AJ R Information

Volume XLVII No. 7 July 1992

£3 (to non-members)

Don't miss . . . In the aftermath of Los Angeles AGM Report p9 Entombed in silence p3 A history of the A tale of two ghettos Jews pl2

ews and Blacks are both similar and different. Their Jews, on the other hand, remained models of family Palace and greatest similarity lies in the common and never-to- cohesion even after Emancipation released them from be-forgotten experience of persecution - an experi­ the conformity engendered by ghetto life. Generations press J ence distilled in the word ghetto. For European grew up with fathers as well as potent role models: Jews ghettoisation meant social exclusion and resi­ talmudic sages, later bankers and businessmen, and, ress gossip dential confinement on the order of popes or princes. finally scientists and artists. about the Ghettos for American Blacks were not created by Young Blacks with 'absentee' fathers have a narrow pRoya l family is the price we pay, government fiat; rather they resulted from White range of role models drawn either from show biz or however reluctantly, prejudice and their own inability to break out of the the world of sport. Neither entertainment nor sport - for freedom of inner-city poverty trap. as demonstrated by Jimmy Hendrix or Mike Tyson - expression. If Black deprivation, it must be borne in mind, are pursuits likely to inculcate essential middle-class unchecked, it could transcends the merely material to encompass the lack values of self-discipUne and deferred gratification. ultimately have of a stable family structure. Slavery severed the bonds In the last 30 years or so other potential Black role undesirable of family life and in the 130 years since its abolition models have emerged in the shape of charismatic consequences. One that grievous damage has not been repaired. politicians. Alas, most of them — from the Nkruhmas might be and Mugabes of post-colonial Africa to Malcolm X parliamentary and Farrakhan in the U.S.A. - have turned out to be legislation idols with feet of clay. cirumscribing press Jews had a contrary experience since Israeli state­ freedom. Another, hood. However much we may smart under the current potentially even negative image of the Jewish State, we can still take more far-reaching, pride in the fact that neither a Likud nor a Labour would be the government in Jerusalem would dream of tampering discrediting of the with the country's basic democratic structure. entire monarchical In the U.S. Black teachers and others schooled in the principle. negrocentric ideologies of Farrakhan and Dr Jeffries Monarchy, though | have educated a generation of ghetto youths to somewhat j compensate for deprivation with pathological hatred outmoded, promotes I - of 'Whitey', of Jews, of Koreans and so forth. In an stability. Presidents, atmosphere where a sizable minority of Afro-Ameri­ as de Gaulle and cans believe that U.S. government laboratories pro­ Nixon have shown, duced the Aids virus to wipe out Blacks, the savagery do not. Even non­ of the Los Angeles rioters becomes expUcable. executive presidents can, pace Waldheim, The bitterness surrounding the Rodney King case be a disaster. It owed much to the fact that no politician occupying would be the height the White House since Lyndon Johnson has had the of paradox if a statesman's vision to mobilise the resources of (what Conservative Britain is still) the world's richest country to create a less race- swung towards divided society. Republicanism. In The Nazis made much of Europe judenrein. Since such an event the no conceivable scenario can make the United States a journaille will have country of uniform pink pigmentation, the heirs of a lot to answer Abraham Lincoln will have to devise means of for. D A street in the Jewish quarter of mediaeval \\\ promoting Black-White amity. AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

Red Cross accusation meeting took place in historic Belvoir *Our' man in Europe Castle, whose chatelain, the Duke of Rut­ Israeli treatment of detainees in the Occu­ land, proposed him. pied Territories has been sharply criticised Elected, he became the Euro Tories by the International Committee of the Red spokesman on Social and Employment Cross in Geneva. The Red Cross said that it matters. This was a difficult assignment, as believed Israeli troops were using physical Mrs Thatcher did not share the Soziale and psychological pressure to obtain infor­ Marktwirtschaft concepts dear to continen­ mation and confessions in violation of the tal centre-right groups like the German Fourth Geneva Convention. D CDU. He also played a key role in the Euro- Parliament's Latin American delegation, Judith Kerr honoured where he argued for more sensitive treat­ ment of poverty-stricken debtor countries. Judith Kerr received a rare honour by Labour's victory in the 1989 Euro elec­ having a primary school in Berlin Wilmers- tions put an end to Fred's almost permanent dorf named after her. The daughter of the transit between London, Brussels and Stras­ famous critic Alfred Kerr, Judith is herself bourg. Approaching 70, the indefatigable the author of a well-regarded children's veteran of business and politics can now book entitled When Hitler stole the red channel more of his energies into the rabbit. In a speech at the naming ceremony presidency of the Anglo-Jewish Association. she accepted the honour in the name of the I Fred Tuckman and S»r Geoffrey Hotve. (The 500-strong AJA organises lectures, children who had perished. D Photo: private. publishes a journal, and runs an Anglo- Israeli scholarship scheme.) Not a patch on Moshe he refugee turned politician in his 'Politician', these days, has a derogatory adopted homeland is a rare specimen, connotation miles removed from Aristotle s The French national press have been having but he does exist. The U.S.A. had zoon politikon (i.e person involved in civic great fun with some old photographs of T Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and the affairs). Fred Tuckman, OBE, is the sort of Jean-Marie le Pen which seem to indicate U.K. the parliamentarians Alf Dubs and person who gives politics a good name. that in the early 1950s his eye patch was on Fred Tuckman. Dubs, characteristically, D R.C. the other side. The rumour is that Jean- heads the British Refugee Council, and Fred Marie's press office have refused to Tuckman was a Euro MP for ten years. comment on suggestions that the patch may Born at Magdeburg in 1922, Fred came be a pure affectation adopted in admiration SHORT OR LONG TERM CARE to Britain in 1939 with his mother and of that great hero of the French National sisters. During the war he served as a Are you looking for residential care for Front Moshe Dayan. D yourself or for someone close to you? wireless mechanic in the RAF. Postwar he took a degree at the London School of The Otto Schiff Housing Association offers a very attractive option. Economics, entering LSE as a 'pink' Fabian We can offer short or long term care in our five Socialist and leaving as a pale blue Bow residential homes and sheltered accommodation Group Conservative. (His Bow Group con­ for old people with a Jewish refugee background. Israel's The Homes are situated a stone's throw from temporaries included Sir Geoffrey Howe Kenwood and Hampstead Heath. Very finest Wines and Leon Brittan.) After graduating Fred It is our aim to enable residents to maintain their worked for Marks & Spencer, then as dignity by providing an ambience that makes them feel part of the community and allows them to SHIPPED BY Company Secretary and Personnel Manager regard their environment with affection. Hobbies for BIA Ltd, and eventually joined Hay and other interests are actively encouraged. Management Consultants. The last named In addition we can offer the following: HOUSE OF sent him to Southern Africa and, from Single rooms, many with en-suite facilities 1970, to Germany. Physiotherapy HALLGARTEN The German posting had its pitfalls. Occupational therapy Interviewing a prospective employee, Fred Social activities, including art classes, discussion groups and outings told him he was a Jew. 'Why' asked the YARDEN and GAMLA Transport to the AJR Day Centre other 'are you telling me this? You wouldn't Visiting Doctor tell me if you had VD!' So that his children AVAILABLE NOW Jewish traditions catered for should be brought up in this country, Fred Experienced social workers available for commuted between England and Germany consultation Please write or phone for weekly for almost ten years. For further information please contact: full information On a parallel track he had meanwhile Gloria Randall Ruth Finestone embarked on a political career, initially in Otto Schiff Housing Association of DALLOW ROAD local government. He served on Camden Association Jewish Refugees LUTON BEDS Central Office Hannah Karminski House Council, where he chaired both the Library LU11UR Osmond House 9 Adamson Road and Arts, and Parks and Open Spaces The Bishops Avenue London NW3 3HX 0582 22538 committees. At the first direct European London N2 OBG Tel: 071-483 2536 elections in 1979 he stood as Conservative Tel: 081-209 0022 candidate for Leicestershire. His adoption AJR INFORMATION JULy 1992

inzig - a small town in the Rhineland - A Rhenjsh memorial had Jews living in it intermittently Ssince the 11th century. In the 1930s the community comprised 16 families earning their living from trade in live-stock and agricultural produce. After Kristallnacht a few Jews emigrated; the rest perished. Postwar Sinzig, a larger and more pros­ perous town, showed no traces of the former Jewish presence. This was an omis­ sion Richmond-resident AJR member Richard Meyer resolved to rectify. Since retirement he conducted a one-man campaign for the erection of a Jewish memorial in his birthplace. After four years — and repeated journeys - his efforts bore fruit in the erection of a memorial stone on the site of the destroyed synagogue. The unveiling of the memorial fittingly took place on Yom Hashoah 1992; the two main speakers at the ceremony were Richard The memorial is unveiled in Sinzig. The Mayor stands to its right, next to him is Mr Richard Meyer Photo: private. Meyer and the mayor of Sinzig. D

