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Volume UI No. 12 December 1997 £•3 (to non-members)
Don't miss ... Some reflections on the television series 'The Nazis' TheYawne remembered Mph blumenau p3 A warning from history Commemorate hen BBC2 started televising The Nazis. signed document ordering the Final Solution. the Shoah one was somewhat put off by the All who watched these programmes took part in a Rabbi Jonathan Romain p 13 W programme's apparent readiness to pro six-weeks' course in lacerating enlightenment. Even The road to Terezin vide a platform for deliberately deceitful German we who were there - part of the time, anyway - Giinther Guttntan pi6 eyewitnesses. Early on, a WWI veteran regurgitated acquired a ckxser understanding of the workings of the hoary stab-in-the-back legend 'With our troops the simultaneously hyper-efficient and rivalry-ridden Rid us of this still on enemy territory we were ordered to .stop Nazi system. We al.so learnt of the widespread .sur troublesome fighting'. In reality the Kaiser's soldiers had started vival in Germany, Au.stria, Lithuania and elsewhere the war with their thrust towards Parfs - only to be of creatures who look like men and women, but priest bogged down in a four-year 'stalemate'. When lack the characteristic which .sets huinans apart from anzig wa.s Ludendorff finally tried to break that .stalemate, in animals, namely a conscience. the August 1918. he failed and began a slow with As regards all those unpunished murderers, Dtla.shpoint drawal, which had not yet reached the Reich's informers and profiteers on the continent, we can, thai triggered WW2. border by Armistice Day. alas, do nothing. In Britain, however, we are not Forty years later the Another canard that went unchallenged was Jew totally impotent. We can express our anger at' the town, Poloni.sed a.s ish domination of German life, complete with number-crunchers of the Stalin-killed-more-people- Gdan.sk, became statistics of Berlin's Jewish lawyers and theatre di than-Hitler school who relativise the Holocau.st. And the focu.s of a rectors. As if the latter had a .scintilla of the power an even more deserving object of our detestation different conflict - of a tycoon like Krupp, Reich.sbank director Schacht mu.st be pygmies like Alan Clark and John Charmley that between or media Czar Hugenberg! Hugenberg, incidentally, who .squirt venom at Churchill for failing to follow Solidarity and the al.so led the Nationalist Party, while the only Jewish Petain's example in 19 i() D Communi.st regime. politicians with any leverage, Ro.sa Luxemburg and With church Walter Rathenau, had been as.sa.s.sinated by 1922. support. Solidarity' However, as the series unfolded one could see the eventually won. programme makers' Vkisdom in letting the German About to form Zeitzeugen - execrable time-servers and Hitler idola its second ters - condemn themselves out of their own mouths. administration, An interesting divergence of perceptions arose Solidarity has just over the clips of Hitlerian oratory. Most English view been warned iSy ers found Hitler's voice so rasping and his gestures ,so the influential Chaplinesque that they failed to understand his mes Gdansk parish meric appeal to German audiences. We, who lived prie.st Henryk through it all, know that his hate-filled tirades jankow.ski to keep articulated the resentments of millions of little Jc'ws out of the Germans - pace the 1932 bestseller Kleiner Mann - government, mis nun - who felt belittled by the Versailles Treaty, .lankowski has the inflationary wipeout of savings and widespread offended before job in.security. After 1933 this millionfold resentment and, ignoring all turned into near-orgiastic satisfaction as German\- prote.sts, keeps began to inspire fear in the drafters and beneflciaries •"^pouting \'icious of the Versailles Treaty alike. The whole nation ^ntiseniitism from allowed it.self to be corrupted by its elevation into a 'he pulpit. Until master race, not least because that psychological voices like his are boost was materially buttressed by booty from expro silenced, Vatican priated Jews, plunder from Occupied Europe and the declarations of fruits of slave labour. By focusing on Hitlers respect for Judaism unmethodical way of running his regime, the series •HHn lillflif ii^MMit 'Cannot but ring also made plain why the pernicious David Irving was hcjilow D (.'hanuldcib j^recliiig ciinl sent by Minified .Mliiuin /rum in a position to po.stulate the absence of any AH- iiilcnimcnl in 1940. AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
years later, to set up the Medical Founda Profile tion for Victims of Torture - which so absorbed her that the couple separated amicably. Today one of their sons is an The face on the screen academic. The other, a research chemist udi Bamber was born in Nurem with a strong artistic bent, sculpted a berg after the Great War, in which Holocaust memorial which stands near R his father had won the Iron Cross. Maidanek, where Rudi's mother perished. A former bookseller, the father in 1935 Rudi's second wife, Jill, is poetry editor set up a Jiidisches Familiencafe to serve of this journal - but, as of last September, as the only meeting place of the city's he him.self has a much more direct con beleaguered community. Rudi left school nection with the media. He appeared as soon afterwards and became a catering an eyewitness in the second instalment of student. BBC T\''s The Nazis- A Warning from On Kristallnacht storm troopers beat up History, where he recoLmted his Kristall the father .so .savagely that he died in RiicH Bainher nacht trauma in a most dignified, Rudi's arms. understated manner. Early in 1939 Rudi's younger si.ster left jobs before finding his true vocation in In consequence Rudi is now a minor on a Kindertransport; a few inonths later social work. After running two convales 'star' - having been contacted (either he, too, came to England as an agricul cent homes for the Jewish Welfare Board directly or through the post) by over a tural trainee. Within the year he became he became deputy director of Nightingale hundred people. Proof of Rudi's fame i-s a Dunera boy, returning from Australian House old age home, where he stayed till the fact that Hornsey swimming pool internment in late 1942. Thereafter he retiring in the mid-80s. which he frequents now uses his photo worked as a motor mechanic, repairing His first wife, Helen, had been an graph as part of their publicity material. tank transporters. Po.stwar he did various UNRRA worker in Belsen who went on, URG
into well balanced adults. It is up to us to The Second come to terins with the feelings of anger Wiener Library Conferences Generation debate that pervade Katherine Klinger's article Birkbeck College, London WC I and .so many of us. he AJR's initiative of reaching out Anger is understandable, but turns out RACISM & RESPONSIBILITY to the second generation started not to be helpful enough. Getting in touch 20-22 December 1997 promisingly with the moving article T with and overcoming one's anger is a long, International conference examining by Anthony Grenville, himself the son of necessary and painful process of self-dis major shifts in the study of'race' Viennese refugees (see June 1997 issue covery. Now comes my second comment & ethnicity in last 30 years. AJR Information). Predictably, some prob on Katherine Klinger's thought-provoking Lecturers include Mark Levene, lems and friction developed, as happened article. The 'enormity' of this process can Brian Klug, Dalia Ofer, Ruth Wodak when the tone of a strongly felt article by hardly be only a matter of fundraising and & Frank Stern Katherine Klinger in October's issue trig sponsorship. Therapists can help us to Registration fee: £ 15 Cons. £ 10 gered a protest from Mrs Gillat in come to terms with our past and our November. This is, however, already RECONSTRUCTION OF legacy. There is certainly no shortage of evidence of a dialogue between the two such competent people and associations in JEWISH LIFE IN EUROPE generations. London (eg. Link). Is that not al.so part of AFTER WORLD WAR II To state "It is time for the generation of our legacy? They are al.so helping coura I 1-12 January 1998 Holocaust survivors to understand that geous survivors to approach their Lecturers include such destruction has left a legacy behind" emotions in the hope of possible relief. Prof Ronald Zweig (Israel) (Katherine Klinger) is not an appropriate Both scholarly studies and creative litera DrArieh Kochavi (Israel) approach to bridging the gap. It is our ture have recognised our second Isabelle Goldsztejn (France) duty, as members of the second gene generation as a problematical entity and Cilia Kugelmann (Germany) ration, to respect the victims. But that make for useful and therapeutic reading. Dr Stanislaw Krajewski (Poland) certainly does not entail having to be During this inner voyage, we learn to Dr David Englander dismissive about our own second genera differentiate the concept of our parents Registration fee: £ 15 Cons. £ i 0 tion feelings of suffering and anger. from that of human beings, men and The legacy is a heavy one. The first Wiener Library, 4 Devonshire Street, women who had to try and cope with generation's ackowledging it, in.sofar as London WIN2BH the worst. Aiming at inner pacification - they can be called on at all to atone for Teh 0171 636 7247 insofar as it can be achieved - will having survived, will not lighten the enlighten all, the first generation, us, and burden of this legacy. Many of that gen the generations to come. May the dia eration are, or were, our parents. The logue set in motion in your pages Holocaust posed an additional difficulty continue and grow, thereby contributing Chanukah Greetings of huge dimensions for children in the to that process. ^ ^^^ ^^j,^^^ to ail AJR members already fraught process of growing up AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
