VOLUME 5 NO. 4 APRIL 2005 SSIQ journal m^ ^^^1^1 ^ Association of Jewish Refugees

An appreciation ofthe life and contribution to the AJR of Richard Grunberger, whose sudden death occurred as the March issue ofthe AJR Joumal was going to press, is presented in this special issue of the joumal Below, Dr Bea Lewkowicz provides extracts from an interview she conducted with Richard in September 2001 when filming interviews for 'Continental Britons: Refugee Voices'. The extracts focus on how Richard perceived himself as Editor-in-Chief of the AJRJournal, as a writer, andas a Continental Briton. Onpage 2, Ronald Channing, a close colleague of Richard over many years, writes an appreciation, and on page 5, Dr Anthony Grenville, a colleague and personal friend of Richard, has written an obituary. In addition, we include two articles which Richard, a prolific writer, prepared for publication but, owing to the demands of space, were not included in earlier issues. Finally, the Letters to the Editor columns and, to a lesser extent, the Inside the AJR feature, demonstrate how Richard was perceived by AJR members and colleagues alike. Richard Grun berger on Richard Grunberger Extracts from an interview conducted by Bea Lewkowicz How do you see your role as the editor ofthe What is the most important part ofyour AJRJournal? Continental identity? I see my role as the editor as somebody The Jewish contribution to Austrian and who is trying to bridge the gulf of where German literature. When somebody the refugees came from and where they called me the poor man's Karl Kraus I have found themselves for the last 60 took that as a compliment. years. I want them not to lose contact with what they have left behind because How has your life been affected by being a there was a very rich German cultural refugee? Jewish life of which they are the last I have been at the receiving end of the representatives. On the other hand, I whole experience as somebody who was want them to be more acculturated to totally passive - none of these things English life and English culture. I am have I made a deliberate contribution to. trying to act as a mediator between the I was thrown around by the tides of two and as a propagandist for the history. I thought I could find some amalgam of the two cultures. This is how myself as a European. I am very much in anchor in Communism and I was gravely I see my function. I want to point out to favour of the integration of Europe. disappointed. On the other hand, I feel them that there is a rich cultural life, Partly because it solves my own problem very strongly for Israel but nonetheless I particularly in the field of literature. The of identity, but I also feel that there is can no longer call myself a wholly fact that there are so many literary prizes something to be said for abolishing the committed Zionist because a Zionist is a perfect example. It so happens that narrow confines of the nation-state, the identity somehow would involve the person who won the Whitbread little England mentality. I want people to shedding the important Central Prize, Matthew Kneale, is the grandson broaden their outlook and their sense of European and English aspects of my of Alfred Kerr, who was the leading identity. Even if they are not British- identity. So I am a mixture of all sorts of drama critic in Germany in the 1920s and born, they can still partake in this new, things. before. This is the type of double focus involving British identity. How different would your life have been that I am trying to give the journal: had you not been forced to emigrate? keeping a spotlight on Jewish- German Do you consider yourself British? This is an unanswerable question. I culture and on the way the refugees have The fact that I have kept my old surname would have loved to turn into a contributed to British culture - but also - which gives me problems every day on 'Kaffeehaus Literateur', rubbing on the vast body of culture with which the telephone - shows that I am not quite shoulders and exchanging aphorisms many refugees are insufficiently related. British. There is no way of getting round I want to be a guide in that direction. the fact. But I feel fully in tune with what with the likes of Karl Kraus, Alfred this country stands for, both politically - Polgar and Egon Erwin Kisch. That's How wouldyou describe yourself? as a haven of freedom and tolerance of how I would have liked to have grown up. When I was growing up there was a dissenting groups - and in terms of That period was actually drawing to a cliche expression: 'Weltburger'. I see culture. (Continued on page 2) AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

close in the thirties but this is my fantasy. anything, it will be for that. It is very gratifying to me that although Initial shock What do you see as your most important Richard Grunberger I was asked to be the editor of the AJR contribution? Journal for 10 years, I am still there after My book The Social History of the Third 14 years and the readership has not Arriving in London in the spring of Reich. It has been translated into four really slumped, as one would have 1939, I found myself in a political languages and published in sbc countries. thought. I find that the readers' letters culture different from the pressure- It has been in print ever since the are of a very high standard. I hope I have cooker atmosphere of Central Europe. seventies, both in this country as a managed to raise the level of intellectual Not that British politics lacked heat paperback and in America as a paperback. and cultural debate carried out in the and passion: Churchill had mud slung If I am going to be remembered for columns ofthe paper. at him for warmongering, and the Labour Party had just expelled Aneurin Bevan and Stafford Cripps for Richard Grunberger: an institution in his own right advocating a united front with the As Editor of the Association's monthly affairs in the most concise and Communists. magazine A//? Information and, since exquisite English. Each of Richard's This country's difference from the 2001, as Editor-in-Chief of the pages contains a chapter's worth of Continent, as exemplified by Austria, redesigned AJR Journal, Richard ideas: a recent editorial included a lay in the absence of (a) uniformed Grunberger fortified the links history of the Jews in three short militias (e.g. Heimwehr and between the refugees and the rich paragraphs! Not least characteristic Schutzbund); (b) party badges (such German-Jewish cultural life his of him was his love for, and doughty as the Social Democrats' three arrows generation left behind and of which defence of, the Jewish people and the and the Catholic Party's Celtic Cross); they are the last representatives. With State of Israel, which he saw as under equal authority, he fostered the threat from atavistic forces supported and (c) an English-language acculturation of the German- by misguided liberals and others in equivalent for terms likePtvtsc/). speaking refugee community in the West. For Richard, Europe's What Britain also lacked was a set of Britain and did not hesitate to point apparent antipathy to the security political acronyms, like the ones I had out and debate what he perceived to and wellbeing of the democratic and learned in post-Anschluss Austria. be the community's main concerns. civilised community of the Jewish Some of the initials provoked Having arrived in England as a state may have betrayed a festering erotically tinged laughter - DdM, the Kindertransportee, he was eventually antisemitism re-emerging after a half- League of German Maidens, was offered a home with a Jewish family century. popularly referred to as League of and he went to work in the tailoring For more than ten years I had the German Mattresses. But most trade in London's East End. After immense privilege of working with acronyms, e.g. Gestapo, SA, SS, SD - studying at Birkbeck College, he was Richard at the AJR offices on the sent cold shivers down one's spine. awarded a degree at King's College, writing, design and publication ofthe London. As well as teaching at the Association's monthly magazine. I Admittedly, some acronyms were in Hasmonean School and Minchenden was witness to his seemingly use in interwar Britain, but BUF Grammar School in north London, he inexhaustible flow of knowledge of (British Union of Fascists), SPGB wrote a number of essays, plays and Continental and British culture, (Socialist Party of Great Britain) and books, the best known of which is his history and scholarship, and to his others were confined to the fringes of Social History of the Third Reich. phenomenal memory and incisive the political arena. In the intervening Richard was unique, an institution analyses of current affairs, especially 60 years, however, the alphabet soup in his own right. He applied his with regard to any renewed threat to has spilled into the centre, starting phenomenal memory and sharp the survival of the Jewish people. His with the SPD and its Lib Dem offshoot. intellect to placing events in their passing is the end of an era. In today's political landscape, alas, historical context and to writing Ronald Channing initials sprout like weeds: BNP (British penetrating evaluations of current National Party), SNP (Scottish National Party), UKIP (United AJR Heads of Department Kingdom Independence Party), Gordon Greenfield Finance RESPECT (Respect for Equality, JACKMAN • Carol Rossen Administration and Personnel Socialism, Peace, Environment, Marcia Goodman Social Sen/ices a SILVERMAN Michael Newman Media and Community and Trade Unions), etc. COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS Public Relations Am I alone in thinking there is something suspiciously Continental - AJR Journal Richard Grunberger Editor-in-Chief not to say distinctly unBritish - about Howard Spier Editorial and Production the rise of parties known by initials 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA Andrea Goodmaker instead of self-explanatory names like Telephone: 020 7409 0771 Fax: 020 7493 8017 Secretarial/Advertisements Conservatives, Liberals and Labour? AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

