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Volume XLVII No. 3 March 1992

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German Pensions - Latest p8 Religious Fundamentalism GBS the dictators and the Jews p7 The third evil to fly out of Paridora's box Hitler groupie pl4 nouihl's Becket, currently in the West End, 1990s. This, alas, will not necessarily lead us into an shows King Henry II and his Archbishop untroubled future, because real priests can also wreak Aturning from friends into murderous enemies. irreparable damage. Real ordained clerics are respon­ It is a box office draw because it personalises the sible for the third twentieth century 'ism' - after FDR's conflict between Crown and Church. Beyond the Fascism and Communism - to threaten the world, message footlights, however, the drama had long term consti­ namely Fundamentalism. tutional consequences: no Englishman, King or priest, Fundamentalism combines all the characteristics of ike 1992, has ever been able to concentrate all power into his the first two - paranoid aggression, bigotry, the 1932 was a own person. Henry VIII tried 'Caesaropapism' and dehumanisation of non-believers and an itch to LUS eiecrion Cromwell the rule of 'The Elect' - but neither suc- control every aspect of life - with the appeal to year. It ended with ceded for long. tradition and the sanction of revealed religion. Roosevelt as For most of the Twentieth century lethal outbreaks This constitutes a heady mix which has a superficial President. He told of secular religion - with witch doctors like Hitler or attractiveness for people disoriented by change and the American Stalin tricked out as high priests - have shaken the uncertainty. For that reason Fundamentalism has people they had world to its foundations. cropped up in the First World, albeit none too nothing to fear Such fake priests are no longer in fashion in the stridently, as well as in the Third. except fear itself. Fundamentalism in the Catholic Church is like a It behoves us to river in limestone country; the fact that it is invisible remember his on the surface doesn't tell us whether it exists or not. words now Upholders of the Latin Mass, Vichyite bishops in disillusion has France, the Polish Primate Glemp and his fellow replaced the .LMSPENDE prelates. Opus Dei zealots and sundry militant expectations of Catholics suspicious of democracy because it gives two or three years equal air time, as it were, to Error and revealed Truth, ago. With Eastern all form part of the dead weight that has prevented the Europe in turmoil, implementation of Vatican Two over the last quarter the Middle Eastern of a century. peace talks half- Protestant Fundamentalism makes its less-than- suspended, and appealling presence felt in Ulster and the US Bible racists active in the Belt. Jewish Fundamentalism too is a sufficiently West one can obnoxious phenomenon to have prompted a recent easily lose hope. cri-de-coeur by President Herzog. Succumbing to But it is, of course, the existence of the Islamic fear is, however, variety that gives Fundamentalism its current top­ the surest way of icality and shock appeal. The spectre of a milliard bringing about Muslims united by visceral hatred of the West (and of that which is Israel) conjures up a Doomsday scenario. Fortunately feared. And one such unity often proved a mirage - not least in the other thing: •^f^£-^^'^''JSr^\i:'^^}*^. Iran-Iraq and Gulf Wars. But let us beware of Human Rights, complacency. The Moslem world resembles a row of generally paid lip bubbling cauldrons stretching from Afghanistan to service nowadays, • ,i./..)«i.w^Hi(: ^<4.A.«.v... fef^'^'^a; . -^ I Algiers (and on a lesser scale from Marseilles to were never spoken Bradford). How to keep the lid on them will tax the of in the ingenuity of Western leaders and voters for years to Thirties. D ir.aiiy KiDinan Zionist jiostet. i..ina 1^00. come. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Action against amnesia Profile Since the Fall of the Wall xenophobic violence has been widespread in many East out; not long afterwards the synagogue was German towns. One is pleased to note, Shtetl - showbiz - destroyed in an air raid. therefore, that the Hanseatic city of Ros­ chazzanut Josef meanwhile appeared in a Russian tock is trying to buck the trend. There the opera season at the Adelphi Theatre under historian Frank Schroder already published the baton of Anatol Fistoulari (whose wife newspaper articles about the town's Anna Mahler he met). More importantly, vanished Jewish communit)- in 1986, when he met and married ENSA organiser Stella, officially decreed amnesia was the order of his companion for the last 50 years. the day. Recently thanks again to Frank 1943, reversing the usual showbiz pat­ Schroder a 'Vereinigung fiir judische Ges­ tern, brought 'triumph and disaster'. Sing­ chichte und Kultur', with over 40 members, ing in The Lisbon Story, a musical about the has come into being. Their efforts to reclaim Free French, he received such critical a once-integral part of the town's life from acclaim that the envious leading lady - and oblivion have now been placed on a secure mistress of the impresario - scotched his foundation. Dr Herbert Samuel, an AJR career prospects. There followed provincial member living in Blackburn, Lanes, has tours of such musicals as Lilac Time (where donated the house his late father owned in Josef was a more convincing Schubert than Rostock to the 'Vereinigung', D his London 'double' Richard Tauber). By the end of the Forties he exchanged the Mi dor rdor - hazards of showbiz for work first in a Joseph Dollinger. Photo: Newman. Communication between handbag factory, and then in a timber survivor parents and their he Dollingers reside in North Lon­ import firm. In the mid-1950s he became children don, in a house filled with Chinese cantor of Belsize Square synagogue where, Tobjets d'art, her paintings and his under Rabbis Salzberger and Kototek, he Since April 1991, a small group of survi­ Hebrew calligraphy. When, after glancing served for an impressive 21 years. vors/refugees and members of the second at the collection, the visitor listens to Josef's A onetime resident in half a dozen generation have met at the Belsize Square story he reflects that the Greeks had a word countries, Josef Dollinger has followed at Synagogue once a month on Sunday after­ for it. The word is Protean (after a mytho­ least as many careers, and achieved acclaim noon. For the older generation it was an logical creature capable of taking on differ­ in three. Truly a Protean personality! opportunity to talk to the younger gen­ ent forms). D R.G. eration about their experiences, often for Consider this: Josef Dollinger hails from the first time, and to explain why they were a Galician backwater. His father and grand­ not able to do so before. In the past, parents father were ritual slaughterers. Raised in the wanted to protect their children and chil­ shtetl tradition he wore peyot till 13. In that dren in turn did not want to hurt their year, 1920, the family moved to Germany, parents by asking questions. For the chil­ and eventually settled in Dusseldorf. A dren, it is important, in establishing their visiting cantor's praise of his voice led Josef own identity, to learn about their roots. to study singing. After lengthy preparation The next group for first and second at the Brussels and Diisseldorf Conserva­ BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE generation Holocaust survivors/refugees toires he made his professional concert will start on Sunday, March 8 1992, from debut in January 1933, attracting good 51 BELSiZE SQUARE, NWS 4.00-5.30 pm and, thereafter, will meet notices. Within days Hitler was in power monthly for eight sessions. and shots were fired at the Dollingers' front We offer a traditional style of Numbers are limited, so if you are door. Acting on a policeman's warning of religious service with Cantor, interested, please apply as soon as possible, worse to come, the family emigrated, with Choir and organ to Mrs Henny Levin at the Belsize Square Josef first going to Amsterdam. He later Synagogue, 51 Belsize Square, London joined his parents in Antwerp, where he NW3 4HX. Telephone 071 794 3949. D secured an engagement at the Royal Opera. Further details can be obtained from In the 1935 season he sang tenor roles in our synagogue secretary Salome and Ariadne auf Naxos at perfor­ Annely Juda Fine Art mances conducted by Richard Strauss and Telephone 071-794-3949 Has moved to Hans Knappertsbusch. Alas, when the 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street), opera administrators discovered his Jewish Minister: Rabbi Rodney J. Mariner London W1R 9AA origin they did not renew the contract. Cantor: Rev Lawrence H. Fine Tel: 071-629 7578 For the next few years he eked out a living Fax:071-491 2139 as cantor at Antwerp's little Hollandsche Regular services: Friday evenings at 6.30 pm, Saturday mornings at 10 am CONTEMPORARY PAINTING shul, before obtaining a similar appoint­ AND SCULPTURE ment at the Western Synagogue in London. Religion school: Sundays at 10 am to 1 pm Mon-Fri: 10 am-6 pm Sat: 10 am-1 pm On the Sunday earmarked for the signing of Space donated by Pafra Limited the contract the Second World War broke AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Birthday party The majority of the residents who moved The suitcase in to Balint House in January 1991 had come from Otto Schiff House, NW3. They ut of the blur of my school days in appear to be very happy with their new Nazi Germany one figure looms up surroundings. The building was constructed with a strange persistence. It is the O as stage one in the planned upgrading and gaunt, emaciated figure of our French refurbishment of the homes of which the mistress, Fraulein Karfunkelstein. AJR Charitable Trust underwrote the initial As a prelude to each lesson she half costs. The home was named after the Balint opened a small brown suitcase, slowly family, who contributed generously to the unfolded a white lace handkerchief and, AJR Residential Care Appeal. after cleaning her spectacles, carefully The Head of Home, Miss Loni Rieger, folded it away again. and her staff continue to maintain the warm After that we had dictation: a fable, an relationship with the residents which they anecdote or something — it didn't matter Balint House I'hoto: Newman. have built up over a period of years. what, for she rarely got to the end of any taff and residents of Balint House, the Visitors to Balint House find that an text, thanks to us children. Scarcely had she Otto Schiff Housing Association's almost tangible family atmosphere prevails. begun when one of us asked ever so politely newest residential care home on The The pleasant surroundings, modern facili­ Pli3it-ilf (Pardon?), after which we took it in S Bishop's Avenue, celebrated the first anni­ ties and well appointed rooms, which all turns to call out Plait-il? after every third or versary of their move to the new building have private amenities, ensure that residents fourth phrase, causing her to repeat it. with a tea-party on Friday January 17. feel very much 'at home'. D M.N. Much tittering from us girls, but Fraulein Karfunkelstein seemed quite unaware of the ploy. Indeed, from the moment she entered the room, carrying the old suitcase, she intoned, putting a long finger to her nose to high ceilinged flats dating back to the appeared oblivious to us. Occasionally she emphasise the nasal. Le bebe a une robe Griinderjahre. Whispering excitedly, we even forgot to put down the case, but held it blannnche, we chanted gleefully in res­ mounted the wide polished staircase, scan­ m suspension, as though prepared to be ponse, pinching our noses in mock imita­ ning each neatly inscribed brass name plate called away at any moment. tion. Poor Fraulein Karfunkelstein! right up to the top floor. Alas! no Karfun­ If her name - carbuncle stone - suggests kelstein. Attracted by some noisy children Not normal times lustre and colour, these qualities had long turning somersaults on the carpet rail in the Normally, the suitcase might have con­ since left her drab, almost skeletal form. dreary courtyard that regularly connected, tained books and sandwiches. But these Her face and hands had a deathly pallor. or rather divided the patrician Vorderhaus R.G. -Were not normal times, even for us young­ There were shadows under the sunken eyes, from the plebeian Hinterhaus, we walked sters. For one thing, school was no longer and a sweet-sour smile seemed to have through to the latter. Was this where she what it used to be, since in July 1938 the frozen on her thin lips. Winter and summer lived? Yes, on the third floor, scarcely Nazis had closed down our real school, a she wore the same frock of black silk, legible in the dingy light, was the name, one gloomy private establishment run by a through which we could glimpse the bony of several outside one door: Fraulein Jewish woman. That is why our French arms and shoulders. Whenever she came Elfriede Karfunkelstein. We looked at each lessons, as any other lessons for which there too close, I recoiled instinctively from her other nervously and rang the bell. A Were still teachers left, were now held in the unwholesome breath. woman, seeing our bouquet, let us in and bright, spacious apartment of my best Yet she never scolded, never raised her without a word nodded us in the direction friend Eva Jakobowitz — in her playroom, to voice, indeed never showed any emotion — of a half-open door. he precise. No more desks, no blackboard, not even when, doubling as German mis­ no podium; best of all, school now started tress, she droned aloud from Goethe's The suitcase at nine instead of the customary eight Egmont. The imprisoned hero's rousing Five pairs of inquisitive eyes peered inside, o'clock. appeal to Liberty, or his beloved Klarchen's but what they saw was chastening: a narrow room, meagerly furnished, an The best years of our Hfe? For several of Himmelhoch jauchzend, empty bed. A small window opened on to a Us in that improvised classroom, they were Zum Tode betriibt, brick wall, but in the dimness I could see a to be the only years: neither Eva nor GlUcklich allein familiar object: the suitcase. The lid was Miriam, Hilde or Katel lived to see their Ist die Seele, die liebt thrown open, and inside lay a black cardi­ tm I5th birthday. The net was even now closing in ever more tightly, but we jolly — she knew it all by heart, but her heart was gan, a book, a white handkerchief and the little fishes were still having fun, teasing evidently not in it. kind of sponge bag I took on holiday. Fraulein Karfunkelstein. One day Fraulein Karfunkelstein did not 'Was she your teacher then?' the woman Le bebe a une robe blannnnche, she appear, and we were sorry to miss our daily enquired. 'They took her away this morn­ dose of merriment. She is ill, we were told. ing. Wouldn't even let her take her things'. 111? in bed? did she wear black in bed, too? Silently we trooped back to Eva's bright, The idea that a teacher has a private life was GOLDMAN well appointed apartment. As we walked intriguing. Here was our chance: we would into her room, we heard her mother in the Curtains made to measure. pay her a sick visit. What a lark! There were bedroom next door crying convulsively. We Select material in your own home. five of us, and armed with the address and a Rail, blinds supplied and fitted. did not have to be told what had happened. bunch of flowers, we arrived at no. 37 Telephone: 081-205 9232 Eva's father had gone. Kleiststrasse, one of those hefty blocks of D 6r/g/tte £. Hay AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Reviews

