VOLUME 21 NO.6 JUNE 2021 JOURNAL The Association of Jewish Refugees

MIDSUMMER Looking back at MADNESS Gravestones, Beetles and the Bayeux Tapestry in the age of Covid. Quite an the Eastern Front eclectic mix for our midsummer missive. Other articles include a thought This month is the 80th anniversary of the German invasion of the provoking look at in Soviet Union. The death toll on the Eastern Front was enormous. modern and the shocking rise of right wing extremism in . In his book, Europe at War: 1939-1945 (2006), Norman Davies There are many parallels which can be writes, ‘Total losses for the Soviet Union – military and civilian, drawn here, highlighting the fact that none of us should be complacent. including Soviet Asia – are now estimated at 27 million.’ Of these two-thirds, 18 million, were civilians, including around ‘2 million Thank you to all our contributors to this issue, and all future comments will be , 1-2 million Poles, 2-3 million Russians, 2-3 million Balts, gratefully received. 3-4 million Byelorussians and 5-8 million Ukrainians.’

News...... 3 Who cares?...... 4 Letter from Israel...... 5 Letters to the Editor and Looking For...... 6-7 Art Notes...... 8 A Grave Question...... 9 Next Generations...... 10 Liberators through the eyes of the liberated... 11 Is history repeating itself?...... 12-13 Revving up Volkswagen...... 14 Antisemitism in Hungary today...... 15 Compare and contrast...... 16 A Dutch life...... 17 Reviews...... 18 Obituaries...... 19 Events...... 20

Please note that the views expressed throughout this publication are not necessarily the views of the AJR. The Tragedy of Nations monument to the Holocaust in Moscow, by Zurab Tsereteli, depicts a line of human beings gradually turning into gravestones AJR Team Chief Executive Michael Newman Finance Director Adam Daniels There have been a number of of non-Jewish victims were from Heads of Department Community & Volunteer Services Carol Hart fascinating changes in the way Belarus, the Ukraine and the Baltic HR & Administration Karen Markham historians have written about the Republics as well as Russia. Educational Grants & Projects Alex Maws Eastern Front. First, that civilian Social Services Nicole Valens casualties are increasingly broken Second, the Western Front was AJR Journal down by nationality. Before, western ‘something of a sideshow’ (in Davies’s Editor Jo Briggs historians listed them as Soviet citizens. words) compared to the war in the Editorial Assistant Lilian Levy It is now clear that the largest number Continued on page 2 Contributing Editor David Herman

1 AJR Journal | June 2021

Looking back at the gas’. But in recent years historians victims were, who the perpetrators have shifted our attention to countless were and who the photographer was. Eastern Front (cont.) atrocities in small villages, in woods and The photograph was taken on October East. If you look at the number of fields where Jews were shot by German 13, 1941, in Miropol in the Ukraine. It military deaths in individual battles and soldiers and other perpetrators. shows a woman and a boy being shot campaigns, the seven largest number of by Germans and local collaborators, fatalities were all on the Eastern Front. Two astonishing new books have Ukrainian auxiliaries, at the edge of a brought ‘the Shoah by bullets’ to life: ravine. One German and the Ukrainian Third, it is increasingly clear that the Grief: The Biography of a Holocaust behind him, she writes, ‘have just pulled Soviet Union did not simply fight Photograph (2020) by David Shneer their triggers… The Ukrainian’s rifle is a heroic war. It was a perpetrator, and The Ravine (2021) by Wendy inches from the head of the woman, invading a number of countries before Lower. Both books tell the story of which is obscured in the smoke.’ Lower 1945 including , and a single photograph of an atrocity. goes on, ‘The victims are at the edge of the Baltic Republics and was guilty Instead of the early prevailing images a ravine. The woman is dying from the of war crimes, from ‘the murder and of German bureaucracy and modernity bullet wound to the head, pulling the maltreatment of POWs (including which dominated so much of our early boy – who is still alive - down with her its own) to the sinking of refugee thinking about the Final Solution, these into the grave.’ ships and the mass raping of German books show how very primitive and women.’ (Davies) close-up the mass killings in the Ukraine What strikes Lower is ‘the disturbing were. intimacy of the violence. Perpetrators Fourth, and perhaps most important stand shoulder to shoulder, close to for Jews, our attention has shifted Grief shows a few figures in a the victims... Here we see genocide at from ‘the Shoah by gas’ in the Nazi frozen landscape outside Kerch, on its extreme: the final moment when death camps to’ the Shoah by bullets’, the Crimean peninsula, in January uniformed gangs of men like this especially in the Soviet Union. In his 1942. The photograph is by Dmitri annihilate women and children. At the essay, ‘Holocaust: The Ignored Reality’ Baltermanns, a Soviet-Jewish center [sic] of the image is what is left (The New York Review of Books, July photographer born in Warsaw who of a Jewish family and community in 16, 2009) historian, Timothy Snyder, worked for Izvestia, the Soviet Miropol, a historical Jewish shtetl west author of Bloodlands, wrote, newspaper of record since 1917. After of Kiev.’ occupying Crimea, the Einsatzgruppen ‘All in all, as many if not more Jews murdered thousands of Ukrainian Jews. These two books don’t just tell us the were killed by bullets as by gas, but Baltermanns spent a day at the killing story of two massacres in the Ukraine, they were killed by bullets in easterly site, photographing the dead. His most where ‘every fourth Jewish victim locations that are blurred in painful famous photograph, which he later murdered in the Holocaust’ came from. remembrance. The second most called Grief, shows a group of women, They were not murdered in death important part of the Holocaust is poorly dressed, bent over, mourning camps but gunned down in ravines, the mass murder by bullets in eastern the bodies of the dead. The emotional marshes, forests, ghettos and open Poland and the Soviet Union. It began focus of the photograph is not on the fields. These books completely change with SS Einsatzgruppen shootings of bodies lying in the frozen mud, where our view of the Holocaust in the east, Jewish men in June 1941, expanded they had been shot, but on the women, its iconography but also how Jews were to the murder of Jewish women and two in particular. Baltermann’s photos killed and then forgotten. Lower writes, children in July, and extended to ‘never appeared in Izvestia,’ writes ‘According to the Central Database the extermination of entire Jewish Shneer. ‘Why remains a mystery.’ of Shoah Victims’ names kept by Yad communities that August and Indeed, apart from a two-page photo Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance September. By the end of 1941, the essay in Ogonek in March 1942, they center in Jerusalem, about 50 percent of Germans (along with local auxiliaries never appeared in the Soviet press the Jews … [killed] in the Ukraine have and Romanian troops) had killed a during the war at all. Shneer goes on to not been identified.’ Thanks to Lower, million Jews in the Soviet Union and explain how Grief later became one of the Jewish mother and child in the the Baltics. That is the equivalent of the the most famous Soviet photos of the photo now have names. total number of Jews killed at Auschwitz war, in particular of the Holocaust. The during the entire war. By the end of cry of the grieving woman at the centre Eighty years after the German invasion, 1942, the Germans (again, with a of the photograph, wrote the German historians like Norman Davies and great deal of local assistance) had shot writer Heinrich Böll when he saw it Timothy Snyder, and these two another 700,000 Jews, and the Soviet at an exhibition in in 1964, remarkable books by David Shneer and Jewish populations under their control ‘becomes the cry of humanity.’ Wendy Lower, tell us a history lesson had ceased to exist.’ that will change the way we think Wendy Lower’s book, The Ravine, is about the Holocaust forever. If we relied on the books of Elie Wiesel, an extraordinary piece of detective Primo Levi and the Diary of Anne work. In 2009 two young journalists David Herman Frank or films like Night and Fog and from Prague showed her a photo of Shoah we would think of the Holocaust a Nazi atrocity and her book tells the Note: David Shneer, a fine historian, primarily in terms of ‘the Shoah by story of how she found out who the died in November.

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BAFTA for The Boys

The highly acclaimed BBC drama, The Windermere Children, which tells the story of 300 Jewish children who came to stay in the Lake District in August 1945, has been nominated for an award at this year’s prestigious Virgin Media BAFTAs. The winner will be announced on Sunday 6 June.

It has also been nominated for ‘Best movie and TV broadcast’ by the Banff World Media Festival. The Windermere ‘Children’ This photograph of some of “The Boys” was taken at the end of filming.

OUR MAN ON THE BOARD Hertfordshire-based William My mother, Erna Baginsky (née Baginsky has been nominated Goldenberg), grew up in Vienna and arrived in England in 1938, age 19. My to represent AJR members on father Kurt, and his sister Edith, spent the British Board of Deputies, their childhoods and young adult years in the organisation which the German town of Rosenberg, Upper promotes and safeguards the Silesia, now Olesno in Poland. They came to England in 1939. rights of British Jews to live in William Baginsky peace and enjoy our customs My wife Mary and I have three adult and practices. Here William tells children, Charlotte, Abe and Ben, and four grandchildren – we are spread across three of Deputies. I look forward to learning us a little about himself. continents and, like everyone else, we are more about its work at first hand, looking forward to the time when we can bringing matters of interest to AJR I have been a second-generation see family and friends in real life again. members to the Board and reporting member of the AJR for several years back via the Journal and in other ways. and, more recently, became involved as I am very pleased to have the opportunity You are welcome to contact me at a volunteer with the My Story project. to represent AJR members at the Board [email protected]

Remembering the marches “The real suffering started then. After three days of marching, we arrived in Gleiwitz. The next day we were taken to Buchenwald. It took us eleven days to get there and we had to face indescribable ordeals.” - Hungarian survivor István Klauber.