Racism: squaring the circle Richard Grunberger NEWTONS Leading Hampstead Solicitors advise on It has been a received wisdom of politics racially motivated murder in the East than Property, Wills, Family Trusts that racism is a key weapon in the armoury the West. This had a lot to do with the and Charitable Trusts of the far right. The Dreyfus scandal in DDR's policy of ghettoising guest workers France and gory events in Ukraine and in segregated hostels and freezing all inter- French and German spoken Hungary in 1919 amply bear this out. ethnic intercourse. Likewise, the Soviet Home visits arranged But the far left too has not been averse to authorities created the Lumumba exploiting racial or nationalist resentment. University specifically for African 22 Fitzjohn's Avenue, Certain early socialists - Proudhon, students, but took great care to locate it London NW3 5NB Bakunin, even Marx - viewed Jews as some distance away fi^om Moscow to avoid Tel: 020 7435 5351 precursors of capitalism. When, post-1917, ethnic tension and miscegenation. Fax: 020 7435 8881 Lenin expropriated factories and banks, he Meanwhile, one of the great changes emphasised that their owners had largely transforming the world in the mid- been foreign - British, French and Belgian - twentieth century - decolonisation - was capitalists. proceeding apace. Now decolonisation is, The year 1923, the most hectic one of by its very nature, leftwing; nonetheless it CONSULTANT postwar Germany, saw a bizarre resulted in new forms of racism, making Communist attempt to bridge the right-left their appearance in the Congo region, to long established English divide by way of racist incitement. The Uganda and Sudan. Solicitors (bi-lingual German) would be happy to assist clients KPD leader Ruth Fischer told a meeting of Idi Amin expelled 70,000 Uganda with English, German and volkisch rowdies: 'You abready battle the Asians, crippling the country's economy, Austrian problems. Jews on ethnic grounds; go one step further and huge inter-ethnic tragedies played and target them as capitalists!' (It may themselves out a decade ago in Rwanda Contact Henry Ebner come as a surprise that she herself was and, more recently, in the Darfur Region. Myers Ebner & Deaner Jewish!) An interesting example of left-right 103 Shepherds Bush Road Meanwhile, inside Russia Communist convergence in Africa is Zimbabwe. London W6 7LP policy vis-a-vis the Jews underwent Mugabe's policy of expropriating white Telephone 020 7602 4631 several transformations. While the farmers is simultaneously anti-capitalist ALL LEGAL WORK Yevsektsia closed down synagogues and and imbued with racist overtones, while UNDERTAKEN yeshivot, the Kremlin sponsored a Yiddish the neighbouring countries' collusion with theatre and created Birobidzhan as a his dictatorial rule smacks of 'my colour - 'socialist Zion'. After the Second Worid War, rightor wrong!' however, Stalin lapsed into paranoid In the interim, the allegedly hyper-racist antisemitism, persecuting Jews as rootless United States has appointed an Afro- AUSTRIAN and GERMAN cosmopolitans. American woman to its top diplomatic PENSIONS But Jews weren't the only deliberately post, and a Hispanic lawyer to the post of disadvantaged minority inside the Soviet Attorney-General. Meanwhile, what ofthe PROPERTY bloc. Czech gypsies suffered painful country firom whose name the term RESTITUTION CLAIMS discrimination, and in Russia itself the Hispanic derives? Crimean Tartars, victims of wartime Spain was the one major country in EAST GERMANY - BERLIN deportation, were barred from retuming to Europe where a Fascist dictatorship On instructions our office will their previous homes. The Yugoslav remained in unchallenged power for a full assist to deal vkfith your situation was particularly bizarre: during three decades after the demise of Hitler applications and pursue the matter Tito's lifetime the Croat Tudjman and the and Mussolini. It was only with the dictator with the authorities. Serb Milosevic acted as his loyal Franco's death - in bed - that the transition lieutenants - but after his death they to democracy started. Subsequent For further information plunged the area into a fratricidal governments modulated fi^omcentre-righ t and an appointment bloodbath. to provocatively left - both in foreign and please contact: Throughout the Cold War the Soviets home policy. The current administration ICS CLAIMS projected themselves as standard bearers has withdrawn troops fi'om Iraq and 146-154 Kilburn High Road of internationalism and the West as deeply favours (in a traditionally Catholic country) London NW6 4JD racist. How mendacious this propaganda legal recognition of same-sex unions. For was became painfully obvious after the all its outstanding left-wing credentials it Tel: 020 7328 7251 (Ext. 107) reunification of Germany, when many more has, however, not bothered to lay the ugly Fax: 020 7624 5002 Vietnamese and Africans fell victim to ghost of racism on the football pitch. AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005 Future generations to hear 'Refugee Voices' AJR-sponsored Testimony and Archive projects secured Ronald Channing Leading researchers and former Professor Edward Timms spoke in refugees agreed to benefit from closer appreciation of the beneficial relationship co-operation and the exchange of the Centre for German-Jewish Studies at information in recording refugee and Sussex had developed over the years with survivor testimonies for posterity. This the AJR. Dr Andrea Hammel and Samira first conference, dedicated to Teuteberg described the Centre's creation advancing the collection of refugee of 'a giant list of all material available on the video and audio archives, was initiated subject', encompassing the private papers of and organised by the AJR and hosted by refugees from Germany as well as the major thejewish Museum in London. collections, as a much-needed research tool Each of the participating institution's for future scholars. Their team was projects, whether in a university travelling to all parts of Britain, often having department, library, museum, archive or to overcome the initial reluctance of a study centre, has benefited from the librarian unaware of the value of the support of the AJR's ongoing Educational collections they possessed. and Cultural programmes. The creation and Sarah Jillings, Curator at the Jewish availability of the results of their research Museum, explained that their collections will ensure that, to generations of scholars were continually being added to as a and others, these testimonies will stand for consequence of new exhibitions, including all time as living witnesses of the Professor Peter Pulzer addresses 'Refugee the Continental Britons exhibition about the experiences of ordinary people who, Voices' conference German-speaking refugee community. The dispossessed of their homes and families in Last Goodbye, a travelling exhibition and Nazi Europe, made new lives for educational resource was well appreciated. teaching pack on the Kindertransport, themselves in Britain. Dr Anthony Grenville, the project's remained in constant demand from schools. The 30 delegates to the conference, who Director, reported that 90 testimonies out Katharina Hubschmann, Senior Librarian were welcomed by the Director of the of 120 had already been secured by the core at the Wiener Library, recalled the Library's Jewish Museum, Rickie Burman, included team of interviewers. Refugee Voices had history and unique collection begun by Dr leading academics, authors, researchers, sought to capture the whole refugee Wiener in Germany in 1934, which reached curators, archivists and experts in experience and to obtain a broad safety in London before the outbreak of war electronic archives, testimony representation of the refugee experience in 1939. She referred specifically to the interviewers, librarians, film-makers and from a wide range of backgrounds and Phillipp Manes collection, a uniquely project directors, at the forefront of refugee geographical origins. Those represented preserved record of existence and cultural studies in Britain. They represented the also included camp survivors, hidden life in Theresienstadt, and to the Universities of Manchester, Leeds and children, refugees reaching Siberia and Kindertransport collection based on papers Sussex, the Wiener Library, National Sound Shanghai, and men who served in the from their reunions. The Library was now Archives, the Beth Shalom Holocaust Palestine Brigade. undertaking the cataloguing of some 3,000 Centre, the Jewish Museum and the AIR's Begun in 1997 with very limited periodicals - dating back to 1938! own in-house audio-visual testimony resources by the Leeds Holocaust An ambitious scheme to encourage project. Especially welcome were a number Survivors Friendship Association, Trude Holocaust education among primary of refugees who appeared in the associated Silman reported, the Making a New Life in schoolchildren was introduced by Steve Refugee Voices film,amon g them Professor Yorkshire project had been placed in the Robinson, Project Manager at Beth Shalom Peter Pulzer, Arieh Handler and Max hands of the University of Leeds. The Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire. With Abraham. financial support received from the AJR was a worryingly high incidence of racism The conference opened with the first a key element in achieving a far more among primary schools in Mansfield and public presentation of the film Testimonies professional result. Brett Harrison, Nottingham, Beth Shalom had determined and Archives, produced and directed by Dr consultant archivist, said that in addition to to counter this trend with a new primary Bea Lewkowicz for the AJR- Interviewees the in-depth interviews held with learning centre. It would present a progressed the film's narrative with their survivors, their tearti had collected the full challenge to racism largely by telling the varied accounts, bringing a new and vivid range of documents, photographs and story of the Kindertransport. The children dimension to the recording of life artifacts to complement the recorded would relive the Kinder's experiences in experiences. Dr Lewkowicz regarded this interviews, all to be lodged in the Thefoumey: leaving home, travelling alone project as complementing much larger but University's Brotherton Library. Jeimifer and arriving in a strange land. less focused collections such as those ofthe Wingate reminded the conference that the The conference concluded with an open National Sound Archives, the Shoah National Sound Archive had commenced forum at which it was agreed to plan a Foundation and the Imperial War Museum. audio recordings in 1988 and currently held similar gathering next year. The film's considerable potential as an a library of 600 interviews. AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

