VOLume 16 NO.3 MARCH 2016 journal The Association of Jewish Refugees

Fin-de-siècle Vienna and its chroniclers he American historian Carl E. particular to the weaknesses and deficiencies of Georg von Schönerer, both avowed anti- Schorske, who died in September Austrian liberalism. The liberals had suffered Semites. In Vienna, the stronghold of Austrian 2015 aged 100, was one of the greatest a stunning defeat through the failure of the liberalism, the election of Lueger as mayor andT most innovative of the intellectual revolution of 1848, which, they had hoped, in 1895 marked the seismic shift that had historians working in the second half of the would establish a democratic, constitutional taken place in politics, the eclipse of classic twentieth century. It was Schorske who, form of government in the Habsburg Empire liberalism by the populist mass movements with his seminal study Fin-de-siècle Vienna: but was instead brutally suppressed by the of a new era. With characteristic acuteness, Politics and Culture (New York, 1980), Schorske focused on ‘the phenomenon of the took the concept of Vienna at the turn of disintegration of Austrian liberal society under the twentieth century and gave it the full the impact of anti-Semitism’, in his analysis of substance and significance with which we Arthur Schnitzler’s novel Der Weg ins Freie (The now associate it. Few historians have possessed Road into the Open) (1908); the title ‘refers to his wide range of cultural reference and his the desperate attempt of the cultivated younger ability to relate developments in literature, generation of Viennese to find their way into art, music, architecture or psychoanalysis the clear, their road out of the morass of a sick to their historical, political and intellectual society to a satisfactory personal existence’. background. One historian who did was Peter The crisis facing the new generation of Gay, born Peter Fröhlich in 1923, who fled Viennese writers, which had originated in Germany with his family, arrived in America the political threat to liberalism and its values, in 1941 and went on to write political history also made itself felt in the authors’ dawning (The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard awareness of the inadequacy of existing Bernstein's Challenge to Marx), cultural history literary and aesthetic models, principally (Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider), and the realist novel that was the dominant an acclaimed study of Freud. Gay died in May form in the nineteenth century. Schorske 2015, aged 91. devotes the opening chapter of his book I first encountered Carl Schorske through to two writers, Schnitzler and Hugo von German Social Democracy 1905-1917: The Hofmannsthal, whom he saw as pioneers of Development of the Great Schism (1955), his Karl Kraus, 1874-1936 literary modernism, as they confronted the meticulously scholarly but eminently readable dilemmas posed by ‘the disintegrating moral- study of split in the socialist movement in resurgent forces of reaction united behind the aesthetic culture of fin-de-siècle Vienna’. Germany that led to the emergence of two monarchy. That the liberals came to power Unlike their counterparts in London or warring parties, the Social Democrats and in the 1860s was due almost entirely to the Paris, the liberal, progressive intelligentsia the Communists. In Fin-de-siècle Vienna, incompetence of the Habsburg autocracy, in Vienna had been too weak to emancipate he established Vienna as the ‘laboratory which achieved the feat of losing the war of themselves from the dominant aristocracy. of modernism’, the cradle of such crucial 1859 in northern Italy to the French under In consequence, according to Schorske, they pioneering influences on the modern world Emperor Napoleon III (otherwise notorious had felt constrained to adopt elements of the as Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, Ludwig for his military failures in Mexico and in the traditional, dominant Baroque culture of Wittgenstein’s philosophy, or the music of Franco-Prussian war). When Austria was Vienna, which, with its amoral sensuousness Gustav Mahler and, more radically, Arnold defeated by Prussia in the war of 1866, losing and its emphasis on the ephemeral nature of Schoenberg. These great innovators had, its traditional position as the leading power human existence, had little in common with according to Schorske, all broken with the among the German states, it became even the liberal ethic of industry, self-discipline historical outlook characteristic of the liberal, more obvious that fundamental reform was and service to the community. The weakness rational thinking that had dominated the necessary and that Austria must embark on a of liberalism in politics appeared to leave nineteenth century: ‘Vienna in the fin de new, progressive path. writers like Schnitzler and Hofmannsthal siècle, with its acutely felt tremors of social and But the new dawn proved illusory. The with no road forward in literature, other than political disintegration, proved one of the most liberals failed to reform the institutionalised pessimism, resignation or a flight from the fertile breeding grounds of our [the twentieth] bureaucracy of the Habsburg Empire and modern world into a realm of pure art. century’s a-historical culture.’ Across a broad to create a democratic Austria on the model With great brilliance and erudition, range of intellectual and artistic activity, the of the parliamentary systems of government Schorske demonstrates how a similar Viennese creators of a new culture represented of Western Europe. Instead, they were dilemma affected artists and intellectuals a revolt against the value system of liberalism rapidly overtaken by new mass movements across a wide range of activities. In the field that had previously been in the ascendancy. both on the left, with the creation of the of architecture, he describes the building of Schorske set these developments within the Social Democratic Party, and on the right, Vienna’s Ringstraße and the reactions to it framework of the politics of imperial Austria in with the rise of the Christian Social Party of two great modernist architects, Camillo the half-century before 1914, relating them in of Karl Lueger and the Pan-Germans of continued on page 2  journal MARCH 2016

Fin-de-siècle Vienna and its REVISED ITINERARY  chroniclers continued Sitte, author of Der Städtebau (City Building) (1889), and Otto Wagner, creator of the Österreichische Postsparkasse (Postal Savings Bank) building. Schorske also covers the artists Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka, the Kindertransport Commemorative European Train Trip composer Arnold Schoenberg, the politicians Sunday 26 June to Friday 1 July 2016 Lueger and Schönerer, Theodor Herzl, the A journey following in the footsteps of Kinder from 77 years ago, taking in the opportunity to view founder of Zionism, and Sigmund Freud’s Kindertransport statues and places of cultural interest, together with a full schedule of events including: Interpretation of Dreams. His approach has Flight to Vienna • Two nights in Vienna with sightseeing and visit to Kinder statue come under fire, notably from Steven Beller, in Vienna and the Jews, 1867-1938 (1989), Train to Berlin for two nights with sightseeing and a reception with Petra Pau, Vice-President of the Bundestag but Fin-de-siècle Vienna remains a memorable Train to Hook of Holland via Rotterdam • Visit to statue at Hook of Holland monument to a remarkable era. Ferry from Hook of Holland to Harwich • Overnight stay in Harwich One of the most striking literary figures Train from Harwich to Liverpool Street to emerge from Vienna at the turn of the A fully accompanied trip including all travel, accommodation and meals twentieth century was Karl Kraus (1874- We particularly encourage Kinder to come along with their children and grandchildren on this historic trip to 1936), the writer, journalist and satirist who see your place of birth and share your history and heritage edited and wrote the celebrated journal Die To register your interest, please speak to Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 Fackel (The Torch) from 1899 until the year of or email [email protected] his death. The labels ‘journalist’ and ‘satirist’ convey only inadequately the range and quality of Kraus’s writings, which also included depicting the end of the world as mankind ADVANCE NOTICE • ADVANCE NOTICE aphorisms and plays, as well as a large number destroys itself in ever-intensifying conflict, of substantial and thought-provoking essays. strains the resources of the theatre to its limits. Day Trip Kraus’s writings were unique in their highly Its last words are spoken by the voice of God, by Special Train: original and polemically pointed style and who declares, in utter impotence in face of London to Harwich in their inimitable humour, which mainly the destructive madness of his creatures: ‘Ich used language to pillory and deconstruct the habe es nicht gewollt’ (‘That was not what I 1 July 2016 objects of his criticism. He targeted those who intended’), words attributed to the Emperor On Friday 1 July 2016 a number of held power and influence in Austria, the press Francis Joseph when contemplating the ‘Kindertransport 77’ special trains will run (especially Moriz Benedikt and the Neue Freie disaster of the Great War that his underlings from London and elsewhere in the UK to had so frivolously helped to provoke. Harwich to mark the first anniversary of Presse), manifestations of hypocrisy in such Sir Nicholas Winton’s passing and the 77th spheres as sexual morality and, above all, the A full English version of The Last Days anniversary of the arrival in Harwich of his corruption of language. of Mankind has now appeared, translated largest single transport of 241 children. These all feature prominently in Kraus’s by Fred Bridgham and Edward Timms and It will also coincide with the arrival in extraordinary masterpiece, the anti-war published by Yale University Press (January Harwich of the group above from Vienna, drama Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The 2016, price £25). The translators make a Prague, Berlin and Hamburg. Last Days of Mankind), conceived in 1915 but formidable team. Professor Timms is the A Service of Remembrance and only published after the fall of the Habsburg leading expert on Karl Kraus and author Thanksgiving will be held in St Nicholas autocracy, first in Die Fackel in 1918-19, then of an outstanding two-volume study of the Church in Harwich together with other in book form in 1922. The problem with the writer, Apocalyptic Satirist (1986/2006); he events in the town which welcomed many play is its sheer unstageability: my edition, is also well known to AJR members as the thousands of Kinder to safety in 1938-39 published by Pegasus Verlag in Zurich in 1945, founder of the Centre for German-Jewish and accommodated many hundreds at runs to over 700 pages, with an enormous Studies at the University of Sussex. Fred Dovercourt. panorama of scenes set on the various fronts Bridgham, formerly of the University of The organisers wish to invite any Kinder on which the Austrian armies were fighting (as Leeds, is a distinguished translator and author – not only those on the Czech transports well as on the home front, where the favoured of the delightful Friendly German-English – to attend with their families. scions of the aristocracy were lining their Dictionary (London: Libris, 1996). Their For further information, pockets and sweet-talking their young ladies). translation is a splendid achievement, and please phone 01908 410450, The play is seldom performed, as it would warmly recommended. email [email protected] or go to www.papyrus-rail.com/kt77 cover several evenings. Its apocalyptic finale, Anthony Grenville

AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman Finance Director AJR CARD AND GAMES CLUB David Kaye Please join us at our new Card and Games Club Heads of Department on Tuesday 22 March 2016 at 1.00 pm Karen Markham Human Resources & Administration Sue Kurlander Social Services at North Western Reform Synagogue, Carol Hart Community & Volunteer Services Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, London NW11 7EN AJR Journal Card games, Bridge, Backgammon, Scrabble – you decide. Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor Games are dependent on numbers being sufficient. Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor Karin Pereira Secretarial/Advertisements A sandwich lunch with tea, coffee and Danish pastries will be served on arrival. Booking is essential – when you book please let us know your choice of game. Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not necessarily those of the Association of Jewish Please call Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or email [email protected] Refugees and should not be regarded as such. £7.00 per person

