PAUL BALINT - AJR DAY CENTRE Architect Lucas Mellinger, He Superintended the Work of Converting This Building to Our Require Ments'
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Volume XLII No. November 1987 £2 (to non-members) this kind. Supported by a small committee, with PAUL BALINT - AJR DAY CENTRE architect Lucas Mellinger, he superintended the work of converting this building to our require ments'. The Official Opening Unstinting support (Mr. Marx said) had been given by our staff, all of whom, especially the AJR's Administrator, Mrs. Lydia Lassman, had he new Paul Balint-AJR Day Centre at 15 Centre as 'the biggest project ever undertaken by put in much extra work, well beyond the call of Cleve Road, West Hampstead, N.W.6, the AJR'. It was something intended to be of duty. Special thanks were due to the Belsize Twas officially opened on 15 September in benefit not only to ourselves and our members Square Synagogue for its generosity in permitting the presence of the Member of Parliament for but also to our environment, the people among us, for a trial run of some ISmonths, the useof its Hampstead, Sir Geoffrey Finsberg; the Deputy whom we live. Our history in this country showed assembly hall. Mayor of Camden, Mr. B. Budd, and other how we had adapted to new surroundings, not representatives of the local community. The just acclimatised but fully integrated into the Finally, we were indebted to the AJR Charit premises, formerly the offices of a Trade Union, British way of life, making in the process a able Trust and more especially to the Paul Balint have been substantially refurbished and redecor substantial contribution to every aspect ofthe life Charitable Trust whose very substantial contribu ated to suit the Centre's special requirements. of the nation of whom we were proud to be a part. tion made it possible for us to acquire this The Centre itself is located on the ground and Mr. Marx stressed the AJR's social welfare building. A warm welcome was extended to Paul lower ground floor of the building, and there is activities where, together with the CBF Residen Balint's nephew. Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Balint, provision for new sheltered accommodation. tial Care and Housing Association, we had also to Mrs. Mary Garay. another member of the Served by lifts, the upper floors house eight accumulated a great deal of experience in the family. flatlets, each consisting of a bed-sittingroom, administration of old age homes providing either Mr. Ludwig Spiro, in his address, briefly traced bathroom and fully equipped kitchenette, to be full care or sheltered accommodation for more the history of the AJR which was founded as far let at registered "fair rents'. All the flats are than 200 elderly refugees. The new Day Centre back as 1941. It took at first, and as soon as war connected by intercom to the flat of the resident would extend these activities. time conditions permitted, a prominent part in caretaker, who is available to render assistance in Mr. Marx went on to mention those to whom the negotiations with the authorities on such any emergency. Although tenants will normally we owed deep gratitude, foremost among them matters as settlement, naturalisation, restitution look after their own needs, the caretaker's duties Mr. Ludwig Spiro, for many years honorary and taxation. This early period came to an end in include maintenance work and running repairs. treasurer of the AJR: Tt was he who promoted the 1960s. Now the duty arose to provide for those the extension of our activities and undertook the AJR'S 'BIGGEST PROJECT EVER' investigations to confirm the need for a project of Continued on p. 3 The Centre will be open to up to 65 visitors per day. It is hoped that the present two-day week can shortly be extended to three days and eventually to a regular Monday-Thursday service. In fact, the Centre will be open also on Tuesdays as from WE ARE MOVING! 17 November. In addition to such established activities as keep fit classes, cards, chess, bingo, the discussion groups, arts and crafts classes and afternoon entertainment, it is hoped to provide From Monday, 30 November 1987 hairdressing and manicure services, a trolley shop and more frequent tea dances. the AJR offices will be at A key factor in any new developments of course must be the availability of volunteer helpers, and it is hoped that they will come Hannah Karminski House forward in adequate numbers. This is indeed a foremost task. Were it a military undertaking it 9 Adamson Road, London NWS 3HX might be given the code name Operation Lifeline, because that is what it is for so many. Our new telephone number will be 01-483 2536 In his speech of welcome, the chairman of the AJR is Mr. C. T. Marx, referred to the Day page 2 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1987 WHAT FRANKFURT'S