postwar apartment-house bears a small Even a committee of influential local per­ Entombed in silence plaque: 'Here once stood the synagogue'. sonalities could not break through the wall 'In 1938 I was going to Vienna by train', of silence in Rechnitz. echnitz is a village on the Austrian/ one of the few survivors of the Rechnitz The University of Vienna began a search Hungarian border where it seems community told me in Leeds, 'when a young for the graves by taking infra-red aerial Rthat time has stood still for the last 45 man entered the compartment in SS- photos. Experts started to dig across an area years. 'Welcome at the border to Asia' was uniform. He smiled at me. As children we of 20,000 square meters. However, none of "Ow an old man with a Wehrmacht cap on used to play together, but now he said: our efforts, including intense questioning of his head invited us to his market-garden. "today we go to Vienna and kill Jews".' the villagers, yielded any results. - We had begun research for a documentary In 1944/45 when Rechnitz was integrated Like a second death, the silence of the °n its past, the Nazi crimes done there and into a hurriedly built system of fortifica­ people of Rechnitz covers the past and "^he consequences for today. tions to keep out the Russian Army, Hun­ refuses the victims a fundamental human Little in today's appearance of Rechnitz garian Jews were brought there as slave right. Points to the past. No signs, no roots, labour, under horrible conditions. During This is the theme of our documentary ^'lence. A graveyard is the solitary reminder the night of 24 March, ten days before the film. If you can contribute anything, if you that there was a large Jewish community till Red Army conquered the area, local Nazis (or your relatives) had lived in Rechnitz the events of 1938. Beside the fire-station a together with SS killed about 200 sick and until 1938, or did forced labour there, exhausted Hungarian Jews newly arrived please contact us. Any scrap of information from Koszeg. The dead bodies were quickly could be important. (Extrafilm, GroSe buried. Neugasse 44/24, A-1040 Wien, Tel.: (43)- In 1946, the massacre having become (l)-5625603.) COMPANIONS pubhc, Soviet officials arranged a trial. The D Eduard Erne only eye witness, a former SA-man, imprud­ OF LONDON ently announced that he would reveal the truth. A week before the trial opened in 1 A specialist home care service Vienna, he was found dead in a wood near to assist the elderly, people Rechnirz, and his house burnt down. J-1 JACKMAN • with disabilities, help during Because of political influence this crime, and after illness, childcare too, was never cleared up. **- SILVERMAN COMMERC.I.AL rROPERTY CON.SULT.-WT.'; and household needs. In recent years the Vienna Jewish f^or a service tailored to your individual needs Community started searching for the mass by Companions who care - Please call grave to give the martyrs a decent Jewish burial. But difficulties arose; maps were 071-483 0212 forged, interviews with witnesses sabo­ 071-483 0213 taged, threats uttered. Excuses, lies and silence - Rechnitz is a 110 Gloucester Avenue, metaphor for Austria's engagement with Primrose Hill, London NWl 8JA Nazi crimes. Instead of helping to fulfil a 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA (Emp Agy) fundamental obligation the past is Telephone: 071 409 0771 Fax: 071 493 8017 repressed. Open anti-semitism still thrives. AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

Reviews

lims. Socialists to Fascists some men and Had Silver restricted the volume and Pearls of humanity women fought for the Jewish right to life. concentrated more on delving into the Eric Silver. THE BOOK OF THE JUST The author relates how a Muslim, Mus­ character traits of his heroes, he may have Weidenfeld and Nicholson Ltd £16.99 tafa Hardaga, offered refuge to a Jewish been able to offer a deeper insight into the family in Sarajevo and how Mustafa's recurring question thrown up by the sub­ Jewish refugee arrived one day in father-in-law, Ahmed Sadik, was executed ject: What motivated these men and women the mountain resort of Le Cham- in Jasenovac for helping Jews. In June 1985 to risk their lives for people who, in most #\i ibon-sur-Lignon in south-eastern his daughter placed flowers on the floor of cases, they did not previously know? France. He went from door to door seeking Ohel Yiskor at Yad Vashem. I wonder what Some of the rescuers were motivated by shelter from the German invaders and their Serbs, Croats, Muslims and Jews should simple humanity. 'I helped human beings at Vichy French allies, but was afraid to admit make of that? a time when they were not treated like that he was a Jew. For four days the human beings' says Hugo Armann, a Ger­ villagers turned him away. Eventually he Trouser checks man sergeant-major. Others were prompted confessed that he was Jewish. Doors opened Over and above stories of courage the book by a hatred of the Nazis. 'After we had immediately. "If only we'd known", the revels in the glories of human ingenuity. We saved two people, we'd be even with Hitler householders said. "Of course there's room hear how Dr Joseph Jaksy of Bratislava if we were caught, and with every person for you."' whisked a Jew onto the operating table and saved beyond that we were ahead.' This is one of the scores of accounts that opened up his stomach in order to prevent Eric Silver relates in his latest work The the Gestapo from taking him away. How he Alone and rejected Book of the Just. In essence it is a collection performed operations that made it look as Others still were driven by religious teach­ of fairy-tales that came to pass in this though Jewish men had only recently been ing. In a beautiful story we read how the century's darkest hour. Pearls of humanity circumcised so as to prevent detection at the villagers of Andonno in Italy came one by spill over from page to page. It is a notorious 'trouser checks'. one bearing gifts to two families of Jews wonderful book, but then how could it be In what Silver describes 'as the most after hearing a sermon given by the local otherwise! ghoulish of all Holocaust operations' he priest on Christmas eve. 'Just as our Saviour Historians have estimated that anything tells how a British sergeant-major POW, couldn't find any lodging and was born in a between 50,000 to 500,000 people aided Charles Coward, struck a deal with a manger, alone and rejected, so are Jews the victims of the Nazi machine. Silver's German in charge of a gang of workers to today alone and rejected.' account is neither chronological nor the­ deliver three corpses for cigarettes, choco­ Citing cases studied Silver sheds some matic; rather it is a compilation that, taken late, coffee and soap; and how, working in light on the answer. 'A decision to act was as a whole, conveys what life was like under tandem with the resistance, he arranged for the Nazi jackboot. three Auschwitz inmates to escape as they were marched to the gas chambers in A blind eye Birkenau. Coward beckoned the men into a Within a cultural framework that legit­ ditch during the march and then scattered imised wholesale slaughter, it is, sadly, not the three corpses along the roadside for the surprising that millions of Europeans Germans to find so that their records would turned a blind eye to, or even participated tally. As a footnote to this tale Silver relates in, the destruction of European Jewry. that when Coward was invited to Israel to What is surprising, however, is that so many receive his medal his Jewish employers BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE refused him paid leave. chose to see and to act. 51 BELSIZE SQUARE, NW3 Silver demonstrates that righteousness is not the province of a nation, class, religion Tunnelling the depths We offer a traditional style of or ideology. From Japanese to Germans, The work is as much an insight into the religious service with Cantor, countesses to peasants. Catholics to Mus- banality of evil as the profundity of Choir and organ righteousness. The reader is guided through PARTNER heaven and hell simultaneously, reinforcing the notion that good cannot exist without Further details can be obtained from in long established English Solicitors evil and that it is only by tunnelling into the (bl-lingual German) would be happy to our synagogue secretary assist clients with English, German and depths of despair that one can appreciate Austrian problems. Contact how noble humans can be. Telephone 071-794-3949 My main complaint about the book is the Henry Ebner sheer volume of stories that Silver squeezes Minister: Rabbi Rodney J. Mariner at in. Account after account blends the themes Cantor: Rev Lawrence H. Fine Myers Ebner & Deaner of fear, indignity, courage and altruism so 103 Shepherds Bush Road that they merge into a remorseless torrent of Regular services: Friday evenings at 6.30 pm, London W6 7LP Saturday mornings at 10 am shining moral rectitude. By the end of the Telephone 071 602 4631 book the reader is shell shocked, unable to Religion school; Sundays at 10 am to 1 pm ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN distinguish between one account and Space donated by Pafra Limited another. AJR INFORMATION JULy 1992