engage with the personalities who are, Where shall we go? bravely, reliving their past on the screen. It is in the second half that the film really impresses. The young interviewers, as they become more involved, ask deeper questions. The answers are often un­ comfortable to hear. One of the ladies describes her arrival at Auschwitz. A man reveals the camp number tattooed on his arm. It makes a grim contrast with the earlier anecdotes of happier times. It was Werner Mayer who made the most telling point about this contrast: 'I had a very happy childhood,' he said. 'Then, when I was 12,1 was suddenly told I was vermin.' Also captured on film was the reunion between Harry Nagelsztajn and his sister, whom he had thought dead for 30 years. Bridging a generation gap. Photo: Pete Fryer. Nobody could remain unmoved by these scenes. nybody who says the Jews, the schoolchildren from the North East. The In the final section of the film the trade unionists, the gays is going interviews are interspersed uith old news- interviewers give their thoughts on what 'Aikdow n Hider's street'. (Werner reel clips, photographs and amateur cine- they have heard, and how it has affected Mayer.) film. The result is subdued, but powerful. them. 'There isn't such a thing as saying it's Where shall tve go} is the title of a video The four interviewees represent a broad in the past . . . you cannot forget about it, programme for schools made by three cross-section of European Jewry, from the pain still lives on . . .' said one. teachers - Carrie Supple, Nick Hudson and Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia, and The video is accompanied by notes and Viv Schwartzberg. It features four European from different classes. In the first part of the background information about the project Jews: Esther Brunstein, Werner Mayer, film the questions allow the four to picture and participants. For further information or Harry Nagelsztajn and Liesl Silverstone — the variety of pre-Holocaust Jewish life in copies of the video contact: Hugh Kelly, each of whom is either a camp survivor or a Europe simply by describing their own Swingbridge Video, Norden House, 41 refugee. The film shows the four being childhoods. This results in even the most Stowell Street, Newcastle NEl 4YB. interviewed by a culturally mixed group of detached viewer being given a chance to D M.N.