2 MARCH 2016 journal Irma Turnschek, Righteous Among the Nations elmut Turnsek was a patient at the taking care of Heinz feared that it would be then was critically ill. When the Department North London Hospice who had a story highly suspicious if only one boy came to of the Righteous Among the Nations traced Hto tell. He felt he couldn’t rest until visit and therefore informed the authorities Franz Leichter in New York, he immediately his story had been heard and the heroes of that Irma Turnschek had kidnapped the flew to London to meet Helmut. Shortly it recognised. Luckily, he had a dedicated other boy. On 11 August 1938 Heinz visited afterwards Helmut passed away, having social worker at the hospice, Anne Mossack, his mother accompanied by the lady who finally been reunited with his childhood who not only listened but acted to ensure took care of him. In 1971 he recalled that friend and hoping that his mother’s heroism the deserved recognition he told his mother of Franz would be recognised. and to reunite Helmut with having been kidnapped On 20 January 2015 Yad Vashem the other surviving hero of by Irma so that she would recognised Irma Turnsek as Righteous Among his story. know that her youngest the Nations and on 19 November last year During his childhood son was safely out of the Franz took part in a moving ceremony at Helmut knew and played country. A day later Heinz the Israeli Embassy in London when Heinz with a boy his age, Franz. left Austria legally with his Turnsek’s family received a special certificate Franz was the son of his new passport and joined his from Yad Vashem presented by Chargé mother’s employers in father in Switzerland. d'Affaires Eitan Na’eh. Vienna, the Leichter family, Käthe Leichter was Rony Yedidia-Clein for whom his mother Irma (from left) Eitan Na’eh; Rony deported to Ravensbrück Rony Yedidia-Clein is Minister-Counsellor worked as a cook and maid. Yedidia-Clein; Nina Benjamin, camp, where she perished in granddaughter of Irma Turnsek; for Public Diplomacy at the Israeli Embassy, The hard-working woman Stephen Turnsek, grandson of 1942. Her husband and sons London had to give Helmut, born Irma Turnsek eventually emigrated to the 1930, to a foster family United States. Since she had but would still bring her son to visit and been accused of having kidnapped Franz Angels Costumes play. When the boys were eight years old, Leichter and smuggled him across the border, receives BAFTA Award however, their lives were changed forever. Irma Turnschek could not return to Vienna Following the Anschluss of March 1938, and fetch her son. She remained in England ngels Costumes received the the Leichter family’s situation changed for the duration of the war, separated from Outstanding British Contribution to dramatically. Since men her son, who had to ACinema Award at this year’s BAFTA were especially targeted stay with foster parents, ceremony last month. Otto Leichter escaped. until they were reunited Now in its 175th year, He first attempted to in 1947. They settled Angels Costumes is the world’s cross the border into in the United Kingdom longest established and largest Yugoslavia but, when and changed their last professional costume house, this failed, he managed name to Turnsek. The having become an integral to illegally get into two families lost touch. part of the international film Switzerland. His wife, Anne Mossack heard industry over the past century. Käthe, who was active Helmut’s story and was The AJR congratulates AJR Trustee in the Socialist Party, Franz Leichter (with hat) and members of Eleanor Angel, husband Tim, the family family of Irma Turnsek very moved by it. She was in danger both as contacted her cousin, and company on the award. a Jew and a socialist and began to make AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman, who arrangements to leave with her two sons, suggested that she contact Yad Vashem, Heinz (Henry), born 1924, and Franz, born introducing her to Irena Steinfeld of the 1930. She applied for passports for them Department of the Righteous Among the all. At the same time, probably not trusting Nations. the authorities, she planned to leave illegally In September 2013 Anne Mossack AJR FILM CLUB and to take her older son, Heinz, with her. contacted Yad Vashem and told the story She asked their former cook, Irma, who she had heard from Helmut Turnsek, who by at Sha’arei Tsedek North London Reform had a passport where her son Helmut was Synagogue in Whetsone registered, to take Franz on Helmut’s travel 120 Oakleigh Road North, document. Whetstone, N20 9EZ Before they could leave, on 30 April 1938, on Monday 4 April 2016 at 12.30 pm Käthe Leichter was arrested. She had told of her plans to an acquaintance who was Lunch of smoked salmon bagels, Danish an informer and he denounced her to the ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ pastries and tea or coffee will be served before the film. Gestapo. Her two sons were taken by two Wednesday 17 August 2016 families of friends. In her interrogation, Käthe ‘ABOVE AND BEYOND’ Evening performance denied that she wanted to leave illegally but Would you risk everything – your future, We are delighted to offer our members a unique it was clear that she and the boys were in your citizenship, even your life – to help opportunity to experience the wonders of danger. The boys’ father sent a messenger a brother in need? who was to take Heinz to his father but the Glyndebourne as part of our 75th Anniversary In 1948, just three years after the liberation of family who took care of him, innocently celebrations. the Nazi death camps, a group of American- believing that a solution could still be found We have secured a limited number of tickets for the performance of ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ on Wednesday Jewish pilots answered a call for help. In secret without breaking the law, refused to hand 17 August, which will be preceded by the unveiling of and at great personal risk, they smuggled him over. Irma Turnschek, however, decided a commemorative AJR plaque in honour of Sir Rudolf planes out of the US, trained behind the Iron to go ahead with the plan she had made Bing, who was General Manager at Glyndebourne Curtain in Czechoslovakia, and flew in Israel’s with Käthe before her arrest and to take between 1936 and 1949. War of Independence. As members of Machal Franz out of the country and then return for The AJR is offering the tickets, together with a – ‘volunteers from abroad’ – this ragtag band her son. On 5 August 1938 they left Vienna three-course dinner and transport by coach to and of brothers not only turned the tide of the war: and travelled through Germany to Belgium, from Glyndebourne from pick-up points in Central they also embarked on personal journeys of where family friends were waiting for them and North-West London at the heavily subsidised discovery and renewed Jewish pride. to take Franz to his father. combined price of £100 per person. ‘ABOVE AND BEYOND’ is their story Following Irma’s departure, notice was Tickets are available strictly on a first-come- received that the passports for the two boys first-served basis and will only be confirmed BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL had been issued and that they were permitted once payment is made. To apply, please contact Please call Susan Harrod on 020 8385 to visit their mother in prison before their Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or at 3070 or email [email protected] departure. The family friends who were [email protected] £7.00 per person

3 journal MARCH 2016 First day hat funny clothes they’re all To allow Mama to rest, Ruth, as so dreaded words: ‘ wearing!’ I said to Ruth. She often before, became a temporary ‘I’m just going to wash, Putzi, don’t Wwas the oldest of my sisters parent, taking charge of me and look.’ and, since we’d arrived, I had hardly keeping an eye on nine-year-old Renee ‘Oh please, please don’t wash, let go of her hand. My usual place at and ten-year-old Hedy. Renee was not Ruth!’ I pleaded, almost hysterical now. Mama’s side had been usurped by my a real sister but an orphaned cousin, The washstand was at the other end father and I was still too shy of him to who had lived with us ever since I could of the cabin, in a dark corner. To me it protest. remember. Her two older brothers, seemed miles away. ‘Well, what d’you expect?’ Ruth ‘But I have to,’ she replied, ‘I replied scornfully, ‘They’re English.’ always do.’ ‘But they look like us all the ‘Not tonight, oh don’t wash same,’ I went on. tonight,’ I wept. ‘Don’t talk so loud,’ Ruth said, ‘But if I don’t do it now I’ll with all the authority now invested have to in the morning,’ she said in her. We had been warned before reasonably. we arrived that, until we learned to Relief flooded through me. ‘Oh speak English, we must talk softly yes, Ruth, wash in the morning’, I to one another – German was not said and, as she finally lay down popular in England in the winter next to me, I held on to her and of 1938. drifted off to sleep. ‘But we’re Austrian, not German,’ In the morning, as soon as Ruth I had protested. tried to creep out of the bunk for ‘All the same,’ one of my her wash, I was instantly awake cousins, vastly superior in age and and the previous night’s scene was knowledge, had told me, ‘they repeated. might think we were spies and We must have looked an odd arrest us.’ assortment of refugees, trooping I didn’t know what a spy was but down the gangway early the next a lot of people we knew had been Brainin parents, Renee, Hedy, Ruth and Putzi after morning. Now I clung onto my arrested in Vienna during the past arrival in London (Kensington) mother again. She was wearing months. Thinking of his words now, a hat which had been smart and I clapped my hand over my mouth and Norbert and Hugo, were travelling becoming at the beginning of our looked around fearfully. Curiosity had with us, as was my 15-year-old brother long journey; now it looked wilted, like mingled with fear in my mind ever Harry. After having been confined flowers that had been too long out of since our arrival on the boat train at with us for so long, the three boys water. Her skirt was on crooked and I midday. I wanted to gaze and gaze at couldn’t wait to get on the boat and wondered whether she had slept in it. everything – the people, buses, shops wander off by themselves. Ruth had My aunt Dora made a pretence at and policemen, all so different from to implore them to be back in time keeping the boys in order. In Vienna the ones we had left behind in Vienna for us all to settle down in our cabins; Renee’s brothers had lived with her and – but I was constantly terrified of being she must have felt the weight of the my Uncle Willy. Uncle Willy had had lost, of letting go of a hand and finding responsibility Mama had thrust upon to travel via Hungary because of his myself alone in a crowd of strangers. her and had visions of having to search passport and would, we hoped, meet The nightmare journey still fresh in my the boat for the teenage boys, with me us in London, and Aunty Dora seemed mind, I looked around at the family to clinging onto her the while and Hedy quite helpless without him. Poor Mama make sure all were there. and Renee trailing after. had her hands full with all of us. We ‘Where’s Mama?’ I asked, my voice, Ruth was tall and fair-haired and younger girls were still wearing our in spite of the warnings, rising in panic. people were always marvelling at heavy winter clothes and I, at least, still ‘Shush,’ my big sister said again, how pretty she was. I’d also heard had my knickers on inside out. As we ‘she’s gone into the shop with Papa.’ them remark that she didn’t look were about to leave our apartment in ‘I want to go too!’ I said shrilly, the least bit Jewish. ‘You’d pass as Vienna one of our copiously weeping beginning to cry. an Aryan anywhere’, Mrs Wittman, neighbours who had come up to take Ruth gave a sigh of exasperation. our local grocer’s wife, had told her leave of us had insisted that this would Twelve years old – which was twice my fondly. Ruth had breasts and, on the bring us luck. Superstition reigned age – she was, as far as I was concerned, occasions she shared a room with us supreme in our household and so Hedy, one of the grown-ups. I had shared a younger girls, we had to turn our backs Renee and I had had to submit to the cabin with her on the crossing, while while she undressed. In between our indignity of having these items of our our mother had shared another with weekly baths she washed herself all underwear removed and put on again our child-like and somewhat hysterical over every day and no one, not even the wrong way. aunt. Finally, on the boat at Hoek Van Mama, was allowed to look while she The next thing I remember is our Holland, both were overcome by the did. This habit soon caused a problem luggage being opened and looked trauma and fatigue of our departure in our cabin on the boat. I lay in my at by men in uniform. They seemed and train journey from Austria, during underwear on the bunk, longing to quite kindly, not at all like the Nazis at which Mama, virtually the only adult in sleep but needing her next to me. As the Bahnhof in Vienna and Cologne, charge of seven children, had been too she moved to go over to the washstand who had so frightened us and taken vigilant to relax for a moment. I became rigid with fear. Then came the continued on page 5 