taken individually and often on the spur of motivic and cyclic structure is the 'Piano Brundibdr, or the texts of the Ullmann and the moment . . . The decision to say "Yes" Sonata No. 6'. Of Ullmann's songs for Haas songs. However, the booklet does was already there in the rescuer's character mezzo soprano and piano, on the 2nd CD include some fine sketches of the four and way of life.' devoted to vocal music, the most outstand­ composers drawn by Petr Kien, who also, Perhaps moral courage is a quality that ing are the autumnal Abendphantasie, a incidentally, wrote the libretto for Ull­ defies sociological definition, but can it be setting of Holderlin, and the 3 songs on mann's opera The Emperor of Atlantis. instilled? Eva Fogelman thinks so: 'If we Yiddish texts. Ullmann, like many non- D Nick Gotch instruct our children to value all life, practising Jews under such dire circum­ empathize with people in distress, and stances, become more aware of his Jewish tolerate differences among people, we could identity and these touching Yiddish songs A Tribute create a society in which Auschwitz would are an expression of this renewed pride. The be unthinkable.' I pray she is right. second song, Margerithelech, is especially Edward Isaacs MEMORIAL TO ILYA Walker & D Peter Grunberger attractive, the running scale passage in the Carson Ltd Sheffield, 1991, £6.95 piano accompaniment recalling Schubert's E flat impromptu. These songs are beauti­ lya Frischmann was born in Kuarti in Creativity amidst fully performed by Emilie Berendsen, with Russian Lithuania in 1902, and qualified David Bloch at the piano. I as a dentist in Konigsberg in 1932. He destruction was distantly related to the author who, as Real discovery guarantor, enabled him to come to England TEREZiN: THE MUSIC 1941^4. Two CD set. The real rediscovery is the short 2 Act just before the outbreak of World War Volume I, Chamber Music. Volume 2 Opera and Two. After a stay at the Kitchener Camp at Songs. children's opera Brundibar by the hugely talented Hans Krasa (born 1899). He stud­ Richborough he joined the British Army in his two CD set is a tribute to the four ied with Zemlinsky, but from the evidence which he served throughout the War. Sub­ most significant composers in Tere- of this opera and the short Tanec (Dance) sequently he had a successful career, Tzin: Pavel Haas, Hans Krasa, Victor for string trio, Krasa's music is much closer specialising in orthodontics. Ullmann and Gideon Klein. to the world of Les Six, characterised by When he and his wife passed away within Gideon Klein (born 1919) was very active their use of popular music, concise ironic a short time of one another (there were no in Terezin, as a composer, pianist and humour, and the clarity of their scoring. children) he bequeathed his estate to three organiser. Both works, on this recording, The opera tells the simple story of a wicked Jewish charities, each of which benefited to show a precocious talent. In the impressive organ-grinder Brundibar who steals the the extent of some £65,000. three movement Sonata for Piano could it earnings of two children trying to save their Ilya Frischmann also left the story of be that arpeggio pattern, heard at the sick mother. Despite its clear anti-Nazi what had happened to him from the time he beginning of the central Adagio movement, intent, the triumph of good over evil, qualified in 1932 until his escape to England is a ghostly reminiscence of the opening bars Brundibdr was chosen several times by the in 1939, and this is the central feature of the of the Berg Violin Concerto, which Klein Nazis as a showpiece for foreign observers. book. may well have heard in Vienna before the It was performed 55 times, and the opera's It records the bestiality of the Nazis. Ilya's War? The String Trio is closer to the folk- catchy melodies were well-known through­ mother was one of those murdered on the inflected world of Janacek and Bartok. The out Terezin. instructions of Gauleiter Koch, a man Ilya two brief outer movements frame the felt determined to see brought to justice, as ^motional kernel of the work — a haunting Bright, pulsing music he eventually was. It also records the help he Variation on a Moravian folk song. Pavel Haas (born 1899) arrived in Terezin a received from two righteous gentiles among Viktor Ullmann (born 1898), best known sick and broken man, and it is due to the his patients. Countess von Lehndorff, who for his opera The Emperor of Atlantis, was persistent encouragement of his energetic hated the regime, went out of her way to already an experienced composer and con­ colleague Gideon Klein that Haas was assist him; sadly she came to a distressing ductor before his incarceration in Terezin. persuaded to participate in the musical life end. The Lithuanian Customs officer He studied with Schoenberg in Vienna. The of Terezin. Haas's Four Songs on Chinese Kubartis also gave invaluable help, and String Quartet No. 3, is a tightly argued Verse (translated into Czech by Bohumil after the war Ilya went to great lengths to Work in four movements that run con­ Mathesius), composed in the spring of 1944 try to trace him, so that he could perhaps tinuously. The opening music, of almost were, like Brundibdr, also a great success, repay him in some way. Straussian opulence, returns many times and repeated many times. The songs dir­ Edward Isaacs' book contains some •during the work to bind the structure ectly reflect his anguished state of mind. The remarkable photographs as well as back­ together. The second movement, an ironic first and third songs are impassioned yearn­ ground material on the densely Jewish- dry' waltz with a brief contrasting middle ings for freedom and hope, and have in populated area where Ilya was born and Section, gives way to the richer fugato common a distinctive four note motive spent part of his life. There may well be a developments of the largo third movement. which recurs insistently as an ostinato in the number of survivors in this country to Similarly the tensions of the stark octaves of third song Far is the Moon of Home. The whom the information will be of interest, as the very short final movement (Allegro bright pulsing music of the second song In a well as to their families. Vivace) are resolved in the return to the Bamboo Grove appears again at the end of Altogether this publication warrants opening in a wonderfully satisfying way. the final A Sleepless Night to complete the wide circulation. work. This work, well performed here by the It is available at £6.95 from the Jewish Martinu Quartet, should be part of every The recording comes with an informative Memorial Council Book Shop, Woburn string quartet's 20th century repertoire, and attractive booklet; the only regret is House, Upper Woburn Place, London •^erhaps less striking, but similar in its tight that we are not given the libretto of WCIHOEZ. D AJR INFORMATION JULy 1992

Plotting to save lives Hostel boys

Tad Szulc, THE SECRET ALLIANCE, Macmillan. 1992, £17.50

rom the troubled years which followed the Second World War, up to the Fpresent, we have learned this and that about the fate of Jewish communities and individual Jews. Perhaps we know the outlines of the efforts to save people from the Holocaust, or of the rescue of the black Jews of Ethiopia and the Jewish dwellers in Arab lands, but we don't know the half of it. Tad Szulc's book provides that half.

Murky events Szulc is one of those renowned New York Times journalists responsible for throwing light on murky events (he exposed the Bay of Pigs attempt to invade Cuba and over­ throw Castro). He has not spared his ability to get to the bottom of matters in this his latest book. The Secret Alliance is less harrowing than The above photograph of residents of an ORT Hostel in Leeds appeared in 'The Yorkshire I'ost' during WWII. accounts solely predicated on suffering and Do any of our readers recognise themselves amongst the footballersf dying. Here we have determination and even optimism in the midst of disaster, plotting for the sake of salvation, personal HILARY'S AGENCY Specialists in Long and Short-Term Live-in CAMPS and communal dedication. And concealed Care INTERNIVIENT-P.O.W.- in it all is a major historical theory, namely RESPITE AND EMERGENCY CARE FORCED LABOUR-KZ that the illegal leaders of the new Exodus CARE FOR THE ELDERLY HOUSEKEEPERS I wish to buy cards, envelopes and folded post- who defied both the Nazis and the British RECUPERATION CARE nnarked letters from all camps of both world wars. MATERNITY NURSES Please send, registered mail, stating price, to; Empire to save the remnants, and the NANNIES AND MOTHER'S HELPS American Jewish organisations and indi­ EMERGENCY MOTHERS 14 Rosslyn HIM, London NWS viduals who provided the money, were the Caring and Experienced Staff Available PETER C. RICKENBACK true founding fathers of the State of Israel. We will be happy to discuss your requirements PLEASE PHONE Hard-won victories 081-559-1110 We all know the name of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service; but many readers will East-Germany be surprised to learn of its origin as an agency of rescue - not of military espionage Annely Juda Fine Art in which it was to become so outstandingly 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) and Berlin Tel; 071-629 7578, Fax; 071-491 2139 successful. After the State was declared, CONTEMPORARY PAINTING We give immediate attention. rescue of the remnants was still one of the AND SCULPTURE We process and buy properties/claims. most important tasks of the men and women now bearing proud political and/or military titles, the fruits of hard-won We pay cash. victories. COUNSELLOR Marion Shaw Dip. Psy. Cert. Coun. We have proven track records and furnish Many surprises documentation. Offers gentle, caring, empathetic This is not a whodunnit; neverthless, there counselling. Home visits available. Phone: 0923-820306 Write to: are many surprises. I shall confine myself to Nagel & Partner revealing that among the Gentiles who Kurfurstendamm 182 • 1000 Berlin 15 helped to save many lives were the subse­ Phone: 030-882 56 31 quent Pope John XXIII and Prince Saddru- CAR HIRE Fax:030-881 39 16 din Aga Khan - the former obliging the Comfortable, air conditioned car with King of Bulgaria to save 'his' Jews during helpful driver. the war, the latter bargaining with Saddam Airports, stations, coast, etc. Fully Hussein at the height of an anti-Jewish insured. persecution in Iraq. Tony Burstein 081-204 0567. Car 0831 461066. D John Rossall AJR INFORMATION JL/Ly 1992

