Voiume XXXVIII No. 3 March 1983 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THC Assoamnoii OFSEWISH RBUGBS m atuaamun
Egon Larsen mann's henchmen. Wallenberg was the only foreign diplomat to stay behind in Pest, for the sole purpose of protecting "his" Jews. "For them, the nightmare was over. For Wallen berg, it was just beginning," writes Bicrman. Early TWO RIGHTEOUS GENTILES in 1945 the Russians occupied Budapest, and Wallenberg was taken away by their political police. Why? Nobody knows. All wc do know is that in Wallenberg and Schindler Stories Told Febmary 1945 he was in a cell at the Lubianka prison in Moscow. From then on, no reliable traces ofhis whereabouts have been discovered. Over the years, all official and unofficial enquiries about him have come up against the stone wall of Russian secretiveness. But chances are that he is still alive in some Soviet labour camp. "If the Russians decided, for whatever reason, that Each of the six hundred evergreen carob trees lining "That neutral Sweden should feel compelled to Wallenberg was not to be released," says Bierman, Jerusalem's Avenue of the Righteous commemorates act, however belatedly, on behalf of the Jews of "why have Uiey not killed him? The bmtal fact may 3 Gentile who risked his or her life to save Jews from Europe," writes Bierman, "was a radical departure; be that they have. The Russians, however, have a the murderous frenzy of the Nazi regime; and each that it should choose such an apparently unlikely tradition—dating back to well before the Revolu tree has a plaque with the name of the Gentile thus agent for that purpose was exceptional. But from the tion—of burying people alive in didr penal system . . . honoured, and a Talmud quotation. "Whoever has moment Wallenberg was offered thejob—though he So we confront the ultimate question: Is he still alive, saved a single life has saved the whole world." was to question, argue, and haggle over the con somewhere out there in thi.: Gulag Archipelago? On Two books about men commemorated in the ditions under which he would take it on—he was the evidence, maddeningly incomplete though it is, Avenue have recently been published, and both committed to it: the man had met the mission and the answer surely has to be: Quite possibly, he is. As deserve the attribute of Righteous for their extra they were to prove pcrfecdy matched, much more so long as that possibility exists, it seems unthinkable ordinary courage—though one can hardly imagine than the mandarins of the Swedish Foreign Office dial free men should abandon him to his fate." 'Wo more contrasting characters. could have imagined." One of their names is quite famous: Raoul Gustav SCHINDLER AND HIS JEWS ^allenberg, whose story has been told in a conscien PROTECTIVE PASSPORTS The other righteous Gentile whose story, previously tiously researched, impressive paperback by the In March, 1944, while the Soviet army was advanc almost unknown, has now been published (Schindler's British joumalist John Bierman (Righteous Gentile, Ark by Thomas Keneally. Hodder & Stoughton, Penguin Books, £1.75). The Swede Wallenberg, ing through Poland, Adolf Eichmann was organizing *hom Bierman describes as "the gifted descendant the Endlosung for Hungary's Jews. In July, Raoul £7.95), could not have been more dissimiliar to the of a rich and influential dynasty", was at the age of Wallenberg arrived in Budapest, where 230.000 had gentle Swede—their characters and social back ?1 still drifting through life without any purpose, remained, trapped and terrified, in two ghettos. grounds, their motives and methods were totally •mporting goose breasts and pickled cucumbers into Wallenberg went to work. Audiorised by the Swedish contrasting; yet the reason why their names have Sweden and exporting smoked salmon and cod's govemment, he had thousands of "protective pass been recorded in that Avenue is the same: Schindler, '•^. The time was the spring of 1944 and his giri ports"—an ad hoc invention of his—printed, and too, saved Jews from extermination in the Holocaust. 'riend got a telephone call from him: he was "going issued them to Hungarian Jews in co-operation with When Thomas Keneally, an Australian writer lo Budapest on a mission for the govemment". He their community leaders. This imique passport, called with a number of novels to his credit, received in could say no more, and she never saw him again. Schutz-Pass, contained the usual personal details London the important Booker Prize for the best and a photograph of the bearer and this legend in novel of 1982, there were many critical voices: SWEDISH PROTECTION German and Hungarian: Schindler's Ark, they protested, was not fiction at In fact he had been asked to organize a humani "Die Kgl. Schwedische Gesandtschaft in Budapest all but a documentary work, an account of real tarian department at the Swedish legation in Hungary, bestatigt, dass der Obengenannte—im Rahmen events and real people, diligendy researched and only Hitler's satellite since 1941. Someone in Stockholm's der von dem Kgl. Schwedischen Aussenministcrium occasionally decked out with some invented dialogue. govemment circles who believed that young Wallen autorisierten Repatriierung—nach Schweden But surely Keneally chose the style of the "docu berg was qualified for better things than the delica- reisen wird... Bis Abreisesteht der Obengenannte mentary novel" deliberately as the best way of teUing |essen trade, had picked him for that diplomatic job und seine Wohnung unter dem Schutz der Kgl. a tme story that is very much stranger than fiction. Jtist because he was not a professional diplomat, Schwedischen Gesandtschaft in Budapest." Keneally himself described how he came across it. ^though he would be accorded the status of a Icga- It was, of course, a diplomatic bluff, but it worked. During a visit to Los Angeles in 1980 he went into a ^on member. His task was to extend the protection Although few—if any—Budapest Jews were actually shop to buy a briefcase. The shopkeeper, a man by of the Swedish crown to as many Hungarian Jews as able to escape to Sweden, Wallenberg's protective die name of Poldek, asked him what he did for a living, Possible since they were now in the greatest danger passports saved (according to a coUeague of his at and when he heard that Keneally was a writer he of being rounded up and transported to die deadi die legation) the lives of 100,000 or more people who camps. would otherwise have been massacred by Eich Continued on page 2 Page 2 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 Continued from page 1 THE OPPERMANNS
The TV perfonnance of "The Oppermanns", based on Lion Feuchtwanger's novel and produced in West Germany, was bound to make a particular impact on Jews from Germany. "That's how it TWO RIGHTEOUS GENTILES was" - this was their general reaction. More or less all members of the Jewish middle class went through the same experience. They felt integrated into their environment. They certainly realised the political dangers of the early Thirties but, hoping against hope and in common with wide sections of the general population, they considered a victory ofthe said: "I have a book you should write. I was saved, Early in 1943, when the extermination ofthe Jews Nazis as more than unlikely. together with 1,300 other Polish Jews, by a Sudeten was approaching its murderous climax, Schindler The Oppcrmanns only differed from most other German called Oskar Schindler. He was a tycoon, a bribed the SS officials into permitting him to set up middle class Jews in so far as they belonged to the wiW man. a drinker, a black marketeer, but he rescued his own concentration camp on the grounds of his upper, wealthy stratum and had comparatively us out of camps like Gross-Rosen and Auschwitz. factory. Here, 1,300 "SchindlerJuden", as they called many family and social links with Gentiles. They What he did was to found his own concentration themselves, survived the terror, reasonably well fed owned a chain of fumiture stores which were founded camp and keep people safe inside it. I want to see and decently treated. When the Russians approached by their grandfather. One of the brothers was the i something done about Oskar!'' And Poldek fetched Cracow, Oskar's workers were taken away to Gross- manager of the fum, another brother a successful from the back ofhis shop a wad of documents, took Rosen and Auschwitz—but he simply bought them laryngologist and the third a man of letters. Wc Keneally to his bank and had them photocopied there. back again with handfuls of diamonds and brought witnessed the scene when the S.A. stormed the them to a factory camp he set up in his home area in hospital in which Professor Oppermann held a posi "The documents showed me that this was an tion, and when they brutally threw out all Jewish extraordinary story." says Keneally. "The most Moravia. "From then on," writes Keneally, "by doctors, even if this involved a risk to the lives of obvious aspect of the Oskar Schindler material was bribery and trickery he was able to avoid manu patients on whom they had just operated. This scene that it took you straight into the question of what facturing anything at all. In fact he lived off the is shown as realistically as it happened all over Ger makes a human being good. Certainly Oskar wasn't black market and supported his 'workers' by it as many on Boycott Day. In faimess it also shows the good in the conventional sense. His first marriage well, trading in diamonds." courageous attempts of some hospital directors to was a failure. He started his drinking at breakfast. Towards the end of April 1945, the SS ordered the protect their Jewish colleagues. He sweetened public officials with bribes. He was a liquidation of Schindler's Jews. Again, by means of Gentile from Moravia, and though at the outbreak chicaner>', bribery and forgery, Oskar managed to ONE BROTHER ESCAPES of the war he was young enough for military service have the officer who was to carry out the massacre he avoided it by joining the Abwehr intelligence transferred to what was left ofthe Russian front. His The other brother had signed a manifesto of organization of Admiral Canaris. In September, diamonds even bought arms from the SS and the authors against the Nazis. He was warned after the 1939, Schindler went to Cracow to avail himself of Police Chief of Bmo so that, on the last night of the Reichstag fire and Oed abroad. Ironically, only he. the commercial opportunides in the German-occupied war, his Jews were able to "conquer" their own who had always refused to believe in a Nazi victory, regions." camp from the German soldiers who ran away. was spared the sufferings. The most tragic fate befell It was his experiences there which tumed Schindler's Peace, when it came, brought an anticlimax for the third brother on whom responsibility for the Oskar Schindler. In West Germany he did a bit of fuTO rested. After many preceding upheavals and business plans into a grand humanitarian rescue humiliations he was taken to an S.A. station in the operation. Perhaps he did it just for the hell of it, for black marketeering, but then he emigrated to Argen middle of the night. There, the storm troopers were the thrill of pitching his gambler's skill and chutzpah tina with his second wife, a Polish Jewess, and—at let loose on their victims, torturing them sadistically. against the greed and stupidity of the SS officers. his own expense—half a dozen SchindlerJuden Whoever had gone through the hell of such an "Through the six war years, he gave stubbom aid to families. But he lost all his money when his nutria- "arrest" which, by the way, exceeded the power desperate people," writes Keneally. "He went to breeding farm coUapsed.'and retumed to Europe. given to the S.A. by the Nazi state organs, was intricate pains to preserve their dignity and paid a The charitable "American Joint" supported him. reminded of his own experience when he saw it on fortune to SS officials in Berlin, Cracow and He spent his last years in Frankfurt, failing with one the screen. Ultimately, Oppcrmann was released business venture after another. His only friends were after having been forced to revoke the reinstatement Czechoslovakia to save Jews." of four Jewish employees who had been illegally He acquired an enamelware factory near Cracow, Jews who had survived thanks to him. dismissed by the Nazi cell ofthe firm. He also had to securing a number of profitable army contracts for He died in 1974 of advanced hardening of the sign a statement that he had been well treated and to its products—and he recmited all his workers among arteries. His last wish, to be buried in Jemsalem, was pay 2 marks for board ("Verpflegungsgeld"). The the Jews who were in danger of being deported to the fulfilled: the Catholic Cemetery was his last resting performance ends with him stumbling through the death camps. He also undertook secret joumeys to place. But his name lives on, like Raoul Wallenberg's, streets at dawn until he breaks down in front of one Budapest to inform the Jewish rescue organization in the Avenue of the Righteous. of the houses, and then wc see workmen taking down the Oppermann name from the store facade. there about what was happening in the ghettoes.