4 MARCH 2016 journal Eleventh of the Eleventh he night of 9 November 1938 wake up in the morning and enjoy the Then an official letter was delivered was the catalyst that changed day with them. to our door. We were told that by Tmy life. At that time we lived in But this night was to be different. order of the Gestapo we had to a small village in rural Austria, tucked My older brother recalls that he heard emigrate or relocate to Vienna and away in the mountains of Carinthia. the tread of heavy boots and loud there report to the police. My mother My parents had obviously thought banging on the door. My father went was an astute woman: she decided to it would be a safe place, having to open the door. ‘Are you the Jew go to Berlin, where she had relatives been deprived of their livelihood in Lothar Auerbach?’ He confirmed that and friends, and try to get a visa to Germany in 1936. They hoped to he was Mr Auerbach. ‘You are arrested. emigrate. Had she gone to Vienna I disappear into the background, keep Come with us.’ would most certainly not be here in their heads down, and be allowed to Did he dare ask to see the arrest Market Bosworth! A friendly local continue farming and live in peace. warrant? I doubt it. Did he have time to agreed to take her and us children Austria was then still an independent say goodbye to his wife and us? I don't hidden on a wagon across the border state and Europe was not yet at war. know. He was loaded onto a waiting into Czechoslovakia, from where she Two years later everything had lorry and disappeared. My brother took a train to Berlin. Perhaps she was changed. It was still peace-time saw all this happen through a broken afraid of being intercepted in Austria. but the Nazis had already declared window. Stones had been thrown and In Berlin my parents managed to get war on part of the German people. glass lay shattered on our cots. a visa to Britain. But that’s another During the night of 9-10 November It was only several days later that story. synagogues and other Jewish-owned my mother learned that he had been We are the lucky ones and I am buildings up and down Germany taken to a local prison. Then more days grateful to be alive. So many – among and Austria were set on fire, shops passed till she received a card written them my grandmothers and aunt – destroyed, and people humiliated, by him from Dachau concentration were not. injured and killed. Many took their camp. This is the memory that came own lives in desperation. My father never divulged what back to me on Armistice Day, when Through radio and newspapers my happened to him en route or later. It we remember all those who died in parents would have been aware of the was a devastating experience that he wars. The eleventh of the eleventh is build-up of anti-Jewish propaganda wanted to expunge from his mind. My a day for me personally to reflect and and hysteria. They must have been mother’s panic and fear I can hardly be thankful but also to remember the very frightened and worried about imagine. Would she ever see her many who died in all the wars, which their safety. Every night they must husband again? Would she and her rob mankind of humanity and life. have put us to bed hoping we would children be taken away? Ruth Schwiening

 First day continued Mama off the train for a never-to-be- brother, Uncle Max – and then forgotten half-hour. These officers Papa for the first time for nearly smiled and spoke to us but only the a year. He was almost a stranger boys understood a few words of what to me, though he had a familiar they said. Norbert clutched his violin tobacco smell about him. He and protectively, glaring so fiercely at them Mama stood together for a long that no one asked him to put it down. time, her face buried in his coat. (Perhaps they already sensed that he Astonishingly I heard my big bear would one day be world-famous …) of a father sob out loud. Our big trunks and furniture had And now, hours later, here been sent ahead – and Mama had we were, walking down Bond wondered aloud several times about Street, in the West End of London, whether her piano would arrive safely where Papa and Uncle Max had a – but we still had quite an amount of workshop and a shop that made luggage with us. Among the things and sold beautiful fur coats, just Putzi and doll in Vienna being opened and examined were as they had had in Vienna. And my two of my mother’s hatboxes. As an parents had disappeared into it. this is Putzi, my youngest,’ he said with official turned one over a plaintive ‘I want to go too’, I repeated to pride to the lady with the painted face cry of ‘Mama!’ issued forth from it. Ruth. But before she could decide what and the pearls at her throat. ‘Thank Startled, he sprang back, then gingerly to do with me, out they came, Mama God I have the children here at last!’ opened it. Packed among the hats and and Papa, smiling, holding out their I had a flash of recollection of my oddments was Susie, my Mama Doll. hands to us. Up the steep stairs we all father in Vienna singing a lullaby in I was so glad she hadn’t lost her voice trooped, into a showroom full of big Russian to me before I went to sleep, during the journey and insisted on mirrors. I looked at myself reflected and another of him carrying me taking her out and keeping her with in one; I seemed to be all solemn when I was ill up and down in the big me thereafter. The customs man patted expression and high button boots. bedroom I had shared with him and me on the head and looked no more. Papa bent down and put his arms Mama. And suddenly he was no longer We were free to go. round me. I felt the familiar sensation a stranger. Later I remember seeing Papa’s of his moustache brush my cheek. ‘And Mary Brainin Huttrer

5 journal MARCH 2016 the store or above the store in the family living quarters. Céline’s teenage daughter Simone practised classical piano music that helped to mask the sound of hidden refugees. Several days later at dawn they mounted a utility truck behind the store driven by Alfred Fuhrman which spirited her over the border at Chalon-sur-Saône to a hiding place in the Unoccupied Zone. The Editor reserves the right Arlette and Claude Zenatti were 11 to shorten correspondence and 13 years old at liberation. They submitted for publication provided the testimony to Yad Vashem. If you or a family member were aided by Madame Morali at the Quinquaillerie STAFF CHANGES AT MANX NATIONAL HERITAGE ROMO in Paris please respond to [email protected] Sir – May I take this opportunity to With our line manager Paul Weatherall Céline Morali received (posthumously) inform your readers of my retirement also having retired at Christmas, all future Yad Vashem’s highest honour: Righteous as Librarian of Manx National Heritage enquiries should be sent to my archivist Among the Nations, 29 June 2015. Library on 21 March 2016. In the 23 colleague at [email protected]. The award ceremony will take place on years I have worked in the Library I have Wendy has also been on the staff since 18 April 2016 in Paris. Details will shortly had the pleasure of meeting numerous 1992 and has an extensive knowledge of be posted at www.yadvashem-france.org/ former internees and members of their our manuscript material. la-vie-du-comite/ceremonies-venir. The families and have helped curate a large Finally, I would advise any potential public are invited. amount of material relating to the Isle visitors to the Isle of Man from April Marie-Anne Céline Harkness, of Man’s involvement with internment in this year to check beforehand regarding opening hours as, with the retirement Holocaust Center for Humanity, the Second World War from May 1940 of three of our library staff in quick Seattle, Washington, USA to September 1945. succession and no replacements as yet I contributed two articles about our agreed, it is probable that opening hours records to the AJR Journal in 2008 and ‘DANGER IN THE STREETS – VIENNA, will be reduced and the response to post 2010 – ‘Second World War internee NOVEMBER 1938’ or email enquiries will be delayed. records for the Isle of Man’ and ‘1940- Sir – I read Hedi Schnabl Argent’s article in 2010: the individual and family legacy of Alan Franklin, Librarian, your February issue with interest and great WW2 internment as it relates to the Isle Manx National Heritage sadness. I too was in Vienna that fateful of Man: a guide to aid personal research’ Manx Museum, Douglas, night. It was the night before my 12th birthday. I vividly remember the fear, the – which readers may still find useful. Isle of Man, IM1 3LY I am also currently revising a draft for a noise of smashing glass, and the shouting tel +44 (0) 1624 648042 potential book about internment drawing of people, many of whom were dragged email [email protected] heavily on original material, including from their homes and away from their items received largely as a result of the www.manxnationalheritage.im/what- families. My own father disappeared that response to the above-mentioned articles. we-do/our-collections/library-archives/ night and it was only after the war that I found out what had happened to him. I was one of the lucky ones. I was put on 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF AJR Sir – Congratulations on your 70th the Kindertransport by my grandmother in JOURNAL Anniversary! April 1939. She certainly saved me from Sir – I’d just like to tell you how moved I Henry Wuga’s reference to Eleanor the same fate as that of my father. was by the 70th Anniversary issue of the Rathbone in your Anniversary edition has Gabriele Keenaghan (née Weiss), AJR Journal. much resonance with me as a former MP North Shields It brought back many memories. The and as a pupil of the Liverpool school in AJR Information occupied such a large her name in Kensington. Alas, it no longer PHILADELPHIANS AND THE place in my family’s life that I came to exists but several of us honoured her hard KINDERTRANSPORT regard it as a sort of younger brother. It work some years ago. A caring, remarkable Sir – I teach a Holocaust studies class at didn’t exactly eat with us but, when its woman. the Christadelphian Heritage School in Los galley proofs were spread out over the Eric Moonman OBE, London N7 Angeles and am hoping to put together table after dinner, it seemed to provide us a book on Christadelphians and their with a special sort of dessert! CÉLINE MORALI involvement in the Kindertransport. If Michael Rosenstock, Toronto, Canada Sir – My grandmother Céline Morali started you stayed with Christadelphians or in a saving lives in May 1940, continuing Christadelphian Hostel (Elpis Lodge, Little Michael Rosenstock is the son of Werner through September 1942. Many survived, Thorn) during the 1930s and 1940s, or Rosenstock, who was General Secretary of including Leo Helner, Émile Zenatti and have any sources of information that you the AJR from 1941 to 1982 and Editor of Émile’s family: son Claude, daughter would like to share, please contact me at AJR Information from 1946 to 1982 (Ed.). Arlette, wife Lucie, and Lucie’s sister [email protected] or Marietta Bloch. on +1 (805) 304-7860. Sir – After 70 years this ‘Blatt’– the AJR In all, approximately 300 Jewish Jason Hensley, Principal, Christadelphian Journal – is still relied on with fond thanks. refugees and prisoners of war escaping Heritage School, Los Angeles, California, USA Our thanks too for the office work, the Nazi Germany made their way to her caring, the outings, and all the services hardware store, Quinquaillerie ROMO, TEREZIN NEWSLETTER the AJR provides. Bis 120! 113 rue de Patay in Paris. In small groups Sir – I’m currently donating to the Wiener Helen Grunberg, London NW10 they came to hide in the basement of Library the large collection of memorabilia