which she thanked them for having taught her the art of acting and wished them well. Stefan Bukowitz (SB) T^^te^)^^^ <^. URMSTON CEMETERY A BALLOT-PROOF FUTURE? on the evacuation of the Sinai. The invasion Sir - I am British born but my husband, a of Lebanon was a catastrophe from which Sir - When you list a number of present and German refugee from Berlin, took me to Israel still suffers. We should recognize past MPs who harbour 'anti-Jewish or visit Weissensee cemetery in 1977, as it was Begin's achievements without forgetting his (antisemitically tinged) anti-Israeli senti­ there in 1931 that his mother was buried. I disasters. ments' you do not make clear which you was immensely impressed with the state of Roy Gardens Peter Prager consider to be anti-Jewish, and which anti- the place, particularly as the cemetery in Israeli, conveying the impression that you Ilford, Essex Urmston where my parents are buried is a don't think the distinction really matters. shambles, and I have not been able to get The tendency of some Jews, especially in Sir - According to Lord Jakobovits the late anything done about cleaning it up. (This is representative positions, to be careless Menachem Begin was 'the greatest of Israeli the Jewish cemetery, of course.) about this distinction may create the very Prime Ministers - and certainly the most Carrington Road Mrs Leah Martins antisemitism of which they complain. Do Jewish'. Urmston, Manchester you have any evidence that any of these MPs Was Begin more 'intensely Jewish' than have expressed anti-Jewish sentiments, or either David Ben-Gurion or Golda Meir? BOUQUET FROM A SOLO indeed, that their anti-Israeli sentiments are How does one measure 'Intensity of AUDIENCE 'antisemitically tinged'? Many Jews, inside Jewishness'? Sir - I visited the Paul Balint AJR Day and outside Israel, are very critical of Canfield Gardens Kurt M. Oppen Centre on the first weekday of the extended aspects of Israeli government policy; and to London NW6 describe MPs who express criticisms of, or hours to listen to Dr Hans Freund singing. Alas, I arrived too late and the performance even hostility towards, Israel as '(dis)grac- OUTSTANDING CLAIMS ing' benches in the House of Commons is an had ended. Dr Freund was unhappy that I unworthy gibe. Sir - My mother and her sister are still had made the long journey from SWl to seeking the restitution of their family's NW.3 in vain so he and his accompanist Kensington Park Road Ralph Blumenau property in Leipzig. It has become clear played especially for me. A charming young London Wl I since German unification that the city Japanese lady with a radiant smile per­ 'I furthermore think that Carthage should authorities are determined to drag their feet formed Rondo Capricioso by Saint-Saens be destroyed' was how Cato invariably and exploit every legal loophole they can to beautifully, by heart. concluded his speeches in the Roman duck their obligations. A letter from the I enjoyed this very much and just wanted Senate. The MPs I listed are latter-day city's finance director last February made it Catos in relation to Israel. To meet their to inform you about it. clear that Leipzig intends to put its econ­ London SWl Miss I. Deutch criticism in full the Jewish State would have omic recovery before justice to its former to dissolve itself. To work towards that end citizens; he wrote that property claims - in both senses of the word - smacks of accompanied by a viable investment plan antisemitism. Ed. would be given priority. GERMAN BOOKS It has recently been reported that the MENACHEM BEGIN BOUGHT Queen's state visit to Germany next Sir - There are some omissions from Mr October is almost certain to include a trip to Metropolis Antiquarian Books Specialist Dealers in Toch's obituary. The main resistance to the Leipzig. We think that before she goes, the German Books British Occupation, and to Arab aggression, Queen should be made aware of how that Was carried out by the Haganah. In compar­ city is behaving towards some of her Always Buying Books, Autographs, Ephemera ison the Irgun was a minuscule organisa­ subjects. tion. The Irgun terrorised Arab civilians, If any other British subjects with similar Eric Brueck thus contributing to their mass exodus, and 115 Cholmley Gardens claims against Leipzig wish to join us in Fortune Green Road they have never denied this. The Haganah writing to the Palace and the media, please London NWS condemned the killing of innocent Arab contact my mother, Mrs L. Engelhard, at Tel 071-435 2753 civilians, and when Count Bernadotte was 119 South Meadows, Park Lane, Wembley, tiiurdered Ben Gurion declared the Irgun an Middlesex HA9 7SF. •'legal organisation. Begin's greatness, to Stephen Engelhard Which Lord Jacobovits refers, lay in the D S W BYE peace treaty with Egypt. It is also to his DIE WESSELY credit that he carried Israeli public opinion GENERAL BUILDING, Sir - Apropos of Mrs Wartenberg's REFURBISHMENT remarks: I never claim that my reports AND DECORATING GOLDMAN about various personalities are complete. Thus, Paula Wessely's film activities during All aspects of building & decorating Curtains made to measure. Nazi days (which she regretted, but seem­ carried out to the highest standards. Select material in your own home. References supplied. Rail, blinds supplied and fitted. ingly carried out under duress) were not Telephone: 081-205 9232 mentioned; nor were her letters to Ernst Telephone: 081-366 1028 L Lothar and Max Reinhardt in the U.S. in i- AJR INFORMATION JULy 1992

PAUL BALINT AJR ] DAY CENTRE 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL Tel . 071 328 0208 The fun of the fair-weather

Open 9.30 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday to Thursday. 2 p.m -7 p.m. Sundays.

Morning Activities - Bridge, kalookie. scrabble, chess, etc., keep fit, discussion group, choir (Mottdays), art class (Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Afternoon entertainment - JULY Wednedsay 1 Solo Piano Recital - Debbie O'Brien Thursday 2 'ZAPATEADO' - Guitar & Mandolin - Music from Around the World "^ - Alison Stephens & Mardn Byatt Sunday 5 Gerald Benson Entertains Day Centre Open Day. Photo: Newman. at the Piano Monday 6 Music for a Summer combination of bright sunshine, a the whole affair a more continental atmos­ Afternoon - Heather very high turnout and a ^.general phere as visitors sat outdoors to eat and Brown (Flute) &: Rachel Asense of optimism about the future drink whilst watching the hustle and bustle Dale (Harp) 1 made this year's Open Day at the of the day going on around them. Such was Tuesday 7 Schubert Lieder & Music Paul Balint AJR Day Centre one of the most the pleasure to be had at this event that by Strauss & Lehar - successful ever. many people stayed until after 7 p.m. Helene Wold The fine weather enabled the volunteers Much of the sense of optimism was accompanied by Jeremy Cooke running stalls to set up shop alfresco, giving engendered by this enthusiastic use of the garden facilities. The newly extended hours Wednesday 8 'CAMERATA TRIO' - M Maureen Lawton and ™ at the Day Centre will allow people to enjoy Stephen Paisley ^Wimday23 Jack Davidoff & Jules the summer weather in a relaxed atmos­ 1 accompanied by Stephen Rubin Entertain on phere until well into the long evenings. Violin &C Piano 1 Salter Although the annual Open Day is, essen­ Sunday 26 Edna Connolly Entertains 1Thursday 9 Piano Duo - Judy - with Accordian tially, a social event, on this occasion it also Magnus &c Gillian Sonin accompaniment provided a taste of things to come. The Sunday 12 Duo Cello &C Piano Monday 27 (a) Outing to Althorpe flavour was delicious. |--, ^u Recital - Elizabeth House Rehfeid &c Armand (b) Musical Gems from D'Anjour the Past - Bernard Justin Joseph Entertains Monday 13 Wilcox & Valerie AJR TAKEAWAY MEALS at the Piano Monese accompanied by SERVICE Tuesday 14 From Schubert to Show Leslie Barnes Tunes - Clare Graydon- Tuesday 28 Take a Quick-Step Back Members can now take advantage of James accompanied by in Time with Geoffrey the catering facilities offered at the Paul Strum & Johnny Walton Balint AJR Day Centre, in the comfort of K Danny Kingshill mWednesday 15 Hans Freund: A Step Into Wednesday 29 Kol-Rinah - Solos 8c their own homes. The Past Duets by Hanny Lichtenstern & Sue & WThursdayL 16 Eddy Simmons Sings & •Meals consist of three courses: Peter Heimann Entertains with Piano soup, main dish (a choice of fish or accompanied by Geoffrey 1f Accompaniment meat), and dessert. The cost is only Whitworth £1.50 per meal. Sunday 19 An hour with Debbie Thursday 30 The Dulcet Tones ^^^ O'Brien (Piano) Clients who do not attend the Day Monday 20 Operatic Excerpts - Alisa AUGUST Spivack &C Joe Gordon ^^M Centre can collect meals at 15 Cleve Sunday 2 How to be an Author - Road between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on accompanied by Rosa Talk by Irene White Burwick Monday to Thursday. All dishes are i Monday 3 Take a Quick-Step Back deep-frozen, ready to be re-heated in a Tuesday 21 June Moore &c Gerhart in Time with Geoffrey conventional or microwave oven. * Hamburger at the Piano Strum & Johnny Walton Wednesday 22 Brickbats &c Bouquets - Tuesday 4 The Stanley 8c Bertha Fiona Wise accompanied Lishak Duo (Violin &C For further details please contact ^^^^1 ^ by Phil Cunningham Piano) SYLVIA MATUS 071-328 0208 •H^K m ^^H. AJR INFORMATION JL/Ly 1992

