VOLUME 3 No. 2 FEBRUARY 2003

Two admirable blue stockings

Eliot seems unique among her literary contemporaries - both Continental European and English - in espousing the cause of the Jews. Dostoevsky showed antisemitic tendencies, as did Gustav Freytag, and, to a lesser extent, Balzac. Among English novelists the best-selling Charles Dickens had created the stereotypical Fagin figure (although he subsequently tried to make amends with .«« his sympathetic portrayal of Riah, a Emma Lazarus minor character in Our Mutual Friend). George Eliot t-xactly 100 years ago a plaque was affixed The similarly prolific Anthony Trollope scheme only one degree less chimerical ^° the plinth of the Statue of Liberty on made the foreign financier Melmotte a than a plan for a gipsy nationality '^llis Island. The inscription read: monomaniac - though not unique - villain in Africa. in The Way We Live Now. When Henry James was asked to Give me your tired, your poor, Yo,u r huddled masses yearning to breathe free, Eliot had not always been a review the novel, he found the task so "e wretched refuse of your teeming shore, philosemite. Criticising Disraeli's novels onerous that he wrote his critique in the j'^nd these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, Conigsby and Tancred at the start of her form of a debate between three readers. '•ft ray lamp beside the golden door! literary career, she had written: 'The One of his alter egos said she was wearied ijie promise contained in these stirring fellowship of race to which Disraeli by the Jewish burden of the story and felt ^es by Emma Lazarus was, alas, only exultantly refers is an inferior impulse ... tempted to skip chunks. Another dubbed ^^mporary. In 1924 the US Congress Everything specifically Jewish is of a low Daniel Deroruia 'a dreadful prig' and ^"ided unrestricted immigration, abruptly grade.' During the subsequent decades, subjected him to primitive antisemitic ^rminating the greatest Jewish when she immersed herself in jibes: 'I am siu^e he had a nose and I hold •^Pulation movement in history. It had philosophy and theology, travelled on the that the author has shown great ^^ed in 1881 when the Tsarist regime continent, fell under the spell of Heine, pusillanimity in her treatment of it. She ^sponded to the assassination of and suffered ostracism because of her has quite shirked it.' •^exander with a series of pogroms. imconventional lifestyle, her estimate of The fact that Henry James felt impelled Within a year boatloads of fugitive the Jews underwent a radical to inject this crude example of gutter •Russian Jews arrived in the USA. Her transformation. antisemitism into his review shows the ^Counter with them inspired the And not only that. She hoped that forces George Eliot was battling. She ^Phardic Emma Lazarus, who had Daniel Deronda (published in 1874) was fully aware of this, as shown by the rsonally experienced neither poverty would 'widen the English vision'. For her, title of one of the last essays she wrote: ^'" persecution, to write Songs of a the Jews' preservation of their faith 'The Modem Hep! Hep! Hep!' (the "^'te. In the composition of those poems through centuries of dispersal and acronym for Hierusalema est per dita: ^ endeavoured to live up to her teacher persecution was a model for the way the Jerusalem is lost - the cry uttered during sho' Ph Waldo Emerson's precept 'to show EngHsh might reaffirm their national the Crusader pogroms). ^ Celestial element in the despised consciousness. Two centuries ago Wordsworth wrote: ^Sent' (i.e. in humdrum daily life). On But above all, of course, Daniel 'Milton, thou shouldst be living at this '^Pleting the cycle Lazarus dedicated it Deronda was a Zionist novel, and Eliot hour/England has need of thee.' Today, 3 fellow woman writer, who, she wrote, deserves to be called the greatest, if not when the air is filled with the din of new J "lost among the artists of our day the first, gentile Zionist. And, like most 'Hep! Hep!' cries fi-om Peshawar to ards elevating and ennobling the spirit visionaries, she was - often wilfully - Finsbury Park, one would like to rewrite p •'e*ish nationaUty.' This dedicatee was misunderstood. To Leslie Stephen Wordsworth's lines, substituting George ^rge Eliot. (Virginia Woolf s father) Zionism was a Eliot for Milton, and Zion for England. AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Virtual reality Richard Grunberger

Though der Heim - the Yiddish-speaking heartland of Eastern Europe - vanished over halfa century ago, it spawned a rich folklore, some of which fed into world culture. Prime examples are the legend of the Golem - the precursor of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - and the notion of demonic possession exemplified in kn^k)!?, Dybbuk. , pictured here with Esther Rantzen (left) and Vera Gissing, At a less elevated level, stories was guest of honour at a gathering of 200 members held at the Imperial War Museum last August. The meeting, organised by the AJR, abounded about archetypal fools, was part of the Continental Britons Exhibition programme of events braggarts, drunks, beggars (shnorrers) and gossips (yentes). The fools all The 93-year-old nnan known as 'Britain's 'the Englishman in Wenceslas Square', inhabited the real, existing Polish town of Schindler' has been awarded a trying to persuade him to include their Chelm (Chelmno). German simpletons, knighthood. For nearly 50 years he children on his lists to get them out of in contrast, lived in the fictitious Schilda - concealed his humanitarian mission: the country. Eventually he put 669 hence the term Schildburger. The English his late wife, Greta, discoverefl that he children on eight trains for London- had organised the evacuation of 669 equivalent, Gotham - as in 'Three wise But on the outbreak of war, on 3 youngsters out of only September 1939, the ninth train, the men of Gotham went to sea in a sieve' - when she found lists of the children in one carrying the most children, never was an obscure village in Northants. an old leather briefcase in their attic. left the station. Braggarts are personified in the In 1938 Nicholas Winton, who was One of 'Winton's children'. Vera European imagination by somewhat flaky working for the London Stock Gissing, said he 'rescued the greater aristocratic figures like Baron von Exchange, was invited to by a part of the Jewish children of nvj Miinchhausen and Sir John Falstaff. The friend at the British embassy. On arrival, generation in Czechoslovakia. VeryievJ Yiddish counterpart as teller of tall tales he was asked to assist in the refugee oi us met our parents again - they is the plebeian Hershele Ostropoler. The camps. Noticing that nobody seemed perished in concentration camps. Had last named was ordinary, but not average. to be helping the children, he set up an we not been spirited away, we woulo In the Yiddish communal subconscious, office at a dining room table in a city have been murdered alongside them.' Mr Average - the Victorians' 'man on the hotel. Soon, parents were rushing to HS Clapham omnibus', alias Joe Bloggs - is Chaim Yankel. After faces lost in the crowd, places lost Thea's Diary in the distance. When the English want to On 27 January, marking this year's Holocaust evoke the back of beyond they say Memorial Day, Radio 4's Women's Hour is Timbuktu, and the Americans Hicksville. broadcasting the first of ten episodes of Ttiea's Diary (originally Das Tagebuch der Tt>ea Gersten). The Yiddish counterpart to those places Thea Hurst (nee Gersten) was born in Leipzig in is Yehupets (the Austrian equivalent is 1925 and now lives in Yorkshire. She wrote her Kigrizpotschen - possibly a strange diary between 1939 and 1947. It begins shortly compound of Kirghiz and slippers). after Kristallnacht in Leipzig and chronicles loss, exile and coming to terms with a new culture in Mention of brings to mind their England. The programme can be heard at 10.45 national stereotype of cretinous am with daily repeats at 7.45 pm. aristocrats: Graf (Count) Bobby. His BD nearest English equivalent, other than the generic term 'chinless wonder', is Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster. Yiddish AJR Journal folklore has produced nothing remotely Richard Grunberger Editor-in-Chief JACKMAN • similar; lacking a land of their own, the Ronald Channing Executive Editor Howard Spier Editorial and Production SILVERMAN Jews also lacked a landed aristocracy. The AJR Journal, 1 Hampstead Gate, COMMERCIAL PROPERTY' CONSULTANT closest Jewry got to having a hierarchy la Frognal, London NW3 6AL was the priesthood - and no one would Tel: 020 7431 6161 Fax: 020 7431 8454 e-mail: [email protected] 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA poke fun at that living repository of www.ajrorg.uk traditional wisdom. Telephone: 020 7409 0771 Fax: 020 7493 SCl m AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Lost in transit Richard Grunberger NEWTONS Leading Hampstead Solicitors advise on At a recent '43 Club evening a member Berliners crooned Reich' mir die Hand Property, Wills, Family Trusts criticised the choice of Continental mein Leben Komm' auf mein Schloss mit and Charitable Trusts Britons as the title of last year's mich/Ich will dir Kuchen geben Denn French and German spoken exhibition at the Jewish Museum. His Semmeln frisst de nich. The UK called point was that we should define one the Toreador's Song, and the other Home visits arranged ourselves by the language and culture in La ci darem la mono - and how many 22 Fitzjohn's Avenue, which we had our roots, rather than by Brits were Italian speakers? London NWS 5NB that into which we got pitch-forked. As against this, I concluded, Germany Wanning to his theme, the speaker even Tel: 020 7435 5351 had produced nothing to equal Fax: 020 7435 8881 found fault with his contemporaries for Elizabethan poetry, Jacobean drama or having omitted to pass on the German Restoration comedy. Likewise, the linguistic and cultural heritage to their architecture of (and art displayed children. Refugees who had totally within) Blenheim, Burleigh House and anglicised themselves, he concluded, Castle Howard could more than hold provided a vindication of the Nazi canard their own against Hohenzollern, CONSULTANT that Jews were not part of Germany. Wittelsbach and Habsbiu-g palaces. And to long established English I felt sufficiently provoked by this who among nineteenth-century Solicitors (bi-lingual German) bizarre take on the process of adaptation German novelists could enter the lists would be happy to assist clients ^^ a new environment which we all against Jane Austen, the Brontes, Mrs with English, German and Underwent willy-nilly on arrival, that I Gaskell, George Eliot, Thackeray, Austrian problems. Qrew up a mental profit-and-loss Trollope and Dickens? Certainly not Contact Henry Ebner Account of my own transformation from Gustav Freytag - though Theodor Storm Myers Ebner & Deaner Jewish Austrian into Continental Briton. and Fontane might be lone contenders. 103 Shepherds Bush Road ^he account had gone into the red, I Conclusive proof of the appallingly London W6 7LP •recalled, almost from the start. It took low level of contemporary German Telephone 020 7602 4631 '^ext to no time to establish that literary taste was proved by Richard ALL LEGAL WORK continentals knew more about Britain Wagner's prose-poem Das Rheingold, UNDERTAKEN han Brits did about the continent. For which he published before setting it to HS instance, while Shakespeare, Wilde and music. It was riddledwit h alliterations - ^naw had been names to conjure with on e.g. the Firegod Loge's zur lockenden ^he other side of the Channel, (ioethe, Lohe mich wieder zu wandeln spiir ich Chiller and Hauptmann were virtually lockende Lust - interspersed with mock- AUSTRIAN and GERMAN ^^own in Dover and points north. poetic effusions a la Des Gotten Treu' PENSIONS ^er time I realised that England was ertrotzte die Frau/triige sie hold den hellen °t the Larul ohne Musik of German Schmuck/den schimmernd Zwerge PROPERTY ^yth, but I could still not comprehend schmieden/ruhrig im Zwange des Reifs. RESTITUTION CLAIMS hy choral works such as The Messiah In the same year, 1852, as this stilted EAST GERMANY - BERLIN ^w larger audiences than operas over high-faluting mock-medieval confection On instructions our office will ^'^e. Opera seemed to be a real rolled off the printing presses - and was assist to deal with your ^"uchstone. How often, while snapped up by the German applications and pursue the matter ^<^ounting the well-worn anecdote Bildungsburgertum (bourgeoisie of with the authorities. ^ut Slezak-Lohengrin asking 'When is education) - Charles Dickens published ^ "ext swan due?' did I discover that Bleak House! I rest my case. For further information y hsteners didn't know the plot of the (None of the above should, however, and appointment J^ra. More fundamentally while in the be construed as suggesting that we please contact: countT)' the text of operatic arias had ought to be grateful to those who forced ICS CLAIMS ^red public consciousness and us to flee for our lives to a country 146-154 Kilburn High Road pawned parodies, over here the lyrics where, happily, Wagner was better London NWS 4JD Qn t even been translated into known for composing Here comes the 8hsh. Viennese sang Auf in den bride I All dressed in white than for Tel: 020 7328 7251 (Ext. 107) ^Pf die Schwiegermiitter naht and ^ffviting Das Judentum in der Musik.) Fax: 020 7624 5002 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Furs and Swells Martha Blend