RICHARD GRUNBERGER 1924-2005

In mourning Richard Grunberger, the circumstances. His father died when he even the investigation of individual editor of our AJR Journal, we mourn was ten, and he was brought up by his experience through oral history. the loss of a towering figure, almost mother and grandfather, from whom •Voice of the AJR" certainly the last of the refugee he was parted in late 1938, when he generation to occupy the editor's chair. was taken to a suburban station and At an age when other men are contemplating retirement, Richard The AJR has been extraordinarily put on the first Kindertransport train to Grunberger took over the editorship of fortunate in the editors of its journal. Britain, never to see them again. His our journal, and in it found his true For most of the nearly 60 years of its subsequent career was a record of calling. He became the voice of the AJR, existence, the journal has had only two success against all the odds. His articulating the past heritage of our longstanding editors, both of them education, interrupted by the Nazis, community, the Jews from Central distinguished figures: Werner seemed at first to be a lost cause in Europe, while placing it in the context of Rosenstock (1946-82) and Richard Britain as well. He passed from contemporary developments. He was Grunberger (1988-2005). Rosenstock, Dovercourt, near Harwich, through a formidably erudite, with an the AJR's founding General Secretary, succession of camps for refugee extraordinary ability to recall facts, was editor from January 1946, at first children and transient jobs, until he names and historical and cultural in collaboration with Ernst Lowenthal found a home with a Jewish family in details. His articles could start in Biblical and Herbert Freeden. His long term in Stoke Newington and went to work in a Judea and sweep on, via a pit-stop in office was followed by two short-lived tailoring business in the East End - a nineteenth-century Austria-Hungary, to editorships - those of Murray Mindlin source of the Yiddish quips that the Jewish experience of the mid- and the scholarly C.C. Aronsfeld - until were to enliven his humorous pieces in twentieth century and the present-day in 1988 the AJR made the inspired the journal. Middle East. choice of Richard Grunberger as the From these unpromising beginnings man to take the journal on into the Grunberger worked his way up the Richard always set his encyclopaedic change of century. educational ladder, from evening knowledge within a clear historical framework; he could build it into Whereas Rosenstock had been a classes to Birkbeck College and on to a patterns and structures that illuminated cautious and diplomatic editor who degree in history at King's College, and brought meaning to the historical rarely advertised his learning, Richard London. Within a few years, the experience of our community. Above all, Grunberger demonstrated a refugee boy with little education and he set that history in the context of flamboyance of style and a delight in less English had become a teacher. He values, the moral, social and cultural scholarship that were almost also had the inestimable good fortune values of Central European Jewry - impossible to resist. Whereas to meet his wife Liesl, a fellow refugee humane, civilised, democratic, and Rosenstock, who hailed from the from Vienna. They married in 1947 and reinforced by an infusion of British orderly middle-class world of Berlin's were blessed with a marriage that pragmatism and tolerance. Richard was, Hansaviertel, had the Prussian ability to lasted in true happiness and concord beyond doubt, a polemical writer who subordinate his personality to the task for nearly 60 years. Richard's family - he loved an argument; he was proud, for in hand, Grunberger displayed and Liesl had three children, Peter, example, of his exchanges with Sir Ernst something of the expansiveness of the Helen and Michael, and several Gombrich about the Jewishness of Viennese coffee-house intellectual, grandchildren - was an enormous Viennese culture. But he was also a perennially eager to communicate to source of strength and stability to him. generous man who was always willing an audience the world of culture and Though he rose to be a respected to give his opponents a hearing and history that so enthralled him. teacher at the Hasmonean School, who accepted bouquets and brickbats Grunberger's fascination with ideas, Richard wanted more. He wrote alike with equanimity. He was a with historical details, parallels and historical studies of the SS and of the convinced supporter of the state of intricacies, and with arguments and revolutionary period in Bavaria in 1918- Israel, but never in a spirit of militaristic counter-arguments flowed into his 19, but it was with the success of his triumphalism or tribal superiority, prose and gripped his readers by sheer Social History of the Third Reich (1971) attacking only what he perceived as force of intellect. In his articles, that he made the bold decision to obscurantism or hypocrisy. especially his sparkling editorials, one become an independent writer. His could not but be aware of the man social history of Nazi Germany - now That a man so intensely alive to behind the words. about to go into its third edition - was a ideas, knowledge and culture has book ahead of its time, in that its focus gone forever is hard to comprehend. From Kindertransportee to historian on everyday life - it has chapters on We will treasure his memory and the of Nazi Germany consumption, health, humour and, of power of his pen - we will not look on its Richard Grunberger was born in Vienna course, literature - anticipated the like again. in 1924, into a family in modest trend towards Alltagsgeschichte and Anthony Grenviile AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

MiUmUliM, felt. His will be a hard act to follow, especially since some people joined the AJRjust to read Richard's articles. The Editor reserves the right Ernest David to shorten correspondence London NWl 1 I TO THE •) submitted for publication \mnmj Sir - Richard Grunberger was unique. His command of the English language was outstanding. Though he was only 15 years old when he arrived from RICHARDGRUNBERGER rapidly persuaded to undertake a talk Vienna with the Kindertransport, he Sir - I was deeply saddened to hear on Kafka (for which I was only modestly was very much still a 'Continental about Richard. I spent five years qualified), and we remained firm Briton'. His knowledge of history, working with him and can say it was friends ever since. literature, politics, theatre, film etc was exceptional. For 17 years from 1986 one of the happiest and most Later I came to learn something of his educational periods of my life. onwards I ran the FJR club. Yearly personal experience as a refugee from Richard gave us a talk about various Richard's incredible depth of pre-war Vienna and the family losses, knowledge on a vast range of subjects people such as Kafka and Mahler. He which had fired his vocation as a made him a consistently interesting never failed to find a subject to talk historian, his books on Nazi Germany and erudite conversationalist. about and could always be sure that he and his life-long hatred of political However, it was his ability to leaven his would have a big audience. We in llford tyranny. encyclopaedic knowledge with were fortunate to hear his talk in From the start, I was greatly irrepressible good humour that made February entitled 'Speaking Memory'. him such good company. impressed by his avid and unflagging Richard's articles were always interest in the cultural scene: politics fascinafing, even though at times I Upon first arriving at the AJR in the and literature, film and drama, the personally needed a dictionary at position of 'Publications and PR hand! The A//? Vourna/wil I never be the Manager', I had recently graduated whole range. Even in his later years no same - at least not for me! with a primary degree. Armed with this expedition to see the latest Stoppard or and a small amount of experience, I Woody Allen was too far and usually Lilly Allen managed to fool myself into thinking followed by keen discussion at the llford AJR Group that my education was complete. How nearest restaurant. wrong I was. It took Richard almost all Then, of course, he was also prolific Sir - I worked with Richard for nearly of the five years to educate me towards and versatile as a writer. Scholarly two years and found him a joy to work a point at which I could finally be - one books on German history, journalism, with. He represented an important hopes-more of a help than a hindrance reviews and plays flowed as if from aspect of the AJR and one which was in producing AJR Information each some creative dynamo. His Social often its only public face. He made an month. In this onerous task, Richard History of the Third Reich became the enormous contribution to the Journal, was very ably assisted by the standard work in its field. Always well- which I know was held in high regard indefatigable Katia Gould. informed, he was never afraid to be by most of its readers. His passing By the time I left the AJR in order to challenging or controversial. marks the end of an era -1 won't be the first, nor the last, to say he'll be a hard move to Ireland with my family, the I feel privileged to have been one of dream team of Richard and Katia had act to follow. Richard's many friends. He was a armed me well enough to take up a remarkable man and I cannot really Marion Koebner career in journalism. For this I should Chesham, Bucks believe that he has gone. like to have thanked them both 7bny Neville properly. Too late, sadly, for Richard. Sir -1 met him only once, when he came Twickenham, Middx However, my thoughts go to his wife to see me to talk about some and family, who must be devastated. unperformed plays of his, and he then Sir - For many members, Richard was tried to explain to me how it was that Maurice Newman the spirit of the AJR. Some did not he was so passionately pro-Jewish and Malahide, County Dublin appreciate his strong views in defence pro-Israel, and how he owed his debt of Israel, while others felt he brought here for the opportunity of embarking Sir -1 first met Richard in 1962, when I an unparalleled knowledge of history on, and pursuing, an academic career was posted to the Hasmonean Boys' to his stimulafing and challenging and life. I so enjoyed crossing swords Grammar School for my teaching wrifings. For those who looked to his with him and with some of his readers practice. Richard was teaching history analyses and comments for relief from when his and their partiality for all there. I was soon invited to one of the the sanitised and biased version of things Jewish and Israeli became too literary evenings at the Grunberger events published in the British and ghettoesque for my gorge. And he did home, met his charming wife Liesl, was European media, his loss will be keenly like to improve on one's style. AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005 sometimes thus altering both content Jewish question and Zionism. These and intent. But he was the AJR Journal. questions and more, as well as a ARE YOU ON A LOW Follow that! detailed and crifical examination of all INCOME AND IN NEED Peter Zander her humanitarian work for people London Wl fieeing Nazi persecution in Europe, are OF HOMECARE HELP? dealt with in my doctoral thesis on AJR might be able to offer you Eleanor Rathbone's refugee work, Sir - Limited personal contact with him financial assistance for cleaning, which Susan Pedersen refers to in her augmented the impression, gained gardening and caring. footnotes as the only 'study of from his numerous contributions to the Members who might not Rathbone's work for refugees and Journal, of a man with extensive otherwise be able to afford rescue per se'. Hopefully, this research historical and cultural knowledge, homecare please contact: will form part of an alternative supporting a pleasant personality. He biography of Eleanor Rathbone, one Estelle Brookner, Secretary was a civilised human being, whose which takes a rather different AJR Social Services Dept writings always merited careful viewpoint to that of Susan Pedersen Tel: 020 8385 3070 attention and, ultimately, the greatest and which fully explores and evaluates respect. He will bea hard act to follow. her work for refugees. Alan S. Kaye Martow Susan Cohen Companions London NWl 1 of London Sir - To me he was the Journal. The Incorporating March issue, showing, as always, his GETTING CERTIFICATES SIGNED Hampstead Home Care wide knowledge of historical events and Sir - Further to Mr Ruff's letter about personalities in the context of how they A long established company where to get these certificates signed, affected, and affect, our community providing care in your home in the Thames Valley constabulary area past and present, will be a memorial it has been possible for a number of Assistance ivith personal care to him. General household duties years now to get one's signature Frank Bright Respite care witnessed and counterstamped at Medical appointment service Ipswich police stations. This cannot be done, though, by any civilian employee; only 'OUR CARE IS YOUR CARE' Further letters on Richard Grunberger sworn constables (or, of course, senior 020 7483 0212/0213 will appear in our May issue - AJR ranks) can do it. Journal. F Steiner Deddington, Oxon /% SPRING ELEANOR RATHBONE: ALTERNATIVE GROVE BIOGRAPHY NEEDED ARMISTICE DAY 214 Finchley Road Sir - I was pleased to see Susan Sir - Re the article on Marion Charles London NWS Pedersen's biography Eleanor Rathbone in Weissensee (February issue): London's Most Luxurious and the Politics of Conscience reviewed Armistice Day is 11 not 14 November, RETIREMENT HOME in AJR Journal (January 2005) for but I am happy to read about Eleanor was a truly remarkable woman, honouring German Jews who were • Entertainment-Activities • Stress Free Living an outstanding humanitarian activist soldiers in WWI. My late father was one • 24 Hour Staffing • Excellent Cuisine who, even though she would not have of them; luckily he came home. Thanks • Full En-Sulte Facilities courted publicity, is deserving of much forthemagazine. ,,. ,.. , wider recognition. The publication of Alice Fink Call for more information or a personal tour this book may help restore her to her Chicago, IL rightful place in history but, despite 020 8446 2117 Julia Neuberger's praise, Pedersen's THE BEAUTIFUL MADAME LUPESCU or 020 7794 4455 biography only scratches the surface of Sir - A propos Jewish Delilahs, not all [email protected] Eleanor's devotion to, and involvement your readers may be aware that Mme with, the refugee question, and with Lupescu gave rise to a celebrated Simon R Rhodes M.Ch.S. Jewish refugees in particular. limerick: STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST Said the beautiful Madame Lupescu Given the acknowledged significance Surgeries at: of her subject's devotion to the refugee As she rode to Rumania's rescue, 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp M&S) cause, it is odd that Pedersen does not 'Tis a wonderful thing Telephone 020 7624 1576 cover this period of Eleanor's life in To be under a King, 3 Queens Close (off Green Lane) Edgvi^are, Middx HA87PU anything like the same depth as her Can republicans match it, I esc u?' preceding career. Nor does she argue Telephone 020 8905 3264 convincingly how and why her subject Peter Oppenheimer Visiting chiropody service available became so dedicated to Jews, the Oxford AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