The death marches resulted in tens from the German population. No one their homes, resistance was rare. of thousands of people dying at the could fail to observe the emaciated, roadside of exhaustion, being shot weakened inmates, the dead bodies that The Wiener Holocaust Library’s new for failing to keep up, or murdered littered the roads, and the brutality of the exhibition, Death Marches: Evidence in seemingly random massacres. The SS guards. Indeed, a broad spectrum of and Memory, co-curated by Professor victims were totally at the whim of the the German population persecuted these Dan Stone and Dr Christine Schmidt guards, who left a trail of blood across evacuated prisoners. Some civilians shot and on display until 27 August, Europe. inmates, while others refused them food. brings to light this oft overlooked and Local people also denounced prisoners understudied aspect of the Holocaust These “mobile concentration camps” who had escaped from marches to the and uncovers how forensic and other overturn the idea that the brutality of SS. While there are instances of civilians evidence about the death marches has the camps was kept entirely separate helping inmates by sheltering them in been gathered since the end of WW2.

3 AJR Journal | June 2021 Who Cares?

Carer [noun] /’ke r (r [1] Cares (unpaid) for family or friends who have a disability, illness or who need support in later life: Washing them. And their laundry. And their dishes. Keeping appointments. And records. And tempers. Giving medicine. And time. And hugs. Filling forms. And fridges. And silences. Dealing with doctors. And nurses. And pharmacists. And social workers. And benefits agencies. And care workers. And a lack of sleep. [2] Needs support to manage a life of their own. - Carers Week

It is estimated that there are up another gives on a daily basis. All count publicly, we would also like to thank as carers’ roles. them in a more personal way. to 6.5 million people in the UK who are unpaid carers. They are But caring can have a huge impact on We would like anyone who has received all aspects of life, from relationships support or care from a family member looking after a family member and health to finances and work. Carers or friend, or if you support someone or friend who has a disability, have faced increasingly challenging else, to let us know - a quick email to circumstances because of the COVID-19 [email protected] or telephone call to mental or physical illness or pandemic and many are having to 020 8385 3070 will do - so that we can who needs extra help as they provide more care while dealing with then send a thankyou: a small token of financial pressures and significant levels of our appreciation and an invitation to an grow older. They save the isolation. event just for carers. economy £132 billion per year. The AJR has always recognised the So many of us have received a carer’s During the recent pandemic, crucial work of unpaid family carers. Our support. Now is an opportunity to say Carers UK estimate that this Carer Support Coordinator provides a thank you and let these wonderful number of services such as practical and people know that we recognise and number went up to over 13 emotional support; one to one telephone value them. million. This includes so many support; face to face support (in the garden at present); self-help groups for Carers Week is an annual campaign members of the AJR and their spouses caring for a spouse; wellbeing to raise awareness of caring, highlight workshops including mediation, resilience the challenges unpaid carers face and families. and self-care; referrals and signposting; recognise the contribution they make to topical talks monthly and events such as families and communities throughout 7-11 June is Carers Week and in a guided painting. the UK. It also helps people who don’t world where many groups of people think of themselves as having caring or worthy causes have their week, However, this year the theme of Carers responsibilities to identify as carers and Carers Week should be one in which Week is “Making Carers Visible and access much-needed support. we all should show our respect and Valued”. So, the AJR wants to not just appreciation. Why? Because so many raise the profile of carers and salute them www.carersweek.org people who provide the practical, emotional, financial or “don’t worry I’ll do that for you” type of support do not Over 300 people around the see themselves as a carer. UK regularly give up their time to help individual AJR members People provide support for many in some way. We are always reasons - because it is for family; out grateful to them and on 6 July we of necessity; because it is “just what will be holding our annual ‘thank you do” or because they enjoy helping you’ event. Invitations are being others. All need to be recognised for sent out at the start of this month the amazing roles they play. The daily to coincide with the national telephone call and shopping dropped Volunteers’ Week – if you are off once a week with the chat on the one of our wonderful volunteers doorstep can be just as vital as the lifts please keep the date. to the hospital or the personal care that

4 AJR Journal | June 2021

LETTER FROM ISRAEL BY DOROTHEA SHEFER-VANSON

As a new immigrant in the 1960s I One recipient uttered a few words of OUR MODERN remember enjoying the squeaky plastic protest during the ceremony, but this SONGS hammer experience, if not the foam spray. passed without comment. The occasion After getting married and having small was also used to enable a series of pop Note from Editor: At the time of going children our days of milling around in the singers to sing and play a medley of songs to press our thoughts, along with those streets were over, though we enjoyed picnics of questionable taste (and certainly not my of most AJR members, were with our with friends and relatives. taste). friends and relatives in Israel as the conflict over Gaza escalated. We hope This year, while the ceremony of lighting The Israeli modern song scene has and pray that by the time that our readers the beacons was taking place on Mount developed in a direction which I personally receive this the situation will have Herzl, we attended a festive concert given do not find as tuneful as many of the calmed. In the meantime here is a small by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. The popular Israeli songs of my youth, and so reminder of "normal" times in Israel, programme included a stirring performance it seems I am becoming something of an when its citizens are able to focus on less of Dvorak’s ninth symphony (From the New old curmudgeon on that score. The idea alarming issues. World), as well as a recently rediscovered of interspersing the prestigious awards piece entitled Jerusalem by the late Israeli to distinguished (and generally elderly) Israel recently composer, Marc Lavry. scholars with less melodious modern pop celebrated another songs seems incongruous to me, but Independence Upon entry to the Jerusalem Theatre somebody somewhere evidently thought Day. The seventy- everyone had to present their ‘green that it was appropriate. third. The aroma passport’ proving they had received two of roasting meat Coronavirus vaccinations, and then proceed While the parade of eminent academics filled the air. My to the reception area, where we were and the recitation of their achievements husband and I were guilty of adding to treated to wine and chocolate. For that, of and contribution to the advancement of the general consumption of meat on course, we had to remove our masks, but knowledge inspires a sense of pride even that day, as we enjoy spending time in afterwards put them back on. in my curmudgeonly chest, I feel that the open air with friends, joining in the some musical accompaniment more fitting general trend. A ceremony at which the Israel Prize is to the occasion could surely have been awarded for academic and other areas found. Sadly, the general trend, in Israel Yigal remembers that in his youth in the of excellence is held on the evening that as elsewhere, seems to be towards lower Haifa area he and everyone else would closes the celebrations and is watched on standards in ever-growing areas of life. celebrate the day differently. In those TV by most of the population. Constituting days (the 1950s) everyone would be out Israel’s attempt to provide its own version and about in the streets, then suddenly of the Nobel Prize, it is a stately and serious a few people would form a circle and occasion. Books Bought spontaneously burst into song and dance Modern and Old (the hora, of course). That was long This year, however, the ceremony was before people started ‘attacking’ one marred by the refusal of the (right-wing) Eric Levene another with squeaky plastic hammers Minister of Education to grant the prize to an 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 and foam spray. outstanding (but left-wing) mathematician. [email protected]

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5 AJR Journal | June 2021 Letters to the Editor The Editor reserves the right to shorten correspondence submitted for publication and respectfully points out that the views expressed in the letters published are not necessarily the views of the AJR.

