have lost limbs and they need wheelchairs and I'm raising money for the wheelchairs as I said to Arvind I don't generally like to give a lot of money because it goes
in a bottomless pit of universal wind he said to me whatever money you give me I will give you receipts on the wheelchairs and I will show you I'll take pictures of who god thing I said you don't need to do that your word is good in that and that was must be 30 years ago 35 years ago and we became very good friends and through thick and than we've known each other in one day he comes to me I had been doing some commercial leasing but I was involved in some of our properties and he said to me there's a new rabbi coming to
town and I need to find him a place to live so I said what do you need he says I need a rental house that's it okay I'll find a house and it was rabbi Road mm-hmm oh my god yes so you can ask him no I regret my road and ever lived and you know I know I know Rob I'm I'm a very good writer you ask the Mets how far back it goes and we became very good friends and then Rabbi Roden had the dream of starting GTI and one day Basel Adam comes mm of myself he said that we need some money
and we want to sign a lease but something has got a guarantee and so we guaranteed it and then we brought one property and then as it grew Ivan came to us and said look we want to buy the property with campuses now on Frankfurt world so he comes to us and basil said ok we'll buy it or donate it and he said it's where it churches and it's on biggest Davenport well we didn't know which end of Davenport it is he said meet us there on Sunday morning but the churches are both ends up there but we went to the wrong Church Oh and
then eventually resort but that that's how they came about oh my goodness and we love rabbi Kalman every about pact and we are are we no harm so we've been very involved they are extremely incredible young men yes and they've done a lot for this community they've made the community grow they've brought in a fortune of young people and it's very different to a yeshiva in your own Israel because these young men get a proper education not only a Tory education so that when they graduate they are able to do whatever they want if they want to be a lawyer that can be oh yeah
if they want to be a nurse like rabbi rabbi Romans one son is a nurse Yeah right they can be whatever they want to be there's nobody pigeon holding them insane to them you've got a student studied they have the ability to do whatever they want about it and that's what we supported well that's a full-time charitable endeavor but it sounds like maybe you're involved other things also yes I'm involved in Legacy oh and we're very involved in the Holocaust Museum then you're gonna cost me my husband's on the building committee and a fundraising committee so they do we involved in it as well and
so you're involved in this new project at Legacy yes but yes I'd like to know more about that project in the South because I've only heard few little rumors what can you tell me and then building a very new facility mm-hmm we have an event on Thursday if you'd like to come it's called the yes event from being a seat and we're gonna raise funds and we're gonna put a very substantial building we've got legacy up north you're gonna do something somewhat of Narnia there's a need for it and hopefully we will be able to meet it'll be wonderful yeah wonderful because we certainly need
a kosher facility wait at a kosher facility in the South for a long time yeah and the Holocaust Museum is gonna be amazed it's gonna be where will that be located they've bought a property and they've drawn up the plans it's very close to where it is now mostly so it's very close but you know you say to me I'll be integrated into the community we are involved in the Dallas community and through these things you get to meet a lot of people that you normally wouldn't meet and people that do these kind of projects tend to be very nice people they're very charitable people
they spend their life working to have some financial security but they realize that they have a social security social responsibility as well so they get involved in projects absolutely sir I'm sorry but I think that one of the things that I'm not a South Africans I'm not one involved in business and it's very sad I think it's to be an agent I think having listened to a lot of stories I think you may be right you may be one of the most involved of all the people and I've spoken to Kokomo for that um is there anything at all that you miss about South Africa
you know I think that what has happened we just don't have family being I think what has happened is that Jewish life in South Africa was really rich and good it was very easy to be Jewish in South Africa it was very difficult to be Jewish in Dallas Texas extremely difficult and while saying that was we had some very tough experiences when we first arrived yeah can you give an example we arrived here in early September it divorced early September and the very first thing that I did was we had been involved when Beth Ann and I got married we were on our typical our
show committee who revolved in virtual organization was the big conservative congregation so the first thing that we did when we came here was we wanted to get involved so the first phone call I made I looked in the phone book shared Israel and I spoke to the lady I said no I'm interested in buying some tickets because that's how you did in South Africa head of articles for that earlier she was no problem she'll put me onto the red bag well she chewed me out like you have never ever heard he said you people are all the same you think that by buying a ticket
