VOLume 13 NO.1 january 2013

The culture of Viennese Jewry at the fin de siècle

he wealth of culture that the Jewish Hans Kelsen, Theodor Herzl, founder of assumed the leading role in the Holy community of Vienna developed in Zionism, and Sigmund Freud, founder Roman Empire of the German Nation. T the short period of its flourishing of psychoanalysis. Then there are the In 1521, the Austrian Duchies had come – between the middle of the nineteenth cabaret artists and university professors, under the rule of Ferdinand I, a staunch century and its destruction by the Nazis the journalists (not least Moritz Benedikt Catholic from Spain. Ferdinand and his – is the more astonishing as Vienna had of the Neue Freie Presse), the feminists successors proceeded against religious no Jewish community of any size before and photographers, the salonnières and dissenters with severe measures, aiming the mid-nineteenth century. Jews were sociologists … to squeeze Protestantism out of Viennese banned from what was then the imperial This cultural flowering took place public life. That process was largely capital until the revolution of 1848 and under historical and cultural conditions completed by the time of the second siege were not fully emancipated from all that were particular to Vienna. At the of Vienna by the Turks in 1683. restrictions of residence until 1867, as This had serious consequences for part of the reforms that followed Austria’s the character and quality of the civic life defeat by Prussia in the war of 1866. of Vienna. The city, like other European Viennese Jewry was a cultural centre cities in the later Middle Ages, had of European-wide significance in the begun to develop an autonomous urban later nineteenth and early twentieth civic and political life, centred on its centuries; the very concept of ‘fin-de-siècle burghers, merchants and traders. This Vienna’, with its avant-garde association segment of Viennese society, independent with the dislocations and dissonances of economically and in its politics, was also Modernism, was in very large measure independent-minded in its welcome of the dependent on Viennese Jewry. For it was reformed Protestant religion and of the that community which was responsible new ideas of humanism and rationalism for producing much of the city’s culture, that spread with the Renaissance. It was in the form of its artists, composers, that entire spectrum of independence that writers, theatre and film directors, as well Arthur Schnitzler, Vienna’s greatest playwright was repressed by the forces of the Counter- as providing a large part of the audiences, Reformation and by Habsburg power. readers, visitors to exhibitions and other time of the full emancipation of the Jews Protestantism disappeared, and with it consumers of culture, not to mention the of Austria in 1867, Vienna was still very went Viennese municipal self-government producers, impresarios, gallery owners much a city marked by the triumph of the and the budding free Viennese and art dealers who were the facilitators Counter-Reformation in the seventeenth Bürgertum, bearer of the values of sturdy of the cultural scene. century and the Baroque culture that it independence, free-thinking self-reliance The Jewish contribution to the culture produced there. This was most obviously and political autonomy. Instead, Vienna of Vienna in the late nineteenth and early true of the dominance of Catholicism was to become the seat of the imperial twentieth centuries extended across the and the Catholic Church, the religion court, where the high aristocracy held range of cultural and intellectual activity. of the Habsburg establishment, whose sway alongside the Catholic Church, with It encompassed a large number of famous buildings and monuments occupied a its overriding hostility to modern trends of names, as in the field of literature, to take prominent place on the city’s skyline, as thought. Vienna only regained its civic self- just one example: Arthur Schnitzler, Karl it was of the influence of Catholicism on government in the mid-nineteenth century. Kraus, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Felix Vienna’s popular and high culture. Yet in The resurgence of Catholicism had Salten, Hermann Broch, Franz Werfel, the sixteenth century Vienna had been negative consequences for the Jews. The Elias Canetti, Friedrich Torberg, Hilde very receptive to the Reformation and a Jews of Vienna had experienced periodic Spiel, Hugo Bettauer, Joseph Roth, Peter significant proportion of its citizens had bouts of persecution and expulsion over Altenberg, Stefan Zweig, Vicki Baum been Protestants. the centuries: the city’s great Catholic and Richard Beer Hoffmann. No list of The triumph of the Counter-Reformation preachers, from Johannes Capistranus Vienna’s Jews can omit the composers in the seventeenth century also saw in the fifteenth century to Abraham a Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg, the triumph of the Catholic house of Sancta Clara in the seventeenth, had the conductor Bruno Walter, the director Habsburg, which, apart from its hereditary been notably hostile to Jews. In 1669, Max Reinhardt, the philosophers Ludwig rule over its Austrian lands, also held the Emperor Leopold I set about expelling Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, the lawyer office of Holy Roman Emperor and thus continued overleaf  AJR JOURNAL january 2013

 The culture of Viennese Jewry continued AJR HOLOCAUST the Jews from Vienna, a prohibition that prestige from their position at the head MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE was not formally overturned for nearly of the Holy Roman Empire. But dynastic 'Communities Together: 200 years. The Habsburgs needed Jews tradition and religious sanction could Build a Bridge’ to finance their wars but treated them not supply the efficiency and cohesion Thursday 24 January 2013 with scant respect once they had outlived required of a modern state. Austria never 2.00 pm their usefulness. Samuel Oppenheimer, succeeded in meeting the challenges of at Belsize Square Synagogue, Leopold I’s court banker from 1680 to the modern era. In the late eighteenth 51 Belsize Square, 1703, acted as both financier and military century, the reforms of Emperor Joseph London, NW3 4HX contractor, making possible the war that II, which included the first declaration of Guest Speaker: saved Christendom from the infidel Turk tolerance for Jews, ended in failure. After Sir Andrew Burns, UK Envoy in 1683. But when he died, the regime 1789, the French Revolution confronted for Post-Holocaust Issues cancelled its debts to him and declared the Habsburg Empire with demands for Rabbi Stuart Altshuler will lead the his bank bankrupt. popular democracy and for autonomous service, during which AJR members The culture into which the Jewish self-government for national groups; but will light memorial candles and community of Vienna developed after the Habsburg autocracy never conceded Kaddish will be recited. The Akiva 1867 still contained defining elements the first demand, while the second would School Choir will participate. from the Baroque. The lavish ostentation have spelt the break-up of the multi-ethnic Please bring your children and of Baroque Catholic religious architecture Empire. The defeat of Napoleon in 1815 grandchildren, who will be very and decoration helped to create a highly was followed by a long period of reaction welcome. visual culture that appealed strongly to under the chancellorship of Metternich, Light Refreshments will be provided the senses, unlike the modest austerity broken only by the revolution of 1848. after the service. that marked Protestant, and in its way But that revolution failed. Its For catering purposes, please also Jewish culture. The sensuous aspect suppression was followed by another reserve a seat by contacting Karin of Vienna was noted by all observers, with decade of absolute rule under the new Pereira on 020 8385 3070 or at its visual pageantry, its artistic pretensions emperor, Francis Joseph, until defeat in [email protected] and its sheer love of enjoyment and self- the Italian war of 1859 forced the start indulgence, which was assisted not a little of constitutional reform, a process that by the city’s centuries-old association with culminated in the instalment of a liberal its vineyards and their products. parliamentary regime after Austria’s NATIONAL HOLOCAUST But this pleasure-loving front concealed defeat by Prussia in 1866. Even that, MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE a profound awareness of the transitory and however, proved to be a false dawn. After Monday 28 January 2012 illusory nature of existence, which found the economic crash of 1873, the liberals 3.30 pm expression in the Baroque metaphor were forced into retreat; in the 1890s, they at The Queen Elizabeth II of life as a dream. The Viennese were lost control of Vienna, their stronghold, Conference Centre, famed for their light-hearted charm, to the avowedly anti-liberal and anti- Broad Sanctuary, Westminster but that apparent frivolity contained Semitic Christian Socials. The growth There is a strictly limited number an underlying element of fatalism, of radical nationalism and the failure of of places, offered on a first-come- deriving from a sense of the unreality liberalism formed the background to first-served basis, on coaches from and impermanent insubstantiality of life, the development of Viennese Jewry in locations in North-West London and as well as an alarming propensity for the decades before 1914; along with the Ilford for refugees and survivors. brutality. It was, appropriately, in Vienna glittering prospects opened up to Jews Please contact Karin Pereira on that Sigmund Freud conceived his project by the modern metropolis, these factors 020 8385 3070 or at of the interpretation of dreams and his created the matrix from which Viennese [email protected] if you would like exploration of the influence of instinctive Jewish culture emerged. to attend and/or would like drives on the human mind. This article is an abridged version of a a seat on a coach. After the defeat of the Turks in 1683, lecture given at the London Jewish Cultural Vienna emerged as the capital of a great Centre on 12 September 2012. Part 2 will empire. However, Austria remained a follow next month (Ed.). Reception at the disparate agglomeration of territories Anthony Grenville Austrian Embassy held together solely by the fact that they To commemorate the 75th were ruled by the house of Habsburg, AJR Chief Executive Anniversary of the Anschluss which relied for its legitimacy on the Michael Newman Wednesday 13 March 2013 at 6.30 pm Directors dynastic tradition whereby rule over its Carol Rossen His Excellency Ambassador territories passed from one emperor David Kaye Emil Brix will host a to the next. Habsburg Austria was, Head of Department reception for AJR members first and foremost, a dynastic unit and Sue Kurlander Social Services Refreshments will be provided. for the Habsburgs dynastic interests AJR Journal For catering and security purposes, Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor places must be reserved. took priority. The dynasty supplied the Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor The AJR will be providing transport. unifying factor binding together its many Andrea Goodmaker Secretarial/Advertisements Pick-up points and timings will be subject nationalities; consequently, when confirmed once all applications are received. Habsburg rule collapsed in 1918, the Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not Please contact Susan Harrod on Empire vanished from the map. necessarily those of the Association of Jewish 020 8385 3078 or at [email protected] Refugees and should not be regarded as such. The Habsburgs derived unrivalled

