NEWSLETTER

70 Years After...

ISSUE No. 72 March 2012 AT YOUR SERVICE Each File Has a Name The Project of Computerizing Open Archives at the Annual Meeting (May 5, 2012) our Archives Started

t the annual meeting, Beit Terezin will open its archive files For the first time in the history of our archives, all the material A for perusal by interested participants. The list of personal of the many files in our possession will be scanned, catalogued files will be published on Beit Terezin’s website and all who want and searchable for researchers, students and the team of Beit to see a specific file – will be able to order it beforehand. The Theresienstadt. pre-ordered files will await the participants of the meeting and The project began in the winter of 2012 and will last for a number enable them to look at them and even add additional material, of months. It is quite complex and requires the preparation of to complete the information. all files for scanning, insertion of key words for searching, the scanning itself of hundreds of thousands of pages including After the project of scanning our archives, the files will not be documents, pictures, testimonies, newspaper clippings and more. accessible for a long time, so this is an excellent occasion for The documents were written in different languages, many of our members and friends to peruse the files of their families. them in German and Czech. To enable us to peruse them, We will not be able to remove files from the archives without Udi Adler joined our team; he is a new immigrant (he immigrated ordering them beforehand – please take this into account. not long ago) from the Czech Republic who knows these languages and he helps us to carry out the project. This will bring us up to the international standards of the EHRI project of which we are a part, in the framework of the European Union. Now is the time for you to let documents and photographs in your possession to be part of the project. In the end, all the Happy documents will be searchable, according to key words and accessible – some of them in Beit Terezin’s computers and some through the Internet. Holidays Miloš Pojár – in Memoriam Miloš Pojár, t h e fi r s t ambassador of the Czech Republic in Israel, father of Tomáš Pojár, the present Beit Theresienstadt Team Czech ambassador in Israel, died, aged 72. Miloš Pojár was a great friend of Beit Terezin and of our members and even after he ended his service in the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs he remained in touch. When his son became the Czech ambassador in Israel, Miloš also came and visited Beit Terezin – a dear and honored guest at our annual meetings. Beit Terezin extends its condolences to Tomáš Pojár and the family.

IN THIS ISSUE AT YOUR SERVICE...... 2 EDUCATION CENTER / TAMI KINBERG...... 12-13 YOURS, ODED...... 3 FROM HERE AND THERE...... 14 NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT...... 4-9 RELATED BY OUR MEMBERS...... 15 NEW IN OUR ARCHIVES / SIMA SHACHAR...... 10-11

Editor: Oded Breda Translations: Chava and Mordehai Livni Design: Studio Orni Drori, Haifa

2 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association YOURS, ODED To all members and friends of Beit Theresienstadt

It is now 3 years since I began my work in Beit Terezin. During our courtyard, allocating for this purpose these years the team of Beit Terezin and I continued to build, to a very large sum and gave Beit Terezin develope and to bring Beit Terezin to the public’s awareness. The an impressive new appearance. For the work is very intensive and the team works hard and under pressure first time it was possible to get through to maintain the momentum in ongoing educational activities and the rainy winter without trouble, without at the same time to cope with the many events undertaken in puddles, without mud, broken tiles, the last months. with no leakages anywhere. Kibbutz There is no question that the high point of our activity in the Givat Hayim Ihud also lent a hand and last half year was the event on the 70th anniversary of ghetto renovated the parking area in front of Theresienstadt. We brought and re-enacted songs from cabarets the buildings and now the children are in the ghetto, together with a group of very talented young people safer from moving cars in the area. from our annual seminar “History, Music and Remembrance”, most And that was still not all. In a moving and dignified ceremony, well of them students or absolvents of the Jerusalem Academy of Music attended by the media, the businessman Meir Shamir connected and Dance, together with their teachers. the memory of the soccer players and fans of the Terezin league to a real soccer stadium, the new “Hamoshava” stadium, opened in There is no better Petah Tikva. M. Shamir, too, had relatives, including his grandfather way of preserving the who did not survive Theresienstadt. A copy of part of the exhibition heritage than seeing at Beit Terezin was installed at Shamir’s VIP room at the stadium. this re-enactment on the He regards the place as having an important educational value stage, for young people for the visitors. some of which did And finally – another exhibition from our archives of works by not know the story of Theresienstadt children was opened in the USA, in Reading, Penn. Theresienstadt; some of And there is great demand to continue the exhibition in the USA. them even returned after The story of ghetto Theresienstadt evokes much interest there, in the summer seminar to many places. During the week the exhibition opened there were the protest tents at at least four more events connected to Theresienstadt. Rothschild boulevard. The above mentioned events were very important, but in one There was another, area we did not succeed: renewal of your membership, you, the very important high readers of this newsletter. The membership dues are today not point – the moment I the main source of our operating budget but they are also a sign got a phone call from of your appreciation of our efforts to achieve the main aim – to Idit Amihai, director of tell the story of ghetto Theresienstadt, everywhere, to all who the Museum’s Department, who told me that Beit Terezin was are ready to listen. officially recognized as an Israeli museum. It was very difficult to get this recognition. The last time a museum got it was in 2009 Please do not postpone it, do not wait for an occasion – just and since then only we received this recognition. renew your membership, now, in whatever way. I know this from But there was more. We have no words to thank the family of Eliezer my own experience – I, too, was a member, and if I did not do Olenik, who founded an outstanding company for infrastructure. something on the spot I forgot it. Please note the events for the He is a Holocaust survivor who lost his entire family, parents and coming months – the work is going on without letting off! seven siblings. His children donated the whole reconstruction of Yours, Oded

Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 3 NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT

Inter-Generational Meeting – Hanukkah 2011

he lighting of the second Hanukkah candle at the dining room are the members of Kibbutz Givat Hayim Ihud was held with participation of of the “Beth abt.T 150 of our members and guests who came for an inter- El” community generational meeting – first to fourth generations. from Zikhron Ya'akov that had The meeting consisted of three parts: contributed for The first – lighting the second candle by Achim Begiansky, a the publication קמילה boy in the ghetto who survived, he was in the transport to of the book. The Switzerland on February 19, 1945. director of Beit Terezin Oded The second – an extraordinary general meeting of our association Breda thanked chaired by Prof. Eli Lawental, our chairman. The meeting decided all those who to add to the articles of the association the word “museum” in participated in the the list of our activities; this completes the steps necessary for project and the previous director Anita Tarsi who edited and Beit Terezin to be acknowledged officially as a museum.Oded produced the book. Anita related on her research about old Breda reported on the activities of Beit Terezin in 2011. people in ghetto Theresienstadt. The academic consultant of Beit Terezin, Dr. Margalit Shlain, described her work on the The third and main part – launching diary, especially regarding Austrian Jewry; Ruthie and Miriam told טרזיינשטאט the new book “Yomana shel the participants about the process they went through preparing יומנה של קמילה הירש Camilla Hirsch” [Camilla Hirsch’s the book and researching the family’s roots. The audience was diary, Hebrew], published by Beit moved hearing that Camilla Hirsch left the ghetto on the train Terezin. The event was attended by to Switzerland and on the same train were Achim Begiansky, the families of Ruth Elkabetz and Tsvi Cohen and Eva Eben - all three present at the event.

,Miriam Prager, both nee Wolf and Pavel Korn and his dauhgter played and sang Hanukkah songs עורכת: אניטה טרסי their guests. Especially noteworthy volunteering, as always.

”Whole Fractures” – Study Day in Honor of Ruth Bondy

year ago the team of Beit Theresienstadt decided to their acquaintance and common work with Ruth. Finally, the organize an event in honor of Ruth Bondy and her life’s journalist Tally Bashan spoke about being a member of the work.A Ruth Bondy was one of the founders of Beit Terezin and second generation after the Holocaust, but at the same time is actively working for it until today. After consulting with the daughter to mother Ruth. The mother, writer, researcher and family we found that “Yad Vashem” should be part of the event Holocaust survivor, the guest of honor Ruth Bondy thanked in since Ruth is very active there, too. In the end, Yad Vashem her humorous manner for all the praise bestowed on her. staff organized an impressive study day, on December 18, 2011, titled – like one of her books – Whole Fractures.

The event began with speeches: Mr. Tomáš Pojár, the Czech ambassador in Israel, prof. Eli Lawental, chairman of our association, and Mr. Nathan Steiner, chairman of the Association of Immigrants from Czechoslovakia in Israel.

The study day had two sessions – the first titled “To Live in a Fracture: Aspects of Day-to-Day Life in the Holocaust”; the lectures dealt with education, women, satire and even with cooking (yes, Ruth wrote also a cookbook …). The second session was called “To Re-build the Land of Israel”, in which Haim Guri and Dani Kerman talked about

4 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT

Meir Shamir Commemorates the Jewish Soccer League of Ghetto Terezin

n February 6, 2012, a room, dedicated to the memory of Meir is a valuable O the soccer league in ghetto Theresienstadt was opened and deep-rooted at the “Hamoshava” stadium in Petah Tikva. The exhibit there person. He chose was initiated by the businessman Meir Shamir, who chose to to commemorate have it installed in his VIP box – against the background of activities of the rising violence in Israeli soccer and to commemorate and to Terezin League educate about Jewish sport during the Holocaust; close to that functioned the lawn of Israeli soccer. in the ghetto for The event was addressed by: three years. Meir The former prime minister, decided to remind Mr. Avi Luzon and Mr. Meir Shamir Mr. Ehud Olmert: “I want to us of them in a very special way, to make all of us realize that congratulate you, Meir, for soccer means brotherhood. It symbolizes for all those coming the initiative to install this to the stadium that they came to the place where the real corner, to remind us of the story is happening. roots, of sport in general and A player of the Terezin League in the ghetto Mr. Peter Erben: Israeli soccer specifically”. “Beit Terezin took upon itself the project of the The initiator of the exhibition, Mr. Meir Shamir, said with Terezin League. In the emotion”I think that the main message of this event and of ghetto very soon soccer the dedication of the remembrance room is to give expression teams were organized and to and to honor Jewish sport in the Holocaust. It is said that games were played. In the evil was born to enable us to appreciate the good; when beginning there were 18 one comes to such a splendid place and is able to bring here teams of 6-7 players each; Mr. Ehud Olmert and Mr. Peter Erben families and soccer fans, one has to remember that Jewish later this became a league sport had roots in the Holocaust too. In Jewish tradition – with referees. We strove to establish a framework of culture when building a new house, a spot of the wall is left without and sport through the Terezin soccer league. As a memento plaster, in memory of the destruction of the temple; in the and a testimony there is a film by Kurt Geron, a German-Jewish same vein we decided to erect this corner of the magnificent director. stadium in remembrance of the Holocaust. The Germans, after watching the film, did not like seeing Jews playing soccer in the ghetto in war time and removed this part I call on the chairman of the Israel Football Association who from the film. But today it is a vivid testimony to the league is present here, Mr. Luzon: when there are racist slogans, I that was. ask to take the soccer fans for a tour of this room – as part of The director of Beit Theresienstadt, Mr. Oded Breda: The education and not as punishment. Secondly, in the near future commemoration of the Terezin league is a tool, to educate this stadium will host international teams and a tour of this youth against racism, anti-Semitism and the use of Holocaust room shall be an inseparable part of their visits, to remember images during Israeli soccer games. My thanks go to Meir the Terezin League and the dimension of sanity created by Shamir who brought the memory of the Terezin League soccer soccer in midst of the horrible reality called Holocaust.” players to a real stadium.” The chairman of the Football Association, Avi Luzon:”For me Guests who attended the event: The former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, the mayor of Kiriat Ono Yossi Nishri, Avi Benayahu, Noam Lanir, Shlomo Rodev, MK Zeev Bielski, Adina and Guy Shamir, from the soccer community: Zeevik Salzer, Nir Levin, Itche Menahem, Gavri Levi, Dani Neumann, Nira Stelmach and others. From Beit Terezin there were – in addition to Peter Erben – also Yaakov Zur and Benny Davidovitz, who was a boy in the ghetto and his son Nir, who was the goalie of the Israeli national team and is today in Maccabi Haifa.