He left behind his wife and seven chil­ Mommsen Gymnasium and at 17 became a A family tree with a dren. Four of them emigrated to England, member of the Communist Youth. To the difference and some of their descendants were traced disappointment of his family, he decided to by the author when he came to this country study law and not dentistry. At university, Wolfgang Nelki: ZWISCHEN ASSIMILATION as a refugee. he gave legal advice under the auspices of UND ASYL Revonnah Verlag. D-3000 Among those who stayed at home was the Red Aid. He was admitted to the courses of Hannover, Oeluenstr. 19. DM 10. author's grandfather, Jakob Nelki, who the widely reputed coach Dr Siegbert made a living as a travelling chiropodist. Springer, but had his studies cut short by piegelberg, the Jewish character in Together with his wife, Lina Heilbut, he had Hitler's accession to power. Schiller's Die Rduber was not a fig­ eight children. Yet like his father, he Sment of the imagination. There was deserted the family. A relationship with a K. C. Fraternity indeed a Jewish underworld, though Jewish woman 35 years his junior resulted in four Wolfgang's career choice was not the only historiography preferred to focus on posi­ further children. Eventually, he founded a difference between him and his siblings- tive achievements. circus which travelled around Europe and Two of his brothers were members of North Africa. He died aged 82, when the the K.C. Fraternity, which many of the Strongroom robbery circus was in Rome; it was taken over by his younger generation rejected as too bour­ One example was Louis Nelki, the great­ son Wilhelm, and two of his daughters gave geois with its fencing and drinking rituals- grandfather of the author. He was involved performances as equestriennes. The circus The author does not mention such reser­ in the robbery of the strongroom of the went into liquidation in Mexico in 1928. Up vations, but rather stresses the merits of the Berlin University at Christmas 1830, there­ to then, the antecedents of the family had K.C. as a courageous fighter for Jewish by delaying the payment of salaries to certainly differed from the Jewish norm. dignity. professors Hegel, Schleiermacher and Middle-class status was ultimately On the eve of Boycott Day 1933, the Savigny. Some of Louis' accomplices were achieved by the author's father Hermann, a father decided to emigrate, and gradually ( arrested, but he himself managed to escape dentist. Wolfgang, born in 1911, developed the members of the family left Germany. to Hungary. an interest in politics while a pupil of the D Werner Rosenstock AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Goebbels is the central 'plot' in this brilliant The book destroys two myths: that Lethal nickname new book intended as 'an analysis of nobody outside a charmed circle knew National Socialism and its language.' In about the sickening murders, and that Dietz Bering KAMPF UM NAMEN. Bernhard choosing the Weiss-Goebbels conflict as his anyone who refused to take part in them Weiss gegen Joseph Goebbels. Klett-Cotta case study, the author offers a fascinating was shot or at least severely punished. The ^erlag, Stuttgart. 1991. DM 68. insight into the two protagonists. work of the special squads could not be kept The book brings into focus the life story secret from ordinary Wehrmacht personnel. or over five years, from March 1927 to of a proud and conscious Jew and patriotic Some of the latter treated the execution of July 1932, a Jew stood between the German, whose valour on the battlefield Jews, including naked women and children, FGerman Nazis on the way to power earned him unusual distinction, whose as spectator sport; some even joined in. The and the legitimacy of the Weimar Republic. courage in adversity stood in contrast to the C-in-C East, General Blaskowitz, forbade He had the police, the law courts and right ambivalent behaviour of many of his col­ his troops to do so but was overruled. on his side: they had the expectation of leagues and superiors, who came to Eng­ The authors contend that all policy origi­ increasing popular support, a blatant disre­ land as a refugee and established himself as nated in Hitler's Chancellory. When the gard for human decency, and the ability to a jobbing printer, dying in London in 1951. killing of handicapped and mentally defec­ use the twisted word as a lethal weapon in Brought into similarly sharp focus is tive Germans was abandoned at the begin­ the battle for men's minds. Hitler's faithful henchman Goebbels: his ning of the war, the doctors and engineers As Berlin's Deputy Chief of Police, Dr childhood poverty, early professional fail­ involved were put to work on the imple­ Bernhard Weiss was the first confessing Jew ures, attempts to hide physical deformity mentation of the Final Solution. to rise, by his own merit, to a position of and, above all, his knowledge, from Curiously, sometimes the brutes they substantial power in the Prussian civil personal experience, of how and where to commanded found the bloodbath too much service. Goebbels once remarked 'He who wound an enemy who could be made to for them, and several named men refused to has Berlin, has Prussia and who has Prussia, carry, as he did, a stigma. carry out orders. Labelled soft and cow­ has Germany.' Weiss was thus uniquely n David Maier ardly, these would be sent back to Germany placed among the relatively few determined to 'lighter duties', not to the fighting front. defenders of the Weimar Republic facing Some officers also caved in, and they were liquidation. He was also the inevitable usually recycled into administration. In the target of a massive smear campaign by Documents of infamy camps, where the killing was by remote Goebbels, then Gauleiter of the capital. control and where prisoners did the clean- Goebbels knew only too well how to Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen, Volker Riess, THOSE ing-up after the gassings, no one seemed to mobilise the age-old, built-in German preju­ WERE THE DAYS, translated from the German raise objections. by Deborah Burnstone, Hamish Hamilton, dice against the Jews. Where clerics and other professional 1991, £17.99 In 1927, the Nazi Party had still quite a disseminators of ethics tried to intervene 'Way to go in terms of electoral support. they did so in a curious manner . . . they They made up for this 'small' disadvantage 'his is a horrible book to read, and presented themselves as concerned for the oy taking to the streets in deliberately yet one that should be read —' is souls of the perpetrators rather than show aggressive marches and by violent disrup­ I 1ho w Lord Dacre (the historian pity for the victims who were described in tions of their opponents' meetings. These Hugh Trevor-Roper) starts his introduc­ one reply from a killer officer to an official Serious breaches of the peace led to a police tion. He is right, and horrible here means who needed workers as 'no great loss'. This •"esponse and, in May, Weiss ordered the almost unbearable in the intensity of the despite the fact that all the skilled workers Nazi Party in Berlin to be declared an illegal work's incontrovertible truth. These pages in the area were Jews. organisation. Goebbels at once launched a contain the statements, admissions, boasts, A shining exception was a Lithuanian press onslaught on Weiss. In a series of photographs, letters and diaries of the Catholic priest who preached a sermon articles in the 'Angriff he undermined the killers and their helpers, their superiors - against his countrymen and all those who standing of the 'Polizeivizeprdsident by and occasional opponents from within their took part in the crimes, and then went to a dubbing him 'Isidor'. This apparently harm­ own ranks. synagogue where Jews were kept prisoner less expression of witty journalistic sarcasm The joint authors are a theologian, a and tried to give them help and comfort. *as, in fact, a brilliantly malevolent strata­ special investigator of Nazi crimes, and an Despite his open rebelHon he was not gem. In the vocabulary of German anti- historian. The original title, Schone Zeiten, punished, merely criticised. If there had Semitism 'Isidor' connoted 'Jew', and its comes from a page in the photo album of only been more such people. hearer could, therefore, be marked for Kurt Franz, last commandant of Treblinka The book is deceptively easy to read. The tnockery and hatred and, in due course, extermination camp. confessions, the letters and the boasts are extinction. The first part of the book deals with the short. The most outrageous and the most But Dr Weiss was not the weakling mobile Einsatzkommando squads which bizarre events are put before the reader in Goebbels took him for. The Deputy Chief followed the Wehrmacht into Russia and boxes breaking up the texts. There are many took legal action for repeated acts of serious executed so-called 'enemies of the Reich' pages of the horror photos taken by SS eriminal libel. The hearings dragged on for such as Bolsheviks and Jews (who were personnel in contravention of the very laws Several years with diminishing prospects of slaughtered en masse). Though the natives and regulations which gave them the fiat to adequate dispensation of justice; but at least often helped, the real Nazis were disap­ commit their crimes in the first place. They the he did achieve a certain measure of success, pointed with the support they got, some­ were produced in evidence by investigators times on the grounds of unwillingness but like co-author Willi Dressen when the rally tinlike less well-placed litigants pursuing 5'rnilar ends. often because of 'inefficiency'. The second boastful 'artists' stood their trials. The unequal struggle between Weiss and part covers the extermination camps. n John Rossall AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

and my uncle Alfred being chased through the main street in broad daylight. Netanya 42540, Israel Ernest J. Sicher 2^^\^^JB^0- Sir - In our democratic society G. Schmerl­ ing is entitled to his views, but I find it NAMING PLACES DDR to its original designation, Heine is extremely offensive to read them in your excellent magazine. In no way do I wish to Sir — The first Sturmabteilungen were not unerwUnscht in Germany. I read on the attack present-day Germany. The many equipped with brown shirts because they very day I received AJR Information that young Germans who reahse what was done were very cheap, having originally been the Heine Society of Germany (Head­ by the older generation cannot be blamed. intended for the German forces in Africa quarters in Dusseldorf) acquired over a Winchmore Hill P. Sinclair during WWl. hundred hitherto little or unknown Heine manuscripts and memorabilia, with the London N21 W. J Frolic financial assistance of the Government. An This correspondence is notv closed. See Sir — May I point out that in your article the exhibition will travel to major centres in page 15. Ed. Germany to show the collection. word 'Portuguese' was twice misspelt. I IDOL WORDS Another piece of incidental intelligence: hope you don't mind my audacity — it Sir - Many concepts are liable to be inter­ while there were over 60 acts of vandalism shows you I care. preted as double-talk. You choose to call against Jewish graves in the Central Cem­ College Crescent Mrs M. Stern Union of Soviet Socialist Republics a four­ etery of Vienna during last year, similar acts London NW3 fold lie. However, there is no reason were also perpetrated in the non-Jewish whatever that 'union' must be voluntary. part of the cemetery. BOUQUET 'Soviet' means council, elected or not. Sir — Your excellent journal manages to Temple Fortune Hill F. Shelton 'Socialist' denotes common ownership of arouse both tears and laughter - as well as London NWl I the means of production. A 'republic' is a conveying practical information. state in which an elected or nominated A 'DEMO' IN FRANKFURT Canterbur/ Road Use E. Seelig president holds power. Ashford, Kent Sir - If, as reported in your January issue, You choose a right-wing interpretation of Daniel Cohn-Bendit claimed that his these ambiguous terms. You do not employ ANY JOY? parents were murdered by the Nazis that double-talk, but plainly biased talk. Sir - I have not been very lucky in finding a statement requires correction. The actions of the Soviet leaders have good translation of Schiller's Ode to Joy. My wife and I were friends of his mother been deplorable - but the results of their Can any reader assist me in finding English over many years. She left Germany for disappearance are as yet equally deplorable. renderings, please? It would be useful now Paris, and we were able to resume contact However, as Pope wrote 'Hope springs that 1992 is here and we really have it as the after the war. She died (around 1960?) in eternal in the human breast'. European anthem. London following a heart attack, and I Tresawswen Cottage (Dr) D. j. Salfield /18 Highfield Lane Peter T. Landsberg attended her funeral. Callestick, Truro Southampton S02 INP I understand that his father returned to The notion that union need not be volun­ Germany after the war, in bad health, and tary, nor a council elected, ivould have LAND FOR PEACE died there. found favour ivith General Franco. Is it you Sir - We of all people have good reason to Statements such as the one you report can or I who deserves the epithet right-wing? remember the dark days when emigration only provide fodder for those who claim Ed. to Palestine meant the difference between that the Holocaust never took place. life and death. David Pryce-Jones in the Fortune Green Road Edgar Herzfeld Notice Mr Henry Ebner's address (for the Stoatley Rough Reunion) is: Sunday Times of 24 November, reminded London, NW6 605 Kenton Road, Kenton, Middx. The house nunnber was us that every Arab country is a tyranny in misprinted as 606 in February. which, whoever holds power, does so NOT GUILTY? through strength, and that knowing how Sir - G. Schmerling states that Nazi inten­ AJR CLUB ruthlessly they themselves have come to tions of genocide were not visible in 1935 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL power, violence is the day-to-day govern­ and that the German people had no com­ Telephone: 071-624 3079 ment. Is it so difficult to understand that, plicity in the Holocaust. Yet Cardinal encircled by such states, Israel shows some Faulhaber wrote to Stresemann already in SUNDAY 22nd March at 3 p.m. reluctance to accede to territorial con­ 1923 about 'blind, raging hatred of our BERLIN JEWS - then and now. cessions of land? fellow Jewish citizens.' I am German; not to A talk by Mr R. Stent, M.Phil. Four Oaks W. E. Abraham profess guilt would only add to it and insult Admission incl tea, members 50p, guests £1 Sutton Coldfield the victims. St Swithun Street Gertrud Walton SATURDAY 18th April at 6.00 p.m. for 6.30 p.m. HEINE UNERWONSCHT Winchester SECOND SEDER Sir - There are enough sinister portents of Conducted by Arnold Horwell recrudescent antisemitism in Germany Sir - I am mystified by the assertion that in Dinner, incl. wine: without having to create some on the pages 1935 the Nazis' criminal intention was not £10 Club/Day Centre members - £12 Guests of AJR Information. even visible. Enquiries: Hllde Baban 071-359 9951 Whatever the motives for reversing a I recall very clearly early in 1933 my Seder finishes at 9.45 p.m. street named after Heine in the erstwhile father coming home with his head cut open, AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