you can come to shore for four days over the pace of the year and we'll never see you again and why do we waste our names as it long we've just arrived in Dallas Texas we've been here a week the holidays are coming we will act as a place to go with that children this is what we don't want these kind of people so that was the end of Sharon Israel we were never belonged to show that the Israeli and we would not even belong to show it Israel where each one going on so what happened was we didn't belong to anything for a while
and one day through somebody I'm meeting up in Adinath through one of the kids schools told me about a very nice young congregation that was opening up and the name was unsure Emmitt and they were originally in a house of Beltline Road and so one Friday night my husband used to travel every week Monday to Friday we had an office in Boston and one in New York so he was always God he was never here so one Friday nights I take these three kids put them in the car and we go and the group of people then what unbelievable they welcomed us Gary my son
is very hot actor was even more so then they didn't mind they welcomed us they were incredible and that's where two of my children had the involved right up Sesame nothing was too much whatever the kids wanted to do they were fantastic and then over the years they moved to planar obviously equipment takes four young kids to play low but I kept in touch with everybody and then they said they were going to combine with onto the Torah and shutaura and create Anshe Torah and we loved the rabbit on chain and so we became members there I was on the boarding committee hit that building
committee will major fundraisers on their major we paid for the whole menorah in the front we did a lot of the stuff inside and that's where we've been on but that is one of the first projects that we really got involved in from a social project and I can only tell you there was very meaningful in there I mean I meet incredible people loved working with all of them and they're excellent friends today so so I'm hearing that there isn't really anything you miss about home you know this is home this is home this is home if you had to ask my husband where does
he miss he misses those chocolates you give us he gets them city but the South Africa reviews it isn't that kind of South Africa anymore the people we knew are scattered all over the world we've been gone a long time right so this is very much home would I go back to South Africa absolutely not under any circumstances we go back to see our family the best part of going back is to go in to the game box mm-hmm but as for the rest no I noticed that some of the South Africans they were given Holford opportunity would jump and the bone would go back
really young then I think it's they limit themselves because the woman you know what it takes to make a good home is a rock that is supporter and she goes out and me does husband doesn't have time to do during the day and then as a family unit that they embody those things and I think that's where none of South Africans have gone very wrong you know a lot of them have not in got got involved in a lot of things they see each other and they don't get any further and I give you a very good example they had an event for Jewish Family
Services as I kept on calling and saying who's going who's going no it's too far to go downtown so I said what do you mean it's too far no it takes too long it doesn't even in term our camera we are gonna forward and your way if I go to Austin right I don't even think that downtown is far yes but a lot of people are very intimidated back so they don't go if you had some special words you wanted to leave to your children as a legacy in this interview what would they be but we'd be very very very missed we have three wonderful
children all three of them census we have seven great ring we have seven wonderful grandchildren of the seven five go to the beam I think the legacy that we want to learn leave them is in fact that they've got to beam inches they've got to be involved they've got a look at this as their community and not just as an outsider and participate and share what you can doesn't have to be money it has to be your time and your energy my one daughter is very involved at Levine she's on the fundraising she's on the board and my other kids know that they have community
involvement my daughter-in-law was also involved in to me so as my son and my other daughters a physician she lives a little bit further north but she's also involved in all kinds of things and I think what we as parents can give our children is a solid grounding we've got to teach them good values they need to know the difference between right and wrong and what it takes to bring our kids are well grounded you know if you look around North Dallas what you see is not the real world it's a very affluent society they think that everybody should have a car they think that
everybody should have nice clothes they don't understand that this is the exception and not the rule and they need to be exposed to the fact that it's not the rule it's the exception so we've tried to instill in them values of working in a food bank or going to do projects my twin granddaughters are having the Bat Mitzvah in September the one is a gymnast and she's doing a project of project for the Bat Mitzvah is raising funds for handicapped Israelis children and people that don't have the ability to do physical exercise because of having a leg lost or and mom lost or losing something
to cancer so we're trying to store good values right well it's been a real pleasure reading with you I think joy and talking to you enjoyed hearing your story and I look forward to speaking with your husband as well good well I'm getting me out it's just a Christmas wait as well psycho work that out thank you so much for coming in to that thank you thank you very much you do a good job thank you thank you