During the game Israel Ukraine 29.2.2012

Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 5 NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT Visit of a Delegation of the German Visit of IDF Orchestra Football Association (DFB)

n Sunday, November s every year, the O 13, 2011, about 60 A German national team musicians of the IDF orchestra up to age 18 arrived for a arrived in Beit Theresienstadt winter tournament. This time, for a special study day. The too, the players, together main subject was music with the players of the Israeli composed and played in ghetto Theresienstadt, in an atmosphere team, visited “Yad Vashem” of distress, hunger and fear of transports. The orchestra players, for a joint commemoration with their conductor lieutenant colonel Michael Yaaran and the ceremony. On December 13, commander, major Kobi Hayim, visited the exhibitions of our 2011, the leaders of the delegation of the German Football museum and listened to the moving testimony of Hanka Drori, Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) came to Beit Terezin to who told them about her participation in the children’s opera learn the story of the ghetto and, of course, of soccer there. “Brundibar” performed in the ghetto many times, including during Tsvi Cohen from Maabarot accompanied the delegation and told the visit of the delegation of the International Red Cross in them about his childhood June 1944. Hanka also related that as a 12-year old girl she in Berlin and youth in “turned the pages” for the conductor Rafael Schechter during Theresienstadt. rehearsals of Verdi’s “Requiem”. One of the visitors Dr. Michael Wolpe lectured on the background of Central became excited when European music, classical and other, disrupted almost forever he saw that one of the under the Nazi regime and how it was expressed in the ghetto teams in the ghetto was by outstanding composers like Viktor Ullmann, Gideon Klein called “Fortuna Köln” and and others; and also about cabaret music and its role in the related that he was the prisoner’s life in the ghetto. trainer of this team a few years ago and he never dreamt that At the conclusion of the study day the IDF unit presented Beit this name was also the name of a Jewish team in a camp, Theresienstadt with its emblem, hoping for continued cooperation during the Holocaust. since the subject awoke the interest of the young musicians. Some of them use to accompany IDF soldiers at memorial The Ambassador of Austria in Israel ceremonies on trips to extermination camps in Poland.

And Another Ambassador of Goodwill – he new ambassador of Austria in Israel, Mr. Franz-Josef Tal Brody T Kuglitsch, visited Beit Theresienstadt on March 7, 2012, together with the director of the cultural forum of the embassy, al Brody, the great basketball player of Maccabi Tel Aviv Ms Gabriele Feigl. At the visit the ambassador learned about Tand of the Israeli national team, recipient of the Israel Austrians in the ghetto, about the new book “The Diary of Prize and today ambassador of goodwill of Israel, visited Beit Kamilla Hirsch”, (who hailed from Vienna) and about the Theresienstadt. He listened to the story of the ghetto and, of intention, to publish it in German, in Austria. course, about the sports activities of youth and adults there. The aim of the visit was to renew the connection He promised to spread the story of the ghetto wherever he between Austria and Beit can. Theresienstadt and we hope that this effort will soon bear fruit.

The ambassador attended the event “70 years since Ghetto Theresienstadt” in November 2011 and expressed his appreciation of the high cultural level of the event.

6 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT 70 Years Since the Establishment of the Ghetto – November 24, 2011, Beit Hapalmach, Tel Aviv Hayim Altmann, spokesman of the Emek Hefer Regional Council:

“Following efforts lasting a number of years, Beit Terezin received these days the official designation as the 54th recognized museum in Israel, the third on the subject of the Holocaust”. – These words were said by the director of Beit Terezin, Oded Breda, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of ghetto Theresienstadt. The event was held at the Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv, in the presence of the Minister for Education Mr. Gideon Saar.

