VOLUME 19 NO.12 DECEMBER 2019 JOURNAL The Association of Jewish Refugees

What to CHANUKAH GREETINGS Last month was a very busy time for Leave Behind the AJR, with events remembering Kristallnacht, Refugee Voices and our Northern volunteers all in addition When Esther Saraga’s mother died, she left behind boxes and to our normal packed Outreach programme of regional events. You’ll envelopes full of papers and photographs. “They were in sideboards find details of these and other events in this Journal. and cupboards,” writes Esther, “in the loft and in the garage. Some were simply stuffed at the back of drawers.” We are also proud to report on some of the educational projects that we are currently funding, on page 13. © FREUD MUSEUM LONDON 2019 has been a turbulent year for many different people, in many different ways. As it draws to a close we wish you a happy Chanukah and holiday season

Refugee Voices Archive...... 3 Atomic Spy Klaus Fuchs...... 4 Letter from Israel...... 5 Letters to the Editor...... 6-7 Art Notes...... 8 European Views...... 9 Every life tells a story...... 10 A trip to Vojvodina...... 11 Holocaust education update...... 12-13 Around the AJR...... 14-15 Reviews...... 16-17 Conservator Poppy Singer working on Sigmund Freud’s couch in 2013. The couch Looking for...... 18 Obituaries...... 19 was among the treasured possessions that Freud brought from Vienna and still has Invitation to debate the Zeitgeist...... 20 pride of place in the Hampstead museum that was his former home.

Please note that the views expressed These papers provided the basis for Nietzsche, Hegel et al.” In addition, throughout this publication are not Esther’s family memoir, Berlin to London, there were books of Roman and Jewish necessarily the views of the AJR. which tells the story of how her Jewish history, novels by Thomas and Heinrich parents, Lotte and Wolja, left Berlin and Mann, works by Freud and Jung. AJR Team came to Britain in 1938 (and which is Chief Executive Michael Newman reviewed on page 16 of this Journal). Esther quotes a powerful passage from Finance Director David Kaye Irène Némirovsky’s All Our Worldly Heads of Department Community & Volunteer Services Carol Hart One of the best chapters of the book is Goods. It describes how French villagers HR & Administration Karen Markham about how Lotte and Wolja desperately flee from the invading German army in Educational Grants & Projects Alex Maws tried to get their possessions out of 1914. Madame Hardelot exclaims: Social Work Nicole Valens Germany. Among the things they left AJR Journal behind were a desk, a couch and a list “Just imagine everything we have to Editor Jo Briggs of books: “All the classics,” wrote Lotte, leave behind, our furniture, our linen, Editorial Assistant Lilian Levy “the Gundolf edition of Shakespeare; our family mementos… I’m just throwing Contributing Editor David Herman Secretarial/Advertisements Karin Pereira very many philosophy books: Kant, Continued on page 2

1 AJR Journal | December 2019

What to Leave Behind Austria for London. He brought more she writes. “In the end there was only than two thousand antiquities to his room for some books and one of Anna’s (cont.) new home in Maresfield Gardens in stuffed toys. Should she choose Pink together what I can at random… I Hampstead. A few months after his Rabbit which had been her companion want to take everything, she said as arrival in England, he wrote, ever since she could remember, or a she picked up a variety of objects and newly acquired woolly dog? It seemed pressed them close to her heart before “All the Egyptians, Chinese and Greeks a pity to leave the dog when she hardly putting them down again: a photo of have arrived, have stood up to the had time to play with it, and Heimpi Pierre as a child, a silver sugar bowl, a journey with very little damage, and look packed it for her. Max took his football.” damask and lace table cloth.” more impressive here than in Berggasse [his apartment in Vienna where he had Anna’s pink rabbit, Max’s football, As I read Lotte’s account of the books lived and worked for almost fifty years].” Hobsbawm’s second-hand bicycle, they had left behind, I thought of my Freud’s couch, Beethoven’s desk, the grandmother’s bookcase in the living Freud also brought his library, papers books belonging to Lotte and Wolja… room in her small flat in north Oxford. and furniture, including the famous These all stand for so much. Memories The bookcase was full of German classics couch. of home, of a childhood, of a life’s work. that she had managed to bring from Precious objects refugees managed to Berlin, also in 1938. Nothing that would In his autobiography, Interesting Times, take with them or had to leave behind. have suggested that she was Jewish. All the historian EJ Hobsbawm, wrote of his her books were German classics, mostly itinerant childhood. Born in Alexandria, The second and third generations in Gothic print. After she died, I kept one he spent his childhood in Vienna and have had to clear their parents’ and book, an old leather-bound edition of then Berlin, before coming to Britain in grandparents’ homes. And we have Goethe’s West-östlicher Divan. 1933. It was a tragic childhood: both had to make choices: what to keep and parents died young, his father from what to dispose of in charity shops and When my mother died in 2015, my sister a heart attack, his mother from lung rubbish dumps. And then one day, our and I discussed what to keep. There was disease. He doesn’t dwell on these years children will look at the little glasses and almost nothing from Germany, just a of loss but the sadness is conveyed by coffee cups, the old copy of Goethe, and few baby photos of her, documents and a few objects. When he thinks about wonder why anyone would ever have photos of her parents and grandparents. the last year of his mother’s life what kept them? My sister kept her jewellery and I kept a he remembers is a birthday present few glasses and coffee cups. They were she gave him, “a very cheap second- David Herman the cups she always served coffee in hand bike,” “its frame was visibly both after dinner parties. A few weeks ago, repainted and bent.” In 1933 he left the poet Elaine Feinstein died. She was Berlin. He returns to the image of the one of the last survivors of those dinner bicycle at the end of the chapter: AJR ANNUAL parties. My father, born in Warsaw, left CHANUKAH PARTY Poland for Belgium then France, before “I still arranged that the old bike with escaping to Britain in 1940. He brought the bent frame, the present from my what he could carry. mother that had caused me so much embarrassed teenage anguish, should In 1935, Stefan Zweig wrote in his diary, be lost when the Hobsbaum [sic] effects “Two suitcases, one of them containing were packed for storage.” clothes, the earthly necessities, and WEDNESDAY 11 DECEMBER 2019 the other manuscripts, the intellectual A few years later, his uncle, cousin and 12pm – 3.30pm wherewithal, and one is at home sister left Britain for Chile. Hobsbawm New North London Synagogue everywhere.” This is not quite true. was left behind, completely alone. He Please join us at our It wasn’t until 1937 that he sold his went back to the now empty home in Annual Chanukah Party beloved house in Salzburg, selling off Edgware. He writes, “[t]he bottle of A welcome by his prized collection of manuscripts, good Tokay, which I had saved from the Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg books and objects, including Beethoven’s old home, had somehow disappeared and Michael Newman, AJR’s CEO violin. Somehow, however, he managed in my absence. Then I went back to Entertainment by: to get his most prized possession of all, Cambridge.” The loss of the Tokay Judy Karbritz Beethoven’s desk, to London. and the bike somehow stand for all the The Story of Musicals other losses of his childhood, things and and The Velvet Voices duo Zweig’s friend, the writer Josef Roth, people he left behind. They are the most A two-course hot lunch also talked of living out of two suitcases, memorable moments in the book. £10.00 per person payable on the door a large one and a small one. Both men, Places must be booked in advance. constantly on the move, thought of Early in her famous book, When Hitler themselves in terms of what they could Stole Pink Rabbit, Judith Kerr describes Please contact carry. the day her family left “the ever emptier Susan Harrod on [email protected] rooms” in Berlin. “Deciding which or 020 8385 3070 Freud, like his friend Stefan Zweig, left toys to take was the hardest part,”

2 AJR Journal | December 2019 Refugee Voices From L-R: Bea Lewkowitz, Tamara Finkelstein, Kurt Marx, Lord Daniel Finkelstein, Archive Michael Newman & Toby Simpson The AJR marked last month’s 81st narrated by individuals who experienced Tamara said “there are things that I learnt anniversary of Kristallnacht by major historical and political and whose lives from the interviews which are very precious were profoundly affected by a upheaval, to me, things that my parents can no longer launching the AJR Refugee Voices separation, emigration, displacement tell me”. Testimony Archive, a ground- and resettlement. We are proud to have breaking collection of Holocaust conducted almost 250 interviews and to Also at the launch AJR’s Head of invite family members, researchers, teachers, Educational Grants & Projects, Alex oral histories. It includes the students and the general public to listen, Maws, introduced his Kindertransport – Refugee Voices website and engage, learn, and take inspiration from the Remembering & Rethinking podcast series, dedicated social media channels. many different experiences the AJR Refugee which uses excerpts from the Archive - Voices Archive has recorded.” www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/podcast - The event took place on 7 November 2019 and media had the opportunity to meet at the Wiener Holocaust Library with a At the launch Kurt Marx recalled Kristallnacht several interviewees who have shared their group of notable speakers. The Refugee in Cologne, while Lord Finkelstein and his story. Voices Archive consists of 250 filmed sister Tamara spoke of their mother Mirjam, interviews and more than 3500 digitised who survived Bergen-Belsen and who From next month the AJR Journal will be photographs and documents of Jewish recorded a testimony for the Refugee Voices publishing testimonies taken directly from survivors and refugees from Nazi Europe Archive in 2006. Lord Finkelstein underlined the Refugee Voices Archive, beginning with who rebuilt their lives in Great Britain. how, as a Times columnist and political Mirjam Finkelstein. commentator, his parents’ story has proved Dr Bea Lewkowicz, AJR Refugee Voices an invaluable resource, while his “direct For further information or to be interviewed, Director, commented: “These interviews experience” highlights the importance of the please visit www.ajrrefugeevoices.co.uk or present a unique ‘history from below’, archive in telling the story to wider audiences. contact [email protected].