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Return to the city of endless nightmares ecently I was invited to Vienna the queuing to try to get exit visas and bravery and benevolence the Albanians by the Austrian Gedenkdienst, the constant disappointment of being displayed towards us all. I learned that Ralong with four other Jewish turned down again and again and they had risked their lives sheltering over refugees, to relate our experiences of again. I had experienced a sense of hope 3,000 Jewish refugees – and not a single the Holocaust at a number of schools. only when I approached the Albanian one had been handed to the Germans For one of my talks, I returned to embassy: the large ‘J’ on my passport even during the Nazi occupation. the high school from which in March didn’t make them recoil in disgust – they Besa continues even today, 1938 I was expelled for being Jewish – I treated me with kindness and respect. successfully demonstrating how multi- was then just 15 years old. Strangely, I I hadn’t known at that time that faith communities can live in peace and found the return visit both traumatic Albanians have their own traditional harmony. I wonder if there is a lesson and joyful for not only did it dredge up code of conduct – besa – in accordance here from which we could all learn? the old feelings of rejection and hatred with which strangers are made welcome T. Scarlett Epstein but it also provided me with a degree and offered help regardless of their of closure: instead of being jeered and colour, religion or status in society. taunted, I was now welcomed as an However, I was soon to learn what a honoured guest by staff and students difference besa would make to our spring grove alike. I vividly remembered the day I lives. During my five months’ stay in RETIREMENT HOME had left Austria and written in my diary the country I was met by people who, 214 Finchley Road with venom ‘I am leaving my beautiful instead of persecuting me, made me feel London NW3 Vienna, the city I used to love so much valued. I became a tutor to two young London’s Most Luxurious but now loathe so fiercely. I shall never, girls and subsequently was asked to ever return.’ Thus it was with a huge teach the Italian ambassador German.  Entertainment  Activities sense of relief that I could see the This was to prove hugely fortuitous as,  Stress Free Living positive changes that had occurred once again, my life was saved through  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine  Full En-Suite Facilities in Austria over the subsequent years the intervention of another. and the Austrians’ ongoing attempt to Finally arriving in England, I knew my Call for more information or a personal tour eradicate anti-Semitism. running was over. I worked as a machin- 020 8446 2117 As I recounted my escape, I found the ist sewing soldiers’ uniforms, undertook or 020 7794 4455 years slipping away and I was reliving a numerous roles and over the years [email protected] time I had spent so long trying to forget was fortunate enough to be awarded – the fear of someone hammering on the ­scholarships which enabled me ulti- front door, listening out for the signal to mately to become a university professor. run and hide, the endless nightmares, However, I have never forgotten­ the JACKMAN . SILVERMAN A new dawn for the AJR COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS ollowing the Special General Meeting as previously announced, will have the right (SGM) on 15 November last year, the to nominate future Directors and to vote FAJR has, with effect from 1 January upon their appointment. There will be no 2013, been reorganised and is now consti- change to the delivery or quality of any of tuted as a charitable company limited by the ­organisation’s social welfare and care guarantee. The formal name is The Associ­ ­services or your access or entitlement to Telephone: 020 7209 5532 ation of Jewish Refugees (AJR). the financial assistance we provide. There [email protected] The SGM was called to ask members will be a complete continuity of all of our to vote on specific resolutions, all of services. which were passed unanimously, that I am also delighted that colleagues proposed to bring together the activities who so capably served on the Board of and services of The Association of Jewish Management of the Society and as Trustees switch on electrics Refugees in Great Britain Friendly Society of the Charitable Trust will join me in Rewires and all household (the membership Society) and the AJR forming the charitable company’s first electrical work Charitable Trust (the Trust that finances Board of Directors, namely: Eleanor Angel, PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 our activities) into one modern and Gaby Glassman, Frank Harding, Joanna Mobile: 0795 614 8566 streamlined organisation. Millan, Sir Erich Reich, David Rothenberg, As I explained at the meeting, the law Anthony Spiro and Philippa Strauss. Their and regulation of charities had changed skills, experience and familiarity with our significantly since the Society and then members as well as their commitment to Annely Juda the Trust were created and it was now our aims and philosophy will stand the necessary to ensure that the AJR was organisation in good stead for the future. Fine Art best constituted to conform with current As ever, my colleagues greatly look 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) legislation and to meet our objectives. forward to seeing you at our forthcoming Tel: 020 7629 7578 As part of the reorganisation, ­members events and join me in wishing you all the Fax: 020 7491 2139 of the Society will become associate best for 2013. CONTEMPORARY PAINTING members of the charitable company and, Andrew Kaufman AND SCULPTURE

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Jewish film-makers in Germany during the silent era: The untold story by Joel Finler t is a well-known fact that for from the theatre when he first began Fritz Lang, the Romanian-born Lupu a brief period during the 1920s producing films too through his Union Pick and Carl Mayer. Both the half-Jewish IGermany stood out as the leading Film, which soon developed into the Lang (Jewish mother, Catholic father) and film-­producing country in Europe. Both most prestigious production company Dupont started out as scriptwriters but in terms of the quality of its pictures and in Germany. soon graduated to directing. Karl Grune the sheer quantity of films produced, The first really important break- and Pick came from the theatre, as did Germany was the only country which through was in 1914-16, when an Fritz Kortner, best known as a brilliant presented a serious challenge to the especially interesting group from the actor who occasionally directed as well. worldwide domination by the Ameri- theatre included many who would The formation of the giant UFA cans. It was the UFA (Universum Film soon become established figures. In combine in 1917, incorporating Aktien Gesellschaft), the conglomerate 1914 alone Richard Oswald and Rob- Davidson’s Union Film and Pommer’s formed in December 1917, which led ert Wiene, along with Galeen, began Decla Co., further set the scene for the the way. It organised film production, directing their first films, while the explosion of talent which took place distribution and exhibition in artist Paul Leni gained his initial beginning in the immediate post-war Germany on a large scale and experience as an art direc- years, with many of the Jewish film- thus was able to compete Freund’s tor before graduating to makers prominent. There was quite a with the giant American remarkable directing in 1916. But range of different types of films too. film studios. run of films continued most ­important of all Lang, for example, had his first major What is less well was the first appear- success as a writer-director with the known is the leading in 1925-26 with Metropolis, ance on screen of elaborate two-part thriller Die Spinnen role played by a the largest, most ambitious Ernst Lubitsch. He (The Spiders) in 1918-19, produced by remarkable group of (and costly) production of the played a supporting Pommer and photographed by Freund, talented Jewish film- role in one of his while Mme. DuBarry (also 1919) was an makers, especially decade. This imaginative, first pictures, Die elaborate historical drama from Lubitsch writers, directors futuristic fantasy-drama was Firma Hierat (The and Davidson which starred Pola Negri and producers. produced by Erich Pommer and Hierat Company), and Emil Jannings. There were also a From the early­ filmed in 1913, few films with Jewish themes. Writer- 1910s onwards, one directed by Fritz Lang, with then again played a director Richard Oswald (born Ornstein) can already observe­ elaborate sets, mass Jewish comic char- brought a number of Jewish subjects a notable Jewish pres- action sequences and acter as the star of to the screen in 1914-18, including ence. During the the sequel, Der Stolz two films starring Rudolf Schildkraut: ­following years many innovative special effects der Firma (The Pride Dämon und Mensch (Devil and Man, Jews who had gained devised by cameraman of the Company, 1914). 1915) and Schlemihl. Ein Lebensbild their first experience in Eugen Schüfftan. And soon after he began (Schlemihl: A Biography, 1916). And the flourishing ­German directing his films too. he then produced a highly original and theatre were newly attract- In the following years controversial feature on the subject of ed to the cinema. And the Lubitsch made his name as a homosexuality in Anders als die Andern new arrivals included many talented Jewish actor-director in such inventive (Different from the Others) in 1919. ­individuals from countries such as and entertaining short features as Davidson produced two memorable ­Austria and Hungary, which could not Schuhpalast Pinkus (The Pinkus Shoe Jewish films: Der Gelbe Schein (The offer the kind of ­opportunities and crea- Palace, 1916), his first big success as Yellow Passport) in 1918 starring Pola tive freedom to be found in Berlin. The a director and in which he appeared Negri as a young Jewess in Tsarist directors Fritz Lang, Wilhelm Thiele and as an ambitious but likeable young Russia forced to take a ‘yellow passort’ Carl Grune were Austrian, along with shoe shop employee, and Meyer aus classifying her as a prostitute so as to the writers Carl Mayer and Billy Wilder Berlin (Meyer from Berlin, 1918). These travel to St Petersburg, and a remarkable and the actor Anton Walbrook; from films also marked the beginning of a film version of the classic Jewish folk Hungary came the director Paul Czinner,­ ten-year relationship with producer drama Der Golem (The Golem) in 1920. the writer Emeric Pressburger and the Paul Davidson as Lubitsch emerged Set in the 16th century, this film made actor Peter Lorre; while the brilliant as the leading director in Germany. use of some extraordinary stylised sets Czech-born cameraman Karl Freund Lubitsch himself noted at the time that depicting the Prague ghetto, while Karl came from Bohemia. ‘Jewish humour, wherever it appears, is Freund once again played an essential The earliest Jewish film pioneers, sympathetic and artistic and plays such role behind the camera providing from about 1911, were producer-director a big role everywhere that it would be atmospheric lighting. However, the Joe May (Joseph Mandel), a former ridiculous not to include it in cinema.’ most celebrated title of these years director of theatre and operetta, The other outstanding new arrival was Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari the ­Galicia-born ­actor Henrik Galeen on the scene at this time (1915) was (The Cabinet of Dr Caligari), a horror- ­(Heinrich Wiesenberg), who soon gradu- the producer Erich Pommer. A few fantasy-drama produced by Pommer ated to scriptwriting and then directing, years younger than Davidson, he would and directed by Robert Wiene in 1919. and Paul Davidson. Starting out as a soon emerge as a leading force in the Best remembered for its extraordinary film distributor and owner of a chain ­industry, hiring and promoting many of distorted and stylised sets and the of cinemas, Davidson was especially the new Jewish writers and directors, powerful performances of Conrad Veidt successful in attracting talented figures including Robert Wiene, E. A. Dupont, continued opposite 