many to his charges and to making rate and to make sure that that past The Jawne preparations for sending the next group would never be forgotten; but they spoke to England. In the end he was trapped also about the hopeful present and future remembered there and was on the last murderous con of the Jews now living again in Germany, moving ceremony of remembrance voy to Minsk. fellowship with the present generation. A took place on 25 September 1997 The Corbachs then thought of an actual touching symbol of this was the presence Ain Cologne. The occasion was the memorial in the square and began raising of schoolchildren from the Christian dedication of a memorial to the teachers money for this. The Lion sculpture was schools of Cologne. They provided the ^nd children at three Jewish .schools who made by a former pupil of the Jawne, evocative Hebrew songs and Jewish or Were deported and murdered by the Nazis. chestral mu.sic during the ceremony; and The schools were a primary school in the there was a profound silence while, in Liitzowstrasse, the gymnasium known as relays, they read out a selection of the the Jawne in the St Apernstrasse, and the names and ages of the deported children Morijah, a primary school in the same - children like them, who should have buildings as the Jawne. been able to look ahead to a life of Deportations had begun in the autumn promise, but who instead had been sent of 1941, and in July 1942 a final tran.sport n Ralph Blumenau of over 1,000 Jews, among them the remaining staff and children, were de- Ported to Minsk where they were all shot on arrival. The names of 28 teachers and 1.100 children are recorded as having PARTNER perished. In June 1943 the buildings of in long established English Solicitors the Jawne were destroyed in an air raid; (bl-lingual German) would be happy Only a che.stnut tree survives. to assist clients with English, German The old schoolyard is now a little and Austrian problems. Contact Square surrounded by modern commer Henry Ebner cial and residential buildings. In the centre of the square there is a fountain Myers Ebner & Deaner *'th a pillar in the middle, and the me- 103 Shepherds Bush Road 'iiorial consi.sts of a bronze .sculpture of a London W6 7LP Lion of Judah now set on top of the pil- Telephone 0171 602 4631 ''""; and into the eight sides of the fountain there have been in.serted bronze ALLLEGALWORK tablets recording the names of the 1,100 UNDERTAKEN children. The whole idea sprang from the minds .1 hruinc sciilpmn- of the l.iau of Jutliih suiinis oner (I nicnioriiil dciliciilcil to the children oj the Jawne c>f an indefatigable couple, Dieter and (,'yniiuisiiini in (,'()l(if>in'. "ene Corbach. They repre.sent the Protes- f''nt Synod of Cologne in Christian-Jewish Hermann Gurfinkel, who now lives in AUSTRIAN and GERMAN dialogue. Dieter died in 1994, but Irene Valparaiso, near Chicago. The first model PENSIONS has carried on his work. For years they was broken in transport to the foundry, nave searched out places and people and by then Gurfinkel had suffered a Connected with Jews who were murdered .stroke which lamed his right hand and PROPERTY RESTITUTION 'ri order t(5 have them memorialised. As a condemned him to a wheelchair. But he CLAIMS young gid in the 1950s Irene attended was so determined that he made a sec EAST GERMANY- BERLIN ^he Handelsschule in the Liitzowstrasse ond model using his left hand alone, a Without anyone having told her that this task that took him fourteen months. The On instructions our office will ^''s formerly a Jewish primary school, final product is immen.sely impre.ssive. assist to deal with your ^he only learnt of this 30 years later at a The Lion roars to Heaven for ju.stice: he applications and pursue the conference she attended, and from that expre.sses protest, suffering and .strength. matter with the authorities. "lie onwards the memorialising of these The left paw gestures in prayer, pain, and Jewish .schools has dominated the lives of anger; the right paw protects the Tablets For further information and 'he Corbachs. of the Law. appointment please They began by persuading the city au The dedication ceremony was attended contact: thorities in 1990 to name the little square by perhaps thirty to forty former pupils ICS CLAIMS ^fter Erich Klibansky, the last headmaster and by one former teacher, by dignitaries 146-154 Kilburn High Road Or the Jawne. Klibansky had escorted of .synagogue, church. Land and city; and London NW6 4JD ^^veral groups of his students, totalling at the sculptor himself managed the ardu ^*^t 127, to safety in England. He was ous journey. Jews and Chri.stians spoke Tel: 0171-328 7251 (Ext. 107) everal times urged to stay in England movingly about the calamitous past, Fax:0171-624 5002 'niself; but he always returned to Ger about the sUtue's aim both to commemo AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
mother and brother, who seemed to re Reviews gard her illness - multiple sclerosis - as a punishment for leaving the Christian reli gion. The parents also received hate mail Tarnished golden girl along the same lines at the time. Finally, Piers and Hilary du Pre, A GENIUS IN THE there is a most moving account of the last months of Jacqueline's short life and the FAMILY, Chatto andWindus, 1977, £16.99 indomitable spirit and humour which HOWMUCH acqueline du Pres life has long been never entirely left her. It will be interest the subject of myths - Jacqueline the ing to hear Daniel's version of the .story. DOES IT COST golden girl, the peerless cellist, the D Martha Blend Jwife of Daniel Barenboim. Now her sister Hilary and brt)ther Piers have chosen to TO HAVE YOUR write about the "real Jackie" as they saw her. Story of a happy man OWN PIECE Their maternal forebears were poor Gary Leon.THEWAY ITWAS, Book Guild, 1997, country-folk with large families living £12.95. OF ISRAEL? close together. The father came from a family of wealthier tradespeople in Jer his autobiography should interest For a legacy as litde as £1,800 sey. Jacqueline's mother. Iris, a gifted readers both intrinsically and musician in her own right, was able to Tbecause its author, after retiring you can be associated for ever nurture the talents of her two daughters from business, helped at AJR head office with the State of Israel and have with delightful games and specially-writ until his 85th birthday. ten pieces. Soon the older daughter Gary Leon was born in Berlin in 1911, a permanent personal memorial. found herself outstripped by Jackie, who the eldest .son of a sizeable and mcxstly Supporters of JNF are all was getting most of the limelight and at happy family, and his book is largely a tention. family .saga. It is sometimes artle.ss, but identified in grateful perpetuity- a Iris du Pre, ever on the lookout for nevertheless well written, and in its own fitting and appropriate way of inspiring teachers for her younger way it bears comparison with, say, daughter, found such a person in Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga. (An excellent, remembering you, your family William Pleeth (ne Pfiitz), a Polish refu comprehensive family tree is a handy and your generosity in a wide and gee. The teenaged Jacqueline's career help to the reader). took off; in Spain and Russia she sat at His upbringing in Germany was typical attractive range of projects. the feet of the great cellists Casals and for assimilated Jews, mixing some very Be remembered, always ...for a Rostropovich. In her early twenties she German attitudes with mild Judaic tradi met and fell in love with Daniel tionalism: thus he became barmitzvah, truly worthwhile gesture. Israel will Barenboim. She married him in but as a law student in Heidelberg joined never forget you. -- Jerusalem - Ixxxsting Israeli morale in the a duelling fraternity (albeit a Jewish one). Six-Day war - and converted to Judaism. One photograph shows him with cap and Send the coupon now for more The book is strong on the siblings' sword, every inch a fighting student. details on how you can personally childhood fun and the family support Gary was lucky enough to be able to they all enjoyed. Here is no stiff upper- take his doctorate before he left the have your own small piece of Israel lip set - they hug, kiss, weep, tell rude country' of his birth. Like many German through a legacy. jokes and laugh uproariously. During Jews of that type he found a.ssimilation Jacqueline's whirlwind career of world- into English life relatively ea.sy after .some tours there is constant communication initial difficulties. His business experience To: Harvey Bratt, JNF Charitable Trust. 58-70 between them and, in the circumstances, in his father's clothing enterprise in Ger Edgware Way, Edgware, Middlesex HAS 8GQ. Tel: 0181 421 7601. Freephone 0800 901333. very little mention of jealousy or ill-will. many stood him in good stead, and his Please send me further information on your range The only startling revelation is of the varied business ventures ultimately of projects in Israel. menage a trois between Jacqueline, her turned out successful. Name(Mr/Mrs/Ms) sister and the si.ster's husband Kiffer. Per When war broke out, he volunteered, mitting him to make love to Jacqueline sweated his measure in the Pioneer Address after she has left Daniel goes well be Corps, and eventually joined the Intelli yond the bounds of sisterly duty. gence Corps. Postcode. On the relationship with Daniel the He was married for sixty years to his Telephone- book is tantalisingly thin - with only a (almost) childhood sweetheart. Despite C4 hint of why the marriage broke up. Yet all ups and downs his own verdict on his Hilary writes of him with warmth and is life, so far, is i am a very happy man'. not censorious of his keeping a mistress That upbeat sentence concludes his