Antisemitism: strengthening the fight Marina Smith sitting for the sculptor Frances Segelman during the National The AJR very much welcomes the event at the centre formerly known as Holocaust Centre’s 24th anniversary Beth Shalom, and reports on the expanding event the appointment of John Mann demand for its unique services, which to the House of Lords as the included visits from more than 20,000 schoolchildren in the last year. During the government’s antisemitism tsar. event its founders recalled the loss of refugees and survivors who had volunteered unstinting Lord Mann, who was elected as a Labour support to the Centre, often recalling their MP in the 2001 general election and own unimaginable childhood experiences who has been a prominent campaigner and the need for respect for all humankind, against antisemitism, took up the post of especially to guide the comprehension of Independent Advisor to the UK Government schoolchildren. Among those recalled were on antisemitism on 28 October. Rudi Oppenheimer, Harry Bibring, sculptor Marina Smith hosted the day’s events Naomi Blake and Sir David Sieff. with her usual warmth and friendship, A fortnight before taking up his peerage while eminent sculptor Frances Segelman John Mann was the keynote speaker at the Henry Grunwald QC, Chair of the Board of - whose recently unveiled bust of Sir Ben National Holocaust Centre and Museum Trustees, whose father reached the safety Helfgott was on display in the presence when it marked its 24th anniversary as a of Britain on 4 September 1939 but was of Sir Ben - generously undertook to leading educational organisation against the only survivor of his family, praised the create a bust of Marina herself under racism and its consequences. Centre as a unique place of education, the admiring scrutiny of all present. with outstanding exhibitions and memorial Rabbi Tanya Sakhnovic of Nottingham AJR member Ronald Channing was at gardens. Synagogue recited the Kaddish.

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SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT ATOMIC SPY

Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a the first detonation of a nuclear device, German-born leading physicist in New Mexico in July 1945) makes it clear why, with the passage of time, involved in crucial research Britain’s nuclear establishment had second thoughts about ignoring the achievements on the atomic bomb. But of the ‘scheming communist traitor’ of neither Fuchs nor his scientific yesteryear. Prof. Frank Close, author of Trinity

publications were mentioned To appreciate adequately Fuchs’ deeds and in the booklet that the now misdeeds, lay readers need an accessible and return to the UK in December 1940. account of the scientific background. But by then a fellow internee, Hans defunct Ministry of Supply Close – whose previous books aid the Kahle, a Kind, had ‘radicalised’ him into public understanding of antimatter, quarks becoming a spy. Close is not sure, and issued in the 1950s, recording and neutrinos - provides this brilliantly. it is an important point, if Fuchs turned the vital work carried out Readers will be fascinated by his gripping traitor while Stalin and Hitler were allies, John Le Carré-like passages narrating or after the Führer attacked Russia, in at Harwell, Britain’s atomic the tribulations of MI5 and other spy June 1941. agencies on both sides of the Atlantic, as energy research establishment. they devote huge resources to trying to What is certain is that Fuchs’ special incriminate Fuchs. skills – he worked in Britain and the US - After all, at the beginning of that were crucial for building the first nuclear decade Lord Goddard, the Lord Chief Many outstanding Jewish scientists were weapons, and that in sharing that Justice, had found Fuchs guilty of forced to flee from Hitler and Mussolini – knowledge with Moscow he betrayed passing invaluable British and American Rudolf Peierls (baptised a Lutheran), Franz his adopted country and those scientists nuclear secrets to Russia over some Simon, Otto Frisch, Max Born, Pontecorvo who befriended him, especially Rudolf eight years. Goddard had a reputation (Jewish on his father’s side). But Fuchs, like and Genia Peierls, with whom he lodged as a stern judge but had to limit himself his deputy at Harwell, Oskar Bünemann, for a while and who treated him as a to issuing the maximum sentence was Lutheran. His father Emil had fought ‘son’. foreseen by the law, fourteen years in in WW1 and the trauma had turned him jail. Fuchs’ good behaviour brought him into a Quaker pacifist, teaching Klaus to If Fuchs’ conscience told him it was right liberty after serving nine years. But he do what is right, whatever the cost. By to help wartime Russia, how did he also lost his UK citizenship, returning the early 1930s Klaus had moved beyond justify his continuing espionage during reluctantly to (communist) Germany, pacifism, seeing communism as the the Cold War? He wanted to ensure that where he died in January 1988. only bulwark against Hitler and joining the US did not have sole ownership of paramilitary groups in street brawls against the new weapon. Close reminds us that, As Frank Close, his new biographer, the Brownshirts; three of his front teeth anxious to keep their global hegemony, and himself a leading theoretical were knocked out. there were military hawks in Washington physicist now retired, puts it, in that calling for pre-emptive strikes against the 1950s booklet Fuchs was airbrushed in He was therefore an obvious target for the Soviet Union. a Harwellian rewrite of history which Nazis after the burning of the Reichstag. would have done credit to his new Fuchs, however, had been tipped off and Close concludes his thought-provoking masters in East Germany. managed to escape in July 1933 from book with the observation that ‘the Berlin to Paris. That September he was subsequent development of an atomic Yet, in June 2018, Fuchs’ name was on the ferry to Folkestone, sponsored arsenal by the Soviet Union created a among the luminaries etched onto by a leftish Quaker couple in Bristol. He balance of terror – mutually assured bronze petals of an intricate sculpture was allowed to complete his studies and destruction – that has now lasted for unveiled at Harwell to commemorate do research, but also sought out other seventy years. From this perspective, it its scientific pioneers. Such was his communist sympathisers. may be that Fuchs’ sharing of atomic acknowledged and enduring worldwide knowledge with the Soviet Union has eminence as a theoretical physicist. Briefly interned on the Isle of Man, Fuchs affected history for the better – or the endured a further five months of detention less bad.’ Close’s meticulously researched Trinity in Canada, before pressure from the Royal (a reference to the code name given to Society, among others, led to his release Martin Uli Mauthner

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LETTER FROM ISRAEL BY DOROTHEA SHEFER-VANSON

BIBLE LANDS Artifacts from the newly-discovered one of the most complete assemblages Byzantine church now form the focus of of Byzantine glass window panes in MUSEUM a fascinating display in Israel’s Bible Lands Israel. Museum, an institution established some In the course 27 years ago by collector Eli Borowsky to I happened to be present when Amanda of salvage demonstrate the links between the various Weiss, the dynamic Director of the excavations on cultures and religions of the region, Museum, welcomed a large group of the outskirts of emphasising elements that unite the Christian leaders from America. In her Beit Shemesh peoples of the Ancient Near East rather speech she reiterated the purpose of the prior to the than those that divide them. The museum museum and stressed the importance of expansion of one is located opposite the Israel Museum in continuing to send its message around of its neighbourhoods, remains were Jerusalem. the world. In private conversation discovered of an impressive sixth- she later told me that a large group century church dedicated to a ‘glorious Objects salvaged from the site include of Armenian priests had attended the martyr’ whose identity is unknown. an elaborate mosaic floor panel showing official opening of the exhibition the an eagle, the symbol of the Byzantine previous day, and that many of them As everyone knows, one can hardly empire, and an inscription proclaiming the had been moved to tears. take a step in any direction in Israel victory of the Messiah. Numerous clay without stumbling across an ancient and copper lamps, as well as a quantity The findings from the Church of the artifact of one kind or another, and of broken glass – presumed also to have Glorious Martyr occupy a small but this was certainly the case here. constituted lamps – demonstrate the prominent space in the Bible Lands Hence, according to Israeli law, all civil importance of light – both natural and Museum, and there are many other construction work must be preceded by artificial – in Byzantine churches. It is fair sections exhibiting archaeological salvage excavations under the auspices to say that the excavations at the Church treasures from various parts of the of the Israel Antiquities Authority. of the Glorious Martyr have uncovered Ancient Near East.