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Michael Balcon and filmed at the UFA studios in Babelsberg. As he recalled in the 1970s, ‘Those were the great days of the German pictures … The studio where I worked was tremendous, bigger than Universal is today.’ With major assistance from camera- man Karl Freund, Dupont in turn had his biggest international success with the circus and trapeze drama Varieté Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang in 1925-26, (Variety), starring Emil Jannings and starred (from left) Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klein- produced by Pommer. Fresh from Rogge and Brigitte Helm (the robot) Der Letzte Mann (The Last Man) the previous year (scripted by Carl Mayer), Freund’s remarkable run of films continued in 1925-26 with Metropolis, Conrad Veidt as Cesare, the scary somnam- the largest, most ambitious (and bulist and murderer in Dr. Caligari (1919) Das Kabinett des costly) ­production of the decade. This imaginative, ­futuristic fantasy-drama was produced by ­Pommer and directed by Fritz Lang, with elaborate sets, mass action sequences and innovative special Paul Wegener directed and starred in effects devised by cameraman Eugen Golem (1920) Der Schüfftan. Unfortunately, UFA’s growing financial problems emerged more clearly in 1925 when Metropolis was in production. Unfairly blamed for the crisis, Pommer resigned as production chief in January Ernst Lubitsch plays a Jewish comic character 1926. He was immediately attracted in one of his earliest films (1915) to Hollywood along with a number of the Jewish directors, including Paul Two years later Ludwig Berger made Leni, Ludwig Berger, Lothar Mendes, a successful venture into lightweight Paul Stein and E. A. Dupont, as well as Conrad Veidt played the tortured hero of fantasy with an entertaining adapta- the writer Carl Mayer and the director Der Student von Prag (directed by Henrik Galeen, 1926) tion of the Cinderella story, produced F. W. Murnau. Nevertheless, the Jewish and Werner Krauss in the leading roles, by Pommer and appropriately retitled contribution to the late German silent the nightmarish story and script were Der verlorene Schuh (The Lost Shoe). cinema continued to be exceptional. provided by two Jewish writers, Carl Filmed at around the same time, E. A. While this brief survey has drawn Mayer and Hans Janowitz. Dupont’s Das Alte Gesetz (The Ancient attention to the many leading Jewish One of the most brilliant figures Law) is of special interest as it presents film-makers and a number of key films, of the German silent cinema, Mayer a fully realised depiction of life in a Jew- it is difficult to do more than hint at went on to script two of the most ish shtetl in Eastern Europe – a relative the large number of pictures turned out important films of the burgeoning rarity within the German silent cinema. year after year, with the participation Kammerspielfilm movement of realistic In a plot which anticipates that of The of many of the less well known Jewish contemporary social dramas in 1921: Jazz Singer four years later, the young, writers, directors, producers, technicians Scherben (Shattered), directed by Lupu aspiring actor hero, the son of a rabbi, and actors. (The appendix to Professor Pick, and Hintertreppe (Backstairs), played by Ernst Deutsch, rejects his S. S. Prawer’s book Between Two directed by Paul Leni with sets designed Jewish heritage to travel to Vienna to Worlds: Jewish Presences in German by Alfred Junge. Mayer also provided appear on stage at the Burgtheater, but and Austrian Film, 1910-1933 (2005) the original story for Karl Grune’s Die is reconciled with his father at the end. provides a check list of, among others, Strasse (The Street, 1923), a key film in In 1924 Paul Leni directed his most over 30 Jewish directors, 40 writers, 20 the related genre of urban street films remarkable and darkest film, Das Wachs- cameramen and 20 producers.) or Strassenfilm. figurenkabinett (Waxworks), reflecting For example, Marlene Dietrich starred Joe May directed an exotic action- his strong visual background as a lead- in a number of films in 1926-29, work- adventure movie in two parts: Das ing production designer. The script ing with such Jewish directors as Willi indische Grabmal (The Indian Tomb) in was by Henrik Galeen, who had also Wolff, Robert Land, Alexander Korda 1921, co-scripted by the prolific Fritz co-scripted Der Golem four years earlier and Kurt Bernhardt. Bernhardt’s Die Lang, who demonstrated his mastery and then gone on to direct and co-script Frau nach der Mann sich sehnt (The of low-key drama and elaborate thrillers a similarly dark and mysterious drama, Women Men Yearn For, 1929) co-starred with Der müde Tod (Destiny), also in Der Student von Prag (The Student of Fritz Kortner and benefited from a typi- 1921, followed by Dr. Mabuse, der Prague, 1926) starring Conrad Veidt. cally Jewish production team, including Spieler (Dr Mabuse the Gambler, 1922). At around this time (1924) a young scriptwriter Ladislaus Vajda, art director And in 1921 Lubitsch contributed Alfred Hitchcock was employed as the Robert Neppach, and Curt Courant be- one last, brilliant costume drama for art director of German/British joint hind the cameras. producer Davidson: Das Weib des productions, co-produced by Pommer After a relatively unsuccessful stint Pharao (The Loves of Pharaoh). and the young British-Jewish producer continued on page 10 

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alive, now in the ‘third generation’. Just as Dorothea Shefer-Vanson remembers her father listening to Verdi’s Requiem, I remember my father doing the same. He played it again and again and, after some time, during one summer wrote the book. Petr Bor, Prague, Czech Republic

The Editor reserves the right VOLUNTEERS WANTED to shorten correspondence Sir – The Wiener Library is looking for submitted for publication volunteers to help sort and index our Press Archive on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. If you can commit to either of those days on a regular basis THANK-YOU BRITAIN FUND the ­Committee, but my colleagues never for the next year and are able to read Ger- Sir – Whenever the Thank-You Britain Fund failed to acknowledge­ my role as the ‘onlie man, please contact me on 020 7636 7247 is mentioned in your pages I feel a pang of begetter’. or at [email protected]. discomfort. This is due to the subtle shift in Perhaps I should be above minding at Kat Hubschmann, Senior Librarian, emphasis when it comes to the Fund’s origin this late stage – the more so as I don’t Wiener Library, London WC1 and history, with the AJR moving centre regard the Thank-You Britain Fund as my stage and I appearing among the extras. major contribution to British public life INFORMATION WANTED In his appeal for funds in the November and my sense of gratitude is becoming Sir – I am studying for a Masters degree in issue, Anthony Grenville refers to an earlier as misty as Mr Grenville’s grasp of the Jewish History and Culture at Southampton article which did indeed make more of the history of the Fund. It may be of interest University and am preparing a dissertation part I played, but always a little grudgingly that I proposed to Lord Robbins that he on the ways in which Jewish refugees from and historically unbalanced. approach the Honours Committee with a Nazi Europe were received and treated by The Thank-You Britain Fund (including view to getting a gong for Mr Behr. He duly the Jewish community in Britain. its name) was my idea, and mine alone, obliged and Mr Behr got his OBE. I would be glad to hear from anyone brought into being by my letter to the Victor Ross, London NW8 with personal experience or from members Observer suggesting its creation as a Anthony Grenville: My article was intended of the Second Generation who might grateful acknowledgement of how we as background to a fund-raising appeal, preserve family memories. refugees had benefited. There was an not as a detailed historical account of the Lesley Urbach, London N3, immediate and gratifying private and Thank-You Britain Fund. For reasons of [email protected] public response and I set the ball rolling space alone, the latter was not possible. by seeking the advice of Professor (later Readers are referred to my study Jewish SEARCH NOTICE SUCCESS Refugees from Germany and Austria in Lord) Robbins and Isaiah Berlin, both Sir – In response to the search notice about Britain, 1933-1970, pp. 254ff. my teachers and later my friends. I well the Krausz/Prochownik family which I remember our ‘founding luncheon‘ at the A PHOTO FROM RICHARD TAUBER placed in your journal, I am delighted to Athenaeum, at which time I was not even Sir – My stepfather, Paul Engel, worked for say that a few days ago I got a very cordial aware of the existence of the AJR. Tobis Sascha, a film importer in Vienna. email from the twin granddaughters Soon afterwards, I was approached by Quite often he and my mother had to go of Gertrud and Leo Prochownik. Their AJR Vice-Chairman Werner Behr, who said to formal dinners, where they met other mother, the daughter of Leo and Gertrud, that similar ideas had been mooted within people in the film industry. is 93 years old and still lives in London. She the AJR but conceded that I was the one On one occasion, my mother sat next found the search notice in the AJR Journal who had pulled the trigger. I welcomed to Richard Tauber. She said to him during and informed her daughters. They are his approach, realising that as a private dinner: ‘Herr Kammersänger, I wonder if very interested in what I’ve found out so individual I neither commanded the mach­ I can ask you for your photograph?’ He far and will give me further information. inery to launch a fund nor had access to replied that of course he would give her So the publication of the search notice names of refugees to whom the appeal a photograph and that he would inscribe in the AJR Journal was very successful and I could be addressed. (The appeal was writ- it to ‘Frau Engel, my charming dinner have to thank you a thousand times for it. ten by me, characterised by Isaiah Berlin companion, from Richard Tauber’. But Let me say that it made me very happy. I’ll as the best begging letter he had ever she answered that her husband was very send you a copy of the book I am writing read. Mr Grenville’s appeal letter, written jealous and asked if he could just sign his about the artist Leo Prochownik as soon jointly with the British Academy, goes even name, which he did. as it is available. further than his article in claiming sole The next day my mother went to her Hans-Theo Wagner, Berlin credit for the AJR.) Mr Behr became my favourite hat shop and asked the owner contact with the AJR – and very helpful he what he would give her for this photo- INSIGNIA VOLUME was too, crowning his work with a mega graph. She was told she could choose any Sir – I noticed in your December issue a contribution. Dr Rosenstock came in later, hat she wanted. She chose a green hat request from Peter Fraenkel to identify when the selection committee was formed and the photograph went into the shop the student fraternities to which his father by the British Academy. I cannot remember window. Henry Rado, Harrow belonged. him ever making a significant contribution We at the Wiener Library have a volume­ to our discussions in committee; I was the TEREZIN REQUIEM which lists all the Jewish student ­fraternities principal spokesman for the donors and the Sir – I am the son of Josef Bor, author along with their respective insignia source of ideas for candidates and speakers,­ of the book The Terezin Requiem. I refer and flag/ sash colour/ designs entitled among them Roy Jenkins, Arthur Koestler to Dorothea Shefer-Vanson’s ‘Defiant Studentischer Antisemitismus und jüdische and Jonathan Miller, all recruited by me. Requiem’ published in your November Studentenverbindungen, 1880-1933, My part shrank in importance as issue in the ‘Letter from Israel’ column). Thomas Schindler copy number 14218. non-AJR notables with substantial I write to tell you that it pleased me that Howard Falksohn, Archivist academic­ credentials­ predominated on the memory of the Terezin events is still Wiener Library, London WC1