in Paris while still married to the then ail book, and who would want to quarrel We're responsible for the state of Israel. ing Jacqueline. Little in the book explains with that? jNF Charitable Trust Heg. No. 225910 the sick woman's bitterness against her D John Rossall AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
Beth Shalom's second GERMAN anniversary RESTITUTION CLAIMS here was a full house when the Have your claims to recover properties Holocaust Centre in Notting in East Germany got stuck in legal Thamshire celebrated its second and bureaucratic delays? anniversary with the premiere of Across We, with our German Associates, shall the Bridge and a lecture by the eminent be glad to give you a first assessment Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer. of what can be done free of charge. 'Across the Bridge' Please contact Izabela Stankowski This theatrical happening' explores the Edmonds Bowen & Co., Solicitors meeting of two survivors at Beth Shalom 4 Old Park Lane,LondonWIY 3LJ shortly after its opening. Victoria Ancona- Tel: 0171 629 8000 Vincent and Trude Levi discovered they Fax: 0171 221 9334 had shared the horrors of the same death No pension claim enquiries please march. The play dramatises this encoun ter while entwining narrative of their differing origins and experiences. Anna Cropper and Israel-based Dahlia NEWTONS Priedland first visited Beth Shalom .soon Leading Hampstead Solicitors after Victoria Vincent's death and read Annci Cropper, slinidiiifi. ami Diih/iti Frieclliind. 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, hoth her and Trude Levi's biographies. co-authors of Across the Bridge', slurred in the premiere of their play al Belh Shalom Holocaust London NW3 5NB After discussion with Beth Shalom's Education Centre. Director, Stephen Smith, they set about ^ All English legal work Writing the play. have potential victims sent to neutral undertaken and German, Acro.^s the Bridge is a moving account, Sweden. Swiss & Austrian claims acted with deep empathy and under Stephen Smith reiterated Beth Shalom's ^ German spoken standing by the authors. Trude Levi, who role as both a memorial for the survivors ^ Home visits arranged attended the premiere, pronounced her for the victims of the Shoah and as an "k Associated offices in Hamburg, self deeply affected. education centre ensuring that these Los Angeles,Tel Aviv, Sydney, events "did not remain a yo'd in hisioiy". Zurich bartering for Jews n Ronald Channing Prof. Bauer discussed the intermittent Tel: 0171 435 5351 Fax: 0171 435 8881 'negotiations' which took place from 19.^3 Organisations wishing to present 'Across '<> 1945 for the release and emigration of the Bridge' are invited to contact Anna Jews in Germany and occupied Europe Cropper and Dahlia Friedland via the AJR to countries of .safety. office. Surprisingly, negotiations between the JACKMAN• World Zionist Organisation and the Nazi •"^gime in 1933 produced an agreement S'wiss Humanitarian Fund £ SILVERMAN '" traasfer Jewish capital to Palestine with The Swi.ss Government lias received a li.st COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS the assurance of the owners' emigration. of 12,000 Holocau.st .survivors, living in This ended only in eady 1941 with the 14 Ea.stern European countries, from the Nazis' decision to murder the Jews - their World Jewish Restitution Organisation. final solution'- planned to coincide with They are expected to be the first bene the June offensive again.st Russia. ficiaries of the Swiss Humanitarian Fund In late 1942 negotiations recommenced, established earlier this year with SF170 this time for the release of 90,000 Jews in million (i70 million) contributed by Swiss 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA ' '"vakia. The intervention of the Vatican, banks and industry. The seven-member Telephone: 0171 409 0771 Fax: 0171 493 8017 '>nd bribery of the Slovakian Govern- Swiss-Jewish executive which admini.sters "lent, combined to save just 24,000 souls, the fund agreed to provide SF17 million 'n 1944 in Hungary, while 437,000 Jews to needy Jewish and non-Jewish Nazi ^ere being deported to Auschwitz, victims in Eastern Europe in its first dis Hans Herbert Marcus -'chniann's representative was negotiat- tribution. Died October 1997 'ng with Jewish groups in Lstanbul in The AJR has been advised that a Secre A gentleman. Homo Universalis, an it;ir abortive attempt to trade the lives of tariat has been established by the Swi.ss excellent solicitor, a wonderful human 3 million Jews for 10,000 trucks (had the Humanitarian Fund to receive applica being. Representative of a generation Hies permitted). Later negotiations were tions and that payments will be made to which although receding further into *^'tl on the Swiss border between repre people in economic need. the past, remains unforgotten. sentatives of the 'Joint' and the Germans. Please write to the AJR for infor Nicole & Peter Nagel ount Folke Bernadotte also attempted to mation and application forms D AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
THE NEXT GENERATION Sir - If I understand Katherine Klinger's article correctly, it is a plea for yet more <^. details of our lives under the Nazis and i^^te^)^^ subsequently as refugees, to help our children to better comprehend what has happened, to "use this information for MAYDAY CALL BY Hitler into the debate demonstrates other victims who face persecution, XENOPHOBES precisely my original point, regarding torture, etc.". misrepresentative evocative language. As Sir - I am an 86-year old ex-Viennese. Sadly, this misses the point completely; one who has lost family in the Nazi ov When, in 1926, Count Coudenhove- the Holocaust killing machine was ens, I find it deeply offensive to have my Kalergi convened the first Pan-European unique and devLsed with typical German opinions, which are shared by the major Congress, my school - which had efficiency: camps and ovens had to be ity in Europe, as.sociated with Hitler. numbered Schnitzler and Hofmannsthal designed and built, the gas had to be among its pupils - honoured me by Hayling Island Steven Schrier developed and manufactured in sufficient giving me the day off to attend the Hampshire quantities, trains properly scheduled etc. opening of the Congress. Ethnic cleansing as practised in Africa and Bosnia does not compare, and al Later I became a member of the Aca PROPOSED ABOLITION OF demic Council of the Pan-European though we Jews "do not have a Movement. In seventy years I have never HOLOCAUST DAY monopoly claim to genocide and perse wavered in my European convictions. Sir - What can Rabbi Romain really cution", I think the great majority of us The intervention of Nazism retarded know, from personal experience, about would prefer our children to be proud ol progress, but Robert Schumann (with the terror and fear we went through? their Jewish parents with their tradition whom I worked while serving with the His mother was lucky and got away, I and to dedicate their lives to maintain Intelligence Corps in France) and others am the only survivor of a large family. and pass on that Jewish heritage, so that kept the torch burning. It will be extin My parents were put on a slow moving the six million should not have died in guished at our peril! cattle train, for four days and nights, vain. Sneath Avenue Eric Conrad without water or food, pressed body to I wish Katherine Klinger would focus London NWl I body. Many did not make it. They were her undoubted abilities more on the the lucky ones. Those who did were shot question why so many Jewish children in a forest near Minsk. marry out, which I perceive to be a great Sir - Your columns are being used to Had the good Rabbi's mother been on danger to our corporate survival. perpetuate the myth that the 1957 Treaty that train, he might feel differently, but Mill Hill H E Reiner of Rome was only about controlling the then again, we would have been spared London NW7 price of peas. Article 2 includes as the having to deal with a traitor to every treaty's objectives monetary union, social Holocaust victim. protection (.social chapter) and European Barnet Eric Richmond CONTENTIOUS ISSUE union. Herts Sir - As regards William Rubin.stein's The The Maastricht treaty is not a separate (See Commemorate the Shoah p. 13) Myth of Rescue I would like to add that political reality. It forms a set of protocols the Allies made strenuous efforts to annexed to the original treaty. To con prevent publication of reports from sider the implications of withdrawing OUR RIGHT TO THE LAND Poland confirming the existence of from the treaty .seriously, one mu.st esti Sir - A. Shomroni reminds me of one extermination camps. This was known to mate the effect, among other matters, of Neville who was fond of waving a piece them as the German secret code had the EU countries putting a duty of 6%- of paper about after having given away been broken. 