One way or another, animal fur has to rich people,' my mother played a small but not insignificant commented, in her attempt to part in my life. It's practically a sweeten the pill of my departure. banned substance in this country When I arrived I found out that the now, though one still sees it on the said garment was a grey squirrel fur. backs of women abroad. They My foster mother - I called her probably haven't been subjected to 'auntie' - had had it remodelled to the poster campaign that shows how what was then a more fashionable many dumb wild animals have to die shorter length. What with its to clothe a dumb human. When I tried disproportionately large collar and to give away even a favourite suede my aunt's diminutive size and plump jacket which no longer did up on me figure, she looked in it for all the to my niece's daughter, I was told the world like a large bumble bee. The Trude Grenville and Klary Friedl walking on family had no use for animal skins. Do coat did yeoman service in keeping Regent Street, c. 1950 (courtesy of Anthony Grenville) they wear clogs then, I wondered. her warm during the war and was Swears and Wells, Harrods and other finally demobbed with the soldiery My mother-in-law was forever stores which used to display in their when the war ended. complaining about the dust this windows models elegantly attired in Now followed a period of making- brought to their living quarters. I was mink and musquash have long since do. Lino, which had seen service in fascinated by the paraphernalia of his closed their doors or their fur many places diuring our evacuation, trade - the trestle tables, model departments and a transparent top was cut up again to fitou r London flat stands and bundles of skins and rather than a white fur is now the and no one gave a second thought to a lengths of lining materials. My badge of celebrity at a film premiere. luxury like fur. However, it was to father-in-law used to amuse us by My earliest memories are of my come into its own again following the making wicked jokes about the sack­ mother - normally wrapped in a period of austerity. Then I began to like figures of his clients. 'Make it shabby old coat - transformed by the notice a phalanx of black-clad ladies long,' they instructed. The length addition of a fox fur when going out creeping towards our local was a matter of status. He also told us visiting. I can still see in my mind's synagogue. It was the middle-aged about his experiences of service i^ eye its gingery pelt slung obliquely women of the Jewish community the First World War when the over her shoulder with the triangle of decked in what had become the authorities mistook his trade for that the fox's face on her hip. Two beady uniform of the well-to-do, a black of a farrier Hardly knowing one end eyes gleamed near the tip of the Persian lamb coat. Its tightly-curled of a horse from another, he was triangle and a clip behind it slotted surface did not lend itself to a nonplussed when expected to shoe it- into a loop at the other end to anchor caressing touch, but the prestige it Near the end of her life my aunt als" the creature to its wearer A bushy conferred on its wearer was acquired one of the desirable Persiai' tail completed the picture. considerable. In fact, to be seen lamb coats. When she died, I foun" After the Nazis entered Austria my without one on the High Holy days she had left me a small amount o' mother tried desperately to find a was a sign of social failure. money, her silver candlesticks a^^ safe haven for me with foster parents When I married I found that my the coat. The last found a home witl' in England. We received photographs father-in-law was a furrier by trade. her niece, but with the money from a couple who were prepared to He had worked for Harrods at one bought a desk for my children bo^ take me on. He was dressed in winter point and then gone on to start his Heal's and a luxurious sheepskin coa coat and trilby hat, she resplendent in own business in the City. When he for myself. When I told the story to * a fiu: coat which gave an exaggerated was bombed out of there he neighboiu: she commented rather image, as I was to discover, of their transferred his workshop to the top cruelly: 'You've converted the aunt t*' worldly wealth. 'You see, you're going of his house in Stoke Newington. the coat.' AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Denizens of SCIENCE NOTEBOOK shadowland The role of carbon dating Prof Michael Spiro On general release, Stephen Frears's Dirty Pretty Things has been - The advent of a new year always favourably - described as a film about brings thoughts of age. Not just our London, not a single shot of which will boost tourism. A lot of the action own, but of life, the universe and unfolds inside a cavernous luxury hotel everything, to quote Douglas Adams. whose sinister, brooding ambience Science programmes on TV often tell puts one in mind of Kafka's Castle. us the ages of objects found in Most of the scenes are shot at night, archaeological digs and even the age of partly because the hero is a night porter the Earth, but how do they know? but also on the symbolic grounds that Many archaeological finds involve the entire cast of asylum seekers and '"egal immigrants lead shadowy lives. the remains of previous forms of life, They exist in a twilight zone where like bones and clothes and wood which some fall victim to exploitation - contain proteins and cellulose and 'ficluding sexual abuse - by their own other compounds of carbon. Now l^ith and kin, while others are the carbon, and certain other elements, hunted quarry of sadistic immigration can exist in several forms called officers. isotopes (their nuclei contain different But D/rty Pretty Things is also a thriller numbers of neutrons). whose main plot line is the step-by-step Uncovering of a hugely lucrative, and Almost all carbon atoms exist as sometimes lethal, trade in human carbon-12, where the number refers '^ody parts. to the relative weight of the nucleus. Even so, I, boasting first-hand, if However, one carbon atom in 830 Semi-historical, acquaintance with billion exists as the isotope carbon-14. refugee problems, found aspects of the Its nucleus is radioactive and slOwly ^'Im hard to credit. At the start of the decays. Tiny amounts of C-14 are Third Millennium, when the Council for the Welfare of Immigrants is a well- continually formed when cosmic rays established UK institution, are asylum from outer space bombard nitrogen A famous example is the Turin Seekers really as clueless and friendless atoms in the upper atmosphere. The shroud, 1 cloth believed by many ^s here depicted? And can one believe C-14 then combines with oxygen to Christians to have been wrapped the overnight conversion of the form 'heavy' carbon dioxide, which around the body of Jesus Christ. ^'9erian from melancholy drifter into mixes rapidly with the normal form of However, carbon dating of its linen '^esourceful action man who hoists the CO. Through photosynthesis this threads by three independent Promoter of the lethal body parts trade ^'th his own petard? heavy form is taken up by plants, laboratories in 1989 showed that the ^'1 that takes a lot of swallowing, but which in turn are eaten by animals. material was only 700 years old. /•at I found most dubious about the But once the plant or animal dies no Extremely long half-lives of several film was its underlying premiss. It is more C-14 is taken up, and these hundred million years are possessed th 's: London enjoys its profitable and atoms slowly decay within the dead by two isotopic forms of the heavy ^''estigious First World status partly organism. The ratio of carbon-14 to metal uranium. Eventually these ecause the dirty work needed to keep Metropolis ticking over is performed carbon-12 inside objects such as wood decay into two different isotopic forms y nienials from the Third World, to or bones then halves every 5,730 of lead. Measurements ofthe amounts yjtli L ^^^ ^ery existence Londoners are years (the so-called half-life of C-14 of the various parent uranium atoms '^hely impervious. Dirty Pretty Things atoms), becoming a quarter after and of the various daughter lead atoms ^its to have it both ways by sending 11,460 years, and so on. The carbon occluded in different rocks has t a politically correct message gorily coat ratio can be measured very acciu-ately, enabled scientists to determine their ^ckaged in thriller form. It, moreover, so allowing us to determine the age of ages. As a result, we now know that •"ces one into a Tebbitt-like posture the specimen. Carbon dating works the Earth's crust was formed some ^'^^ to ask: if the UK is so inhospitable Asylum seekers, why do so many well for studying objects up to 20,000 4,300 million years ago. Perhaps that f^ak,e It their favoured destination? years old, and even up to 50,000 years thought will calm us down as we wait RG with suitable corrections. impatiently for the next bus. AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