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GUIDE FOR THE DISADVANTAGED Sir – Hatred of the once all-conquering, territories occupied were returned to the Sir – I picked up a guide to Frankfurt am arrogant Germans was, of course, justified. Arabs. Protests all round. Why? Main written specially for people with A Dutch friend born at the end of the Alex Lawrence, Marlow disadvantages of all kinds – movement, war told me about the after-effects of hearing, sight, etc. It is 280 pages and free the utter desolation, starvation and DEPLORABLE STATE OF WEISSENSEE of charge. I thought that with our ageing famine besetting the Netherlands at that Sir – I refer to Gordon Spencer’s letter in membership, this guide might be very time. (There were no Jews left, with the a recent issue of the Journal about the helpful and probably unknown to them. possible exception of a few who had deplorable state of Weissensee cemetery. I presume it would be available from the been hidden.) In 1987 I visited the cemetery for the first German tourist office. This, of course, applied to many occu­ time and was horrified to see its neglected Peter C. Rickenback, London NW3 pied countries. ‘There’s no such person state. I did indeed start a fund to help as a good German!’ was the saying. It clear it up and collected several thousand SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING took some courage to say you came from pounds. This cleared four ‘Felder’ and they Sir – My apologies for not attending the Germany, even as a Jew. The attitude of put up a plaque commemorating this at recent AJR Special General Meeting (see some members of Anglo-Jewry towards one of the junctions of the main paths. page 3). Unfortunately I live too far away Continentals survives even to this day. When I visited in 2011 it didn’t look too now and need help with transport due It is unfortunate that in many instances bad but I agree we may not have seen the to my age. the brutalities endured by the ethnic same areas. I hope the meeting went well and I Germans affected many innocent people, One can write to Herr Kohls, manager, thank Andrew Kaufman and his fellow including defenceless children. Wasn’t it at Friedhof Weissensee, Herbert Baum Str. Trustees for all the hard work they do. always thus? 45, 13088 Berlin. Rudi Leavor, Bradford Many years ago I accompanied my Also, the Journal is very informative every A BRIT FIRST AND FOREMOST month. Ruth Young, Sidcup, Kent husband to the German embassy for his annual Lebensbestätigung (life certificate). Sir – What a misguided letter from Bea Green (December), who feels I have ‘missed ‘LAW OF THE JUNGLE’ A woman started talking to us in a certain German dialect, complaining how long out’ by not having any other identity except Before we shed too many tears for the she was having to wait for her German that of being British! I would refer her to Germans expelled after the war (review passport. Luckily we had no problem and Norman Tebbit, who, quite correctly, chal- by Leslie Baruch Brent in your December were soon on our way. But just as we were lenged Indians and Pakistanis, whether issue), it might be as well to remind leaving, a gentleman in orthodox Jewish born here or immigrants, to show their alle- ourselves who these unfortunate Germans garb entered. I saw the woman look at him giance by backing England at cricket rather actually were. with utter disdain. Then I heard ‘Zyklon than the countries whence they came. In Poland the expulsion of Germans cen- gas once again!’ My husband missed it as Ms Green is not a ‘Bavarian-Jewish tred on what, in pre-war days, was the Pol- did everyone else. Outside I told him what Brit’, as she claims. She is a Brit first and ish Corridor. This area had become, under she had said and he explained that she foremost, and also Jewish. I assume she is German control, the Reichsgau Warthegau was Volksdeutsch – with all that implied. naturalised, so how can she be Bavarian? and Danzig-Westpreussen. Both Gaue Laura Selo, London NW11 I am also very surprised that she indeed were administered by two of the most wants to be Bavarian. Did the Bavarians brutal Nazi Gauleiter – Greiser in Warthe- not throw her out of Germany? As with gau and Forster in Danzig-Westpreussen WEST BANK ‘OCCUPATION’ Eric Bourne, her ‘Heimat’ is in Great Brit- – who proceeded by inhuman means to Sir – I was very disturbed by Dorothea ain, the country that saved both their lives Germanise their Gaue, murdering or de- Shelter-Vanson’s recent ‘Letter from Israel’. – and mine. I like Vienna, its food and its porting the Polish population, especially I would agree with her that anti- music. In no way am I still an Austrian nor the farming population, and replacing Semitism has been indirectly supported would I want to be. them with Germans (part of the Drang by some of the media, especially Channel Peter Phillips, Loudwater, Herts nach Osten). It was these Germans in 4 and the BBC. They report the sufferings particular whom the Poles expelled back to of the Arabs, but the recent rocket ­attacks Germany by, no doubt, very violent means. from Gaza on Israel were ignored. The ANNUAL AJR LONDON TRIP Tuesday 12 March – Thursday 14 March 2013 The expulsions from Czechoslovakia press in the UK invariably highlights the were of a different order. The Sudeten alleged wrong-doings of Israel and so Germans, having deliriously welcomed the multitude will, of course, indulge in the Wehrmacht in 1939, fully partici- slogans like ‘Free Palestine’ and disrupt The trip will include a visit to Kensington pated in the vicious administration of any performances by Israeli orchestras. Palace; a relaxing evening and dinner at an the German Protectorate of Bohemia and And the ‘occupation’ of the West Bank award-winning kosher Chinese restaurant; a tour of the Houses of Parliament, followed by Moravia, culminating in the appointment is sufficient reason for further anti-Israel/ lunch with an MP; a matinee performance of of Heydrich as Reich Protector. Following anti-Jewish demonstrations. The Audience with Helen Mirren – it is hoped his assassination­ the village of Lidice was I keep on asking why after the Second Dame Helen will speak to our ­members after razed to the ground, its menfolk shot World War the occupation of the former the performance; a visit to the RAF Museum; and the women and children deported to German East Prussia by the Russians lunch at the London ­Jewish Cultural Centre, where we will be joined by Eve Pollard, concentration camps, where they were and the forceful removal of all German former editor of the Sunday Mirror; and the probably murdered. It was obvious that inhabitants did not attract protests. The opportunity to meet friends old and new. after this atrocity there neither could, nor Germans were made to walk to the rump of Members will also have the opportunity to should, be a place for any German in the Germany. Poland also occupied the eastern attend a reception at the Austrian Embassy restored Czechoslovak Republic. The ex- part of Germany, but at least provided hosted by the Austrian Ambassador. Accommodation will be at a London hotel pulsions were conducted mercilessly and transport for the displaced Germans. The for members based outside London. ferociously but it is as well to know why explanation was that territories captured Members living in London can participate they happened and what their justifica- as a result of war belonged to the captors. in the daily events. tion was. And this was accepted. The West Bank For further details, please contact Eric Bourne, Milldale, was the last territory which remained in Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or at [email protected] Ashbourne, Derbyshire Israeli hands after the Six-Day War – other

7 AJR JOURNAL january 2013

and moral virtues and built the largest ship in the British fleet. Henry’s court was a burgeoning ­creative REVIEWs community whose provenance was aston- A rt ishing – the largest library, the first Italian Renaissance bronzes, the first antique Xenophobia and Notes coins and medals collection in England .... In formal royal portraits by Holbein, anti-Semitism in Hungary – Gloria Tessler Rubens, Inigo Jones, Ben Jonson and time to despair? Robert Peak, and in two cameo works by HUNGARY: BETWEEN DEMOCRACY the famous miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard, AND AUTHORITARIANISM t’s hard to imagine anything equalling the handsome face of the auburn-haired by Paul Lendvai the outpouring of public grief over the prince as child and teenager stares out Trans. Keith Chester Ideath of Princess Diana. But in Novem- as visitors probe his unfamiliar story and London: Hurst, 2012, 288 pp. ber 1612, when 18-year-old Prince Henry study his hand-written manuscripts. hardback, ISBN: 978-1849041966, £25 Stuart, elder son of James I, died of typhus, The works portray him and his family thousands lined the streets as his sumptu- and noblemen in the brocaded finery of umerous statues and memorial ous cortege passed by. In his short life, the the era. Isaac Oliver depicts him as the plaques are being unveiled and young crown prince had brought chivalry, Prince of Wales in blue sash, white ruff Nprominent squares and avenues learning, naval exploration­ and a surge and gilded, inlaid armour typical of the renamed up and down Hungary in honour of Renaissance art to the Jacobean court. 17th century. Robert Peake the Elder of Admiral Miklós Horthy, the country’s British history might have looked very paints him in sumptuous royal robes. wartime regent and the politician most He is shown as a child, holding cherries, responsible for the murder of close to symbolising innocence and virtue. In later 600,000 Jews during the Holocaust. examples, you can trace his resemblance Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and both to Charles, as Duke of York and Nobel Laureate, recently returned a pres- Albany, and his father. They enable you tigious decoration bestowed on him by the to gauge something of the man he might Hungarian government in protest against have become. its rehabilitation of two minor, deceased­ Henry studied French and Italian, writers whose only claim to fame was their Latin quatrains and maths, Homer’s Iliad, anti-Semitism. The latest International and perspective drawing – influenced by Religious Freedom report issued by the his father’s love of the liberal arts and American State Department criticised the sciences. While James’s pretensions rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary and the earned him the nickname ‘the wisest fool failure of the authorities to prosecute the in Christendom’, his son’s character was disseminators of racist statements. revered. In his teens he became focused Much of the blame for all this must on wider political and religious issues, but lie with Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian, the greatest influ­ence on him was David populist, ultra-conservative Hungarian Murray, whose name Henry desperately prime minister. But in this timely and called out on his deathbed. brilliant new political analysis, Paul The touching quality of the paint- Lendvai, the doyen of European foreign ings reaches out across the centuries. correspondents, carefully and rightly The Queen in black, his sister, Princess refrains from calling him an anti-Semite. Elizabeth, wearing a black armband. King In his unbridled lust for personal power, Henry, Prince of Wales by Isaac Oliver, c. 1610-12 James, we learn, cried out his name in Orbán has foolishly released the long The Royal Collection Photo: Supplied by Royal the midst of policy meetings. So much suppressed, xenophobic hatreds festering Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012 was lost in the death of Henry, who was in the collective consciousness of this different had he, instead of the ill-fated the transformative hope of Britain and much-abused society. Those demons are Charles I, ascended to the throne. There Protestant Europe. now poised to destroy him and capture might have been no royal conflict with The way great art has influenced his people. Parliament or civil war and Charles might photography is explored at the National Lendvai and many others well disposed have kept his head. Gallery: Seduced by Art: Photography towards Hungary fear that, in the absence In its first artistic tribute to Henry, Past and Present (until 20 January). of a credible, coherent, democratic- The Lost Prince: The Life and Death Fronting the National Gallery’s own minded parliamentary opposition, the of Henry Stuart, the National Portrait catalogue is Israeli artist Ori Gersht’s rising discontent of the electorate may one Gallery (until 13 January) captures in 80 Blow Up: Untitled, a video and still life day force Orbán’s Fidesz administration to paintings, miniatures and manuscripts featuring a bouquet of flowers iced and share power with the relentlessly growing something of the legend of the young then detonated on camera. Not an allegory far-right Jobbik party, a creature of his prince, who espoused military, cultural for Middle East politics, one hopes. own making. Lendvai has been based in The Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies neighbouring Vienna since the failed at the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies, University of London anti-Soviet Hungarian revolution of 1956, requests the pleasure of your company at the in which he participated as a freedom 2nd Martin Miller and Hannah Norbert-Miller Memorial Lecture fighter. He is a Jew who lost many of his The Hitler Emigrés Revisited family in the Holocaust and witnessed to be given by Daniel Snowman (writer and broadcaster) as a young adolescent in Budapest the on Thursday, 21 February 2013, at 6 p.m. Reception afterwards. gratuitous murder of tens of thousands of Venue: The Court Room, University of London, Senate House, civilian captives by the Nazi rabble of the Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU Hungarian Arrow Cross – the role models RSVP by Friday, 8 February 2013 to [email protected] (tel: 020 7862 8966) of the Jobbik party today – during the final