of Jews must bear.' Geneva received 237 GBS did not welcome the formation of the GBS, the dictators and performances in London before going on Shaw Society and did not encourage Low­ the Jews tour in 1938. Beatrice Webb (an admirer of enstein. He wrote 'My only hope is that Stalin and no lover of Jews) commented at nobody will join it, and therefore there will the dme 'The play has come at the best be no proceedings of the Society'. In the ernard Shaw admired dictators. He possible occasion; it relieves the terrible same vein, he wrote 'Do not, I beg you, let admired Mussolini, as Winston tension that we all feel about foreign affairs me see your handwriting, much less BChurchill did in the 1920s, and by laughing at everyone concerned.' yourself.' Hitler, as Lloyd George did in the thirties, But Lowenstein was not to be deterred. and Stalin. He was greatly taken with the The Shavian By the summer of 1944 he had moved to notion of a benevolent autocrat, as shown As an admirer of Shaw, warts and all, I Harpenden, close to Shaw's home at Ayot in Caesar and Cleopatra, and The Apple­ consider Geneva flawed by the fact of St. Lawrence, and called himself Shaw's cart, two of his better-known plays. He dealing with strictly contemporary events; 'official bibliographer and remembrancer'. believed that the rule of an enlightened few the audience found it difficult to separate The rivalry between Wardrop and Lowen­ was preferable to that of the ignorant many the stage events from the reality they were stein became acute. Shaw observed that who take part in democratic elections. experiencing. In defence of Shaw against the Wardrop assumed 'not only the position of His most controversial play, Geneva, a charge of antisemitism I adduce the fact that my literary agent but of my own son and comedy about the League of Nations, was he was not only a friend of Siegfried heir . . . while Lowenstein is resolved to be first produced in July 1938 in Warsaw, and Trebitsch, an Austrian Jew, who translated the oldest and dearest friend I have in the is now - happily — almost forgotten. It him into German, but developed a close world.' As reward for his hard work featured Herr Battler (Hider) and Signor relationship with Dr Fritz Lowenstein, a Lowenstein was charged with the prep­ Bombardine (Mussolini), who was con- Jewish refugee who first contacted him from aration of a complete bibliography, and the temptous of Flanco (Franco). In a speech internment on the Isle of Man in 1942. Shaw archive, for posthumous presentation Herr Battler fully justified everything that From his home in London Lowenstein to the British Museum and London School had taken place in Nazi Germany; one subsequently started the Shaw Society, of Economics. In 1946 Shaw fully recog­ therefore has to admit that Geneva, which whose objects were to work 'for the crea­ nised Lowenstein's position. In printed played to packed houses in 1938 and 1939 tion of a new civilisation based on Shavian cards he informed correspondents 'that he Worldwide, was antisemitic. principles'. The Society publishes The had no time for any except the most urgent Having read the play Lawrence Langner Shavian at least twice a year and, jointly private correspondence . . . the founder of of the Theatre Guild of New York wrote to with the National Trust, sponsors annual the Shaw Society, Dr. F. E. Lowenstein is Shaw 'I do not believe that you will want birthday plays at Shaw's former home at better informed on many points than Shaw future generations of Jew-baiters to quote Ayot St. Lawrence. himself and will be pleased to be of assistance.' you as part authority for a programme of At the time, Shaw employed the formi­ torturing, starving and driving to suicide of dable Miss Patch as secretary and the Lowenstein's objective for the Shaw Jews all over the world ... I do most Scottish journalist John Wardrop as edi­ Society — the creation of a new civilisation sincerely ask you to reconsider the position torial assistant. Gradually, he relied more based on Shavian principles - remains of the Jew in this play. Shakespeare, by the on Wardrop to the chagrin of Miss Patch: at unfulfilled. However, the Shaw Society is character of Shylock, and Dickens by the the time when she thought that she had thriving and held a 50th anniversary dinner character of Fagin, have added gready to checked Wardrop's progress she com­ at the Conway Hall in London, in 1991. the cross of hatred which future generations plained that Shaw 'inflicts the Jew on me'. D Henry Toch

ZAHNARZT/DENTAL SURGEON Dr H. Alan Shields, MB ChB. BDS, LDS RCS(Eng) COMPANIONS GERMAN BOOKS 46 Brampton Grove, HENDON, London NW4 4AQ BOUGHT ALL TYPES OF DENTAL CARE OF LONDON Home visits for the disabled A. W. MYTZE Dentures and cosmetic dentistry A specialist home care service Emergencies to assist the elderly, people 1 The Riding, London NW11. with disabilities, help during TOP QUALITY DENTAL TREATMENT and after illness, childcare Tel: 071-586 7546 AT PRICES YOU CAN AFFORD and household needs. Phone: 081 -203-0405 for appointment Deutsch wird auch gesprochen For a service tailored to your individual needs CARING AND PERSONAL SERVICE by Companions who care - Please call BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE 51 Belsize Square, London, N.W.3 071-483 0212 071-483 0213 Our communal hall is available CAR HIRE for cultural Comfortable, air conditioned car with 110 Gloucester Avenue, and social functions. helpful driver. Primrose Hill, For details apply to: Airports, stations, coast, etc. Fully Secretary, Synagogue Office. London NWl 8JA insured. (Emp Agy) Tel: 071-794 3949 Tony Burstein 081-204 0567. Car 0831 461066. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

PAUL BALINT AJR DAY CENTRE atlVotk 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL Te . 071 328 0208 nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnD Morning Activities - Bridge, kalookie. scrabble, chess, ('tc , keep fit, discussion n D D group, choir (Mondays), arr class [Tuesdays n and Thursdays). n Pensions update D n D Afternoon entertainment - n D German Old Age Pensions for D MARCH D Monday 2 The Ides of March - D Victims of Nazi Persecution D Geoffrey Strum (Tenor) D D accompanied by Johnny D D ince the notice which appeared in our have not reached their 65th birthday on Walton (Piano) D D February issue there has been a further January 1, 1992 must also submit appli­ Tuesday 3 The World of the D Musical Stage - Valerie n important development. cations by March 31, 1992. Si D Hewitt (Soprano) D We have been in direct contact with the It should be stressed that the financial D accompanied by Anne D Bundesversicherungsanstalt fiir Angestellte implications of making voluntary contri­ Berryman (Piano) D in Berlin who have advised us that persons butions to the social insurance scheme in Wednesday 4 Hans Freund: Spring in n D who were already 65 years or over on Germany are still not known and no the Air D D January 1, 1992 can still submit appli­ decisions in this respect have yet been Thursday 5 Nights Relations - D D Barbara O'Neil (Mezzo) D cations, provided these are received by the made by the Bundesversicherungsanstalt • with Piano Bundesversicherungsanstalt fiir Angestellte fiir Angestellte. D D Accompaniment D in Berlin by March 31, 1992. We draw members' attention to the fact Monday 9 Sheila Kominsky • D The wording to be used should be as that it is up to individuals to make the claims Entertains on Piano and • Piano Accordion D suggested in the notice in AJR Information themselves — or with the assistance of a D Tuesday 10 Music in Springtime - D in January. solicitor. (We advise claimants to deter­ • Jack Harris accompanied n As was stated in that notice, persons who mine the legal fees involved in advance.) • D by Happy Branston n Wednesday 11 Flute Favourites - nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnDDD Heather Brown &: Helen Foster Thursday 12 A Taste of Ireland - nnnnnnnDDnnnnnnD D Barbara O'Neil (Mezzo), Monday 30 Love Duets - Francoise PAUL BALINT AJR • Gerarda McCann Geller 8c Gordon Griffin D (Dancer), Graham D with Piano a DAY CENTRE D Dinnage (Baritone &C Accompaniment D Bodhran Player) and Tuesday 31 The Channing Flutes n OPEN DAY • Siobhan Fox (Violin) Entertain with Ruth • Monday 16 Light Musical „ D HMHMHIkf' Newman accompanied by D Entertainment - Shirley • D To all members, volunteers a^^Wr Vickie Weight • Gurevitz accompanied by * D and friends Sylvia Cohen (Piano) Join us on • APRIL D 0 Tuesday 17 Jacqui Johnson & n Geoffrey Whitworth Wednesday 1 April Fool's Day - Sunday 17th May 1992 0 Entertain on Cello &C Geoffrey Strum (Tenor) n at 2.30 p.m. 0 Piano accompanied by Johnny D Walton (Piano) 0 Wednesday 18 A Musical Afternoon Entrance £2 Thursday 2 The Pleasures of Music - a 0 with Jane Rosenberg to include refreshments Lynn Hendry (Piano) &c n 0 Thursday 19 PURIM Entertainment by David Bartov nnnnnnnnnnnnnnDC] Lucy White (Violin) and Monday 6 Singing for Fun - The Juliet Davey (Piano) Longford Singers with Monday 23 Classical Music by Margaret Eaves at the Students from the Trinity Piano AJR INFORMATION College of Music Tuesday 7 Musical Gems from the Tuesday 24 The Violin in Various Past - Bernard Wilcox We require experienced volunteer proof­ Ways - Jeremy Birchall (Tenor) & Valerie readers to come into the editorial offices on (Violin) accompanied by Monese (Soprano) an occasional basis. Olga Sitkovetskaya accompanied by Leslie (Piano) Barnes (Piano) If you would like to be placed on our Wednesday 25 Isabel Beyer &c Harvey Wednesday 8 Ann Warnes 8c Geoffrey proof-reading rota please send details of Dagul at the Piano Whitworth Entertain on your work experience to: Thursday 26 Romantic Music for Horn &; Piano Piano & Violin - Thursday 9 Israeli &: Other Folk Richard Grunberger, Editor AJR Stephanie Ede (Violin) &C Songs - Maz Witriol Information, Hannah Karminski House, 9 Stephen Baron (Piano) ^ ^^^t (Guitar) Adamson Road, NW3 3HX. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Last waltz? Appeal to drivers SOCIAL SERVICE DIARY