THE ART OF Kristallnacht commemorated

VOLUNTEERING Candle lighting at London Kristallnacht Ceremony

On 6 November, AJR held a thank you event in Leeds for our dedicated team of Northern volunteers. Renee Mosbacher, Dr Bea Lewkowicz and (seated) Ruth An art therapist spoke about how effective art can be Edwards in Manchester when talking may be too difficult, using the example © ADAM SOLLER PHOTOGRAPHY of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who taught art to Jewish children in the Terezin Ghetto in 1943-44. giving the AJR commemorated the 81st anniversary of Kristallnacht with ceremonies children the freedom to express themselves. Before in both the north and south of England. The first event took place at the being deported to Auschwitz, the artist hid 4387 pieces Prestwich Hebrew Congregation in Manchester on 5 November and featured of the children’s artwork in a suitcase inside a dormitory. first hand accounts from AJR members Renee Mosbacher and Ruth Edwards of their traumatic experiences of the Kristallnacht in Vienna. Our volunteers were able to try art therapy for themselves, using a range of different materials. Kinderstransportee Eli Abt – whose story was featured in the November We learned that everyone has a different way of AJR Journal – was among the keynote speakers at our London Kristallnacht expressing themselves; even the most self-deprecating Commemoration Ceremony on 7 November. Other speakers included Dr volunteers produced thought-provoking artwork and Clare Weissenberg, who heads the Kitchener Descendants Group and who all left feeling enlightened and relaxed. shared insights into what life was like for the men coming over to the UK, and Toby Simpson, director of the Wiener Holocaust Library, which holds Naomi Kaye contemporaneous accounts of Kristallnacht.

5 AJR Journal | December 2019 Letters to the Editor The Editor reserves the right to shorten correspondence submitted for publication and respectfully points out that the views expressed in the letters published are not necessarily the views of the AJR.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? of Sudetenland and, less than a year later, London “it was not wise to speak German” David Herman’s article “Where are they the invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia. does credit to her honouring of the Fifth now?” (October) claims Jewish refugees Each time we suffered the deprivations that Commandment. Actually, it has no basis came from “very particular neighbourhoods the German/Austrian Jews had experienced in fact. It was an anxiety fostered by in Berlin, Vienna, Budapest and Prague”. before us. All my family perished in the some of the German parents who chose – But according to Kristallnacht data, of 1400 Holocaust with the exception of my parents, understandably even if misguidedly – not to synagogues and prayer halls destroyed two cousins and myself. My family had teach the language to their children. throughout Germany, Berlin accounts for lived in the area for over 200 years and, only 31. like my father, were businessmen, doctors, I wonder, however, whether merely lawyers etc. They believed nothing like the learning the language is sufficient for And while the United States Holocaust Nazi pogroms could happen to them in Dorothea’s objective of reading old family Memorial Museum confirms that, in that democratic country of Czechoslovakia. documents? She makes no mention of Austria, the majority of Jews lived in the Hence, few left early and only very few, like two other possible obstacles: the gothic capital city (see David’s thought-provoking me and my parents, managed to escape to hand-writing, still widely used in the early September article) the same was not true of England. On arrival in late July 1939 we lived twentieth century, and the fact that senior Germany. Berlin accounted for 40% of the in London until 1941, when we moved to pupils in German school were habitually Jewish population. No other city had more Leicester, where we were treated like pariahs taught shorthand. Sometimes, like my than 6.5%. Indeed, German cities with by the local “English” Jews, most of whose mother and other family members, they Jewish populations of over 10,000 only parents had escaped the pogroms of Eastern used it to correspond – leaving me unable accounted for two-thirds of the country’s Europe in the late 19th century. to read their letters. Shamefully, I lack Jewish population. Bob Norton, Nottingham Dorothea’s willpower. Does anyone out there know German shorthand? A trawl through back issues of the AJR Peter Oppenheimer, Oxford Journal reveals grain merchants, horse I came to London from Vienna on 22 May dealers and smallholders, none of whom 1939. An English-Jewish taxi driver paid the would have lived in the neighbourhoods that required £50. Bloomsbury House sent me In 1934 I was enrolled in a German State David seems to have in mind. If one thinks to an orphanage in Glasgow. Later all the School at the age of six. We learnt our of the comparatively decentralised and children were sent to a large mansion called alphabet in Suetterlin Schrift. I was one rural world of nearly a century ago, even the ‘Birkenward’ in Skelmorlie, near Largs. of two Jewish children in the class and little towns of 15,000 or so had their own the teacher had been asked to separate doctors, lawyers and banks, not to mention In 1945 my grandparents, who also us. The following year we were excluded the services of a district Rabbi, and where arrived in London in 1939, brought me to and I moved to a Jewish school where several shops around the market-place London where I attended Mercers School the emphasis was on Hebrew, English would likely have had Jewish proprietors. in Chancery Lane. In 1950 I went to the US and needlework, these subjects being and was promptly drafted into the army considered more useful for emigration. In In 1950s London, the one refugee GP, on account of the Korean conflict. After 1939 I arrived on a Kindertransport; the two dentists and one each mathematician, three years I decided to go to Mexico City English lessons proved useful, but I did not historian and industrial scientist College where I picked up Spanish. I then think I would ever need Suetterlin Schrift represented in or known to my family were landed a job with the Gillette Company again. How wrong I was! Three years ago outnumbered by former tradespeople and in Boston where I stayed 18 years before I offered to help a second generation with housewives. Many had made it to London moving to Johnson & Johnson in New translation of letters addressed to her late from outside Berlin. Brunswick. I was general manager at one father, whose dad found asylum at the time or another for these companies in Kitchener Camp. The letters, affectionate With 40% of the population you’d expect Panama, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Peru and but desperate, were written by his mother Berlin to come up in family histories more Venezuela. On account of the communist and other relatives in Germany and they than anywhere else in Germany (it does in dictatorship we (I’ve been married for 57 were written in Suetterlin. I was pleased I mine). But oversimplification destroys the years) came to Florida 10 years ago. And was able to help. At last my alphabet had richness of the picture. here we are still, hurricanes and all. its uses after 85 years. Max Klein, Liverpool Henry Herner, Florida, USA Helga Brown, Abingdon, Oxon

I grew up in a middle class assimilated READING OLD GERMAN LETTERS GIFT FOR A LIFETIME Jewish family in Teplitz Schoenau (Teplice Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is thought- In addition to the two letters you printed Sanov) in northern Czechoslovakia. As a provoking on belatedly learning German in November, I have so far had five seven year old I experienced the annexation (October). Her belief that in early post-war emails and letters in response to my article

6 AJR Journal | December 2019

SAVE THE DATE HOLOCAUST in your October issue about refugeenglish, obviously, by everyone who attended. positive on the whole, and very positive Heinz Grünewald, Pinner MEMORIAL DAY 2020 about the AJR Journal. This year’s theme is Victor Ross, London STAND TOGETHER Thank you AJR for a wonderful and AJR’s Annual Commemorative Service poignant afternoon at Belsize Square will be on Thursday 23 January 2020 ONE WHO DIDN’T SURVIVE Synagogue commemorating Kristallnacht. Your article about Liz Brodie (A Story As a member of the second generation I Full details to follow of Survival, October) mentioned the felt that the speakers, candle lighting and in January edition of AJR Journal renowned educator Janusz Korczak. I would singing by Cantor Heller, along with the like to tell readers of the AJR Journal a little programme put onto each seat, brought more about him. those dreadful events close to home. System. Thereafter, I received a very May your future be bright, along with the modest pension paid out at three monthly Janusz Korczak was born as Henryk Wiener Holocaust Library, in educating intervals. The certificate of proof was Goldszmit, in Warsaw in 1878, to a Jewish those who blight the planet with racism. entitled Einbürgerungsurkunde meaning lawyer family. He qualified as a doctor Helen Grunberg, London NW10 ‘certificate of naturalisation’. Seeing this but was also well-known as a writer of 13 German expression in ‘black and white’ children’s books, a teacher and a newspaper only heightened the horror of my action. correspondent. In 1912 he became director KRISTALLNACHT IN LJUBLJANA I felt ashamed and disloyal. Uppermost in of the Jewish orphanage but his work was I found the article on Eli Abt (November) my mind was the picture of the thousands interrupted by WW1, when he was called highly interesting. I was fortunate not of German Jewish victims before WW2 up as a doctor in the army. to have witnessed what went on during who, unlike my family, were unsuccessful in Kristallnacht, having spent that night at a completing emigration and the tragic end After the war, he returned to the cinema in Ljubljana. (It was a German film that awaited them. orphanage. He respected children as with the Nazi sympathiser Beniamino Gigli, individuals and responsible human beings, the world-famous Italian tenor, as its hero). Now back to the present day. One of capable of making their own decisions. He my daughters is currently applying for opposed corporal punishment, which in Erich Klibansky, who saved Eli’s life, was German citizenship in order to assist my his time was a part of normal parenting. my husband’s headmaster at the Jawne in grandchildren should they wish to travel One of his books, Persistent Boy, is the Cologne. My husband never got over the more easily across Europe and have future biography of Louis Pasteur, in which he fate that befell Klibansky and his family. work opportunities in Europe. At first, I was emphasised persistence in achieving goals, Margarete Stern, London NW3 deeply shocked by the very idea but now I not material comfort or class. see it more pragmatically as a consequence of impending Brexit. I wonder, though, During the occupation of Poland, the GERMAN PASSPORTS whether other elderly members of the AJR orphanage was forced to move to the David Herman’s enlightening article share my feelings regarding the current Warsaw Ghetto in 1940. In August 1942 (November) is about a subject to which I movement of second and third generation 195 orphans and 12 staff members, have given much thought. I had a sister ten children obtaining German nationality and including Korczak, were deported to years older than myself who emigrated to now latterly Austrian nationality, especially Treblinka. The Gestapo knew that he was Israel and who was employed in Germany since the rules have been changing to a well-known writer and offered ‘special for just two years beforehand. On the increase the numbers who are eligible. I am treatment’ (to save himself ) but he always strength of this she received a full German obliged to end by saying that I try to cast refused and stayed with the children. He Old Age Pension and encouraged me to away my philosophical feelings about this was a courageous, selfless man, who chose make my own application in the 1990s. I matter, the amount of my German Pension the welfare of orphans before his own. His had been a school girl when I emigrated over the years has achieved a tidy sum and life ended in Treblinka at the age of 64. at the beginning of 1939 and, without is appreciated. Dr Elena Rowland, London SE18 employment evidence, did not think there Eva Evans MBE, London NW3 was any hope of success. In any case, I was utterly opposed to the idea of taking KRISTALLNACHT SERVICE up German nationality in order to receive a switch on electrics I would like to thank the AJR and the German Pension. German Passports were Rewires and all household devoted organisers and helpers for a of course far from my mind. However, she electrical work beautiful memorial service and the fantastic hammered away at me, and eventually PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 reception which followed. It was greatly I applied and was asked to make a small Mobile: 0795 614 8566 appreciated not only by me but, quite payment for entering the German Pension