Army as it advanced through Europe. The Holocaust shaped her destiny. REVIEWS NOTES Miller never recovered the creative promise of her earlier years, which Gloria Tessler appears stunted by the shock of the A courageous journey of death camps. Yet the style lingers on in healing her compositions, even if they betray Disembodied heads have exercised the SEVEK AND THE HOLOCAUST: the ravages of war. In a typical example, imagination of two artists who could not THE BOY WHO REFUSED TO DIE Helen, Queen Mother of Romania, is have been more different. The by Sidney Finkel dwarfed by the desolate splendour of 2005, $9.95 plus $6 airmail postage decapitation of Holofernes and John the her palace, and it is clearly this war - so (for Europe) and packaging Baptist - both at the hands of women - is anachronistic to the world of Vogueish from Sidney Finkel, 367 Tulip Circle, the stuff of Caravaggio's nightmares at celebrity - which has a new presence in Matteson, IL 60443, USA the National Gallery. But New York Miller's work. But it is a presence she model/photographer Lee Miller, seems loathe to come to terms with. As described by Martin Gilbert in The whose work is currently on exhibition at Caravaggio: The Final Years Boys, some 100-odd Polish boys the National Portrait Gallery, also (among them a few girls) who had reveals a man haunted by devils. In 1606 became fascinated with floating heads, survived concentration camps or being he killed a man in a duel and spent his albeit in a more bloodless and in hiding were flown to Crosby-on- last four years as a fugitive from Rome. surrealistic style, when she entered the Eden, England, in August 1945. The experience lent a bitter and Among them was Sevek Finkelstein Dadaist world of Man Ray and his powerful realism to his work. Obsessed (now Sidney Finkel), who in this slim friends in the early 1930s. Her self- with physicality, with murder and death, volume of 104 pages describes his portrait reveals an enigmatic society Caravaggio often offers his audience an horrendous experiences, his rescue, beauty about to turn the camera away alternative vision. In two paintings of and, ultimately, his emigration from from herself and on to the world of Salome with the head of John the the UK to the United States. The photograph on the book's cover shows artists and intellectuals such as Picasso, Baptist, Salome has a cynical twist to the 14-year-old Sevek in the doorway Max Ernst, Elsa Schiaparelli, Marlene her mouth in one, and a touch of Dietrich, T. S. Eliot and Igor Stravinsky. of the transport plane's hold, smiling remorse in the other. In both, the face of broadly and handing down a toddler In these celebrity portraits and group her mother, Herodias, is niost into the arms of his older brother Isaac, compositions, she never loses the disturbing: does it show an who too had survived the camps and stylised fluidity of the aristocratic authoritarian, matriarchal sense of arrived in the same plane. justice, or a sad, aged wisdom? In his These are the recollections of a boy depictions of Christ, the light does not who, after an 'idyllic' middle-class emanate from Jesus, but from a distant childhood in Piotrkow in Central place. Christ is almost obscured in his Poland, survived being dive-bombed Raising of Lazarus, begging intellectual on the open road shortly after the and philosophical questions about invasion of Poland, life in the Piotrkow ghetto for three years, deportation to religion's place in the dawning Age of the slave labour camp in Bugaj, the Enlightenment. Both exhibitions separation from his family, continue until late May. incarceration in Czestochowa and *Jenny Stolzenberg's Forgive and Buchenwald concentration camps and, Do Not Forget, a ceramic installation in the final stages of the war, based on the shoes of Holocaust Theresienstadt, where he was liberated Self-Portrait New York studio 1932 by the Russians. His story and that of © Lee Miller Archives, England 2004 victims, will be permanently exhibited at the Buchenwald Memorial Museum his family is told simply and without fashion world which shaped her, but her as from 9 April. Shown at the flourishes and, like other eye-witness early fascination with the Surrealists led accounts of the Holocaust, it is a Hampstead Theatre last month during Miller into more experimental areas. valuable document that is being used Anthony Sher's Primo, it will also visit However, she fails to develop this clarity by some American schools for the the Imperial War Museum North, the of vision, turning instead to war teaching of Holocaust history. It Shipley Museum, Gateshead, the provides cogent testimony for the photography, covering the liberation of Vancouver Holocaust Centre, and the resilience, as well as the generosity, of Paris and the concentration camps of London Jewish Museum. the human spirit: asked later in life Buchenwald and Dachau with the US whether he hated the Germans, he