reda also said that the museum, located at kibbutz Givat Hayim Ihud in Emek Hefer, sees as one of its basic tasks its integrationB in the social fabric of the district, aiming to preserve the particular story of ghetto Theresienstadt and to pass it on to future generations. Minister Gideon Saar emphasized the specific character of ghetto Theresienstadt, a model for humane behavior in inhuman conditions, with culture and intensive intellectual life. This Theresienstadt. spirit, he said, defeated the Beit Terezin dealt this year with the subject of cabaret (a Central Nazi’s attempts to cover up European traditional art form) in the ghetto. the horror and to deny the Jewish writers, composers and performers from cabarets in Holocaust. Prague, Vienna and Berlin were deported to ghettoes and from The head of the Regional there to concentration and extermination camps. In ghetto Council Emek Hefer, Rani Theresienstadt they found a place to stage cabaret, in spite Idan, son of survivors of of horrible conditions, desolation, hunger and the threat of ghetto Theresienstadt and transports to the East. Auschwitz extermination In the ghetto a number of satirical revues were staged some camp, who for a number of years headed the group of members of which courageously attacked the Jewish ghetto leadership of the second generation said: “I am fortunate that, as head and the inhumane conditions in the ghetto. Karel Schwenk of the council, I am part of making Beit Theresienstadt to an founded the first, Czech-language, cabaret, he wrote, composed important component of the Regional Council Emek Hefer; one and staged revue performances he himself participated in, of the leading institutions of its kind in Israel. It hosts youth among them: “The Lost Ration Card”, “Long Live Life” and from Emek Hefer and from all over the country, teaching the “The Last Bicyclist”. Later Kurt Geron, from Berlin founded a subject of the Holocaust, offering them the values that enabled satirical cabaret that staged the musical play “Carrousel” with the ghetto prisoners to keep their humaneness in a sea of evil, the ghetto Jazz orchestra, “The Ghetto Swingers” with music giving the survivors the spiritual strength to come to Israel to by Martin Roman. build it”. At the same time the Cameri theater stages the musical “Cabaret” The event was also addressed by the chairman of the recounting the story of its artists - most ended up in Terezin Organization of Israelis of Central European Origin Reuven and in extermination camps – bequeathing their creations to Merhav, the chairman of our association, Prof. Eli Lawental future generations. Beit Terezin together with the Cameri theater and, for the survivors, Mordehai Livni. In his moving words brings for the second time now the play “Terezin, a Town As he pointed out that the story of such a small ghetto could be If”, during the week of Holocaust Day in the framework of the forgotten and asked to preserve Beit Terezin to pass on its theaters subscription program (16.4.2012). heritage to younger generations. The event was supported by the Ministry for Senior Citizens, the After this the musical performance “Theresienstadt – a Town As Education Ministry, the Ministry for Culture and Sport, the Claims If” was presented, with cabaret pieces created in the ghetto, Conference, the Association of Israelis of Central European restored and orchestrated by participants of the seminar History, Origin, the Embassy of the Czech Republic, the Regional Council Music and Remembrance, held in Beit Terezin in the summer Emek Hefer, the Association of Israelis from Czechoslovakia of 2011. The performance was staged by Julia Pevsner, the and the Olenik Company Ltd. accompanying music was orchestrated by Rafi Kadishson, and both were instructors at the seminar. The actor of the Cameri Theater Eli Gorenstein moderated the event; some members of his family were also imprisoned in Minister Gideon Saar Rani Idan Reuven Merhav Mordehai (Maxi) Livni Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 7 NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT

Beit Theresienstadt Yard Inauguration In Memory Of Eliezer Olenik Family

nauguration of Courtyard of Beit ITerezin In Memory of the Family of Eliezer Olenik The newly landscaped courtyard of Beit Terezin at kibbutz Givat Hayim Ihud, a donation by Eliezer Olenik and the Olenik company was inaugurated in a moving ceremony, in the presence of MK Yaakov Edri, the Czech ambassador in Israel Tomáš Pojár, the head of the Regional Council Emek Hefer Rani Idan, the Olenik family, members of our association and guests. The renovation of the courtyard was donated in memory of the family of Eliezer Olenik, his parents, brothers and sisters, who perished in the Holocaust. The connection was initiated by Rochele Marom from Beit Terezin, who took care of all details of the project, from start to finish. The new courtyard was designed by the landscape architect Rakefet Sinai with the consent of kibbutz Givat Tami Kinberg from Beit Terezin related the story of the Olenik Hayim Ihud and the Regional Council Emek Hefer. family in the Holocaust – a family of 35 members, Eliezer is The work included paving of the area, construction of a the only one who survived. Afterwards his life in Israel was wooden deck, with seats and tables and also access paths described, starting as a truck driver in Sodom and up to the bordered by plants. success of the Olenik company. The chairman of our association, The event was addressed by the Czech ambassador, the head prof. Eli Lawental thanked the family for the great help extended of the Regional Council, David Olenik, son of Eliezer, who to Beit Terezin, which aided to achieve the official recognition spoke for the family, joined by his mother Malka; the director of Beit Terezin as an Israeli museum. of Beit Terezin Oded Breda explained the activities of the institution and its connection to Emek Hefer, he also screened These days the Olenik company is busy erecting the “Olenik a film about Beit Terezin before and after the renovation. Center” at the industrial park of Emek Hefer.