and less. At the same time, I would like to say how much I enjoy your journal, The Editor reserves the right for which I wait anxiously each to shorten correspondence month. Not only is it full of interest TO THE ) submitted for publication but it also takes me back many years [ EDITOlU to when I was a young emigrant in England. Thankyou very much. Susanna Ascione Rome GAULEITER GRUNBERGER our January issue. His description of Sir - Your attitude towards present- me, a fellow-Jewish refugee, as a day Germany is often so slanted as to Gauleiter is in execrable taste. ANNUS MISERABILIS border on the objectionable and is Readers Ambrose, Bild, Brent, Foot, Sir - Richard Grunberger writes quite unworthy of a so-called Hasseck, Houlton, Lustig, Manson, (January issue) of his annus miserabiUs responsible and erudite magazine. Prager, Rumney, Schatzberger, and the opprobrium to which he was subjected during 2002.1 am largely in So the fact that Schroder has Suschitzky, Trott, Vajifdar and Walker refused to commit the German army have all had letters critical of me agreement with him on most of the to an attack on Iraq means that he is published in recent issues of the political issues facing us. However, I endorsing Haider, who is a friend of Journal-Ed. confess the subtlety in the fourth Saddam Hussein, as well as siding paragraph of his letter, concerning with the Palestinians against Israel? Sir - During trips to the UK I am the fundamentalists, defeats me. I am You can't be serious, Mr Grunberger! frequently asked, by both Jews and, not sure if he means that Jewish particularly, non-Jews, to explain As for Mollemann, his alleged Jew­ fundamentalism, although for the Israel's policies and actions. I don't baiting antics consist mainly of most part stopping short of terrorist always find it easy to reply, especially breaching the Eleventh killing, is to be deplored as much as when I am asked to explain positions Commandment 'Thou shalt not the Muslim version. If that is indeed with which I disagree but feel the criticise Israel', and are undoubtedly what he meant, I wholeheartedly need to defend. Your lucid and no worse than the criticisms of Israel (again) agree with him. eloquent articles are often a great spouted every day by the 'Member for Dr Emil LandeS help to me in this, with January's Baghdad East', George Galloway. It is Highgate, London true that Mollemann made some editorial being a prime example. rather uncomplimentary comments Shmuel Herold Sir - Richard Grunberger has about the deputy chief of the Raanana, Israel 'numbered both individual Iraqis ano Judenrat, Friedmann, who is brilliant, Egyptians among my friends' (JanuafV but also rather arrogant. If, as you Sir - Recently there have been attacks issue). Wow! You could have fooleo constantly imply, all Germans are on RG in AJR Journal for two reasons: me! inherently antisemitic, Mollemann's (a) that his contributions are too Martin Hassec^ statements should have had the result many ; and (b) that readers disagree of more votes for the FDP and not with some of his well-expressed CONTRADICTION less! In fact, the FDP immediately views. I partially concur but find his Sir - I feel I must take issue with ^^ distanced itself from him and English style admirable and I feel that Rosner's description of Dr Sacks as o^)^ forced his resignation from the without him as Editor and frequent chief rabbi. He is the chief rabbi on'y national party. writer there would be no AJR Journal. to the orthodox community anO' Several friends and myself have Herbert Anderson indeed, would strongly object t" taken to calling the Journal Der Norwich being the chief rabbi to th^ StOrmer and the editor a Gauleiter independent, reform or libera Under the circumstances, I feel I have Sir -1 strongly underwrite every word congregations - seeing that he do^ no alternative but to discontinue my our Editor has written about Israel not even recognise us as Jews! membership. and disagree with Liesel Houlton Mrs M S/n't" As I am convinced that you will not (Letters, January). Let her resign: that London N^ publish this letter in whole or in part, I will be her loss. am sending copies to like-minded Anne Pisker friends and acquaintances. FURTWANGLER SMEAR '' London SWl 5 Sir - Your December editorial impl'^ F Goldberg that Wilhelm Furtwangler was a Na^ Arundel Sir -1 am now 83 years old and living supporter However, Furtwangler ha Regarding Schroder and Mollemann, on a pension which was once quite a Jewish secretary, and he did what n Mr Goldberg is referred to page 3 of comfortable but is now getting less could to help Jewish refugees. "^^ AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Story goes that the BBC would not there during World War Two. consider any recommendation from Mordechai Vered ARE YOU ON A LOW Furtwangler of a refugee because it Holon, Israel INCOMEANDINNEED was invariably favourable whatever the merits of the person concerned. OF HOMECARE HELP? PERSPECTIVE, PLEASE He was entirely apolitical, yet, to my AJR might be able to offer Sir - I can appreciate Laura Selo's knowledge, never conducted in the financial assistance. feelings regarding her exploitation German-occupied countries. It is (November issue), but it was surely Members who might not true that on occasion he conducted better to be exploited than to have othenvise be able to afford concerts for which Toscanini had homecare please contact: been held in a concentration camp. I been scheduled. Toscanini was write as someone who knows of Estelle Brookner, Secretary neither a Jew nor a refugee but just suffering through the hardships of her AJR Social Services Dept happened to be an opponent of the parents and grandparents. Tel: 020 7431 6161 Italian regime. I can see nothing Wrong in Furtwangler taking his Felicity McCarthy place. I feel he has been unjustifiably Sutton n^aligned by being tarred with the Nazi brush and this should be ANTI-ISLAMIC PREJUDICE Companions put right. Sir - I find Andrew Herskovits's letter of London (December issue) offensive. It seems to Incorpofating CF Flesch Hampstead Home Care be based on a naive assumption that London NW6 all Muslims hold the same Islamic A long established company ^he fact that Toscanini was not a beliefs. Has Mr Herskovits studied the providing care in your home Koran as well as the Christian pre-ordained victim of fascism Assistance with personal care rnakes his anti-fascist stance alt the Testaments and the Torah and, if he General household duties n)ore admirable! Thomas Mann's has, how can he come up with such a Respite care Medical appointment service Patriotic 'Reflections of an simplistic difference? Mainstream Unpolitical Man'(1918) was a source Muslims have been at great pains to •OUR CARE IS YOUR CARE' °f bitter regret to him subsequently point out that the fundamentalist 020 7483 0212/0213 ^nd, as a committed champion of belief in martyrdom through sUicide democracy, he refused to shake the bombing is not based on the Koran. f^^nd ofthe apolitical Furtwangler in Does Mr Herskovits believe that both SPRING ^349-Ed Christianity and Judaism are free of fundamentalist groups that put power GROVE and death before life and justice? 214 Finchley Road CRITIQUE London NW3 Ruth Barnett ^'i' - Your skit on British monarchs London's Most Luxurious ocl( London NWS vOctober issue): please do not print RETIREMENT HOME such unmitigated rubbish again. • Entertainment-Activities REDJ IN PASSPORTS G Rosenthal • Stress Free Living Sir - My understanding of the red J in • 24 Hour Staffing • Excellent Cuisine London N2 passports (editorial, December issue) • Full En-Suite Facilities is that the Swiss asked the Germans to Call for more information ''ATEFUL FRIDAY do this so that the border guards could or a personal tour "• - Your item about the rebuilding readily identify potential refugees as 020 8446 2117 °' the Moria Primary School in Jewish and turn them away if or 020 7794 4455 Cologne (September issue) kindled appropriate. [email protected] '^y rnemory of the events of 64 years Rudi Leavor ^90. On that fateful Friday morning Bradford "^ October 1938, my teacher, Mr Simon R Rhodes M.Ch.S. ^'^ons, told our class that all pupils STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST NEW GERMAN SYNAGOGUE "Ose parents were Polish must Surgeries at: ^turn home at once. I was then ten Sir-I have had a telephone call from a 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp M&S) I'^^rs old. I took my eight-year-old teacher in Solingen, my home town, to Telephone 020 7624 1576 ""Other home, and we found our tell me that a synagogue is to be 3 Queens Close (off Green Lane) Mother packing a few belongings as opened in neighbouring Wuppertal. Edgware, Middx HA87PU Telephone 020 8905 3264 ^ Were being expelled to Poland. Ilse Shindel Visiting chiropody service available y rnother and brother perished Wembley. Middx AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