SPECLU. PLACE
"SCHINDLER'S ARK" GIFT TO CHARITY Steven Spielberg is to direct a film based on the The film has a special, if not unique, place among Following the award of the Booker Prize for his book for Universal Pictures in the near future. (See the films which record the persecution of the Jews. novel "Schindler's Ark", Thomas Kcneally is to review on p. 1). In most portrayals of the period the deportations donate two-thirds of the proceeds of the work to the and the Holocaust stand in the foreground. "The American-based Schindler Organisation. Up to now, Oppermaims" shows the initial period of the Nazis' the Schindlcr Organisation has been a stmggling ascent to power, when the Jews in Germany were the Jewish charity devoted to helping Holocaust sur NEW REPORT ON WALLENBERG first victims. Thus, apart from its artistic value and vivors and other victims ofthe Nazi regime. It intends Asher Chanukaiev, a recent immigrant to Israel the message it carries for everybody, the film fills to use part of the money to set up a chair in from the Soviet Union, has stated that he met Raoul a gap by presenting the fate of the German Jews Holocaust Studies at an American university. Wallenberg, the man who saved thousands of during the pre-war years. Two brothers, Henry and Leo Rosner, both of Hungarian Jews, in Sverdlovsk prison hospital in Lion Feuchtwanger (1884 Munich - 1958 Pacific whom were saveid by C)skar Schindler. will be seen March 1972. At that Ume, he told a Beersheba Palisades) wrote the novel in 1933. after he had Hed playing the violin and the piano-accordion in a newspaper, Wallenberg was suffering from a stomach to France. It is part of the trilogy "Der Wartesaal". Thames TV documentary on "Schindler's Ark" to complaint. the other two works being 'Erfolg' (1930) and be shown ia May this year. They have not played Brighton Festival, to be held in May, will include a "Exil" (1939). Many of his other novels also have a ducts for over 40 years, since the days when the com Raoul Wallenberg Exhibition which, it is hoped, will Jewish background, e.g. "Jud Suess" and 'Der mandant of Plaszov camp told them to play for his attract the Jewish and non-Jewish visitors, many of juedische Krieg". amusement. them school children, visiting the festival. W.R. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 Page 3 ADELE REIFENBERG-ROSENBAUM 90 JEWISH BOOK WEEK ACADEMICALLY SPEAKING Mrs. Julius Rosenbaum is more familiar to us as As an innovation, Jewish Book Week will be held Adele Reifenberg, an accomplished artist in oils, this year in three places: in central London at Wobum Lilian R. Furst watercolours and most dcUcatc shades of pastel, as House, 7-13 March; in Stanmorc at the Stanmore Professor Lilian R. Furst has been awarded a well as in graphic works. Included in her most recent and Canons Park Synagogue, 5-9 March; in Man Guggenheim Fellowship to finish her latest book. exhibition at Margaret Fisher's Gallery, 4 Lambolle chester at the Yeshumn Hebrew Congregation in Bom in Vienna, she came to Britain with her family Place, NW3, was a striking portrait of her sister-in- in 1939 at the age of six. They settled in Manchester, law, Gabriele Tergit (Reifenberg), as well as many Coniston Road, Chcadle, 11-14 March. other portraits and landscapes. Her exception^ At Wobum House, the greatest living Hebrew where her father, Dr. D. Furst, a dental surgeon, jalents, and those of her late husband, Julius Rosen- poet. Yehuda Amihai (originally from WUrzburg). was for a time the local secretary of the AJR. After "aum, himself a fine artist, will long be remembered. will read in both Hebrew and English on 8 March; obtaining her doctorate at Cambridge, Prof. Furst _ Adele Reifenberg-Rosenbaum was bom in Berlin Harry Blacker will talk about Jewish humour on the taught Comparative Literature in Manchester, then m 1893 as the fu-st child of Emst Reifenberg and 9th; Judge Israel Finestein, QC. will discuss Anglo- accepted invitations to the United States in 1971, Rosa, nee Ginsberg. She had two brothers: Heinz, Jewry since 1933 on the 7th; and Dr. Steve Zipper- where she is now professor in that subject at the Uni the well known architect, and Adolf, a professor of stein will talk about Jewish Power and Powcrlessness versity of Texas at Dallas. She is the author of seven Geology at the Hebrew University of Jemsalem. books and some fifty articles, and holds a very Adele attended the "Charlottenschulc" in Berlin. on the 10th, all of these at 8 p.m. At Stanmore Dan Jacobson, the distinguished distinguished posiUon in her field, embracing the Under the guidance of Eva Stort, an exceptionally major European languages and literatures. Rifted teacher of the arts, Adele's talent developed novelist, will discuss his recent important examina early. Her only desire was to become a painter tion of the Bible, "The Story of the Stories" on the herself. 7th; Michael Elkins. the BBC Jemsalem correspon R. B. Jones After leaving school, Adelc studied under Levis dent, will review changing attitudes to the Holocaust Another member of the AJR has taken a degree Corinth for many years. Later, at the "Hochschule on die 6th; Chaim Raphael will talk about The Springs late in life. R. B. Jones studied Law at Bcriin Univer 'Ur Bildende Kiinste" in Weimar, she received a of Jewish Lifeon the 5th; Bamet Litvinoff will speak sity, but was forced to stop in April 1933. He was prize for landscape painting. Until her emigration to about Chaim Weizmann and Dual Loyalty on the able to take a degree in political science in Paris in England in 1939 she worked as a free-lance artiSt in 1935. But at the age of almost 70. he has just been Berlin, exhibiting at various galleries and arranging 9th, and there will be a panel discussion about Israel r her own one-man-shows. To obtain greater security, on the Sth; all of these at 8.15 p.m. At 1.30 p.m. on awarded an MA in Intemational History by the Adde took a degree and taught at schools and teacher- the 9th there will be An Aftemoon with Lyime Reid London School of Economics. training colleges. In 1930 Adele Reifenberg married Banks. the painter Julius Rosenbaum. It was a very happy In Manchester the main speakers will be George DONATION TO WIENER LIBRARY marriage in every respect. Adele's only worry was Qarc, author of "Last Waltz in Vicima", on the the delicate health of her husband. He died in 1956 To honour the memories of Sarah and Major Ber, when they visited Holland to attend a Rembrandt 13th, and Chaim Raphael on his new book, on the a collection of material relating to Polish Jewry has exhibition. Since then. Adele has lived entirely for 14th, both at 8 p.m. been donated to the Wiener Library in London. Mr. her work as a painter. and Mrs. Ber's daughters, Mrs. L. Josseand Mrs. R. Adele Rosenbaum has been an active member of Roscnfelder, have accompanied their gift with an Club 1943 almost from its inception. She has given MEMORL^L EXHIBITION endowment to maintain the collection and also to fiany lectures on various subjects. A Memorial Exhibition is being held at the Ben help the library in expanding its existing seaions on Uri Gallery, 21 Dean Street, London Wl to com the Jews of Poland. memorate the work of three well-known German- Jewish artists: Lottie Reizenstein, Henry Sanders DELAY FOR PLAYWRIGHT NORMAN BENTWICH and Jack Bilbo (Hugo Bamch). All these artists left Playwright Tom Kempinski, a descendant ofthe Germany as a result of Nazi persecution. Lottie well-known restaurateur family, faces delay in his CENTENARY Reizenstein and Henry Sanders settled and worked new play "The Beautiful Part of Myself after a The recent centenary of the birth of Norman in England, but Jack Bilbo, after serving in the Jewish actor rejected his role. David Swift says that, Bentwich was an occasion for his many friends and British Army, returned to Berlin where he died in after changes in rehearsal, the play makes the the beneficiaries of his innumerable good works to 1967. leading character—his own part—accept the con femember this outstanding academic, high civil ser tention that Zionists collaborated with the Nazis in The Exhibition will be opened by the dis sending Jews to the death camps in exchange for saving vant. Zionist and dedicated helper ofhis fellow-Jews tinguished painter Josef Herman. in distress. people chosen by the Zionists. Mr. Kempinski, ALICE SCHWAB author ofthe highly successful "Duet for One", has For almost three decades, from 1920, he was At had to put off the opening at the Hampstead Theatre torney General in mandatory Palestine, taught until June this year. piGinuiniiHiiiiiDUiiMusimniimnniiniiiBiH^^ Intemational Relations at the Hebrew University in The well-known actor Warren Mitchell has now Jerusalem and was Director of the League of I ALL AIRPORTS AND SEASIDES agreed to take over the role vacated by Mr. Swift. Nations Commission for Refugees. He was involved 'n innumerable measures and campaigns for aiding JACK'S EARLY CAR SERVICE | |he oppressed and persecuted as well as refugees and 959 6473 