7 AJR Journal | December 2019 ART NOTES: by Gloria Tessler

Paul He cut a handsome, dashing figure Gauguin, Sellf-portrait in his youth, with his goatee beard dedicated to Carriere, and penetrating eyes, but Paul 1888-9 Gauguin could easily be considered narcissistic. He believed his work could only be fully understood from his personal viewpoint; that his vision and art could not exist beyond the frame of his memory, cultural heritage and dream.

In the first exhibition of his portraits at Polynesian missionary dress, or Young news of the death of his daughter, Aline, the National Gallery, many of them self- Breton Woman, wearing a blue dress. drove him to attempt suicide. And it was portraits, we see him, thumb in mouth, at this point that his later work reflected poking fun at western standards of Much has been made of Gauguin’s the impact on his life of old friends who portraiture, and from then on the works friendship and falling out with Vincent seemed to return to haunt his mind and art. veer unsteadily between Impressionism van Gogh and Meijer de Haan, both keen and Symbolism. He cast himself as a influences on his work. Long after their The Credit Suisse Exhibition; Gauguin tormented Christ in Self Portrait near friendship ended, he would subtly and Portraits continues at the National Gallery Golgotha, and a reflective Christ in the pithily re-introduce de Haan, who looms until January 26, 2020. Garden of Olives, with crimson hair and as a malign force in some newer portraits, beard, and a very Modernistic Self Portrait or place token images of departed friends There is still time to see Mark Gertler: with Yellow Christ. into mysterious still lifes. He planted Paintings from the Luke Gertler Bequest, sunflower seeds from Paris and painted at the Ben Uri, featuring important Gauguin’s visits to Brittany, Polynesia and them as homage to Van Gogh. But paintings by Mark Gertler from the Tahiti persuaded him to become a full Gauguin was not above using his art to estate of his son Luke Gertler, and other time artist in the 1880s, abandoning his weaponise old grudges. UK collections. Five important works wife, Mette, and their five children and his are being showcased, representing the job as a Paris stockbroker as he travelled, Gauguin was a man of many parts and major themes of Gertler’s early portraits, both physically and emotionally towards many aspirations. His style might range including members of his own family. the imagination and memory that became from Impressionistic portraiture (Mette The loans have been facilitated by the his hallmark. He even developed a new in Evening Dress, 1884) or Portrait of Luke Gertler estate and the Art Fund. The style of art known as Synthetism. Madame Roulin, 1888) to the exotic exhibition ends on 13 December and is freedom which he found in his Tahitian open until late on Wednesdays. Gauguin longed for simple, unspoiled retreat where he painted and seduced and indigenous cultures, but then infused local beauties and became a Symbolist. them with his own ideas, as a Frenchman. His portrait of one of his lovers, Tehamana Annely Juda Fine Art In Brittany and the South Sea Islands Has Many Parents is one of his most he recoiled from the primness and the popular works. In these islands he found 23 Dering Street drab missionary dresses his subjects the freedom to live the way he wanted. (off New Bond Street) had to wear, in contrast to the Parisian Tel: 020 7629 7578 sophisticates he had known before. Gauguin never returned to Europe, but Fax: 020 7491 2139 spent his final years on the Marquesian He ignored contemporary traditions CONTEMPORARY of accuracy, painted out the drabness island of Hiva Oa, painting and entering PAINTING AND SCULPTURE in favour of bright yellow, as in Young politics, where he vehemently opposed Christian Girl, portraying her in a colonialism. Depressed and poor, the

8 AJR Journal | December 2019 Germany expresses solidarity

This October, two days after the horrific attack on a synagogue in Halle on Yom Yippur, the AJR received a welcome letter

from the Ambassador of the security forces and above all by every responsibility must and will continue Federal Republic of Germany, community across our country. to be our encouragement to combat antisemitism in whatever form we Peter Wittig, who wrote the “In recent years we have seen, with come across it. wonder and deep humility, more following: and more Jews retracing their steps “Please rest assured that we will towards Germany – by reclaiming continue to stand in solidarity with “Antisemitism, extremism and their German identity, spending their our Jewish friends in Germany and terrorism must have no place in holidays in Germany or even moving across the world and that we will Germany. They must be fought there. This is a truly wonderful gift for do everything we can to safeguard implacably by all of us at every level which Germany is immensely grateful. the trust that you have put in our of society – by government, by the And this together with our historical country.” British, Jewish or European – What do YOU feel?

Since the end of WW2 there applications had fallen foul of the strict German laws requiring paternal ancestry has been little contradiction for applicants born before 1953.

between identifying not just The Jewish Historical Society of England (JHSE) is launching a new website as a ‘British Jew,’ but as both to collect individual thoughts. The British and Jewish. Now, site will act as a ‘post-box’ through which individuals can submit as much however, British politics have information as they feel comfortable in sharing, including both text and prompted many British Jews to photos. Their content will be arranged Journalist Daniel Finkelstein says he is into 27 different countries which will right behind this JHSE project to collect seek the citizenship of countries be developed into a permanent online individual thoughts about citizenship. resource. A range of specialists will read which their families fled. the submissions and write analytical at the Wiener Library. Speakers will pieces for the 2020 issue of the JHSE’s include Richard Aronowitz-Mercer, For some, this may be simply an act journal Transactions. Head of Restitution at Sotheby’s; Dr of convenience, a document ensuring David Hirsh, sociologist, Goldsmiths; continuing EU citizenship rights, with The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein Dr Keith Kahn-Harris, sociologist, no emotional or other consequences. comments: “I’m right behind what I think Birkbeck; and Dr Ruvi Ziegler, Associate However, given the number of people is a great initiative and I look forward Professor in International Refugee Law, in public life who have spoken about to seeing what the organisers can do. It University of Reading and Chair of the dilemmas they faced in doing so, seems to me really important“. New Europeans. All are welcome and, particularly for those seeking German following the event on 9 December, citizenship, the emotion has been all The new JHSE website will be launched more information about the project can too real, especially for those whose at 6.30pm on Monday 9 December be found at www.jhse.org.

9 AJR Journal | December 2019 Every life tells a story

Someone has died. A blank piece of paper. It is very late. If you are a close family member or friend you are exhausted, shocked, grieving. You might be a rabbi or cantor who has visited the newly bereaved to console and gather some history about their loved one. The funeral is tomorrow and there is a eulogy (hesped) to write.