VICTOR ROSS Note from Editor: Victor Ross was to take up any opportunities for escape, I’m glad you published a worthy obituary perhaps instead the “grandmaster” of however limited. Less privileged and/or for my good friend Victor Ross (May). Direct Mail – at least this was how he rural Jews did not have such resources or He was a very talented man. Just one was described on the front cover of the contacts, so were more likely to perish. correction - he joined the Reader’s Digest November 1993 issue of Direct Response I’m not sure that documenting the in London in 1955 not 1963. magazine. country houses built by Jews in Britain and continental Europe (see A Place in the These days I’m almost housebound in Country) helps challenge that picture. my flat in Prague but continue to get MARY “PUTZI” HUTTRER pleasure from the AJR Journal. So far Mary (Obituaries, May) and I first met at My family story provides an alternative I’ve avoided the pandemic as I hope AJR a Creative Writing class at the Hampstead angle. My mother’s family came from members have as well. Garden Institute. humble beginnings in Brody, near L’vov, in Tom Schrecker, what is now the Ukraine. They arrived in We were surprised and thrilled to discover Leopoldstadt, in Vienna at the turn of the that we had lived in the same street, 20th century, moving from one apartment I was very sad to read of the death of Glockengasse, in Vienna’s second district, to another as their circumstances changed. Victor Ross and I found that your obituary Leopoldstadt. Although we lived so near My mother and her 5 siblings attended paid a well-deserved tribute to a highly to one another, we had never met. Realschule rather than university and if not interesting and distinguished life. My occupied in the (rented) family shoe shop, father, Steve Nelson, was a lifelong friend At long last we met in England, in worked in low-paid office jobs. Three of Victor, having been interned with him Hampstead Garden Suburb, another sisters managed to escape to Britain in in Canada during WW2, and often spoke Jewish area.We became good friends and I 1938, after , because a cousin, very fondly of him. was delighted to review her autobiography Fanny Isenstein, living in London and Putzi’s Memoirs for the AJR Journal. married to a lowly bookbinder, guaranteed I must correct Jo Briggs on one (https://ajr.org.uk/wp-content/ to provide jobs for them - as laundry maid, point however. Victor was not the uploads/2018/02/2017_March.pdf) mother’s help, cook. Fanny was disowned “grandfather” of Direct Mail advertising by her own sisters because they felt though he may well have used the service What I loved most about the book was she was endangering herself and them, to advertise Reader’s Digest; the real credit her wonderful sense of humour in the especially should the Nazis invade! The for pioneering Direct Mail Advertising rests most difficult situations. I have never read rest of the Viennese family were murdered with my grandfather, Julius Seligsohn- of an escape from the Holocaust, and the apart from another sister who managed Netter. Julius, together with my father, difficult life afterwards, described with to get to the US, going eastward via built up British International Addressing so much humour. Most of us refugees Shanghai. None of them ever set foot on (BIA) from very humble origins in 1945 to tend to emphasise the horror and misery Austrian soil again. And interestingly, their a large company which was floated on the of these situations and humour is not politics were left-leaning to reflect their Stock Exchange in the early sixties and sold something we emphasise. circumstances both in and Britain. to Reuben H. Donnelley (US) in 1970. In fact, in the early ’50s (so the story goes), Mary was typically Viennese; a As Peter Heilbrunn indicates, most Victor Ross visited my family at their house combination of wit and charm. She will western European Jews pre-WW2, in Croydon and was so impressed at how be so much missed by many people. were poor, and many were involved in well my grandfather was doing financially Thea Valman, London NW11 challenging the regimes which oppressed that he said “Now I know how the rich them. Their achievements should also be live!” part of the Jewish story. NOT EVERYONE WAS MIDDLE-CLASS Gaby Weiner, Lewes, East Sussex Years later, when Victor became CEO of Like Peter Heilbrunn (May), I enjoy many Reader’s Digest, my parents visited him AJR articles and readers’ letters, but like at his house in North London. They were him, I have been struck by the lack of EU REALITY – PRO BREXIT/ANTI BREXIT totally amazed by the size of his house class awareness of so many Holocaust One wonders how long, in Anthony and the opulence of its furnishings, all escape and survival stories. While nothing Grenville’s view (May), the EU can way outside their own standard of living. should detract from, for instance, the preserve its abstract nobility of soul even This tale was retold many times, so it may tremendous achievement of the various while its mere membership produces, as be somewhat exaggerated, but it is a Kindertransports, most of the children he puts it, “hard right-wing movements”, good story and is a way of remembering involved had middle-class and privileged “Muslim extremism” and, in Britain’s him. backgrounds, presumably because their case, surrender by departure. The EU Andrew Nelson, Leeds families had the resources and networks was, from the very start, something of

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LOOKING FOR? a mafia enterprise, its founding fathers purporting to contribute to international ISIDOR WEINBERGER information on Georg Bock who was in peace despite their essential irrelevance to Isidor Weinberger, born 3.8.1892 in the Kitchener Camp in 1939. Where did this excellent goal. Today it is basically a Hradok, Slovakia, was a timber merchant he go after leaving Kitchener? He died in cocktail of vested interests, ranging from living at Blaike 23 in St. Andrä, Carinthia, June 1976 in Brighton. the jobs of EU officials and politicians with his wife and children Moritz and [email protected] to the pretence that super-power status Sidonia before they emigrated to and security can be had on the cheap by . St. Andrae is planning JEWISH ORPHANAGE parading as a unified economic entity. a memorial plaque and is trying to trace Quaker David Dobson is searching for a family members. Jewish orphanage which was attacked As for Dr. Grenville’s claim that “in [email protected] during Kristallnacht and from where Britain, too, the Brexit campaign has some of the first Kindertransportees were initiated a surge in antisemitic sentiment”, ISLE OF WIGHT evacuated. remember that the nearest thing in post- Michael Leventhal, a history and Jewish [email protected] war British politics to Oswald Mosely was children’s book publisher, wishes to find a Labour party headed by out how many Jewish people have lived MAKS (MAKSYMILIAN) KON - who did not support Brexit and who on the Isle of Wight over the last century. A Polish historian seeks information would evidently have been welcomed In particular, how many Kindertransport on the son of a factory owner in Łódz´, by the EU establishment, had he won a children went there and if they stayed on Poland: Maks KON, born in Łódz´ general election. after the war? 20.4.1896, son of Oskar KON and Maria Peter Oppenheimer, Oxford [email protected] RUBIN–KON. He studied law and married Felicia Schorr on 18.6.1929 and may, at GEORGE (GEORG) BOCK some stage, have been a director of the I don’t recognise the Britain described Irene Cantez, volunteer family researcher British Overseas Bank. by Anthony Grenville. The resurgence at the German Maritime Museum, seeks [email protected] of antisemitic, xenophobic flag-waving sentiments in many EU countries is a predictable reaction against the EU’s David Kemek describes the EU as successful economy we enjoyed – at least empire building and its rejection of the a “Brussels Empire” and Britain’s till we left and are now learning the dire primacy of the nation state. It’s always former membership as an “unhappy consequences of having done so. like that in empires. Does a Jew feel that entanglement”. Yet there was little his or her rights and religious freedoms controversy about the EU until a band of As for the power of the nation state are better protected in the UK than in, right wingers (whingers?), in a foretaste versus supranational institutions, I wonder say, Poland or ? The EU would of the “culture war” now engrossing what other such institutions Mr Kemek no doubt have welcomed Corbyn had and bitterly dividing our nation, began would like to leave or other treaties he he been elected and would have let him a media attack on an institution that would rip up. Under the NATO treaty have his way. In so far as Dr Grenville’s had rarely if ever rated high in people’s for example, the UK is obliged to assist claim that the EU’s raison d’être was concerns. So far from being “unhappy”, such other members as Turkey (Turkey!) non-discrimination (not that I buy that, it the UK’s relationship with the EU gave us if attacked. I suspect there may be many was always an economic enterprise and a substantial say in the councils of what is readers for whom that may be a rather an attempt to normalise Germany), then still our largest market, accompanied by less welcome obligation than we would its courts and judges have failed to use free and seamless trade. The proportion have had in conforming to the EU’s latest their powers to achieve it. British Jews of EU laws/directives with which the Packaging Directive! have done well to distance themselves UK disagreed was minuscule. The EU Mark Victor Schuck, London N12 from Marine le Pen, the AfD, the riots was also gradually reaching trade deals and suppression of basic freedoms that across the world. That with Japan was characterise some EU states. Not to announced around the time we left, and PLAUDITS mention the EU’s failure to face up to the EU would now seem to be further Just a short message to tell you how much Russia and , and its unfair treatment advanced in reaching one with India I enjoy reading The Journal. It is amazing of Israel. And let’s not get started on than the UK. It did so moreover from a how interesting you manage to keep the vaccinations, the migrants, the eurozone. position of strength equivalent to that of Journal. There cannot be all that many of Brexit Britain is as good a place for Jewish a superpower. Further, EU membership us oldies remaining. I am 93, one of Sir life outside Israel as anywhere, and far, can only have helped the UK emerge Nicholas Winton’s children from Prague. far better than across the Channel. from the economic miasma of the ‘50s, Bronia Zelenka Snow (née Bronislava Baroness Deech QC (Hon), London SW1 ‘60s and early ‘70s to become the Ringlerova), Esher, Surrey

7 AJR Journal | June 2021 ART NOTES: by Gloria Tessler

The ever resourceful Ben Uri has shown particular initiative during lockdown. Its tiny physical space in St John’s Wood has been transformed by digital ingenuity Zodiac into a world of unlimited artistic by David Breuer- potential. Weil, 2021