6 MARCH 2016 journal from my uncle Ewald Bauer, who died in in accepting some responsibility for Germany who can start a ‘clean-up’ Auschwitz in September 1944 aged 38 massacring 450,000 Hungarian Jews, but campaign? after a period in Terezin. there was no declaration to such effect. Gordon G. Spencer, Barnet, I’m passing to the Wiener Library a The project for an alternative Holocaust Hertfordshire stack of copies of the Terezin newsletter museum continues; the ‘spiritus rector’ of Salom na Patek, delightfully illustrated by the activity, although discredited because 3 TROOP Ewald and with text in some instances in of her ‘improved understanding’ of the Sir – In reply to Henry Tobias (February German, in others in Czech. Yad Vashem Holocaust, still receives her salary. It is issue), I am very proud of the fact that my have the originals. said that Jewish community approval is late uncle, Herbert Sachs, was a German I would very much like to locate people required. Understandably, they keep their Jew who fought and died with 3 Troop, whose relatives were in Terezin and who heads down. No.10 Inter-Allied Commando, also known might have met Ewald and/or contributed The November plenary session showed as X Troop. to this newsletter. I hope they will contact no progress – indeed, the opposite. The Herbert arrived in England with his me at the email address below. rehabilitation of Nazi-era politicians father, Eugen, in 1938. When war broke Vera Lustig [email protected] continues unabated, the latest being out, they were both interned on the Isle of Balint Homan, who, apart from other Man. In 1941 Eugen was allowed to return manifestations, openly proposed the to live in London with his wife, Gretel, THANKS TO AJR ‘CARE TEAM’ deportation of all Jews in February while Herbert got the choice of either Sir – A big thank you to Carol Rossen and 1944 – a month before the German being interned in Australia or Canada or the AJR ‘Care Team’ for looking after us occupation. He was actually pardoned joining the Pioneer Corps. He served with so well during our recent trip to Israel. for one act only, namely voting for war The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regt), labouring I appreciate it is a big undertaking to on German's side in 1941; other details in North Africa building aerodromes, manage such a group and thought you of the original indictment ‘could not be camps, etc. were all extremely thoughtful and caring. found’. Judgement administration in the In 1943 Churchill realised that fluent I enjoyed the trip very much and found heat of post-war 1946 may not have been German speakers would be especially it most interesting and now look forward perfect but revisions in 2015 are worse. useful for the invasion of Europe. 3 Troop to learning more. The ‘hero’s’ statue was ready to be erected consisted of 67 German, Austrian and It was my first visit to Israel and my first in Szekesfehervar, but foreign, particularly Hungarian Jews, all of whom were officially trip with the AJR – both very enjoyable. US, protest stopped the plan. ‘enemy aliens’. They were promised British Edith Vanstone, Ashtead, Surrey The fact remains that in May-June citizenship if they survived the war. They 1944 a handful of Eichmann's crew, trained in all the arts of commando assisted with enthusiasm by the Hungarian warfare, in Wales, under two non-Jewish HOLOCAUST AND HUNGARY – DEEDS Welsh Officers. D-Day was the first time NOT WORDS gendarmerie, managed to embarrass the Auschwitz organisation by sending too the whole Troop went into action. Herbert Sir – The International Holocaust was killed crossing the Rhine with the Remembrance Association (IHRA) is many Jews too fast for extermination. Even a small slowing down could have saved Royal Marines two months before the an inter-governmental organisation end of the war. I attended with a number established in 1998 for the purpose of 100,000 lives. No Hungarian government of those ex-commandos the unveiling of remembrance, education and research of ever admitted this fact and the present a memorial to the Troop in Aberdovey in the Holocaust. The United Kingdom was one positively denies it. 1998. a founding member; the AJR’s Michael Quite clearly, the pious hope that Troop member Peter Masters has Newman is on the UK delegation. Hungarian attitudes will change with the written an excellent book, Striking Back: Given Hungary’s attitude to the chairmanship was an illusion. In fact, it A Jewish Commando's War Against the Holocaust, it may be considered surprising proved that Hungary is only interested in Nazis, which chronicles in great detail the that in 2002 it joined the Association and an unrealistic whitewash. This makes it history of these heroes. applied for chairmanship for 2015 for equally clear that not only is Hungary not Steven Schrier, Hayling Island the second time. There being no other a suitable chairman of the IHRA, but just applicant, Hungary assumed the post. It as unsuitable as a member and should be was no doubt hoped that the position removed as such. It is hoped that the IHRA ‘OUR THANKS TO BRITAIN’ would serve to change the present UK delegation can be persuaded, through Sir – Fred Stern’s letter in your January Hungarian government’s approach to the AJR, to initiate the appropriate issue headed ‘Our thanks to Britain’ the Holocaust, which was, and remains, process. started with the words ‘All of us’. No doubt even more negative than that of earlier George Donath, London SW1 the author meant that the words following administrations. this quote applied to all AJR members. I have to point out that they do not – and The misgivings prompted the AJR, in DEPLORABLE STATE OF WEISSENSEE I am referring neither to the British-born collaboration with the Wiener Library, to CEMETERY spouses of members nor to British-born organise the 19 May meeting reported Sir – I have previously, among others, descendants. in the July issue of the AJR Journal. I aired the condition of the largest Jewish ‘We refugees, who were designated for am reliably advised that the substance cemetery in Europe. the gas chambers …’, Mr Stern writes. I am and details of the meeting were relayed I am referring to Weissensee in east a survivor not a refugee and have never by the high-level Hungarian diplomatic Berlin, which is in a deplorable state. It is been a refugee. I was certainly designated representative present to both the very much overgrown and consequently, for the gas chambers, having received call- Hungarian Foreign Ministry and the head apart from the difficulty of finding the up papers to go and ‘work in the East’ at of the Hungarian delegation with positive grave where one’s beloved relative is the ripe old age of two years. recommendations. These appear to have interred, it gives a very bad impression to I was ‘subjected to living under the fallen on deaf ears. the non-Jewish world. Nazis’ – and probably longer than the As Michael Newman reported at Is there a chance for us to do something author of the original letter, namely for the June meeting in Budapest some lip about this problem or would it be advisable five years. service may have been paid by Hungary to write to the leading Jewish person in continued on page 16 

7 journal MARCH 2016

By contrast, Pierre Bonnard preferred his jardin sauvage, in which plants ran riot, evoking some nostalgic idyll. REVIEWS Monet had cultivated gardens from his ART early days at Argenteuil in the 1870s until Individual stories masterfully his death in Giverny, north-west of Paris, woven together in 1926. After the death of his second wife, NOTES THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE: A STORY OF Alice, in 1911, he was too distressed to GERMANY GLORIA TESSLER paint for three years. Failing eyesight did by Thomas Harding not help but it improved in 1914 and his William Heinemann, 2015, 464 pp. water garden and Japanese bridge at his hardcover, ISBN 978-043-4023226, rom Monet to Matisse to van beloved Giverny continued to preoccupy £20.00 Gogh and back to Monet again, him as he wandered there white-haired et’s get the basics out of the way first. the garden is a place of solace – or holding a gigantic palette. This is a good book, very readably justF a blaze of pure energy. Certainly the At the beginning of the First World Lwritten and yet encompassing an latter is true of Wassily Kandinsky or War, Monet refused to join the masses enormous amount of well researched Vincent van Gogh or Emil Nolde. But in fleeing Giverny, believing that continuing information, both on individuals who the Royal Academy’s exhibition Painting to paint was his patriotic duty. As his blue were involved in some way in the history the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse tones deepened, irises and willows began of a small timber summer house built for (until 20 April 2016), the romantic theme to appear at the water’s edge in his 1918 weekends and holidays on the shores of is probably the most vivid. There are canvases. The exhibition ends with a the Glienicke See south-west of Berlin, 19th-Century salon gardens where people roomful of his large canvases in which his and on the whole history of what was read newspapers, walk and chat about art, famous water lilies now seem as delicate going on around it. I refer to the snobbism literature and music, evoking times past. and obscure as the souls lost in battle. To of the Kaiser period, whereby one had to Gardens in the era of the Impressionists paint them so large he had constructed be a ‘von’ in order to get ‘to’ anything; helped to reconnect with nature as the a studio big enough to contain them. the economic problems of the 1920s; urban industrial world intruded on the The Impressionist was turning abstract. the rising nationalism and thuggery of the 1930s; the flight of those who could romantic imagination. Although his floral themes persisted, they get out in time and the fates of those Avant-garde now meant something different to him: artists like Vincent van who could not; the course of the war in Gogh felt differently. With his intense ‘The subject is secondary’, he said, ‘What I Germany leading eventually to defeat and febrile imagination, he studied want to reproduce is that which is between and occupation; the fate of local civilians flowers to discover the emotions suggested the subject and me.’ – rape and murder by Soviet soldiers by their strength of colour. described briefly and dispassionately but Some garden paintings here factually; the machinations of Communist are lavish, some just show a East Germany (the border between the formal path, and others take DDR and West Berlin essentially passing the image into Modernism through the garden of this summer and Abstraction. house); and so forth to the present, when And yet it is Monet with it is a rotting, abandoned ruin. Along the whom we start and Monet way are snapshots of family life, both for with whom we end. The the landlords and the tenants or lessees exhibition spans the early of the house. The ownership details were 1860s to the 1920s, a period complex: at times, for instance, a family leased the house but not the land; at which saw considerable times they acquired the land but then lost social change and creative the house. In other words, by focusing innovation. Despite the on his grandparents’ little bit of ‘Jwd’ coming of war, romance – the Berlin dialect term for ‘janz-weit- flowered in the horticultural draussen‘ (out in the country) – Thomas imagination of artists, often Harding is able to paint in the entire scope with darker imagery, as we Claude Monet Jeanne-Marguerite Lecadre of German history and politics over a begin to see in Monet, whose (Lady in a Garden) 1867 century or more. pacific and structural format, Driven initially by that urge that so as in his 1867 Lady in a Garden – almost many of us of a particular generation ethereal in her white sunhat and pale blue have – an existential curiosity to find dress, contemplating a bed of red flowers Annely Juda Fine Art out more about what we were not beneath a small flowering tree – develops 23 Dering Street told by those who experienced and knew much more than they were ever into something more abstract later. In (off New Bond Street) earlier years, Monet would write copious prepared to tell – and so occasionally pushing into open doors in the family letters to his gardener specifying what Tel: 020 7629 7578 history and occasionally pushing against should be planted, a practical and formal Fax: 020 7491 2139 closed ones which reveal, almost literally, side to his nature, indicating how the artist skeletons or at least descriptions of did not just paint what he saw and felt but CONTEMPORARY death once opened – Harding in 2013 had a hand in the gardens’ original design. PAINTING AND SCULPTURE visits the ruins of the house of which