16% on all our European exports. UK other peoples high ground which left I also want to confirm Martha Blend's exports to EU countries amount to 55% of them defencele.ss. Simple Neville deluded statement that elderly people without all exports. When the treaty was signed, himself in believing that land could be connections had no chance to obtain asy these exports were less than 43%. Our given away for peace. On the contrary. lum abroad. My parents and all elderly exporters would still have to meet all the Once one piece was given more was relatives perished. onerous rules and regulations for prod demanded. Until there was nothing left Chiswick Ernst Frankel ucts .sold in the EU, but would have none and a stand had to be made - too late London W4 of the advantages. and at enormous cost. As victims of the atrocities of World It takes two to tango. When Kibbutz War II, we should be more aware than Artzi offered a partnership to the Palestin EUROPEAN HEARTLAND most of the need to ensure that it never ians in 1927 that offer was Sir - I read your feature on Poland happens again. European Union is a sim contemptuously refused. And only last (October issue) with great interest, ple answer. Seeking independence is week Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the Hamas especially the article on Tarnow as my putting one's head in the sand and re leader, stated that Jews had no right in great-grandfather Salomon Viertel was moving the beneficial influence of the the Muslim Middle East. born in Tarnow in I860. United Kingdom froin European affairs. Ipswich Frank Bright j Bamber Road John A Francken Rudolph Jaray's introduction of Adolf Suffolk I London Nl2 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
BARRED FROM BAYREUTH parts of the world that other publications Sir - Wolfgang Wagner, as overall do not! supremo of the Wagner Festival at Bay Exeter Isabelle Avetoom OSHA reuth, can hardly go further to atone for his family's hobnobbing with Hitler than Sir - We thank you very much for Homecare Services to employ the Jewish conductors Daniel helping us successfully. Already four The complete care and support service Barenboim and James Levine for years relatives of the Lienberg family from in your own home past. Further, it shows how topsy-turvy Kassel/Messinghof contacted our associ • Personal Care the world can be when his mother was ation and we are very happy about this. made persona non grata for her virulent We had been looking for them for years. • Hospital Escort Service views soon after the war, and now They promised to help us so that the • Domestic Assistance Gottfried had similar treatment for history of the people who lived and • Emergency Phone System holding the opposite views. worked in Messinghof will not be for • Resident Carers However, there must be something in gotten. With over 50 years experience the air at Bayreuth because on p.40 of KassellMessinghof Heidi Sieker providing quality care for the Jewish Gondrom's Festspielmagazin 1997 there community, and particularly Refugees is a half-page picture of Winifred, Wolf Sir - Thanks very much for publishing from Nazi persecution, Otto Schiff gang and Wieland Wagner with Hitler - my search note on Christian work for Housing Association is proud to provide to which I took written exception, but Jewish Refugees in the September is.sue. OSHA Homecare Services: have not had a reply. I've already had a couple of respon.ses dedicated to helping the older, frailer Beaton Park Drive R 0 Leavor and these have been very helpful to my members of the community retain their Bradford research. independence in the security of Hamble Cotherine R Kotzin theif own home. THE ROMANCE OF JEWISH Southampton SURNAMES •^ir - Streisand' has nothing to do with Sir - In seeking surviving relatives of 96- making snowy roads passable: it refers to year-old Helen Falik from Austria, your For information call our Homecare the quantity of fine sand kept in litde journal found its way to the far north of Services Manager on 0181 458 4088 general stores alongside sheets of Israel - Kiryat Shmonah, where members or write to C~)SHA Homecare Services, •Stationery and bottles of ink, to be used of her family live. They are now cor Osmond Hou.se, The Bishop's Avenue, instead of blotting paper. It is .still used responding with Mrs Falik and have put London N2 OBG hy some scribes who copy the Torah. her in touch with yet another family Rei!isn.Ti-J Charity No. 210169 The Queen's College Professor SS Prawer member currently living in Wimbledon. Oxford You can well imagine how encouraging this is to Mrs Falik that from a small in sertion several more pieces of life's Sir - 7he benefit of grit spread on puzzle are able to be put in place. Many J *>nowcovered streets was unlikely in the thanks for AJR's help. ^ shtetl. Estree Ray Foley-Comer Incidentally, my name used to be Herts. Pleischner. All my ancestors as far as I BELSIZE SQUARE Could trace them - even before the com SYNAGOGUE pulsory adoption of surnames in 1787 - CONCERT BOUQUET ^t're butchers. Sir - Ju.st a line to say how very much 1 51 BELSIZE SQUARE, NWS ^^^ffield Otto Fleming enjoyed AJR's recent concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. We offer a traditional style of Over the years I have attended many of religious service with Cantor, ^ir - Your article makes .some of Heine's your concerts, but I believe that yester Choir and organ ytics sound like a Jewish telephone day's was the one I have enjoyed most: "J'reetoi-y! lovely music, interesting instruments one '-ondonNW6 Ezrajurmann does not often see or hear, and above all a Further details can be obtained soloist of phenomenal brilliance and at the from our synagogue secretary same time great modesty, supported by Nf< SEARCH NOTICES WORK the wonderful ensemble he has created. Telephone 0171-794 3949 "• - In September I advertised for old Croxley Green Gertrude Stranz ^choolfriends, and was absolutely Minister: Rabbi Rodney J. Mariner Herts ^^lighted when four weeks later I Cantor: Rev Lawrence H. Fine ^ceived a letter from one of thein who Regular services: Friday evenings at 6.30 pm, had managed to get to California with •OUT OF THE DARK' Saturday mornings at 10 am Religion school: Sundays at 10 am to 1 pm /^r family. Her sister has a friend who Price £7 from bookshops '^^'s in England - and that is how she (Wrongly given in review of November 1997) Space donated by Pafra Limited oOt niy address. AJR Information reaches AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
The atiVotJk
Listening to k\R Information or more than eleven years, indefatigable volunteer member FIrene White has taken great pleasure in recording and supplying Enjoy visually handicapped AJR members with • Excellent food AJR Information on cassette tape, each * Stimulating talk issue being produced with her small teani • Enlivening discussion of readers. ''r- Meeting new friends Thinking that it was about time that her 'listeners' got to know one another, Irene k]R LUNCHEON CLUB invited them and their helpers to enjoy on Wednesday 17th December 1997 the singing of Cantor Marshall Stone and at l5CleveRoad,NW6 3RL a sumptuous tea, catered and served by I 1.45 for 12.15pm senior staff from AJR's Day Centre, at Guests al the speciiil , . >r listeners' lo AJR Information and their helpers. Guest speaker: Rabbi W.Wolff Belsize Square Synagogue. In welcoming 'The Friendly Face of Judaism' her guests, Irene reminded them of their Chairman of Golders Green JACS, Ubby home towns, the schools they had at Reservations (£7) Cowan, also spoke, recommending the tended and added the exact number of from Sylvia, Renee and Susie stimulating weekly ineetings held by tapes each had received - the record Tel: 0171 328 0208 thirty groups of this popular organisation going to Walter Salomonson who had for active retired people. heard 139! AJR Director Ernest David thanked Ninety-four-year-old Mr Salomonson, Irene for arranging the tea party and, Paul Balint AJR Day Centre who is totally blind, thought the taped since 1986, for providing visually handi magazine was "a wonderful idea" and capped members with the opportunity of %a i)ance found the letters page to be extremely hearing "'AJR's excellent in-hou.se publica good, though some articles he considered ^ Singalong tion" on tape. a little too highbrow. Lotte Ettinger, who with n Ronald Channing is partially sighted and has received the Shelley Weldon tapes for five years, appreciated the lead Members interested in receiving the monthly Sunday 14th December ing articles and always found the recorded edition of AjR Information are invited to 3 to 6pm contents "important and interesting". contaa Irene White, Tel: 0181 203 2733. Entrance £5 including tea (by ticket only) discuss topics of current interest such as NEW AJR GROUP Contact Sylvia, Renee or Susie pensions or Swiss gold. A sub-group to IN PINNER read and discuss books together is also en enthusiastic former refugees planned to meet in members' homes. met in Pinner to establish an AJR The Director of the AJR, Ernest David, AJR 'Drop In' Advice Centre Tgroup for members and new spoke to the group at its second meeting at the members serving