seventeenth-century artists signed their works and were rarely mentioned in RG'S INTERFACe existing bills and inventories. The first NOTES painting to greet you ispossibly Catherine Israel (a) David Merron's Collectively Knevet, Countess of Suffolk, possibly Yours (Bakewell Country Books, Gloria Tessler painted by William Larkin. Catherine was 1999) is a study of the kibbutz the second wife of Lord Thomas Howard, movement with a bleak prognosis for Kenwood House has a redoubtable 1st Earl of Suffolk, whom she married in its future. Even so, kibbutzim account collection of Rembrandts, Vermeers, 1583. There is evidence that the for 40 per cent of the country's Turners, Reynolds, Gainsboroughs, Countess was a spy. She is believed to agricultural - and 10 per cent of its industrial - production, (b) Divine Van Dycks and Frans Hals with which have received £1000 a year from the Intervention, a Palestinian-made the Iveagh Bequest has enriched the Spanish government in return for French-speaking film about love nation. They can be viewed daily inside 'information'. this elegant eighteenth-century neo­ across the Arab-Israeli divide, has won The Suffolk Collection includes family classical house. But now they have a new the international critics' prize at portraits, royal portraits and works by Caimes. Its prospects for an Oscar neighbour. sixteenth- and seventeenth-century nomination are slim because Palestine Today's fashion artists may be Dutch masters. Upstairs, Larkin's full- is not recognised as a sovereign state. interested in the Suffolk Collection of length portraits of the twins, Anne Cecil, Shanghai, (a) Bernard Wasserstein's Jacobean and seventeenth-century royal Cotmtess of Stamford, and Diana provide portraiture, which has relocated to Secret War in Shanghai (Boston/ New outstanding examples of the fashions of York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999) deals Kenwood from Greenwich Park. Many the day. Larkin is noted for his distinctive with the activities of competing portraits of Jacobean family life were paintings of drapery, which seem intelligence services in China's painted by the noted English artist weighted in metal. The sisters, wearing greatest port during World War Two. William Larkin, 1585-1619. The their slightly disdainful Jacobean look, are The most problematic character in the Collection includes portraits of the in full regalia of slashed silk dresses, book is the editor of the Shanghai Stuarts by Van Dyck and Lely, many fashionable around 1615. Here is all the Jewish Chronicle, Ossi Lewin, whose commissioned by the Earls of Suffolk and cloak-and-dagger mystery of the period: pro-Japanese stance caused him to be Berkshire. In fact, there is a direct link to draped sleeves, silk hankies, caperie and denied entry into the USA and Israel Charles I, who created the Earldom of draperie. The girls' mother, Elizabeth after the war. (b) The Gelbe Post, a Berkshire in 1626 for Thomas, second Countess of Exeter, wears a black dress, fortnightly catering for German- son ofthe Earl of Suffolk. so velvety it is almost tangible. Other speaking Jewish refugees resident in wartime Shanghai, is now available as What is probably most exciting about features in this room are blond, crimped a reprint. the paintings is their air of mystery. Who hair and pointed slippers with silver are these people and when were they baubles. And that's just the women! Berlin. Alice and Gerhard Zadek, Ihr seid wohl meschugge (Berlin: Dietz painted? And by whom? Few The popular Edward Sackville, 4th Earl Verlag, 1999) is the joint of 1590-1652, wears strands of autobiography of a married couple black silk ribbon in his left ear. A who, imbued with youthful idealism, supporter of Charles I, Edward killed returned to East Berlin from their Lord Bruce of Kinloss, father of the Ist wartime refuge in Manchester. Earl of Elgin, in a duel in 1613. Around his Though both laboured diligently for neck is a ruff like a starched tablecloth. the reconstruction of the DDR, they Trendy men of his day were so bejewelled became objects of suspicion in their and beribboned, you wonder how they new-old Heimat. For one, they were could dine, never mind duel! His returnees from the West; for another, wilder, darker brother, Richard Sackville, they worked for official acknowledgement of the specifically 3rd Earl of Dorset, is richly adorned Jewish contribution made by the likes for the wedding of King James I's of Herbert Baum and his associates to daughter in 1613. the anti-Nazi resistance. Yet the portraiture anticipates the progression from extravaganza to Puritan London. Nicholas Maw's Holocaust opera Sophie's Choice (based on austerity that Cromwell and the Civil War William Styron's novel), performed at of 1542 were to impose. A portrait of King Covent Garden under Sir Simon Charles I is a copy of an original by Rattle's baton, has proved a Anthony van Dyck, principal painter to resounding success. the Court of Charles I. That of his son, Charles II, painted in the studio of Sir Bonn. The controversial Leni Godfrey Kneller, may have been added Riefenstahl exhibition is currently on display at the House of History of the to this collection by James Grahme, a Diana Cecil, Countess of Oxford by Bundesrepublik. Or. William Larkin (died 1619) supporter of Charles's brother, James II.