8 MARCH 2016 journal he has heard fond accounts from his Fascinating are the Notes on pp. 361- beyond doubt that every case of exile, grandmother. Stimulated by what he 410, the four-page Bibliography, the every refugee’s fate, is individual. The finds, he engages researchers, visits lengthy personal Acknowledgements on generalising statements frequently archives and official offices, learns of the pp. 415-21 and an extensive Index on pp. made about exile are shown to be trivial complex personal and family histories 423-42! Clearly this is not a book that one in the light of these case studies and the of the various people who designed it person could write just by himself in one snippets of information about individual or owned it or leased it or borrowed it year, especially as the author frequently behaviour they provide to throw light or ‘acquired’ it, talking to individuals or explains his limited German, but the on the overall experience of exile: their descendants, including villagers of individual stories have been skilfully and ‘Having lost everything, my mother Groß Glienicke whose ancestors worked masterfully woven together. kept everything’ (p. 65), says Elizabeth on the estate before it was parcelled off, Walter Rothschild Schächter in her moving description some forcibly sold to become military Rabbi Dr Walter Rothschild was born in of the struggle that everyday life was bases or the Gatow airfield, many being Bradford, UK, was ordained by Leo Baeck for her parents, two young dentists called up to fight either for the Kaiser or College, and has lived in Berlin since from Vienna. Janine Barker gives an interesting account of the life of Henry for the Adolf, many of them later victims 1998 serving mainly communities around Rothschild, who emigrated as early as of the casual brutality that characterised Germany and Austria. the post-war period. There are ironies 1933 and became a leading patron of the crafts in his new home country. along the way. One owner of the estate, Bastian Heinsohn’s life stories of being a high-up in the SA, gets beaten ‘Exile is all around us’ two emigrants who settled in the up and arrested and eventually driven EXILE AND EVERYDAY LIFE: THE YEARBOOK OF THE RESEARCH CENTRE USA demonstrate vividly their very away by the very Hitlerian movement he individual reactions to life in their new FOR GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN EXILE adores … A later owner, an ambitious country and the different ways in which STUDIES, VOLUME 16 music publisher, benefits from his party they dealt with it. Both were helped membership until in due course it edited by Andrea Hammel and to gain admission to the country by becomes a hindrance when he needs Anthony Grenville Carl Laemmle, the founder and first a de-Nazification certificate ... (His Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2015, 217 president of Universal Films. After his business is badly affected when an RAF pp. paperback early death in 1939, this support for bombing raid destroys its storage facility ince its foundation in 1995 the many émigrés stopped; this had more in Passauer Strasse on 11 November 1943 Research Centre for German and serious consequences for those who – interesting to this reviewer, who now SAustrian Exile Studies has been arrived later than for those who had lives in the same street!) central to exile studies in the UK. The been in the USA for a longer period. Here and there the author slips into topics of its yearbooks have over the The collection of individual life stories fictionalisation, being forced into making years covered a broad range of key is enriched by Jennifer Michaels’s assumptions about what a character aspects of exile from Nazi Germany – portrait of everyday life in Shanghai, thought or did or said so as to fill in the quite a number of them relating to the a destination for refugees that has gaps in the historical narrative. Here and work on oral history documents and come into the public eye fairly late in there one finds a reference that doesn’t material collected by the Centre. the history of exile studies and is thus make 100 per cent sense – Russian jets in Volume 16, following in the particularly interesting as a research 1945? – but this does not really affect the footsteps of Wolfgang Benz’s ground- topic. Likewise, Ireland as a refugee flow. In retrospect, the childhood holidays breaking study Das Exil der kleinen country has attracted attention only and the weekends were always idyllic. The Leute (1991),which concentrated on relatively recently, having received only book starts with a series of maps slowly the experience of the broad mass of the a small numbers of émigrés, as Horst increasing in scale and focusing on the refugees from Nazi persecution, aims Dickel and Gisela Holfter indicate. area and there are various diagrams of to take further this important work on Andrea Hammel’s article ‘Liebe Eltern the house’s layout at different periods contemporary witnesses, while at the – Liebes Kind’ looks into the very specific as well as a family tree of the Alexander same time ‘not losing sight of the larger relationship between children on the family to which the author belongs picture’ (p. xiii). Kindertransport and their parents and (Hirschowitzes becoming Hardings while The volume contains ten articles, the communications between them. in England). highly distinctive in their approaches And considering the general lack of In fact, the book is about people and and all showing in different ways how source material when it comes to the house forms a convenient focal point life in the new countries of refuge research into everyday life in exile, it and the history forms the background. was determined by the background comes close to a miracle that Anna Each generation in turn strives to build of the individual refugees as well as Nyburg has been able to write such up a business and to survive any conflicts by conditions in the host countries. an illuminating article on one activity central to human life: the provision of that blight their lives. For some it is an Focusing on the everyday life of the ‘ordinary’ people in exile, in contrast food, cooking and the role of food in escape from the stress of city life; for to the life of artists, academics or the situation of exile. others it is an escape from the stress of prominent public figures, means not Three contributions to this volume the bombing; for yet others it is an escape dealing with literature and other forms focus on writers. One is by Jan Schröder from the attentions of the Gestapo – or of high art but with letters and, in some on Jean Améry and his writing on exile later from the Volkspolizei. The changing cases, fragments of life accounts. This in the 1960s. Two further contributions nature of the village itself through the gives the quotations in the articles in are devoted to women writers. The first, decades, especially the DDR period and this volume from this kind of source by Regina Christiane Range, investigates during and after the Wende, is described material an astonishing freshness and the life and work of the multi-talented and then towards the end the remarkable presence, in particular in the light of Austrian writer and screenwriter Gina interest in retaining and preserving and the current refugee crisis. Exile is all Kaus on the basis of Kaus’s own restoring what is left. The house is now around us. autobiography and Hollywood film being turned into a memorial and centre One of the great achievements scripts, while Rose Sillars looks into Vicki (details at www.alexanderhaus.org). of this volume is that it makes clear continued on page 10 

9 journal MARCH 2016

 Reviews continued An Unusual Theatre Experience: The Pianist of Willesden Lane s Mona Golabek was coming to the to the Jewish authorities, starts the tear Baum’s novel Die Karriere der Doris conclusion of her musical story at ducts flowing. Hart (1936), examining the survival Athe St James Theatre in London on After an unhappy period in the country, strategies of the exiled Doris, who, 4 February there couldn’t have been many Lisa is helped by Mr Hardisty of the Jewish despite a damaged lung, becomes a dry eyes in the capacity Refugee Agency to find highly acclaimed opera singer in her audience. Many of the a home with Mrs Cohen new country. Doris Hart’s singing career, 41 AJR members in the at 243 Willesden Lane, based on regaining her voice under the audience, particularly where she finds comfort most difficult conditions in exile, serves those who had had their and friendship – and as a symbol for all those whose voices own experience of the where she finds a piano Kindertransport, must in the basement. were not heard and gives convincing have had very mixed The show, based proof that exile can strengthen the feelings during this on Mona’s book The ‘power of human will’ (p. 21). amazing performance. I Children of Willesden This volume convincingly portrays myself was constantly reminded of my own Lane, is a powerful piece of theatre which the impact of emigration and the Kindertransport experience. evokes memories of a terrible period in various cultural environments in which Mona Golabek is an accomplished Jewish history, but also happy memories the refugees found themselves and, by concert pianist who has had training as an of friendships and achievements. Mona not generalising, it gives a voice to those actor. She plays the part of her mother, Lisa is clearly very proud of the fact that her refugees who were not heard at the Jura, also a concert pianist, whose parents mother won a scholarship to the Royal time and later were nearly forgotten. A managed to secure a place for her on the College of Music in London. short biographical list of the volume’s Kindertransport out of Vienna. Sitting in the audience it was sometimes contributors is missing in a volume that This is a one-woman show, yet one difficult to realise that this is the daughter is in all other respects a great asset in has the feeling there are several people of the actual person being depicted. It is its field of research. onstage. Mona Golabek switches from an unusual theatre experience. Only Mona being an excited 14-year-old Lisa Jura Golabek could tell this story in this very Ursula Hudson-Wiedenmann visiting her piano teacher in Vienna to the powerful way – a daughter onstage paying sad voice of the teacher who tells her he tribute to her mother. is now forbidden to give lessons to a Jew, After her performance, Mona Golabek to her mother explaining she will shortly came back onstage to talk with AJR Search Notices be leaving for England. These stories are members, who had been invited to stay interspersed with the most beautiful piano behind. She was astonished to hear from Moritz-Max Abraham, born 18.12.1919 in Berlin, last known address Haifa Kiriat, Samach interludes. There is a wonderful mixture of one lady, Henni Franks, that she had known Sajin 2. Berlin memorial researcher is looking for fear and excitement in her account of the Lisa Jura as a young woman. Henni even family or friends who may be able to help with train and ship journey and her arrival at produced a photograph of Lisa. research on Louise Prinz née Abraham and her Liverpool Street Station. Her account of the This was a delightful, well-organised husband Detmar Prinz, who committed suicide meeting with her relative, who is meant to afternoon. Thank you, AJR, for the initiative. in 1941 to avoid deportation and are buried take her in and who in the end leaves her Ernest Simon at Weissensee Cemetery, Berlin. (Mary Bianchi [email protected]) Bruno Adler, Annemarie Hase, Walter Charlotte Braun in 1909 in Berlin. Jutta had been Information sought on the burial place of Karel Rilla came to the UK in 1936 and worked adopted in Germany by Schlesinger family. Any Pick, born Prague 26.11.1880, emigrated to on BBC World Service’s ‘Frau Wernicke’, a info on Jutta pls to Alexander Watson a.watson. England in 1939, died in London 6.5.1950. German-language radio show broadcast 1940- [email protected] Karel was married to Dr Elsa Pick née Hermann. (Arthur Fleiss [email protected]) 44. Any info pls contact Michelle Deignan If you have any info on my cousin Kazimierz- [email protected] Riszard (Kazimir-Richard) Frenkel, born Lodz Was Fritz (Israel) Schlesinger, born 14.5.21 in 1919, and his descendants, pls contact Isak Gath, Königshütte, interned? Fritz arrived in Harwich I am looking for a photo or sketch of the Israel, [email protected] 28.8.39, re-entered the UK at Fleetwood 5.6.41. synagogue (external view) at Babenhausen, (Neil Kaplan [email protected]) Hessen, Germany (NB: not the synagogue at Any info pls on Harry Jecobs of Times Furnishing nearby Sickenhofen). I purchased land on which Store whose family hosted a number of Kinder, I am seeking contact with descendants of this synagogue stood. Pls contact Petra Lambernd including me, in their stately home in 1939-42? Stephanie Schlesinger/Shanson née Sax (1921- [email protected] (Paul Alexander Minikes [email protected]) 99) and Heinz Sax (later Henry Saw (Shaw?)) My grandmother, Hedwig Jordan, a refugee (1918-53), who escaped from Berlin. Their Traute Bank née Leisersohn, last known address from Nazi Germany, lived in the Jack Gardner parents were Willy and Margarete. (Axel Huber 61 Clova Road, London E7. Traute came to the UK House in London in 1952. Any info pls to Caroline [email protected]) by Kindertransport in 1938. Her parents and her Newton [email protected] brother Gerd were murdered. Berlin memorial Marie (Mizzi) Schubert, born Linz 1896, researcher wishes to contact her, her family or Kindertransportee Kurt (second name?), from arrived in UK in 1938 or 1939 as domestic friends who may be able to help with research on Germany, celebrated his barmitzvah in Chester servant in contact with Anna Cripps, Austrian Louise Prinz née Abraham and her husband while living with my late parents in 1943 or 1944 Domestic Agency, London WC2. Any info pls Detmar Prinz, who committed suicide in 1941 to in Liverpool. My father was a soldier; my mother contact Verena Wagner [email protected] avoid deportation and are buried at Weissensee lived during the war in North Wales. Kurt’s sister Cemetery, Berlin. (Mary Bianchi [email protected]) too was taken in by a Liverpool Jewish family. I was a Jewish child evacuated from Germany After the war the parents collected the children to Sweden in 1939. Whose decision was it to I am researching the Nazi occupation of the and went to America. Any info about Kurt pls to send me and the children from the Swedish Channel Islands and seeking friends or relatives Angela Lehrer [email protected] Tjonarpshemmet children’s home to England of Hedwig Bercu (aka Goldenberg), born in 1943 where bombing and war continued for Austria 1919. She came to the UK in 1938 and Dr Elsa Pick née Hermann, born 9.1.1893 in two more years? (Eve Sheftel née Hartmann lived in Jersey during the war. She may have had Plauen, lived until 1933 in Berlin, later Prague. [email protected]) a sister in London. Any info pls to Alice Allen In August 1939 she emigrated to the UK, where Czech Jewish refugee Karel Sperber (?) [email protected] she lived in Birmingham with her husband Karel Pick. The death is recorded of an Elsie M. Pick was a GP who lived in the Edgehill area Jutta Fabian came to the UK in late August 1938 aged 57 in Birmingham in December 1952. of Liverpool after 1945. He was a POW (?). She was born in Berlin on 27.3.1932, possibly Karel died 5.5.1950 in London. Any info pls in Germany when in the Merchant Navy. to Walter and Charlotte Fabian. Walter, born on Elsa/Else/Elsie/Pick or Karel to Judith Joseph Any info pls to Martin Sugarman (AJEX) 1896, was murdered in 1942. Charlotte was born [email protected] [email protected]