8 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association NEWS FROM BEIT THERESIENSTADT

Beit Terezin Recognized as Museum by Ministry of Culture and Sport

On November 6, 2011, the Minister for Culture and Sport, Ms. Limor Livnat, signed the official document declaring Beit Theresienstadt as the 54th Israeli museum, the third dedicated to the Holocaust. This was the final step of a process starting in 1998, conducted in the end vis-à-vis the Museums Council and the Department for Museums headed by Idit Amihai, after finishing the renovations in the museum raising it to national standards we have to keep. The recognition has also a financial aspect since the state will support the museum. Beit Terezin thanks all members of the Museums Department of the Culture Administration and especially Idit Amihai and Shlomit Nemlich for their guidance, advice and instructions that brought about the recognition.

Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 9 NEW IN OUR ARCHIVES / Sima Shachar

Gabi Alter tells about purchasing Ghetto Postcards in an Auction

abi Alter was Sent to Acquire Items from the Ghetto at place commercializing the Holocaust. And “before turning the a Public Auction Holocaust into a business, further thought should be given to GIn the summer of 2011 Beit Terezin asked me to attend a the matter”. I have no doubt that all those present, including public auction of memorabilia connected to the Holocaust, at the owner of the auction house, heard me, nobody reacted. the “Kedem” auction house in Jerusalem. The thought that items Suddenly everybody was busy leafing energetically through the connected to the Holocaust are sold at a public auction here in catalogue, phoning and making their last arrangements before Israel, awoke in me, to say the least, an uneasy feeling. After the auction began … I learned that the items in question are 50 postcards sent from ghetto Theresienstadt, though a sizable part of them was During the auction, nearing item no. 62, “our” item, I heard typewritten and only the addresses in handwriting, I understood the man responsible for the phone operators, ordering two of that I had to overcome my feelings and attend the auction. The them to contact the people who had expressed interest in the natural place for these postcards is the Terezin archives. postcards. I readied myself for a “war”, I wanted to acquire the postcards but the director of Beit Terezin, Oded, and I had In a crowded room at an industrial zone of Jerusalem some agreed on clear limits. But fate or the Almighty decided and 20 people assembled. In addition to the auctioneer there were the two potential competitors had second thoughts. None of four telephone operators, in contact with collectors who were these present in the room was interested in the postcards. Our interested in items and did not attend personally. Entering, opening bid, at the minimum price stated by the auction house, I decided to air my views and said in a loud voice to all won out! At least we did not pay more than the minimum we those present in the room, how uneasy I feel being in a had agreed upon.

Album of Postcards

small package arrived at Beit Theresienstadt. It contained confirming the receipt of a parcel in the ghetto. In addition there an album in a new, brown binding but the treasure found in appears also the image of Clementine Finkeisen who lived in itA was great. Pages equipped with pockets and in each pocket Kaiserslautern, Wilhelm no. 27. Searching for these names a a postcard. Postcards sent from Theresienstadt to Berlin and further picture emerges. Karoline was sent by herself, together Vienna and confirmations for parcels sent to Theresienstadt. with Clementine in the same transport to Theresienstadt, on March 14, 1945. 12 postcards of correspondents, 40 postcards confirming receipt of parcels in the ghetto and 8 confirmations for parcels received Julius, Meta and Otto were deported to Auschwitz in October in the ghetto. Leafing through the album, the image of a family 1944 and died there. Clementine and Karoline were liberated in appears before my eyes. The Lazarus family, deported from Theresienstadt at the end of the war. There are more postcards Frankfurt to Theresienstadt. The handwriting of a young person in the album, bringing up the name of Adolf Nussbaum who catches my attention. It belonged to Otto Lazarus. also wrote to the Schlaufmann family. And Rudolf Neufeld from Otto was sent together with his parents Julius and Meta nee Vienna writing to his daughter. Who was the Lazarus family? Rothschild to the ghetto, on September 16, 1942. From August Who were Clementine Finkeisen and Karoline Schlaufmann? And 1943 until September 1944, each of the family members writes who are Adolf Nussbaum and Rudolf Neufeld? There are many and sends a postcard to Karl and Karoline Schlaufmann who questions and no answers. live at an address at Westmark, Kaiserslautern Pirmesanzer no 9. The correspondence testified also to the sending of parcels If any of our readers has heard of or knew these families, I would to Julius, Meta and Otto. This is documented by the postcard like to get the information to perpetuate their memory.

10 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association NEW IN OUR ARCHIVES / Sima Shachar

Visiting “Hagibor” in Prague

Friday morning in Prague, Hanukka 2011 I am visiting Prague, together with my son. For today I planned We go on and suddenly there is an empty field, on two levels. one destination. I want to go and see the place where many of An upper one and a lower one. It is neglected, there is a hole you spent time, in other days, in another era. To see the place in the fence. I stand in front of the opening, moved, and think of which only pictures remain in an album, to see “Hagibor”. of you. Maybe this sounds strange, I am afraid to cross the We enter the train and travel eastwards to the Zelivskeho gap, to stand on the field. In front of me is an open expanse, station. In the 1920ies a sports On the map in my hand, “Hagibor” is at the right edge of the club was established here. page. There Prague ends. The word “Hagibor” stands on a At the time of the Nazi wide area on the map. I am excited by the fact that the word occupation this was the appears in print. The area is bounded by two streets, one is only place where Jews a main one with an electrical railway, the other borders at its could meet for various rear with the wall of the Jewish cemetery. sports and cultural activities. During WWII it became a Excitedly I drag my son in the cold of a Friday morning for four camp for Jews from “mixed” hours of walking, actually not knowing where I am going. Only marriages. During the the pictures from the album are in my memory. I pass people Communist regime the area on the street and hesitate if to ask them where “Hagibor” is. was sequestrated and the building served as a hospital. Only a few years ago it was In the end I find that the “Don Giovanni” hotel is on that plot, returned to the Jewish community in Prague that erected beside it is the building of the “Radio Free Europe”, transferred there the “Hagibor” social and care-giving center, which here from the center of Prague. The remainder of the area is started to function in May 2008. untidy and behind it is, in all its glory and splendor, the circus. Text and picture by the “Hagibor” organization in Prague The Church Hagibor before the war

