The Kaross King

Of Latvian Jewish origin, Max, along with his brother Adolph “Ranku” Hirschfeldt, had arrived in Molepolole around 1895, subsequently marrying into the local community.

By the 1920s Raphalane had established a lucrative business exporting of local game-products. Notwithstanding the 1899 declaration of the Ghanzi District as Crown Land, through the 1930s Bakwena tribute collectors continued to exercise defacto authority over much of the area.