support them, and to bring friends and Our Annual General Meeting relatives as well. In his succinct speech Mr Marx also praised the efforts of the AJR social services, whose workload has increased considerably in the past year. The take-away meals service, only recently initiated, has also proved very popular. Plans are afoot to expand this to include a meals-on-wheels delivery for less mobile members. The afternoon sessions at the day centre have shown great promise. 'All in all', he said, 'the AJR is in good shape'. Concerning the more distant future, he asked members to encourage their children to play a part in the Association. The increasing number of younger faces in this year's AGM audience gave grounds for hope that aspirations for the future would not be in vain. Just a few of those in attendance at our AGM. Photo: Newman. In conclusion, the Chairman thanked the AJR staff, ably led by Lydia Lassman, for egular attenders at AJR General Year in 1991: the anniversary dinner and their hard work on members behalf over the Meetings have been encouraged by the special edition oi AJR Information. The past year. the steadily increasing turnout over annual charity concert, too, had attained its R The Hon. Treasurer, Mr Max Koch­ the years. 1992 was no exception, with the usual success. However, various factors - mann, opened his address with an amusing glass-walled hall of the Paul Balint AJR Day inflation, the rising cost of hiring the hall apology: 'I'm sorry that figures are so dull'. Centre filled to capacity. What made the and of booking top-quality artists — mean To make up for this he delivered his speech high attendance even more notable was the that the charity concert threatens to become with despatch, emphasising that the coincidence of the meeting with a shutdown a liability rather than a fund-raising demands for aid upon AJR funds are of the London Underground due to bomb asset. The format of future concerts is steadily increasing. The main area of expen­ scares, and the consequent traffic chaos. presently under discussion; meanwhile, diture is support for the Otto Schiff Hous­ they will continue to be staged in the usual In his Chairman's address Mr Theo Marx ing Association (OSHA), whose annual manner and all members are urged to recalled the highlights of the AJR's Jubilee shortfall accounted for 49 per cent of the AJR Charitable Trust's outgoings in 1991. Help is also given to the aged who have to In my own write Information looked on the German-Jewish live on state pensions. Although legacies heritage as a source of pride and inspiration. have provided substantial additions to the As to acculturation, he considered some Trust, more has to be spent each year. The former refugees as still insufficiently angli­ contributions made by Self Aid and the cised; the 'difficult' vocabulary some annual concerts are, under present circum­ readers complained of might induce them to stances, barely noticeable. Inroads are being reach for their dictionaries and enlarge their made on the Trust's reserves, and expendi­ grasp of English. On the intrusion of politics ture will rise again in the coming year. into the journal - another occasional source There followed the election of the Execu­ of complaints — he believed, with Aristotle, tive Committee, which proposed - as well that man was a political animal; he had as Mr M. Durst, who was co-opted during never made party-political statements but the year - two new members: Mrs H. confined himself to attacking anti-American Goldsmith and Mr C. Dunston. All were or anti-European bigotry. elected by acclaimation. The following Lastly solidarity. Given the scattered, and members were re-elected: Mr C. T. Marx, sometimes isolated, nature of the reader­ Chairman, Mr M. M. Kochmann, Vice- Chairman and Hon. Treasurer, Mrs K. Mr Richard Grunberger. Photo: Newman. ship, the publication of the journal each month over the last half century was itself Gould, Honorary Secretary, Mrs E. S. Angel, Mrs M. Brook, Mr J. H. Dunston, fter an introduction in which he paid an expression of solidarity. But our solidar­ Mr A. C. Kaufman, Mr H. E. Levy and Mr homage to illustrious 'predecessors' ity extended beyond the refugee community W. D. Rothenberg. - Maximilian Harden, Hugo Bet- to Jewry worldwide; AJR Information was A The speeches over, questions were invited tauer, Karl Kraus - Mr Grunberger turned focusing on such contemporary flashpoints from the floor. One of the liveliest question- of conflict as Croatia and Slovakia, and to the joys and trials of editing AJR and-answer sessions seen at an AGM in would always show concern for the true Information. He summed up his editorial years will provide food for thought for all philosophy in the acronym HAPS - the interests of Israel. present for some time to come. initials of heritage, acculturation, politics Mr Grunberger ended by thanking his The final item on the agenda was a talk by and solidarity. readers who, to judge by their response to the editor of AJR Information, Mr Richard Though written in English, unlike the the April questionnaire, approved of his Grunberger, entitled In my own write, a New York-based weekly Aufbau, AJR editorship. D review of which appears on this page. D AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

FAMILY EVENTS Simmons Edwin (Erwin) Simmons tions at Eleanor Rathbone House. If Deaths passed away peacefully on 16 May, you are willing to donate an SEEKING FRIENDSHIP in his 91st year. Deeply mourned by unwanted upright in good working Abraham Traute Abraham passed Are you looking for congenial his wife, family and friends. order please contact Ruth Meyer on away on 28 May after a long illness. company in your area, or a Missed by Marion Casson and Zacks Lotte Zacks passed away 081-340 9097 (after 9 p.m.). new penfriend with shared family and her many friends. She on 18 May. Sadly missed and Ladies alteration work collected interests? Why not advertise was loved by all who knew her. always remembered by her friends, and delivered if required. For quick in AJR Information? Bryant Paul Bryant died on 21 Lyddia Bieber, Charlotte Fraenklin service phone: 081-455 0168. Plione: 071-483 2536 and May 1992. Sadly missed by his wife, and Alice Jacobi. Lady - early 70's requires com­ panion for walking and conver­ ask for the advertising family and many friends. department. Heller Peter (Fritz) Heller died on in Memoriam sation. 2-3 hours per week. Remu­ Clay Walter Clay died 12 July 24 March 1992, aged 81. Missed neration by agreement. Apply Box 1991. Missed so much by those you forever by his adoring wife Ruth No. 1216. loved - loved so much by those who SHELTERED FLAT and their son, Jonathan. Manicure and pedicure in the com­ miss you. Stella, Pnina and Moshe. to let at Eleanor Rathbone Hulton Henry Alfred Hulton died fort of your own home. Telephone: House, Highgate, comprising 2 June 1992, aged 81. Adored 081-455 7582. Compan ion/Carers bed-sitting room, kitchenette, husband and father, much loved by Companion/secretary. Speaks and bathroom and entrance hall. ADVERTISEIWIENT extended family. Greatly missed. writes fluent English and German, Resident warden. RATES Enquihes to:- ii """"" "" " former refugee. Manuscripts, corre­ spondence, memoirs. Own electric FAMILY EVENTS The AJR does not accept First 15 words free of charge, AJR, HANNAH KARIUIINSKI HOUSE, responsibility for the typewriter but will come and work £2.00 per 5 words thereafter. in your home. £8 per hour. Please 9 ADAMSON ROAD, standard of service CLASSIFIED telephone Mrs S. Medas: 081-969 £2.00 per five words. LONDON NW3 3HX rendered by advertisers. 3505. BOX NUMBERS 071-483 2536/7/8/9 £3.00 extra. Miscellaneous DISPLAY, INCLUDING SEARCH DAWSON HOUSE HOTEL Electrician City and Guilds quali­ NOTICES Medical body massage per single column inch fied. All domestic work undertaken Medical body massage, • Free Street Parking in front of the Hotel 16 ems (3 columns per page) £8.00 Y. Steinreich. Tel: 081-455 5262. reflexology, aromatherapy, • Full Central Heating • Free Laundry 12 ems (4 columns per page) £7.00 Piano needed for communal func­ manicure and pedicure. • Free Dutcfi-Style Continental Breakfast Home visits by qualified practitioner. 72 CANFIELD GARDENS ANTHONY J. NEWTON Phone:071-328 1176 Near Underground Sta. Fincliley Rd, &C0 LONDON, N.W.6 Tel: 071-624 0079 SOLICITORS SWITCH ON ELECTRICS 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, NW3 5NB Rewires and all household With offices in: Europe/Jersey/USA ALTERATIONS electrical work. OF ANY KIND TO ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN PHONE PAUL: 081-200 3518 LADIES' FASHIONS Telephone: 071 435 5351/071 794 9696 I also design and make SATELLITE INSTALLATION children's clothes SALES & REPAIRS West Hampstead area Television - Videos - Aerials - Radios - 071-328 6571 BELSIZE SQUARE CZECHOSLOVAKIA, Stereos - Electrical Appliances NEW & SECONDHAND TV's/VIDEOS APARTMENTS PRAGUE FOR SALE Tel: 081-909 3169 Answerphone FOR FAST EFFICIENT FRIDGE 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, N.W.3 Holidays, W/end breaks. Tel: 071-794 4307 or 071-435 2557 Central accommodation. AVI'S TV SERVICE & FREEZER REPAIRS E30 double, E20 single. A. EISENBERG 7-day service Telephone George All parts guaranteed MODERN SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY ROOMS. RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER Czaban: J. B. Services lulODERATE TERMS. NEAR SWiSS COTTAGE STATION (0626)770211 RELIABLE & CAPABLE Tel. 081-202 4248 until 9 pm PLUMBER offers a complete 24-hour plumbing service. Small MAPESBURY LODGE TORRINGTON HOMES (Licensed by the Borough of Brent) AUDLEY jobs welcome. Please ring MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N., for the elderly, convalescent and partly REST HOIME incapacitated. MATRON JOHN ROSENFELD Lift to all floors. For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (Hendon) Luxurious double and single (Licensed by Borough ol Barnel) for Elderly Retired Gentlefolk on 071-837 4569 rooms. Colour TV, h/c, central heating, ' Single and Double Rooms. private telephones, etc.. in all rooms. Single and Double Rooms with wash • H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. Excellent kosher cuisine. Colour TV basins and central heating. TV lounge lounge. Open visiting. Cultivated • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. C. H. WILSON Gardens. ' Nurse on duty 24 hours. and dining-room overlooking lovely Full 24.hour nursing cere • Long and short term, including trial garden. Carpenter period if required. 24-hour care—long and short term. Painter and Decorator Please telephone From £250 per week French Polisher sister-in-charge, 081-450 4972 081-445 1244 Office hours Licensed by the Borough of Barnet Antique Furniture Repaired Enquiries 081-202 2773/8967 17 Mapesbury Road, N.W.2 081-455 1335 Other times Tel: 081-452 8324 39 Torrington Park, N.12 Car: 0831 103707