8 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Chink of light parallels end, for Eberstadt's studies were painfully interrupted by THE RIGHTEOUS: THE UNSUNG internment on the Isle of Man, then by HEROES OF THE HOLOCAUST REVIEWS service in the British army in Normandy. Martin Gilbert His outstanding abilities were evident Doubleday £25.00 of the Catholic hierarchy that in the responsibilities he shouldered as There is a Jewish saying: 'He who saves individual priests followed an officer in Hamburg, in his first civilian one person saves the world.' In this their consciences and saved the lives job for the £conom/sfs Intelligence Unit, book Martin Gilbert focuses our of Jews. and above all in the spectacular success attention on one aspect of the As a reader, one would have liked a he enjoyed when he left Britain for New Holocaust that has not received much more selective approach to the York in 1951. Driven partly by the publicity: the people of all nationalities material. Gilbert tends simply to pile on impulse to make the career that the and persuasions who saved Jewish examples when a more subtle analysis Depression and Hitler had denied his ''ves. He mentions the better-known of the circumstances would shed more father, Eberstadt rose very high in the rescuers such as Frank Foley the British light on these. Nevertheless, this book elite banking house Lazard Freres. diplomat in Berlin who issued visas for serves as a caveat against stereotyping Everywhere Eberstadt seems <^esperate refugees, and Raoul - the Germans, the Poles, the church - automatically to have gravitated to the Wallenberg, who gave protective and the deeds of the rescuers, some of top. This applies most obviously to his passes to Jews in Budapest. However, whom are honoured at the Yad Vashem career as a banker, but also to his the book is mainly concerned with the memorial institute, are a chink of light charitable commitments to a row of unsung heroes' who sheltered Jews at in the darkness ofthe Holocaust. deserving institutions, from the 9reat risk to their own lives. Martha Blend Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust, of Gilbert gives details of rescue work in which he became chairman after ^11 the countries of Nazi-occupied building a summer home in the area, to Europe. In a few - notably Denmark, A tale of three countries New York's New School University, an "^inland and Bulgaria - there was strong institution with strong refugee WHENCE WE CAME, WHERE WE "^^sistance to the deportations. connections of which he became a WENT: A FAMILY HISTORY 'Apparently Belgium concealed the senior trustee. Walter Albert Eberstadt 9''eatest number of Jews. In France, Eberstadt was equipped by W.A.E. Books, New York 2002 °^spite the disgraceful behaviour of its temperament and inclination to make Naders and policemen, many were Last September I organised a the acquaintance of highly placed ^^•^en in by families. In Italy the conference on the part played by the people. His memoirs are studded with "Monasteries provided hiding places for refugees from Hitler in the German- vignettes of members of the British fnany Jews, Even in Berlin 4,700 Jews language broadcasting of the wartime upper classes. City grandees, influential ^ho had been held in the Rosenstrasse BBC and in the radio stations run by the figures from New York financial and ^^tention centre were released due to British occupation forces in post-war intellectual circles, and a slew of he sustained protest of their Aryan Germany. There was frequent mention bankers, from Herman Abs of the ""ves. There are examples of kindness of a Major Walter Everitt's role in the Deutsche Bank to Arthur Burns and ^^en in concentration camps. setting up of Radio Hamburg, the Alan Greenspan of the US Federal '^or the most part, it was ordinary future Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk. Reserve Bank. "^^ople, as well as clergy, who opened I was consequently delighted to A British reader will regret that a man J^eir doors to the persecuted. Some discover from the autobiography of of such ability should have chosen elped because of a bond of friendship Walter Eberstadt that he had been that America as the country where he 3ting from before the German Walter Everitt, in his previous could best deploy his talents. Eberstadt '•Pupation; others did so out of incarnation as a British officer, and that justifiably resented the callous way in ^hgious conviction or simple he had exercised a vital influence on which his adopted country had interned ^^iianity. Radio Hamburg at the ripe age of 24, him in 1940 and had refused him et in paying tribute to the launching the careers of such golden British nationality until after the end of ^•"aordinary bravery of these men and figures as Axel Eggebrecht and Peter the war °rnen we cannot lose sight of the fact vonZahn. Given that he spent 11 years in Britain attheywerea minority and, although Born in 1921 and raised in a after the trauma of his internment, in °^sands of Jews were hidden in respected Hamburg Jewish banking the British army, at Oxford and in the ^''s, barns and lofts or were provided family, Eberstadt has a string of City it also appears likely that a deciding ''" false papers, millions were achievements to his credit. The family factor in his choice was the unlimited °^ed to go to their deaths without escaped to England in 1936, and in prospect offered to a dynamic young ""otest from their neighbours, whether 1939 Walter gained a place at Christ man by Wall Street in 1951, compared ''ough fear, indifference or Church, Oxford - my own college some to the restrictions that hamstrung the '^Portunism. Nor was it at the behest 25 years later There, however, the City under Attlee and Cripps. AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Yet Britain was also kinder to the professed to read a similar message in and mortality in a gentle and young Eberstadt than America would the pages of Remarque's All Quiet on contemplative manner: have been. Emigration to Britain was the Western Front - a work the rest of Old women ought to feel easier for his family than it would have the world saw as a pacifist disavowal compassion for been to America, where immigration of war quotas were rigorously maintained. Shortly after the publication of this the old men whom they married Nor did Eberstadt at his British public book, the country was engulfed in long ago, school undergo the antisemitic economic crisis, which saw who are the landlords of the boys backlash experienced by his Jewish unemployment treble and the Nazi they loved ... fellow students in America every time vote increase tenfold (!) between 1928 the Jew-hating Father Coughlin made a and 1932. Elsewhere she writes: radiobroadcast. It was at this point in the We are the grace notes of the dead, Furthermore, Eberstadt's easy entry documentary's otherwise excellent their echo and their afterglow; to Oxford would not have been narrative that I spotted an omission. matched at the American Ivy League There was simply insufficient emphasis as dead stars still exist as light... colleges, which kept Jewish students to on the 'youth vote'. The Nazis were a The poems are attractively a small quota intake until after 1945. party of the young, as exemplified by accompanied by abstract drawings by This remarkable refugee success story the fact that Hitler was only 44 when Stella Tripp. The finely printed booklet owes something to all three of the he became Chancellor. I am convinced is the work of Julius Stafford-Baker countries in which he lived. that the majority of the 2 to 3 million who, half a century ago, began b)l Anthony Grenville youngsters who reached voting age publishing the poetry of Bernard Kops- between 1928 and 1932 felt they had The editor of the New Garland Poetry missed out on the glorious experience Eager for Armageddon Series is the poet Shirley Toulson- of war, and voted Nazi in order to A collector's item. part II repair that omission. Gerda Mayer The commentary might also have THE WAR THAT MADE THE NAZIS pointed out that whereas in 1930 BBC2 65 million Germans felt Annely Juda Fine Art This programme had a very simple claustrophobically constricted within 23 Dering Street thesis: in 1919 most Germans refused their post-Versailles borders, (off New Bond Street) to accept that they had been militarily nowadays 83 million exist quite Tel: 020 7629 7578 defeated and considered the Treaty of contentedly in the smaller space Fax: 020 7491 2139 Versailles an unendurable affront to assigned to them at Yalta. national self-esteem. Within a Richard Grunberger CONTEMPORARY PAINTING decade millions were turning to AND SCULPTURE Hitler, who pledged himself to tear up the treaty and punish the 'traitors' Afterglow who had signed it. What he also promised - unmistakably if only GRACE NOTES GERMAN and subliminally - was to stage a second Karen Gershon ENGLISH BOOKIE round of the war in order to reverse the The Happy Dragons' Press: New outcome of the first. Garland Poetry Series, 2001, £5.00 BOUGHT The project of preparing for a 'second Antiquarian, secondhand and round' started within weeks of the Back in the 1960s, the late Karen modern books of quality Armistice. General Ludendorff Gershon published her Selected always wanted. kickstarted the process by fabricating Poems, a volume mostly dedicated to We're long-standing advertisers the notorious Stab-in-the-Back myth her Poems on Jewish Themes. These here and leading buyers of according to which the army had not were piercingly honest poems, whose books from AJR members. been beaten in the field, but betrayed plain, almost humdrum, manner had We pay good prices and by politicians and pacifists. While cumulatively a most powerful effect. come to collect. Versailles only allowed Germany a She was acclaimed at the time by many humiliatingly small army, military of England's leading poets. For an Immediate response, honour was 'satisfied' by Freikorps Now, 22 of her last poems have please contact: desperados battling Poles beyond the appeared posthumously in a beautiful Robert Hornung MA(Oxon) borders and Communists within. 2 Mount View, Ealing, 18-page, hand-set, hand-printed, London W5 IPR Nostalgia for war suffused the writings limited edition. No longer about Email: [email protected] of Ernst Junger and Ernst von Salomon. the Holocaust, these poems Tel: 020 8998 0546 (Spm to 9pm is be^ Astonishingly, many Germans even are philosophical, dwelling on old age

