,m,^M,w,m^«««^,,mr,'.^,:>-., .'.^^.^^•^.^n^'y^^, »g^y=^^^i^:^3,..^ i».s^-^^.^:n>.««».a»siBai AJ R Information Volume XLIX No. 6 June 1994 £3 (to non-members) Don't miss . The debate about German participation in the VE Day anniversary Controversial corridors p3 No goose step at the Cenotaph Before the anticlimax pl2 he proposed participation of German soldiers To reiterate these facts is not to rehearse the "let's- Musical in ceremonies on the 50th anniversary of VE be-beastly-to-the-Hun" theme beloved of the late midsummer Day is fuelling widespread and bitter debate. Lord Vansittart and currently echoed in sections of madness p. 16 T Amid the clash of contending opinions one truth the tabloid press. The Nazified Wehrmacht did not stands out beyond peradventure. The German army stand in direct line of succession to the Junker-led that surrendered in May 1945 had been an enthusi­ Prussian Army. Readers familiar with The Case of astic - and, at the very least, a supremely acquiescent Sergeant Grisha will have recognised the bourgeois- — instrument in Hitler's war of conquest. Buoyed up descended Ludendorff figure responsible for Grisha's The by the euphoria of early victories, it had helped inflict execution in the novel as a precursor of Manstein and unprecedented suffering on millions of Poles, Jews, Keitel in the Second World War. imperative Russians and other Europeans. In fact it was largely from the Junker class the that of Justice I German officers had shown none of their Italian opponents of Hitler who engineered the Officers' Plot counterparts' scruples about despatching Jews to of 20 July 1944 came. The failure of that plot also uring the the death camps. On the contrary! From Field spelt the final demise of the military caste that had protracted Marshall von Manstein's appeal to his troops to once formed the backbone of the Prussian and DWar "....extract severe but just vengeance on subhuman Hohenzollern armies. Crimes debate, Jewry", to Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim's "liaison Later, when the world moved from the aftermath of opponents of the work" with the SS at Salonika, the Wehrmacht had, in war into a drastically altered Cold War situation, the proposed six years, covered itself with ignominy that will climate grew more propitious for salvaging something legislation put tarnish the profession of arms in Germany for forward various from the wreckage of the Wehrmacht's reputation. arguments, among centuries to come. Attempts at refurbishing the image of the German them the fallibiUty soldier focused - on both sides of the Channel - on the of memory- after figure of Field Marshall Rommel, the Desert Fox who fifty years. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING had reputedly fought a clean fight in North Africa. Another was that The revelation that supplies of zyclon B (earmarked prosecuting frail for Tunisian Jewry) had been part of the Afrika Korps old men seemed Will be held at IS Cleve Road, stores blunted the effectiveness of this campaign wrong; the sight of West Hampstead, London NW6 3RL somewhat. dotards in the on dock might even Tempora mutantur, however. As times change we evoke public THURSDAY 2 JUNE. 1994, must change with them. If, in the 1950s, many war sympathy. AT 7,30 p.m. veterans and survivors abhorred the notion of a The speciousness rearmed Germany, by the Seventies and Eighties it of such arguments AGENDA was the spectre of an appeasement-minded, inward- has just been looking country that most worried Western states­ demonstrated by Annual Report 1993 men. In the long run, and after much heartsearching the Touvier trial in Hon. Treasurer's Report and weighing up of options, it transpired that the France. It is to be Discussion most judicious balance between an aggressive gun- hoped that justice Election of Committee of Management toting and selfishly isolationist Germany could be will be similarly Followed by a talk by Dr David Cesarani entitled struck by integrating the country into a European served when Commemorating the Past or Celebrating Amnesia? framework. Erich Priebke, co-perpetrator of All questions for the Chair should be submitted To be candid, the anniversary of Victory in Europe the Ardeatine , to the Director at Day will constitute little more than a - however well- merited — backward glance at the defining moment of Cave massacre, I / Hampstead Gate, la Frognal, London NW3 6AL is arraigned Liberation. To transcend the glow of nostalgia and be 1 by 26 May, 1994. before an Italian meaningful for the future. Victory in Europe must be court. D I L transformed into Victory for Europe. D AJR INFORMATION JUNE 1994 Club 1943-AGM Profile Club 1943, Anglo-German Cultural Forum, recently held its first Annual General Meet­ ing since the sad loss of its Chairperson, Mrs From Mengele to Bertha