a wide area centred on in November. Everyone is invited to join Paul Balint AJR Day Centre Pinner and including Hatch End, the Chanukah Party arranged for Thurs 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL Northwood, Stanmore and Wembley. A day, 18th December, at 2pm, and is between I Cam and 12 noon on the number of others have already expressed a.ssured of a warm welcome. The Syna following dates: their intere.st in joining. gogue, which is opposite the library, is Monday I December They were supported by senior repre easily reached from Pinner Underground Tuesday 9 December sentatives from the AJR, Gaby Glassman Station; alternatively, there is parking Thursday 18 December (Board of Management), Marcia Goodman available. Monday 22 December (Head of Social Services), Debbie Picker Members in the area are invited to join Wednesday 7 January (Volunteers Co-ordinator) and Annie the organising committee which Martha and every Thursday from Springer (groups' contact), and joined by McDonnell, originally from 'Vienna, is I Gam to 12 noon at: local representatives of the League of Jew helping to co-ordinate. Further inform AJR, I Hampstead Gate, I a Frognal, ish Women and B'nai B'rith. ation on the new group and its London NW3 6AL It was agreed that regular monthly programme is available from Annie No appointment 'is necessary, but please bring meetings held on Thur.sday afternoons at Springer at the AJR on Mondays, tel. 0171 along all relevant documents, such as Benefit Pinner Synagogue would be most appro 431 6l6l. Books, letters, bilk, etc. priate, with guest speakers invited to DRDC AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
PAUL BALINT AJR It occurs to me ... Wednesday 17 DAY CENTRE OPEN - DAY CENTRE LUNCHEON CLUB e live in a paradoxical world. Thursday 18 ACT I - SCENE II - In America, when one ad Tel. Oni .328 0208 Juwon Ogungbe Wdresses a stranger, one says Open Tuesday and Thur.sday 9.30am - 6.30pm, (Baritone) & Akiko 'sir' or ma'am', while in England one Monday and Wednesday 9.30ani - 3.30pm, Enomoto (Soprano) says mate' or love'. America has a legal Sunday 2 pm - 6.30pm. accompanied by system to a large extent modelled on Margaret Eaves (Piano) Morning Activities D Bridge, kalookie, .scrabble, English Common Law and yet, as Sunday 21 MUSICAL SOIREE - chess, etc., keep fit, discussion group, choir demonstrated by the trial of Louise Arranged by Deborah (Mondays), art class (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Woodward in Bcjston, the application of Fink accompanied by law and implementation of 'justice' are Piano Monday 22 MUSICAL quite different from the English judicial DECEMBER 1997 system. ENTERTAINMENT FOR Monday 1 TALK& WINTER - Judi - Bimbi I am drawn to these paradoxes by others DEMON.STRATION ON & Rufus Merri-Frowde nearer home, as I am writing this while AROMATHERAPY & accompanied by June travelling in the tunnel which joins the UK REFLEXOLOGY - Imre Moore (Piano) with mainland Europe, but under the Pozsonyi Tuesday 23 WIZO LADIES CHOIR Water which .separates them. I was struck Tuesday 2 ESPECIALLY FOR YOU - Wednesday 24 CLOSED AFTER LUNCH too by the comment in The Times obituary Angela .A.rratoon Thursday 25 CLOSED f>f Hans Marcus, which described him as accompanied by Diana Sunday 28 CLOSED having been "totally a.ssimilated and yet Legroux (Piano) Monday 29 CLOSED never fully Engli.sh". "Wednesday 3 SHOWTIME AT THE AJR Tuesday 30 CLOSED Wednesday 31 CLOSED Perhaps this is also the problem of the - Amanda Palmer continuing debate on Europe, when some Thursday 4 TRINITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC CONCERT Would like to join Monetary Union with a JANUARY 1998 Sunday 7 TALK it <^ommon currency, while either not Thursday 1 CLOSED DEMON.STRATION ON realising or keeping very quiet about the Sunday 4 DEBBIE O'BRIEN AT AROMATHERAPY & political consequences. The debate takes THE PIANO REFLEXOLOGY - place at a very low intellectual level, with Imre Pozsonyi Very little analysis of the real implications Monday 8 DUO KINNOR "f joining or staying out. However, when ENTERTAIN WITH A one .sees the national differences between POT POURRI OF MUSIC WHO'S WHO IN THE AJR America and England, where we are - Madeleine Whitelaw Head Office: divided by a common language, can you (Piano) & David Ernest David ~ Director tonceive how much greater are the Richmond (Violin) Carol Rossen - Assistant to Director national differences between the countries Tuesday 9 IHH RAINBOW SINGERS Agi Alexander - Welfare Rights Adviser - Conducted by Marcia Goodman - Head of Social Services "f Western Europe, let alone Eastern Norah Gittins - Social Worker Francoise Geller Europe, whose legal .systems, languages Wendi Wilson - Social Worker accompanied by and religions are so different from ours? Ruth Finestone - Social Worker Margaret Eaves (Piano) Estelle Brookner - Social Services and "V 'ours' I mean those of our adopted Wednesday 10 SONGS FROM THE Membership Secretary t-'ountry, Debbie Picker - Volunteers Co-ordinator HEART - Shidey VIviana Markstein - Reception/Membership I^ it not paradoxical that just when Gurevitz accompanied Katia Gould (Vol) - Sheltered Accommodation •Scotland wants its independence within, by Anne Berryman Gordon Greenfield - Accountant "!• perhaps even outside, the UK; when (Piano) Richard Grunberger - Editor AjR Information Thursday 11 OI'ERA POPS - '^t^lgium is torn apart in a federation of Ronald Channing - Publications and rench and Dutch-speaking regions; Accompanied by PR Manager ^hen Slovenia, one of the new candi Margaret Gibbs (Piano) Andrea Goodmaker - Publications Assistant dates for the EU, is the result of the Sunday 14 TEADANCE- Music by Shelley Weldon Day Centre: Whnic breakup of Yugoslavia; when Cor Sylvia Matus - Day Centre Manager Monday 15 MINI WINTER CONCERT sica wishes to separate from France, the Renee Lee - Assistant Organiser - Gemma Remington Joanne Fresco - Receptionist/Secretary Basques and the Catalans want indepen- (Mezzo) accompanied Joan Kupler - Day Centre Assistant ^t-nce from Spain, and the north of Italy by Geoffrey Whitworth Susie Kaufman - Catering Manager Wishes to break away from the south - Esther Blumstein - Care Assistant (Piano) Jeff Heywood - Head Chef that the heads of the.se states want to Tuesday 16 THE TRUTH ABOUT Ya'akov Azulay - Assistant Chef orce everyone into one economic and LOVE - Lecia Robertson Mary Matovu - Kitchen Assistant political union; is this not just wishful (Soprano) with Piano Lawrence Zahra - Kitchen Assistant Janine Brockiner - Sunday Organiser thinking? accompaniment Joseph Pereira - Caretaker _. . D Ernest David AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
FAMILY ATTRACTIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS BOOKS SHELTERED FLATS Deaths PURCHASED SHELTERED FLAT TO LET Burger. Malli Burger, born TO LET Pre-1950 Children's & Attractive warden-controlled Breslau 1901 died London Illustrated Books Lift, Entrance Hall, flats are available 4 September 1997. Deeply Published in Germany, Russia, 2 Rooms, Kitchenette, from time to time mourned by her daughter Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bathroom, Resident Warden. Hanna Rychtman, son-in-law at Hungary Leo Baeck Housing Ass. Ltd. Eleanor Rathbone House Louis, granddaughter Jenny I I Fitzjohn's Ave. NW3 Engelsman, her husband Itamar, Brian Mills: Books Highgate N6 Enquiries: three great grandsons, sister 18 North Road, Glossop, A.FIynnOISI 958 5678 Details from: Steffi Granby, family and Derbys.SKIB 9AS Tel/Fax 01457-85 6878 Mrs. K.Gould,AJR,on friends. 0171-431 6161 Rees. Junie Rees, darling wife DIN DELIS HOUSE Tuesday and Thursday of Herbert (Bob) Rees and Residential Care Home mornings. greatly missed MAM of Peter, DrH Alan Shields for Senior Citizens passed away peacefully on Viewing by appointment only MB ChB BDS LDS RCS Religion highly honoured l6th October after long suf Pleasant relaxed atmosphere fering which she so very DENTAL SURGEON All single rooms with TV bravely fought. She will be & telephone BELSiZE SQUARE Full Dental Service greatly missed by all relations For information contact: APARTMENTS and many friends. Home visits. Emergencies Mrs HR Fearon Pennant 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, NW3 Brown. Inge Brown (nee Tel: 0171-794 4307 or 46 BRAMPTON GROVE Phone 0181 903 7592 Dressel) died peacefully in Fax 0181 903 4195 0171-435 2557 London 3 October. Now re HENDON, NW4 united with her true love. IMOOERN SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY Tel: 0181 203 0405 ROOMS, RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER Jack. ALTERATIONS MODERATE TERMS Kay. Dr jur. Manfred Kay, born OF ANY KIND TO NEAR SWISS COTTAGE STATION 24 May 1907 in Bedin, died LADIES' FASHIONS I also design and make peacefully in his sleep on 15 Optic/an children's clothes TORRINGTON HOMES October 1997. Sadly missed by Dr Howard Solomons West Hampstead area his wife Betty and son and MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N. BSc FBCO 0171-328 6571 MATRON daughter-in-law Anthony and For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent Rita. Dental Surgeon (Licensed by Borough of Barnel) C.H.WILSON • Single and Double Rooms. Mayer. Alice Mayer died 9 • H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. Dr H Alan Shields Carpenter • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. November 1997, aged 95 years. Painter and Decorator • Nurse on duty 24 hours.