It has 40 exhibitions online bringing art into a hitherto undreamed of space vaccines is heralded by angels bringing His self-destructive art form was born in available world-wide. It began on the world to an unknown normality. the shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. an upbeat note when , That hope burns eternal is demonstrated Alongside Bertrand Russell and others partnered with Art UK, chose Marc in the final panel: Perseverance landing he was jailed in September, 1961 for Chagall’s Apocalypse en Lilas, Capriccio on Mars. Ben Uri brings this work to life non-violent civil disobedience, and told as its April 19 pick for its Great British through film, exhibition and a biography the court: “The situation is now far art tour series, in the wake of art gallery of the artist. more barbarous than Buchenwald ... for closures. Chagall’s gouache, pencil there can be absolute obliteration at any and ink Crucifixion, shows Christ as a On June 16, the Ben Uri considers the moment.” Hassidic Jew and references the Nazi formative years of refugee and activist horrors the artist escaped after fleeing artist Gustav Metzger, later noted for his It is not hard to see from where Metzger for the USA. It is a powerful yet controversial nihilism. The BU Research drew his inspiration. His installation: gentle piece, loaded with Nazi metaphor. Unit, partnered with the Gustav Metzger Vienna 2005. ‘To Crawl Into’ conceals Foundation, launches Becoming Gustav a huge photograph of Viennese Jews In the same month Benuri.org presented Metzger: Uncovering the Early Years scrubbing the pavement, covered by David Breuer-Weil’s Coviad, a (1945–59) co-curated by Nicola Baird a gold cloth. To see the photo viewers contemporary version of the Bayeux and Leanne Dmyterko. Supported by have to crawl under the cloth in order to Tapestry in the age of Covid. It a programme of related events – it touch something of the victims’ torment. comprises 350 square centimetres in 70 will present 40 rarely seen drawings connected panels. and paintings from the artist’s key Another, Liquidation of the Warsaw developmental period. Ghetto, 19 April, 28 days in 1943 Produced in pencil and gold leaf Coviad (1995) embodies the totemic photo of describes the process of the pandemic, They include his whimsical portrait of the the young boy in the cap, holding his adapting many tapestry symbols. The young Frank Auerbach (c. 1952) and the hands up. For ultimate effect Metzger title suggests a pun on The Iliad, and large expressionist oils The Dissolution has bounded the image with wooden shows the spread of the virus through of the City (1946) and Eroica, Funeral shuttering. transport and the division of people into March (1946), as well as early abstract support bubbles. Its all-encompassing works on board and cardboard. It follows https://benuri.org/video/129-david- imagery, typical of this ambitious artist, the artist’s creative path from figuration breuer-weil-the-coviad-ben-uri/ comprises clapping for the NHS, masks, to abstraction prior to his ultimate auto- tragic deaths and separations. But it destructive practice. Becoming Gustav Metzger: online at delves deeper, covering the murder of www.benuri.org George Floyd, the toppling of statues Metzger (1926-2017) was one of 10,000 and the full brouhaha of public protest. Jewish children evacuated in 1939 to London by Kindertransport. His family There is also biblical imagery. One square died in the Holocaust. Metzger came Annely Juda Fine Art of the work divides into ten sections under the spell of David Bomberg, who 23 Dering Street with detailed impressions of the Ten mentored him in his radical Borough (off New Bond Street) Plagues. Think Breughel and you have Polytechnic evening classes, where he Tel: 020 7629 7578 the full horror of this symbolic impact. created paintings at lightning speed. Fax: 020 7491 2139 Subtle it isn’t. CONTEMPORARY Metzger eventually joined the Direct PAINTING AND SCULPTURE Yet there is a positive. The arrival of the Action Committee against nuclear war.

8 AJR Journal | June 2021 A GRAVE QUESTION Madeleine Isenberg is a might also reflect where in the world these survivors eventually settled. genealogist based in California’s In the United Beverly Hills who is particularly What have we seen that set us on this States several quest? In the United States quite often tombstones interested in knowing how I have seen a form of a Magen David feature a recognition of Holocaust incorporating the words Holocaust Survivor, Magen David either engraved or as a bronze “add-on”, like this survivors has been depicted on although the lettering may vary. In Seattle, matzevot (gravestones), whether Washington, in a Sephardic cemetery I often found the actual words such as by wording and/or symbolism, “Holocaust Survivor” plainly inscribed, in the UK and other parts of the without a symbol. This is important because too many of us think that the Holocaust world. only affected Ashkenazim. Another example of a headstone inscription After years of looking at inscriptions and James contacted Nolan Altman, who imagery on matzevot in photos around administers JewishGen’s Jewish Online the world, I recently realised that I have Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) overlooked an important and significant database, and was in turn referred to Renée marking that has appeared, but not in Steinig of the Jewish Genealogy Society of This message appears on a Greek every case. I’m talking about those brave Long Island (JGSLI). Renée sent James an headstone Holocaust survivors who made it to email, from which I have abstracted the places around the world and were able following information: to raise families and lead productive lives indicate even the particular ghetto or despite all that they suffered, even living “... the one survivor symbol with which concentration camp, and for Auschwitz sometimes to ripe old ages. When finding I’m familiar -- a metal grave marker... At survivors, sometimes even their tattoo an indicator either by some symbolism or one time, such markers could be purchased numbers. wording, it makes me feel a sense of pride from the American Gathering of Jewish and relief that these people defiantly Holocaust Survivors. But now their website In reviewing the stone of a recently strove to stay alive during those horrific says ‘out of stock’ (https://amgathering. deceased cousin from Slovakia, buried times, despite Hitler’s intent to destroy all org/buy-markers/) ... According to a in the Har Hamenuchot Cemetery, in Jews. newspaper article published in 1986 Jerusalem, I saw these beautiful words ... Judy Freeman, the survivor who from Zecharia 3:2,    (a During my years of extracting information encouraged the Gathering to manufacture brand plucked from fire). on tombstones, I often go to websites them, the design was first used in 1981, at (such as findagrave.com) and provide a world gathering of survivors in Jerusalem. Almost an implicit indicator of a survivor, translation of names from the Hebrew, Mrs. Freeman did not know who designed are those people who ensured that so that somewhere in time, people can the original image, which she said names of their family members who see something of a genealogy. That’s symbolised Judaism (the Star of David), perished without a memorial were also how I met James Mason (Meeka90069@ imprisonment (the barbed wire), liberation to be remembered by creating a form of yahoo.com) who is one of those kind (the break in the star), and new life (the cenotaph, in adding their names to that people who voluntarily visit cemeteries, branch).” of another relative or ancestor’s grave photograph stones, and make such who had died before the Holocaust records available on line. James is Try as I might, I have also been unable to and where such matzevot still exist not Jewish, and we both realised learn who designed it in the first place. somewhere. the importance of recognising these Whoever it was deserves credit. The link Holocaust survivors, but didn’t know in Renée’s message will show the same So my appeal is to those of you out there how widespread such an indicator might barbed wire star, but the lettering says, who prepared the matzevot for your appear. But James and I considered this “Holocaust Survivor…to New Life!” survivors, or who have seen such, please might be an interesting research project to send photographs to [email protected] discover how and where such indications Another possible image for which I with details of the cemetery name and might actually appear. Not every survivor have no confirmation of its relevance is location. perhaps wanted to have this publicised a sort of eternal flame. In place of this posthumously or perhaps didn’t think it particular symbol/emblem, there are And if anyone knows who designed that worth letting the occasional visitor to a those who explicitly have the inscribed specific barbed-wire Magen David, please cemetery know of this detail. In a sense, it words, “Holocaust Survivor” and might enlighten us all.

9 AJR Journal | June 2021 NEXT GENERATIONs The Association of Jewish Refugees MY HERITAGE AJR Trustee Gaby Glassman is a psychologist and psychotherapist who has facilitated second generation and intergenerational groups since the late 1980s. Who within your family was a Holocaust survivor or refugee? Both my parents and most others in their circle of friends had fled from Germany, my father (born in 1904) from Neuss, near Dusseldorf, and my mother (1910) from Stralsund on the Baltic coast of North-East Germany. After the family oil mill had been sold in 1929, my father started a new business with his grandfather, but invited me to join the then Management Committee. In 2012 I when he learned that the was checking his movements he became a Trustee. escaped to Holland in 1936 – one of approximately 30,000 German Jews who fled to Holland between 1933 – 1939. My mother arrived Why did you decide to specialise in this area? there in 1937, along with her first husband and 18 month old From a list of topics for my MA thesis back in 1983, my professor son, my half-brother Peter. Although my parents both managed suggested transgenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma. to get their parents from Germany to The Netherlands, they later Second Generation was a new concept at the time and it became discovered that all four of my grandparents were murdered in a meaningful and rewarding choice for me personally and for Sobibor on the same day, in July 1943. Peter lived in hiding under my subsequent career. It also led, in 1989, to my first Second a false identity with a couple who had lost their own son, until he Generation group meetings. was betrayed and deported to -Belsen. He was one of the fortunate few who survived. My parents married in 1947. I am the Since the Brexit vote and the first Coronavirus lockdown there has younger of their two children. been a massive surge of interest in this area and increase in demand for both groups and one-to-one therapy. In my private practice How old were you when you learned about your many of my current clients have a Holocaust background and this heritage? year I will be facilitating three 12-session developmental groups as I was always aware. In the decimated Jewish well as a number of one-off specialist workshops. community in which I grew up there was a shared strong sense of loss, although it remained mainly unspoken. I remember emotional How can I find out more about transgenerational annual national remembrance evenings on 4 May and the Yizkor transmission of Holocaust trauma? services in Shul. The feeling of communal togetherness made such I am writing a special feature for the July issue of the AJR Journal an impression that I sought to replicate it over 30 years in Pinner about the common issues experienced by my clients in relation to by organising, with the help of a fantastic team, Yom Hashoah their heritage. My article will look at these issues as well as how one commemorations. can heal.