8 AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005 replied'No.' Non-fiction, Authentic War-time All the same, if you have a long plane or Sevek, together with some ten of the Stories, and Philosophical. But it is the train journey to make, this book will other Polish boys, had the good fiction section, which occupies almost certainly take your mind off it. fortune to be taken to Bunce Court half of the book, that is most Howard Spier School in Kent soon after his arrival in interesting. One simply hasn't a clue as England. This was the German-Jewish to how any of these 2 5 stories - some of school that had been brought over them covering barely a page in length - Surviving in wartime Italy from Ulm by its far-sighted are likely to end. In one or two instances, I must confess, I felt slightly headmistress, Anna Essinger, in 1933. IN LOVE AND WAR: A LETTER TO MY cheated, the story somehow defying The book's penultimate chapter PARENTS gravity and seeming to hang loosely in describes touchingly what the two by Maria Corelli the air. But it really is necessary to see years before the school's closure meant Short Books of Highbury, London. each story as a closed world. to the bewildered and traumatised £4.95 paperback boy. For him, as for the others, it The stories are about everything This true story, written in the summer became the gateway to rehabilitation, human, or affecting humans, under a place where he was treated lovingly the sun: romance, crime, coincidence, of 1944 to her parents in Sussex by a and caringly and which 'turned me ageing, sexual infatuation and young Englishwoman who finds back into a human being'. repression, jealousy, despair, herself, her husband Lewis and their misanthropy, tragedy, terror. There's a Jewish friend Sigbert, a celebrated Sevek's story undoubtedly has a deeply erotic element running through Jewish opera singer, in wartime happy ending. The only other a number of them. Particularly Rome in the 1940s, describes their photograph in the book shows him appealing to me - not least for its sense experiences being hunted by the with his American family, and the of irony - is 'An Adventure in Frankfurt'. Germans and, often, helped by their epilogue is written by his Here, the (unnamed) story-teller is Italian friends. granddaughter and by his son, who unexpectedly offered a lift by a sexy The trio are studying music when concludes: 'For Sevek, it is true acts of young lady, who takes him back to her Italy enters the war. Apart from the courage that allow Sidney, my father, luxurious apartment, cooks him lunch, fascists, the locals are not antagonistic to tell his story so that we too can and then admits - surprise, surprise! - to the British or the Jews: at first they confront our innermost fears, so that that she's a prostitute. She tells him she manage to continue their musical we can take the courageous journey of doesn't regard him as a client but just studies, teaching English, and enjoying healing.' wants an opportunity to practise her Rome's social life. But soon severe food English! Feeling somewhat slighted at Leslie Baruch Brent shortages bring suffering. Their not being regarded as a client, the financial state deteriorates as the story-teller wonders, on his return to teaching of English is forbidden and Tales with a twist London, whether his wife will ever they are compelled to seek different believe a story like this - assuming, of lodgings every so often in the most TALES IN TANDEM course, he ever plucks up the courage by Peter and Lili Hart to tell her. miserable conditions. Eventually, the trio hide in caves in Authors OnLine, 40 Castle Street, Of the rest of the book, I would single the mountains near Picinisco together Hertford SGI4 IHR, 2005. paperback. out the remarkable love poem with a German Jewish couple (whose 211pp. £8.99 UK, $12.95 USA; also Valentine, which merits reproducing in son, a Kindertransportee, is in available in e-book format details at full: England). Lewis is arrested by the www. authorsonline.co.uk Come live with me Germans and imprisoned; Mary and My pretty one, my turtle-dove Sigbert return to Rome. Many A favourite television programme of We'll buy a cottage by the sea adventures later, including help from mine in the late 1970s and 1980s was the Vatican, the three are reunited Tales of the Unexpected, a series of Where roses tempt the honey-bee when the Allies recapture Rome. self-contained black-humour episodes, Where gulls are shrieking o're the bay The book is extremely readable, with many of them based on short stories by Enjoying every golden ray no hint of self-pity. It throws vivid light Roald Dahl. At its height, the Of sunshine gleaming o'er the decks on wartime Italy, and anyone who has programme was watched by almost Of little boats, like shiny flecks had connections with that country half the population and was later sold Dancing in the evening light (many refugees from the Nazis to 70 foreign TV companies. But when the moon is shining bright survived there with the help of Tales in Tandem, this paperback by Please hold me in your arms divine sympathetic Italians) will empathise husband-and-wife team Peter and Lili And let me be your Valentine. Hart, its cover splendidly illustrated by with Maria and her companions. Henry Mathews, is strongly The book is by no means perfect: With the publication now, over a reminiscent of that memorable TV there's an overdose of cliches in some half-century later, of this book, one can series. It is divided into seven sections - areas, and a tighter editorial hand only marvel at the strength and Fiction, Poems, Humour, Antiquity, would certainly not have come amiss. determination of this very English

9 AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005 couple and Sigbert to stay alive. Jews Suddenly Henry's life changes. From a are accustomed to persecution, but hut in the Pennines he is translated to a Letter from Israel that this English upper-class couple luxury flat in St John's Wood. This Dorothea Shefer-Vanson had to endure - and overcome - it too, inheritance involves an aged woman makes us admire them all the more. who appears to have been a mistress Yad Vashem recently launched a Now, after a postwar career as a of Izzipus, whose peccadilloes website listing the names of three couturiere, teacher of Scottish dancing tended to involve religious Jewish million of the six million Jewish and teacher of Italian, Maria lives in businessmen's wives. victims of the Holocaust (www.yadvashem.org). Each entry retirement on England's south coast In London, the near-sexagenarian gives the individual's name and place Henry is able to indulge his longing for near the home in which she grew up. of residence, as well as other Her book is one of the few I can read the exotic. He doesn't want to travel, he pertinent details as recorded in the again and again. just wants to drink cappuccino, eat Page of Testimony submitted for Inge Sadan strudel and fancy himself. He still ogles that person. the women and imagines they are It comes as a bit of shock to find exotic too. Life begins at sixty one's relatives commemorated online. This scenario finally leads to Moira I remember bringing the Pages of THE MAKING OF HENRY Aultbach, a strudel-baking semi- Testimony to my parents many years ago so that they could fill them out for by Howard Jacobson divorcee. She claims not to be Jewish. Not entirely believing this, he gives her their parents and other relatives who Jonathan Cape, 2004, £12.99 were murdered. I recall, too, the effort the salt beef test. But the test proves it cost them to renew those memories. With Jacobson one does not always inconclusive: she likes the sandwich I wondered then what Yad Vashem know whether to laugh or cry, but the but eats it in such a way as to show meant to do with the pages, though mixture of the tragic and the ridiculous she's not to the manner born. And accepted that it was a conmiendable always keeps one reading. there is Henry's happy ending: salt beef endeavour, and possibly even helpful Henry has an outsize Oedipus mixed with strudel! in some cases. All this was long before complex. But insofar as Henry is Jewish John Rossatt the age of the internet, indicating that his complex is an Izzipus one, his father someone was displaying remarkable being Izzi Nagel, failed upholsterer, prescience at that time. mediocre illusionist and sleight-of- WANTED TO BUY Commendable though the project hand entertainer The main thing about German and undoubtedly is, it is annoying to find Izzi is that he is dead, but he keeps that the information was not keyed in being brought back to life by Henry in English Books accurately, and that my father is listed imaginary conversation. as the daughter of his mother and my Established bookdealer mother as her parents' son. Henry's mother is dead too. He wants Israel has many organisations and us to believe that she entered into a (AJR member) institutions dedicated to mesalliance with Izzi, a North always welcomes Invitations commemorating the Holocaust. It has Manchester tradesman, whereas her to view and purchase marked an annual Holocaust own family were south Manchester valuable books remembrance day ever since the state aristocrats - at least in their own For an immediate response, was established. Israel is a young estimation. please contact: country, a Jewish country and a Given such a background, Henry/jac/ Robert Hornung country of immigration, so that a large to be the Jewish Wunderkind. In reality, 2 Mount View, Ealing, part of the adult population can be London W5 IPR defined as Holocaust survivors in the he only half succeeded in his Email: [email protected] ambitions. He made it to a media Tel: 020 8998 0546 broadest sense ofthe term. studies lectureship at the University of (Spm to 9pm is best) Survivors are not solely those who went through the concentration camps, the Pennine Way, until brought down as some tend to think. Any Jew who even from those lofty heights by a lived in Europe before or during the coterie of feminists. Annely Juda Fine Art Second World War, or is the From schooldays onward Henry had descendant of people who did, can be a best friend - and worst enemy - in 23 Dering Street defined as a survivor. And tiiere is a Osmond Belkin, on whom he 'looked (off New Bond Street) growing network of organisations in down' from below, for he made it big in Tel: 020 7629 7578 Israel that focus on the psychological Hollywood. Fax: 020 7491 2139 concems of the second and third Though he is unmarried, Henry is a generations. It cannot be denied that CONTEMPORARY PAINTING serial adulterer. Yet his abiding love is the shadow of that terrible event AND SCULPTURE continues to hang over many of Israel's for one of his aunts, whose birth and denizens and to influence its politics. life are shrouded in deception.