he AJR's Annual Charity Concert has olunteer drivers are a precious This is the first in an occasional series in been a high-point in the refugee resource for AJR. They enable our which Aggie Alexander, Head of the Social frail and disabled members to reach Services Department, will update AJR Tcommunity's calendar for almost 45 V members on the latest news and legislation. years. Now, however, it seems that this their social lifeline, the Paul Balint AJR Day a yearly event may be forced to undergo a Centre in West Hampstead. We are making Benefit Claims a special appeal now for more to come Claims for Income Support are continuous, a major change in format. hov(/ever the DSS office must be informed o Rises in the level of fees demanded by forward. immediately there is any change of D qualit)' artists, increased charges for the hire Until now Camden Council's taxicard circumstances. D of halls and a falling off in the revenue scheme has enabled some members to get to Claims for Housing Benefit and Poll Tax D benefit have to be renewed each year generated by ticket and souvenir brochure and from the Day Centre relatively cheaply. othenwise these benefits will be discontinued. D sales have all combined to place the annual This scheme is to be suspended from 19 A reminder to renew is usually sent out to the D concert, which is, above all, a fund raising January until 1 April. It will resume then but claimant in good time - be sure to complete D event, very close to being a financial on a much more limited scale. Also, an and return the form to your local authority. D loss-maker. article in the Hampstead & Highgate D Poll Tax It is only the fact that much of the Express, 17 January, states that pensioners During the last few months we have had quite • administrative work in organising the in Barnet will have to travel further — to a number of members coming to us for help D concert each year is done by voluntary staff libraries rather than post offices - to obtain because they have received a summons for that has kept the concert in the black up to their bus passes, and that the number of non-payment of Poll Tax. In each case we a have been able to deal with the problem D now. travel vouchers in that borough for people without the client having to appear in court. If D AJR members will be given a chance to with mobility allowances will be reduced. In you have any queries regarding your Poll Tax • put their views on this subject forward later other words, there will be less in the way of please telephone us. a this year when AJR Information will carry a cheaper travel for elderly people. returnable questionnaire covering this and DSS Relocation D Our present drivers nobly carry many During the past year the process began of D other issues. people back and forth. But reinforcements relocating the administration of benefits from D D M.N. are needed urgently! If you can help, even if local London DSS offices to remote Benefit Centres. The new structure Is as follows: D it is only one way once a week — to the Day Benefits Centre (BC) based at Glasgow, D Centre or back to the members' home - please contact the Volunteers' Co-ordinator Belfast or Wigan aa at the AJR offices, 9 Adamson Road District Office (DO) covering the area of one to four local offices ao NW3 3HX, telephone 071 483 2536, between 9.30 a.m.—5 p.m. Monday to Branch Office (BO) one for each former local a PAUL BALINT AJR office Thursday and 9.30 a.m.-l p.m. Friday. 0 The processing of claims takes place at the 0 DAY CENTRE n LH. Benefits Centre. 0 Income Support and Retirement Pensions 0 are computerised and district and branch staff PRELIMINARY Camden Plus Bus Service should have immediate access to information • about any claim. ANNOUNCEMENT The Branch Office is the only point of D Camden residents mourning the loss of their contact for personal callers. BOs are sited at D taxi-card scheme may like to be reminded of the old local offices but any BO within the D With the coming of Spring the Camden Plus Bus Service. There are two district can be used. 0 buses, each with a wheel-chair lift at the Claim forms and other correspondence and Summer it is hoped to back, which serve routes covering hospitals should be sent direct to the Benefits 0 Centre. D 0 extend our activities at 15 and shops. Reservations should be made a 0 few days in advance. The telephone number 0 Cleve Road by l

FAMILY EVENTS a long illness bravely borne. Deeply genrleman. Non-smoker. Ability to Girl - 17, Strasbourg, seeks Birth mourned and desperately missed by drive advantageous but not essen- exchange visit this summer. Congratulations to Geoffrey and his wife Lizzy. dal. Please telephone 081-204 8850 Contact Lindsay, 4 Rue Liberte, Caroline Marx on the birth of their Koch Berta Koch, former assistant mornings for further details. 57200 Remelfing, France. second daughter, from all rhe staff matron at Heinrich Stahl House, Lady non-smoker to help handi­ 010-33-87982849. at Hannah Karminski House. died there peacefully on December capped lady in Hampstead. For 'A Prayer for Peace' Jewish/Chris­ Birthday greetings 29, 1991, aged 82. further information please phone: tian discussion on the Holocaust, Fabian Otd Fabian, of 42 Hert­ Lee Magdalene Lee, born in 071-586 1963. advertised for Channel 4 on Wed­ ford Street, Cambridge, will cele­ Vienna, died on January 15, 1992, Nurse - SRN, West Hampstead nesday, December 8, 1991. At the brate her 85th birthday on March at Eleanore Rathbone House, High- has vacant large, sunny room, bath­ last moment this programme was 17, 1992. gate, N6. Sadly missed by her sister room 'en suite' in friendly atmos­ re-scheduled, and an AJR volunteer Steiner Kurt Steiner celebrates his Dorrit, Viviene and Nicholas and phere for senior citizen — long or now urgently seeks the loan of a 80th birthday on March 23. With friends. short stay. Tel: 071-328 6631. video from any reader who may Full/part-rime companion required have recorded it at its actual, unad- love from his wife and all the family. Nelki Wolf Nelki, of 43 Night­ Steiner congratulations to Kurt for elderly Hungarian lady in vertised time. Prompt return ingale Lane, London SWl 2, died Golders Green. Live in/out. Phone: Steiner on the occasion of his 80th guaranteed. Please phone: 081-747 January 10, 1992. Sadly mourned 081-455 0038. birthday. We hope that he will be and missed by all her family and 3471. able to continue his good works in many friends. Miscellaneous Inge Miiller (nee Levi) San Fran­ good healrh and contentment for Salomon Margot Salomon has Electrician City and Guilds quali­ cisco (ex-hostel Belsize Park) would many years to come. The AJR club. died in her 93rd year. Author, fied. All domestic work undertaken like to meet friends in London. Deaths Zionist worker and a grand old Y. Steinreich. Tel: 081-455 5262. Phone: 081-769 5849. Heimel Karl Heimel passed away lady. Mourned by her cousins Eva Medical body massage, reflex­ on 6 February 1992 aged 84 after and Jack Furmanovsky, Helen ology, aroma-therapy, manicure KIND AND CARING (Didi) Robertson and many friends and pedicure. Qualified practi­ SHELTERED FLAT of long standing. English/German speaking lady tioner. Phone: 071-328 1176. wishes to welcome senior citizen to let at Eleanor Rathbone Companion/carers Ladies alteration work collected into her comfortable, peaceful House, Highgate, comprising Live-in housekeeper required and delivered if required. For quick home, with all amenities. To be bed-sitting room, kitchenette, from March for active, elderly service phone: 081-455 0168. lovingly cared for on a temporary bathroom and entrance hall. or permanent basis. Stanmore Resident warden. area. References available. Enquiries to:- Please phone Mrs Kay: 081-954 ANTHONY J. NEWTON 1833. AJR HANNAH KARMINSKI &C0 HOUSE 9 ADAMSON ROAD, SOLICITORS SWITCH ON LONDON NWS 3HX 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hannpstead, NW3 5NB ELECTRICS 071-483 2536/7/8/9 With offices in: Europe/Jersey/USA Rewires and ail household electrical work. ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN ALTERATIONS PHONE PAUL: 081-200 3518 OF ANY KIND TO Telephone: 071 435 5351/071 794 9696 LADIES' FASHIONS SATELLITE INSTALLATION I also design and make SALES & REPAIRS children's clothes Television - Videos - Aerials - Radios - West Hampstead area LISBETH BUCHLER FURS Stereos - Electrical Appliances NEW & SECONDHAND TV's/VIDEOS 071-328 6571 FOR SALE of 14 Park Road London NWl Tel: 081-909 3169 Answerphone (Near Baker Street Station) FOR FAST EFFICIENT FRIDGE AVIS TV SERVICE A. EISENBERG & FREEZER REPAIRS Experts in making beautifully styled fur-lined showerproof 7-day service coats, jackets & capes in silk & cashmeres, individually made- All parts guaranteed to-measure, your existing fur can be used and restyled. For J. B. Services enquiries and appointments please call: 071-723 4033 RELIABLE & CAPABLE Tel. 081-202 4248 PLUMBER until 9 pm offers a complete 24-hour plumbing service. Small MAPESBURY LODGE TORRINGTON HOMES jobs welcome. Please ring f Licensed Dy the Borough of Brent) AUDLEY MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N., for the elderly, convalescent and partly REST HOME incapacitated. MATRON JOHN ROSENFELD Lift to all floors. For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (Hendon) Luxurious double and single {Licensed by Borough ot Barnel} for Elderly Retired Gentlefolk on 071-837 4569 rooms. Colour TV, h/c. central heating, • Single and Double Rooms. private telephones, etc.. in all rooms. Single and Double Rooms with wash * H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. Excellent kosher cuisine. Colour TV basins and central heating. TV lounge lounge. Open visiting. Cultivated * Gardens. TV and reading rooms. C. H. WILSON Gardens. * Nurse on duty 24 tiours. and dining-room overlooking lovely garden. Fult 24-hour nursing care * Long and stiort term, including trial Carpenter period if required. 24-hour care—long and short term. Painter and Decorator Please telephone From £250 per week French Polisher Licensed by the Borough of Barnet sister-in-charge, 081-450 4972 081-445 1244 Office hours Antique Furniture Repaired Enquiries 081-202 2773/8967 17 Mapesbury Road, N.W.2 081-455 1335 ottier times Tel: 081-452 8324 39 Torrington Park. N.12 Car: 0831 103707