Sterly, last autumn. The annual lunch break he ventured deeper into the report indicates that the club is still flourish­ Lope warren of tunnels in search of a place to ing and continues to hold varied and sleep. A metal structure looked inviting, he stimulating, sometimes controversial, climbed into it and dozed off - to be woken lectures - many of them given by its by an Alsatian licking his face. He had members. In general, attendances increased actually stumbled upon a V2 in the process in recent months. of construction. Taken under guard to the The new Chairperson is Mr Hans Seelig, administration barracks he was sentenced Secretary Mrs JuUa Schwartz, Treasurer Mr to a severe beating. Ernst Flesch. Mr C Krysler will hold re­ sponsibility for public relations and the Evacuated Eastwards archives, the latter being in need of a Fortunately, this was to be inflicted by his considerable amount of attention. Mr Kapo, a fellow Jew who only went through Krysler would be happy to hear of any the motions of punishing him. During the existing material relevant to the society and/ collapse of the Third Reich Andrew was or the Kulturbund. Mrs H Friedmann and evacuated Westwards in an open lorry. Mr O Egert are also on the committee. Freezing conditions badly undermined his The new chairperson stated that the health. Even so, he was lucky: at Belsen membership of the club, though not exclusi­ Hungarian guards warned him of the pre­ vely Jewish or German in origin, mainly vailing typhoid epidemic and facilitated his represented the valuable contribution made escape. by German-speaking Jewry to European A few days later he was liberated by the culture. New members and guests were Americans. Sent to Sweden, he was found to always welcome at the regular Monday Andrew Herskovits. Photo: Newman. have two cavities in his lungs. Though the evening meetings at Belsize Square Synago­ chemist's son, Andrew Herskovits suggested treatment — insertion of a huge gue. (Club 1943 programmes are published was born in the Hungarian pro­ needle between chest membrane and lung — monthly in AJR Information.) Avinces in 1930. At the local Lutheran seemed even worse than the disease, he had gymnasium he encountered so much antise­ no option but to go through with it. mitism that he pressured his parents into The treatment took years, during which CLUB 1943 transferring him to a Jewish boarding time Andrew came to London (where he school. At the time of the Nazi takeover in Anglo-German Cultural Forum had an aunt), studied for an English degree Meetings on Mondays at 8 p.m. spring 1944 he happened to be with rela­ and became a teacher. at the Communal Hall tives in Budapest. Returning to his home In 1974, when glaucoma was diagnosed, Belsize Square Synagogue town he found that his father had already he was compelled to give up teaching, 51 Belsize Square been arrested as a "prominent" Jew. Soon, whereupon, helped by his wife, he ran a London NW3 the entire local community was rounded up, small hotel in Kensington. At around sixty, taken to a tobacco warehouse and herded June 6th. Mr Martin Brady, M.A., King's when other people with his earlier history College, London: Music for the eye. Arnold aboard an Auschwitz-bound train. On would have sought easeful retirement, Schonberg and the film arrival, Martin was separated from his Andrew embarked on an MA course in June 13th. Mrs Patricia Owen: Byzantium. Its mother. contribution to western civilisation (with slides) "Drama in Production" and started learn­ June 20th. Mrs Stella Rosenak, M.A.: The At thirteen and a half he was alone in the ing Spanish. Itzigs and Carlebachs: two distinguished and world, but he had two assets: height that The combined result of these endeavours contrasting German-Jewish families June 27th. Dr Charles E. Titterband, Ph.D., made him look older, and the friendship of was the recent staging of Lope de Vega's member of International P.E.N. Observations an eighteen year-old with experience of seventeenth century play Ester at The Gar­ of the London Correspondent of the 'Neue engineering. A pretence at engineering skills age, NW6. Prior to Andrew's translation Ziiricher Zeitung July 4th. Hans Seelig: Music to make you smile helped him to be selected — probably by Dr and production of the work. Ester had been C. Krysler: Quotations past and present Mengele — for work as a slave labourer. one of de Lope's hundreds of plays Gemiitliches Beisammensein After a stint at a factory in Fallersleben he unknown in England and familiar only to Club 1943 will recommence its activities on was sent to Nordhausen where, at Camp scholars in Spain. Sept. 12th Dora, a space for a huge underground, and The effort of putting on the production — therefore bombproof, industrial complex seen by about 1500 people — left Andrew had been hewn out of the rock.