This is a unique moment, and you carry a significant responsibility to try and encapsulate the essence of a person in a speech lasting just a few minutes. In than a mere curriculam vitae of what they of reasons made their homes here in the most circumstances a hesped needs to be did. Not all lives are deemed to merit an UK. Their eulogies tell of their journeys crafted to honour their life, and the good obituary in a national newspaper although and the big and small contributions they they brought to the world, to encourage every life tells a story. There are many have made to their adoptive home. the listeners to consider their own nuances in eulogies, but the writers of all legacies and, as the Talmud suggests, to these tributes seek to create the most fair, My father wrote books about his own make the mourners feel the pain of their rounded, respectful and loving portrait life and what became of the Jews of loss and offer some comfort too. of the person they have lost. This can be his home town of Bamberg. He was a challenging, but at the end of a life we passionate genealogist, constructing I have heard countless hespedim realise what really matters. a huge family tree and researching delivered at funerals, shivas and stone the many branches of his family. His settings, and have always been struck Over a number of years I had a growing Masters and Doctorate studies involved by the way the mourners, or officiating sense that we should preserve these the economic contribution of refugees clergy, manage to fulfil this weighty precious pieces of writing which tell the to industries in the North of England. obligation (mitzvah) of delivering a stories of people’s lives, capturing the After a long career as an engineer, an eulogy with dignity and composure, and intrinsic nature of each person. So I set entrepreneur and industrialist my father even raise a smile. Sometimes hespedim out to create a treasury of hespedim became an archivist of sorts and now I are simple, but often and surprisingly in which were delivered at Jewish funerals find that I have inadvertently followed the most difficult of circumstances, they and in the following days in the homes in his footsteps, ensuring that we hold are powerful and moving. of mourners. I decided to build this in the on to the eulogies which tell the stories form of a website so that the collection of ordinary and extraordinary lives. I I have written two hespedim myself, could develop and grow over time and think he would have approved of this for my parents who died within would be accessible to all. project, and might even have given it eight months of each other in 2013. his blessing. My relationship with my father was I am fascinated by all these stories and complicated. In his later years I had hope that as well as holding the hespedim www.hesped.org is a place of tribute and wondered what I might feel when he of those close to your own heart, you memorial. It has been developed and was no longer here and how I would will find many other interesting and will be maintained with the intention of face the task of writing his eulogy. But inspiring people to meet in the collection. dignity and holiness. I invite you to visit as I sat at his hospital bedside during I hope that this archive will become an the website to contribute a hesped to the his final days, I found the more difficult important addition to the cultural and collection, or to read those of others and feelings began to fade. social history of our Jewish community, be inspired. and will illuminate the part we have played Hespedim are different from obituaries. in British society and beyond. As a child of If you would like to get in touch with They are written in the raw time two refugee parents I am acutely aware me, please email [email protected]. following a death, and say more about that there are many people who started a person’s inner character and qualities their lives somewhere else and for a variety Miriam H Grabiner

10 AJR Journal | December 2019 A Trip to Vojvodina

Novi Sad is the second largest town in Serbia and belonged to Hungary until the Treaty of Trianon, just after WW1. In 1941, with the encouragement of Hitler, the Hungarian army invaded and of the thousands of Jews only 650 are left today. The Old Pharmacy

Our hotel with a quirky interior was right land and most of the industry. Renovations in the centre of town, on Jewish Street were completed about 18 months ago, (Jevrejska). Next to it was Moishe the some of the money towards it coming from jeweller, selling expensive jewellery, and the Hungarian state. (Hungary is granting nearly opposite was the large secessionist- citizenship to the sizable Hungarian minority style synagogue; in good condition outside, in Serbia). The president of Serbia and the but not restored inside and unguarded: one prime minister of Hungary opened the can just walk in. It is now used as a concert newly renovated synagogue. It now belongs hall. to the town as the upkeep is well beyond the capabilities of the 150-member Jewish The Jewish community is active, hosting community. We were shown the little annual Israeli Film Days, Holocaust Memorial synagogue where services are held now. We Day, and Solet, a gathering of Jewish came away with presents of books on the communities from the former Yugoslavia. Holocaust in Subotica and other interesting leaflets. Novi Sad is a university town with lots of young people wherever you look. The large town hall is also impressive and is also in the art nouveau style, with The lovely Bishop’s Palace is in a prominent motifs from Transylvania. The large council position and on the opposite side of the chamber is decorated with stained glass river is the Petrovaradin fortress, dating from windows all around, showing Hungarian 1682. The town has several wide avenues, historical figures. maybe to copy the boulevards of Paris. The third building is the rather beautiful not charge visitors for visas. In our hotel was A short distance from Novi Sad is the lovely Raichle Palace. Built by the architect Ferenc a football team of 40 Chinese teenagers; small town of Karlovci. Well worth seeing is Raichle for his own use, it is situated staff told us that their behaviour was perfect, the old pharmacy, from the reign of Franz opposite the exit of the railway station to not like locals would be. Joseph. After an hour’s drive from Novi Sad, impress people arriving in Subotica. The you arrive at the very different Subotica: short street between it and the station is Not far from town is Lake Palic, which is much smaller, nicer and quieter than Novi lined with notable houses also in art nouveau like a holiday resort, with restaurants, park, Sad. The town centre is quite compact and style. The palace is full of interesting details; lido and some unusual buildings, again in mostly pedestrianised. even the wrought iron door handles are art nouveau style. It is very peaceful and lovely. The palace is now an art gallery. charming. Among many lovely buildings in town, three stand out. The newly renovated synagogue The town has many “tenement palaces”. During our stay we had outstanding service is magnificent. According to our guide it is These were all owned by Jews. Part of them in the hotels, some acts of kindness from the third largest synagogue in the world. It used to be occupied by the owners and strangers, surly service from some waiters, is built in the Hungarian art nouveau style. the rest were rented out. Most of them are mostly indifferent food, but large portions, The stained glass windows have motifs of unrestored as yet but the restored ones are in nice restaurants and wonderful cakes in a peacocks’ feathers, lilies and rose petals. remarkable and lovely. For a small town, new patisserie in Subotica. The ceramics are all made in the famous there is a lot to see. The mile long market Zsolna factory in Hungary. It seats over sells mostly fruit, vegetables and fake Calvin Vojvodina is not at all like, let’s say, the Costa 1500 people. Jews had a golden period in Klein underwear. del Sol, and I am grateful for that. Subotica when, although they only made up 3% of the population, they owned a lot of Most tourists are from China as Serbia does Janos Fisher

11 AJR Journal | December 2019 Tackling prejudice and discrimination in schools

In September Birmingham took a great deal of thought and time to The event was described as ‘ground- fit them together seamlessly. Another main breaking’. In what way did it break AJR member Mindu Hornick challenge was promoting the event. ground? took part in a ground-breaking What were the common themes that The event brought together Holocaust conference aimed at helping emerged from the event? and Taliban atrocity survivors, academic Primary & Secondary teachers speakers and leading organisations. The The main theme was that more needs to outcomes have been hugely encouraging empower their students to reject be done in schools. Too often it is only – June Trask, the Director of the play And Then They Came for Me, all forms of religious, race, addressed reactively in response to incidents is now planning and terrible events – which might not occur to take the play to eight different schools gender & LGBT discrimination. if tackling prejudice and discrimination were who had staff here on the day, and all taught proactively. the organisations present have since been The conference was one of three poignant invited into schools to work with their Holocaust education events organised Why do you think it is important for students. and hosted by Solihull School as part of today’s school children to learn about its Solihull Speaks progressive conference the Holocaust? What are the main differences programme for primary and secondary between primary and secondary school teachers, featuring speakers and The Holocaust represents the nadir of schools when it comes to teaching organisations who lead the way in actively human suffering and the culmination about the Holocaust and genocide? tackling discrimination and hate crime in of centuries-old antisemitism, hateful all its forms. stereotyping and unchallenged prejudice. Exposure to the abhorrence of the But it is dangerous to assume that today’s Holocaust needs to take account of the Mindu joined fellow Auschwitz survivor school children know what they need to prior learning of the children, as much as Eva Schloss - step-sister to Anne Frank know. Through the Internet, they have it does their age. In the upper primary age - Professor Sara Jones of Birmingham unfettered access to content that denies and range there are some excellent books and University and other keynote speakers obfuscates the truth. We have to accept that resources that can be used very effectively from Remembering Srebrenica, the this can be very distorting and counteract it but only after they are first vetted by their Anne Frank Trust UK, and the Holocaust with education. teacher. As a general rule, Holocaust and Educational Trust to speak to an audience genocide education is best avoided with of over 100 educators about one of the Did having a ‘real’ Holocaust survivor primary aged children and essential for biggest educational issues of the day. among your speakers enhance the secondary school children. event? The AJR Journal spoke to the organiser In this digital age, children are of the three day event Mark Penney, who When you see and hear from a survivor bombarded with messages from many is Head of the Junior School at Solihull in person nothing clouds the experience. different sources. Surely it is up to School, to find out more about this Their first hand testimony is laid bare and their parents to control and tackle this, initiative. Here are his answers: you weep for their loss. Mother Teresa, in not the schools? a different context, said, ‘If I look at the Why have you chosen Prejudice & masses I will never act; if I look at the one I Even the most vigilant parents cannot Discrimination as a topic? will.’ Empathy can be a very powerful driver. control what happens when their child

The rise of the far-right globally, the Mark Penney with Mindu Hornick (centre) fear-mongering of many public leaders, and Eva Schloss the deliberate stoking of community tensions to court political favour and the everyday abuse of ordinary people, is all the incentive we needed. Education has a critical role to play in tackling discrimination.

What were the main challenges in putting together this event?