Hagibor Sport hala Bohemians Field above it a small terrace and a structure with the The Photographer words “Sport hala Bohemians”. On the side there are tennis courts and other sport grounds. Some of them look like being used, others abandoned. We walked around, I made a few pictures of the place. The Kids Circle The morning moved me. Maybe you see it as lost The Church time and ask yourself – what was it all for? There is nothing there! But I have an answer for you, it was important for me. To get the feel of the place and to phantasize how it looked, merry and full of life, even in hard times. To draw you and your friends in front of my eyes, in this place, while today everything is different, desolate.

Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 11 EDUCATION CENTER / Tami Kinberg

Opening Doors ”Perah l’Nitzol” (A Flower to the Survivor) ccording to the tradition that crystallized during the last n preparation for Holocaust Day, the Foundation for year, we marked the day of Tevet 10, together with the the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel organizes, in organizationA "Zayit" (Hebrew acronym for: Jewish cultural identity) cooperationI with the IDF and various Holocaust Institutes, a from Emek Hefer. Prof. Hana Yablonka lectured on the subject project named "Perah l’Nitzol". “The Holocaust and its Memory as Seen in the Present” a riveting In the framework of the project IDF soldiers and officers and thought provoking lecture. This was also the opening of a visit survivors’ homes and present them with a certificate of new workshop organized together with "Zayit" and Givat Hayim recognition. Beit Terezin will be visited for a study day by Ihud - "Opening Doors". soldiers from various bases in Israel, in preparation for their The workshop deals with the memory of the family Holocaust meetings with survivors. This year we will hold the Holocaust story. It is moderated by Shosh Sade-Goldstein and Amram Day ceremony, as previously, together with the soldiers of Ha’Israeli; the participants are members of the second generation the School for Fighting Fitness. The theme will be – "70 Years from Givat Hayim Ihud and Meuhad and from Kfar Haroe. Up Later" - transmitting the Holocaust story from one generation to now there were already a number of meetings in which the to the next. A report will follow in the next issue. participants dealt with their personal experiences regarding the family Holocaust story. This workshop is a first and we hope Art and Co-existence in Beit Terezin to host further groups. nother workshop held at Beit Terezin was an art workshop Amoderated by the curator Ruthi Lubin from Hadera. At the Creative Activity for Children on the meetings the participating women - Arabs and Jews – studied Subject of Freedom the subject of art in ghetto Terezin. Poriah Litschi lectured on art as spiritual resistance, Miriam Bruck-Cohen from Beit Terezin, an artist working in fibers, displayed her very special work and told the participants about her connection to Beit Terezin. Sima Shahar related the story of Trude Groag and showed art objects from “poor materials”. One of the meetings of the workshop was held in Herzliya, at the home of Naomi Chissick-Eilon (“Maker of Tapestry Legends”). Naomi’s father was a botanist and wrote legends and Naomi created huge tapestries on this subject – the source of her nickname. At the meeting she displayed her work and taught various embroidery techniques; on this occasion the participants also visited the “Beit Harishonim” museum in Herzliya. At the conclusion of the workshop the participants displayed their stunning creations. They had been given a minimized pattern of a dress on which they embroidered, drew and created according to their imagination – expressing their emotions on the Holocaust, co-existence and other topics the discussions in the workshop touched upon.

12 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association EDUCATION CENTER / Tami Kinberg

“Respecting People and Acceptance of the Other” ontact with the Druze village Daliyat El-Carmel is continuing. met a Druze journalist who This year, too, students of the 6th and 9th grades from the represents the combination – villageC arrived for a study day in Beit Theresienstadt, this time the alliance for life between there was also a reciprocal visit of students from Emek Hefer the Jews and the Druze living to Daliyat El-Carmel. Meirav Livni-Keich, responsible for the in Israel. The third and most teaching of history at the “Mayan-Shahar” school: interesting part of the day In the framework of civics, geography and Arabic, organized took place at the home of together with Beit Terezin, the students of the 9th class of the Tamir and Buteina Halabi. “Mayan-Shahar” educational institute, visited Daliyat El-Carmel. Buteina is a Druze painter, whose subject is mainly the Holocaust. The visit, as conclusion of the subject of the Druze community, After sumptuous refreshments in their home and Buteina’s story was made up of a number of parts: about her connection to the Holocaust, the students viewed the exhibition displaying her paintings. Buteina told them the In the first part the students toured the village, got to know story of each painting and what they meant to her. its houses, inhabitants, prayer sites and the infrastructures She showed the students the copy of a painting she had that combine the old with the new, for instance the water- made, whose original is exhibited in Yad Vashem. The tour well. In the second part of the day the students visited Beit was interesting and exciting and strengthened the connection Yad Lebanim (community house in memory of fallen soldiers), between Jews and Druze. The initiative for this trip came from learned the special history of the house and the youth it is put Beit Terezin that organized and worked tirelessly to realize to, to memorialize fallen Druze soldiers. After this the students the visit.