8 AJR JOURNAL january 2013 phase of the Second World War. confront its murderous past. As the by Orbán. Consequently, they owe their His sympathetic coverage of Hungary’s generations march on, their inherited loyalty to him rather than to the electorate. now floundering efforts to build a liberal sense of suppressed guilt periodically In just over two years, this parliament democracy after the painful decades of surfaces in aggressive denial. has managed in a frenzy of legislation to Soviet tyranny, which ended nearly a For example, the Hungarian history disable the essential checks and balances quarter-century ago, has won this country atlas prescribed for secondary school use of democratic control. No aspect of many friends abroad. in 2009 did not even mention the wartime Orbán’s radical reform programme had I worked with Lendvai for years when anti-Jewish racial laws, the deportations to been disclosed, let alone debated, before he was Central Europe correspondent of Auschwitz – or indeed the Holocaust. And the elections. The centre-piece of the The Financial Times newspaper of London, the war-time propaganda trash promoting reform is a new constitution passed where I often prepared his copy for popular racial hatred against the Jews is without cross-party consensus and already publication, and I learned to respect the still in circulation. modified six times. insightful, reliable, sober accuracy of his Lendvai quotes a long list of depressing It shirks Hungary’s enduring culpability reportage. Now aged 81 and the editor-in- educational and social data. Only four for the Holocaust and trivialises its chief of the Viennese journal Europäische per cent of the present generation of significance by equating that crime against Rundschau, Lendvai is often quoted and Hungarians aged 18-30 know the meaning all humanity with the subsequent Soviet consulted by the English- and German- of the word ‘Holocaust’; only 13 per cent occupation. The constitution also drops language press and academia. can give a figure for the number of its the word ‘Republic’ from the official name But his name is constantly being victims; two-thirds of the adult population of this country, leaving the door open for smeared by the rightist Hungarian mass believe that the Jews of Hungary are too Orbán to crown himself king! communication media, linking him, powerful; half squarely blame the Jews for A long series of new laws and decrees without any verifiable evidence, to the the world economic crisis. exposes the press to prohibitive fines bygone Communist secret police. His book Jobbik won 47 of the 386 seats in the potentially issued at will at the hands launches in the German-speaking world single-chamber Hungarian parliament in of a committee of political appointees, are occasionally marred by threats of the last elections, capturing 23 per cent of emasculates the judiciary by replacing physical violence posed by the vociferous the vote. Its supporters are mostly young independent-minded judges by party expatriate Hungarian far right. His new men and their numbers are dramatically hacks, and redraws the constituency book is essential reading for diplomats, swelling at the expense of Orbán’s Fidesz boundaries to favour Fidesz. The politicians and investors as well as the party. This lures Orbán further into the administration has also challenged or informed public concerned with the mire of radical-rightist politics as he courts undermined the independence and phenomenal current rise of anti-Semitism the young racists in the hope of reversing effectiveness of such essential institutions in this region. the trend. as the central bank and the office of the The book has been impressively So the police stand idly by as Jobbik’s parliamentary ombudsman. endorsed by the Hungarian political and uniformed paramilitary wing, outlawed by This is how the Financial Times has intellectual elite in their own way. The the courts under a previous administration, summed up the effect of the legislative first prospective publisher of an earlier, marches again, displaying the regalia and electoral reforms: ‘Together they be- Hungarian version of this book backed of the defunct Arrow Cross, spreading stow inordinate power on the ruling party. out from the project under government fear in the targeted Jewish and Roma The prime minister can claim to have won pressure, but the book was eventually communities. There have been numerous the last election fairly. Now he is deploying published by another publisher and recent attacks in the Old Ghetto district of a two-thirds majority in parliament to deny immediately became a best-seller. Budapest on unaccompanied elderly Jews, opponents the same possibility.’ The analysis describes Orbán as a including a widely loved and respected But there is more. An effective change ‘master tactician’, ‘a gifted populist’, a retired chief rabbi aged 90. of administration under the new rules ‘radical and consummate opportunist’, Lendvai notes that ‘the genies Orbán would be nearly impossible to establish a ‘ruthless power politician who believes has conjured up in his thirst for power because, even if another party were to not in ideas but in maximizing his power have spun out of control ... [Yet] I still win the elections, the existing Fidesz without any compunction’, and an believe that the real danger comes not office-holders in charge of the key national irresponsible manipulator ‘giving vent to from the neo-Nazis or those who seek institutions would continue to run the Hungarian nationalism’ and ‘tapping into solutions in violence but rather from the country. The reason: these executives have fear and prejudice at a moment of crisis’. fine silence of the political Right around been appointed for terms ranging from Orbán hails from a family of semi- Orbán and, with a very few exceptions, the six to nine years by law stipulating that skilled workers who prospered under the Catholic and Protestant churches.’ they could be removed from office only by Communist regime and acquired great Orbán’s popularity is significantly subsequent legislation requiring another wealth afterwards during his two stints waning. His administration could face two-thirds parliamentary majority. at the helm of power. His second period defeat in the 2014 elections if the fractured Outside these institutions, Orbán’s of rule was secured by a landslide election democratic opposition manages to form a ­extra-parliamentary power extends victory in April 2010 following a sustained single platform. through cliental networks embracing the campaign of violent street demonstrators. Paradoxically, the substantial current mass media, business, industry, agri­culture, The violence was fuelled by the decline of Orbán’s approval rates stems diaspora organisations, art and education frustration and insecurity sparked by the from his astonishing success. He has built funding, regional ­administration and, of global recession in a post-Communist a political establishment totally subject course, the civil service. electorate totally unprepared for the to his personal control and reduced the Many of the key relationships in this boom/bust cycles of Western capitalism. legislature to a reliable rubber stamp. informal maze of dependence were forged That was the opportunity seized by Fidesz won 53 per cent of the vote in the dying days of Soviet power. Its Hungary’s neo-Nazis to emerge as the in the last elections, cast in a 64 per dominant participants then were among nastiest and best organised of their ilk cent turnout. By means of a quirk of the brightest Communist cadres who within the 27 member countries of the the electoral law, this gave the party a learned how to secure for themselves and European Union. two-thirds parliamentary majority. All each other the choicest pieces from the Xenophobia here feeds on fertile soil. the deputies of his party and even the disintegrating state structure. Today, they Some seven decades after the Holocaust, state president and the chairman of the are the Hungarian oligarchs. Hungary still doggedly declines to legislature have been chosen personally Review continued overleaf 

9 AJR JOURNAL january 2013 jewish film-makers in germany cont. from page 5 in Hollywood, Pommer returned to At around the same time, Paul ­Czinner in the USA. The co-directors were Robert Germany and produced four last silent directed his last silent film starring his Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer, the co- films with a number of his favourite wife Elizabeth Bergner – an ­adaptation writers Curt Siodmak (brother of ­Robert) Jewish collaborators. (According to of a classic Arthur Schnitzler story, and Billy Wilder, the camera assistant Pommer biographer Ursula Hardt, his Fräulein Else, with Karl Freund on hand Fred Zinnemann, and the experienced productions ‘all made the 1928-29 behind the camera to give the film a Eugen Schüfftan as cameraman, with list of Germany’s most popular films’.) visual style lacking in Czinner’s stolid production assistance provided by Moriz Director Hanns Schwarz teamed up with approach. Seeler and Seymour Nebenzahl. writer Hans Szekely on two features, Finally, the German silent cinema Clearly, the remarkable quality and including The Wonderful Lie, starring was brought to a close by Menschen scope of the Jewish involvement in the Franz Lederer and referred to by Prawer am Sonntag (People on Sunday), a early German cinema is one of the most as ‘the last of UFA’s lavishly mounted surprisingly original production filmed interesting, and neglected, stories of the prestige films of the silent era’. At the entirely on the streets and nearby silent cinema. same time, the veteran director Joe lakeside (Wannsee and Nikolassee) of May turned out two last notable films Berlin in 1929. The filming of this modest Joel Finler is a film historian with a in the Social Realist vein: Homecoming little contemporary story brought ­special­ interest in US and Jewish cinema. (Heimkehr) and ­Asphalt, with Jewish together a group of aspiring new young He is the author of, among other books, actresses Dita Parlo and Betty Amann talents all of whom would go on to have the award-winning The Hollywood Story in the leading roles. impressive careers in the cinema, mainly (1989).