Logistically there are very many different pieces to the jigsaw of such events, so it

12 AJR Journal | December 2019 Tackling prejudice and discrimination in schools AJR FUNDED EDUCATIONAL is outside the home. PROJECTS Prohibition is the understandable instinct but The AJR is the UK’s largest dedicated Scotland’s School of Education, and receives an education, I’m certain, is funder of programmes and projects AJR Project Support Grant. the only answer. which promote teaching and learning The programme promotes excellence in What else do you think about the Holocaust (TLH) in the United Holocaust teaching and learning by identifying schools should be Kingdom. Although the over-riding and rewarding schools which demonstrate doing? priority of the organisation is to provide innovation and good practice and encouraging social, welfare and care services to the sharing of good practice of school-based All schools should enlist Holocaust education. Participating schools the support of the Holocaust refugees and survivors, we and teachers have access to Continued wonderful organisations also allocate a portion of our annual Professional Learning (CPL) sessions, developed whose entire reason for budget to support innovation in TLH in partnership with the Holocaust Educational being is to tackle prejudice because we are committed to preserving Trust. and discrimination. Funds should be prioritised the memory of those who perished and The Vision Schools Programme supports by those schools that ensuring that history does not become primary and secondary teachers in their can afford it and made distorted. teaching of the Holocaust and in addressing available for those that antisemitism, through its CPL and award can’t. Here are details of just a few of the educational process. By awarding schools that have projects that we are currently supporting: achieved the required criteria, Vision Schools There should be many Scotland creates and develops a schools’ more opportunities for Council of Christians and Jews network of good practice in Holocaust students from different The Council of Christians and Jews led its 13th education. socio-economic, religious seminar for Christian clergy and church leaders and ethnic backgrounds at the International School of Holocaust Studies Habonim Dror to get together. If at Yad Vashem in September 2019. The seminar The AJR was pleased to award a Catalyst they could spend even was supported by a Project Support Grant from Grant to Habonim Dror to support a period modest amounts of time the AJR. of expansion for its annual Sayarim Camp in together in structured and Holland. The camp took place over two weeks supportive settings, they Twenty church leaders participated in the 10-day in August. Seventy-nine 15 year olds and 22 would quickly discover seminar, alongside a number of education officers youth leaders took part in an intensive informal that we are all a lot more for dioceses/cathedrals who are responsible educational experience on the subject of the alike than we are different. for HMD activities and training of teachers in Shoah and antisemitism. church schools. Seminar participants engaged Thank you Mark Penney in a series of lectures and workshops delivered A critical component of this programme is and all the staff involved by academics from Yad Vashem, covering pre- the extensive training that the youth leaders in organising this war Jewish life; a history of antisemitism; life in take part in prior to delivering the educational significant event which the ghettoes; the origins of the Final Solution; sessions. I understand took nine post-Shoah Christian and Jewish thought; and a months to arrange. Such workshop on contemporary antisemitism. AJR’s Head of Educational Grants & Projects, events are very important Alex Maws, had the opportunity to travel to me and all survivors The clergy also took part in a workshop in to Holland to observe the programme first and their families in November to help them plan local HMD events. hand. His visit was an important part of our ensuring that the memory This component of the programme helps to commitment to monitoring the programmes of our suffering should not ensure that their learning can be spread widely that we fund and also an opportunity to erode with the passage of throughout a range of faith communities. learn more about pedagogical approaches to time. I was honoured to teaching and learning about the Holocaust be part of that very special Vision Schools Scotland in informal Jewish educational settings – as program and support On 7 November the Vision Schools Scotland opposed to the formal educational work that this historic initiative by programme hosted its annual awards ceremony we typically fund. Solihull School. at the Scottish Parliament, featuring guest Dr Mindu Hornick, speaker Barbara Winton and attended by For more information or to contact Alex see Keynote speaker and numerous MSPs. Vision Schools Scotland is ajr.org.uk/remembrance/grant-giving/ AJR member an initiative of the University of the West of or email [email protected].

13 AJR Journal | December 2019

Around HERTFORDSHIRE CONTACTS Susan Harrod Events and Outreach Manager the AJR 020 8385 3070 [email protected] These are just a few of the many recent Wendy Bott AJR events around the country. Northern Outreach Co-ordinator 07908 156 365 [email protected]

EDINBURGH The inaugural meeting of our new Agnes Isaacs Hertfordshire group was attended by Northern Outreach Co-ordinator 40 people, who all enjoyed the talk by 07908 156 361 [email protected] BBC cameraman Jonathan Sumberg. Ros Hart He explained how a short news clip can Southern Outreach Co-ordinator sometimes take hours to film, depending 07966 969 951 [email protected] on the light/angle/weather etc. The Karen Diamond Hertfordshire group meets on the third Southern Outreach Co-ordinator Wednesday of the month in Bushey. AJR’s Sharon Mail told us about her career as 07966 631 778 a journalist, including her biography of the Karen Diamond [email protected] actor Ian Richardson. A staunch advocate for human rights. Sharon also worked ILFORD KT-AJR (Kindertransport) with the Romanian Jewish community. Susan Kikoler spoke about the Jews of Susan Harrod 020 8385 3070 [email protected] Miriam Vickers Italy and Sicily; a wonderful slice of Jewish history and her research is astounding. We Child Survivors’ Association-AJR GLASGOW highly recommend her. Henri Obstfeld 19 first and second generation members Meta Roseneil 020 8954 5298 [email protected] enjoyed a leisurely lunch at The Corinthian Club, a magnificently restored Grade A NORTH WEST LONDON building that was formerly a bank. Joann Lipsey AGM HULL The Annual Election Meeting of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) will take place at 3pm on 5 December 2019 at Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, London N3 1HF. Royal cake maker Dawn Blunden showed us pictures of her intricately detailed cakes, The following have been including the wedding cake for Prince nominated for re-election as Charles & Camilla Parker-Bowles, and Trustees: Andrew Kaufman MBE, Hull members enjoyed a delicious lunch Prince Charles’ 60th and 70th birthday Stephen Kon and Mark White. followed by a fun quiz at the home of cakes. Veronika Keczkes. Ros Hart If you wish to attend please Wendy Bott contact Karin Pereira on 020 8385 3070 or [email protected] PINNER spring grove London’s Most Luxurious RETIREMENT HOME 214 Finchley Road www.fishburnbooks.com London NW3 Jonathan Fishburn  Entertainment buys and sells Jewish and Hebrew books,  Activities ephemera and items of  Stress Free Living Jewish interest.  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine He is a member of the Antiquarian  Full En-Suite Facilities Booksellers Association. Call for more information or a personal tour Contact Jonathan on 020 8455 9139 We had a great turnout for our expert 020 8446 2117 or 020 7794 4455 or 07813 803 889 visitor from The Antiques Roadshow. [email protected] for more information Ros Hart

14 AJR Journal | December 2019

FORTHCOMING NATIONAL EVENTS

TITLE DATE VENUE DETAILS CONTACT

CHANUKAH 11 December New North London Wonderful musical entertainment and a delicious Susan Harrod PARTY Synagogue, N3 hot lunch (see advert on pg 2).

CARDS & 16 December North Western Reform Join us at 1pm for a deli lunch before playing Ros Hart GAMES Synagogue, NW11 Bridge, Backgammon, Scrabble or Rumikub.

OTTO SCHIFF 18 December Woburn House, Unveiling of an AJR commemorative plaque Susan Harrod PLAQUE London WC1 in honour and memory of Otto Schiff.

HMD 23 January Belsize Square The theme will be ‘STAND TOGETHER’ - full Susan Harrod Synagogue details in the January issue.

REGIONAL MEETINGS The AJR operates a nationwide network of Regional Groups that offer our members a unique opportunity to socialise with friends of similar backgrounds. There will be an interesting programme of speakers, plus the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new friends. All AJR members are welcome at any of these events; you do not have to be affiliated to that particular group. Please contact the relevant co-ordinator for full details.

GROUP CO-ORDINATOR DATE TIME EVENT

Cardiff Ros Hart 2 December 12.30pm Gareth John from Chiltern Music Therapy

Harrogate/York Wendy Bott 2 December 2.00pm Social get-together

Bradford Wendy Bott 3 December 2.00pm Social get-together

Newcastle Agnes Isaacs 3 December 12.30pm Pre-Chanukah lunch & Magic with Martin Duffy

Ilford Karen Diamond 4 December 10.30am Nick Dobson & Friends - A Viennese programme celebrating Chanukah

Pinner Karen Diamond 5 December 2.00pm Chanukah Party

Edinburgh Agnes Isaacs 5 December 12.30pm Chanukah Lunch

Manchester Wendy Bott 8 December 2.00pm Chanukah Party

Wessex Ros Hart 9 December 12.30pm Rabbi Michaels

Glasgow Book Club Agnes Isaacs 12 December 2.00pm Book Club

Leeds Wendy Bott 12 December 2.00pm Chanukah Party

Glasgow Agnes Isaacs 15 December 12.30pm Chanukah Lunch – The High Five Swing Band will entertain