10 AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

An hour-and-a-halfs drive up the in their local progressive synagogue, motorway from London and then a and, he confesses, knows more about minute or two in the direction of Solihull PROFILE Judaism than he does. They have three brings one into a spectacularly green children and six grandchildren. Now, he Howard Spier area with a beautiful, entirely unspoiled declares, he has changed firom being a park as its centrepiece. While F^ul secular Jew to a believer and he Oppenheimer regrets he is unable to get regularly attends synagogue - not down to London more often to attend Paul Oppenheimer because of the Holocaust, he is at pains meetings, living in such an idyllic A man with a mission to point out, but because of his wife and setting must be some consolation. family. Paul and Corinne are active Paul was born in Berlin in 1928. The members of AJR's popular West family was Jewish, though not Midlands group. observant: 'assimilated, a typical On his retirement in 1990, Paul was German family', as Paul puts it. His awarded the MBE 'for services to the father worked in a Jevnsh-owned bank. UK Motor Industry'. Yet to local Paul was particularly close to his reporters, it was his stay in Belsen that brother Rudi. was the most newsworthy element of In 1936, as Hitler's anti-Jewish the story. A photographer persuaded measures intensified, the family, him to attend a reunion of Belsen excepting Paul's father, moved to survivors. From then on, he began to London to stay for several months with talk freely about the past. Now he had a an uncle and aunt. Paul's sister Eve was new mission in life: speaking about the born at this time and thus held British Holocaust as a warning to young people citizenship, a fact that was to have the and adults that such events must never greatest significance for Paul. happen again. In September 1936 the family moved weeks. Eventually Paul and Rudi could One of his first lectiu'es was at the to Holland - 'the best years of my life' - see Cossacks on horseback. Having Walsall Campus of Wolverhampton when Paul's father obtained a job in the recovered from typhus in a Russian University. Last September, he was Amsterdam branch of the bank. Anne hospital, they, together with Eve, with awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor Frank lived round the corner though whom they met up again by coincidence, of Letters by the University. Since he Paul didn't know her. But vnth the made their way once more to their uncle met Stephen Smith of the Beth Shalom invasion of Holland by Nazi Germany in and aunt in London. Paul is keen to Holocaust Centre, Paul has been a 1940, the Oppenheimers were once express his gratitude to Rudi, who, by regular contributor to this venture on again subject to anti-Jewish 'never sticking to the rules', effectively over 100 occasions. In 1996 Beth persecution. In June 1943 the family kept him alive. Shalom published his memoir From were sent to Westerbork transit camp Moving to Birmingham, Paul worked Belsen to Buckingham Palace. Paul has for several months. As Eve held British during the day and studied in the spoken to more than 500 organisations nationality, they were not deported: the evenings, obtaining a first-class honours on Holocaust education. Germans wanted to exchange people degree in mechanical engineering. A Paul played a prominent part in this holding British citizenship with year later he obtained a master's degree year's Holocaust Memorial Day Germans held in camps in the UK. in thermodynamics from Birmingham ceremonies, meeting the Queen at a In early 1944 the family were moved University. Having completed a five- reception at St James's Palace for to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. year engineering apprenticeship at BSA Holocaust survivors and liberators and, They were put in the exchange Jewish Tools, he worked in other parts of the with a representative from Amnesty section, where they were given minor BSA group. In 1958 he joined Joseph International, performing the closing privileges. But conditions deteriorated. Lucas and later transferred to Lucas ceremony at Westminster Hall. As the war drew to a close, both of Paul's Girling, where he stayed for over 30 Paul has an acute dislike of therapists parents succumbed to one or other of years. He became a leading authority on and psychologists, who, he says, would the diseases rampant in the camp. national and international standards and argue that he purposely buried his In April 1945, as the Allies approached regulations for braking systems of Holocaust past. What therapists and Belsen, the Germans put the exchange road vehicles. psychologists can't stomach, he insists, Jews on a 'death train', which moved Paul married Corinne, a nurse, who is that he's come through all this and is ahead of the advancing Allies for two converted to Judaism. She is very active quite normal!

11 AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005

North London updated on Middle East to some 50 of us that what we write is INSIDE Eighteen of us heard a lucid update by the conscious, whereas how we write is sub­ Israeli embassy's Calev Bender The latest conscious: in his words, 'Handwriting is positive actions by both parties are, of personality frozen in ink.' He showed us how theAJR course, to be welcomed, but one fears analysis of handwriting Is used in further obstacles before peace can be determining suitability for employment and achieved. Myrna Glass reported the sudden how it gives clues about our fears and death of Richard Grunberger: all present desires. PaulSamet conveyed their sympathy and best wishes to Unforgettable afternoon in Glasgow the family. Herbert Haberberg Next meeting: Thur 7 April, 2.30 pm. A large audience listened with fascination to 'Members' Afternoon' Henry Wuga's account of growing up in Next meeting: Thur 14 April, 10.30 am. Nuremberg and subsequent experiences. Outing to Cabinet war rooms. Details tba Bertha Leverton at Weald of Kent Henry's ability to cope with life as a We were delighted to welcome Bertha Kindertransportee was an inspiration to all Exhaustive discussions in Bradford Leverton to Tunbridge Wells as our speaker of us. He went on to become Glasgow's We met once again in Mornlngton Hall at Her talk turned into a general discussion leading caterer. Claire Singerman the Bradford Hebrew Congregation of the about KT matters and was enjoyed by all. Continental Friends. I am always amazed at Max Dickson presented a lovely poem Liverpool and the Jews of Shanghai how Susanne Green manages to discover thanking Bertha for all she has done for the new persons who came from Germany to Fred Elter described Sephardi Jews from Kindertransportees. Inge Ball England as refugees and live relatively Persia and India settling in Shanghai, nearby. The meeting itself, well attended Next meeting: Wed 25 May. Magen David followed by refugees from the Russian once again, proved very Interesting, with Adom director Ell Benson pogroms and, finally, thousands escaping exhaustive discussions followed by tea and the Nazis. The Japanese invasion of China biscuits. Albert Waxman Richard Grunberger at llford group did not lead to the extermination of the Jews despite incitement from the Nazis. Richard regaled us with anecdotes from his Next meeting: Mon 4 April After the war, most of the refugees left childhood and early life In Vienna, ending China. GeraldJayson with his arrival in England and his first job as llford at Disraeli exhibition gardener-cum-chauffeur We had been Next meeting: Thur 14 April looking forward to hearing Part 2 on a future occasion before we heard the news of his Jewish-Christian relations discussed at untimely death. Meta Roseneil Leeds HSFA Next meeting: Wed 6 April, 10.30 am. Israel In her beautifully illustrated talk on 'Jewish- update Christian Relations in Medieval Germany as Seen through Art' Dr Eva Frojmovic showed Essex third birthday how some Christian documents give pictorial indications of anti-Jewish We celebrated our third birthday with sentiment and how Jewish documents candles, Kiddush and a wonderful tea. One frequently portray human figures from member sang a Yiddish song beginning 'There burns a sparkling fire/ in our fireplace/ biblical or other stories with their faces Off to the Jewish Museum: members of and our Rabbi teaches/ small kids the Aleph disguised, or partly concealed, to avoid llford Group ready to leave infringing Jewish law. Martin Kapel Beth'. A few of us remembered the song from We felt some offence at the obviously our childhood. Almost like a small family, we Next meeting: Sun 10 April. Dr Martin Kapel, 'Jewish' caricature of Disraeli, but you only recalled the various happy and sometimes The Origin of the Calendar" have to look at back numbers of Punch to sad events we shared last year Julie Franks see Welsh, Irish and other minority Next meeting: Tues 12 April, 11.00 am. East Midlands: 95 and a T shirt to prove it politicians depicted in very unflattering Details tba Nineteen members were present, including terms. The caricatures were not as offensive a couple of second-generation members as those in Continental magazines of Jews and some new faces. As usual, we met in a in general and 'prominents' in particular Norfolk: recalling Holocaust Memorial member's home, where we socialised over Peter Hugh Granby Day an excellent lunch. Our oldest member - ex- Meeting in Norwich, we partook in a lunch Vienna - was recently 95 and was wearing a Cambridge and the story of Danka Binks which has developed into a fine art, with printed T shirt to prove it. Bob Norton Penny Speller read to us from Danka Binks's Myrna Glass contributing delicatessen A Young Girl's Journey to England, the story unavailable in the Eastern Provinces. Several Next meeting: Wed 29 June In Nottingham, of her escape from the Warsaw Ghetto and of us described our once-in-a-lifetime usual venue arrival in the UK at the age of 16 after the experience when we had the privilege to war, to be re-united with her eldest brother meet the Queen on Holocaust Memorial Day. Pinner outing to Disraeli exhibition Danka and her husband John also provided Frank Bright Politician, international statesman and us with a delicious buffet. Ruth Clapham successful author, 'Dizzy towers over his Next meeting: Tues 10 May, 12.00 pm at Victorian contemporaries. I found the Next meeting: Thur 14 April. Magen David Norwich Hebrew Congregation selection of Punch cartoons especially Adom director Ell Benson revealing as they portrayed political North London group at Disraeli exhibition achievements as they were seen at the time. Handwriting expert at Pinner While the exhibition was well laid out - all Paul Samet Handwriting expert Allan Conway explained credit to the Museum management - it does