I Q llii AJR INFORMATION jL/Ly 1992

Alice Schwab

JK rt and War at the Imperial War M^ Museum (until 11 October) is an ^^^k important exhibition of the work of Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957). Together with the Wyndham Lewis Memorial Trust over 60 paintings and drawings have been brought together, as well as books and magazines. Wyndham Lewis's Vorticist paintings are now recognised as the intro­ duction of Modernism in British art. A lavish catalogue with over 60 colour repro­ ductions, sponsored by the Henry Moore Foundation, has been produced by Lund Humphries (price £18.50). Rachelle Bomberg, niece of the artist David Bomberg, is London born but lives in Magritte, La clairvoyance (Clairvoyance), 1936, oil on canvas. Hayward Gallery. South Africa. Her first major exhibition in England is being held at the Ben Uri Art artist (until 5 July) and also new work by bitors more than half came originally from Gallery (until 26 July). Terry Setch, an artist living and working in Germany or Austria and include such well- Caroline Wiseman, barrister turned art South Wales. The Rona Gallery has recently known names as Zika Asher, Hans Coper, dealer, of Wisemans Originals, has recently shown Dora Holzhandler's 'Spring in Paris'. F. H. K. Henrion RDI CBE, Margaret established the Modern Art Collectors' Some of her delightful oils, gouaches and Leischner, Margret Marks, Lucie Rie, Hans Club. She is selling a wide selection of watercolours can still be seen at the gallery. Schleger and Berthold Wolpe. The exhi­ original prints by well-known artists at Once again Lumley Cazalet is showing bition finished on 14 June, but an illustra­ prices from £lOO-£850. Members of the charming little oils by Robert Bates who tive catalogue including biographies of all club receive catalogues free and a 5% now lives in Ireland. Examples of his work the participants is available at the Crafts discount on all purchases. Urban Art is a are always available at the gallery. Council Gallery Shop, 44a Pentonville group of three German artists who in 1991 The summer exhibition at Jonathan Road, London Nl 9BY. received a grant from the Berlin Senate to Clark, 18 Park Walk, SWIO is a grand Finally, a reminder of the Magritte exhi­ work in London for a year with the display of important works by many artists, bition at the Hayward (until 2 August) Whitechapel Art Gallery. Bulk-Heads - including Brockhurst, Piper, Paul Nash, which must be seen. And also, why not an Abschotten is the title of an exhibition of Hepworth, Sutherland, Hitchens, Ceri expedition to the Tate to see paintings by window-installations by the Group at the Richards, etc. David Hockney (until 26 July), William Goethe Institut (until 17 July). It is well worth visiting the Crafts Blake (until 16 August), Turner S>c Byron Camden Arts Centre is showing new Council's exhibition Influential Europeans (until 30 September) and works by Richard work by Markus Hansen, a young German in British Craft and Design. Of the exhi­ Hamilton (until 6 September) ?

Hungarian Jews were rescued by the conductor of the Metropolitan Philhar­ SB's Column undaunted, indeed heroic, efforts of Wal­ monic society of Buenos Aires, became lenberg who issued 'protective passes' in known internationally as author of the lassic Literature. Within the space Swedish blue and yellow colours. Specula­ book Music of the ivorld, a comprehensive of one month the Berlin Schiller­ tion about Wallenberg's ultimate fate has history of music. Now living in Switzerland, C theater performed works by Goethe, gone on for decades. he occasionally visits Austria to lecture Schiller, Lessing, Moliere and Gerhart New York. One spring evening, after there. Hauptmann. Whilst the importance of Leonie Rysanek had sung Clytemnestra in Obituary. The phrase 'end of an era' can teaching classical drama is stressed in edu­ Strauss's Elektra, nine hundred 'Met' sub­ hardly be more apposite than at the grave­ cating German adolescents, the latest sylla­ scribers gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in side of Marlene Dietrich. Dietrich who died bus for British secondary schools by con­ celebration. Discovering that the nonagen­ in Paris, aged 90, and was buried in Berlin is trast, puts more value on reading 19th arian Sir Rudolf Bing was present they all remembered as an outstanding actress and century novels, viz. Jane Austen, Dickens rose from their seats in tribute. Bing, cabaret artiste. A special article will appear and the Brontes. director of the Met for 23 years is, sadly, in the August issue. - Vienna's theatre- The Jewish museum in Munich mounted afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Leonie going public mourns the death of Vilma an exhibition in memory of Raoul Wallen­ Rysanek who was a great favourite under Degischer, longest-serving member of the berg in which heart-breaking amateur Bing's directorship, believes he fully under­ Josefstadter Theater. Widow of Hermann photographs testify to the enormous task stood and appreciated the gesture. Thimig, she had her 80th birthday last which the Swedish diplomat undertook in Birthday. Austrian-born musicologist Dr autumn (as reported in this column, order to save Jewish lives. Thousands of Kurt Pahlen is 85. Dr Pahlen, one-time November 1991). D

II AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

In response to readers' requests we are serialising A History of the Jews in the some of the Jewish followers of Jesus had, Gernnan Speaking Lands by Ralph Blumenau MA, 6 Litt (Oxon), lecturer in Jewish under the influence of St Paul, transformed History at USA the teachings of Jesus in ways that were unacceptable to followers of Jesus who adhered to traditional Judaism; and in the Part I: From Roman Times to the Eve of the year 60 a breach between the two groups Crusades took place. Soon after that the Gospel of Mark was written, and the hostility towards introduction: The Jewish Diaspora before the Romans the Jews became increasingly explicit in the Gospels that followed. This in turn became the basis for the hatred of the Jews brief sketch of the dispersal of the made an alliance with the growing power of expressed by St Jerome and other Church Jews before the time of the Romans Rome. A few years later Rome conquered Fathers. So Theodosius, when making Awill be useful to see what brought both Seleucid Syria and Ptolemaic Egypt, Christianity the official religion of the the first Jews to German-speaking lands. and became the arbiter of the dynastic Empire, also barred Jews from all govern­ The dispersal began with the destruction disputes which sprang up in the Hasmonean ment or municipal offices (394). of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in dynasty. They effectively put an end to it in 720 BCE, who deported what were to 48 BCE, first installing the Herodians as become known as the 'ten lost tribes of client rulers and then, in 6 BCE, ruling The 'Darl< Ages' Israel'. The dispersal was continued in Judea directly as part of the Roman Empire. However, by that time the Roman Empire 586 BCE, when the Babylonians deported By that time the Romans had already in the West was in terminal decline. Rome the population of the Kingdom of Judah. conquered the North African coast, Spain, itself fell to the barbarians in 410. The When Babylon was defeated by the Persians Gaul, and the Germanic tribes west of the barbarian invaders indeed accepted Chris­ in 538 BCE, the King of Persia allowed the Rhine and south of the Danube; and again tianity, but most of them were Unitarians, Jews to return to their homeland, now many Jews moved within the boundaries of adherents of the Arian heresy which under Persian rule and known as the the Empire to which they now belonged. accepted Christ as a prophet, but not as part province of Judea, and many (though not Some enlisted in the Roman armies, some of a Divine Trinity. Consequently they were all) Jews under his rule availed themselves were traders and artisans, and some will much less hostile to the Jews; and in much of this permission, so that Judea again have moved involuntarily: in 66 CE the of western Europe the Jews were left in became a centre of Jewish life. Jews of Judea rose against Roman rule; the reasonable peace for about 200 years. That In 332 BCE, Alexander the Great rebellion ended with defeat and with the period ended in the early 7th century for the defeated the Persians, and Judea became destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. A Jews of Spain under the Visigoths and for part of his empire, stretching from Egypt to further revolt, under Bar Kochba, took those of France under the Merovingians. the frontiers of India. On his death in place from 132 to 135; this time the Roman The Merovingian dynasty lasted until 751' 323 BCE his empire fell into three parts; reprisals were even fiercer. Large numbers Then come the Carolingians, whose greatest Judea was first ruled by the Ptolemies from of Jews were sold as slaves outside of Judea; ruler was Charlemagne. He ruled over both Egypt (323 to 198 BCE) and then by the some being brought by their owners to the France and Germany; the German Jews, Seleucids from Syria (198 to 166 BCE). furthest reaches of the Empire on the Rhine who had not suffered like their French co­ Jews moved freely in the territories of their and the Danube. religionists, now fell, together with them, Hellenistic rulers; before long there were under the rule of a benevolent monarch. more Jews living outside than inside Judea: The Jews in Germany under the it is estimated that in the Ptolemaic period Romans The Jews under the Carolingians and perhaps a million Jews lived in Egypt The earliest reference we have to a Jewish Ottonians compared with half a million in Judea. In community in Germany dates back to the Charlemagne (764 to 814) encouraged the Judea the Jews remained basically an agri­ year 321 CE, in a document sent by the settlement of more Jews in his Franco- cultural people; but many who migrated Emperor Constantine to one of his officials German Empire, valuing them as traders, became merchants and traders, laying the in Cologne: the community was to provide doctors and scholars. He allowed the Jewish foundation of an activity which will play contributions for the construction of the communities jurisdiction over disputes such an important role in later Jewish capital being built at Constantinople. A among their own members, and this was the history. document ten years later specifically beginning of Jewish communal authorities excluded rabbis and synagogue officials which would last into the 19th century- Judea becomes part of the Roman from having to make these contributions. Later Emperors continued this policy to­ Empire By this time Constantine had been con­ wards the Jews: the Ottonian Emperor At first the Hellenistic dynasties respected verted to Christianity (312) and had issued Henry IV confirmed and extended their the religious traditions of the peoples they the Edict of Milan which established tol­ privileges in 1095. A Bishop of Speyer m ruled; but the later Seleucids abandoned eration for Christians throughout the 1084 invited Jews to settle in his diocese this tolerant attitude and tried to force Empire; during the reign of the Theodosius declaring them to be the ornaments of any Hellenistic culture on the whole of their (379 to 395) Christianity became the city. There were now especially dense settle­ empire. In Judea this led to the revolt of the official religion of the Roman Empire. ments in the Rhineland, and communities Maccabees (166 to 164 BCE), who This was a very serious matter, because along the Elbe and the Danube. Jews began managed to re-establish a Jewish kingdom by that time a virulent hatred of the Jews to handle trade between Christians and under the Hasmonean dynasty; but in the had become part of the message of the Moslems, were participating in the course of throwing off Seleucid rule, they Christian Church. This had begun when commerce that was being generated