10 MARCH 2016 journal ‘Don’t Stand By’: AJR Holocaust Memorial Day 2016 lmost 200 people attended this copies of the book were available after of songs. year’s AJR Holocaust Memorial the event. Among guests at the service were, ADay (HMD) service at Belsize Sir Eric Pickles, the UK Envoy for Post- from the Austrian Embassy, HE Dr Martin Square Synagogue. Under the national Holocaust Issues, gave the concluding Eichtinger, the Austrian Ambasssador, HMD 2016 theme ‘Don’t Stand By’, remarks. He declared that ‘constant and Christoph Weidinger, Minister author and BBC broadcaster Edward vigilance’ with regard to anti-Semitism Plenipotentiary; Charlotte Schwarzer, Stourton, in conversation with AJR was essential. He paid tribute to Sir Head of Culture and Education at the member and child Holocaust survivor Nicholas Winton and historian Sir Martin German Embassy; and Counsellor Diane Joan Salter, drew on his book Cruel Gilbert, who had both died last year. The Feher from the Hungarian Embassy. Crossing, in which he describes the British Government stood ‘100 per cent Commemorative prayers were led by escape of thousands of people – behind UK Jewry’, Sir Erich said. Belsize Square Synagogue’s Rabbi Stuart including Joan – across the Pyrenees The Choir of the Jewish Community Altshuler and the event was introduced from Nazi-controlled Europe. Signed Secondary School performed a number by AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman. Edinburgh HMD schools event Edinburgh AJR members attended an excellent HMD event at Firhill High. It was due to the enthusiasm of a wonderful lady by the name of Sheila Watson, lead teacher for Holocaust initiative at Firhill, that the school was chosen to host this year’s event. Keynote Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) speaker, survivor 86-year-old Zigi Shipper, gave a heartfelt account of his experiences during the Holocaust. He was followed by 13-year-old Reuban Winer- Ogilvie, who gave a most impressive talk on his grandfather’s Holocaust experiences. Evelynne Garbacz spoke about Yad Vashem UK’s Guardian of the Memory project. Memorial candles were lit by, among others, Zigi Shipper, Maria Chamberlain and human rights activist Professor Photos: Michael J. Ezra Mukesh Kapila CBE. Agnes Isaacs Scottish National HMD Event Gina Burgess Winning lights memorial candle; Edward Stourton in conversation with The Scottish National HMD event, in Joan Salter; Sir Eric Pickles; the Choir of the Jewish Community Secondary School Falkirk this year, was organised by HET, the Scottish Interfaith Council, the Scottish Government and Falkirk Council. The AJR’s Scotland Memorial Book was on display TO MY UNFORGETTABLE DAN at the lavish kosher reception. he following poem was written by Hulda Gembitzky on hearing that her great-nephew Dan The reception was followed by a most Simon, aged 4, and his parents, Evi and Werner Simon, had been murdered in Auschwitz on 24 inspirational speaker, Terezin survivor T October 1944. The poem was sent to us by Bradford AJR member Rudi Leavor, also a great- Inge Auerbacher, a child from the state nephew of Hulda Gembitzky. Hulda herself was a survivor of Terezin. of Baden-Württemberg who survived the concentration camps. ‘Es fiel ein Reif in der Frühlingsnacht.’ ‘There was a frost that spring Professor Mukesh Kapila drew a Mein süsser Bub, wer hätte das gedacht night.’ comparison between the Holocaust and Dass Du durch Mörderhand bist My dear sweet boy, who ever atrocities taking place in the world today. umgebracht? would have thought A children’s choir performed a moving Du warst mein Alles, warst mein Glück You could be murdered in repertoire. Rabbi Moshe Rubin of Giffnock und Stern, this way! and Newlands Synagogue told the story Nur Gott allein es weiss, wie hatt’ ich Dich You were my everything, my of Naftali Lua, a labour camp inmate so gern. happiness, the apple of my who was brought back from the brink by Verhallt sind Deine Schritte, verstummt eye, hearing a tune hummed by fellow inmate Dein süsser Mund, God alone knows how I loved and composer Yoselle Mendelbaum. He Es gab für mich nichts Schön’res im you. then sang this tune in his memory and ganzen Erdenrund. Stifled are your steps, silenced your sweet that of other victims of the Holocaust. Verjüngtest mir die Jahre, brachtest Sonne mouth, Agnes Isaacs ringsumher, For me nothing in the world was more beautiful. Ich kann es garnicht fassen, dass jetzt ist You made the years young for me, brought alles leer. sunlight all around, Holocaust memorial to be Nie wieder soll ich sehen Dein liebes Angesicht, I cannot grasp how empty everything is now. Gott wollt’ noch einen Engel und so rief er Dich. Never again will I see your beloved face. in Westminster Ich träumt’ von schön’ren Tagen, hofft’ auf ein God wanted one angel more and He created ritain’s national Holocaust monument Wiedersehen, you. is to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens Der Traum ist nun verronnen, ich muss allein I dreamt of better days, hoped we’d meet again, Bin Westminster by the end of 2017, Prime Minister David Cameron announced nun gehen. That dream now is past, I must go alone. on Holocaust Memorial Day. Ewig werd’ ich um Dich weinen bis der Tod I will weep for you always, till death brings An international competition to design mich wird mit Dir vereinen. us together. the memorial has been launched.

11 journal MARCH 2016

HULL CF Things To Do KT LUNCHES We enjoyed Veronika’s wonderful hospitality A Second Noah’s Ark? and discussed new year resolutions. Our January meeting was lunch with a Members spoke of the different things new-style deli platter menu arranged by they were promising to do – from clearing Susan Harrod – much appreciated. We out old cupboards to learning a new piece were also delighted to meet Eva Stellman, INSIDE on the piano! Wendy Bott the AJR’s new Groups Co-ordinator. PINNER Photographic Grand Tour Our guest speaker, Jonathan the Expert photographer Les Spitz treated Wittenberg, Senior Rabbi of Masorti us to a grand tour of Singapore, Bali, Judaism in the UK, came with his famous AJR Vietnam, Chicago with its Art Institute, and dog, nicely named Mitzvah. Jonathan an intriguing insight into Cape Town. His spoke to us about climate change and insisted we all do something about it – HGS Hammerson House Then and Now audio-visual presentation was all the more enjoyable due to the helpful maps, fine otherwise, as his mother, who is almost Our first meeting of the year provided 93, told him, we are in for another flood fascinating insight into the founding of detail and carefully chosen mood music. Walter Weg on the scale Noah experienced when he Hammerson House. Resident and long-time built his ark! David Lang AJR member Anne Marks recalled visiting the East End with Sue Hammerson to meet CHESHIRE CF Present-day Problems LEEDS CF Memories Good and Bad potential residents who still had cows for Discussed ‘Significant memories of 2015’ was the topic milking in their yards! Today, Hammerson is a Helen and Nachman Herz kindly offered for discussion – some good and not so good vibrant community that has expanded hugely their flat to us for our meeting. After – followed by Barbara’s legendary baking since the first foundation stone was laid lunch we had a discussion of present- and good banter around the dining table. by the then Jewish Lord Mayor of London. day problems, covering Jewish university Wendy Bott There was also an opportunity to introduce students on campus, how Israelis came to the rescue of flood victims in Cumbria and Eva Stellman, newest member of the AJR’s BRIGHTON Survival Owed to Music Outreach Department. Esther Rinkoff Lancashire, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and how Israelis see their future with Iran. We were privileged to see the BBC TV Thomas Einstein documentary Everything is a Present about EALING Group’s 9th Year Celebrated a remarkable lady who, despite losing her We had a delightful social gathering to mark ESSEX (WESTCLIFF) Recollections of parents, sister and husband at the hands of what Esther reminded us was the 9th year the Nazis, always remained positive, putting of our close-knit group. We discussed world Years Gone By Otto Deutsch brought photos from years her survival in Terezin down to music. Alice and Jewish issues, the New Year’s honours Herz-Sommer continued playing and lived list in relation to notable Holocaust survivors, gone by of the Essex group, which has been running since 2001 and was originally until she was 110 without hatred for anyone and some high-profile new year resolutions despite the suffering she had witnessed. as published in the media. Leslie Sommer founded by Myrna Glass. Otto also recalled being beaten up on Kristallnacht. Shirley Huberman HARROGATE Wishes for 2016 Larry Lisner GLASGOW BOOK CLUB Enjoyable Read We met at the home of Inga, who made us Jane Johnson’s The Tenth Gift, our book for so welcome. With Wendy’s encouragement IMPERIAL CAFÉ Scientifically Speaking Our conversation started on a scientific discussion, was an enjoyable read, giving an we had a discussion which travelled halfway insight into the Barbary pirates of the 17th to Europe, including recipes and things note, with our resident Felix giving us an informative view on the importance of Century. This made for a lively discussion and that used to be. We expressed what our was followed by tea and cake to celebrate the wishes were for 2016 – top of the list was H2O. Harry was able to absorb this with talk of atoms despite his trade in electrical birthdays of two of our Book Club members, everything good for our beloved children Marion and Halina. Anthea Berg and their families. On this special day, we engineering, and Maureen with her amazing also observed a minute’s silence for those news that they had discovered they had BROMLEY Grateful to Come to the UK who were no longer with us, past and recent a relative who was a Nobel Prize-winning The Group met again in the comfort of past. Suzanne Ripton physicist. Esther Rinkoff Lianne’s home. Delicious cakes and cups

