Aliens Act, 1937
Aliens Act 1 of 1937 was a South African law that instituted an Immigrants Selection Board, which would screen every potential immigrant coming to South Africa from outside of the British Empire or Ireland, with the power to either grant or withhold a permit to enter the country. One of the qualifications the Board considered when assessing immigrants was "assimilability", a term not defined by the legislation and thus left to the board to interpret subjectively.
The law did not mention Jews, but is claimed to have been intended to stop Jewish migration from National Socialist Germany. The Jewish community within South Africa was divided on the bill. Jewish United Party MPs voted for it as it did not specifically mention Jews. Some members of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies supported the Bill as they feared Jewish immigration from Germany would intensify anti-Semitism within South Africa.
The National Party's Daniel Malan, leader of the opposition, unsuccessfully attempted to amend the bill to prohibit Jewish immigration explicitly, to end the further naturalization of Jewish permanent residents of South Africa and to close certain professions from Jews and "other non-assimilable races". Malan argued that Jews were getting the best jobs and that "the Afrikaner is suffering in consequence". Arguing for his amendment, Malan said of Jews, "Now the question arises with us, as a people, not only how we are going to keep them out in future, but how we are going to protect ourselves against those who are here."