10 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Everybody familiar with the story of Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, Mrs 'refugees from Nazi oppression' has Winton had sent some of Kathe's heard of the so-called Winton children, PROFILE drawings to Oskar Kokoschka, on 669 Czech youngsters who arrived in Richard Grunberger whose recommendation she was the UK shortly before the war. The awarded a British Council scholarship epithet 'Winton's children' applies to that took her to Regent Street them twice over, a) because Nicholas Engraver with gravitas Polytechnic. This sudden change in her (now Sir Nicholas) Winton worked fortune was not, however, as auspicious tirelessly for their rescue, and b) as it appeared. For one, because of the because he stood in bco parentis to all wartime call-up, elderly instructors those orphans-to-be. recalled from retirement were staffing Kathe Strenitz belonged to their the faculty at Regent Street. These men number. She was born in 1923 in the purveyed an aesthetic which struck glass-making town of Gablonz in the Kathe as hopelessly antiquated when Sudeten part of Czechoslovakia. Her compared to what she had recently fether, a tobacco importer, sat on imbibed at the Officina Pragensis. For committees that served both the Jewish another, the scholarship only paid her ^d general community. The mother school fees, and she still had to do ^as something of a blue stocking who chilblain-inducing menial jobs - such as took advice on childrearing from a close washing bottles for Express Dairy - to triend, the famous Vienna-based earn her keep. psychologist Alfred Adler. Though She left the Polytechnic, did full-time Kathe encountered little antisemitism war work and moved into Canterbury ^t her German gymnasium, she, like Hall, a hostel maintained by the Czech '^'^y of her generation, embraced Trust Fund. Here she encountered the Kathe Strenitz Zionism and joined the continental refugee poet Erich Fried and met her counterpart to Habonim. experiences. The nadir occurred on a future husband, a Czech-Jewish The other great enthusiasm of her farm at Fordingbridge, where she was journalist-turned-entrepreneur. They early teenage years was art. given insufficient to eat and had to sleep married during the war, and had a ^adoxically her artistic education on the landing. When she picked up daughter in 1950, after which Kathe •"eceived a great fillip in the crisis year some windfall fruit she was made to returned to the Regent Street t938 when the family moved to Prague. confess to stealing in front of the Polytechnic to complete her art "^ the beleaguered capital she attended farmer's children. Next she caught education. By that time her husband the Officina Pragensis, an art college impetigo off seasonal fruit-pickers from owned a plastics factory north of Kings Offering courses on engraving, the East End of London. At that point Cross whose interior - as well as the 'thography, poster design, etc. Here she packed her bags and took the train surrounding industrial landscape - ^he imbibed avantgarde ideas and came to London - a display of initiative she Kathe made the subject of many ^nder the influence of a distantly still marvels at 60-odd years later. engravings. In subsequent years she •"elated older student, the poet Peter Happier days followed at the David received the Lord Mayor's Award for ^'en (subsequent librettist of the Eder Farm in Kent, set up to train future woodcuts, exhibited regularly at the ^rezin opera The Emperor of Atlantis). kibbutzniks. Here she picked frozen Bankside gallery, was elected a Fellow tn March 1939 the Germans occupied brussel sprouts and worked in the of the Royal Society of Painter- p Printmakers, and in 1989 the Greater ^3gue. Within a matter of weeks Kathe stone-floor kitchen, but enjoyed the London Record office acquired her Und herself on a Quaker-sponsored high-spirited company of, among industrial drawings for their permanent <^hildren's transport to England. She others, the future wife of Ernst Gombrich. collection. •^embers no detail of the journey "er than being put in charge of a When Kent was declared a Protected Today Kathe feels fulfilled in both her 'Apartment occupied by bawling, Area Kathe was sent to a girls' hostel in work and family relationships - but the •"^umatised toddlers. Initially she had a North Hackney whose gloomy Holocaust has left deep scars. Apart /^tt landing in the UK, spending her ambience put her in mind of Edgar Allen from mourning her next-of-kin and persistent worry about Israel's future, ^ ^t fortnight comfortably ensconced Poe. Her next stop was a farm owned by ^th she is particularly concerned that no two well-connected sisters en a cousin of the poet Walter de la Mare ""^tite to New York. What followed was a where she learnt to milk and to plough archive anywhere caters for Peter , be*' 'tch-back ride of contrasting with horses. Kien's literary estate.

11 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003 INSIDE theAJR

Edinburgh supper meeting Northern Region Group Co-ordinator Susanne Green made a special visit to update members on recent events. We met at the home of one of our members for supper (contributed by all present) and a chat. The interesting forthcoming programme begins with a talk and demonstration by Heather Valencia on Yiddish music. Vicky Gruneberg, who initiated the topics, kindly offered her Hermann Hirschberger welcoming guests at the Kindertransport Chanukah Party in the AJR home for the events. We were informed Day Centre. Guests Irena and Peter Langford wrote to Sylvia Matus, the Manager of the Day about an invitation to pay another visit to Centre, to express their thanks: To all the hard-worked organisers and staff of the Chanukah Party. Thank you for a delightful afternoon and the marvellous feast provided for us. Every the marvellous Beth Shalom centre. minute and mouthful was much appreciated' Several people said they were agreeable to taking part in the AJR's newly launched up with a quiz and some joke-telling. attendance of regulars, many of whom oral history project. A special treat was the distribution of have become good friends. Our thanks fudy Gilbert Israeli 'Chanukah Gelt' made of chocolate, also go to Vera and frene, who arrange the which Myma Glass had thoughtfully monthly programme and have done so for brought back for us from her visit to Israel. as long as the group has existed. Brighton & Hove Sarids belated Chanukah Julie Franks Paul Samet We celebrated a belated Chanukah, with Next meeting: Tuesday 11 February, Next meeting: Thursday 6 February. members enjoying the doughnuts, latkes, 10.30 am. 1st Birthday - party with music 2 pm: Dr David Wolgroch will speak cakes and grapes provided by Myrna Glass about Shalvata, the counselling service and Fausta Shelton. The quiz that followed within the Centre for Holocaust Survivors Liverpool group member speaks on was enjoyed by all. The meeting was in Hendon European WIZO concluded by various members telling Twenty people enjoyed a meeting at jokes fitfo r well-brought up people. North London talk on the Spanish Harold House. The speaker was group F Goldberg member Sonia Strong on 'European WIZO Inquisition - Then and Now'. Sonia (born Sonia Despite being held up in traffic, Andre*' Next meeting: Monday 17 February, Herskovits gave a fascinating, albeit 10.45 am. BBC broadcaster Stewart Biener) spoke on the basis of her family's abbreviated talk on 'The Fate of Spanish Mcintosh will speak about his work involvement in WIZO in Magdeburg before the war and her WIZO experiences Jewry in the Wake of the Spanish in Palestine/Israel during and after the Inquisition', stressing the sufferings "i Manchester talk by Home trustee war, when WIZO gave support to those who had converted at the hands O' We had a most successful meeting at the survivors from Europe. Ten years ago the Inquisition. He also spoke about thos^ Morris Feinmann Home. In a talk laced WIZO re-established its European who in later years became part of th^ with humour, Dr Peter Kurer enchanted Council, which offers welfare support to Spanish aristocracy. While waiting f^f his audience of some 40 people by relating survivors of smaller Jewish communities Andrew's arrival, members took the the extraordinary coincidences in his busy behind the Iron Curtain and lobbies the opportunity to talk about their lives befoi* life. He also spoke about his own European Parliament on issues of and after their arrival in the UK, which background, which had created in him antisemitism and human rights. made very interesting listening. such interest in the care of the elderly. Herbert Haberberg Dr Kurer had been chairman ofthe Morris Next meeting: February (details to be Feinmann Home for 'more years than I can announced) Next meeting: Thursday 27 Februart'' remember' (his words) and is still a trustee 10.30 am. AJR Life President Ludw'i^- Spiro, Making the Best of It - i^l ofthe Home. 'Sing-along' in Pinner Werner Lachs Intemment of Refugees, 1940-1941' Jenny Kossow played her piano accordion to the 40 members present and led us in a next meeting: Wednesday l Happy family Chanukah party in Chanukah 'sing-along'. There was also February, 10.30 am. Contact Edmee Bart* Essex some dancing, including Hava Nagilah (01372 727 412) for details Our Chanukah party was just like a large, with audience participation. This was Wessex next meeting: Wednesdaj", * happy family meeting. Two nice ladies followed by lighting the candles and a feast February, 2.30 pm. Contact Ma'"'' were feeding us doughnuts and tiny potato of traditional delicacies. It was also our Goldfmger (01202 552 434) after 6 pw i"' latkes - lots of them. Things soon livened group's fifth birthday. We now have a good details