review cont. from page 9 ARTS AND EVENTS To survive, an autocratic, populist to survive for any significant length of january DIARY regime must focus the hostility of its time only when protected by mighty outraged electorate on real or imagined domestic industrial infrastructures or Thur 10 ‘Faces in the Void: Czech enemies abroad. Orbán has thus declared by foreign interests – and Orbán enjoys Survivors of the Holocaust’ ‘Faces in a national ‘freedom struggle’, in the no such support. He is in charge of a the Void’ is an original collection of idealised spirit of the 1956 revolution, weak European economy surrounded ­poetry and documentary photography against such safe targets as the European by neighbours committed to integration by poet Jane Liddell-King and photo­ Union, the International Monetary Fund with the mature Western democracies. grapher Marion Davies. At Wiener Li- and, of course, foreign correspondents – The Hungarian prime minister is a brary, 6.30 pm. Tel 020 7636 7247. especially Lendvai. lonely, frail man driven by a fatal attraction­ Admission free All this has frightened away foreign to power and plagued by its attendant Wed 16 Joanna Michlic (Hadassah- investors. The three principal global paranoia. His command structure is based Brandeis Institute), ‘Stories of Rescue credit rating agencies have responded by on the unquestioning obedience of pro- in the Letters of Jewish Survivors downgrading Hungary’s public debt to fessional managers prepared to serve any about Polish Rescuers’ At Wiener junk status. As a result, the state is now cause or master. When Orbán inevitably Library, 6.30 pm. Tel 020 7636 7247. exposed to the mercies of the short-term succumbs to the intolerable, dual pressure Admission free commercial money markets to service exerted by the democratic opposition and Wed 16 B’nai B’rith Jerusalem Lodge. its relentlessly mounting debt burden the paranoia generated by his own style of Sheila Kennedy, ‘High Times at from loans carrying wildly unsustainable admini­stration, his painfully constructed Heathrow’, 2.30 pm at the Harts. Tel interest rates in the region of ten per cent. edifice of control must collapse with him. 020 8954 6502 Cheaper money may or may not be Thomas Ország-Land Wed 23 Prof Yehuda Bauer, world forthcoming from the IMF, which does Thomas Ország-Land is a poet and renowned scholar­ and historian, ‘Why not want to see Hungary go bankrupt award-winning foreign correspondent Did World War II Break Out?’ In for fear of fresh riots possibly fanned and who writes from London and his native ­association with Yad Vashem-UK Foun- exploited by the volatile neo-Nazis. But Budapest. His next book will be The dation. At LJCC, 8.00 pm. Tel 020 8457 even then, the far right alone could never Survivors: Holocaust Poetry for Our Time 5000 muster political control. (Smokestack/England, 2014). Charles Gati, the distinguished Hungar- ian-born American academic, is quoted by Lendvai as saying: ‘This country is no VISIT TO SANDY’S ROW SYNAGOGUE AND THE JEWISH EAST END longer a Western-style democracy. It is MONDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2013 an illiberal, or managed, democracy in the sense that all the important decisions Sandy’s Row Synagogue is the A coach will go from Stanmore, are made by Orbán.’ George Kondád, the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in stopping at Finchley Road. We will sociologist and best-selling novelist and London and the last remaining be joined on the coach by Rachel Lendvai’s lifelong comrade in the struggle synagogue in Spitalfields. Kolsky, a prize-winning Blue Badge to build a liberal democracy here, shrugs We will have a guided tour of the Guide, whose passion is the East Synagogue and the exhibition of End of London, in particular areas that despite all the efforts since the col- photographs of C. A. Mathew, a selection of of Jewish interest. Her first book, Jewish lapse of Communism, Hungary, to him, photographs of Spitalfields taken on 20 April London, is published this year. Rachel will has remained ‘a junk country with a junk 1912. It is the first time that many of these tell us the history behind the buildings, in administration and a junk prime minister’. images have been put on public display. particular the ‘human stories’. Lendvai grimly states: ‘In my view, there is We will also have the opportunity to see Lunch will be provided at the Synagogue. nothing to suggest that the Orbán regime a film made by the Open University on the could be seriously threatened [at the polls] history of the Synagogue, together with For further details, please contact by the Left in the foreseeable future.’ another short film, The Tenth Man, which Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 Lendvai despairs, but I do not. For was filmed at Sandy’s Row. or at [email protected] the tyrants of the modern world tend

10 AJR JOURNAL january 2013 The forgotten victims of Nazism y parents never spoke to me about Nazi barbarism. There are many reasons for was ability to work which determined whether their past in Germany. My mother’s this. Few have chosen to campaign for the you lived or died. But between April and July Msister, I was told, died of liver failure T4 victims, in comparison, for example, with 1940 the criteria changed to whether or not the when young. Yet her absence was always the murdered Jews. Many families still prefer patient was ‘Jewish’. The medical profession present. Suspicious, I started to delve. It took not to (or even no longer do) remember what (who had the highest membership of the Nazi me the better part of 50 years to find her. happened to their long-ago, ‘not-quite-right’ Party of any occupational group) had, during When I finally acquired my mother’s papers, relatives. Moreover, almost none of the doctors the Weimar Republic, increasingly defined the I ‘discovered’ that Anna, as I shall call her, had and nurses who had administered and taken Jews as a threat to the German race. Of those been in a mental hospital in the 1930s and, part in the T4 programme were sacked post- murdered at Brandenburg, 10 per cent were in about 1940, had been sent to Poznan in Nazism: they in turn appointed people in their Jewish. (In the Reich as a whole, the percent- Poland, where she had ‘unfortunately died’. own ideological mould to succeed them. age of Jews was 0.8, and in Berlin 3.8. Thus This, I was to discover, was the lie that the There is another reason. Finally, in 2011 the 10 per cent figure both reveals not only authorities at the Brandenburg euthanasia there was a memorial for the 7,000 murdered the disproportionate number of Jews killed centre told most victims’ families and, at Brandenburg and, for the first time in but also the fact that, as opposed to common significantly, the presiding court authorities. Germany, a book of the dead has been mythology, most of the T4 victims were not Actually, Anna was gassed at the Brandenburg published. For this purpose, Astrid Ley and Jewish.) It has not been established who took killing centre in July 1940. others had to go to court to win permission the decision to ‘prioritise’ the Jewish patients The 70,000 victims of the Nazi euthanasia to release names held under the so-called rules but it marks one of the first instances of sys- programme – T4 Aktion in Nazi-speak – and of patient and doctor confidentiality. It is a tematised murder on the basis of being Jewish. the programme itself have received relatively crucial precedent. For anybody interested in the euthanasia little publicity either in Germany or Britain I attended the commemoration in Branden- programme, in particular in Brandenburg, (see Anthony Grenville, ’(Mis)under­standing burg in September. I stood close to the ground the first and one of the key killing centres, the Holocaust’, AJR Journal, May 2011). The where Anna was gassed. As I crunched over I strongly recommend The ‘Euthanasia programme, an extension of the sterilisation the gravel and dust where the prison and kill- Institution’ at Brandenburg an der Havel: programme, itself a product of the German ing unit had stood, I thought: Here lie Anna’s Murder of the Ill and Handicapped during medical profession’s longstanding interest ashes. The good citizens of Brandenburg­ had National Socialism (edited by Astrid Ley and in genetics, was intended to ‘purify Ger- protested at all the smoke ­emanating from Annette Hinz-Wessels, Metropol Verlag, 2012, man blood’. Ninety-nine per cent of the T4 that long ­chimney, which worried the admin- in English and German), which accompanies victims were deemed mentally subnormal. istrators of the T4 programme, who wanted the Brandenburg memorial exhibition and (One example was of a woman considered a their activities well ­concealed. So, some time from which I have drawn some of the above touch slovenly over her housework.) The T4 after Anna’s incineration the corpses were data. I would also like to thank Dr Ley for programme was the first to gas its victims. burnt elsewhere. helping me to find my aunt. These are some of the forgotten victims of At the beginning of the T4 programme, it Merilyn Moos

Kindertransport 75th Anniversary he AJR is delighted to announce a series of events that we are organising this year to mark the 75th anniversary of the TKindertransport. The central event will be the Kinder reunion on Sunday 23 June at the JFS. We will shortly be sending out invitations with details of the day, which will include contributions from Kinder, JFS pupils and guest speakers. We very much encourage the participation of the Second and Third Generations of Kinder. The reunion will also incorporate a new exhibition to be curated by the Wiener Library which will be on display at the Library from May. Please see the notice below in connection with this exhibition. The day after the reunion, on Monday 24 June, the Leo Baeck Institute London, together with the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies, will be holding a symposium at the German­ Historical Institute in London. The conference will focus on the experiences of Kinder after their arrival in Britain and will be a great opportunity for scholars and Kinder to exchange thoughts and ideas. As with the reunion, it is hoped that younger generations will come along as well as Kinder from out of town and overseas who hope to come to JFS. Later in the year, on Wednesday 20 November, we are organising, with the help of Lord (Alf) Dubs, a special Tea in the Houses of Parlia- ment to mark the debate held there on 21 November 1938 which paved the way for the arrival of the Kindertransport. To round off the year, World Jewish Relief, in conjunction with the AJR, will be organising a memorial service at Liverpool Street Station on Sunday 1 December, which recalls the arrival 75 years to the day of the first transport of children. We look forward to welcoming Kinder and their families at these historic events as well as of course to the monthly Kinder lunches at the Belsize Square Synagogue. Sir Erich Reich