10 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

An artist's view of history SB's Column le Wessely'. Paula Wessely I could be called the most orig­ 'Dinal , prominent and popular among the German-speaking actresses of this century. Now aged 85, retired and shy of publicity, she is remembered for that very quality of withdrawing within the interpre­ tation of every role she performed from the 1920's to the Mid-Eighties. Paula Wessely's voice will remain glorious in the memory of anyone who ever heard her. Contemporary Austrian female poets was the theme of a recital evening by Angelica Schiitz at the Austrian Institute, London where, in a versatile and beautifully flexible voice, she read poetry by Use Aichinger, Alma Johanna Koenig, Stella Rotenberg and Kaethe Braun-Prager. .imkNi- .

II AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

assuming some importance as Economics (effective) Tory leader, Edward Heath, a Where do you put spokesman. friend of Israel. Margaret Thatcher was an your cross? Overall the 1992 intake will probably improvement on both her predecessors, but produce a smaller Jewish presence at West­ her recent hyping of Croatia as a Christian ith the election campaign gather­ minster. This is not necessarily a bad thing. democracy shows amazing indifference to ing pace it may be opportune to Attlee's postwar Labour government had the country's past involvement in genocide. Wconsider whether the 1992 poll Shinwell in a senior post, Harold Laski as It can be assumed that when the votes are will have a specific Jewish dimension. On guru, and about 30 Jews on the back counted in late spring more Jews will have present evidence it looks extremely unlikely. benches, and yet it admitted Baltic war voted Tory than Labour, and more Jews On issues of special concern to Jews — Israel, criminals into Britain and manoeuvered to will occupy the benches behind John Major the Palestinians, minority rights, race rela­ abort the birth of Israel. Hereafter things than behind Neil Kinnock — wherever that tions - the main parties all take a broadly changed at Westminster, and by the 1970s may be. Vive la differencel bipartisan approach. there were more Jews on the Conservative To express an opinion on the tightness, or Given that policies are roughly similar, than Labour benches — front as well as otherwise, of Jewish voting preferences can one say that any party fields signifi­ back! The change-over inspired the bon mot would be wholly invidious. Even less would cantly more Jews among its top team? Here 'Once half the Tory cabinet were Old I want to sit in judgment on the political the Tories are marginally ahead of Labour Etonians, now they're old Estonians'. coloration of 'our' elected Members. And with Malcolm Rifkind at Transport and Despite this not all Conservative leaders yet I own to a sense of dissatisfaction. A Michael Howard at Employment compared were tarred with the philosemitic brush. mere glance across the Channel shows how to the solitary Gerald Kaufman as Labour's The author of the quip about old Estonians much more exciting the French-Jewish Shadow Foreign Secretary. In the Liberal in the cabinet was - reputedly - Harold political scene is than our home-grown one. Democrat team, meanwhile, Alex Carlile is Macmillan. No one could call the next There the 'whizz kid' Laurent Fabius has just been invested as heir to President Mitterand, the lawyer Robert Badinter for­ mulated the EC's conditions for recognising HILARY'S AGENCY THURLOW LODGE Slovenia and Croatia, Dr Bernard Kouchner Specialists in Long and Short-Term Live-in and heads the (partly self-created) Ministry of Care HAMPSTEAD HOUSE Humanitarian Affairs, and Arts Minister RESPITE AND EMERGENCY CARE CARE FOR THE ELDERLY (Residential Homes) Jack Lang has elevated the motto 'When I HOUSEKEEPERS for the elderly and retired, situated in an hear the word culture I reach for my wallet' RECUPERATION CARE exclusive part of Hampstead. Both homes MATERNITY NURSES provide luxurious accommodation with into official policy. (Would it were so here!) NANNIES AND MOTHER'S HELPS 24-hour nursing care in a homely Compared to this glittering pleiade our EMERGENCY MOTHERS atmosphere. Strictly kosher cuisine. Long Caring and Experienced Staff Available and short stays welcome. Many bedrooms homegrown Howards, Kaufmans and Law- We will be happy to discuss your have en-suite facilities. Moderate fees. sons do look dispiritingly grey. Come back requirements For further information and brochure: Disraeli, brocade waistcoats and all! PLEASE PHONE Tel. 071 794 7305/071 435 5326. D R.G. 081-559-1110 11/12 Thurlow Road, Hampstead, London NW3

CAMPS INTERNMENT-P.O.W.- Israel's East-Germany FORCED LABOUR-KZ Very finest Wines I wish to buy cards, envelopes and folded post­ marked letters from all camps of both world wars. and Berlin Please send, registered mail, stating price, to: SHIPPED BY 14 Rosslyn Hill, London NW3 We give immediate attention. PETER C. RICKENBACK HOUSE OF We process and buy properties/claims. We pay cash. Michael Frenzel of HALLGARTEN MICHAEL ANDRE FURS LTD We have proven track records and furnish YARDEN and GAMLA documentation. wishes to inform his customers of the re-location of his premises to: AVAILABLE NOW Write to: 134 High Street, Edgware HAS 7EL Nagel & Partner Kurfurstendamm 182- 1000 Berlin 15 Tel: 081-951 5949 (Business) Please write or phone for Phone:030-882 56 31 081-958 4483 (Private) full information Fax:030-881 39 16 Strictly by appointment DALLOW ROAD Specialists in fur-lined raincoats, LUTON BEDS fur and leather. LU11UR Why not convert your existing fur coat into a raincoat lining? 0582 22538 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

the wilder fringes of lunacy the odd Jew will between himself and his native country The Miller's Tale make his appearance. In the case of the where such things could happen! 'Apostles' it was Jack Klugman who acted This is not the only part of his back­ rear genius is to madness near as liaison man with Soviet Intelligence. ground that Johnathan Miller is uneasy allied.' Profound insight, or a A generation later Cambridge attracted about. One of the quips that earned him 'Gcliche ? Probably - if Cambridge more attention through its cabaret per­ early fame was 'I'm not a Jew, just Jew-ish.' is anything to go by - a mixture of both. formers — e.g. Beyond the Fringe — than its The gag masked a deeper truth: Miller is Cambridge University' boasts of having spies. The Beyond the Fringe team were all none too comfortable in his Jewish skin. A produced more Nobel Prize winners than multiple talents. Dudley Moore could as trip to Israel prompted the insensitive and any other in Europe, yet its luminaries have easily have become a pianistic prodigy as a condescending comment that the kibbutz is not infrequently appeared deranged. Isaac screen 'idol' and Alan Bennett a history don a bit like a progressive English boarding Newton laid the foundations of Modern as a playwright (though as a historian-cum- school, for instance Bedales. Physics — and dabbled in alchemy and the playwright he turned in an overly sympath­ Now his biographer Michael Roamins occult. Bertrand Russell advocated the etic portrait of the Cambridge spy Guy tells us that any mention of the Jewish nuking' of the Soviet Union only a few Burgess). community or Judaism affects Miller like years before he headed the Campaign for Then there is Doctor Jonathan Miller, a the proverbial red rag does a bull. Truly Nuclear Disarmament. veritable Renaissance man: polymath, 'genius is to madness near allied'. The Apostles were a Cambridge-based medical researcher and populariser, comic, But take comfort, reader, all is not lost. semi-secret society of seekers after philoso­ operatic innovator and theatre director. Of Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood prodigy phical truth, several members of which Miller it can truly be said (as I have said, in responsible for ET and Raiders of the Lost eventually joined another secret society verse, of George Steiner) that his brains Ark, has just announced his return to dedicated to a different goal known as the have gone to his head. When two theatrical traditional Judaism 'with Friday night KGB. productions had been cancelled on grounds meals, lit candles and homebaked chala'. As can be expected where rarified intel­ of finance he not only severed his link with (Another miller's tale, perhaps!) lectual activity shades off imperceptibly into the Old Vic, but put the Atlantic Ocean D R.G.

