May Day Call by Xenophobes
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AJ R Info rma tio n Volume LII No. 6 June 1997 £3 (to non-members) Don't miss... ? Further thoughts on the 1997 General Election AJR Information and the Second Generation Andiony Grenville p5 May Day call by xenophobes Sublime enigma Ronald Channing pi3 t the risk of annoying readers who consider the whole issue; in other words, the anti-Tory tide our remit to be strictly parochial, we focus impartially swept away Europhiles and Europhobes Auschwitz - the on the events at Westminster for the second ahke. view from on high A Lionel Simmonds p 16 month running. Once again our intention is to do so Re the latter we cannot but rejoice at the demise of without allowing party-political bias to creep in. the Judeophobic Tony Marlowe, the bigoted David Nonetheless it can be said that the Labour landslide Evans and the racist Peter Griffith (whom Harold of the First of May has reversed a rightwards drift - Wilson memorably dubbed a 'parliamentary leper' Good both in the economic and political (i.e. nationalistic) back in the 1960s). Nor will many tears be shed over meanings of the term - that had been gathering mo the absence from the Commons of the greatest, in parts mentum for nearly two decades. Now, while we may because most influential, xenophobe of the Nineties, have no quarrel with the economic Right, we can do Michael Portillo. olitically no other than be ultra-sensitive to all manifestations From this son of a Spanish emigre it is but a short present day of ultra-Right politics. step to his (ex) colleague and fellow Eurosceptic who PGermany is The British 'first-past-the-post' electoral system had been fathered by a Jewish refugee from Romania. a curate's egg, inhibits the growth of smaller parties. Consequently, Rumour has it that Michael Howard wanted to with the bad parts extremists of any stripe who didn't want to court make immigration an election issue but was - fortu in the South and marginalisation have long tried to creep in under the nately - overruled by the level-headed John Major. East. In Bavaria Labour or Tory umbrellas. In the case of Old If the rumour is substantiated it would indicate the Crimes of the Labour, weak leadership in the 1970s allowed bomb- that Sir James Goldsmith was not the only Wehrmacht happy left zealots like Arthur Scargill to render them (part)Jewish candidate in the election who recklessly exhibition unelectable for many years. banged the xenophobic drum in pursuit of power prompted counter- In the Conservative camp xenophobia has been a and influence D demonstrations, latent presence for even longer. In the Sixties it and an influential focused on the issue of coloured immigration, but MP (see April issue) once Enoch Powell switched from predictions of AJRANNUAL GENERAL MEETING wants Jewish inter-racial bloodshed to opposing the EEC the focus will be held at immigration changed and new battle lines were drawn. These 15 Cleve Road,West Hampstead. London NW6 3RL curbed. In the ex- bisected the Channel. Gradually over the years on SUNDAY 8 JUNE 1997 at 3pm DDR foreigners are Europhobia spread through the Tory grassroots as routinely attacked, well as the parliamentary party. AGENDA Potsdam denies the One of the longterm results was the receptiveness Annual Report 1996 Wehrmacht to delusion of the Europhobe MPs. Thus, in a mirror Hon.Treasurer's Report, Discussion exhibition image of Tony Benn's 'spin' that the minority vote Election of Committee of permanent house for Michael Foot's Labour Party in the '80s Management (see page 2) room and two showed the commitment of eight million voters to a Guest speaker: Stephen Smith, Director, formerly prestigious Socialist programme, the La Pasionaria of the Right, Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre, East Berlin stages Teresa Gorman, ascribed her recent re-election not who will talk on 'Forgotten Places - are occupied by to her previously unassailable majority, but to the The Holocaust, its Memory and its Meaning' plays about anti-European gut feelings of her constituents. respectively Eva Actually analysis of the nationwide election results Enquiries: AJR, I Hampstead Gate, Braun and Emmy showed that voters, while hardly enthusiasts for Eu la Frognal,London NW3 6AL Tel:OI7l 431 6161 Goering D ropean integration, were less than preoccupied with AJR INFORMATION JUNE 1997 with which to generate funds to con and non-Jewish Polish intellectuals, pro Profile tribute to the Centre's operating costs. vide unforgettable insights in the places During this formative stage, Britain's where many of the crimes were perpe Jewish community (with few exceptions) trated. He is in international demand as a Stephen Smith was almost totally unaware of his ambi lecturer, returning