11 AJR JOURNAL january 2013

Wembley Comfortable Meeting as guest of honour at the Kristallnacht Eight of us gathered in our usual com- commemoration, she had also finally fortable lounge to hear from Myrna on visited her father’s grave. forthcoming Chanukah events and for Liesel had inspired other members lively conversation with a cup of tea. to recall those difficult times, including INSIDE Ruth Pearson Berta Klipstein, who told us about her return to Bielsko, Poland, as a teenager Hull A Sad Farewell after being deported to Russia. In 1946 Following a discussion on the question Rabbi Schonfeld helped Bertha and other the AJR of reparations – it was felt that other children to get out of Communist Poland. countries lagged behind Germany in this Other members related stories of return respect – we watched Watermarks, the visits to their birthplaces. film about the pre-war Vienna women’s We also remembered with sadness the swimming team. We are all sad Susanne recent deaths of members Charles Sinclair will no longer be our co-ordinator – we Morris and Bernard Lewis. Finally, we Bradford CF A Time for Goodbyes thank her for her enthusiasm and wish congratulated Gilli Rawson on her daughter We started with Rudi Leavor and Stephen her the very best for the future. Sandi Firth’s becoming ‘Jewish Mother of Tendlow discussing their recent visits to Rose Abrahamson the Year’! Barbara Cammerman Germany. Though the meeting ended on a happy note with a party for Lorle New Member for Norfolk Brighton-Sarid (Sussex) Michaelis’s 99th birthday, it was also sadly Not only were there eight for Myrna’s Born in a Nazi Hospital a time for goodbyes, this being our last lunch get-together but one of us was Angela Schluter was born in a Nazi meeting at Mornington Hall in Shipley. In a complete newcomer, hailing from hospital – her Jewish mother had survived addition, it was the last meeting chaired by Koblenz, who had been in Norwich all his many ordeals before marrying Angela’s our caring and efficient organiser Susanne adult life and had only just heard of the father, a Nazi. At the age of four, Angela Green, whom we will miss very much. AJR. As a 13-year-old, impatient to get on came to the UK with her mother. She later Anna Greenwood a Kindertransport, he had tried to reach went back to Germany, where she married, England by himself, without any papers, returning to England after 25 years. Pinner Becoming British Citizens by crossing the Dutch frontier after a long Shirley Huberman Members were invited to share some walk. Frank Bright part of their life stories. We heard about Edgware From Glaxo to GlaxoSmithKline everything ranging from life in Nigeria in Kent Enjoyable Social Meeting David Barnett presented the fascinating the 1950s to schooling in England in the We had an excellent buffet lunch and story of Joseph Nathan, who in 1852 at the 1940s to finding new relatives. These were ­listened to John Izbicki, one of our mem- age of 17, left London to join his brother- fascinating tales, illustrating many aspects bers, talk about his autobiography Between in-law’s trading business in New Zealand. of settling down and becoming British the Lines. We enjoyed this social meeting On returning to London, he formed Glaxo citizens. Robert Gellman and would like such meetings. to import NZ dried milk for babies. Glaxo Josephine Singer was to evolve into pharmaceutical giant Ealing Excellent Talk GlaxoSmithKline. Michael Spiro AJR Journal Consultant Editor Anthony HGS Smiling Faces Grenville talked about his new book – a A very different Monday morning with Radlett Involving Get-together unique historical study of the Jewish light entertainment in the person of Members brought and talked about ­objects refugees from Germany and Austria who Ros Nagler, who read us some of her associated with a significant event or mem- settled in Britain after 1933. This excellent jolly, observational poems. We were ory in their lives. The stories varied from the talk enthralled the sizeable audience. also delighted that one of our members, merely strange to the truly poignant but Leslie Sommer Patricia Tausz, read some of her recently added up to a get-together that was fully printed poems. Our group left with huge involving for all present. Fritz Starer Café Imperial smiles on their faces. Hazel Beiny Full House with Much Chatter Hendon How the Ear Works A full house with much chatter from all Essex (Westcliff) Hearing specialist Chris Carr came to the quarters. We heard from Peter Wayne Recollections of Kristallnacht meeting with an array of new and old about Kaunitz camp, where he liberated Members discussed various topics of hearing aids. A full explanation of how some Hungarian girls in May 1945. There interest. Otto Deutsch, who came on a the ear works was followed by a Q&A ensued a discussion on Budapest and Kindertransport from Vienna, recalled session and an almost free consultation personal experiences there as well as a the destruction on Kristallnacht and how for our members. A very informative and rendition of a Paprika love song! Esther he and his family were betrayed by their productive meeting. Hazel Beiny Rinkoff ‘friendly’ neighbour. Leslie Kleinman Temple Fortune Pre-Chanukah Party Kingston upon Thames St John’s Wood Living Memorial We began with hot drinks and pre- An Inspiring Story Laurence Stein told us about Boys Town Chanukah doughnuts before enjoying At last a local meeting for David Lawson Jerusalem. Founded in 1948 by Rabbi Esther’s ‘AJR Eggheads’ quiz as we noshed to tell the story of Eva Urban! We were Linchner as a living memorial to the one chocolate Chanukah gelt. Our regular inspired by her wonderful story. Once and a half million children who perished helper Gillian­ described, using photos, her again, a delicious tea at Susan’s usual in the Holocaust, it now houses over 900 daughter’s recent Sephardi Henna Party excellent standard. Hazel Beiny Jewish boys aged 12 to 18 from difficult and Wedding. This was the last afternoon backgrounds in Israel and other countries, meeting for our group: from January we Ilford WIZO Thumbnail History turning them into young men with will have lunch meetings from 12 to 2 pm WIZO UK trustee Mrs Andy Epstein gave a limitless futures. David Lang alternating with the Hendon Group. thumbnail history of her organisation. It David Lang was started in 1918 by Rebekah Sieff, after Leeds CF Recalling Difficult Times seeing the hardship suffered by women Liesel Carter (née Meier), who had carried Glasgow Book Club in Palestine. They began a fundraising out research to find her father’s grave, A Comfortable Read campaign and the proceeds helped to discussed her recent visit to Hildesheim Discussing Alexander McCall Smith’s novel provide better jobs and homes for their (her father was the first Jew in the Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, we found its children. town to die following a beating by Nazi leisurely pace, the many observational Meta Roseneil thugs in 1937). Invited by the mayor asides and, above all, the detailed references

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‘A hard act to follow’: january GROUP MEETINGS Social Worker Ruth Pinner 3 Jan Games Makers: The Story behind the 2012 Olympics Finestone to retire Surrey 6 Jan Social Get-together Cafe Imperial 8 Jan Social Get-together hen in Essex (Westcliff) 8 Jan Winter Warmer Social Get-together 1980 St John’s Wood 9 Jan Dr Lionel Kopelowitz: ‘Life as a GP’ WRuth Glasgow 10 Jan Book Club Finestone first be- HGS 14 Jan Evelyn Friedlander: ‘Germany Today’ gan work at the Edgware 15 Jan Tanya Byron, Child Psychologist AJR, the working Radlett 16 Jan David Barnett: ‘The Story of Joseph Nathan and environment was GlaxoSmithKline’ very different. Holocaust lecture at Almost all the Glasgow University 17 Jan Details to be sent separately staff were them- Brighton-Sarid (Sussex) 21 Jan Film Morning - ‘The Story of Alice Sommer Hertz’ selves refugees Harrogate/York 23 Jan Social Get-together and a number of Visit to languages were Glasgow City Chambers 28 Jan Details to be sent separately spoken around the office. At the same North West London 29 Jan (Tuesday at Alyth Gardens) time, the accommodation was sparse and Monica Gubbay: ‘The Grodzinski Family Bakers’ makeshift. There were few ­telephones Wembley 30 Jan Social Get-together and no modern office equipment.­ North London 31 Jan Visit to JCOSS. Details to be sent separately In the intervening years, despite the numerous physical, procedural contacts and administrative changes the Social Hazel Beiny, Southern Groups Co-ordinator Agnes Isaacs, Scotland and Newcastle Services Department has experienced, 020 8385 3070 Co-ordinator 0755 1968 593 Ruth’s resolute advocacy on behalf of Myrna Glass, London South and Midlands Groups Co-ordinator Esther Rinkoff, Southern Region Co-ordinator members has never waned. 020 8385 3077 Ruth has served the AJR with 020 8385 3077 KT-AJR (Kindertransport) distinction – including her days at the Susanne Green, Northern Groups Co-ordinator 0151 291 5734 Andrea Goodmaker 020 8385 3070 Otto Schiff Home, the annual St Anne’s, Susan Harrod, Groups’ Administrator Child Survivors Association–AJR Eastbourne and Bournemouth holidays, 020 8385 3070 Henri Obstfeld 020 8954 5298 the day outings, the visits to members in residential care and nursing homes, the offer of support to members at the Day New pastures for ‘Musketeer’ Eileen Centre, and visits to members’ homes. ileen Brady joined developing programmes in support of needy Ruth has established longstanding the AJR in 2006, and traumatised families. We wish her well in relationships with, and helped support, immediately making her new post in Newcastle establishing Safe countless members and their families. E a colourful impression on Families for Children in Tyne and Wear, as well Her retirement will come as a surprise members and colleagues as in the international work to which this is to many – she has always been there! alike. Her bubbly, caring expected to lead. She will be sorely missed. She will be a hard act to follow. character ­enhanced the AJR’s Barbara Dresner AJR members and staff thank her for Social Services Department. Northern Region Social Worker a lifetime of dedicated work and wish Anthony Fagan and I are the colleagues who her a happy, healthy and enjoyable worked most closely with her – she called us ‘The In the four years that I have been her manager, retirement in which to spend more Three Musketeers’! Eileen has been an inspiration to the Social time with her family, not least her nine Eileen has a thorough knowledge of social Services Department and to me. I have grandchildren. work practice and disaster manage­ment. She always found her most caring towards all AJR Carol Rossen, Director has lectured on the latter subject at North- members with whom she came into contact. I Sue Kurlander umbria University and travelled widely in wish her well in her future career. Head of Social Services challenging parts of the world assisting in Sue Kurlander, Head of Social Services to Edinburgh locations, a comfortable followed a very interesting talk by Tim Pike and popular songs, accompanied by read. Our hostess was Erna Grace. Our on his long experience at the Bank. Then Alistair Thom on the piano. We also heard ‘discussion guide’ was our co-ordinator we were treated to a sumptuous tea in a Eric Levin on the violin and Marie Connell Agnes Isaacs. Halina Moss nearby hotel. Another AJR enjoyable and on the cello in a classical programme. successful outing. Edgar H. Ring Agnes interviewed one of our members, North London Inspirational Talk a veteran who came resplendent with a A truly inspirational talk by Angela Gluck Edinburgh An Audio Treat chestful of medals. The splendid lunch about the Separated Child Foundation, David Ian Neville’s ‘Pictures in the Mind’ included latkes. Halina Moss which deals with child refugees from enthralled us. David, a BBC Scotland war-torn countries. The Foundation radio producer, gave us an audio treat as does an enormous amount to help these we listened to excerpts from some of his children despite tremendous difficulties, productions laced with personal stories. A Computer Help? wonderful tea provided by hostess Vivienne If you are not sure how to call family not least linguistic problems and the over the internet, send an email to a lack of documentation. As a group, we Anderson rounded off a thoroughly friend or play Bridge on the computer, were happy to send a donation to this enjoyable afternoon. Agnes Isaacs AJR’s Volunteer Services Department worthwhile charity. Hanne Freedmann is starting a new programme aimed at Glasgow Pre-Chanukah Lunch helping members to learn how to work Trip to Bank of England Museum Agnes Isaacs, our co-ordinator, introduced with computers and surf the internet. We were taken to the Bank by coach in the programme. It was mainly a concert, To find out more, please contact comfort. We were left to our devices in with the participation of an ensemble of Jonathan on 020 8385 3070 or at the Museum for a while to look at the lady singers, the KEFLI Singers, conducted [email protected] many interesting exhibits, after which by Ingrid Levin, who sang Scottish, Hebrew