Search Notices GERMAN BOOKS Information is sought about Hans B. Daniel, born JACKMAN - ca 1925 and his sister Use Daniel, born ca 1922, BOUGHT formerly of Reilshofeniveg 24, Hamburg- Metropolis Antiquarian Books Wellingsbuttel. Last known address 199 Albemarle £ SILVERMAN Road. Beckenham, Kent. They left Germany in 1937, CXIMMtRCI.AL rRL")I"ERTY CDN.SULT.A.VTS Specialist Dealers in Mothers maiden name remembered as Meht, German Books Information wanted by Mrs Gisela Jackson (nee Koop) and her sister Hildegard, formerly of Hamburg- Always Buying WellingsbiJttel. Please contact: G. Jackson, 12 Books, Autographs, Ephemera Margate Road, Lytham St. Annes, Lanes, FYS 3EG, R.G. Tel: 0253-724384. Eric Brueck Adolphine Fischer, Austrian, corset-maker. Last known address 15 Villa Road, Brixton, London SW9 115 Cholmley Gardens (in 1944) or 35 Ross Road, South Nonfood, London. Fortune Green Road Any information to: C. Chaplin, 130 Victoria Road, London NW6 Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottingham NG17 SAT. Tel 071-435 2753 I wish to trace three former school friends, with whom I attended the Charlottenschule in Breslau 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA from 192S-34. All were born about 1917-19. They Telephone: 071 409 077! Fax: 071 493 8017 are: Ruth Per), who lived at the Jewish orphanage at Graebschnerstrasse. Steffi Bartenstein, who lived at Victoria-Strasse, RELIABLE AND CONSCIENTIOUS Steffi Pukacz, whose parents were separated. HANDY MAN I am hoping that these three have survived FOR THOSE YOU CARE MOST ABOUT somewhere. It would be lovely to meet up again in Decorating, garden clearance, general old age. repairs. Ruth Engemann, Hauzenbergerstr. 26, SOOO Muenchen 21 Springdene Reliable and friendly service. Phone Andy Wilson on 081-346 3186 A modern nursing home with 26 yrs of excellence in health PARTNER care to the community. in long established English Solicitors Licensed by Barnet area health authority and recognised by (bilingual-German) would be happy to BUPA & PPP. assist clients with English, German and Simon P. Rhodes M.Ch.S. HYDROTHERAPY & Austrian problems. Contact PHYSIOTHERAPY STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST cares provided by full time chartered Henry Ebner physiotherapists for inpatients Surgery hours: and outpatients. at 8.30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday Myers Ebner & Deaner SPRINGDENE 55 Oakleigh Park North, Whetstone, 8.30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday London N.20 103 Shepherds Bush Road Visiting chiropody service available London W6 7LP 081-446 2117 SPRINGVIEW 6-10 Crescent Road, Enfield, Our 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp. M&S) Telephone 071 602 4631 completely new purpose built hotel style retirement ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN home. All rooms with bathroom en-suite from £305 Telephone 071-624 1576 per week. 081-446 2117.

13 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

'teaches' that the story has been doctored by Though Irving's writings sometimes Hitler groupie Zionists for obvious purposes. Also, he is show ambiguity, his passion for documen­ the firmest, most vocal proponent of tation does preserve a measure of logic and e thrives on publicity stoked with Hitler's non-involvement in the slaughter. reason. But in Germany he delivers haran­ controversy, has an academic Until now. On 12 January The Observer gues from neo-Nazi platforms urging 'the H bloodhound's nose for historical broke the news that Irving has obtained German people' to shed the sense of guilt documents, views Hitler as a towering from a person in Argentina the memoirs of and responsiblity for the past. historic figure, and sees himself as an Adolf Eichmann, which make it clear that Last November he appeared in two TV apostle to the present-day Germans. He the Fuhrer himself gave the orders for total programmes, Channel 4's Dispatches and speaks excellent German and has been annihilation. Irving, who has always main­ ITV's This Week. Both were sharply criti­ described by the late A. J. P. Taylor, as 'a tained the opposite, was pensive in his cised in a subsequent Right to Reply as total nuisance to serious historians'. comments. being sensational and frightening. He also David Irving belongs to the school of 'Ninety per cent certain' that the Eich­ stage managed the London appearance of revisionists who seek to controvert evidence mann papers are genuine, he has sent them, American Fred Leuchter and Frenchman about the massacre of the Jews in the he states, to the German Federal Archive in Robert Faurisson 'to enlighten people about extermination camps in Eastern Europe. Koblenz. In evaluating his attribution it the largest confidence trick of all time, the Curiously, he does not totally deny the should be remembered that he pronounced 'Holocaust' '. Holocaust . . . just its extent and the the 'Hitler Diaries' a forgery. He now n John Rossall methods employed. Like all revisionists he reportedly feels that he may have to admit error in his estimation of Hitler's role in the Holocaust, but he backpedals somewhat by 40 Years Ago saying that Eichmann 'believed these to be Fiihrer orders'. this Month VERSE AND WORSE Going public THE KING JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA King George VI who died last month, What of the 'history' of Mr Irving himself? Up the fast lane to salvation — distinguished himself by simplicity and He first 'went public' as a 24-year-old Beatitude, canonisation - stringent modesty. As far as his associations student in 1959, when he tried to introduce with Jewry are concerned, the late King Floats a soul without compassion racist elements into the Students' Union at always showed an interest in Jewish charity. For our people in its passion. Imperial College. He graciously consented to become a patron Beware lest future ages say of the Jewish Orphanage. The following year he solicited the 'Sufficient unto the Opus Dei . . .' In doing so he was following the example Wiener Library for information about the of his three predecessors and maintaining a MELVYN BRAGG Allied air raids on Dresden in February tradition begun by one of the most remark­ A walker from the fell, he 1945. Irving's book. The Destruction of able of Jewry's royal friends in Britain, the Talks taller on the telly Dresden appeared in 1963. His figures of Duke of Sussex. With his two brothers, this the dead in that raid have been widely uncle of Queen Victoria in 1809 attended a What formula could be neater memorable Friday evening service at the Than 'Wordsworth, meet Lolita!'? challenged. Next he was involved in the Great Synagogue, where it is said the royal controversy over Rolf Hochhuth's play parry's attention was equally engaged by the DESERT ISLAND DISCS Soldiers implicating Churchill in the murder splendour of the interior, the admirable 'Half a century. Sue, howzat!' of the head of the Polish government-in- singing and the beauty of the ladies gracing Quipped the PM, in to bat. exile General Sikorski. Hochhuth had alleg­ the galleries. The Duke of Sussex not only eagerly supported Jewish emancipation; he But which dim BBC planner edly relied on the historical expertise of Forgot to RSVP Diana. went so far as to study Hebrew and Irving, who engaged in a televised alterca­ frequently took the chair at Jewish public Lady Mosley whose apt choice tion with the Argentinian journalist Carlos dinners. His oldest brother, on the other Was the 'ennobled' William Joyce? Thompson (the husband of Lilli Palmer). hand, the later William IV, was rather less broadminded. At the time of the debates on LEPEN In 1970 Captain John Egerton Broome Jewish emancipation, he actually urged the Petain's refrigerated sperm sued David Irving and the publishers of his Bishop of Ely "always to vote against the Makes Liberals and resistants squirm book Convoy PQl 7 for libel. Capt. Broome Jews." Calls gas chambers a bagatelle was awarded £40,000 damages; an appeal AJR Information March 1952. And conjures up a racist hell failed.