LEGACIES uitemees, and helped organise the Richborough HEATHROW —eiO LUTON —£12 The AJR Charitable Tmst has received legacies Transit Camp. He was closely involved with the QATWICK/STANSTED/SOUTHEND — £20 BRIGHTON — £26 from the estate of the late Regina Feldman £500; Friends of the Hebrew University. from the estate of the late Miss Hilda Helen For almost two decades following 1948 he was EASTBOURNE & BOURNEMOUTH — £30 ADVANCE BOOKINQS Goldsmith £50; interim payments from the estates of head of the United Restitudon Organisation (URO), EVERYONE FUUY lEGAUY INSURED the late Mrs. Hilda Deutsch £5,500 and of the late and did much to help obtain compensation for ninuiouniiiiinniflniniimiiiiiiiiiniii^ Miss Charlotte Eyck £5,500. •^efugees from Nazism. His cumuladve good deeds s^ to stretch on endlessly. He died in 1971. Bent wich was the sort of Jew who embodied a kind of Your House for:— "religion of deeds". E.G.L. FLOOR COVERINGS CURTAINS, CARPETS, Whh tdutowieAgement to tbe news service SPECIALITY of tbe Jewish Chronicle. ENGUSH & CONTINENTAL c D DOWN QUILTS, DUVETS. Annely ]ucia Fine Art DUVET COVERS & SHEETS BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE 11 Tottenham Mews, London WIP 9PJ ALSO RE-MAKES AND RE-COVERS 51 Belsize Square, London, N.W.3 ESTIMATES FREE 01-637 5517/8 Our new communal hall is available for CONTEMPORARY PAINTING DAWSON-LANE LIMITED cultural and social functions. For detaiis (ettabllthed 1M«) apply to: Secretary, Synagogue Office. AND SCULPTURE 17 BRIDGE ROAD, WEMBLEY PARK Mon-Fri: 10 am-6 pm Sat: 10 am-1 pm Telephone: 904 6671 Tel: 01-7M 3949 Page 4 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 ^' L. Brassloff 30 JANUARY IN THE MEDIA The fiftieth anniversary of the Nazi takeover on 30 January, 1933 was marked by the media with material of varying quality. The British press recalled what had been written at the time, some of it appre THE POLGAR REVIVAL hensive, but n
WUERZBURG REMEMBERS DEPORTEES Together with an exhibition "BuchfOhmng des Todes", the city of WOrzburg held a public debate in remembrance of the Jews who were deported from NEWS FROM GERMANY the area to their deaths. Taking part among others in the debate were Dr. Mordechai Ansbacher, a former citizen and Auschwitz survivor now living in Jem salem, prominent WUrzburg citizens, senators and RERUN MARKS NAZI ANNIVERSARY schoolchildren. At the 50th anniversary of Hitler's seizure of A COMMEMORATION AND STUTTGART'S INVITATION power a vast exhibition has been opened in West A WARNING °erlin. displaying letters, newspapers, documents. The city of Stuttgart is extending an invitation to Uniforms, concentration camp and prison relics, as A Statement from the CouncU of Jews from all former Jewish citizens to retum for a short holiday *ell as many other objects illustrating the political Germany on the Fiftieth Anniversary of 30 in the summer of 1983. At the same time, the city slide from Weimar to Hitler and thence to the col- January, 1933 authorities intend to hold a "Week of Reflection" coupled with a commemoration of the November •apse of 1945. Many schoolchildren and young people The fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of stand amazed before this witness of Germany's past, Pogrom of 1938. The organiser is Heinz Bleicher of but elderly people, it is reported, tend not to visit the the Nazi reign of terror is of particular signi the Association for Christian-Jewish Co-operation. exhibition. One exception was an old man who was ficance for Jews from Germany. They were Seen gazing at copies of an anti-Nazi newspaper with among the very first victims of a storm of EMANCIPATION EFFORTS BY MARX tears mnning down his face. It was the paper which, persecution that ultimately destroyed almost Proof of the efforts made towards full citizenship ^ a young man, he had helped to produce. the whole of European Jewry. On this date for Jews just before the revolutions of 1848 is con At the same time a conference called by the His- the former German Jews now scattered all tained in a preliminary petition dated 1843 backed torische Kommission zu Berlin, Munich's Institut by many leading citizens of Rhineland cities and over the world who are grouped together in towns. The document, which asked that 200,000 ^r Zeitgeschichte and the Deutsche Vereinigung fur the Council of Jews from Germany Parlamentsfragen was held in Berlin's Reichstag Jews of Prussia should be fully emancipated, has remember with renewed grief their nearest been studied by Professor Helmut Hirsch of the building. Like the exhibition, the conference was and dearest who were murdered in the con ^titled "Germany's Road to Dictatorship" and the University of Duisburg. He believes that Karl Marx Question was discussed from many aspects: whether centration camps. They also remember the may have been one author of "Acte 373", as it is the Machtergreifung represented a revolution; non-Jewish Germans who lost their lives by officially known. The name of Marx occurs twice; Whether Nazi power was forced upon the nation; opposing the Nazi regime, as well as those once in his home town of Trier and again in Cologne, and, perhaps the most important question, what who courageously saved the lives of Jewish where he was at the time editor of the "Rheinische Zeitung". Professor Hirsch gathered together the *ere today's political and historiographical reper fellow-citizens. cussions from that time. parts of Acte 373 from various towns and wrote The 30th of January is also a waming about it in his book "Freiheitsliebende Rheinlander", signal. The chain of events unleashed that which was published a few years ago. Afterwards OLDEST JEWISH HOUSE DESTROYED day bears witness to the fact that group some concem was expressed because the document hatred can lead to group extermination, and appeared to be lost, but it was established that this . A house dating back to 'he 14th century and was due to a misunderstanding. Situated in Trier's Judengasse was recently destroyed that it also led to the destmction of the by fire, shortly before restoration work was about to murderers and their regime. It is a profound begin. It was thought to be the oldest extant Jewish obligation of those responsible for shaping HOW NAZISM PERMEATED LAW dwelling in Western Europe and was to have become the present to take into account the bitter At a conference in Berlin organised by the Inter a museum. Fire officers have not ruled out arson. experience of the past and to nip in the bud nationale Vereinigung fUr Rechts- und Sozialphilo- sophie. Professor Riithers of Constance University, any possible recurrence. after describing how the Nazi party programme had BERLIN SYNAGOGUE PLANS ON SHOW been elevated into binding law in the Third Reich, Among the items on display in the Berlin Museum and how law had been permeated by the concepts of as examples of new acquisitions during 1982 is a "FUhrerprinzip" and "Rasse, Blut und Boden", collection of 20 architectural plans of the former MORE CHAGALL DESIGNS FOR called for research into the attitudes held by jurists Oranienburger Strasse synagogue. The plans had MAINZ CHURCH who had begun their careers in the Nazi State. Even '^een lost and were seen for the first time in many Marc Chagall, the nonagenarian artist, has recently at the current conference, he said, many elderly years in the Museum's January exhibition. produced three further designs for stained glass lawyers had appeared surprised at his description of windows to be put up in St. Stephen's Church, Mainz. the Nazi legal system, which had given them new. insights. After so many years they seemed to be in WFTNESS TO SOBIBOR ATROCITIES The windows will be made in Chagall's workshop in Reims, but will not be ready for at least 18 months. fluenced by their first experience of the law. A court in Hagen heard an Israeli bank employee, St. Stephen's Church is already beautified by a Moshe Bachier, recount conditions in the death number of Chagall windows. camp of Sobibor, where a quarter of a million people I'REVISE CRIMINAL USTS" CALL Were murdered in 1942/43. The accused was one of Dr.