To The management of Beit Terezin and its team Re: Activity of students of “ORT” Koftan Halaby – Daliyat El-Carmel at Beit Terezin. Our students and we were honored to take part in a visit of outstanding cultural and educational meaning and for this I want to express in my name and in the name of the students and the teachers of our school our full appreciation; thanks to the management of Beit Terezin and its instructors for the activity that enabled the students to experience and to learn about the dark and tragic era of human history, the attempt to annihilate the Jewish people, the horror that broke loose in front of the eyes of the world’s nations. Our students were exposed to materials collected from ghetto Terezin, documents, letters, diaries and newspapers and learned the story of the ghetto. From the students’ reaction one can identify the measure of their excitement and their impression from the tours, workshops, stories and films. They identified with the tragic stories of the boys and the girls in the ghetto. They crystallized insights, deeply engraved in their consciousness that is expressed in their artistic creations at our school. Supervised by Beit Terezin’s instructors our students worked diligently and enthusiastically on their art, to express the knowledge they had gained and the difficult emotions of sorrow, sadness, mourning and outrage toward a fatal, horrible epoch like almost none known in the history of humankind. We would like to add that the visit in Beit Terezin achieved much and encouraged our students to take part in the exhibition “Windows of Memory” opened on January 16,2012, at the Education Ministry in Tel Aviv; its aim is to perpetuate the memory of one and a half million Jewish children that perished in the Holocaust. The students saw their creations and drawings displayed at the exhibition side by side with creations of students from other schools in Israel – this gave them feelings of pride and self-realization, identification and belonging. On this occasion the minister of education Mr. Gideon Saar expressed his praise and appreciation of the students of ORT Koftan Halaby and said: I am excited that students from the Druze sector and especially from the high school ORT Koftan Halaby take an active part in the project. I want to congratulate you and wish you success in this documentary project, which is educationally meaningful for our life and for the life of future generations. Heartfelt thanks, sincerely, Rushdie Hasson, school director

Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 13 FROM HERE AND THERE

The Story of Ghetto Theresienstadt in the USA – Rising Interest Reading, Pennsylvania, February 18, 2012

he exhibition “The Children of Terezin and their Art” was opened by the Reading Public Museum in the framework of Tthe “Theresienstadt Project”, in cooperation with the local Jewish community; at the same time the children’s opera “Brundibar” was also staged. The exhibition that includes more than 40 original exhibits from the archives of Beit Theresienstadt – children’s drawings, puppets, an issue of “Kamarat” and the “Monopoly” game, is planned to last until mid-May 2012. The festive opening was attended by some 150 excited guests. After the “Havdalah” ceremony led by the local rabbi, John Smith, the museum’s director and initiator of the exhibition and the curator Scott Schweigert talked about the project and Oded Breda greeted in the name of Beit Terezin. Next day, Inge Auerbacher a ghetto survivor, told the Scott Schweigert, John Smith, Inge Auerbacher, Oded Breda visitors about her life and showed her film“The Olympic Doll”. events in New York, dealing with culture in the ghetto; organized The exhibition was covered by television and by Hanna Arie-Gaifmann at Y92, there is a number of exhibitions press and its location in the Art Museum – not about the ghetto at the Holocaust museum in Los Angeles, Karen a Holocaust museum – made it very special. Weiner lectured at Duke university on her father’s book and the The story of ghetto Theresienstadt attracts in the Butterfly project at the Houston Holocaust museum goes on. At USA a large audience and just now there are a number of additional the same time preparations continue to stage Verdi’s “Requiem” projects, parallel to that in Reading. In the same week ended the in New York, next year.

14 Newsletter Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association RELATED BY OUR MEMBERS

Hana Drori: I am Fed up with the Image of “Loony” Holocaust Survivor (Hana was a girl in ghetto Theresienstadt)