Liverpool Wendy Bott 17 December 2.00pm Chanukah Party

15 AJR Journal | December 2019

After the War, the Allied Forces had to The discussions whether to bomb REVIEWS control the chaotic state of affairs in Auschwitz by either the American or Germany and Austria. There is reference British air forces were well researched PERSONAL NAMES, HITLER, AND THE to the persecution of Shoah survivors and described in the programme. They HOLOCAUST. A SOCIO-ONOMASTIC and the protection of Holocaust highlighted the importance of Vrba and STUDY OF GENOCIDE AND NAZI perpetrators. Many Nazi war criminals Wetzler’s reports but also acknowledged GERMANY. tried to hide behind new names in the the other factors and the feasibility Nick, I.M. hope of remaining undetected. Because of such an operation which made the Lexington Books, 2019 females tend to adopt the surname of decision so difficult. The documentary ISBN13: 9781498525985 their male spouse it was much more was well presented and the arguments difficult for the authorities to find clear. The author is an academic with women who had committed crimes than degrees in linguistics and psychology men. In fact Vrba and Wetzler’s hope for from universities in the United States sharing their stories was not to encourage and Europe. If I learned one word, The last chapter deals with continuing the Allies to bomb Auschwitz but rather it is ‘onomastics’ which refers to the efforts to recover and preserve the to alert the intended victims (i.e. the study of the history and origin of names and identities of Holocaust Hungarian Jews) so they could decide proper names, especially personal victims, such as by the Yad Vashem whether to rebel, escape or find other names. The purpose of this book is Institute in Jerusalem. In the face of ways of resistance to avoid death in the “commemoration and prevention renewed right-wing extremism in gas chambers of Auschwitz Birkenau. through awareness-building of the Germany the book ends: “The keys to Gerta Vrbova significance of names and naming in prevention are vigilance and action. By genocide” and the author feels that the monitoring the ways in which names and best way to achieve this is by telling naming policies are being used within BERLIN TO LONDON. AN EMOTIONAL the personal stories of the people our communities it may just be possible HISTORY OF TWO REFUGEES. concerned, and then to determine their to intervene before the killing begins – Esther Saraga significance during the Holocaust. again”. Valentine Mitchell, 2019 Henri Obstfeld ISBN 978-1912676163 Name-based data may be used to identify individuals as well as groups Esther Saraga’s parents came to the and can be used to affect personal SHOULD WE BOMB AUSCHWITZ? United Kingdom as Jewish refugees in liberty. Originally, the introduction of 1938. Both were born in Berlin. Her inheritable surnames had been seen as The BBC broadcast on 19 September, father, Wolja, was a highly regarded a positive sign for Jews. However, soon Should we Bomb Auschwitz?, reported physicist who was denied a Ph.D. from the inability to differentiate between the heroic escape of two prisoners, the University of Berlin on racial grounds. them and gentiles was seen as a threat Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, in April He was then offered a position in Zürich, to national security, in particular by the 1944. The information provided by the but the Swiss government refused him National Socialists. two escapees to the Jewish authorities entry as he was officially stateless. Her in Slovakia, about the organised killings mother Lotte had her medical studies in The Nazis formed so-called Lebensborn of those deported to Auschwitz, Germany terminated ‘for being friendly institutes with the aim of producing shocked the civilised world and raised with communists’ and got to England on racially “pure” children according to the question whether bombing the gas a domestic permit. Nazi racial hygiene ideology. There is chambers in Auschwitz might stop the more to this than meets the (blue) eyes, killing. This question was particularly After their deaths in 1980 and as is explained: on many occasions the relevant since the escapees reported that 1984 Esther found ‘many boxes involuntary participants - the mothers the Nazis were preparing to exterminate and envelopes full of papers and - circumvented the restrictions, so that the 800,000 Hungarian Jews still photographs. They were in sideboards the outcome was not quite as had been surviving in Hungary. and cupboards, in the loft and in the desired by the Nazi instigators. garage’ and included five hundred Although the report was completed by letters covering the years 1938-47. This Meanwhile, Jews were finding it the end of April 1944 it did not reach the was quite a treasure trove and very more and more difficult to live under Allies until July. The testimony of the two fortunately their daughter had both the discriminating steps gradually eyewitnesses stirred the conscience of the ability and the determination to introduced by the Nazis. Their official both the American and British authorities. put together their story of persecution, documents were showing the added It led to discussions as to whether the emigration and adjustment to a new life second name Israel or Sara which set bombing of Auschwitz Birkenau might in a foreign country. An initial task was the person aside as a Jew or Jewess. put a stop to the killing of Hungarian to learn the German language which This identification was followed by Jews. Finally, when considering all the she previously ‘had hated the sound of’. tracking and concentration, then arguments for and against, no decision Much of the documentation she then deportation and finally, killing. was reached read consisted of enormously protracted

16 AJR Journal | December 2019

and frustrating battles with various In October 1943 his young parents had her family. Possessions were stolen but bureaucracies in both Germany and the taken him with his grandparents to catch with German thoroughness a receipt United Kingdom. First there was the task a boat to safety in Sweden when they was issued to his mother for confiscated of escaping Germany, then that of trying were betrayed and arrested. They ended rings which, amazingly, she got back to get Wolja’s parents from Romania into up at concentration camps – Ib eventually after the war. this country, which his father eventually went with his mother to Ravensbrück managed after his wife had died, and while his father went to Sachsenhausen This is a powerful, extensively then the attempt to get their furniture which, apart from the hard labour, was researched book by somebody who and other belongings sent from Germany bitterly cold. Both Ib and his mother were had the hardest start to childhood and finally the restitution claims. desperately ill and she was urged to let imaginable, leaving him with a legacy the toddler die. Later he was miraculously of health problems. It portrays all the The early years in England were not left in his cot at Theresienstadt when chaos, cruelty, ambiguity and treachery easy. Wolja was interned on the Isle of all the other children from the hospital interspersed with acts of kindness, luck Man and later granted the absurd label disappeared and, it was presumed, were and fortitude. Ib became a distinguished of ‘friendly enemy alien’. Among further transported on. civil servant and economist. When difficulties we learn that Wolja had to recently asked if he had had a good life negotiate permission to send photos of Ib draws on testimony from his parents after all he said: “I could, and still can, his son to grandfather Ado in Romania to tell how it was for them and their answer that positively.” for fear of contravening the 1939 bleak lives in captivity. He has also carried Janet Weston Trading with the Enemy Act. Refugees out extensive research to discover were often mistrusted. It was feared they what really happened, with handy might prove disloyal and help invading information boxes giving the details of German forces. This of course added the people mentioned including officials to the enormous difficulties of getting who sealed the fate of Danish Jews. work. Outstanding live-in and hourly care in The family was eventually reunited in your home at flexible, affordable rates. There are many books about the Theresienstadt where members in the refugee experience. This one is broader end lived together in the ghetto. The than most in that it explicitly records camp was famously dressed up by the a member of the following generation Nazis to give a false impression of a trying to come to terms with the family good life for the Red Cross visit in June history and legacy. It is a story that will 1944. The role of the organisation is resonate with other children of refugees. explored extensively, including the Here are two aspects that I totally enormous benefit of life-saving food 020 7482 2188 pillarcare.co.uk identify with: ‘We had underestimated parcels. Ib stresses Theresienstadt what our parents had gone through’ was essentially a transit camp and and ‘As a child, I envied my friends who he explores the horror and fear that had grandparents’. In this book I found people lived in daily that they might be JACKMAN . echoes of my own family situation. I transported away to certain fate. recommend that you read it. It might be SILVERMAN the same for you. Just before the end of the war the COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS Michael Levin Katznelsons were freed and taken on White Buses to Sweden. Here they were “quarantined” for six weeks before LET HIM GO: A DANISH CHILD IN being finally allowed home to find their RAVENSBRÜCK AND THERESIENSTADT old Copenhagen apartment “totally in by Ib Katznelson order”. Unlike so many Jewish families Vallentine Mitchell all Ib’s direct relatives survived although Telephone: 020 7209 5532 ISBN 978 191 2676088 when he took his grandchildren back [email protected] to Theresienstadt he found his name Ib Katznelson’s second birthday was on the memorial. The book’s cover spent detained at Horserød after his shows a picture of Ib drawn by a Dutch family were betrayed fleeing from their artist who also survived the camp. WHY NOT CONVERT Danish home and he went on to spend Approximately 15,000 children under YOUR OLD CINE 18 months imprisoned in concentration 15 passed through the camp. All but FILMS camps. Now, more than 70 years, later his about 100 were killed. AND PUT THEM impressive book has told his story for his ON DVDS children and grandchildren and explored His maternal grandmother was never FREE OF CHARGE? the circumstances that led to this terrible imprisoned and her tireless efforts to Contact Alf Buechler at [email protected] situation. get them free probably helped save or tel 020 8554 5635 or 07488 774 414

17 AJR Journal | December 2019 LOOKING FOR?

The AJR regularly receives messages from our members and others looking for people or for help in particular subjects. Here are some of the most recent requests – please get in touch directly with the person concerned if you can help. Cardiff Reform Synagogue Memorial Tablet