ILFORD Looking to the Future We started the new year with a pleasant The AJR has served its members well, historian concludes get-together enabling members to relate r Anthony Grenville, Consultant In its early years, the AJR created an their personal stories and hear how others Editor of the AJR Journal and employment agency, assisted members had spent the last days of 2015. Now we all Dhistorian of the AJR, told a lunchtime with naturalisation problems and look forward to a healthy and happy 2016. staff meeting that members should provided old-age homes for members. Meta Roseneil be proud of belonging to the AJR, an In the 1950s, restitution as well as organisation that had many achievements compensation from the New York-based to its credit. Claims Conference became issues of Copies of AJR member’s Recalling the flight to the UK of Jewish overriding importance. book to be distributed to refugees from Germany and Austria The 1980s saw a decisive turn from schools in Newcastle area following Kristallnacht – the pogroms of political to social work. In the 1990s, November 1938 which were a turning the ‘second generation’ took over he Newcastle Skills Centre has point in the Nazi persecution of the Jews leadership of the organisation and the arranged to distribute copies – Dr Grenville described the history of the Kindertransport Association and Child Tof Sylvia Hurst’s book Laugh AJR from its inception in 1941. Survivors’ Association were affiliated. The Or Cry: A Jewish Childhood in Nazi The AJR’s head office was based in AJR also shifted to dealing with historical Germany, Including the Factual Historic the Swiss Cottage-West Hampstead events, as with the Continental Britons Background (second edition, Durham area of London in which the bulk of the exhibition of 2002 and the Refugee Voices 2015) to secondary schools throughout refugees originally settled. The major oral history project. Nowadays, the AJR is the Newcastle area. driving force of the organisation was the principal representative of Holocaust The copies will be distributed with Werner Rosenstock, its General Secretary survivors in the UK. the endorsement and support of the from 1941 to 1982 and Editor of AJR During the 75 years of its existence the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Information (the precursor of the AJR AJR had represented its members very well, Education (SACRE). Journal) from 1946 to 1982. Dr Grenville concluded.

12 MARCH 2016 journal of tea were served whilst the conversation flowed, with members contributing MARCH GROUP eventS their stories of how they were fortunate Ealing 1 March Andrew Roth: ‘My Hungarian Childhood’ enough to come to Great Britain. A lively Harrogate/York 2 March Social get-together and passionate afternoon with everyone participating. Esther Rinkoff Ilford 2 March Nick Dobson: ‘A Good Laugh – Humour in Literature’ (with readings and pictures) RADLETT An Encore Requested Glasgow Book Club 3 March Social discussion Our speaker Alf Keiles discussed Jewish songwriters, mostly in the USA in the Pinner 3 March Sir Bernard Zissman, Lord Mayor of Birmingham first half of the 20th Century, a group Essex (Westcliff) 8 March David Barnett: ‘The Most Famous Jewish Business in representing a very high proportion of the Victorian London – The Story of E. Moses & Son’ total! Alf has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject, an entertaining delivery and Birmingham 9 March Annual Concert at Town Hall a huge library of recordings to illustrate his Didsbury 9 March Social get-together talk. No wonder the event was met with KT LUNCHES 9 March Hilary Hodsman – her life as an actress great pleasure and interest – we’re hoping for something similar from Alf in the not too Edinburgh 13 March Social get-together distant future! Fritz Starer HGS 14 March David Barnett: ‘The Most Famous Jewish Business in Victorian London – The Story of E. Moses & Son’ DIDSBURY Enjoying a ‘Catch Up’ Members enjoyed a ‘catch up’ while eating Marlow CF 14 March Lunch at home of Alan Kaye a delicious lunch. The discussion focused Edgware 15 March Lesley Urbach: ‘Sir Isaac Shoenberg’ – an electronic on new year resolutions. Most of us felt engineer born in Russia who was best known for his they weren’t terribly effective so we talked role in the history of television about things we hoped to do in 2016 – Norfolk 15 March Phyllida Scrivens – her book about AJR member from moving house to taking more regular Joe Stirling exercise! Wendy Bott Radlett 16 March Susan Shaw JP: ‘Justice of the Peace, Not Jewish Princess’ ‘Was the Holocaust modern?’ Professor Peter Hayes of Northwestern Imperial Café 17 March Meeting at RAF Museum Hendon University Illinois gave the 16th Wessex 17 March Tea and speaker – details to follow Holocaust lecture at the Western Infirmary Lecture Theatre in Glasgow Glasgow 20 March Susan Cohen, Executive Director, Six Point with many AJR members present. Foundation: ‘One Year to Go’; and Sandra Jacobs, SPF Speaking under the title ‘Was the Connect at Natpoint: ‘The SPF Connect Computer Holocaust modern?’, his view was Project – Is It For You?’ that the Holocaust was enabled not Bath/Bristol 21 March Barbara Winton: ‘Sir Nicholas Winton’ by modern methods of organisation Brighton 21 March Lawrence Collin: ‘Don’t Write Me Off Just Yet – and control but by baser mediaeval Jewish Nonagenarians’ instincts. It was, he said, ‘the old line in prejudice in new bottles’. Leeds CF 22 March Gerald Jackman: ‘Gerald’s Choice’ Agnes Isaacs Book Club 23 March Social discussion Prestwich 24 March Social get-together CONTACTS North West London 29 March Dr Susan Cohen: ‘The Life of Eleanor Rathbone’ Oxford 29 March Local author Marcus Ferrar on his books The Susan Harrod Budapest House: A Life Re-discovered and A Foot in Lead Outreach & Events Both Camps: A German Past for Better and for Worse Co-ordinator Wembley 30 March Nick Dobson: ‘An Underground Guide to Literary 020 8385 3070 [email protected] London’ – a virtual tour of London by Tube, stopping Wendy Bott off at places of literary interest Northern Outreach Co-ordinator 07908 156 365 [email protected] North London 31 March David Barnett: ‘The Life of Judith Montefiore’ Agnes Isaacs Northern Outreach Co-ordinator 07908 156 361 [email protected] ARTS AND EVENTS MARCH DIARY Kathryn Prevezer Tues 8 Dr Susan Cohen, author of Rescue Tues 15 The Refugee Crisis – Action the Perishing: Eleanor Rathbone and the Organised by Second Generation Network. Southern Outreach Co-ordinator At Wiener Library, 6.30-9.00 pm. To register 07966 969 951 [email protected] Refugees: ‘A Most Independent Member: Eleanor Rathbone MP (1872-1946)’ go to https://eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-refugee- Esther Rinkoff International Woman’s Day Lecture 2016. At crisis-action-tickets-20913304256 Southern Outreach Co-ordinator House of Commons, Attlee Suite, Portcullis Tues 22 ‘Admission: One Shilling’ The 07966 631 778 [email protected] House, London SW1, 6-7.30 pm. Book through extraordinary story of Dame Myra Hess and her famous wartime concerts, with Eva Stellman https://internationalwomensdayrathbone. eventbrite.co.uk Patricia Routledge and Piers Lane. Musical Southern Outreach Co-ordinator performance followed by buffet supper. At 07904 489 515 [email protected] To Sat 12 ‘Transports’ Pipeline Theatre Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London KT-AJR (Kindertransport) revives its 2013 play. At Pleasance Theatre, WC2. Tel Wiener Library on 020 7636 7247 Susan Harrod London N7, £12 (£10 concessions, £1 booking or email [email protected] 020 8385 3070 [email protected] fee). Story inspired by the experiences of Wed 23 Dr Helen Fry with Susan Ronald: Nazi designer Alan Munden’s mother Liesl, who Looted Art: New Revelations The story of Child Survivors’ Association-AJR was on the last Kindertransport to England. Hildebrand Gurlitt, one of the most important Henri Obstfeld Contact Chris Hislop on 07711 033 205 or at and elusive art dealers of the 20th Century. At 020 8954 5298 [email protected] [email protected] JW3, 2-3.30 pm. Tel 020 7433 8988

13 journal MARCH 2016

CLASSIFIED KT LUNCH JOSEPH PEREIRA Wednesday 9 March 2016 (ex-AJR caretaker over 22 years) is at Alyth Gardens Synagogue Visit to St Albans now available for DIY repairs and 12.30 pm general maintenance. Cathedral and Synagogue No job too small, Monday 7 March 2016 We are delighted to welcome the actress very reasonable rates. Hilary Hodsman, who has appeared in Please telephone 07966 887 485. Please join us for a visit to St Albans a number of theatre, film and television Cathedral, the oldest site of continuous productions and will talk to us about her Christian worship. We will have a interesting career. guided tour lasting approximately one In addition, Hilary’s father came to the UK WHY NOT TRY AJR’S hour, with some walking involved. on the Kindertransport and she is very MEALS ON WHEELS The tour will be followed by lunch in a much looking forward to meeting members. SERVICE? For details and booking, please contact local restaurant and, in the afternoon, The AJR offers a kosher Meals on Wheels Susan Harrod at the AJR on 020 8385 3070 a visit to St Albans Synagogue. service delivered to your door once a week. Established in 1933 and affiliated to or email [email protected] The meals are freshly cooked every week by the United Synagogue, the Synagogue We look forward to seeing you Kosher to Go. They are then frozen prior to delivery. contains two stained glass windows by artist and Hebrew scholar David The cost is £7.00 for a three-course meal Hillman which are considered among (soup, main course, desert) plus a £1 its most cherished ornaments. delivery fee. Our aim is to bring good food to your door Please note there is a fair amount without the worry of shopping or cooking. of walking involved in this outing. For further details, please call Coach travel provided In Need of a Friendly Voice? Want to chat to someone who cares? AJR Head Office on 020 8385 3070. For full details, please call Call The Silver Line Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or email [email protected] The national helpline for older people Any time, day or night From your landline: 0800 4 70 80 90 spring grove From your mobile: 0300 4 70 80 90 London’s Most Luxurious switch on electrics RETIREMENT HOME Rewires and all household 214 Finchley Road electrical work Books Bought London NW3 PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518  Entertainment Mobile: 0795 614 8566 Modern and Old  Activities  Stress Free Living  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine JACKMAN .  Full En-Suite Facilities SILVERMAN Eric Levene Call for more information or a personal tour 020 8446 2117 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 or 020 7794 4455 Telephone: 020 7209 5532 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] I also purchase ephemera

www.fishburnbooks.com LEO BAECK HOUSING ASSOCIATION CLARA NEHAB HOUSE PillarCare Jonathan Fishburn Quality support and care at home RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME buys and sells Small caring residential home Jewish and Hebrew books,  Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours with large attractive gardens ephemera and items of close to local shops and public transport  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care Jewish interest. 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities.  Convalescent and Personal Health Care He is a member of the 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care  Compassionate and Affordable Service Antiquarian Booksellers Entertainment & Activities provided.  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff Association. Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room  Registered with the CQC and UKHCA • Lift access to all floors. Contact Jonathan on For further information please contact: Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 020 8455 9139 The Manager, Clara Nehab House, PILLARCARE 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB or 07813 803 889 Telephone: 020 8455 2286 PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 www.pillarcare.co.uk for more information