hate stereotypes, so often used in Israeli discourse, like: they still suffer from - to receive compensation. I filled in the form but on are misers, they are thieves, they are primitive, they are wretched the last page details had to be given and also a physician’s attest of andI so on. We Holocaust survivors, too, are categorized in this way: mental disorder, which I do not suffer from. I contacted the relevant until today, almost 70 years later, in the minds of a large part of the office and the clerk asked immediately: “what kind of tranquilizer do Israeli public all of us are somewhat “loony”, hiding bread under you take?” I do not take any – I answered. “What kind of sleeping the mattress, hysteric, wretched, maybe they should be pitied, but pill you take?“ I do not take any – I answered. “That means that they really are not “normal human beings”. I know that there are evidently you are not really a Holocaust survivor!” the official stated such people among us, who did not manage to free themselves and ended the conversation. from the trauma of that epoch … but in every society there are Two weeks ago we saw a good play by Savyon Liebrecht, titled people suffering from trauma or mental disease or other disabilities. “Rokhele Gets Married”. The acting was excellent. But who was again So, why are we the only ones “honored” to continue after almost chosen to represent the eternal outsider? The father, the Holocaust 70 years as “sheep to the slaughter”, who do things not done by survivor! Why? Are there no people who are not Holocaust survivors normal people, somewhat crazy? I, personally, encounter this again beset by a trauma? Most of us – surely not all – came out of the and again – not only talking with people but also from all kinds of camp at the start in euphoria that the war had ended and we are institutions, for instance, visiting the “illegal” immigrants camp at Atlit, free but very soon it became clear that nothing will be as before, where Hayim (my husband) relates his testimony: we were there as we had hoped, that most of us have no home and no family. We with a guided group and the group leader knows everything well and stood in front of a new reality and each had to build a new life for explains the whole site, what exactly was there. Until… we arrived himself, by himself. And this is exactly what most of us did: we took at the living quarters, a wooden cabin, and the guide showed how part in building the land, some served in the army and today they crowded and difficult it was to live there, that there were also many are high-ranking officers, some founded communities together with mice – “you know why? Because everybody in the hut kept bread others from all over the world, some became scientists, teachers, under his mattress!” I explained in front of all participants that this farmers, politicians and whatnot. is actually slander. He accepted my explanation but the damage was Maybe the time has arrived not to see in each Holocaust survivor done – everybody had heard and surely believed the guide more than an outsider who serves to perpetuate this mistaken image? someone like me. Another example: I had to fill in a form to have I hope that this will help! the Finance Ministry recognize that in the camps I had diseases I Hanka Drori, kibbutz HaHotrim. February 2012 Peter Erben on the first Anniversary of the Death of Arnošt Lustig Dear Arnošt, February 26, 2012 benefit of the few – and I won’t go into details. The end of February is near and it is now exactly one year since you You wrote so many wonderful books, read by millions of people of good left us. I miss you all the time more and more – I have nobody to talk will but the base of evil has not changed. The whole Near East burns to about what is happening here and in the world. Nobody calls me and I do not know where this is leading. Israel gave the Arabs training “bejku (bull), don’t worry about that, you will not change a thing, anyway”. and brought them to the realm of the Internet but haters of Jews only Though you are right, you, too, wouldn’t be able to stand it. Everybody grew stronger. In spite of me not being a believer, now I can only pray sees what is happening and only shakes his head. for peace. And still there is something good I want to tell you. Your When we returned to our liberated homeland in May of 1945 (in fact, daughter Eva (she looks very much like Vera) wrote a wonderful book Europe and the whole world were liberated) we were convinced that about you and an article where she calls you “the saddest person” in with the Nazi’s defeat, finally, mass murder has ended forever. We hoped the world, but also “the best father” and I believe her, she knew that! that “eternal peace” has broken out. After the Holocaust and millions of Not long ago she visited us and showed us your good-looking and nice soldiers and civilians who died, humanity will finally understand that only grandchildren – Sinai and Negev (the latter is very much like you – also belief in man and love of your neighbor and humanism will enable our mentally); we spent an unforgettable evening, remembering you and existence and that we will honor the memory of T. G. Masaryk and his Věrka. I am thankful to see them continue in your footsteps!! Finally, I life’s motto! And what happened, all the “isms” (like socialism, capitalism, only want to recall my favorite song, by Voskovec+Werich+Ježek: “Život religious fundamentalism of all kinds, and more) swallowed all normal je jen náhoda – jednou si dole a jednou nahoře, život plyne jak voda thinking and brought us again to the threshold of new tragedy. Not long a smrt je jak moře … (Life is just a coincidence – sometimes you are ago we experienced the “spring revolutions” and the “summer protests” down and sometimes on top, life flows like water and death is like and more, after many of these, people got rid of their governments and the sea … ) This was your credo and you remained true to it – though tyrants, but instead of freedom they again preach hatred and violence. you left us too soon. There is no end to it and the UNO actually supports it by its inability Your good friend to agree on the truth; and only the intrigues go on and rule, for the Peter

Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association Newsletter 15 2012 Events in Beit Theresienstadt

Month Day Hour Place Subject

March 15 09:00 Yad Vashem, Jerusalem Study Day “Dramatic Arts in Theresienstadt” “Terezin – the Town as If” with lecture by prof. Michael Wolpe “The Cabaret – April 16 17:00 Cameri 4, Tel Aviv From Berlin to Theresienstadt” Holocaust Day ceremony and Study Day with Soldiers of the School for April 19 Beit Terezin 09:00 Fighting Fitness May 5 Beit Terezin Annual Meeting and General Assembly 09:30 May 31 ICC Jerusalem International convention Center Defiant Requiem

July 29 Beit Terezin History, Music and Remembrance” no 12

September TBD Beit Terezin 4th Memorial Soccer Tournament “Terezin League”

Details on events will be sent by regular and by electronic mail to all who request it For further details contact Anat Elazar, phone:+972-4-6369515 or e-mail: [email protected] Membership Dues for 2012 Members: $70.- single, $100.- couples Membership dues and donations may be remitted: By personal check made out to “Beit Theresienstadt”, address: Beit Theresienstadt, Givat Haim Ihud, Emek Hefer, 38935, Israel By VISA credit card PAYPAL service is available on our website for membership fee or donations. The new service allows you to use safely almost every credit card. Bank transfer to the account of the association: Bank Leumi 10, branch Herzlia Pituah 958, account 011810/25, address: 38, Wingate Str., Herzlia Pituah 46752, Israel, IBAN IL01095801181045, SWIFTLUMIILITXXX Our members in the USA may use the P.E.F. that transfer money to Beit Theresienstadt without commission - such donations are tax-free. Send you check made out to P.E.F. with explicit order to transfer the money to Beit Theresienstadt - its number at the P.E.F. is 2210.

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Beit Theresienstadt, Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association (R.A.) Givat Haim Ihud, M.P. Emek Hefer, 38935, Israel phone +972-4-6369515, fax +972-4-6369793 e-mail: [email protected] , web: www.bterezin.org.il