10 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
# belle Marguerite and This is a lovely day can .still be heard 50 years on. Egon Seefehlner, one-time supremo of Berlin's Deutsche Oper, and twice Direc tor of the Vienna Staatsoper, has died, aged 85 D
ore than 130 paintings, drawings and sculptures, including loans Forthcoming exhibition of M from public and private collect Judaica treasures ions throughout the world, are shown in n exhibition of valuable items - both a major exhibition. The Age of Rossetti, manuscripts and books - from the Burne-Jones and Watts: Symbolism in Berlin-based Hocbschule fiir die Britain 1860-1910 at the Tate Gallery. A Wissenscbaji des Jiidentiims will open at The works of much-loved artists the Sternberg Centre on 11 January 1998 associated with the Pre-Raphaelites are and run for a week. Items on display will displayed alongside those by their range from a Kol Bo (Code of rites and Continental contemporaries such as ceremonials) printed in Italy in 1485 and Redon, Moreau and Khnopff, revealing an illuminated 18th century Haggada, to the Symbolist links between them. The the sort of books that once stood on the exhibition is full of sumptuous paintings open shelves of the Hoclischiile library. that reflect spiritual, mystical, literary and The Hochschule, which functioned be erotic themes. tween 1872 and 1942, was not only an A collection of drawings assembled by intellectual Europe-wide powerhouse for Edmund Schilling (1888-1974) has been Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Prosperine, 1877. Progressive Judaism, but also trained rab bequeathed to the British Mu.seum by his bis and schoolteachers of religion. Its ^idow. Born in Germany, Schilling came show that includes such celebrated works student enrolment peaked at 155 in 1932, to Britain after the rise of the Nazis and as Dali's Lob.ster Telephone, Duchamp's after which it eventually dwindled to a ^'as prominent here as a specialist in Bicycle Wheel, Meret Oppenheim's fur dozen tutored by Rabbi Leo Baeck. German old ma.ster drawings. The Schill crockery and paintings by Cezanne, Pi Fittingly, the exhibition is .jointly spon ing Bequest displays the .superb German casso, Matisse and other modern masters. sored by Leo Baeck College and AJR D Renaissance drawings of the collection, The Sternberg Centre is showing photo including works by Hans Baldung and graphs by the talented young Israeli Lucas Cranach. photographer Sigal Avni. Working only Objects of Desire: The Modern Still in black and white, she produces .striking Annely Juda Fine Art 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) Life at the May ward Gallery illustrates images that focus on themes around Tel: 0171-629 7578 Fax: 0171-491 2139 twentieth-century artists' diver.se treat human relationships. CONTEMPORARY PAINTING ments of inaniinate objects, ranging from All the above exhibitions continue until AND SCULPTURE the reali.stic to the ab.stract. An impressive 4 January. • Barry Fealdman
two pillars of the musical world: Nicolai GERMAIN and SB's Column Ghiaurov who celebrated 40 years since his debut, and Zubin Mehta, whose next ENGLISH BOOKS ifty years ago. Lyric writer Alan J task will be a production of Rienzi, the BOUGHT Lerner, an American of bourgeois most infrequently performed of Wagner's Antiquarian, secondhand and F background, and compo.ser Fred operas. modern books of quality erick Lowe (ne Loewe), a struggling Birthdays. Vienna-based Gerhard always wanted. 'ennese-born emigre, landed their first Bronner, compo.ser, pianist and cabaret We're long-standing advertisers ••eal succe.ss with the musical Brigadoon performer, is 75. Sir Colin Davis, music here and leading buyers of books •^ 1947. It was the beginning of a director at Covent Garden from 1971 to from A)K members. ^'ollaboration which eventually led to the 1986, and the first British conductor Immediate response to your letter Worldwide triumph of My Fair Lady. invited to work at Bayreuth, celebrated or phone call. Zarah Leander. Having been discov his 70th birthday. We pay good prices and ered in A.xel an der Himmelsti'ir, which Obituaries. French singer and actor come to collect. (••"-starred Max Han.sen, in Vienna, the George Guetary died, aged 82. Hugely Please contact: Pi()neering deep-voiced soubrette ap admired in his own country, he won Robert Hornung MA(Oxon) peared in many Ufa films, some of which international acclaim through the film An 2 Mount View, Baling, -" neiien Ufern, Die grosse Liebe - were American in Pari.^ which starred Gene London W; IPR recently shown at London's Goethe Insti Kelly. Guetary became known in Britain Telephone 0181-998 0546 tute. by taking the lead in the Vivian Ellis mu (5pm to 9pm is best) ^he Vienna State Op era honoured sical Bless the Bride, whose hit tunes La
II AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
The DreidI Star Unaccompanied 'Cello Suite SEARCH NOTICES here is a place where the silence is I stir tomato soup to creaminess, here, where the magic carpet Luck Jewish Servicemen wiio fought at so complete, so ominous, that all silkily deposited my life and flesh. the Battle of Arnhem, Sept. 1944, are Tthat lives, all that had lived, and all being sought by AJEX which is researching that shall come to live, will stand muted I am an ample woman standing at her the contribution of Jewish soldiers and in its presence, chilled in its mist of stove. airmen. Please contact AJEX Assistant despair. I am a 'cello's amber melody. There is a place so dammed that when Archivist Martin Sugarman at 16 Brent- I am the unaccompanied survivor its man-made structures di.ssolve in time house Road, Hackney, London E9 6QG. who skims and sifts for something to and in the memory of man, the souls of Tel: 0181 986 4868 (evenings after 7pm). remember by Please include address and phone number millions will still reveal and mark its for response. boundaries. the ones round whom I could not reach There is a place where a child held to protecting arms, Jill and Peter Goodman, children of his chest a small toy roughly carved from the ones whose hearts trembled like a Harry (formerly Breslau) and Beryl wood as he followed, naked and shiver cupped Goodman formerly of Australia - Hilltop ing, an endle.ss .stream. bird's when death came down to scoop Bulb Farm, Dagworth Road, Denham So plunge your hand into this accursed them up Court, Ingleburn, NSW. Please contact soil, reach deep through the white ash and and I stood next in line. Jennifer Langer (daughter of Herman pull from it a child's toy, a dreidl, a pendu n Jenny Swann Striem), 31 Hallswelle Road, London lum of charred wood inscribed with NWll ODH. ancient script. Place it to your lips, kiss it as you would kiss an infant and throw it, Anglo-Jewry & Perceptions of the throw it into the blackness of space. For 50 YEARS AGO Holocaust. Final year history student at surely the God of us all will transform it Keele University requires interview(s) into a blazing star - a remembrance of in CHARLIE CHAPLIN with refugee who lived with British-Jewish nocence, n William Deri-Davis family or member of British-Jewish family Charlie Chaplin's latest film 'Monsieur Verdoux' who took in a refugee. Grateful for help reveals as none before undoubtedly Jewish traits In this genial actor. and will maintain strict confidence. Please contact Polly Bridgman, Barnes VI21/1, Ein apartesVolk The clown Chaplin has become a judge - he condemns a civilisation that accepts killing on a Keele University, Keele, Stoke-on-Trent, Die Juden sind ein Volk wirklich ganz large scale, in war, and hangs the petty dilettante. Staffordshire.Tel:OI782 245 589. apart. Jeder ihrer Briiuche hat besondere The difference between the criminal and the hero is. according to Chaplin, measurable in quantity. At Art: the example of Monsieur Verdoux who murders for Cliildren Arrive Kidush macht man; Schacharit dawnet an ultimately good purpose, Chaplin leads ad gygnina Standard l)«c—tKr 1938 man; Sidre leint man; Tefilin legt man; absurdum the Fascist doctrine that the purpose from Germany sanctifies the means. If life is sacred, then mankind Schofar blast man; Schlachmones .schickt should recognise crime not only when it is isolated, man; Schivab sitzt man; Alessiise kiJsst but even more in the deadly instrument of politics. man; Lichter benscht man; Gemoreh lernt There is one other apparent Jewish trait in Chaplin, man; Arha-Kanfes triigt man; Liilav schut- his self-irony. Always when he is on the verge of telt man; Gitt-Jontef wiinscht man; becoming pathetic he ridicules himself; for fear of becoming sentimental, he withdraws into the Afikomen sucht man; Chaseneh macht grotesque D man; Ezes gibt man; Nacb Mowed lauft AjR Information, December 1947 man D
Soina of tba yMiMicai sf ft MnUnc'nt al M JrwUh rhild rcfuccra wb« arrived at SauUiampun U-dajr Iram Grrmanr. One aC AJR Ihr part/, afrd Uiree, eaald enir JatI pttr avrr the ImittlBrallan •nteer't t.^ble. The AJR invites applications from former refugees & their families for membership of the Ursula Adler (nee Kantorwicz), aged Paul Balint AJR, DAY CENTRE, 15 Cleve Road NW6, WEST HAMPSTEAD 3, was put on a train in December 1938 from Berlin to Hamburg by her mother, *warm, friendly atmosphere' continuing her journey to Southampton Delicious 3-course kosher lunches with 89 other young children aboard a art classes keep fit bridge games • library discussion group • shop clothes sales Hapag Hamburg Line ship en route to the optician • chiropodist • physiotherapist • aromatherapist USA. Pictured in the London Evening advice on pensions & social security • take-away meals outings and holidays Standard, she is now trying to trace other musical entertainment programme daily Kindertransportees shown with her. Please contact Ursula Adler, 4 Beckett Please call Sylvia Matus on 0171 328 0208 for membership enquiries Walk, Beckenham Kent BR3 IJH.Tel:OI8l The AJR Charitable Trust provides care, comfort and companionship 778 9386 D for victims of Nazi persecution.