GHETTO RUINS REVEAL police were ordered to remove the occupiers from the site. At the same time, the Mayor warned the public to beware of "excited zeal' (aufgeregte Shadows on Jewish Life Now Beflissenheit) on behalf of the Jews; no useful service was rendered to the Jewish community if The city of Frankfurt has had an embarrassing to be regarded with personal and collective the problem was allowed to be "emotionalised'. encounter with its past. Work on the site for a shame, as a visible sign of Christian anti-Judaism A number of reactions by local Jews were modern municipal office block laid bare the in the Middle Ages, and they were consequently quoted in a feature article of the Frankfurter foundations of the old Ghetto on Borne Square of decisive importance to any living Christian Rundschau. "We slowly come to realise where we which were long neglected and all but forgotten. faith: the issue was essentially Christian identity stand and how the others feel about us', a young The city council saw no need to treat the ground and Christian history. man remarked; others talked of a 'maddening with special care, and when a petition signed by The Mayor, by contrast, took his stand on the fear to look back', or 'are afraid to say, I'll remain scientists and authors urged some respect for the city council's decision arrived at by a "Parliamen here'. The writer sums up: 'Living without being historic place, the reply was given that an tary majority' whose will, being the basis of the at home — this is the motto of Jewish post-war appropriate memorial would be devised: the rule of law, had to be respected. Accordingly, the history in Frankfurt'. remains of the ghetto would be "integrated' into the building and plaques would record the his torical facts. 9-10 November 1938 This was not however considered sufficient by THE POGROM'S IMPACT ON APPEASEMENT a public opinion now beginning to make itself It is sometimes asked whether the pogrom had an most pro-Germanists from the cause of friendship heard. A demand was made that the building immediate effect on British Appeasement policy. with Germany'. operations be stopped, and among those who Opinions as usual will differ. Pro-German feeling If Ambassador Dirksen's dispatch was a warn protested were representatives not only of the in Britain was still strong; on the other hand, the ing it was not the only one. In an editorial entitled Jewish community but also of the Social Demo German Ambassador, in a report to Berlin, •'A Black Day for Germany", the Times wrote: cratic opposition (in the Council), the Free stated that the pro-German lobby had 'suffered a 'No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Democrats, the Greens, as well as the churches severe shock .. their confidence in the possibility Germany could outdo the tales of burnings and and trade unions. These protests, reinforced by of an Anglo-German understanding is shaken, beatings, of blackguardedly assaults upon de an occupation of the site, did not prevail with the their effectiveness is crippled' (which may or may fenceless and innocent people . Nations cannot Council's Christian Democratic majority though not have been a veiled warning by the Conserva truly be brought to book save by the conse certain concessions were not ruled out. and the tive Ambassador). quences of their own excesses'. Mayor, Herr Wolfram Briick, would only pro In an opinion poll taken shortly after the Similar warnings were given at the time of the mise to preserve as much of the ruins as was pogrom, 73 per cent of the people agreed that 'the Nuremberg Laws. The Times then wrote: 'The 'practicable'. persecution of the Jews in Germany is an obstacle present persecution is directed with savage fan to good understanding between Britain and Ger Now a more articulate opposition began to aticism — and this, in unguarded moments, is many'; only 15 per cent disagreed, and 12 had no organise itself. People resented the idea that the frankly admitted - towards the total destruction opinion. On the whole. Professor Richard Grif memory of the past should be treated as a ofthe whole Jewish community in Germany. Like fiths, in his book Fellow Travellers of the Right: museum piece, displayed only "under glass'. The so many catchwords, Juda verrecke! was meant British Enthusiasts for Nazi Germany, 1933-1939 Frankfurt ghetto (they argued) was something literally and will literally be brought to pass if the (London, 1980), is probably right: "It was not the that had to be seen by the public with a sorrowful fanatics have their way. A society which is German treatment of Jews, but Germany's per awareness of the degrading conditions in which prepared to tolerate evils of this order will fidy in foreign policy, which was finally to detach the Jews had been forced to live, there might also inevitably reap what it sows'.