12 AJR JOURNAL APRIL 2005 seem that Disraeli's perception of Paul Balint AJR Day Centre Jewishness was more in the mind of his DIARY DATES political adversaries than in his own. A very 15 Cleve Road, London, NW6 Mays Yom HaShoah, interesting aftrenoon. Herbert Haberberg MR Day Centre Tel: 020 7328 0208 -Mays Frank Foley statue Leeds HSFA recollections of Holocaust unveiled Memorial Day May 16 Northern groups AJR LUNCHEON CLUB We discussed the reception at St James's day out, Dewsbury Wednesday 13 APRIL 2005 Palace and the ceremony at Westminster and Bradford Hall. Trudie Silman, who lit one of the 60 Michael Newman June 12 Trip to Beth Shalom candles, described how long the rehearsal 'AIR, Media and Public Relations' took for the candle-lighting ceremony as June 19 AGM (at AJR Day Centre) 11.45 am for 12.15pm well as her interview on BBC Radio 2's 'Good June 26 - July 3 Holiday in Eastbourne Early reservations please! Morning Sunday' programme. We were all June 29 Scotland and Newcastle Lunch now only £5 highly appreciative of support given by the Northern Get-together, Please telephone Susie AJR to make the occasion such a positive Edinburgh on 020 7328 0208 experience. Barbara Cammerman July 6 Scotland Get-together, FUTURE DATES FOR WEDNESDAY Edinburgh LUNCHEON CLUB July 10-17 Northern groups holiday, St Annes 18 MAY Hannah Saadat July 13 Day out, St Annes The Bahai Religion' August 16 Northern Groups 15 JUNE Michael Smith 'Frank Foley' Get-together, Manchester IXT AID Kindertransport September 18 Annual Tea, Watford Ix I ~f\J i\ special interest group October 23-30 Holiday in Bournemouth MONTHLY MEETINGS AT CLEVE ROAD November 9 Kristallnacht Monday 4 APRIL 2005 Please make a note in your diary - this 11.45 am for 12.15 pm year's annual tea will be held at the Hilton Hotel In Watford on Sunday 18 Renee Payne September Further information and ticket 'Life as a Kind at Cambridge' Members of Harrogate Group, which meets application forms will appear in future issues of AJR Journal. Reservations required regularly at the home of Inge Little Please telephone 020 7328 0208 (pictured first left)

Monday - Thursday 9.30 am - 3.30 pm, AJR GROUP CONTACTS Norfolk (Norwich) Sunday 2 pm - 5.30 pm Brighton & Hove (Sussex Region) Myma Glass 020 8385 3077 Fausta Shelton 01273 734 648 April Afternoon Entertainment: North London Cambridge Jenny Zundel 020 8882 4033 Sun 3 CLOSED Lisel Eisner 01223 356721 Oxford Mon 4 KT LUNCH - Kards & Dundee Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Games Klub Pinner (HA Postal District) East Midlands (Nottingham) Vera Gellman 020 8866 4833 Tue 5 CLOSED Bob Norton 01159 212 494 Sheffield Wed 6 Katinka Seiner Edinburgh Steve Mendelssohn 0114 2630666 Fran^oise Robertson 0131 337 3406 South London Thur 7 Madeleine Whiteson Essex (Westcllff) Lore Robinson 020 8670 7926 Larry Lisner 01702 300812 Sun 10 CLOSED South West Midlands (Worcester area) Mon 11 Kards & Games Klub Glasgow Ruth Jackson 01386 552264 Claire Singerman 0141 649 4620 Surrey Tue 12 CLOSED Harrogate Edmee Barta 01372 727 412 Inge Little 01423 886254 Wed 13 LUNCHEON CLUB Weald of Kent HGS Max and Jane Dickson Thur 14 Michael Heaton & Gerda Torrence 020 8883 9425 01892 541026 Lyn Radnedge Hull Wessex (Bournemouth) Sun 17 DAY CENTRE OPEN Bob Rosner 0148 2649156 Mark Goldfinger 01202 552 434 llford West Midlands (Birmingham) Mon 18 Kards & Games Klub Meta Roseneil 020 8505 0063 Ernest Aris 0121 353 1437 Tue 19 CLOSED Leeds HSFA Myrna Glass, AJR South and Midlands Trude Silman 0113 2251628 Groups Co-ordlnator Wed 20 Geoffrey Strum Liverpool 020 8385 3077 Thur 21 Mike Marandi Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Susanne Green, AJR Northern Groups Sun 24 CLOSED Manchester Co-ordinator Werner Lachs 0161 773 4091 0151 291 5734 Mon 25 CLOSED Newcastle KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Tue 26 CLOSED Walter Knoblauch 0191 2855339 Andrea Goodmaker 020 8385 3070 Wed 27 Lynda Styan Thur 28 Guyathrie Peiris & Editorials and articles published, and opinions expressed, in AJRJournal are not necessarily Bill Patrick those of the Association of Jewish Refugees and should not be regarded as such.

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FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENTS AJR SEDER NIGHT OUTING TO BETH SHALOM Deaths HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTRE Second Night Seder Service LAXTON, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Masserick. Fred (Bonzo), bom in Budweis Sunday 24 April 2005 Sunday 12 June 2005 12.1.15 died 26.2.05 in Liverpool. Deeply The Paul Balint AJR Day Centre £21.50 per person including coach fare, mourned by his children and five entrance and vegetarian buffet luncli grandchildren. 15 Cleve Road, London W/6 (£9 for those using own transport) Rev Larry Fine Coach will leave AJR offices In Merrion Moos. Marianne, passed away peacefully in will be officiating Avenue, Stanmore at 8.45 am her sleep on 12 February 2005. Sadly missed (plenty of parking available in car park) by her husband, close family and a large Please telephone Booking is essential circle of friends. 020 7328 0208 for reservations Please call Joan Altman on 020 8385 3085 £25 per person AJR HOLIDAY IN EASTBOURNE Limited space available for wheelchairs Come and join us for 7 nights at the 6 pm for 6.30 pm prompt start Record your past for the future in Best Western Landsdowne Hotel a personal television documentary

After the fantastic holiday in Eastbourne Many AJR readers will have been, or will have family last year, we have decided to return there mennbers who were, affected by the turbulent times of the Jewisfi Care & tiie Otto Holocaust. Sunday 26 June to Sunday 3 July Schiff Housing Association Their family history, their sufferings and, in many cases, £445 + £25 single room supplement their success in rebuilding their lives, are worth recording meet the personal and nursing care needs for future generations. It is a triumph of good over evil - of Price includes dinner, bed & breakfast, of the Jewish Refugee Community. which every family can and will be proud. transport from and return to the Day Centre Portrait Films are professional film makers who can Balint House, Leo Baeck House & Osmond House create an Invaluable record of your family's unique story. in Cleve Road, lunch on journey to are situated in The Bishops Avenue, where Eastbourne, entertainment in the hotel residents live in spacious and comfortable The programme will t>e delivered on video tape or DVD for the benefit of your fami ly and future generations. Please call Carol or Joan on 020 8385 3070 surroundings, looked after in a warm and caring environment. Residents can enjoy a variety of It Is 60 years since the end of the war- so It Is important, for a booking form activities and outings, as well as take part in and urgent, to record these personal accounts and traditional synagogue sen/ices and the celebration historically important memories. of Jewish festivals. Oon 'tiet your r>ast tMcome forgotten - record your memories In a Portrait Film. Research Centre for Gennan Short term respite care also available. and Austrian Exile Studies For further details and a personal quotation call For mote Information call Jewish Care Direct NOW. Charmian Brinson on 020 8922 2222 or email us at Tel: 0117 946 7905 or visit: www.portraitfrlms.co.uk 'Loyal to the Reich' jewishcaredlrect0jcare.org National Socialists and others in the OSHA Charity Registration Numtier 210396 Rushen Women's Internment Camp, Jewist) Care Charity Registration Number 802559 . 1940-45 29 April 2005 6.00 pm ACACIA LODGE 29 Russell Square, London WCl Mrs Pringsheim, S.R.N. MATRON For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (^jytcH^f^ Home Care (Licensed by Borough ot Bamet) • Single and Double Rooms. Care through quality and • Ensuite facilities, CH in all rooms. 2s COMPANY • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. professionalism • Nurse on duty 24 hours. 2$ Company specialises in Celebrating our 25th Anniversary • Long and short term and respite, companionship, whether for yourself, Including trial period if required. your family or friends. We can be 25 years of experience in providing Between £400 and £500 per week there at any time and any place to the highest standards of care in the 020 8445 1244/020 8446 2820 office hours accompany you on any shopping 020 8455 1335 other times trips, journeys, holidays, walks or comfort of your own home 37-39 Torrington Park, North Finchley, even a cuppa. Living in or living out. London N12 STB Why not call us for an informal chat on 020 7372 3344 ALL STAFF SCREENED VillditCare AND VETTED North London's Premier Care Agency. We specialise in professional Home-Care. Leo Baeck Housing Association Ltd If you or a loved one need a reliable, Clara Nehab House 1 hour to 24 hours care compassionate and affordable service, call Registered through the National Care Standard Commission Residential Care Home us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 or e-mail us at [email protected] All single rooms with en suite bath/shower Call our 24 hour tel 020 7794 9323 Live-In and hourly rates. Short stays/Respite and 24 hour www.colvin-nursing.co.uk Permanent Care Large attractive gardens, Ground Floor Lounge and Dining rooms, Lift access to all floors Easy access to SWITCH ON ELECTRICS ALTERATIONS local shops and public transport Rewires and all household OF ANY KIND TO LADIES' FASHIONS Enquiries and further information please contact: electrical work The Manager, Clara Nehab House I also design and make children's clothes 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NWII ODA PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 West Hampstead area Phone: 020 8455 2286 Mobile: 0795 614 8566 020 7328 6571