* Robert Kempner has appealed to the •he former commandants, Karl Frenzel. Bachier Bundestag to remove the names of Hitler's judicial spoke of visits by Himmler to the camp, after which KAFKA'S LIBRARY FOR RESEARCH victims from die lists of criminals kept by the Ministry the gas chambers were extended and the victims' The private library of Franz Kafka has recently of Justice. Designated as "criminals" are such people heads were shaved before they were murdered "to come to light and has been acquired by the University as Leo Katzenberger, the last head ofthe Nuremberg lessen the unpleasant smdl of gassed people being of Wuppertal. The collection contains about 200 Jewish Community, executed in 1942 for "conslmctive burnt". At a "celebration" ofthe 200,00ah gassing, volumes, including first editions of Max Brod, offences against racial purity", Dietrich Bonhoeffer Eichmann visited the camp, as Bachier believed, and Franz Werfel, Oskar Baum and others. About 20 of and others executed after the July Plot of 1944, and the witness saw the officers in the barracks where he the books have dedications from the members ofthe Marinus van der Lubbe, beheaded for his alleged Worked having a drinking party. "Prager Kreis", the cultural group formed during part in the Reichstag fire. Dr. Kempner finds it Frenzel declared that the witnesses had dreamed the early part of this century. shameful that a statement of their "guilt" should Up the whole story in collusion: Bachicr at once remain on official files. retorted, "What 1 am telling you is not even one-half of One per cent of what we had to undergo in actuality". "FREE LAST FOUR CRIMINALS" QUESTIONS ON BAVARIAN SYNAGOGUE The remaining four war criminals still in detention The future of Kitzinger's synagogue is at present are the subject of a plea by West Germany's Federal BIBLE WOODCUTS ON SHOW the subject of discussion; although only the outer Parliament, led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Holland, The well-known artist Hans H. Heidenheim has walls were left standing after the events of November Italy and the Soviet Union are asked to extend fecently shown the complete collection of woodcuts 1938, it is one of the few pre-Hitler synagogues in clemency to Franz Fischer and Ferdinand aus der illustrating the Bible which he has been creating Bavaria which is capable of restoration. According FUnten, both in Dutch prisons, Walter Reder, held since 1965. The exhibition in Dtlsseldorf comprises to some citizens and members of the Jewish com in Italy, and Rudolf Hess, once Hitler's deputy but Over 60 woodcuts on themes taken from the Book of munity, this work should be undertaken, but the for the last 36 years imprisoned in Berlin's Spandau Job, the Song of Songs, Isaiah and the Psalms, as town council would prefer to see most ofthe remain fortress. No mention has been made of Erich Koch, Well as paintings and other works. Heidenheim's ing shell pulled down and the area dedicated as a former Gauleiter of East Pmssia, still held in a Works were particular favourites of the late Max Brod. place of remembrance. Polish prison. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 Page? GABRIEL TERGIT ROSE BERLIN AVRAHAM KIDRON After a protracted illness, Mrs. Rose Berlin died in The Israeli Ambassador to Australia, Avraham MEMORIAL MEETING Osmond House on 26 January at the age of 83. Her Kidron, has died in Canberra where he had represented name is inseparably linked with the history of the Israel for the past three years. He was aged 63. A The writer Gabriele Tergit who died last September Homes for our elderly. When Otto Schiff House was senior diplomat, Mr. Kidron was the Ambassador to aged 88, was one of the last survivors of the great founded in 1955 she was among the firstmember s of Britain before being sent to Australia and he had the House Committee. Those were the days when we epoch of Jewish writing in the Weimar Republic. also served in the London Embassy during the '50s. still had to gather experience in mnning Homes of As a boy, Avraham Kidron had been one of the first She had in fact been referred to by latter-day critics this kind and Rose Berlin did pioneer work in that Youth Aliyah wards to arrive in Palestine from as "the grand old lady of Weimar literature." The initial period. She took a leading part in shaping the Berlin in 1934. During the War of Independence he high regard in which she was held became evident at policy of the Committee, having a modem approach was chief of intelligence in the Haifa Hagana. a meeting in her memory jointly organised by the to social work and a very good practical sense. PEN Club of German-speaking writers abroad and Like a few others she also stepped in when, due to AVROHOM NACHUM STENCL Club 1943, the two institutions she had actively sup shortage of staff, help was required, and she did not shirk menial work. In 1967, when the Chairman of Avrohom Nachum StencI, poet and champion of ported since their inception. She had been hon. the Yiddish language, has died in London at the age secretary of the PEN Qub from 1957 until a few the House Committee, the late Mr. H. Blumenau, resigned, she became his successor. She held this of 85. Polish by birth, he broke into the literary years ago when failing health led to her reluctant office until 1970 yet retained her contacts with the world in Berlin, where his poems translated into retirement. At the meeting, friends recalled her life German were praised by Thomas Mann and Arnold Home during subsequent years. At the same time, Zweig. The German PEN Club published his and work. she did voluntary work at the Middlesex Hospital as Prof. Dr. H. G. Adler discussed her most important "Fisherman's Village". Emigrating to London in long as her health made it possible. 1936, he devoted the rest of his life to the cause of novel "Die Effingers", a semi-autobiographical Mrs. Berlin was the widow of Walter Berlin, a well Yiddish. history of four generations of a German Jewish known and courageous lawyer in Nuernberg who family between 1890 and 1942. It was begun in 1931 also took a prominent part in communal activities. FELIX HIRSCH and she continued to write chapters of it in her When the family came to this country, they faced the The Berlin-bom historian FeUx E. Hirsch has died various countries of refuge of which Britain was the initial difficulties bravely, adjusting their lives to in Newton, Pa., aged 80. Before 1933, he edited the changed circumstances. last and most enduring. It was finally published in "Beriiner Tageblatt". His best-known book is Rose Berlin will be remembered with affection by perhaps "Germany Ten Years After Defeat", pub 1951 and became an immediate success in several all who knew her. She was a lovable personality with languages. Professor Adler called it a lasting con lished in 1955, and he also wrote a biography of widespread interests. Her unreserved sincerity Gustav Stresemann. tribution and a Jewish legacy to German literature. stands out among her numerous shining qualities. Mr. Egon Larsen, who had followed her career We feel united in our sense of loss with her son and MAX STREAT since its early beginnings in the Berlin of the Twenties, daughter and their families. Max Streat, formerly Strietzel, whose death was fead from her autobiographical notes for the records W.R. announced recently was a gifted violinist. He gave of the Pen Club and remarked that in her early days many recitals at Lodge meetings, at the Homes for as a joumalist for important Berlin papers she had the Aged and at the AJR Club. revolutionised the way in which court proceedings DR. WILLIAM GROSSMANN Max Strietzel arrived in England in 1939 after Were reported in the press by basing her own reports Dr. William Grossmann died recently in London imprisonment in Buchenwald concentration camp On the social and psychological background of in after a long illness at the age of 71. He was born and and was sent to Kitchener Camp. He had already dividual case histories. He praised her devoted work educated in the Sudeten part of Czechoslovakia, made a career in music, having trained in'Breslau, for PEN, the successor organisation to the original graduated MD in Prague in 1936, becoming a lecturer and the camp director at once co-opted him into the Kitchener orchestra. Later on he joined ENSA and German PEN Qub which was dissolved by the at the Dental School of the German Hospital in Prague. He came to Britain in April 1939 after having was an active broadcaster and recording artist. Nazis. helped many colleagues to escape from Prague, which The artist Adele Rosenbaum, as a member of was already occupied by the Nazis. In 1941 hejoined Gabriele Tergit's family, reminisced about the the RAMC, served as a medical officer with various writer's creative intuition with which she transformed units, and from 1943 with the maxillo-facial unit in Eirst World War memories of her late husband, the North Africa, Italy and Belgium. After the war he Remember architect Mr. Heinz Reifenberg, into a widely-read took an English dental degree at University College collection of short stories. £>ental School and was then put in charge of the Israel Orthodontic Department at UCH, which developed As secretary of the 1943 Qub, Berta Sterly grate and expanded under his supervision. He remained fully remembered Gabriele Tergit's contributions- there as Consultant Orthodontic Surgeon until his So Israel may remember you over the years, she gave some thirty lectures and fre retirement in 1976. He did much to help those less quently took part in discussions which she broadened fortunate than himself and was respected and admired If you wish Israel and Jewish and enlivened with her impassioned arguments. by friends and colleagues. He was a cultured man Organisations to benefit by your M.P. with a wide interest in the arts. He is survived by his wife, Maria, a radiologist, and a son, a dental surgeon. Will, why not consult us ? We have