12 AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

by an increasingly urban society. Their Worms was Rabbi Shelomo ben Isaac, religion enjoined hospitality on fellow-Jews better known as Rashi (1040 to 1105). He, Qom, Kabul, Sarajevo who came from other lands. Whilst the too, produced commentaries on the Tal­ Christian world had a lingua franca in mud, and these became the basic texts he recent aggressive resurgence of Latin, and the Muslim world had one in throughout Central Europe, and would Islam has been the second stage of the Arabic, the Jewish traders, travelling themselves give rise to further commen­ Treaction of Third World societies to between these two areas, had the advantage taries for many generations. Initially the domination by the West. In the 1950s and of sharing a common language, and in production of these further commentaries '60s the Arab masses looked to left-leaning addition made a point of becoming multi­ was almost a family monopoly: two of secularists like Colonel Nasser and the lingual, of becoming scholars in other Rashi's sons-in-law and three of his grand­ Algerian Liberation Front to shake off the languages. sons were particularly notable as 'tosa- heritage of colonialism. The achievements phists'. ('Tosaphot' means 'supplements'.) of Nasser and Boumedienne ultimately fell Gershom's commentaries Rashi had lived his later years in Troyes, in far short of expectations, leaving a vacuum France; and his descendants likewise lived which Islamic fundamentalism has filled. Under Charlemagne three centres of Jewish in that area: but German as well as French Islamic militancy received a powerful scholarship grew up: one in France at Jews regarded the family as their leader. The impetus from Khomeini's Iranian revolu­ Narbonne, one in Mainz, and one in most famous of the grandsons was Jacob tion in the late '70s; even if Teheran's zest Worms. At the end of the 10th century an Tarn ('Tarn' means 'perfect'), who con­ for jihad has somewhat abated in the important Jewish scholar taught first at voked the first Jewish synods since Tal­ meantime, a fundamentalist revival of sorts Narbonne and then came to Mainz. He was mudic times, usually in towns and at times has taken place in countries as far apart as Rabbi Gershom, also known as Rabbenu when important trade fairs were being held. Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan and - latterly — ('Our Teacher'). He wrote a very clear and Among the decisions made at such synods Algeria. Now two more states can be added influential commentary on the Talmud at a were: that Jews should not seek redress to the list of fundamentalist strongholds: crucial moment in history. Before his time, against other Jews in Christian courts; and Afghanistan and Bosnia. the authoritative centre of Jewish scholar­ that they should not accept leadership posts Afghanistan is a country cursed by a ship was in Mesopotamia; Jews from all in the Jewish community from Christian historic inheritance of unappeasable inter­ over the world submitted problems of sources, but should obey only those leaders tribal hatred — even though the same Talmudic interpretation to the two great elected by the community itself. academies of Surah and Pumbeditha. But medieval Muslim ethos imbues the racially Mesopotamia was declining at this period, This anxiety to protect themselves against disparate Kalashnikov-toting tribesmen. and the two academies would indeed close the Christians had become the more press­ This augurs ill for future national stability, down in 1034 and 1040 respectively, just a ing since by Tam's life-time Europe was in and Afghan instability could further unset- few years after Gershom's death in 1028. the grip of the Crusades. Tam himself was de the Muslim Republics of the defunct For the Jews of Germany and France all but killed in a riot during the Second Soviet Union. therefore Gershom's commentaries became Crusade; and the Jews of Europe were now And now Bosnia, recently granted recog­ the authority through which the ancient caught up in one of the most horrific nition as an independent state! Its Muslim traditions of Talmudic scholarship were episodes of their history. D president Alija Izetbegovic in 1970 pub­ handed down and kept alive. Similar devel­ lished an Islamic Declaration, for which opments were taking place at the same time Tito clapped him in prison. The Declaration in Spain; but Gershom seems to have been envisaged 'the creation of a united Islamic unaware of the commentaries produced in OPEN DAYS community from Morocco to Indonesia' Spain; and it is at about this time that the IN THE HOMES and produced two interesting re-writes of Central European or Ashkenazi communi­ history. 'Just a few thousand genuinely ties looked to one centre of authority and Osmond House Islamic fighters forced England in the 1950s the Spanish or Sephardi communities Sunday 12 July to withdraw from Suez' reads one. The looked to another. This was perhaps only to 2.30 p.m. other denigrates Turkey, which 'as an be expected, since the cultural and political Entrance £2 Islamic state ruled the world, but as an history of the Jews in Spain and Portugal imitation of Europe represents a third-rate was at that time quite different from that of Clara Nehab House country'. More ominously, Izetbegovic the Central Europeans; but there is not the Sunday 19 July stated that there could be no peace or space to discuss this further here. 2.30 p.m. coexistence between Islamic faith and non- Entrance £2 Islamic political and social institutions. Gershom issued rules for his own Bosnia poses both a lesser and greater community which became accepted as a Balint House danger to European stability than Afghani­ model for Jews all over Germany and Sunday 2 August stan. Lesser because of its miniscule size as a France. The most important of these was 3.00 p.m. Entrance £2 (Children £1) Muslim heartland - greater because it is on the official establishment of monogamy our continent, and close to several million among Jews, though this had of course Heinrich Stahl House Muslims in Albania and European Turkey. become established unofficially anyway in Sunday 30 August lands under Christian government. It would be nothing short of a historic 3.00 p.m. paradox if the demise of Communist Entrance £2 (Children £1) Yugoslavia resulted in the creation both of Rabbi Shelomo ben Isaac an ultra-Catholic Croatia and a Muslim All entrance prices include An even more distinguished luminary of the refreshments fundamentalist Bosnia. scholarly communities of Mainz and of D RG.