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Arts and Events Diary - April 2005 Central Office for Holocaust Claims Michael Newman Mon 4 Mike Harwood MA, 'Radical Poets: War and Insurance Claims Commission Peace'. Club 43. Belsize Square Synagogue. Meetings The freephone number for claimants wishing to check the status of 7.45 pm. Contact Hans Seelig tel 01442 254360 applications submitted to the International Commission on Holocaust Era Tues 5 Annelies: From the Diary of Anne Frank. Insurance Claims has changed. The new number is 00800 2525 3535. Premiere. Music by James Whitbourn, Libretto by Melanie Alternatively, it is possible to call, at regular rates, to the following number Challenger. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Clare College in the United States to receive updates: 001 646 519 8767. Choir, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Cadogan Hall, Please note that when contacting the Commission you should have 7.30 pm. Tel 020 8909 2445 available your claims reference number(s). For more information about Mon 11 Roy Clements MA, 'An Irish Evening'. Club 43 the work ofthe Insurance Commission, please visit www.icheic.org National Fund payments Tues 12 Dr Cynthia Hooper, 'Volunteers Against Fascism, Yet Victims of Dictatorship: Remembering the Stalin Recipients of the $7,000 award from the Austrian National Fund - made Era in Soviet Russia'. Wiener Library. 7.00 pm. Tel 020 throughout 2002 and 2003 - in respect of lost tenancy rights, personal possessions and valuables will receive an additional payment of €1,000 7636 7247 (approximately £600). The heirs of survivors, who received the original Wed 13 to 2 October 2005 The Last Goodbye: The monies but have since passed away, are eligible to receive the payment in Rescue of Children from Nazi Europe'. Exhibition on their place. the Kindertransport. Jewish Museum, London N3. Tel Swiss bank claims deadline 020 72841997 Applications for dormant Swiss bank accounts must be submitted by 13 Fri 15 Book launch: The Holocaust and the Moving July 2005. In January an additional list of names of owners of Swiss bank Image: Film and Television Representations since 1933. accounts was published on two designated websites: www.crt-ii.org and With editors Dr Joanna Newman and Dr Toby Haggith. www.swissbankclaims.com Imperial War Museum, 12.00 pm-4.00 pm. In association Austrian life certificates with LondonJewish Cultural Centre To the beginning of March, the AJR has notarised 94 Austrian pension life Sun 17 Reise um die Erde in 80 Minuten (Around the certificates. For future reference, a piece of official identification, such as a World in 80 Minutes), revue by Robert Stolz at Berners passport or driving licence, must be presented when asking an AJR Hotel, central London. Afternoon concert. Presented by representative to legalise a certificate. Anglo-Austrian Society as a Viennese coffee house. In Further help German. Telephone 01494 711116 email Written enquiries should be sent to Central Office for Holocaust Claims [email protected] (UK), Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL, by fax to 020 8385 3075, or by email to [email protected] Assistance can be Mon 18 Robin Hanau BSc, 'Harold Macmillan'. Club 43 provided strictly by appointment at the Holocaust Survivors Centre in Mon 25 No lecture (hall not available). Club 43 Hendon, north London. For an appointment, please ring 020 8385 3074.

LEO BAECK HOUSING ASSOCIATION LTD TWIN SHELTERED HOUSING VACANCY YOUR FOR IMMEDIATE OCCUPATION SPECIAL ONE BEDROOM FLAT DAY WE CURRENTLY HAVE A VACANCY IN THE And make it a double celebrati HAMPSTEAD/SWISS COTTAGE AREA

OFFERING THE FOLLOWING We all watched in earnest the Holocaust Memorial Day ACCOMMODATION: commeinorations that came directly from Auschwitz. The conditions you witnessed are still being faced every day of every LARGE LOUNGE/DINING AREA winter by thousands of Jewish people. The elderly, living in Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union who, having survived BEDROOM WITH FITTED WARDROBES the Holocaust, now find themselves alone and living in desperate BATHROOM WITH SHOWER circumstances. FFTTED KITCHEN These are the people it is time to remember. WARDEN SERVICE Twin your special birthday with them and help provide meals on wheels, medicines, or winter relief packages. Help secure the aid to 24 HOUR CAMDEN CARELINE the thousands who have nowhere else to turn. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION For more information, contact Laura Kaye on: 020 7691 1771 AND VIEWING CONTACT: www.woTldjewishrelief.org.uk DAVID LIGHTBURN on 020 8455 2286 Email: info@>vjr.org.uk AIR-4,05 Rt'nislercd Charily No. 290767

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One out of four - thoughts for Pesach Bernd Koschland Newsround

The Haggadah sets the scenario of our completely, unless action is taken at Post-Dresden legislation history: 'We were slaves unto Pharaoh'. once. Following a neo-Nazi demonstration which marred Dresden ceremonies From slavery to freedom and then to The Hebrew here is grammatically remembering the Allied bombing of Sinai, where G-d 'gave the Torah to His strange: at is feminine and p'tach is 1945, the German government is to people Israel'. In this spirit of freedom, masculine. This is frequently explained rush through legislation preventing far- the Four Sons, based on Torah texts, as the dual responsibility of the mother right rallies in May, when the country follow straight on in the Haggadah and father in educating their children. marks the 60th anniversary of the end of and represent four approaches to The word at is made up of the first the Second World War. the Torah. letter, aleph (numerical value one) and Far-right groups recruiting from I consider this section to be referring the last letter, tav (value 400) of the duelling clubs to aspects of Jewish education, for Hebrew alphabet. Rabbi Hayim Neo-Nazis are reportedly recruiting from young and old, for men, women and Halberstam of Zanz sees in this the Germany's traditionally conservative children. The Chacham (Wise Son) and heavenly gates, from the highest to the duelling clubs. A number of universities in the Rasha (Wicked Son) begin with lowest, opening to those who know the state of Hesse, notably Marburg, are questions. In both instances, they are that they do not know. From basic, said to be providing a flow of graduates to the ranks of the NPD youth organisation answered through a direct instruction lowly beginnings, a person can be and to a shadowy group known as the (using the 'command form'): 'You shall raised, till he or she reaches the highest Young East Prussia association. inform ...' (Chacham) and 'give him a heights and, like the Chacham. be blunt answer' (Rasha). The Wise Son propelled to probe to the utmost Longest jail sentence for vandalism of needs an immediate answer, to enable depths of Jewish life and practice. Jewish cemetery him to increase his learning of Torah, as A 20-year-old man has been imprisoned the response regarding the laws of the for six years for desecrating Newcastle's Jewish cemetery. In 2004 Simon Johnston, Afikoman indicates. The Wicked Son ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING born in Northern Ireland, caused likewise must be dealt with without ofthe £100,000 of damage in Witton Cemetery delay, to counteract his perverse views, ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH after smashing 62 headstones and which are actually based on REFUGEES defiling others with racist stickers. The knowledge: he is aware of the Divine SUNDAY 19 JUNE 2005 ruling is believed to be the longest sentence for a desecration of a Jewish Service (Avodah) and that it has at the cemetery in this country. significance, though not for him. Paul Balint AJR Day Centre Educationally therefore, questions 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 Bulgaria's anti-Holocaust policy praised must be answered as quickly as Guest speaker On a visit to Sofia, US Jewish leaders possible, whether they are asked for Ned Temko praised Bulgaria for saving its Jewish the furthering of knowledge Editor, The Jewish Chronicle population from the Holocaust. (Chacham) or to counter ideas which According to a report in the Jewish Agenda Chronicle, they expressed appreciation for may lead to the rejection of Jewish life Annual Report 2004 the 'historic decision' in 1943 'to refuse the and thought (Rasha). Hon. Treasurer's Report Nazi regime's order to deport Bulgaria's The Tam (Simple Son) asks: 'What is Discussion Jewish community despite the presence of this all about?' The answer is an Election of Committee of German troops in the country'. indirect instruction (for grammarians, Management* Begin voted Israel's most popular *No person other than a committee member a vav consecutive) on how to proceed. leader He has some idea by asking 'What is retiring by rotation shall be elected or re­ elected a committee member at any general According to a Channel Two television this?' Therefore one must take time to meeting unless:- survey, Menachem Begin is the most explain and broaden his knowledge. (a) he or she is recommended by the popular leader in Israel's history. A total of The She'eino yode'a lishol (One who Committee of Management, or 32.8 per cent of Israelis considered him does not know how to ask) also (b) not less than twenty one clear days before the greatest prime minister the country the date appointed for the meeting, notice has ever had. David Ben-Gurion came a requires immediate attention, as executed by ten members qualified to vote at close second at 32 per cent. Only 7.4 per indicated again by the imperative 'at the meeting has been given to the Association cent of respondents voted for Ariel p'tach lo' (open his mind). Inaction in of the intention to propose that person for election or re-election together with notice Sharon, compared to 14.1 for the late the face of ignorance can lead to executed by that person of his or her Yitzhak Rabin. Shimon Peres received only lethargy, to turning away from willingness to be elected or re-elected. 3 per cent of the vote, but beat Benjamin Judaism and to abandoning it Netanyahu's 2.2 percent.

Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL Telephone 020 8385 3070 Fax 020 8385 3080 e-mail [email protected] Website www.ajr.org.uk

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