a special knowledge of the problems and needs of BERNARD MARX Jewish Clients, and can help you Ojuiglrt ••ore'' Dr. Bemard Marx, an interested member of the ot i.i^caitH-1 AJR, has died at the age of 82. He was bom in or your Solicitor to carry out your Cologne and was about to go up to university at the intentions. versatile POfluf Swil-^Cu age of 17 when he was called up during the First Up to ?BJ World War. He ended the war in an English PoW For further information and • OOORPHONE camp, where he acted as interpreter during his year's SYSTEMS. . stay. advice, without obligation and unlimited He studied dentistry in Bonn upon his retum to Germany, joined the Kartell JUdischer Verbindungen free of charge, please apply to: and was very active in Maccabi. He qualified in 1923 and married Irene n6e Mayer in 15^5. There were Mr H. Rethmu (Director) two children of this happy marriage, a son who is an Orthodontic specialist here, and a daughter in Haifa. K.K.L. Extcutor & Truttoo Co. Lid. He came to Britain, through the Kitchener Camp, Harold Peitor Houto, in 1939, and his family joined him only two days Kln(ibury CIreU, before the outbreak of war. He did a variety of jobs before he was allowed to London, NWS MP. take the examination to practise in this country in Tolofihono: 01-M4 Mil, Ext: 36 1956. He practised until his 78th year, when he INTERPHONE LTD. Ln-mon \^z JtiC Tc ui /m retired. Page 8 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983
TURNCOAT LAWYER CONDEMNED MORE GERMAN NEWS The Association for those persecuted under the Nazi-Regime (VVN) has called for the dismissal of the North-Rhine-Westphalian lawyer Hermann AWARD FOR OLD NAZI AUTHOR CAMP AFTER-EFFECTS RELIEVED Weissing as head of the Dortmund "Centre for the The veteran Nazi author Erich Kem (real name A charitable organisation in Dillenburg, the Prosecution of Nazi Mass Crimes". Their complaint Kemmayr) was honoured recently by the right-wing Wamiarka-Hilfswerk, has just received 10,000 DM arises from Weissing's admission, while acting for GesellschaLft filr Publizistik, which awarded him the from the Christian community in DUsseldorf. The the prosecution in the case of Wilhelm Westerheide 15,000 DM Ulrich von Hutten prize for his work in Hilfswerk, mn by Charlotte Petersen, provides help and Johanna Zelle, that "despite strong suspicion, restoring German identity and rehabilitation of the to Romanian Jews living in Israel who are still suf there are doubts as to the reliability of the surviving war generation, according to the citation. fering from the effects of their imprisonment at Nazi victims" and that the accused should therefore Kem, who rose to prominence as an author in the Wamiarka, Ukraine. Camp inmates were used as be allowed to go free. Westerheide and Zelle, his years 1938-45, has since 1945 produced over 40 guinea-pigs in nutritional experiments, which included former secretary, were acquitted of implication in books and pamphlets. Some of his novels have the supply of poisonous fciod. Over 400 people sur the murders of 9,000 Jews at Vladimir-Volynsk, reached seven editions and have been translated into vived this treatment, but most of them still have where Westerheide was the Nazi district commissar. several languages. Titles such as "White Man, Dead severe intemal lesions and in many cases they are Man?", "Germany in die Abyss", "SPD Unmasked" partly paralysed. Because their case presents legal VVN indignation is all the more acute since in a are typical of his non-fiction work. "Allied Crimes difficulties, these victims do not receive restitution previous trial in 1978/79 before a Bielefeld court, the tn Germany", a "documentary work" was published payments from West Germany, but were given a very same prosecutor demanded life imprisonment as recently as 1981. once-for-all payment of 5,000 DM some years ago. for the very same accused. Nevertheless, they were on that occasion acquitted. But again it was Weiss ANOTHER MASS GRAVE FOUND ing who demanded a new trial and this was granted In the course of building works at the British Army by a higher court on the grounds that the Bielefeld camp in Bergen-Loheide a mass grave containing at ACCUSED OF FELLOW-PRISONERS* judges had given insufficient weight to the evidence least 66 male skeletons has been uncovered. It is KILLING before them. His ensuing call for an acquittal is thought likely that more remains will be found. stigmatised as a "monstrous derision of those Loheide is only a few miles away from the site of the Arrested on racial grounds—he is of gypsy murdered at Vladimir-Volynsk and all victims of concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Buried with the origin—Hermann Ebender found himself in 1944 in Nazi barbarity". bones were some metal tokens, apparently camp the concentration camp "Dora Mittelbau" near Erfurt. From 1958 onward he received a compensa money from Buchenwald. In the closing months of tory pension from the Darmstadt authorities, the Second World War, many thousands of inmates together with a lump sum of nearly 155,000 DM as from Eastem camps were despatched to Bergen- back payment of pension. For the past ten years, Belsen and there can be little doubt that the however, Ebender has been under suspicion of hav skeletons are those of concentration camp victims. ing murdered 17 men by torture, in four cases by his own hand, in the sub-camps of Rottleberode and HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MEETING DRUNKEN POUCE REPRIMANDED Stempeda. In May 1980 he was arrested on murder The Holocaust Memorial Meeting this year will Traffic police in Miinster celebrated a night off by charges. Although he was released on bail, his pension take place on 10 April at the Savoy Theatre, Strand, getting drunk and singing Nazi songs. Five of them has been withdrawn and he has to repay 155,000 DM. at 2.45 p.m. The CJiief Rabbi will officiate and there were later warned about their conduct by the autho The trial is currently proceeding before a Stuttgart will be readings by Robert Rietty. Reserved tickets rities and the most senior officer was fined 500 DM. court. are available from Ajex, 5A East Bank, London N16.
1 France Et Germany's AJR Finest Wines SHIPPED BY CHARITABLE with the compliments of HOUSE OF TRUST These are the ways in HALLGARTEN which you can help to safeguard the continuity Special Recommendation of our vital services "Kellercup" Erdbeerbowie to the community Beautiful blend of wine and Strawberries with delicious CONTRmimONS Pafra spritz. UNDER COVENANT synthetic adhesives Only £25.99 per case (12) GUTS IN adhesive applicators Incl. VAT and delivery YOUR LIFETIME
Delivery to all UK addresses. A BEQUEST Pafra Limited IN YOUR WILL Bentalis. Basildon Please write or phone: Essex. SSI 4 3BU JUSTIN GOLDMEIER Space donated by Wine Merchant Arnold R. Harwell Ltd. 22 Pennine Drive, London NW2 Telephone: 01-455 8672 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 Page 9
MACCABI MUSEUM HOME NEWS The Pierre Gildesgame Maccabi Museum and World Archives in Ramat Gan, Israel, which opened to the public in 1982, is going to computerise the vast quantities of historic material in its possession, some of it going back to the tum of the century. The VOLUNTEERS MEETING TRIED TO PASS INFLATION MONEY material will then be readily available for researchers. A meeting of voluntary workers was held at A banknote from the Weimar period was used The Maccabi World Union is discussing with the Hannah Karminsky House on 18 January at the recently in an attempt to trick Garrards, the Regent West German authorities the arrangement of a invitation of Mrs. Anderman. About 20 volunteers Street jewellers. Although Australian Ronald Hunt travelling exhibition devoted to the History of took part. Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Matus were pre had just left prison for a similar offence, he attempted Jewish Sport in Germany 1898-1938. At the Inter sent and dealt with problems and questions which to cover up the date and the syllable "Reichs" on a national Exhibition of the History of Sport to be were raised. The meeting tumed into a lively, infor 20,000 RM note dating from the late twenties. He mal discussion on all aspects of voluntary work. then tried to pass the note in payment for a £4,000 held in Essen, there will be particular stress put on Suggestions were made on how to overcome dif watch. the Hakoah Qub of Essen. There will also be a per ficulties, mainly dealing with transport. Voluntary manent comer devoted to Maccabi in the Jewish Museum of Austria, in Eisenstadt. workers would undertake more jobs like shopping TRAVEL AGENTS BEST ASSIGNMENT and visiting if there were a small fund for paying for taxis. It was altogether a most useful and enjoyable The head of VIP Travel, Berlin-born Willi HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER GAOLED meeting, so much so that it was decided to meet Wilder, recently celebrated his 60th birthday. At a Francis C. Morris, the hit-and-mn driver whose again from time to time. The meeting ended with reception given in the West End of London, he car caused the death of Maccabi leader Pierre coffee and sandwiches. recalled the most rewarding time of his whole life: Gildesgame two years ago, has been imprisoned for when, as a young travel expert, he was sent to occupied nine months, banned from driving for 15 years and Germany by the Jewish Agency. There he had the ordered to pay £4,000 costs. After the accident, the task of organising trains from Buchenwald and car showed brake lights for a moment before speed MATRON RETIRES FROM BABY HOME Dachau to take survivors and displaced persons ing off with its lights tumed off. Later poUce identified •I Mrs. Ruth Cooper has just retired as matron of back to Southem France. Morris as a man seen to take an "unusual interest" the Highbury House babies' home. Her 31 years of in the scene ofthe accident and found that his car, a service with Jewish welfare organisations stemmed brown Rover, had had its bonnet, roof and boot from her teenage days when she worked in a Jewish cleaned. orphanage in Germany. She was only 16 in 1938 when she came as a refugee to England and trained DR. ERNESTO ALEMANN BRAILLE EDITOR STILL WORKING here as a children's nurse. Dr. Ernesto Alemann has died in Buenos Aires at Twenty-one issues of the Jewish Blind Society's the age of 90. Of Swiss origin, Dr. Alemann was magazine "Listen", published in Braille and on well-known in the years of the Third Reich for his tape, have been steered through all their printing and warnings about and criticism of the National Socialists recording stages by Mrs. Henni Nussbaum. Bom in SINGER'S CAREER BEGAN IN lOM which the "Argentinisches Tageblatt" published Cologne, Mrs. Nussbaum lost her sight in adult life A teacher at the Royal Academy of Music and under his editorship. Himself non-Jewish, he was after receiving her doctorate in education in Germany. head of a singer's workshop at Morley College, always ready to help German-Jewish emigrants in Following her marriage to a doctor and the birth of soprano Ilse Wolf also gives recitals and adjudicates Argentina and strongly resisted attacks by Nazi sym their son (who also became blind in his teens), the at music festivals. During her youth in the Rhineland, pathisers in the country. Dr. Alemann also provided family were forced to leave Germany and came to she received no formal musical training. She would emigrant writers with a forum for their publications, England via Italy. 41 have been unable to leave Germany during the Third assisted in the re-birth of the Freie Deutsche Bilhnc Reich, had not a total stranger given her a few marks and helped exiled social democrats to form the to enable her to obtain a visa. On her arrival in group "Das Andere Deutschland". AMATEUR YIDDISHIST'S SUCCESS England, Ilse Wolf was among the many "enemy A German railwayman who, for the past ten years, aliens" taken into Holloway Prison and then sent to has devoted all his spare time to research into the the Isle of Man. There, by dint of much persuasion, Yiddish language and culture spoke at a recent a well-known singer agreed to give her lessons, the PICTURES NEEDED seminar on the historical sociology of Yiddish held beginning of her musical career. by the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Osmond House would be grateful for any Studies. Hermann Silss, who lives in Fiirstenfeldbmck, framed pictures to brighten the hall. used the opportunity for travel provided by his work to visit libraries holding Yiddish collections, not only Please phone Matron: 01-458 1185 in the large towns of Germany, but also in villages and tiny hamlets. Mr. Siiss first spoke at the Centre's seminar in 1979, following a chance meeting with one of the Fellows. In the past three years he has several times CLUB 1943 been invited to Jerusalem by the Hebrew University's Meetings on Mondays at 8 p.m. Yiddish Department to confer with Israeli scholars in Hannah Karminski House, and discuss his finds. A year ago he gave the first 9 Adamson Road, NW3 ever course in Yiddish bibliography at the Yivo Insti 1983 tute for Jewish Research in New York. 7 Mar. HARRY BLACKER: "The Jewish One of Mr. Silss's most spectacular discoveries East-End". was the long-lost private library of Johann Christoph 14 Mar. GEORGE JAEGER, MA.TH.L. Wagenseil. A Christian orientalist, Wagenseil pub "D. H. Lawrence. (1885-1930) His Life lished an important andiology of Old Yiddish literature and Work". in Kflnigsbcrg in 1699, but the whereabouts of his 21 Mar. MARTHA TAUSZ: "New own library were unknown until Hermann Silss, by a experiences in China", (with slides). series of subtie deductions, unearthed the collection 28 Mar. No Leaure. (Pessach) in Erlangen University library. 4 Apr. No Lecture. (Easter) 11 Apr. Dr. HERBERT HOCHFELD: "Das Diaspora-Museum in Tel Aviv". CAMPS 18 Apr. Dr. ERWIN SELIGMANN: "Im INTERNMENT-P.O.W.- pressions of Israel during the Lebanon FORCED LABOUR-KZ War". I wish to buy cards, envelopes and folded post 25 Apr. LUCIE KAY: Bunce Court, (New marked letters from all camps of tx>th worid wars. Herrlingen). "The history of refugee Please sand, registered mall, stating price, to: children's integration into this country". 14 Roaslyn Hin, Lor>don NW3 2 May. No Lecture. (May Day Holiday). PETER C. RICKENBACK Page 10 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 Frankfurt in joumalism. This geographical diffusion not a mandate to exclude Jews from German society". INDIFFERENCE OF THE was symbolic of a more profound disjunction—that 1 found this assertion astonishing, to say the least. GERMAN ELITE between Macht and Geist, power and culture. The During the 1932 election campaigns—there were a German cultural elite represented icons of superior number that year—only a deaf-mute would not have morality having nothing whatever to do with politics. heard the chant "Deutschland erwache/Juda Most cmcially, Baum says, the various groups in verrecke", or the SA song about Jewish blood spurt "Astonish me!" demanded Diaghilev of Cocteau society were all strangers to one another. (Such ing from the knife. Any Berliner would have had to at their first meeting—and Cocteau spent the rest of estrangement applied, under certain circumstances, be a latter-day Robinson Cmsoe not to know that Ws life fulfilling that injunction. The urge to astonish, even within groups: Catholic workers thought, felt Goebbels brought large middle-class audiences to to overturn accepted notions, is widespread among and acted differently from Social Democrat ones.) their feet with such genocidal oratory as "Manche original minds in all spheres. Historians are as prone Living in a society without shared values means living sagen dass der Jude auch ein Mensch ist; ich sage die to it as artists and literati. A. J. P. Taylor thinks with ethical strangers. Once one is conditioned to Laus ist auch ein Tier". Hitler slithered into war by inadvertence; according that state of affairs, argues Baum, the removal of Elsewhere again Baum is guilty of contradiction. |o the egregious David Irving Hitler was kept in some strangers—i.e. the deportation of Jews— Having himself stated that writing about the Holo 'gnorance of the Final Solution till it was almost amounts to the disappearance of distant people. caust demands some special language of taboo, he over. Hence it was German moral indifference rather than then infringes that taboo by exhibitions of bad taste. Now we have a new theory about the Holocaust Nazi antisemitism that accounts for the Holocaust. Since everybody knows that the extermination of the which, while not as ludicrous as Irving's, is as prob Baum makes out a persuasive case for his hypo Jews was a wholly irrational undertaking—even from lematical as Taylor's hypothesis about the origins of thesis and quotes telling examples of German moral the German war effort point of view—it is a labour of the Second World War*. Rainer Baum, a German- indifference. The most telling refers to Hitler's supererogation to study its profitability. Yet Baum American sociologist, sees the root cause of the meeting with army chiefs after the Roehm putsch, has worked out meticulously that the Holocaust Holocaust not in Nazi commitment to evil, but in the when no one present murmured a word of protest at resulted in no more than a 40.70 Reichsmark increase general moral indifference of the Germans. Pace the murder of their fellow general, ex-Chancellor in per-capita income of every German. Worse still, Raum Nazism didn't necessarily entail genocide. von Schleicher, and his wife in cold blood. the author says the following about the cost effec Not politics, but a non-Nazi "institutional Even so one feels less than convinced. The author tiveness of Nazi exploitation of Jewish slave labour: cynicism", a profound non-political indifference seems too intent on making the facts fit his hypo "Slavery required a guard/inmate ratio higher than about human life per se—rather than hatred of the thesis. Baum writes "There was nothing new in the the pupil/teacher ratio in your neighbourhood grade Jews—put the extermination programme into effect. Nazi gospel of hate the Jews. It was old hat". This is school. Now, however notorious the expense of Baum traces this moral indifference back to what a half-tmth. The vimlence of Nazi antisemitism was education, teachers stay. They make some contribu be calls value dissensus among the various groups sui generis. Christian antisemitism at least ensured tion to the final product, literacy or a Ph.D. Camp constituting German society. Wilhelminian society, the survival of some Jews—as evidence of their guards only guarded, normally". he argues, was never propwrly integrated. There accursed state for future generations. By the same All in all Baum has produced a curate's egg of a Were Junkers, Rhenish industrialists, university token the inspirer of the Tsarist pogroms, Pobo- book. He establishes a cogent case for studying the "mandarins", Besitzburger, etc.