How has it affected you personally? I did not have an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. Although it’s really only now that I am a grandmother myself that I BEING SECOND realise what I missed by not having my Oma and Opa. GENERATION What is the most important message you want to pass on to your own children? On Sunday 6 June Gaby Glassman will be leading an online The importance of thinking independently and acting on it early. “If workshop especially for the children of Holocaust survivors and it is to be, it’s up to me.” Indifference makes one a bystander, and refugees. The 90 minute workshop is being hosted by JW3 and that allows perpetrators to carry out their evil. will allow participants to explore together how being Second Generation has affected their lives. How did you become so involved with the AJR? In 1996 I approached the AJR regarding an event for the 60th For further information and to book see anniversary of Kristallnacht at the Harrow Arts Centre. The AJR’s https://www.jw3.org.uk/whats-on/being-second-generation-3 remit at the time did not include Holocaust remembrance but it

10 AJR Journal | June 2021 Liberators through the eyes of the liberated

The last two months saw the anniversaries of the liberation of The young Major Berney several notorious concentration camps. Generation2Generation of survival and liberation are told by other (G2G) has been busy helping Major Berney with his book Liberating G2G speakers. Amongst those former the children and grandchildren Belsen prisoners was Istvan Wirth, father of G2G speaker David Wirth. Istvan and his family of Holocaust survivors to share were forced to live in the ghetto stories of liberation, including the Bergen-Belsen may have been liberated before he was marched the long distance but the British and Canadian forces to Flossenbürg camp. Eventually he was stories of some of the liberators. suddenly found themselves responsible forced on a death march to Dachau, which G2G’s Kezia Niman shares one for 60,000 sick, starving victims of Nazi was liberated by American soldiers. persecution. Major Berney had a senior such story. role in turning the concentration camp into Jeanette Marx’s mother, Mascha a displaced persons’ camp, providing food, Nachmansson, who started her ordeal In April 1945 Major Leonard Berney was water and medical care for the survivors. in the Łódz´ ghetto, was deported to one of the first British soldiers to set foot He even helped Jewish refugees relocate Auschwitz and Ravensbrück camps. She inside Bergen-Belsen and what he saw to Palestine, despite being ordered by his was rescued in April 1945 as part of a stayed with him for the rest of his life. superiors not to get involved. “It warms deal made by the Swedish authorities He passed away in 2016 and G2G is the cockles of my heart,” says John as he to transport Scandinavian prisoners of now helping his son, John, to develop a thinks of the families living in Israel today war and Jewish women prisoners in presentation of his father’s experiences. thanks to Major Berney’s help. the famous “White Buses” to safety in John is determined to continue retelling . his father’s story to help raise awareness Despite his achievements, John’s father of how quickly discrimination can lead never talked for years about his role in Maralyn Turgel’s father, Sam Gardener, to atrocity. He has inherited a wealth of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Like also experienced the ordeal of several testimony from his father, including video many touched by the horrors inflicted concentration camps, finally being footage, photos and written memoirs, but by the Nazis, he suffered flashbacks liberated by the Americans from says that “without G2G I wouldn’t have but felt unable to express what he Mauthausen in May 1945. Sam described known where to start”. had seen. “I think he was 75 when he his liberators as “Angels from Heaven”. actually told me,” John remembers, “It Born in London in 1920, Leonard Berney was a subject he couldn’t deal with for G2G focuses on helping second and joined the army as an officer as soon as a long time.” Later in life Major Berney third-generation survivors present their war broke out. He quickly rose through began to share his story, developing “… family stories and continue the retelling the ranks, thanks to his natural leadership a driving ambition to talk about it, in of their loved ones’ testimonies. The skills, and was responsible for training the hope that it might prevent another charity is currently helping over 30 over 3,000 soldiers in the anti-aircraft atrocity”. John recalls how increasing future speakers to develop presentations, division. At the end of 1944 he was further motivated his assisting them with their research skills sent to fight with the army in Germany, father, spurring him to write his book and integration of survivor testimony into but nothing could have prepared Major Liberating Belsen Concentration Camp. an engaging PowerPoint presentation. Berney for what he was about to witness. His testimony will also be permanently It also assists in developing speakers’ exhibited in the UK Holocaust memorial presentation skills for both in-person “He saw piles of dead bodies, it was a and learning centre which is being and online events. During the first terrible shock - in addition to the stench, planned in Westminster. four months of this year G2G speakers which is what everyone remembers,” reached over 8,000 people. says John, recounting his father’s first April and May 1945 also witnessed the impressions of a concentration camp. liberation of other camps and these stories www.generation2generation.org.uk

11 AJR Journal | June 2021 IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF? The second of our series of articles written by the Wiener Holocaust Library’s senior archivist Howard Falksohn looks at Walter Gyssling, Büro Wilhelmstrasse and the roots of anti-Nazism.

On 28 January this year the Neo- nazi, Stephan Ernst (b.1973), was convicted of the murder of the CDU politician, president of the Kassel District government administration, Walter Lübcke (1953-2019). He had been executed at point blank range on 2 June 2019 whilst relaxing at his home. Lübcke had voiced support for his party leader’s open arms policy toward the reception of refugees. The act sent a shockwave through German society.

It’s a sobering thought that the last time an MP in a German democracy had been assassinated by rightwing extremists was 99 years previously when Walter Rathenau (1867-1922), the German Foreign Minister, was murdered by members of an extreme right-wing terrorist group, Organisation Consul, on 24 June 1922. Both the Walter Gyssling, c1950s fact that Rathenau was a German Jew from a wealthy family and that he was (erroneously) perceived to have sold out military ambitions and became politicised in journalism. It was whilst in , Germany by agreeing to the terms of the through the November revolution and an the epicentre of National Socialism, Treaty of Rapallo, which renounced all active campaigner for students’ rights. that he began attending Nazi meetings previous territorial claims against Russia, and rallies as an observer and also to contributed to the assailants’ motives. In the immediate aftermath of the speak out and remonstrate. On at least Rathenau assassination, the Kartell one occasion he became embroiled in This latter incident was significant in Republikanischen Studenten was a violent street fight with Nazi thugs. that it set the young idealist, Walter founded with the mission to oppose Gyssling was well-built, a trained Gyssling (1903-1980), on a trajectory of grassroots Nationalism and Antisemitism boxer and fearless and could therefore active anti-Nazism and indirectly shaped within the German student community hold his own. On another occasion the pre-history of the Wiener Holocaust and to support the values of the he managed to ward off an assault by Library. democratic republic. The co-founder of thugs in a beer hall rally by donning a this organisation, Wolfgang Hallgarten monocle and ordering the rabble in a Gyssling was born in Munich into a (1901-1975), invited Gyssling, then a stentorian voice to be re-seated, which cultured, middle class Protestant family. student himself, to organise a chapter they duly obeyed. His mother was an opera singer and his of the organisation in central Germany. father died shortly after Gyssling’s birth. The work entailed establishing high Throughout the course of the 1920s Most of his uncles and male cousins school groups and fund raising amongst Gyssling had become quite the expert became career soldiers so it was no democratically inclined business owners- on Nazism, so much so that his surprise that Gyssling should volunteer usually Jewish. Shortly thereafter Gyssling services were called upon by a newly for the cadet corps. However, through moved back to Munich where he formed office of Germany’s largest the influence of one or two key figures, continued his studies until his finances Jewish organisation, Centralverein socialist and pacifist, he dropped his ran out and then embarked on a career deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen

12 AJR Journal | June 2021

Glaubens (CV) in 1929. Its remit was to • Alphabetical files on leaders and combat Nazism. Büro Wilhelmstrasse subordinates of NSDAP (BW), named after its location in was close to the offices of Sources for the archive comprised: the SPD newspaper Vorwärts. It newspapers, flyers, posters, leaflets and was also known by the various titles books. In addition CV branches sent press Ausschuss für Volksaufklärung, cuttings. Staff also attended court cases Bund deutscher Aufbau, Deutsche against Nazis and attended Nazi meetings Volksgemeinschaftdienst. and rallies.

The hierarchy of the CV had begun The material was used: to create press to take seriously the threat which releases, produce exhibitions, for the the Nazis posed to Jews. However, production of more in-depth articles and since the CV’s constitution precluded as counter-propaganda. The archive was involvement in political activity, and used for backdrops for press conferences Slogan produced by Büro they were keen for their campaign and the production of placards in political Wilhelmstrasse which is a play on not to be perceived as purely Jewish, campaigns. It supported research into the Nazi antisemtic slogan ‘Juden it was necessary to hide the BW’s the social structure, ideology, methods of sind unser Unglück’ (Jews are our links to the mother organisation. Hans agitation of the Nazis and their positions misfortune) Reichmann, who later became the on questions of public life. chairman of the AJR, played a key role in the management of the CV. He was BW published Der Anti-Nazi, which Reichmann eventually came to a prime mover in the establishment of amongst other things exposed the London. BW and became its director. He was hypocrisy of the Nazi assertions regarding responsible for securing funding to run Jewish involvement during WWI whilst The Jewish Central Information Office, the organisation and proved adept at highlighting the avoidance of active which was founded in Amsterdam in cultivating relationships with politicians, service by many leading Nazis. 1934, drew on much of the expertise disaffected Nazis and businessmen. and methodology acquired by BW. Notwithstanding the service it provided, Alfred Wiener, the latter’s co-director, A retired police officer, Lt. Colonel Max BW couldn’t halt the inexorable rise had worked closely with Hans Brunzlow, appears to have been the of the Nazis and immediately after the Reichmann during their CV days and titular head of the BW. Presumably seizure of power the entire archive was their relationship continued well after chosen because he wasn’t Jewish, he sent away to be pulped - to protect the end of WWII. had enjoyed a close connection with the lives of those whose names were the CV, and had written a number of contained within. Gyssling fled ultimately Since Luebcke’s murder in June 2019, articles in the CV Zeitung, deploring to Switzerland, where he remained 12 more people have been murdered by the desecration of the graves of the rest of his life as a journalist. Hans right wing extremists in Germany. Jewish WWI dead and honouring the contribution and sacrifice that Jewish soldiers had made. In total there were www.fishburnbooks.com five employees but Walter Gyssling, as switch on electrics the archivist and journalist, arguably Jonathan Fishburn buys and sells Jewish and Hebrew books, Rewires and all household played the most important part. ephemera and items of Jewish interest. electrical work He is a member of the Antiquarian PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 BW amassed 580 dossiers of Booksellers Association. information on the Nazis arranged into Contact Jonathan on Mobile: 0795 614 8566 020 8455 9139 or 07813 803 889 30 sub divisions with 100,000 reference for more information slips. The archive was arranged into six main categories • Positions of NSDAP on national and WHY NOT CONVERT JACKMAN . international issues YOUR OLD CINE • Relations with other German parties FILMS SILVERMAN and organisations AND PUT THEM COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS • Nazi antisemitic agitation ON DVDS • Nazi excesses, desecrations of FREE OF CHARGE? graves etc Telephone: 020 7209 5532 Contact Alf Buechler at [email protected] • The struggle against the nazis or tel 020 8554 5635 or 07488 774 414 [email protected]