DAWSON HOUSE HOTEL DAY CENTRE BELSIZE SQUARE CZECHOSLOVAKIA, APARTMENTS » Free Street Parking in front of tfie Hotel PRAGUE Can you spare an hour to » Full Central Heating • Free Laundry entertain? 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, N.W.3 > Free Dutcfi-Style Continental Breakfast Holidays, W/end breaks. Central accommodation. Music - talks - demonstrations Tel: 071-794 4307 or 071-435 2557 etc. Any day of the week. If so 72 CANRELD GARDENS £30 double, £20 single. please contact Hannah Goldsmith Telephone George on Wednesdays between MODERN SELF.CATERING HOLIDAY Near Underground Sta. Finchley Rd. 9.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. ROOMS. RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER Czaban: MODERATE TERMS (0626)770211 071-328 0208 NEAR SWISS COTTAGE STATION LONDON, N.W.6 Tel: 071-624 0079 or evenings 081 -958 5080. AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Guilt by disassociation Obituaries s recent exchanges in our correspon­ dence columns show, the debate Aabout the involvement of the Ger- Ernst Krenek They feel united in their sense of loss with rtian people in Nazi crimes rages on. Some his wife, Etna, and his children. contend that the secrecy surrounding the Vienna-born Ernst Krenek, who died in D W.R. Final Solution absolves ordinary Germans California, was as old as the century. Of of guilt. Their opponents argue that the Catholic military background, he studied E. Levine adds: genocide was on a scale which required the music under Franz Schreker, following his Just after the war Wolf Nelki sent food connivance of thousands of soldiers, civil teacher to Berlin in 1920. There he was parcels to former German left-wing friends servants, railway workers and others. briefly married to Gustav Mahler's daughter Anna. 1927 saw the premiere of to help them over hard times. He also made When cornered, the proponents of Ger­ his hugely successiul Jonny spielt auf, which many new friends in Hannover through his man ignorance-cum-innocence retort that introduced jazz rhythms into opera several talks at the university. To many of these criticism from outside is facile; in a totali­ years ahead of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. younger Germans Wolf became a father tarian state dissenters court martyrdom, Banned as 'decadent' in Hitler Germany, he figure. Their parents had belonged to the and ordinary people are not made of the returned to Vienna in 1933, only to find generation that had supported Hitler, and stuff of martyrs. rehearsals for his epic opera Charles V were therefore the people who had driven Facts - not opinions called off, at Nazi prompting, by Education Wolf, and so many others, from Germany. Thus the debate goes on and, fuelled by Minister Schuschnigg. In 1938 Krenek emi­ Many of the younger Germans — now generalisations and rhetoric, generates grated to the USA, where he lived thereafter middle-aged - had broken off all contact more heat than light. What is needed are as teacher and composer. Visiting his native with their Nazi parents. It was very import­ demonstrable facts, and not reiterated Vienna occasionally, he attended the pre­ ant to them to make up for their parents' opinions. miere of Charles V in 1984 - exactly fifty actions, and to welcome Wolf back to Was it a fact, for instance, that the years after it had orginally been Germany. Wolf and Erna were very moved German people were unable to thwart the scheduled. D by these tokens of friendship, and this has will of the Fuhrer in any particular? The been conducive to the process of healing old answer is that it was not! As a race fanatic wounds from the Nazi past. The University Hitler subscribed to the 'eugenic' idea that Wolfgang Nelki of Hanover honoured Wolf and Erna by publishing a part of his family history and the improvement of German blood stock Berlin-born Wolfgang Nelki, who died aged also an account of her life by Erna. D necessitated the culling of the handicapped 81, was forced by the Nazi takeover to and feeble-minded. He therefore ordered a switch from the study of law to that of niercy-killing programme which, having dentistry. Working as a dental surgeon in claimed thousands of victims, was even­ South London, he numbered the residents Edith Vogel tually called off because it affronted the of Nightingale House, the Jewish Home for Czernowitz-born Edith Vogel who has died millions related to those victims. the Aged, among his clients. Though Jew­ aged 79 came to Vienna as a child. She ishness had originally played little part in studied piano under Mme Wally Loew and '*opular victories Wolfgang Nelki's self-perception, his atti­ was just beginning to establish herself when From this two conclusions can be drawn. tude changed subsequently. He carried out the Anschluss drove her to England. Firstly, if opposition to a dictator's edict thorough researches into the antecedents of Only able to resume her concert career goes with the grain of public opinion, the his own family, to which the publication after the war, she was eventually appointed ueed for dissenters to sacrifice themselves The History of a German-Jewish Family Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School does not arise. Secondly, the German people (reviewed in this issue) bears witness. He of Music, where she became a legend. Her oroadly approved of whatever else Hitler repeatedly contributed to this paper and master classes, too, became something of an did. Admittedly, his unleashing of war was took a lively interest in the efforts of the institution. t^ot instantly popular, but the victories over AJR. In 1950 she had married a polio victim Poland, and later France, soon transformed Wolfgang Nelki will be sadly missed in and forever after subordinated her piano apprehension into triumphal euphoria. his steadily diminishing circle of friends. playing to her wifely duties. D What about genocide? The unvarnished — ^nd uncomfortable - truth is that the missing" Jewish neighbours did not upset Ordinary Germans to anything like the same LANDAU, BAKER & CO degree as the Euthanasia victims. Jews were others' — beings from whose fate the Chartered Accountants ^rman man in the street could emotionally Registered Auditors disassociate himself. Albany House, 324/326 Regent Street, Should anyone doubt this, let him ponder London W1R5AA Company Audits, Individuals and Partnership Accounts and Taxation lith the recent statement by Steffen Reiche, the -Social Democrat leader in Brandenburg: Wages; Acquisitions Systems Fhe distress over the mountain of Stasi files and other specialist work 's far worse than the reaction to the Initial free consultation. Competitive Fees. 'fountain of corpses from Auschwitz'. Telephone: 071 636 2727 Fax: 071 436 0727 D R.G.

15 AJR INFORMATION MARCH 1992

Five of the eight children having failed to idea. 'You want to be an old maid?', she Premier from Pinsk survive infancy, Golda had just two sisters: screamed, 'Is that what you're studying (Part I) the eldest Ghana, and Zipporah, the 'baby'. for?' Golda's father supported his wife and One day when Golda and some of her the 14-year-old was given the alternative of little playmates were building mud castles in going to work or taking a secretarial course. In an extract from his book OLD ADAM NEW an alleyway, they froze as they heard the A third possibility was also mooted: matri­ EVES (Vision Press, £8.95) Richard Grunberger looks at the life of Golda Meir. Part 2 will neighing of horses and thunder of hooves. mony. A 28-year-old estate agent had appear in April. Within seconds mounted Cossacks were become attracted to the pubescent girl and upon them, slashing at the air with whips approached the parents. When Golda and sabres. By a miracle the horses jumped pointed to the suitor's age being twice her he 1960s witnessed a break with a clear of the little huddled bodies; as the own, she received an assurance that he was host of traditional attitudes and murderous cavalcade moved on, the willing to wait a couple of years. Tusages. One innovation Uttle alleyway echoed to cries of 'Death to the The 'proposal' compounded her anger remarked on at the time was the assumption Jews'. At this time, the early 1900s, the over the frustrated teaching ambition and of political power in some countries by Czarist authorities deployed Cossacks as Golda decided to leave home. Helped by a women. Mrs Bandaranaike became prime readily against striking workers and left- friend she ran away to her married sister minister of Ceylon in 1960, Indira Gandhi wing demonstrators as against Jews. Not Ghana in Denver. Here she proved as followed suit in India in 1966, and Golda surprisingly, some young Jews espoused the headstrong as she had done in the parental Meir in Israel in 1969. (Mrs Thatcher's left-wing cause; others subscribed to the home. Provoked by Ghana's censure for premiership, the next in the sequence, Zionist vision of returning to Palestine. staying out late, she moved into a furnished commenced in 1979.) Misogynists with a Revolution, Socialism, Jewish self-help, room and went to work in a laundry. bent for history must have recalled the mid- Zionism - all these ideas were debated by Around this time she met Morris Myer­ sixteenth century when a conjunction of Ghana's teenage friends and became part of son, a sign-painter of Russian-Jewish origin, several female rulers prompted John Knox's little Golda's mental universe early on. who took her to a concert on their first date. First Blast of the Trumpet against the When Golda was eight her father sent for The bespectacled, outwardly unprepossess­ Monstrous Regiment of Women. The latter the family. After a strenuous journey they ing Myerson impressed her with, as she put were, of course, all crowned heads. arrived in Milwaukee, only to find no it, his 'beautiful soul'. When her father Although four centuries had elapsed, two of proper accommodation awaiting them. wrote agreeing that she undertake teacher the afore-mentioned women prime minis­ They took a couple of rooms at the back of a training, Golda moved back to Milwaukee. ters resembled the targets of Knox's trum­ dingy store which Mrs Mabovitch, reluc­ She was now secretly engaged and the flood pet blast in owing high office to inheritance tantly assisted by Ghana and Golda, turned of Myerson's letters aroused her mother's rather than merit: Mrs Bandaranaike was into a grocery catering for penurious cus­ suspicion. But, as it turned out, parental the widow of Solomon Bandaranaike, the tomers in the neighbourhood. The father disapproval jeopardized the burgeoning previous premier of Ceylon, and Indira meanwhile worked as a railway carpenter. love affair far less than Zionism, which in Gandhi the daughter of Pandit Nehru. In Milwaukee Golda went to school, but 1917 - year of the Balfour Declaration The only female prime minister of the not regularly. Every so often, when Mrs adumbrating a Jewish National Home in '60s who owed her elevation entirely to Mabovitch had to go to market or else­ Palestine - took on overwhelming impor­ merit was Golda Meir. Even Mrs Thatcher, where, Golda was obliged to play truant tance for Golda. Myerson showed himself who entered politics as something of an and mind the store; the mother's stock reply extremely reluctant to join her in the outsider, enjoyed advantages of back­ to the girl's protests would be, 'So you'll be pioneering existence in Israel in which she ground, education and wealth through mar­ a learned lady a day later!' In other words, had set her heart. D riage that Golda Meir could not even dream the Mabovitch's hardly conformed to of. Golda did, however, resemble Maggie in prevalent notions of all Jews being educa­ being a grocer's daughter — that is if a tion-minded and most immigrants progress­ OLD AGE PENSIONS woman who peddles loaves of homebaked ing from rags to riches. But for all that her GERMANY bread from door to door merits the appel­ father lacked ambition - a self styled The recently enacted Rentenreformgesetz lation grocer. Mrs Bluma Mabovitch was building contractor, he always remained a 1992 and a Judgement of the European obliged to eke out a living in this manner railway carpenter — and her mother's hori­ Court of Justice may enable former German nationals (also those of German cultural because hers was, temporarily, a one-parent zon hardly extended beyond the walls of the background), or their surviving spouse, who family. Her carpenter husband's skill had grocery, Golda showed a spark from early were persecuted on racial grounds and once earned them the right to reside in Kiev on. At the age of 10, finding that while emigrated from Germany and who hitherto had no credited social security contributions (where Golda was born). After a few years schooling was free in America school books with the German Insurance Fund, to make discrimination and fear of pogroms had were not, she organized a fund-raising drive voluntary contributions to secure an old age driven the father to try his luck in America, to purchase books for needy classmates. Pension. and the rest of the family were obliged to When she was 12, in addition to working Our Office will arrange consultation and, on return to Bluma's hometown, Pinsk. This hard at school, in the grocery and at home instructions, prepare your Pension claim. was an agglomeration of drab dwellings all week, she put in Saturday stints at a local For further information please contact: inhabited by 50,000 souls, a third of them department store. Jews; its main characteristics were muddy, ICS - Claims The completion of her High School unpaved roads and close proximity to the 146-154 Kilburn High Road education brought on a crisis. She had set London NW6 4JD malarial Pripet Marshes. The conjunction her heart on becoming a teacher, but Mrs of poverty and unhealthy environment had Mabovitch, who knew that women teachers Tel: 071-328 7251 (Ext. 107) taken its toll of the Mabovitch progeny. Fax:071-624 5002 had to be single, vehemently opposed the

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