12 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Voice of an angel AJR HOLIDAY FOR KT-AJR NORTHERN MEMBERS MONTHLY MEETINGS AT Sunday 18 May 2003 - CLEVE ROAD Friday 23 May 2003 Monday 3 February 2003 2 THE FERNLEA HOTEL 11.45 am for 12.15 pm 2 Z 11/17 SOUTH PROMENADE Andrea Lyttleton ST ANNES-ON-SEA, LANCS F18 1 LU i will speak on 'Graphology' J Q £250 per person £13 supplement for sea Lunch £5 I view or deluxe room to include dinner, o bed, breakfast, outing and entertainment Reservations required K o Call Ruth Finestone on Please telephone X 0. 020 7431 6161 as soon as possible as 020 7328 0208 Joy Puritz, granddaughter of legendary numbers are limited German soprano Elisabeth Schumann, telling the story of her grandmother's long and glittering career THE LUNCHEON CLUB The voice of the great turn-of-the- •DROP IN' century operatic soprano Elisabeth Rhoda Goodman ADVICE SERVICE Schumann rang out once again, loud Shaare Zadek Medical Centre 3nd clear, through the AJR Day Centre NEW ARRANGEMENTS will speak on *o an appreciative audience of KT-AJR "The Impact of Urban Terror on 'Members. Her granddaughter, Joy Members requiring an Israeli Hospital' "uritz, related Elisabeth's very special benefit advice story - from her birth in 1888, listening Wednesday 19 February 2003 please telephone ^0 her mother's singing from under the 11.45 am for 12.15pm Linda Kasmir on grand piano being played by her father, The Paul Balint AJR Day Centre '^^king her first performance at the 020 74316161 15CleveRoadNW6 3RL ^9e of four, and being recognised as to make an appointment at Possessing a very fine voice and Early reservations please! AJR, 1 Hampstead Gate, exceptional musicality. Lunch now only £5 la Frognal, NWS 6AL While not missing out on a numberof Please telephone Sylvia or Susie Amours and husbands, Elisabeth ilsh Schumann spent ten highly successful ^^ars at the Hamburg Opera House before being persuaded to take up Paul Balint AJR Day Centre 15 Cleve Road, West Hampstead, NW6 | "^esidence at the Vienna Opera, being Tel: 020 7328 0208 ollowed there by her (Jewish) number Thursday 9.30 am - 3.30 pm 1^0 husband. As the singer retained Monday - ei" instantly recognisable singing voice FEBRUARY Afternoon Entertainment: '^h its astounding range and pitch Mon 3 KT Lunch - Kards & Games Klub Yokov Paul "'^11 into the recording era, Joy Puritz Tue 4 Wed 5 Nicola Smedley ^^s able to play a selection of her Thur 6 Katinka Seiner ^cordjngs dating mostly from the late Sun 9 DAY CENTRE CLOSED '920s well into the 1940s. The re- Mon 10 Kards & Games Klub ^^stered discs available today capture Tue 11 Opdahl Trio iSa ^ch of her pure musical magic: only a Wed 12 Amanda Palmer ^9ician could evoke such enthusiastic Thur 13 Ronnie Goldberg Pplause from the audience at the Day Sun 16 DAY CENTRE OPEN -AJR/FJR ^ent re at the end of each melody. Paul Coleman -Musical Entertainer RDC Mon 17 Kards & Games Klub Tue 18 Joe Kay Northern Region Wed 19 LUNCHEON CLUB Social Worker appointed Thur 20 Jenny Kossew - Accordionist Sun 23 DAY CENTRE CLOSED ^rbara Dorrity has been appointed Mon 24 Kards & Games Klub y^f^'s first Northern Region Social Tue 25 Valerie Hewitt - Piano and Voice ''Worker Based in Manchester, she Wed 26 Mike Marandi ^'" be working three days a week Thur 27 Amanda Palmer V^^ can be contacted on tel/fax PLEASE NOTE: FROM JANUARY ONWARDS, THE DAY CENTRE WILL ONLY BE OPEN ONE "•1614469926. SUNDAY IN EVERY MONTH - PLEASE SEE PROGRAMME ABOVE.

13 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Stone Setting The Stone Setting for the late Kurt Steiner VERY RELIABLE MATURE LADY AJR Seder Night will take place on Sunday 16 February EX-NURSE Second Night Seder Service 2003,2 pm at the Liberal Cemetery, Pound WITH 1st CLASS REFERENCES to be conducted by Rev. Fine Lane, Willesden, NWIO. Seeks post as companion/assistant Thursday 17 April 2003 with a lady. Classified The Paul Balint AJR Day Centre 1-5 days per week; 3-5 hours per day. Would anybody have any knowledge of 15 Cleve Road, Assistance with bathing/personal a Will made by Mr Herbert Baer of London NW6 17 Daleham Gardens, London NWS, who requirements and dressing. Please telephone died on 29 May 2002? Please contact Exercise/Light body-massage/Walking. Box No. 1264. Shopping. 020 7328 0208 for reservations Preparation of Meals. £23 per person Miscellaneous Services Excellent Cook. Limited space available for Manicure & Pedicure in the comfort of Own Car. wheelchairs your own home. Telephone 020 8343 0976. TEL: 020 8346 2777 6 pm for 6.30 pm prompt start

FJR CLUB THE PAUL BALINT AJR DAY CENTRE ACACIA LODGE 15 CLEVE ROAD Mrs Pringsheim, S.R.N. MATRON Caring Carers LONDON NWS 3RL For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (Licensed by Borough of Bamet) The experts in live-in Home Care. Sunday 16 February 2003, 2 pm • Single and Double Rooms. Paul Coleman - Musical Entertainer • Ensuite facilities, CH in all rooms. We can provide long or short term • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. Open to all AJR members • Nurse on duty 24 hours. assignments from our professional Meetings: Once a month on Sundays • Long and short term and respite, and reliable care team. including trial period if required. From £350 per week Please call our Care Manager ADVERTISEMENT RATES 020 8445 1244/020 8446 2820 office hours 020 8455 1335 other times for a no obligation chat on: FAMILY EVENTS 37-39 Torrington Park, North Finchley, 020 7372 9041 First 15 words free of charge, London N12 9TB £2.00 per 5 words thereafter. Fax: 020 7372 9038 CLASSIFIED, SEARCH NOTICES £2.00 per 5 words. Leo Baeck Housing Association Ltd BOX NUMBERS - £3.00 extra Clara Nehab House DISPLAY ADVERTS per single column Inch 65mm £12.00 Residential Care Home BELSIZE SQUARE COPY DATE - 5 weeks prior to publication All single rooms with en suite bath/shower Short stays/Respite and 24 hour Permanent Care SYNAGOGUE Large attractive gardens AJR GROUP CONTACTS Ground Floor Lounge and Dining rooms 51 Belsize Square, NW3 4HX Lift access to all floors North London Easy access to local shops and public transport We offer a traditional style of religious Jenny Zundel 020 8882 4033 service with Cantor Choir and organ Enquiries and further information Further details can be obtained from South London please contact: The Manager the synagogue secretary Ken Ambrose 020 8852 0262 Clara Nehab House 13-19 Leeside Crescent Telephone 020 7794 3949 Pinner (HA Postal District) London NWII ODA Minister: Rabbi Rodney J Mariner Phone: 020 8455 2286 Vera Gellman 020 8866 4833 Cantor: Rev Lawrence H Fine Surrey Regular Services Edmee Barta 01372 727 412 SWITCH ON ELECTRICS Friday evenings at 6.45 pm Brighton & Hove (Sussex Region) Saturday mornings at 10 am Rewires and all household Fausta Shelton 01273 734 648 Religion School: Sundays at 10 am to 1 pr" electrical work Nursery School: 9.15 am to 12.15 pm Wessex (Bournemouth) PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 Belsize under 3's: 9.30 am to 11.30 am Mark Goldfinger 01202 552 434 Space donated by Pafra Limited East Midlands (Nottingham) Bob Norton 01159 212 494 ALTERATIONS West Midlands (Birmingham) OF ANY KIND TO LADIES' FASHIONS Henny Rednall 0121 373 5603 I also design and make children's clothes BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE North (Manchester) West Hampstead area 51 Belsize Square, London NW3 Werner Lachs 0161 773 4091 020 7328 6571 Leeds HSFA Our communal hall is available for Trude Silman 0113 225 1628 cuhural and social functions Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool BELSIZE SQUARE APARTMENTS Tel: 020 7794 3949 Newcastle 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, NWS Tel: 020 7794 4307 or 020 7435 2557 Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Modern Self-catering Holiday Rooms. The AJR does not accept Essex (Westcliff) Resident Housekeeper, Moderate Terms responsibility for the standard of Larry Lisner 01702 300812 Near Swiss Cottage Station services offered by advertisers