13 AJR INFORMATION JL/Ly 1992

VERSE AND WORSE Cookery Corner 40 Years Ago DR CASEY No. 4 BAKED VEAL ESCALOPE this Month Why do all concerned Ingredients: Get into a lather? Shortly after the appearance of 'Britain's 1 Veal escalope per person The bishop truly earned New Citizens', the Organisations of Jews i clove crushed garlic per portion The title of Father from Germany in the United States and in Israel with which the AJR is closely cooper­ Sliced green & red peppers ating under the auspices of the 'Council of Soya sauce PRESIDENT WALESA Jews from Germany', also edited special Lemon juice As a dockyard electrician publications to mark the anniversaries of He sparked off massive sedition their foundation. The American Federation Method: of Jews from Central Europe, founded in the But ruling is a subtle art Place veal escalope on piece of silver foil. same year as the AJR, issued a brochure, His subjects now are Poles apart Spread crushed garlic over it. Place slices of and the Organisation of the Immigrants from Central Europe in Israel, the Irgun red and green pepper on top. Add seasoning MARLENE Olej Merkas Europa (lOME) reviews its to taste. Pour generous dash of soya sauce activities during the past two decades in a Though none called her a paragon over the whole. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon special and considerably enlarged edition of juice. Fold silver foil over, completely She was a trouper passing brave. its excellent weekly 'Mitteilungsblatt'. enclosing the meat, and place in a moderate Where have all the flowers gone? Like 'Britain's New Cidzens', the Ameri­ oven for 40 minutes. They're heaped on Lola-Lola's grave can publication is centred not around the activides of the 'Federation', but around the Serve with new potatoes and side salad. wider issues involved. Whereas, however, D M.N. the booklet of the AJR in the first place deals i'i

14 AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

Birthdays

Mr James Walters married to Ellen Ruth (nee Cahn) for 61 by the Bundesministerium des Innern in years. They have two children and four recognition of his services to the German James Walters will be 85 on July 29. Since grandchildren. film industry prior to 1933. his arrival in Britain, in 1936, he has lived in Mr Walters has not lost his vigour, a great Dr Hans Feld has not confined his life to Guildford, where he has made his distinc­ deal of which, these days, he puts into film and food. His interests and activities tive mark on the civic and religious life of cultivating his beautiful garden. We wish are wide ranging. He was a founder member the district. him and his wife many more years of happy of the AJR and one of the founders of the In 1938 he became the Chairman of the harvesting. D Leo Baeck Institute in England. He was a Mayor of Guildford's Refugee Committee. member of the Institute's Executive Com­ Under his guidance the committee issued Dr Hans Feld at 90 mittee for many years and also held the many visas in order to save Jewish lives. Mr position of Honorary Treasurer. Walters held the position of Chairman until There are few people who can claim to have At 90 Hans Feld's curiosity is still bound­ 1946. He was also a member of the Fire had three careers, but HAF, whose birthday less and his mischievous sense of humour Service throughout the war. is on July 15, can do so with pride. and love of life provide a lesson for us all. D After the war he founded his own com­ He gained his Dr jur. after studying in pany, manufacturing oil-burners. While Berlin, Freiburg and Wiirzburg. His love running the company full-time he remained affair with the film industry began in 1926 an active member of society. In 1960 he in Berlin, where he became the editor of organised a World Refugee Concert which Film Kurier. When the Nazis came to power AT LAST raised a considerable amount for the the Feld family moved to Prague. In Prague Mayor's Appeal Fund. Hans worked in the film industry as a film REAL GERMAN-STYLE SALAMI, In 1975 Mr Walters retired from work, cutter and dialogue director. At the same CERVELAT, BIERWURST & KABANOS after spending the last two years as a time he established a new magazine: Die consultant. Upon retiring he was Kritik. In 1935 he came to Britain, wher he approached by the local authorities who founded and edited World Film Neu>s. Kosher - Beth Din, Pitted Morello & asked for his help on behalf of the Spastics Shortly afterwards he took up a new Black Cherries, Senf Gurken & long Society. Accepting the challenge he joined direction and became involved in a food lasting packets of Matjes. Brat Herring the Fund Raising Committee of the importing concern, eventually becoming the and many other Continental Specialities. Society's White Lodge, Chertsey. Not con­ Director. Although he remained in the food tent merely to attend meetings, he did a importing business for 50 years, he never AT great deal of work in the home itself. lost interest in the film world. FLAX STORES James Walters is the son of the late Rabbi In his eighties Dr Feld's third career took 459 FINCHLEY ROAD Dr M. Warschauer of Berlin, about whose off. He became an advisor extraordinaire to HAMPSTEAD NW3 (CORNER WEST END LANE) life and works he has written and spoken film buffs and film makers worldwide. In very movingly over the years. He has been 1982 he was awarded the Filmband in Gold LOCAL DELIVERIES

Obituaries

Kurt May became the Director of the Legal Depart­ FOR THOSE YOU CARE MOST ABOUT ment of the Jewish Restitution Successor Kurt May, Director of the United Resti­ Organisation (JRSO). In 1955 he was tution Office (URO), from its foundation to appointed Director of URO, with head­ Spring(dene his retirement four years ago, has died aged quarters in Frankfurt and branches in A modern nursing home with 95. nineteen countries. He was an important 26 yrs of excellence in health care to the community. Born and educated in Meiningen (Thur- advisor on legislative problems and led test Licensed by Barnet area health 'ngia), he volunteered in 1914 and served in cases to the highest courts. Thousands of authority and recognised by BUPA & PPP, the front line. After the war he obtained his persecutees benefited from the efforts of this HYDROTHERAPY & legal qualifications and set up a successful man who combined legal qualifications PHYSIOTHERAPY practice in Jena. with administrative gifts and political nous. provided by full time chartered cares physiotherapists for Inpatients The Nazis at first exempted veterans from Kurt's mind was as alert in his nineties as and outpatients. tacial discrimination, a concession revoked it had been when he began the work thirty- by the 1935 Nuremberg Laws. Kurt May SPRINGDENE 55 Oakleigh Park North, Whetstone, two years earlier. London N.20 did not wait until then, but, giving up his He is survived by his widow Vera May, 081-446 2117 practice, emigrated to Jerusalem. There he until her retirement Senatsprdsidentin at the SPRINGVIEW 6-10 Crescerit Road, Enfield. Our opened what quickly became a most completely new purpose built hotel style retirement Frankfurt High Court. Their daughter, home. All rooms with bathroom en-suite from £305 fashionable dress shop (with the Queen of Miriam, a journalist, is married to the per week. 081-446 2117. Jordan amongst his customers). writer John Gross. Returning to Germany after the war, he D W.R.

15 AJR INFORMATION JULY 1992

Something to be proud of .1 L- !

^^^ufn V l^^^^^^^^^ft ^V

HI ^ The new conservatory at Heinrich Stahl House (left) being' officially opened by Mr & Mrs Frank Odell. Photos: Newman. ntil recently the dining room at at about eighty-six. The consequent OSHA's aim to serve the aging refugee Heinrich Stahl House was just that, increase in the level of care called for, and population by providing a home-like U a functional area serving its purpose the need for more extensive facilities, com­ environment for those no longer able to live efficiently. It is a different picture today. bined with the effect of inflation, have, or look after themselves independently. The room has been extended to accommo­ inevitably, led to higher operating costs. date more people in greater comfort with Nevertheless, a constant desire to maintain Opening and unveiling larger windows to give it a wider aspect. a pleasant environment to compensate, in To complete the formal part of the proceed­ The piece de resistance of this transforma­ some small way, for the hardships many ings Mr and Mrs Odell were invited to cut residents endured in earlier, darker days led tion is the addition of a conservatory. Its the red ribbon and declare the new conser­ to the implementation of this project. official opening took place on Sunday 10 vatory officially open. This was followed by May. the unveiling of a plaque recording the The guests of honour were Mr and Mrs Practical help Association's appreciation of the Odells Frank Odell. Other guests included the Mr Odell was consulted on how best to generosity. Deputy Mayor of Barnet, Councillor John raise the funds necessary to complete the Mr Odell responded briefly and modestly Hedge and Mrs Hedge, Mr David Cope- venture. His practical help came in the form with expressions of thanks for the comph' Thompson, Honorary President of CBF of a very substantial cheque, which allowed ments heaped upon him. The whole cere­ World Jewish Relief, and Messrs Werner the work to commence. All present and mony was conducted with charm and Mattes and Theo Marx, Chairmen, respec­ future residents are greatly indebted to him, humour, with no sign of the clock-watching tively, of OSHA and the AJR. and Mr Spiro warmly expressed apprecia­ that frequently accompanies such tion of Mr Odell's generosity. occasions. All the speakers, perhaps Hardship endured The Deputy Mayor then spoke, express­ infected by the bright sunlight flooding Addressing an audience of 200 Mr Ludwig ing his, and his Council's, admiration of the through the hall, spoke entertainingly with Spiro, Chairman of the House Committee quality and high standards of care provided a light touch. and former Chairman of the Housing Asso­ in the OSHA homes which, he said, gave the Afterwards all guests, including manV ciation, praised the foresight of those who Borough of Barnet 'something to be proud residents and staff, enjoyed a fine buffet and had established the homes in The Bishops of. took time to admire the new building ^'• Avenue almost 40 years ago. Since that Mr Mattes, who spoke next, restated their leisure. D time, he continued, the average age of lllilWlllilllNlilHIWIi'llltllllllPIIIIII'l residents had steadily risen and now stood LANDAU, BAKER & CO Chartered Accountants GERMAN BOOKS Registered Auditors BOUGHT Albany House, 324/326 Regent Street, London WIR 5AA Company Audits, Individuals and Partnership Accounts and Taxation A. W. MYTZE Wages; Acquisitions Systems 1 The Riding, London NWll. and other specialist work Initial free consultation. Competitive Fees. Tel: 071-586 7546 Telephone: 071 636 2727 Fax: 071 436 0727

Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Hannah Karminski House, 9 Adamson Road, London NW3 3HX, Telephone 071-483 2536/7/8/9 Fax: 071-722 4652 Printed In Great Britain by Black Bear Press Limited, Cambridge