13 AJR JOURNAL january 2013 The AJR Paul Balint Centre at Belsize Square Synagogue 51 Belsize Square, London NW3 4HX Telephone 020 7431 2744 Open Tuesdays and Thursdays – 9.30 am to 3.30 pm Activities January 2013 THE AJR PAUL BALINT CENTRE Lunch is served at 12.30 unless otherwise stated – LUNCHES FRESHLY PREPARED Please note that lunches at the Tuesday 1 January Centre are freshly prepared on the premises by Centre closed our in-house chef Cassie Thursday 3 January 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 10.00 French Conversation Meals-on-Wheels 10.45 Let’s Read and Discuss To order Meals-on-Wheels 11.15 Seated Exercises with Rosalie please telephone 020 8385 3075 13.45 Entertainer – Ronnie Goldberg (Singer) (this number is manned on Wednesdays only) or 020 8385 3070 Tuesday 8 January 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 10-12 One-to-One Computer Tuition – please book 10.30 Current Affairs Discussion Group with John Current Affairs Discussion Group 11.30 Seated Exercises with Jacky Every Second and Fourth Tuesday of the Month 12.30 KT Lunch Speaker Ruth Barnett, ‘Wilfrid Israel’ 11.30 at the AJR Centre Thursday 10 January Why not join us for lunch after the session? 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 11.15 Seated Exercises with Rosalie 13.45 ‘In Grandmother’s Footsteps’ – an afternoon of poetry with Shirley Jaffe Chiropodist at the Centre Tuesday 15 January The chiropodist will next be visiting us 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games on Tuesday 15 January 10-12 One-to-One Computer Tuition – please book at 9.30 – 12.30 10.45 Seated Exercises with Jacky For an appointment please telephone 020 7431 2744 13.45 Entertainer – Geoff Strum (Operatic Arias) Thursday 17 January 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 11.00 Entertainer – Mike Marandi (Singer) 10.00 French Conversation 2 pm Holocaust Memorial Day Service at Belsize Square Synagogue 10.45 Let’s Read and Discuss Tuesday 29 January 11.15 Seated Exercises with Rosalie 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 12 pm LUNCHEON CLUB Speaker Alan Bilgora, ’Jewish Opera’ 10-12 One-to-One Computer Tuition – please book 12.45 pm LUNCH 11-12 Seated Exercises with Jacky Tuesday 22 January 13.30 Afternoon Concert with The Broadside Barbershop Quartet 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games and Dr Richard Tennenbaum 10-12 One-to-One Computer Tuition – please book Thursday 31 January 10.30 Seated Exercises with Jacky 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 11.30 Current Affairs Discussion Group with Judy 10.00 French Conversation 13.45 Entertainer – Christine Ryan (Music from the Shows) 10.45 Let’s Read and Discuss Thursday 24 January 11.15 Seated Exercises with Rosalie 10-12 Coffee/Chat/Knit/Board Games 13.45 Entertainer – Roy Blass (Keyboard and Vocalist)

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14 AJR JOURNAL january 2013 Obituaries Lieselotte Montague, 1923 – 2012 ieselotte Montague fled Germany thrived and all three and possessions in Austria and Germany and came to Britain in 1939 at the children have made returned to their rightful owners, working L age of 16 with her parents and successes of their with lawyers here and abroad to this end. her twin brother. She completed her lives; in fact, her She also worked on the Jewish Refugees­ education to university level in the UK daughter followed Committee archive (1933-45) as it was and then joined the Women’s Voluntary her to the BBC, being compiled by Dr Amy Gottlieb. Until Service. After the war she worked in the albeit in television well into her eighties, Lieselotte continued German Service of the BBC and, when (she is a producer to research the archival ­material, giving she married, she joined her husband to with BBC World News). valuable information to former refugees work in his company. Never one to sit idle, Lieselotte joined for restitution purposes, for family reuni- They were married for ten years the Jewish Refugees Committee (JRC) of fications and forgenealogical ­ or academic before any children came along – and World Jewish Relief as a volunteer once research (W. G. Sebald consulted her then two sons and a daughter arrived she was able to retire from earning a about the organisation of the Kindertrans- within five years. Tragically, Lieselotte’s living. She assisted with the caseload of port in order to write his book Austerlitz). husband died when the eldest was only the JRC, which included large numbers She had a very sharp mind and a eight and she was left to bring them of Holocaust survivors as well as later vast breadth of knowledge, a wonderful up alone and to continue her husband’s refugees from Egypt, Hungary, Iran, command of several languages and a great business. Her great strength of character Iraq and Bosnia. Lieselotte was at the compassion for the individuals who made is borne out by the fact that the business forefront of efforts to have properties up the JRC caseload. Lieselotte died peacefully a few months before her ninetieth birthday and had the enormous gratification, on the day Dame Simone Prendergast, 1930 – 2012 before her death, of learning from one of imone Ruth Prendergast (née Laski) Blond-McIndoe her grandsons that he had been offered a was born in Manchester on 2 July Research Trust in place at Oxford University. S1930. When she was three, the family East Grinstead, set Lilian Levy moved to London. Until the outbreak of up to honour the the war, she attended Queen’s College eminent plastic sur- in Harley Street; it was later evacuated to geon Sir Archibald Northamptonshire. Subsequently she and McIndoe. Follow- the Conservative government.’ her sister Ann were sent to Cheltenham ing the death of Lady Thatcher made her a DBE for her Ladies’ College. her mother, Elaine Blond, Dame Simone political and public work in 1986. After Cheltenham, she attended the La took over the chairmanship of the Trust She was a part-time Commissioner for Châtelaine finishing school in Switzerland. (1986-2003). Racial Equality, was made a Justice of the Later she worked for the furrier Herbert Her first marriage, to Albert Kaplan, Peace and appointed Deputy Lieutenant Duncan, then for Digby Morton, a major a Canadian doctor living in London who of Greater London. She was also a retired couturier of the time, and she then invested heavily in West End theatrical member of the Solicitors Disciplinary became a director of the London School productions, ended in divorce. While Tribunal. of Deportment, where she trained BOAC finalising her divorce, Dame Simone She had considerable style – and and BEA stewardesses. met her second husband, Anthony, who enjoyed walking, particularly through Her mother Elaine being the youngest worked in the London solicitor’s office the streets of Westminster, where she daughter of Michael Marks, founder that was drawing up the papers. They lived. On one hand, she was seen with of Marks and Spencer, Dame Simone married in 1959. narrow fitting Ferragamos and, on the unsurprisingly ended up working, like Her passion for politics was ignited other, M&S ‘sturdies’. She recounted at others in the family, for M&S. when Anthony was Lord Mayor of her leaving party after stepping down as Although her late husband, Anthony, Westminster and she proved to be an a JP that she was either referred to in was then the youngest Lord Mayor of elegant and capable Mayoress. court as ‘Your Royal Highness’ or ‘You Westminster (1968-9), she always felt Her commitment to Tory politics nearly silly old tart!’ responsible for his attempt to become an cost her her life in the Grand Hotel during She worked tirelessly for the Central MP being thwarted by her dress sense. the 1984 Brighton bombing. She survived British Fund (now World Jewish Relief), Appearing with him in Croydon before unscathed, though deeply shocked. raising resources to assist those who would a Tory selection committee in 1969, she In a public clash with Dame Shirley have been in dire circumstances, was decided she should be appropriately Porter, former Conservative leader of Patron and Joint Chairman of the Finance dressed – with hat and white gloves. But Westminster City Council, Dame Simone Committee for WIZO, the Women’s a member of the committee told her ‘We spoke for ordinary Tory supporters when International Zionist Organisation, don’t wear gloves down here!’ she said ‘You know, it’s the hearts of Commandant of the UK Jewish Lads’ However, she continued her own the people that matter. They are well and Girls’ Brigade, and a member of the involvement in constituency politics. At meaning people who hand out leaflets Court of Patrons of the Royal College of the same time, she threw herself into and make chocolate fudge for jolly fund- Surgeons. charity work for various organisations. raising events. They are just people who She is survived by her son. Foremost among these was the want to be good Conservatives and help Michael Kallenbach

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group. One of the meetings involves baking pittot, the traditional round bread that is widespread throughout the Middle Dorothea Shefer-Vanson East today. With 60 children per project, at four projects a year, approximately 240 children­ participate in the project annually. Over the course of 16 years, almost 4,000 children The Image of Abraham Project have taken part at some point, and many of he Bible Lands Museum, situated that the programme involves.’ them are now adults. That is a tremendous opposite the Israel Museum, houses The programme, which has been achievement and constitutes a bold step T a broad range of archeological running for 16 years, combines a class towards building mutual respect and artefacts from all over the ancient Near from a school in East Jerusalem with one understanding between­ the two nations. East. In accordance with the vision of its from West Jerusalem once a week for a The programme stresses the shared founder, the late Eli Borovsky, it refers to four-hour session of learning about the heritage and similarities as well as the the various cultures of the ancient Near ancient cultures of the region, interacting differences between Judaism and Islam. East, each of which contributed to modern with one another, and working together At the end of the course a joint meeting history and culture. on projects involving games, study and is held, together with all the parents from The Museum also seeks to foster co- handicrafts. Each class undergoes several both sides. Everyone is given a tour of operation and understanding between preparatory sessions in which facilitators the Museum, and the participants in the the cultures of the region, focusing from the Museum go to the schools and, programme prepare models or projects particularly on promoting interaction in co-operation with the class teachers, that can be displayed in their schools, as between Jewish and Muslim cultures. To prepare the children in their own language well as putting on performances for the this end it has established a number of for participation in the project. Part of the parents. Refreshments are served, and educational projects, some of them funded preparatory activity involves providing entertainment is provided, often involving by Israel’s administrative institutions, each child with a bilingual Arabic-Hebrew joint sing-alongs or drumming groups. others by outside donors, but all of them phrasebook, thereby enabling some A new project, aimed at providing with the same objective. elementary communication. a similar programme for slightly older One fine September morning I met with Each week the children are divided into children, is currently being prepared, the Museum’s spokesperson, Anat Sella, three groups comprising both Arabs and and it is hoped that this will be launched together with Ragheda Kashkush, the Jews, with two facilitators in each group, later this year. energetic young lady from East Jerusalem in addition to the class teacher and an Although no statistics are available, who heads the Image of Abraham project, accompanying parent, to ensure that the the organisers of the programme are to learn about the Museum’s educational activities are conducted in both languages. convinced that the attitudes of both sets work. Despite initial hesitancy, the children of children, as well as of their teachers ‘Abraham, whom the Muslims know learn to co-operate as they tour the and parents, are vastly improved as a as Ibrahim, is the common ancestor of galleries, build models, prepare projects result of their participation. In addition, both peoples,’ Ragheda explained. ‘This is and undertake tasks. When the children many of the children are able to learn the aspect we try to emphasise when we have a break to eat the food they have about the history of their own culture and bring classes of ten-year-olds from both brought from home they are encouraged experience a ­­museum in a positive and religions together for the joint activities to share with children from the other constructive way.

Thursday 10 January 2013 1.30 at the AJR Centre Books Bought ‘In Grandmother’s Modern and Old Footsteps’ An afternoon of poetry with Tuesday 29 January 2013 1.30 at the AJR Centre actress Shirley Jaffe Eric Levene Join us for lunch at 12.30 then Shirley tells stories relevant to enjoy a wonderful concert with all of us, in verse. The Broadside Copies of all the poems can be 020 8364 3554 borrowed so that we can 07855387574 Barbershop Quartet [email protected] and follow as she reads. Compere Why not join us for lunch at Dr Richard Tennenbaum, who will I also purchase ephemera also sing Operatic Arias 12.30 and make a day of it?

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]

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