14 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Obituary - Abba Eban Central Office For Holocaust Claims The Israeli politician and diplomat stormy relations with the Michael Newman Abba Eban has died at the age of 87. international body. In 1959 he left the Abba Eban dominated the first decade diplomatic service and was elected a Compensation to French orphans of Israeli diplomacy following the Labour member of the Knesset, The French government now pays state's establishment in 1948, serving quickly becoming a minister, before compensation to orphans whose parents were deported from France and died at as its representative to the United rising to deputy prime minister and the hands of the Nazis during the Second Nations and as ambassador to foreign minister under Golda Meir Washington. He went on to become World War His very British appearance, one of the Jewish state's most Applications are restricted to people Oxbridge accent and instinctive who were under 21 at the time and who respected foreign ministers, serving elitism set him apart from the great had one or both parents murdered as a ^or eight of the most turbulent years majority of Israeli citizens. He consequence of deportation by the of its history, between 1966 and 1974. collaborationist Vichy regime. Excluded remained something of an outsider in Born Aubrey Solomon Meir in Cape from an application are those victims who a society dominated by East European Town, Eban was brought up in are already receiving a reparation pension and oriental Jews. England, studying oriental languages from either the German or Austrian and Classics at Cambridge. During the Eban was fluent in many languages government. Second World War he served on the and endowed with a famous dry wit - Those eligible will receive either a one- time payment of 180,000 FF staff of the British Minister of State in one of his best-known sayings is that (approximately €27,000/£18,000) or a ^3iro. Later, as an intelligence officer the Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat monthly pension for life of 3,000 FF 'never misses an opportunity to miss '^ Jerusalem, he trained Jewish (approximately € 450/£300). an opportunity' Volunteers in methods of resistance in Applications should be addressed to the event of a German invasion. He was optimistic that peace would the Ministere de la Defense, Direction des In 1946 Eban moved to British-ruled eventually come to the region, Statuts des Pensions et de la Reinsertion f*alestine. A year later he spearheaded observing that 'history teaches us that Sociale, Quartier Lorge, Rue Neuve de Bourg L'Abbey BP 6140, 14037 Caen the embryonic Israeli state's successful men and nations only behave wisely Cedex, France. The telephone number is once they have exhausted all other campaign for recognition in the 0033 231384 506. United Nations and, following alternatives.' East Germany property restitution "^dependence, steered its often HS Owners of properties in the former East Germany, including East Berlin, which were lost, stolen or confiscated as part of Arts and Events Diary - February the Nazi aryanisation programme, can now apply for compensation. ^Jntil 6 April 2003 'By the Rivers of Marx and the Men and Women of the Babylon: The Story of the Jews of British Museum in the 1880s'. Club 43 Under the terms of a law passed by the •"^q'. Major new exhibition following reunified Germany, the Jewish Claims Wed 19 Radoslav Kvapil, piano: Conference has been appointed as the 'he successful Continental Britons Beethoven, Viktor Ullmann, Pavel legal successor to properties that were Exhibition. Jewish Museum, Camden Haas. Beethoven and Oppressed not claimed within the December 1992 Town Composers of our Times series. St deadline imposed by the German ^o Yom Hashoah 'Am I My Brother's James Piccadilly. Lunchtime concert, government. "^^eper? Rescue in the Holocaust? 1.05 pm, entry free Today, through the Goodwill Fund, the E^ish Museum, Sternberg Centre Claims Conference has already paid out Mon 24 Professor Michael Alpert, 'A more than DM 200 million. ^ Sun 2 February Anne Frank: A Snapshot of Mid-Nineteenth Century For further information and to file a ^'story for Today Exhibition. Wood London'. Club 43 claim, contact The Successor l^reen Central Library, High Road, Organisation, Sophienstrasse 26, 60487 •-ondon N22. Tel 020 8808 8772 ORGANISATION CONTACTS Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The telephone number is 0049 69 97 07 08 0 ^°n 3 February The Rev. Uta Blohm Club 43 Belsize Square Synagogue. and the fax number is 0049 69 97 07 08 '^errrian Lutheran Church, London), Meetings 7.45 pm. Contact Hans Seelig 11. ^ligious Traditions and Personal tel 01442 254360 Further help J^nes: Women Working as Priests, Jewish Museum, 129-131 Albert Written enquiries should be sent to ^"^isters and Rabbis'. Club 43 Street, Camden Town, London NWl tel Central Office for Holocaust Claims (UK), 1 ^'1 10 Michael Faulkner MA, The 020 72841997 Hampstead Gate, la Frognal, London •^^nge Story of Rudolf Rocker and the NW3 6AL. For assistance with the Jewish Museum, Sternberg Centre, completion of application forms, please ^^'shEastEnd, 1895-1914'. Club 43 80 East End Road, London N3 tel 020 M telephone 020 7431 6161 for an ^'^ 17 Dr Christine Pullen, Eleanor 83491143 appointment.

15 AJRJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2003

Sophie's Choice: a major artistic achievement Newsround Malcolm Miller Wuppertal synagogue consecrated While on a recent visit to Germany, Israeli Sophie's Choice, an opera by Nicholas But the four hours move briskly, with President Moshe Katsav took part in the Maw based on the William Styron novel, luscious slow tableaux and genuine fast consecration ceremony for a new received a warm reception at its music. Among the memorable synagogue in Wuppertal, along with premiere at the Royal Opera House highlights is the big-band 'radio' music Germany's President Johannes Rau. The Covent Garden. Among the singers was when Nathan and Sophie invite Stingo to occasion for Katsav's visit to Germany Angelika Kirschlager as Sophie, part of a visit Coney Island. A tango for Stingo was the 25th anniversary of a superb cast, conducted with fervent and the wonderfully Brooklyn Yetta partnership between Wuppertal and its Israeli sister city Beer Sheva, as well as intensity by Sir Simon Rattle in an Zimmerman (Frances McCafferty) the consecration of the city's new imaginative and well-acted staging by gradually merges with the 'radio' band synagogue. Trevor Nunn. music. Especially moving was the requiem-like chorus which accompanies Ambassador seeks more balanced Sophie's Choice filtersit s response to approach to teaching of German the Auschwitz train scene. The searing history through literature. Styron's history orchestral music after Sophie's novel, popularised in the famous film, Thomas Matussek, the German highlights the universal moral that the argiunent with her father over his ambassador to the UK, has called for a Nazi regime was not solely antisemitic, racism is another musical highpoint, as more balanced approach to the teaching but, above all, anti-life. The story are several orchestral interludes. of German history. He told The Guardian centres on a Polish Catholic woman who Even so, there is a sense in which that while he acknowledged that lives with her Jewish lover Nathan, Maw's music never quite reaches the students should learn about the Holocaust, the success of postwar stained with an intolerable memory: at angst-ridden level necessary for the German democracy was equally Auschwitz she was forced to choose story, though it comes close to important. which of her two children would be expressing the madness ofthe Nazis and Painting to be returned after 54-year taken to the gas chambers. Sophie's tale Nathan, who turns out to be a paranoid campaign is told to a young American writer. schizophrenic. The Auschwitz The British heirs to a masterpiece seized Stingo, tellingly portrayed by Gordon commandant Rudolph Hoss is surely by the Nazis in 1938 have been told by Gietz, who shares their Brooklyn portrayed in too sympathetic a light, the Austrian authorities that it will be boarding house yet whose older self - within a largely lyrical part, albeit finely returned to them shortly. Little Town ofi Dale Duesing - appears between each projected by Jorma Silvasti. Later it is the River or View ofKrumau. painted by scene to narrate the story in a type of the camp doctor, a convincing Alan Opie, the Austrian Expressionist artist EgC^ recitative. Indeed, the opera is as much who 'allows' Sophie the choice of saving Schiele in 1916, is valued at about i^ about Stingo's choice to become a writer, one child. When her daughter is taken million. The decision to return the as about Sophie's choices, the last of away, the silence seems to be broken too painting brings to an end a 54-year-lon9 struggle by Daisy Hellmann, a Viennese which is to stay with the jealous Nathan, soon, and the musical flow restarts Jew, and her heirs to win back the richly sung by Rodney Gilfry, eventually before the horror is fully assimilated. painting. entering into a suicide pact with him. Underlying this scene and the Baden synagogue to be restored The lyrical music of the final scene is Auschwitz scenes is a memorable Austrian Jewish leader Dr Ariel MuzicaU* one of the many beautiful moments, its orchestral chord, elusive and dissonant, has welcomed a decision to restore th^ poetry and symbolism linking it with a type of leitmotif evoking the pain of the synagogue in Baden, Austria's nfio' Wagner's Liebestod, Maw's musical Holocaust, yet also transformed, famous spa. The project is an initiative W evocation of Sophie's redemption of remarkably, into the love music for the Province of Lower Austria, the Bade'' her past. Sophie and Stingo. At the end of the municipality and the Jewish community Nicholas Maw's musical style is opera the original chord returns, leaving German Jewish leaders re-elected original, neo-modernist rather than the audience with what Rattle described Paul Spiegel has been re-elected ^ avant-garde, influenced by mainstream as the 'unbearable tension' of its president of the Central Council of Je^ twentieth-century music, Berg's lingering dissonance. in Germany. He was unanimous'* elected for a three-year term along W'* Wozzeck and Britten's Peter Grimes, With some revision. Maw's opera his deputies, Michel Friedman af Mahler and Schoenberg. And always could become what Rattle has described Charlotte Knobloch. responsive to the moods of the action, as one ofthe major operas since Britten. Swiss overturn wartime convictions even though some key moments require The test will be whether it is taken by The Swiss government has backed more time and space for the necessary any of the major companies in the proposal to overturn the wartif^ impact. Overall the music works as coming year. It seems particularly apt convictions of people who broke la^ music, but whether it is entirely for the American public, and, one hopes, then in effect when they sheltered Je^ successful as opera is an open question. also for the rest ofthe world. and others fleeing Nazi Germany.

PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH MFUGEES IN GREAT BfOTAIN, 1 HAMPSTEAD GATE. 1A FROGNAL. LONDON NW3 6AI TEL 020 7431 6161 FAX; 020 7431 8454 J 16