14 MARCH 2016 journal ObituarIES Lord Weidenfeld, born Vienna 13 September 1919, died London 20 January 2016 rthur George Weidenfeld was born later to publish. for international discourse: an only child into a Viennese middle- On his return to London, the Club of Three. After the class Jewish family of modest means; he took full control of his 9/11 attacks he applied a hisA parents were Max and Rosa. He attended publishing firm. In 1952 he similar format to the Ameurus the well-known Piaristengymnasium and the married Jane Sieff of the Marks project, initiating conferences Diplomatic College of Vienna University. & Spencer family; their only on politics and the arts with In the summer of 1938 George obtained child, Laura, was born in 1953. participants from the USA, a visa for the UK and, with the assistance The first breakthrough Russia and a number of of Quakers, was able to bring his parents to for Weidenfeld & Nicolson European countries. the UK before the outbreak of the war. The came in 1953, when they For Weidenfeld, work family settled near Stroud, Gloucestershire. published Isaiah Berlin’s and social life were a George was said to have arrived in England The Hedgehog and the Fox. At seamless whole. He relished with only 16 shillings and a small suitcase. around the same time, Marshal all his connections and his From virtually the moment of his arrival Tito’s memoirs became the demanding social life, never in London, George met leading British Jews firm’s first bestseller. lost his deep affection for at Woburn House, the headquarters of the The decision to publish Vladimir Nabokov’s Austria, and created exceptionally close British organisations for the relief of refugees, Lolita in the UK in 1959 catapulted the firm links with Germany. In the 2011 New Year’s and was soon being invited to the Hampstead from the literary pages to the front pages. The honours list, he was appointed GBE. homes of Jewish intellectuals. authorities decided against prosecution: Lolita Following on from his friendship with In 1939 he joined the BBC’s Overseas sold well and confirmed the publisher’s daring Kohl, he befriended Angela Merkel, well Service, the wartime forerunner of the BBC reputation. before she came to political prominence and, World Service. Working as a commentator on Weidenfeld also spotted the potential when she became Chancellor, Weidenfeld European affairs, he interviewed numerous of Victor Klemperer’s diaries of a Jew in became a trusted counsellor. prominent figures, including Charles de Nazi Germany, successful in Germany but Over the years Weidenfeld was awarded Gaulle and the Czechoslovak politician unnoticed internationally. a number of German and Austrian honours. Edvard Benes. His BBC colleagues included The memoirs, biographies and He became even more prominent in Germany George Orwell and Richard Crossman. autobiographies of political figures he secured after developing a close association with After the war he started up the magazine were numerous – among many others, those the Springer press, above all with its chief Contact, which was designed as an outlet for of Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Henry executive, Mathias Döpfner. Weidenfeld smallish books. His association with Nigel Kissinger, Golda Meir and Shimon Peres. became a household name in Germany as Nicolson began soon after the war and in Among bestselling authors he published were a regular columnist in two of the Springer 1949 they launched the firm Weidenfeld & Edna O’Brien, Saul Bellow and Antonia Fraser. newspapers: Die Welt and Welt am Sonntag. Nicolson. In the mid-70s Weidenfeld met Ann Getty, Germany was virtually a second home. Later in 1949 he took a year’s leave a connection which led to, inter alia, the In the last months of his life, Lord of absence from the fledgling publishing decision to set up a Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld sought to ‘repay the debt’ to the house to become chef de cabinet to Chaim imprint in the USA. In 1991 he sold the firm British Christians who had helped him to Weizmann, Israel’s first head of state. His to the publisher Anthony Cheetham, who settle in Britain, gathering ‘some very high- principal task was to keep Weizmann retitled it Orion. minded friends, Jews and Christians’ to fund informed about world affairs and their Weidenfeld devoted much of his attention a rescue mission to bring Christian families bearing on Israel. Among prominent to the promotion of better understanding out of Syria and Iraq and resettle them. diplomats he met both inside and outside between Britain, France and Germany. In Lord Weidenfeld was married four times: Israel were David Ben-Gurion and Moshe 1996, with a group of friends, including to Jane Sieff, Barbara Skelton, Sandra Meyer Dayan, whose books and biographies he was Helmut Kohl, he created another vehicle and Annabelle Whitestone.

Denis George Avey, born Essex 11 January 1919, died Bradwell, Derbyshire, 17 July 2015 y husband will be remembered for honoured Denis. Their diploma reads ‘We schools and synagogues as well as to, among his book The Man Who Broke into hereby grant this diploma to many others, The Nicky Auschwitz (2011), written with Dennis Avey as a humble token Alliance Day Centre in BBCM journalist Rob Broomby. The book of recognition for his unique Manchester, the Beth narrates how, as a prisoner in a camp for British courage and spirit and pledge to Shalom Holocaust Centre soldiers adjacent to Monowitz, he helped save divulge his legacy to the future in Laxton, Nottingham, the life of Ernst Lobenthal, a Jewish inmate generations.’ The Foundation and Cambridge University. of Auschwitz. Having eventually reached also sent a famous artist to paint Each year following 2011 America, Ernst gave testimony to the Shoah his portrait, which now hangs we were visited at our home Foundation confirming the abovementioned in their New York museum. in Bradwell by parties of fact. Denis also received a letter of appreciation disabled Jewish war veterans – always a great Along with Sir Nicholas Winton, Denis from Yad Vashem, which states ‘The record pleasure to both of us. received the British Heroes of the Holocaust of the humane conduct of Denis Avey will be Denis is sadly missed by his wife Audrey award. They were the only two people then preserved in the archives for the benefit of future and their daughter Gillian along with other living to do so. generations.’ family and friends. In 2010 the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation Denis spent his latter years talking to Audrey R. Avey

15 journal MARCH 2016

them to climb to social, professional and intellectual heights. The article, lavishly adorned with Dorothea Shefer-Vanson nostalgic family photographs, could well have come from the pages of the AJR Journal and, as I read it, I felt the strings of the land Even more so … of my birth tugging fiercely at my heart. t’s one of the best-kept secrets of British in the late nineteenth and early twentieth The piece ends with some well considered journalism that the Life and Arts section centuries and, far from being penniless thoughts about Britain, assimilationism of the Financial Times’s weekend edition refugees, were moneyed professionals. and the lessons to be learned with regard Icontains some of the best written and most Their deep-seated attachment to German to Islam and the current immigration issue. stimulating articles and reviews. So, as we culture (especially the music of Wagner) did As Buruma points out, Judaism has nothing were leaving the airport of our almost next- not prevent them from becoming equally similar to violent jihadism but, leaving that door neighbour of Cyprus for the brief attached to all things British – literature, aside, it is possible to hope that the second flight home on a Saturday night, I picked cricket and even Christmas (not solely and third generations of immigrants will up a copy of the ‘pink’un’, as it’s known British, I know) – or from identifying with find their place in what has become an among the cognoscenti, to try to retain my Britain in the tradition of immigrants who increasingly multicultural Britain. connection with the best of Blighty. become ‘British through-and-through’. In what I think is the most telling phrase, Imagine my surprise then when I opened They abandoned their ancestors’ Buruma concludes his article by remarking the aforesaid section to find an enormous attachment to Orthodox Judaism but couldn’t that his grandparents were fortunate in front-page article entitled ‘More British shake off their Jewish cachet and developed a being able to find their place ‘in a relatively than the British’ by Ian Buruma, a writer/ family code-term, ‘forty-five’, for referring to decent society during frequently indecent journalist previously unknown to me, matters redolent of the insidious and typically times. One can only hope that, eventually, describing the German-Jewish roots of British form of anti-Semitism. Although other children of immigrants will feel as his family (he notes that his Schlesinger some professional avenues were closed to lucky as they did.’ grandparents took in ten Kindertransport them others were not and their obvious I’m sure I’m not alone in heartily children). His ancestors came to Britain intelligence, abilities and persistence enabled endorsing that view.

 letters to the editor cont. from p.7 I do not wish to invoke the hierarchy younger man. quota of celebrities. of suffering: a comparison of suffering One mainly thinks of Jewish refugees as The present mass movement of and its after-effects cannot stand up to being very elderly and they seemed so even refugees is lacking in a similar celebrity scrutiny. during my childhood 50 years ago, when quota. Without us realising it, this may We, children who survived in Nazi- most of those we knew were somewhat have influenced our perception of the occupied Europe, found that people did younger than I am now! present refugee crisis. not wish to hear our stories because they Janet Weston, Westerham, Kent Nicholas Pal, London NW6 were often too disturbing, while some ‘experts’ have tended to marginalise REFUGEES ‘LACK CELEBRITY QUOTA’ FOR A TWO-STATE SOLUTION our voices as being of little importance. Sir – Recently I read a report on an Sir – Frank Bright’s one-sided and Therefore for many tens of years we were exhibition in the Albert Einstein museum in doctrinaire letter (January) hardly merits reluctant to speak. As a small group, we Bern, Switzerland. The ease with which the a response. But his claim that the Arabs are usually overlooked. Nobel Prize-winning scientist transferred were as culpable of the Holocaust as the Returning to the phrase ‘All of us’, I from a Nazified German university to perpetrators shows that he is as bigoted feel it is about time that we child survivors Princeton must have been the envy of as the Arab journalist he quotes. Happily were allowed to speak up for ourselves. thousands seeking admission to the USA. a growing minority of Israelis see the And we should. Sigmund Freud’s escape from Vienna Israel-Palestine conflict quite differently, Henri Obstfeld, Stanmore to London was not quite so smooth but as shown by frequent marches and it wasn’t too difficult either. As we know, demonstrations calling for a peaceful two- TIMELESS REFLECTIONS not only Jews sought refuge from the state solution to the conflict. Sir – I read the sad news of Lord Nazis. The great Hungarian composer Incidentally, I was sorry to learn from Weidenfeld’s death, one of a number of Bela Bartok gave up a comfortable life the letter by Susan Jacobs (‘Kristallnacht obituaries about Jewish refugees with in Budapest to establish himself in New service’, January) that she found my interesting lives, in the national press York. Nazified Hungary, engulfed in war, address in Belsize Square Synagogue on recently. Their passing made me feel was not the place from which to make 11 November last inaudible. If she would terribly sad. a bid for world fame. But Bartok found like to let me have her address (I can be More refreshingly, I caught a glimpse the growing restrictions on his Jewish reached at [email protected]), I of an old edition of Tomorrow’s World colleagues unacceptable. The great would be happy to send her a typescript. showing Professor Heinz Wolff as a refugee flood fleeing the Nazis had a high Leslie Baruch Brent, London N19

Published by The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), a company limited by guarantee. Registered office: Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL Registered in England and Wales with charity number: 1149882 and company number: 8220991 Telephone 020 8385 3070 Fax 020 8385 3080 e-mail [email protected] For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters LLP, 26 St Albans Lane, London NW11 7QB Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected]

16