KURT TO CLAPTON came from Europe from 1939 onwards. communities of south Wales. The Stanley Katz would like to trace Abi would like to interview them about Association is currently researching the Kurt from Germany who came with their lives after they arrived in London stories of people named on the Cardiff his mother (the surname is possibly [email protected] Reform Synagogue Memorial Tablet “Sloper”) to London in 1938 and lived (pictured above), which was erected with the Katz family at 78 The Terrace, in memory of relatives of synagogue Clapton Common. On 1 September CONNECTIONS TO APOLDA members who died in the Holocaust and 1939 the boys were evacuated to 47 The Prager House Organisation in whose graves are unknown. There are 102 Hitchin Street, Biggleswade, to live with Apolda, Germany, wishes to contact names on the Tablet and the full list can be Mrs Butcher before being re-housed at any family or friends of Judith Paisner, seen on https://jhasw2018.wixsite.com/ Youngs Hotel, Market Square. daughter of family Rechtman. Also news/post/our-new-project – please get in [email protected] families Storch and Aber, who also came contact if you have any information about from Apolda. any of the people listed or their relatives. [email protected] [email protected] SHROPSHIRE REFUGEE£S or 07972 113952 Kathleen Jones is writing a book about Shropshire and would like to hear from ARABIC LESSONS anyone connected with Kindertransport AJR member Frederick Hirsch is keen RAMON GARDNER / GAERTNER refugees who came to Shropshire, to refresh his knowledge of the Arabic Sue Gardner is researching the ancestry especially an Austrian doctor called Dr language and would like to hear from of her father Ramon, who arrived Sternberg who practised at Oakengates anyone willing to give him lessons. via a Kindertransport on 2 September Surgery in Slaney Street between 1944 [email protected] 1939. She is particularly interested to and 1947. trace whoever placed a notice in AJR [email protected] Information in March 1988, listing her CARDIFF LINKS father as a missing person. The Jewish History Association of South [email protected] FEMALE REFUGEES Wales works to uncover, document, PhD student Abi Axelby would like preserve, and share the tangible and to hear from any Jewish women who intangible cultural heritage of the Jewish Write Your Life Story Record a Family History Whether you have begun writing, JOSEPH PEREIRA Books Bought researched your ancestors, or (ex-AJR caretaker over 22 years) never put pen to paper, we offer is now available for DIY repairs Modern and Old a personalised service to help and general maintenance. you preserve your precious Eric Levene No job too small, memories for future generations. very reasonable rates. 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 www.wordsbydesign.co.uk Please telephone 07966 887 485. [email protected] [email protected] 01869 327548

18 AJR Journal | December 2019

OBITUARIES

RITA ROSENBAUM née HAUSER

Born: 19 February 1927, Essen Died: 18 October 2019, London

The youngest of four, my mother’s two older siblings emigrated to Palestine in the 1930s and she only saw them again in 1955. She came to England in 1939, never underestimating how fortunate she was to be accompanied by her parents and, later, her brother, Rita Rosenbaum (left) recording the AJR Journal in 2017 Martin. worked tirelessly, five days a week, until just before her death. At 92 On arrival the family lived at the Jews’ Temporary Shelter and then she was active and independent, continuing to shop and cook for in Stamford Hill and Willesden. My mother was educated under the herself, meeting friends and attending annual events such as HMD auspices of Dr Solomon Schonfeld whose school was evacuated to and Yom Hashoah. Shefford. Later the family was interned on the Isle of Man. One of her last acts was attending her great-nephew’s wedding in Unable to follow her chosen career of nursing, Rita undertook a Israel in September. Shortly after, she received a terminal diagnosis number of secretarial roles until marrying my late father, Werner, and reacted with her trademark strength of character, continuing to in 1956. As a housewife and mother she displayed her customary smile and think of others. Her passing is a tremendous loss to me as independent streak, working part-time for several companies. She her immensely proud daughter as well as to her many friends and was an early adopter of the computer, applying these skills to her those she helped throughout her life. paid and voluntary work. After my father’s death in 1998, she became a full time volunteer for 20+ years. Jane Rosenbaum

Rita complemented her role with Jewish Care, recording, editing NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: On behalf of all the AJR members and administering the distribution of audio versions of the Jewish who benefited from receiving a recorded version of the AJR Chronicle and other resources for the visually impaired, by carrying Journal over the years, the AJR would like to pay tribute to the out a similar service for AJR members. She chose the excerpts of the massive contribution that Rita made. She was a vital member of AJR Journal to be read, arranged the studio and volunteer readers, our volunteering team and her commitment and attention to detail sent out memory sticks and liaised with our members. Her raison was legendary. She will be sorely missed and we will endeavour d’être was to give all her ‘customers’ the best possible service. She to maintain her high standards of service in her honour.

DR IAN LOWIT

Born: 10 August 1919, Vienna Died: 20 August 2019, Aberdeenshire

Dr Ian Lowit, who died peacefully at the age of 100, had a remarkable life. Born Hans Lowit, his father died while he was a young child.

During Ian’s medical studies he met Sigmund Freud and his mother was an acquaintance of fellow psychotherapist In 1963 he was an expert witness at the trial of Henry Burnett, Alfred Adler. This early exposure to Viennese psychotherapy the last man to be hanged in Scotland. But his opinion of Burnett undoubtedly influenced Ian’s later career choices. Being Jewish, as requiring treatment rather than punishment was ignored by he was expelled in 1938 and he and his mother were forced the Court and rubbished by the press, in a drive to press ahead to flee to the UK. After working as a butler and a plumber’s before the death sentence was repealed. mate, Ian was interned as an enemy alien; he was transported to Canada and braved the perilous re-crossing during the Battle of Shortly before his retirement in 1984, the in-patient unit for the Atlantic, to join the British Army after D-Day. child psychiatry was named the Lowit Unit. Always appreciated for his wry wit and gently eccentric manner, Ian will be fondly Resuming his medical studies at Aberdeen University in 1948, remembered by many colleagues, ex-patients, his children, he married Sheila, the love of his life, in 1951. In Edinburgh grand- and great-grandchildren. he specialised in child psychiatry, becoming Aberdeen’s first consultant child psychiatrist in 1960. Mike Maas Lowit

19 AJR Journal | December 2019

AN INVITATION TO DEBATE THE ZEITGEIST

We write as two daughters of Merilyn refugees from Nazi Germany. Moos (left) and We understand ourselves Miriam David to be part of the “second generation” (broadly defined) and are exploring how we see this as affecting our lives, was largely taboo within our families. Of happened to their families. She grew up both positively and negatively. course, there were exceptions. We knew sensing death around her. That her family that our families had been exiled from Nazi were killed as Jews was never mentioned How does it tie in with our Germany; exile is a strong and harsh term. and would have been denied. But her commitment to equality, human Miriam witnessed some continuing contact parents were laden with the past. The with Germany, such as letters dropping front door was triple locked. When she rights, anti-racism and support through the letter box, but was forbidden reached the age when her friends went to use things made in Germany. To talk of out in the evening, her parents barred for refugees? the past would have been terrifying. her way out of the house. Only in her late 50s/early 60s, once her father was The rise of fascism in parts of Europe, Miriam’s father came to England in late long dead and her mother in a hospital, often linked with antisemitism, and 1936 to an engineering job in Manchester then a home, did she start the long hunt the growing legitimacy of a form of because he feared the impending war. for their secrets. Later, she wrote a novel: authoritarian populism here, fill us with Aged 28, he wanted to make a new life for The Language of Silence, 2010, and a dread and we are aware of often feeling himself and quickly got involved in Jewish biography of her father: Beaten but not disproportionately fearful. How do all and Zionist politics. His future wife was the Defeated. Siegfried Moos: A German these factors link in? daughter of immigrants from Russia in the anti-Nazi who settled in Britain, 2013. late nineteenth century. What their three We are both in our 70s but it is only in daughters did not know was the struggle We would like to talk to others about how the last couple of decades that we have their father had to get his brother, parents, they have pieced together their stories, begun to think seriously about how our aunt and grandmother to leave Germany with a view to producing a collection. We backgrounds influence our identities and and secure the financial guarantees and are especially (though not exclusively) political actions. Perhaps it is because we visas to do so. They only learned this two interested in the interrelationship are reaching the twilight of our lives, and decades after their father had died, in 1980, between the personal and the political are now reflecting on what might be our when they found a locked box in their in an increasingly nationalistic and racist personal and social legacies. mother’s effects containing Nazi passports zeitgeist. What are the meanings for us and other information. of being children of refugees, émigrés or We have both had very busy professional exiles? As people who are British and who and personal lives, and reflecting upon Merilyn’s parents were political refugees, recently acquired German passports, do diverse influences was never top of the her father an active anti-Nazi who fled we see ourselves as being distinct? agenda. We were also brought up not for his life on the night of the Reichstag to reflect or talk about the past, but to fire. That much she knew and it gave her We invite anybody interested become good English women who fitted a lifelong sense of pride and source of to join us in further discussion. in. Talking about what had happened to identity. But what she did not know - which Please email [email protected] our families before, and during the war, her parents refused to speak of - is what or [email protected]

Readers are also invited to take part in AJR’s own survey for the Second Generation, which can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/AJR2G

Published by The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), a company limited by guarantee. Registered office: Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, Finchley, London N3 1HF Registered in England and Wales with charity number: 1149882 and company number: 8220991 Telephone 020 8385 3070 e-mail [email protected] AssociationofJewishRefugees @TheAJR_ For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters, Unit 5, St Albans House, St Albans Lane, London NW11 7QB Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected] The AJR Journal is printed on 100% recycled material and posted out in fully recyclable plastic mailing envelopes.

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