13 AJR Journal | June 2021 REVVING UP VOLKSWAGEN

The company whose history began with the production of the Beetle for the German people has developed into a global player with 12 brands, 120 production sites on four continents, more than 620,000 employees and more than 10 million vehicles sold per year. But Hitler inspects the new ‘People’s Car’ at the Fallensleben factory in 1938. On his left is the car’s alleged designer, Dr Ferdinand Porsche. Popperfoto, Getty Images its human rights record is murky at best. Ruth Barnett believes that Joseph Ganz, son of Hugo Markus Ganz, in 2017, in spite of the emissions scandal in its story of unethical behaviour can the famous Frankfurter Zeitung journalist America between 2008 to 2015, that cost still be redeemed if the will is there in Mainz, fought for Germany in WWI and Volkswagen 15 billion dollars and could then became an engineer, designing and yet give rise to future court cases here to prevent genocide against the building prototype cars as well as founding in the UK. The scandal revolved around Motor-Kritik Uyghur in Xinjiang. the journal . In 1933 Ganz the company cheating emissions control displayed his revolutionary lightweight by inserting illegal software in vehicles to volkswagen Maikaefer (ladybird or beetle) hide from emissions tests, thus cheating Multinational Volkswagen has many with rear engine, independent suspension customers into buying vehicles that showrooms and factories abroad, including and many other advanced and patented appeared to be within emissions limits. China. It owns Porsche, Lamborghini, features, at the Berlin Motor Show. Six Bentley and Bugatti. Volkswagen can easily years later Hitler’s German Labour Front In 1985 Volkswagen founded a China afford to rise above its unsavoury past displayed the first KdF in the 1939 Berlin group based on a new brand, the Jetta, history and become a moral leader in the Motor Show to encourage people to make and began manufacturing cars in the region business world if it starts valuing people down payments to order their own KdF, of Xinjiang in northwest China. This is the above pure profit. which they never received, as the money same region that is now in the spotlight went into the Nazi war machine. During the for its appalling treatment of its Muslim Volkswagenwerk was founded in May 1937 war Jews and other forced labourers were Uyghur community, an issue which has by the German Labour Front under Adolf used to produce Volkswagen vehicles. risen rapidly up the political and trade Hitler, who employed Ferdinand Porsche agenda. While there is no evidence as yet to design a “People’s car” at a price that Ganz was arrested several times on of Volkswagen using Uyghurs as forced ordinary families could afford. Hitler called trumped up charges which he bravely labour, the company has been repeatedly it the KdF or Kraft durch Freude (Strength fought in the courts and continued to do slammed by the European Parliament for through Joy) to restore ordinary people’s so even when he fled to Switzerland and not taking a firmer stance. well-being after the great depression. This finally, after the war, in Australia, where he was doubly devious. Not only had Porsche died aged 69 in 1967. When the German I believe that Volkswagen has a chance betrayed his Jewish friend by stealing the government denationalised Volkswagen in to address its previous unethical status patents and design drawings for the People’s 1960, neither Ganz nor the forced labourers by withdrawing its factory from Xinjiang. car, but Hitler garnered money from advance were recompensed as most of them Remaining in that region and doing orders for thousands of KdFs which he had were dead and Ganz had been carefully business with China would be the no intention of delivering, as they were wiped out of the history of Volkswagen equivalent of rewarding the CCP for converted into vehicles used for Hitler’s until a Dutch engineer, Paul Schilperoord, genocide just as Volkswagen’s use of Nazi war. Added to this, the Volkswagenwerk researched the history and exposed forced labour during WW2 rewarded the in Wolfsburg used slave labour to run the Volkswagen’s unethical behaviour and the Nazis for the Holocaust. production lines in the factories during real founder of Volkswagen in his book, WW2. The Extraordinary Life of Joseph Ganz, If you would like to join me in protesting published in 2012 (RVP New York). about the situation in Xinjiang and urging A very unethical start for the Volkswagen Volkswagen to withdraw its business from business and not at all what its genuine By this time Volkswagen had produced China until the genocide is stopped please founding father had intended, for it was not many newer models that were highly either contact your local Volkswagen dealer Ferdinand Porsche but his previous friend, successful and filled its coffers. By 2016 and/or write to Volkswagen’s Joseph Ganz, who originated the idea of a Volkswagen had achieved the largest CEO, Tobias Heine, at ‘people’s car’ that any family could afford. worldwide sales of vehicles and did so again [email protected]

14 AJR Journal | June 2021

ANTISEMITISM IN HUNGARY TODAY

Blowing the shofar on the bank of the Danube River at a ceremony dedicating two new synagogues and two new Torah scrolls in Budapest.

There is a long history of Treaty of Trianon. These communities are curriculum. The title is The Cross on antisemitism in Hungary, and culturally closer to Hungary than to their Little Anna’s Grave. The story goes that “new countries” and Fidesz also no doubt kindly Transylvanian villagers hide Mr it is still prevalent today, but harbours the covert idea of getting the Weiss from German soldiers and from it now appears mostly in a territories back into Hungarian control). Hungarian gendarmes who come to different form. apprehend him. Yet, despite risking their From the religious point, Hungary has two lives for the community’s only Jew, Mr The powerful ruling party, Fidesz, is Jewish organisations: Mazsisz which is Weiss repays the villagers’ humanity led by the Oxford educated Viktor something like the United Synagogue and and courage with cold indifference. Orban, who is a clever nationalistic Emih which is Lubavitch/Chabad. The latter The village is occupied by drunken, ill- politician. He realises that the majority is supportive of Fidesz and receives money disciplined Red Army troops who terrorise of Hungarians today have antisemitic from the government. The government the locals. Mr Weiss is the only Russian views but he also knows that this does publicises the fact that there is a very speaker but he declines to intercede on not play well in the West. Therefore, active Jewish cultural life in Hungary: two the villagers’ behalf. Seated in a car next this is where the “arch enemy” of the theatres, the Golem and the Spinoza, to a uniformed Soviet official, he tells the nation, the obviously Jewish George kosher restaurants and Balint Haz (the villagers they can turn with confidence to Soros, comes in. In the eyes of Orban, equivalent of JW3); notable Synagogues the Comrade Commanding Officer. He is George Soros is an archetypal Jew: a have been renewed in Budapest and driven away to start a new and privileged financier, a speculator, a cosmopolitan. elsewhere in the country. Many books are life as a Soviet collaborator. Hungarian hatred of Jews can be published by Jewish authors. It is also worth focused on him. This then is done very noting that, at the United Nations, Hungary Fidesz presents Hungarians as victims in openly, loudly, provocatively. As a result, consistently votes in favour of Israel more the war, but the fact is that they were Orban can attract the large antisemitic often than the U.K does. active and enthusiastic participants on the vote, but can also protest that Fidesz is German side. In the so called House of not antisemitic, it is just against Soros, What is there to complain about then? A Horrors, where victims of the Germans whose actions they do not agree with. great deal. Whilst proclaiming antisemitism and later the Communists were tortured, has no place in their party, they do precious the majority of exhibits relate to the What is Fidesz doing to counter any little to eradicate it. Frequently the Communist period. The Holocaust is accusation of antisemitism? Quite a lot, offenders are “punished”, only to be soon minimised. in fact. The government gave substantial reinstated. amounts for the renovation of the Recently a government minister was Jewish Hospital in Budapest, and for the On one of the notable examples of asked why Hungary was not admitting renovation of several synagogues, such antisemitism, I would like to quote refugees. He replied “We are protecting as those in Subotica and Zenta; and they professor Stephen I Pogany. He writes our Jewish community by not letting them supplied kosher food to Jews in Serbia. about a short story by Albert Vass, a prolific in”. Now we know…. (Fidesz actively supports the Hungarian but second rate writer with a dubious war minorities in the territories lost under the record; the story is now in the schools’ Janos Fisher