—each a group denostsev, had a tripartite solution for Russia's deformation of modern German history from a with separate interests and values which were never Jewish Question: "One-third will be killed, one- sociological point of view—but asserts rather more subsumed into a universally valid synthesis. Cul third will emigrate, and one-third will convert". than he can substantiate. As for the tone of his work turally, too, the country was multi FAMILY EVENTS Greenwood:—Otto Sidney Green CLASSIFIED For Sale Entries in this column are free of wood, of 6 Sutcliffe Close, NWll, 77ie charge in Ihese columns is 50pCONTINENTA L FEATHERBED ^arge, but voluntary donations wouldpasse d away on 23 January. Deeply for five words plus 5(^ for advertise for sale. Tel. 624 8112. oe appreciated. Texts should reach usmoume d by his wife Gretel, daughters ments under a Box No. EIDERDOWN FEATHER BED, oy the 15th of the preceding month. Connie and Diane, sons-in-law John nearly new, made by Heals, 125 x 200 and Adrian, grandchildren Jane, cms. £15. 722 0559 after 6 p.m. Jonathan and Simon, and all his Birthday Personal Nadel:—Theo (Toby) Nadel, of Mel relatives and many friends. Situations Vacant Herz:—Dr, Kurt Herz, 73, on 29 Janu CULTURED WIDOW in her mid- bourne, will celebrate his 70th birthday fifties hopes to fmd congenial company. on 11 March. Congratulations! ary. Deeply mourned by his family and WE WOULD WELCOME hearing friends. from more ladies who would be wiUing Please write to Box 973. to shop and cook for an elderly person LADY, VARIED INTERESTS, in Golden Wedding Marx:—Dr. Bernard Marx died on 28 60s, wishes to meet intelligent lady or Meyerstein:—Ludwig Meyerstein, January. Deeply mourned by wife in their neighbourhood on a temporary or permanent basis. Current rate of gentleman for friendship and travelling. formerly lawyer and notary in Halle/ Irene, daughter Ruth Kirschbaum- Box 970. Saale and Mrs. Alice (Lice, n6e Eisner) Neuberger, son Richard Marx, grand pay £2.20 per hour. Please ring Mrs. of Guttentag O/S, recently celebrated children and great-grandchildren, rela Matus 01-624 4449, AJR Employment, INFORMATION REQUIRED their Golden Wedding. tives and friends. for appointment. Personal Enquiry Schwab:—Ella Schwab, of Otto Schiff BARR:—Peter Barr, from Berlin, Deaths House, aged 89, passed away peacefully bom around 1921/22, presumed to Alexander:—Mrs. Irmgard Alexander on Shabbath 15 January. Deeply MisccUaneous have come to this country at the passed away on 27 January after a short moumed by her sister, brother, nieces beginning of 1939 and who was in the ^Iness. Deeply missed by Margaret and nephews. ELECTRICIAN City and Guilds Pioneer Corps. Box 969. Steiner, famUy and friends. Silbermann:—Pauline Silbermann qualified. AU domestic work under Cohn:—Paul Moritz Cohn, formerly (nie Feust) passed away 1 January aged taken. Y. Steinreich Tel: 455 5262. Hamburg, who came to this country in Eisner:—Heinz Eisner passed away 93. Will be sadly missed by family and 1939 with achildren'stransport. Please Peacefully in Solihull Hospital, friends. REVLON MANICURIST. WUl visit write to Box 972. J9 January. Deeply moumed by his In Memoriam your home. Phone 01-445 2915. ^fc, son, daughter-in-law, grandson, Weiss:—In loving memory of Karl, sister, brother and sister-in-law. BED AND BREAKFAST m. Golders beloved husband and father, who died Green. Comfortable single and double HAIRDRESSER VISITS HOME Fricdiand:—F. Friedland, husband of 21 March 1982 in his 76th year. rooms, moderate charges, nightly or (perm, tint - everything) Ema, passed away on the 20 January, Remembered and terribly missed by all weekly terms. 455 8033. after a short iUness. Deeply missed by his family and very many friends. Also Reasonable rates Ws widow, family and friends. Flat 33, Tommy, who left us suddenly March DECORATING AND GARDENING. PHONE ANITA AFTER 6.30 p.m. "Tarranbrae", Willesden Lane, 1956, not quite eleven years old. Retired OAP. ReUable and trustworthy. 863 5723 London NW6 7PN. Forever in our hearts and thoughts. Refemces avaUable. Box 971. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 Page 11 MURILLO AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY Jewish community. The four large pictures which he HEBREW UNIVERSITY EXCHANGE painted for this church, one of MuriUo's most im The Hebrew University has lately entered into portant commissions, are on display in the exhibition. exchange agreements with two German institutes. The MuriUo exhibition at the Royal Academy, Apart from the splendid religious paintings, the The Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg is to send open untU 27 March 1983, which includes over a exhibition also contains a number of fine portraits three professors and three students to Jemsalem hundred works of this artist assembled from coUec- and scenes of the everyday Ufe of peasant children, each year and will in its turn welcome sbc members of tions aU over the world, demonstrates the versatUity the Hebrew University. Four students have already including those deUghtful pictures "ChUdren Play and superb abUity of this Spanish artist. Bartolome made the exchange and are currently studying at the ing Dice" and "Two Boys Eating a Pie", lent by the Estaban MuriUo was bom in SeviUe in 1618, Uved sister university. Bayerische StaatsgemiUdesammlungen, Munich. there most of his Ufe and died in 1678 as a result of a Under a similar agreement, Hebrew University fall from the scaffolding in a church where he was lecturers wiU teach at the CoUege for Jewish Studies GRAPHICS in Heidelberg. painting the high altarpiece. Like Spain itself, SevUle AND DRAWINGS was in a period of decline during MuriUo's lifetime, SILVER AMULET UNEARTHED but stUl a city of magnificence. Nevertheless, the This tmly magnificent exhibition which shows so An ardiaeologist from Td Aviv University, Gabrid Inquisition which had done so much to destroy much of MuriUo's work, was made possible through Barkay, has reported finding a hoard of treasure Spain's Golden Age, was stiU in fuU activity. Auto- the generous support of B.A.T. Industries, one of near Mount Zion. The hoard included 100 pieces of da-fes were common occurrences and took place Britain's largest industrial enterprises. A fuUy Ulus- silver jeweUery—a record for archaeological digs in near the house where MuriUo was born. As a proud trated catalogue is avaUable, published in association Jemsalem. But the most important item is an amulet in the form of a scroU and bearing the name of God citizen of SeviUe, MuriUo must have been aware of with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, price £5.95. At Margaret Fisher's GaUery, 2 Lambolle Road, in Hebrew. The amulet is about 2,750 years old and the sorry fate that had befaUen his Jewish feUow is beUeved to be the earUest object so far found in citizens in the expulsion only a century before. Indeed, NW3, there has recently been an,interesting exhibi Jerusalem and bearing the Tetragrammaton. The one of the churches he helped to decorate was the tion of the graphic work of Hans Meid and water inscription was only recently deciphered with the Santa Maria la Blanca in the Juderia which had colours and drawings by Katerina WUczynski. help of special techniques developed at the Israel formerly been one of the synagogues of the thriving ALICE SCHWAB Museum in Jerusalem. BELSIZE SQUARE QUEST MADE-TOMEASURE C>out>le knit Jeraey wool and washat)>e HIGHEST PRICES CHIROPODIST HOUSE drtp^ coats, suits, trouser-suits and paid for 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, N.W.3 dresses. Outsize our speciality. From CHAS. N. GILBERT F.B.Ch.A, Tel: 01794 4307 or 01-435 2557 £11.50 inclusive material. Also customers Gentlemen's cast-off Clothing at "Rkhey" own malerial made up. HOOOIM MIACiHI—HI HOUOAT WEGOANYV^rHERE,ANYTIME 169 Finchley Road, N.W.3. KOOMS. NBIOCNT HOUSCKEIPfM Phona: 01-450 5817 near Sainsbury MOOtKATf TIIIMS. Mn. L. nuooiwr S. DIENSTAG 624 8626/7 NCAMIWBS COTTACl STATION (01-2724484) MAPESBURY LODGE (LIcanMd by Ih* Borougti ol Brwil) DAWSON HOUSE HOTEL for the