recently from Latvia iving in the idyllic village of Laxton tious plans and played no part in and South Africa, and is a member of the in the heart of Nottingham's Sher contributing to its establishment. advisory panel of the Imperial War Mu Lwood Forest, the elder son of a Europe's first Holocaust Memorial seum currently establishing a Holocaust Methodist minister and a communally Centre was opened at Laxton on 17th exhibition and education project. active mother, made it quite probable that September 1995 in the presence of a Paradoxically, as a gentile and student Stephen Smith would be either a farmer number of survivors. The existence of the of Jewish history, not the least of or a vicar. He still lives and works in the Centre was then revealed to the wider Stephen's achievements has been to countryside, but his work is of a unique Jewish community through the columns provide a ready-made, unaffiliated meet and quite unexpected nature. of the Jewish Chronicle. ing place for members of a seemingly After early success in farming, he took a increasingly fragmented Anglo-Jewish new career path in 1991 when he was community, a new-style 'Jewish' institu drawn to the study of theology and tion whose subject matter fosters a learned of the genocide of European common cause no longer regarded as the Jewry during World War II. "Like other exclusive territory of survivors or relatives British children," he recalls, "I'd gone of victims. through the entire school system knowing Above all, he has set out to challenge nothing about the Holocaust." the churches' traditional malevolence to While deepening his knowledge at the wards Jews, to bring them to recognise Hebrew University, a visit to Yad Vashem and accept the consequences of their his made an impact on him for which he was torical antagonism, and to acknowledge unprepared. "I felt sad and was frustrated Christianity's debt to Judaism. "After that noone had taught us even the essen centuries of antisemitism, the Holocaust tial facts of the Holocaust," he recalls, could have been predicted" he said. "Peo "and was angry that seemingly responsi ple must be prepared to tackle and deal ble people were not prepared to deal with with antisemitism." the subject at all!" He set out to make a D Ronald Channing personal contribution to filling what he perceived as a gaping omission in the Stephen Smith, director of Beth Shalom teaching of European history. The Centre houses exhibits which were Election of Committee Though only 24 years of age, Stephen personally researched, designed and often of Management 1997/98 was determined to implement his plans. made by Stephen. It offers many addi He took a diploma in advanced Holo tional facilities which include a lofty caust studies at the Oxford Centre for meeting hall, a library with audio-visual ACM 8 JUNE 1997 Hebrew and Jewish Studies, then began a resources, a restaurant, residential accom Ph.D. on 'The Impact of the Holocaust modation for students and peaceful The following members of the Committee are on Christian Thought and Practice'. memorial gardens of great beauty. retiring by rotation and are being proposed for re-election: But Stephen is a man of action. Enlist The Centre has also established three ing the active involvement of his brother travelling exhibitions which tour schools, Mr A.C. Kaufman Chairman Mr W.D. Rothenberg Vice-Chairman James, a surgeon, and the full backing of accompanied by Stephen and a survivor & Treasurer to bear witness and respond to questions. his parents, he decided to conceive, de Mrs E.5.Angel Secretary sign, fund and build a Holocaust In its first year alone Beth Shalom hosted memorial and education centre in the en the astonishing number of 20,000 school The fbOoMng remain members of^e Committee and tirely improbable location of the family's children! are proposed as Trustees: 19th-century farm house. The preceding Not content with these achievements, Mr P. Dannenberg half a century had not seen any organisa Stephen has established Beth Shalom as a Mr C.W. Dunston tion succeed in establishing a Holocaust publishing house for survivors' testi The following remain members of the museum in Europe outside the concentra monies; he edits promotional material and Committee without need for re-election in tion camps; Stephen's very idea and newsletters which are designed and pro 1997: concept were audacious in the extreme. duced to the highest standards, and has Mr M. Durst Trustee A feasibility study revealed that half a even taken his design of the Centre's Mrs j. Field million pounds was required to imple Hebrew emblem and produced it as a Mrs }. Kessler ment the project. Not only did he harness jewel! Mrs S. Landau the resources of the Smith family for the As an extension of his own many visits Mr H.E.