15 AJR Journal | June 2021 COMPARE AND CONTRAST I was pleased that David Herman of his younger brother in January 1945. touched on the subject of writing Such small acts determined life or death.

about the Holocaust (April). I I, and 164 others, were sent from would have liked Boy 30529 to Auschwitz to Friedland, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen, to make aircraft propellers. have been included. In January 1945 several groups of death- marchers passed our gate and left their I would have omitted Anne Frank who, dead behind for us to bury. Aged 16, I being hidden, cannot tell us anything. It is helped to put them into mass graves. I popular, but her enthusiasm for the Dutch shall never forget how light they were, was entirely wrong, as was her belief in just skin stretched over bones. Starvation the goodness of mankind, for which there had caused the body to feed on itself until is no evidence. there was nothing left. Frank Bright recommends the memoir Before deportation from Prague: Boy 30529. Felix lost his little brother History does not show improvements. The David Cesarani warned us not to believe and his mother, but he had his father UN did nothing to prevent mass murder eyewitnesses because they are miniscule in England and after Theresienstadt, in Rwanda, the Sudan or Cambodia. in number and their memories cannot Auschwitz and Buchenwald, was Jews suffered throughout history: first be relied upon. But these were my own reunited with him and became the from converts to Christianity: Emperor experiences: Food allocation was aimed youngest Fellow of the Royal Society Constantine was anything but a saint. at starving Jews, to reduce their immune and Professor at Imperial College. Jews were burned at the stake by the system. There were no dairy products, Inquisition, naturally for the good of their neither fresh nor dried fruit, no fish or souls. Catholics were behind the trial of fish products. Also no clothing coupons, was as nothing compared to what awaited Alfred Dreyfuss. Poles, although suffering a curfew, no use of public transport, those few who passed the first and later from German persecution themselves, no telephone, (private or public), no Selections in Auschwitz. Of my transport would divulge a Jew’s hiding place for the admission to laundries, museums, sporting to Auschwitz of 1,500 men, women, boys price of a bottle of Vodka. events, musical performances: a complete and small children, only 78 saw liberation 7 exclusion from civic life. months later. A death rate of 94.8%. If the Holocaust shows anything it is that it was entirely one-sided, the German and I have a class photo, taken around May Slave Labour Camps: Austrian victims having fought for and laid 1942, which was hidden by Czech friends. Schwarzheide, an open air plant making down their lives for what they wrongly Of the identified 131 children, their aircraft fuel from brown coal; Germany, in assumed was their country. Am I really siblings and parents, 107 were murdered preparing for war, had over 40 such plants. a member of the human race? Not that (81.7%) and 24 (18.3%) saw liberation. 1,000 prisoners from the ghetto who were long ago the Germans thought of me as The class photo shows everybody wearing sent to Auschwitz and had survived the subhuman and treated me and six million a yellow star. selection there, arrived at Schwarzheide of my race accordingly. to build slit trenches and air-raid shelters The ghetto of Theresienstadt: (which they were not allowed to use), and Hillel said “If I am not for myself, who Used in the early 1940s as a transit camp to defuse unexploded bombs. The plant will be for me?” The answer is simply for Jews into the unknown East from was frequently bombed by the USAAF and “nobody”, as evidenced by the Evian which no traveller had ever returned. prisoners suffered many dead and injured, Conference, the Swiss turning back There, husbands were separated from some by direct hits. 316 prisoners of the fleeing Jews, the USA reducing the wives, children from parents. Hunger, fear original 1,000 survived. number of entry visas available to Jews, of being put on a transport, bedbugs, only Switzerland suggesting Germany puts a an occasional communal short shower, Kurt Huppert was my classmate. Both large “J” into Jewish passports, the fate of vast overcrowding. Outbreaks of polio of us arrived and left the ghetto on the the passengers of the ship St. Louis, the and of typhus due to malnutrition. Hair same transports, both of us were selected shutting of the gates of Palestine in the and nails stopped growing. for work on arrival at Auschwitz. On the hour of our greatest need. second night the manager of the firm, who Youngsters were better able to survive: had an armaments contract, came into our “But if I am only for myself what am I?” of those who remained in the ghetto hut to pick his slaves. He remained close Answer: I am an example of a marked, throughout, 95.3% survived, whereas of to the door, near which I happened to hunted, orphaned, robbed, starved, those under 15 years of age who were be standing. He pointed at me, but Kurt, persecuted and treated-with-contempt sent east only 4.7% survived. Everything standing at the far end of the hut, was not Jew who wants nothing more than to is relative and the ghetto of Theresienstadt selected. He died of starvation in the arms see justice done to him and to his race. I

16 AJR Journal | June 2021

Philip Wolf on A Dutch life the banks of the Rhine As a child during the war I was in hiding in The Netherlands and came to the UK in 1956. Shortly afterwards I met my future wife, Brita Galton, of Galton Flowers, Golders Green - in a greenhouse. Last year we celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary.

Recently my sister found an old suitcase in the loft with lots of old papers relating to my father and a photograph of him with his rowing boat. He was a keen rower on the river Rhine, near Cologne. He escaped on this boat to Rotterdam: the strong one-way current helped.

There were also eight testimonials written at the end of the The Anne Frank war, testifying to his wartime activities: in 1941 he joined house before the Dutch underground, transporting weapons etc., on it became his bicycle. On one occasion he was arrested and tortured internationally to give names, which he refused to do. There were also famous documents giving the names of the people involved. He was then taken under armed guard, not as a Jew which he managed to hide, but as a suspected member of the Dutch underground. He jumped from a moving train and was able to escape.

After the war he found a letter from the Dutch police, addressed to his last known address, stating that he committed an illegal act by jumping from a moving train and had to pay a fine of 6 Dutch Florins. After the war the Dutch government offered my father Dutch nationality free of charge, on account of his wartime activities.

The photo of the Anne Frank house was taken years before it became such a popular tourist destination. Our daughter Katrien Wolf was the first voice of Anne Frank in the demonstration film after the house opened.

Ed Wolf

am not really asking for much but I am even denied that little: when I asked the German Pension Office in 1998 for a benuri.org pension from the firm for which I had been made to work as slave labourer, and which is doing well to this day, DISCOVER they said: “Your application is dismissed because your employer made no pension 200 different ways to play and make ‘art’ contributions for you during your employment”. with your grandchildren at benuri.org

Frank Bright THE FIRST FULL SCALE VIRTUAL MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTRE

BenUri_AJR_120X60.indd 9 21/10/2020 18:04 17 AJR Journal | June 2021

rights march to Montgomery. JEWS DON’T COUNT REVIEWS By David Baddiel Soviet threats including the Cuban Times Literary Supplement INVISIBLE WALLS: A JOURNALIST IN missile crisis are vividly explained and SEARCH OF HER LIFE she even took a turn at royal reporting The title is a bit misleading as the By Hella Pick with the Queen’s controversial visit to actual premise of this book is that Weidenfeld & Nicolson Quebec in 1964. Hella’s mother worried – in the eyes of many people – it’s continually about her daughter when antisemitism that doesn’t count, or Journalist Hella Pick reveals her she was overseas, phoning the Guardian at least it counts nowhere near as extraordinarily fascinating life – editor with concerns! much as other types of racism. from arrival on a Kindertransport aged eleven to a trailblazing thirty- Her career involved long periods in Baddiel argues that many people five year career on the prestigious Europe covering every significant who describe themselves as Guardian newspaper – in this riveting event from Cold War negotiations progressive anti-racists pay autobiography. to life in communist Eastern Europe. significantly less attention to what We learn about visiting behind the has been historically one of the Born in Vienna, Hella came to England Berlin Wall, and differences between worst and most murderous forms of on March 15, 1939 as number communist countries and the impact racism than to almost all others. He 4,672 of 10,000 children brought of a Polish Pope. In Yugoslavia she makes a convincing argument that out of Germany and Austria after explores the authority of Marshall Tito on all sides of the political spectrum Kristallnacht. She soon found herself holding together a different brand of there is an extraordinary capacity being educated in the Lake District communism which fragmented after to fail to consider Jewish people, where her mother had secured a job his death. In Paris she found herself or to forget about, fail to notice, or on a domestic visa. Her grandmother covering the 1968 student riots, general downplay racism against Jews in a perished in Theresienstadt. strike and General de Gaulle’s rôle. way that they would never do about almost any other form of racism. Money was always a struggle but Throughout she is adept at explaining Hella was a talented student finding simply exactly how a crisis arose, In an attempt to explain why herself at the London School of who the main players were and how antisemitism is often placed at the Economics at 17. Soon she ended up they coped. She sheds a clear light on bottom of the ‘racism hierarchy’ commercial editor of the periodical Soviet politicians – chatting to Mikhail Baddiel examines the concepts of West Africa. As virtually the only Gorbachev on board ship – and enjoyed privilege and whiteness in relation to woman in a man’s world, she was a personal friendship with Willy Brandt. Jews, offering this as an argument reporting back from Nigeria, Sierra This enabled her to come to terms with for why Jews often get overlooked Leone and Ghana. Her main interest Germany’s Nazi past. Reporting home by the progressive left. was constitutional change and the without the aid of modern technology, politicians who were driving it at a she gave succinct accounts of often He also looks as the number of time when the writing was on the wall highly complex political situations. anti-Jewish symbols and words for colonial rule. History brings its own perspective that still go unchallenged, covering but Hella enlightens by telling how it everything from Shakespeare’s Before long she was Guardian felt being there at the time. The book Shylock to Dickens’ Fagin to correspondent for the United also covers personal heartache and an Tottenham Hotspur’s ‘Yids’. He Nations in New York and reporting unsuccessful attempt to produce a book rightly questions why the Y word is on Presidential elections from on the Aga Khan involving the most accepted when nobody with even Washington. With a great talent for fascinating travelling. a hint of WOKE about them would networking and friendship she met even dream of using the ‘N’ or ‘P’ everyone who was anyone on the After she left the Guardian, Hella words. world political stage, won trust and reinvented herself exploring her Jewish forged rapports with world leaders. roots, spending time in Austria especially It is a concise, powerful and well when writing a biography of colourful written book which I think would After President Kennedy’s funeral and prominent Nazi hunter Simon be an insightful read for anyone. she described the “steadfast bearing Wiesenthal. Afterwards she investigated Baddiel writes with clarity and at and dignity” of his widow Jacqueline Austria’s role in the Nazi era in her times humour, providing what “one child clinging to each hand”. book Guilty Victim. She then found many people might see as a well- Descriptions of election campaigns further fulfilment working with fellow argued and very necessary wake-up are interesting and she travelled with refugee George Weidenfeld’s Institute call. Let’s just hope that it ends up President Nixon to Moscow, later for Strategic Dialogue, although personal getting read by the sort of people witnessing his resignation. She was insecurity has confronted her with a who find themselves attracted to the in Selma, Alabama following Martin series of invisible walls. overt statement within the title. Luther King as he led the epic civil Janet Weston Jo Briggs