elderly, convalescent and GERMAN BOOKS • Free Street Parking in front of the Hotel partly incapacitated. YOUR FIGURE PROBLEMS BOUGHT • Full Central Healing e Free Laundry Lift to all floors. SOLVED • Free Dutch-Style Conllnentai Breakfast Luxurious double and single Art, Literature, Topography, 72 CANFIELD GARDENS by a vWl to our Salon whan generally pre-war non classical rooms. Colour TV, h/c, central raadytcHwaar ioundaUons aiaaxpartly near Undergfwmd Sla. FincMey Road, heating, private telephones, etc., in B. HARRISON LONDON, N.W.6. all rooms. Excellent kosher cuisine. iMIad and allafad If laciuirad. Tel: 01-6241»79 Colour TV lounge. Open visiting. The ViNag* Boolohop Newest styles in Swim- Cultivated Gardens. & Beachwear & Hosiery 4« BaWu Lane. N.W.3 Full 24-hour nursing care. Tel: 01-7*4 3IM Please telephone sister-in- Mme H. UEBERG INDIVIDUALLY TAILORED charge, 450 4972 871 Finchley Rd.. Goiders Green. LIGHTWEIGHT N.Vtf.l1 (next lo Post Office) "WOODSTOCK LODGE" 17 Mapesbury Road, N.W^ 01-4568673 40 Shoot-up Hill SILK LINED MOHAIR COATS London, NWl (26 oz. approx.) Ideal for travel, • Well furnished single and double evening and day wear. Light and GROSVENOR NURSING HOME TORRINGTON HOMES rooms. warm. 14 styles, many colours. MRS. PRINGSHEIM. S.R.N.. * High standard of care. From £137.50. Sketches and colour Retired, convalescent and MATRON * Family atmosphere. card on request. medical patients. Day and night For EMeriy, Retired and supervision by qualified staff. Coavaicsccnl S.R.N.S In attendance Campbell (formerly Sutin) Couture, Spacious lounge. Colour T.V., ILimutdby BonrngM ojBmmit 35 Devonshire Road, Mill Hill, dining roonn and Lift. Kosher *Single and Double Rooms. Please lelephone Matron (or details *H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. 01-4526201 London NW) cuisine. Moderate Terms. •Gardens, TV and reading rooms. To view samples, lelephone 346 7988 •Nurse on duty 24 hours. Tal: 01-452 0515/203 2692. •Long and short term, including trial "AVENUE LODGE" for appointment. EvMibiga 01-286 9842. period if required. Licensed tiy ttw London Borough of Bamel 85/87 Fordwych RCMMI. London. £100-£130 per weeic OoMmOrawi. N.W.11 01-445 1244 Of rice hours N.W.2. 0I-4JS 1335 other times MOirrH-WEST LONDOm EXCLUSIVE 39Torrington Parli, N.12. HOME FOM TMC ELOCRLY AND RETWEO FOR EFFICIENT CAR SERVICE * Luurtow ilr^ mi douM* AIRPORTS SEASIDE C. H. WILSON DRESSMAKER Pteaaa telephone 8W8006 Carpenter HIGHLY QUAUFIED Painter and Decorator VIENNA TRAINED SPECIAL CARE AND HELP FOR French Polisher St. Joims Wood Area Antique Furniture Repaired PIMNM for ippolnCn^ont •(•aM«n,«14H7«M ELDERLY Tel: 452 8324 •l-32St7IS Nel2 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1983 GERMAN-JEWISH RELATIONS DEBATED THEATRE AND CULTURE A seminar organised by the Goethe Institute and the van Leer Foundation was recently held in Jeru Unusual Jubilees. Vienna's cultural achievements his 85th birthday. Wemer Hinz, the Berlin character salem on the theme of how Germans and Jews Were often the result of historical events which ex actor who once belonged to the legendary Grtiendgens regard each other. Politicians, writers, joiunalists, pressed themselves in literary or culinary feats. It is ensemble, had his 80th birthday. Erik Frey, a long teachers, historians and lawyers from both coimtries ^ years since the famous victory over the Turks standing member of the Vieima "Josefstadt" who assembled to discuss all aspects of the two peoples' reactions since 1952. For young Israelis, Germany is who in 1683 had fmally to withdraw from the long- will shortly play the title role in Ibsen's "John a country almost like any other, so that the audience coveted areas of Central Europe, leaving behind— Gabriel Borkman", is also 80. TTie Viennese actress was chiefly made up of the older generation, among * the story goes—the first Vietmese coffee houses and diseuse Else Rambausek, called the "Indefatig them many former German Jews. Several of the founded by a man named Kolschitzky, who had the able" and at present playing Duchess Bozena in speakers dealt with the question of whether anti- ^wy first crescent-shaped breadrolls baked (the Kalman's "Graefin Mariza" at the Raimimdtheater, Zionism necessarily equals antisemitism; other sub Austrian "Kipferl"), based on the Turkish half- is 75 years old, jects included the attitude of German youth, the "'oon crest. Munich reports the 110-year jubilee of OMtuary. The celebrated musician Hugo Burg- Palestinian question and why the Holocaust had 'he "Weisswurst", and the ubiquitous German card hauser has died in New York, aged 86. Once the taken place in Germany, when c^er coimtries included quite as many antisemites. game "Skat" celebrated 170 years of existence. famous bass player of the Vieima Philharmonic The Next Generation. Nicole Kunz, the Viennese orchestra, he had been their chairman since 1932; he actress, seen in various parts on stage and Austrian emigrated to the United States in 1938, played for Television this season, is the daughter of State opera the NBC and later became a member of the Metro RECONCDJATIGN VISIT TO JERUSALEM ^"d Lieder singer Eridi Kunz who, at 72, is still making politan opera orchestra. He retired in 1965 and wrote Delegates from the German Co-ordinating Council appearances on the operatic stage. Lena von Stolze, his memoirs "Philhaimonische Begegnungen", which of Associations for Christian-Jewish Co-operation *e young German actress (whose father was the were published by Atlantis, Ziirich, in 1979. Rolf (DKR) recently visited Jerusalem, where they found tenor Gerhard Stolzc) has had a steeply-rising screen Wanka, the Prague-bom actor who in the Thirties that their organisation was better known than to career. She made her name playing leading parts in symbolized the "Elegant Gentleman" in German many Germans. Israelis welcomwl them as represen the anti-Nazi films "Die weisse Rose" and "FQnf films, has died in Munich at the age of 81. tatives of over thirty years' endeavour for German- letzte Tage". Both films received prizes at the Karlsbad S.B. Jewish reconciliation. The delegation visited many important institutions and individuals, among them *nd Venice Festivals. Teddy Kollek, the Mayor of Jerusalem, who pointed Biithdays. Rudolf Femau, the Berlin aaor who with pride to the opening of the Sheikh Jarah Health 'became one of the most prominent figures of the VISITORS TO AUSTRIAN CENTRE Centre, built with funds from Germany, Switzerland, German stage, acting under the direction of The Jewish Cultural Centre in Vienna has attracted Great Britain and the USA. The Centre will even Reinhardt, Jessner, Fehling and Kortner, celebrated over 10,000 tourists, according to a recent report. tually serve many thousands of patients each day. WALM L»NE NUISINB HOME DENTAL REPAIR CLINIC Purpoaa daaiflnad, modem, comfoitabla. madlcai Nuralng Homo. Convalascont, medical and poat-oporaUva patianta, both long and Dentures Repaired While-You-Wait •hort torm stay, carad for by fully quallflatf nuralng atafl. Slngla Can also Collect and Deliver and aharod rooms with ovary luxurloua fadlHy. LHta to all floors. (Previously at 1, Transept Street, NWl) All diets catarad for - Koahar maals oan ba provided. Ucancad by Brant Haatth Authority and racognlaad by B.U.P.A. and P.P.P. Insurance. Man spricht Deutsch 435 2173 On parle Fran^ais ConUet Mlaa tt. Rain, Matbon, 141 Walm Lane, London NWt Beszilttnk Magyarul Wy spreken HoUandsh LTal . 4MMttor4l We also speak English SPRINGDENE NURSING HOME BOOKS WANTED We offer an cxoeUent 24 br medical GERMAN AND JEWISH Look here nuningcare. Tbefoodistremendout ILLUSTRATED, ETC. and our aooomoiodatioa it tbs best We ptx>vide a ranas of rooms from E.M.S. BOOKS 55 Oakleigh Park Nth, tbarad to tincie with bathroom en suite. We have two spacious lountes, MRS. E. M. SCHIFF Whetstone, two passenger lifti. a hydrotherapy pool and a spacious lardai. PaciHtks Tel: 01-205 2905 London N.20 for in-patient and out-patieat physio therapy treatment. Lfoencwl by tbe Bamet Area Health Authority and Tel. 446 2117 recognised by B.U.PA. and P>.P. B. HIRSCHLER— JEWISH BOOKSELLER Jewish Books in any language ANTIQUE Buecher in deutscher and Hebrew Books FURNITURE Spniche und BUder AND OBJECTS Highest prices paid BOUGHT Telephone: 01-800 6395 A. W. Mytze Good prices given Postfach 246, D-1 BerUn 37 Ich Mile nai dctaMcilc Aagabca PETER BENTLEY Wantad R. Cf G. INITAUATIONSI LTD. Die Buecher werden abgeholt t BOOKS, MAPS, PRINTS, etc. ANTIQUES 199b Bolaize Road, NW6 Keine Transportprobleme. of Jewish, Hebrew, Garman 624 2646/328 2646 intarast. Ubraries Purchased. 22 Cs—saglH Street, Uiadoa, W2 Bezahlung bestens und umgehend! Td: •1-723 93M Members: E.C.A. Best prices paid N.I.C.E.I.C. Tel: 01-959 7615 Publiahad by Iha Association ot Jewish Rahigaas In Qraal Britain, B Fairfax Mansions, London NW3 6LA. 'Phona: Qanaral Offtoa and Administration Homes: 01-624 90Q6/7, Employment Agency and Social Sarvicas Dapartmant: 01-624 4440 Prtnlad at The Fumlval Prass, 61 Ultord Road, SE5.