12 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
Cru.sades and the pitiful despair of survi Munich remembers Commemorate the vors. The Holocau.st can be seen as the he office of the City archivist Shoah onTishaB'Av! latest in a long line of tragedies - differ retains records, including copies of ing only in the numbers involved and the T Kennkarten', of all of Munich's The follov/ing are extracts from callous use of modern methods of exter h)rmer Jewish citizens, sometimes with Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain's lecture at the mination - but carried out with the same added details of their emigration des Sternberg Centre on 19 October 1997. fury and hatred. The anguish arising from tination and residence. owever justified Yom Ha'Shoah the Holocaust may be more immediate, November's 'Jiidische Kulturtage', with may have been for the first 50 but is no greater than that of other participants frt)m around the world, H years after the Holocaust it is now martyrdoms for those who experienced featured liturgical and Klezmer music, time to restore its commemoration to them. recitals, plays and lectures, all sponsored Tisha B'Av. Tisha B'Av is the time for The pitiful size of the turn-out for Yom by the cultural department of the mu remembering collective Jewish tragedies, Ha'Shoah service at the Hyde Park me nicipality. and we do not need an extra day in the morial does not bode well for future There are two Jewish communities. The calendar for the most modern one. centuries. By associating the Holocau.st orthodox one, of about 6,000 members of I speak as the child of a German refu with Tisha B'Av we will better be able to East European origin, has its own syna gee who came to England in 1939 in a keep its memory alive to Jews a thousand gogue. There is also a small Liberal/ state of terror aged eleven, and who lost years hence D Reform commimity of about ISO mem many clo.se relatives. bers who hold services in a rented hall. Yet I am al.so conscious of the course Link Psychotherapy Centre The Jewi.sh Museum is perhaps a mis of Jewish history and the .series of trag nomer, as it comprises only two tiny edies and rejuvenations it presents, only and Voice Theatre 'oonis. The main Jewi.sh cemetery in the one of which was the Holocaust. When present special performance of Garchinger Strasse has about 7,000 we lift our gaze away from the last fifty graves; records are kept in an archaic- years and look at the last two thousand 'LEGACY^ looking ledger and on computer. years, the Holocau.st accjuires a different by Shauna Kanter Visits to the Dachau KZ Gedenk.stiitte' significance. Sunday ISth January 1998 at 2.30pm 'ire now on the history syllabus of most First, Tisha B'Av is primarily a remem- Cockpit Theatre •''Schools and I was impressed by how lirance of the chiirbau - the destruction' Gateforth Street London NWS "Seriously the youngsters were listening to of both the first and .second temples in 'he explanations of their teachers. Jerusalem. We who are .so removed from Powerful musical play based on 'Herewith two addresses: Orthodox: the days of the Temple find it hard to ap true story of a Jewish photographer '•'••aelitische Kultusgemeinde, Reichen- preciate the impact of the two & her children being snatched I'achstrasse 27, 80469 Munchen; Liberal: destructicjns. It was a devastating combi from Berlin on eve of WWII l^eth Shalom c/o Jan Miihlstein, Hermann nation of human suffering, political Tickets £ 15 incl. refresh. & discussion Hummelstr. 18, 82166 Gnileling). annihilation, and religious trauma. Booking: 0171 431 0837 D Anthony Goldsmith The attacks by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and then by the Romans in 67 CE Performances 14 January - 7 February Box Office: 0171 402 5081 Disappointment for former involved enormous loss of Jewish life and catapulted the survivors into exile in slave labourers foreign lands, mo.st never to return. They n a recent test case, a German court also had profound theological repercu.s- dismi.s.sed the compensation claims of sions, leading many to reformulate the I 20 former slave labourers on the relationship of God to Israel and resulting grounds that they all had received some in doctrines such as the suffering of God, 'Orm of payment as Holocau.st survivors. the exile of the shecbinab. the with In the same judgement, however, drawal of God from the world, and God Rywka Merin, who was forced to work in hiding His face. ''n Au.schwitz satellite munitions factory The Holocaust ranks alongside the de '"r 55 weeks, 16 hours a day, was struction of the two temples as a third Israel's Finest Wines churbaii - a catastrophe of enormous ^iwarded £.5,500 (calculated as Joss of from the earnings'!) on the grounds that after the and all-encompassing proportions, with ^':'r she had lived in Poland, and East tragic human results, wide-ranging politi Golan Heights Europeans had been excluded from re- cal consequences and deep religious Yarden, Golan & Gamla ^^eiving any compensation from the questioning. But previous generations Federal Government. aLso suffered badly, whether at the hands Write, phone or fax A"* a consequence, hundreds of thou- of Romans, Crusaders or Co.s.sacks, Each for full information •'ands of other Ea.st European victims may in their own time was .seen as the ulti House of Hallgarten e entitled to pursue similar claims, mate horror and the worst event that Dallow Road, Luton LUI 1UR "if>ugh inevitable appeal procedures and could possibly befall Jewry. Readers of Tel: 01582 22538 ' i*-' passage of time will dampen their Gezerot Asbkenaz will be familiar with its Fax: 01582 23240 propects. DRDC record of be.stial slaughter during the
13 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
Cooking with Gretel Beer browned butter for serving Soak the rolls - preferably day-old - in Hilary's Care Agency milk. Clean and finely chop all the mush HIGH QUALITY HOMECARE rooms. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter, FORTHE ELDERLY AND DISABLED add the mushrooms and simmer until tender, then leave to cool. Soften the * CARERS * COMPANIONS shallot in remaining butter, add the rolls yt- HOUSEKEEPERS rtDOMESTICS from which all liquid has been squeezed out. Simmer for a few minutes to blend. Flexible service tailored to your needs Leave to cool. Daily & Uve-'in - 1-24 hours - 7 days a week Separate eggyolks and whites. Add COVERING NORTH <£ NORTH WEST LONDON, cooled mushrooms to shallot mixture, EAST LONDON
14 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
Dr Falk's 90th Birthday FORTHCOMING EVENTS Annual Manor Hou.se Society r Frank Falk, who for many years -DECEMBER 1997 discussion, Sternberg Centre, played a key role in the Jewish £4 incl. refresh., 8pm Ongoing: Jewish Books & Children's Mon 15 West Films East: Rodney refugee community and the AJR, D Toys from the Past: Jewish Mantle MA, 10 years with the this month celebates his 90th Birthday at Museum, Camden Town (until BBC in the German Heinrich Stahl House where he and his 1 March). i3 &. cones. Democratic Republic. Club -t3, wife Lilo are residents. Mon 1 The Assassination of John F 8pm Born in Dii.sseldorf in 1907, he gained Kennedy: Anthony Webster HA, Tue 16 Lyn Barry: Variety programme a doctorate in law from Bonn University Club 43, 8pm of favourite songs. JACS, 2pm and practised as a solicitor before his Tue 2 Any Questions? Michael Sun 21- Patterns of Prejudice 1967- Sheivvood chairs a celebrity Mon 22 97: Conference, Birkbeck emigration to England in 1939- During panel. JACS, 2pm College, Malet Street, London. the war he volunteered to .serve in the Tue 2 Lyotard's Reading of Freud: Wiener Library', Reg. Fee £15 Pioneer Corps, but after demobilisation, Celine Surprenant, Sussex as his legal qualifications were unrecog University, 5.15pm January 1998: nised in the UK, he decided to become a Tue 2 Immigrant Furniture Mon 5 Hebrew Calligraphy for certified accountant and set up in prac Workers in London 1881- Adults: Morris Bryer, artist & tice. 1939: William Ma.ssil. Jewish calligrapher. Jewish Museum One of the earliest members of the AJR, Museum, Sternberg Centre, £2, Camden Town, £5, 2pm 8pm Sun 11 Leeds HSFA: AGM & .Social, his knowledge of both German law and Wed 3 Jungian Psychology & Queenshill I^ay Centre, British accountancy made him uniquely Judaism: Rabbi Dr Levi Meier, 2.30pm qualified to pursue restitution, compensa Los Angeles. Inst, of Jewish Sun 11- Reconsruction of Jewish tion and pensions claims on behalf of Studies, University College, Mon 12 Life After WWII; Conference. thousands of refugee clients, particularly 6.30pm, free admi.ssion Contact Wiener Library, Reg. in the critical period from 1950 to 1975. Thur 4 Lunchtime Recital: Ian Fee £15 By bombarding MPs and the Inland Rev .Stirling, piano, plays Mon 12 Dr Anthony Grenville, enue with relevant information, he was Beethoven & Stirling. London Liniversity Research Sternberg Centre, X2, l.I5pm Centre for German & Austrian the key individual concerned in obtain Sun 7 Jewish Games In Antiquity: Exile .Studies: Anna Seghers - ing full exemption from taxation on .such Talk iiy Dr Irving I'inkcl. two exile works; />/.< siehlc payments from the Inland Revenue. British Mu.seum. Jewish Kreiiz & Der .'