18 AJR Journal | June 2021

OBITUARIES

SYLVIA CAROL MATUS WOLFGANG MARC SCHATZBERGER Born: 26 July 1939, London Born: 23 July 1926, Vienna Died: 3 March 2021, London Died: 24 January 2021, York

It is with very great regret that the AJR learned My Opa, Wolfi, grew up in an assimilated Polish/ of the passing of our colleague and friend, Jewish family, the only child of Maximilian and Sylvia Matus. Ida (née Lewinter).

Born in London, Sylvia attended Peterborough and St Margaret’s Opa inherited his mother’s musical talent, his accordion chosen as school in Harrow and went on to Pitman’s College, where she one of the few possessions he could bring to England: his parents took a secretarial diploma. Her first job was working for Dr Hans made the heartbreaking decision to send him away from Vienna on a Granby, a refugee, with whom she stayed for two years: this Kindertransport in 1939. was Sylvia’s first introduction to the German Jewish community. Opa’s parents were on one of the final transports to Auschwitz in Sylvia then became PA to Sidney Bernstein, chairman of Red 1944, but it was two years later when he was notified of their death Arrow Rentals (better known as Granada TV) just when by the International Red Cross. Coronation Street began. Together with her boss she was also instrumental in the planning and construction of the Toddington On arrival in England, Opa was cared for in a Jewish children’s hostel Service Station on the M1. A special perk of her job at Granada in Margate, soon moving to Liverpool and then to Manchester, to be was being permitted to fly in the company jet between the looked after by an uncle and aunt who had managed to immigrate, offices in Manchester and her family home in London. and forming a surrogate sibling relationship with his two cousins. Opa graduated in Electrical Engineering at the University of Manchester In 1961 Sylvia met Howard on a blind date and they were Institute of Science and Technology, eventually becoming a company married ten months later. It was a love story that lasted for sixty manager with TAC Construction Engineers, where his projects took years and which produced two wonderful daughters, Michele him around the globe. and Janine. He met his wife, Rosl (née Fried), at the Young Austria group in In 1979, when the girls were old enough, Sylvia began to work Manchester – although they had attended the same school in Vienna. for the AJR. She ran the highly successful employment bureau, a Their marriage spanned 74 years, and spawned two children, six position she held until 1987 when the newly formed Day Centre grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. That five of Opa’s (financially assisted by the Paul Balint Trust) moved from Belsize descendants have held clinical careers in the NHS is clear evidence of Square Synagogue to Cleve Road in London’s West Hampstead. the contribution made by refugees to British society. Sylvia remained as head of the Day Centre for nineteen years. This was doubtless a message which Opa hoped to convey to the Always elegant, Sylvia personally greeted the members as they 10,000+ young people he reached through his talks for the Holocaust arrived, invariably knowing their names and family histories. She Educational Trust. Retirement in York brought new enterprises, was unbelievably caring and totally devoted to her work. It was including violin-making, wood-turning, and volunteering for various during these years that Sylvia instigated the AJR holidays, when organisations. But Opa’s greatest impact was, arguably, in Holocaust she would take around fifty members to English seaside resorts, education and he was awarded the BEM in 2020, receiving the a highlight in the annual calendar, which continues to this day. honour at home, a few weeks before passing away aged 94.

In 2006 Sylvia retired and was unfortunately diagnosed with Opa’s accounts of the Holocaust served not just to educate and Parkinson’s disease. She bore her illness with dignity and courage broaden understanding of the worst impacts of prejudice and and never complained. She saw life through rose-coloured discrimination. Disturbed by the political direction of travel in many spectacles and was loved and respected by friends and family, as Western nations late in his life, Opa felt a responsibility to teach young well as by AJR members, staff and volunteers. people how to recognise the seeds of injustice before it grows out of control. He was a model European citizen, with an impeccable moral Sylvia will be sorely missed. compass: we can all learn from his kindness, resilience and warmth.

Susie Kaufman and Carol Rossen Jacob George

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ZOOMS AHEAD Details of all meetings and the links to join will appear in the e-newsletter each Monday.

Wednesday 2 June @ 2pm Nick Dobson - The Extraordinary Sherlock Holmes https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/86214393853 Wednesday 2 June @4pm Brenda Dinsdale - The Children of Chernobyl https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/87166409897 Thursday 3 June @2pm Ben M Freeman - Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ajr-book-club-with-ben-m-freeman-jewish-pride-rebuilding- a-people-tickets-152855283267 Thursday 3 June @4pm Richard Freedman - Holocaust Education in South Africa https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/87363377951 Monday 7 June @10.30am Online Yoga: Get fit where you sit https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/83404920061 Tuesday 8 June @3pm Nick Lander in conversation with his aunt Ellen Bottner, a Kindertransportee who was adopted by Nick’s grandparents https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/81127505854 Wednesday 9 June @2pm AJR Book Discussion (no speaker) - An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/88234118642 Thursday 10 June @2pm Bertha Leverton’s story as told by her daughter Mirry https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/81942771514 Thursday 10 June @4pm Rabbi Rubin - My Zeidy: Did I trigger memories that were too painful? https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/83250623951 Tuesday 15 June @2pm Sidney Austin’s ‘Happy Hour’ singalong https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/85390280609 Wednesday 16 June @2pm Laura Nicholls - The Romans: What they ate and what they did for us https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/84814640480 Thursday 17 June @2pm Yolanda Bentham - The story of Ferramonti di Tarsia Internment Camp https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/81546826094 Monday 21 June @10.30am Online Yoga: Get fit where you sit https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/85857624637 Tuesday 22 June @2pm Michael Bennett – My father Boris, the wedding photographer https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/82987228943 Wednesday 23 June @2pm Philippa Bernard - Roderigo Lopez: Jewish Physician to Queen Elizabeth l https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/87233212693 Thursday 24 June @3.30pm Kinder Contact Project https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/88941197274 Tuesday 29 June @2pm Judy Karbritz – Victor Borge: The clown prince of https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/88417903736 Wednesday 30 June @2pm Gillian Walnes Perry - Fascinating Lives from the Northern European Royal Families https://ajr-org-uk.zoom.us/j/83624669418

The Dutch ambassador to the UK and Princess She came to the UK in 1945 at the behest © EMBASSY OF THE KINGDOM NETHERLANDS DUTCH Mabel of Orange-Nassau were among the 100- of the Dutch Ministry of War and met her COURAGE plus guests to join the online honours ceremony husband, the journalist Hugo van De Perre, for the 97-year old Londoner, who was while working at the BBC. She later became The AJR congratulates liberated from Ravensbrück on 23 April 1945. a teacher and has volunteered with the Selma Van de Perre on International Ravensbruck Committee since the royal distinction she Selma fought in the Dutch resistance, spending 1980, sharing her story with thousands of years concealing her Jewish identity under schoolchildren. Last year she chronicled recently received from the alias ‘Marga’ as she criss-crossed the her remarkable stint in the resistance in her her native Netherlands. Netherlands, delivering critical documents. memoir My Name is Selma.

Published by The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), a company limited by guarantee. Registered office: Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, Finchley, London N3 1HF Registered in England and with charity number: 1149882 and company number: 8220991 Telephone 020 8385 3070 e-mail [email protected] AssociationofJewishRefugees @TheAJR_ For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters, 82b Woodside Park Road, London N12 8RY Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected]

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