\iisjhig der loleii Dr Falk .served the AJR as Hon. Treas- Mu.seum, Camden Town £-5, .Mcidchvii Cm English). Club '^Ter for 18 years under the chairmanship 2pm 43, 8|->m "f Theo Marx and was known to many Sun 7 Family History Workshop: Thur 15 Pam Schweitzer "lembers for his help, advice and kind Sternberg Centre, ,£3, 4pni Reminisces: i'ounder of Age Israeli Poetry in an ness. He also wrote many expert articles Mon 8 Exchange "I'lieatre at South American CUmate: i'rol lUiih London AJR, Lily Montagu hjr AJR Information. Even in retirement Kartim-Blum, Hebrew Hall, Prentis Road Synagogue, he continues to provide advice and help. University. Inst, of Jewi.sh 2pm DRDC Studies, University College, Stin 18 Legacy, a play by Shauna 6.30pm, free admission Kantor; Cockpit Theatre. Mon 8 Ernst Flesch MA: Travels in London NW8, ,tl5, 2.30pm. Berlin, Vienna and I'rague Box Office; 0171 431 08.37 Studied co-operation (with slides). Club ^3, 8pm he completion of the first year of Tue 9 Judy Curtis; League of Jewish ORGANISATION CONTACTS as.sociation between .Southampton Women. JACS, 2pm JACS at Belsize Sciuare Synagogue, NW3 The Origins of Hannah I Iniversity and the Wiener' Library lue 9 tll.X. Tel; 0171 79-1 3949 T Arendt: David Groi.ser, Sussex Club '43, at Belsi/.e Scjuare Synagogue. *'>s marked with a reception at the University, 5.ISpm Hans Seelig 01 142 254 .360 rlou.se of Commons addre.s.sed by the Uni Thur 11 South London AJR: Music & Wiener Library, 4 Devonshire Street, versity's Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Howard guest speaker. Kit Briscoe London Wl. 0171 636 7247 Newby, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Lord Plant, Suite, Prentis Road Synagogue, Jewish Museum, 129/131 Albert Street, "le Library's President, Alan Montefiore, 10.3()am-(pm Camden Town, NWl 7NB. Tel; 0171 284 and Director, Prof. David Ce.sarani. Sun l4 Jewish Wife/Jewish 1997, and at Sternberg Cx-ntre Daughter: Plays by Brecht & Among achievements highlighted were Sternberg Centre for Judaism, 80 East Linden. End Road, Einchley, N3 2SV. Tel: 0181 "le enrichment of the Library's collection Special performance & 346 2288 and the holding of a number of inter- di.scussion with Sonja Linden, Institute of Jewish Studies. Lectures: ti'Jtional conferences. New End Theatre, 27 New Gustave Tuck Theatre, University 'distinguished guests included the End, Hampstead, ,il2, 8pm. College, Gower Street, WCl. Tel; 0171 ^'erman Ambassador, Gebhardt von Advance Booking: Second .380 7171. "^^>ltke, the Swiss Ambassador, Francois Generation Trust, PO Box University of Sussex Centre for ^ordnian. Lord Annan, Lord Medyn-Rees, 14205, London NW3 4WZ German-Jewish Studies. Diana Sun 14 North-West London- ^ind the Director of the Imperial War Franklin 0181 .^81 1^21 or 01273 678 702 multicultural community or South London AJR Ken Ambrose 0181 '^'Jseum, Robert Crawford. separate ethnic groups? 852 0202 D Ben Barkow
15 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1997
managed after a long journey, maybe NEWSROUND The Road to Terezin without food or water. n Germany you know you're going My spirits rose once we were in open Video nazti east when you see more Trabants than country. Here were the gentle fields Eight German soldiers making outlawed I BMWs. Not all were abandoned the where, not that many miles away, I had Nazi salutes and antfsemitic comments in night they pulled down The Wall. The spent the halcyon days of youth on sum Saxony during a training exercise three little stinkers are still there, like the mer holidays, trees heavy with apple and year ago were shown recently in a video Mietskasernen (tenements) where their plum, barefoot across the stubble helping recording on German television. Recruits O'wners live - Stalin's legacy from Berlin with the harvest and, at the end of day from the .same battalion, implicated in a to Vladivo.stok. While fine old neglected all hot, excited and terrified, holding on similar scandal earlier this year, were residences await restoration, much effort for dear life perched precariously on top dismissed from the forces. The army has gone into refurbishing public buil of the stacked bundles of corn as the authorities denied reports that Nazi dings. horse-drawn cart made its .swaying way propaganda was widely circulated in High above Gotha stands the Saxon- to the Hof barracks. Coburg Schloss. Its aristocrat owner was Arrival at Usti ended this reverie. An executed in 1945 just a month before VE other change to Litomerice Mesto. Then French clainn day for trying to salvage .something from onwards by bus till the driver called out Henri Hajdenberg, head of Crif, French the wreck of the Third Reich. 'Ich sterhe Terezin'! I couldn't believe it. I don't Jewry's representative body, has recom damil Gotha lehl' he said. Today •women know what I expected, but not this. A mended that France's share of the gardeners tend the flower beds of the es large, plane tree-lined square bordered remaining gold looted by the Nazis, tate next to the renamed Heinrich Heine on all sides by uniform, sand-coloured valued today at il2 million, should be Bibliotheli. buildings, which turned out to have been distributed to victims of the Vichy regime, Arrive at Dresden late at night and barracks. 1 was right in the middle of reports the Jewish Chronicle. The World you 11 find the view from the Ilaiipt- what was the camp. No need to add tcj Jewish Restitution Organisation's prefer babiiLiof .still pretty depressing. Concrete the volumes that have been written about ence is to benefit Jewish survivors as a module hotels thrown up for lack of die place. Mine was a private errand. whole, especially those in Eastern inspiration or funds. Come morning The information office was empty save Europe. though, and brightly coloured trams for the amiable elderly man sitting be FO appeasement bustle about inviting you to explore fur hind a de.sk with one huge book on it. Research in the Public Records Office by ther. Some famous landmarks have been He seemed to be expecting me. Put Dr Louise London .shows that in 1933 the rebuilt, while at the Fraiienliirche num down the exact name of your grandfa Foreign Office agreed lo Jewish directors bered blocks of masonery have yet to be ther' he said. Then he thumbed through and employees of the German sales .sub assembled. But the Kiitislgallerien are the pages of the book silently and wrote sidiary of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company ready and open, so I went to see on a sheet of paper in front of him. In (in which the British gcnernment held a Vermeer's Girl at the Window. the end there were four in all. Date ot majority shareholding) being retired. This This was supposed to be a .sentimental birth and death if they were one of the was the precursor of the dismissal of all journey to my home town, Breslau. The 32,000 who had died there, or the name Jewish employees from what was to floods in the now Polish Wroclaw literally of the camp to which they had been .sent. become British Petroleum. made me take a rain-check. Who wants I was glad that none of them fitted. childhood memories spoilt by pollution, Terezin is now home again to an ordi Swedish appeasement rats and mosquitos? Playing that tape of nary community. Because of that it is In the wake of Germany's occupatk)n of Brahms' Academic Festival Overture dedi hard to decide whether it is more or less Denmark and Norway from .April 1940, cated to Breslau's university and terrible than other camps. One feels documents brought to light by the conducted by its famous son. Otto weird there, like walking through a ghost Swedish daily Dageiis Nybeler reveal that Klemperer, would have to wait. town. Not many smiles, probably more to many of the country's leading companies Instead 1 turned .south towards Prague do with being betrayed, invaded, occu sacked Jewish board members and .staff and then I noticed that Theresienstadt, pied and now, like the darkest hour both to protect its neutrality and .secure where grandfather was supposed to have before the dawn, waiting to join the EU prcjfitable German trade. Companies were been verscbleppt. lay in its path. Remem for some money to be pumped in. not compelled to 'aryani.se'. bering the old song 'Eine Schiffabrt die ist I pondered this on the bus for the last 36 miles to Prague. But here we are al Austrian Nationalfonds lustig, eine Schiffahrt die ist schon' I de ready in the 'Golden City'. Or could it be The Austrian Nationalfonds expects to cided on this leisurely mode of transport that all that glitters isn't gold'? have dealt with all applications from and cruised slowly up the Elbe to Bad claimants born up to 1928 by the end of Schandau, a small, beautiful spa, the per D Giinther Guttman this year. The remainder will be comp fect place to relax. leted in the course of next year. On again by rail to Decin, ju.st inside the Czech border. At this station there is BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE Second UK trial no interdict to cross the lines, which is 51 Belsize Square, London N.W.3 Andrzej Sawoniuk, 77, is facing five just as well because that is what you Our communal hall is available for charges of killing Jews in Belarus brought have to do, and clamber up the little train cultural and social functions. by Scotland Yard's war crimes squad. He from the ground if >'ou want to go on. I Tel: 0171-794 3949 came to Britain in 1946. D RDC wondered how grandfather might have
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