Aji\ Information

Volume XLVI No. 11 November 1991 £3 (to non-members)

Don't m/ss . . . A reflection on anniversaries

Our 50th Anniversary Dinner. A special 'stop press' Red-letter days and months report of October's celebratory ovember is upon us and that is not necessar­ Now, 74 years later, Oktyobr has at last shed its event. p9 ily — in the Northern hemisphere - a good commemorative significance in Russian, and once N thing. The month of November (which the again become a month like any other. Although the French Revolution renamed Brumaire after brume, use of October as a sort of mantra was utterly bogus, fog) starts with the macabre rituals of All Souls' Day since the events of late 1917 were occasions for regret Class: the and Hallowe'en - not to mention the Mexican Day of rather than commemoration, it is an interesting fact the Dead. that certain dates in history do seem to have an almost English Historically, too, November unfolds in a series of mystical significance. Disease? macabre anniversaries: Guy Fawkes' Day, Poppy On 20 August 1968 Soviet tanks rolled into Prague; Day, Crystal Night and the Bolshevik Revolution. The on 20 August 1991 the hard-line junta sent tanks into ne of Soviets dubbed the last event, which actually occurred Moscow. Lady in November, the October Revolution because it had On 28 June 1399 the Serbs went down to defeat by Bird- taken place in the days of their unreformed calendar. the Turks at Kossovo; on 28 June 1914 a Serb O October is also, of course, more evocative than assassinated the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand wood's supporters November of the poet Keats' 'season of mists and at Sarajevo; on 28 June 1991 Slovenia seceded from described the jury mellow fruitfulness'. At any rate, after 1917 October, Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. or Red October, became a shibboleth and was used German history, too, has its recurring red-letter day that found her for naming anything from periodicals to metro of widely disparate significance. On 9 November guilty as 'not stations, and from children's homes to collective 1918 the Kaiser abdicated paving the way for the containing a farms. Armistice; on 9 November 1923 Hitler staged the single person of bloody Munich Putsch, only to receive kid-glove quality'. It is a treatment from the very authorities he had tried to comment from overthrow; on 9 November 1938 the Nazis unleashed which one can the Kristallnacht pogrom showing the Heart of draw some Darkness in the heart of Europe; on 9 November comfort. It 1991 the Berlin Wall came down, ending the division suggests that the of the two Germanies. snobbery fuelling In the aftermath of the Wall's collapse many people old-style feared that a unified Germany would bestride Europe antisemitism like a colossus. This fear has so far proved groundless. debars its Bonn sat on the sidelines in the Gulf War, and is now proponents from advocating military peace-keeping action in Yugo­ making common slavia without being able to commit its own troops. cause with the Grand German gestures are not only ruled by the skinhead thugs Constitution, but also by the financial cost of who haunt incorporating the near-bankrupt five Eastern Lander Mosley's old into the economy. stamping grounds The danger emanating from the unified Germans, in the East End. does not, for the foreseeable future at any rate, seem In this instance to lie in their being too mindful of past 'greatness'. It class, far from lies in forgetfulness - by, for instance, allowing the being the cause euphoric recollection of 9 November 1991 to overlay, of the 'English and blot out, the shameful memory of 9 November disease', seems to 1938. That date, which left an entire nation bearing be an Synagogue furnisbiniis itraf;i;ed out and piled up for public the mark of Cain, must never be overtaken by antidote. D burning. Germany, l^.iS. oblivion. •emim a»T»E^a?«'ssmsm '^i^'^.f^JAr'X'*^. ."•<

AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

The Day of the Jackal Profile

ondon University Examination Board, moving with the times, has placed Man of harmony LFrederick Forsyth's thriller on the A- However, by the time of the AJR's level syllabus for English Literature. Plans founding they had settled in Bedford which are also afoot to make a Jeffrey Archer was to be home ever after. Hans not only novel a set text. Shakespeare, it appears, is joined the Association early on. 'It was still up there with Forsyth and Archer, but suggested' he says 'that I might assist in the examiners want to make his plays more recruiting meinbers. So I spent my week­ accessible to students by giving them new ends with my parents in London and called titles. first at the AJR office in Finchley Road, to Anthony and Cleopatra is going to be collect lists with names and addresses of known as Death on the Nile, Julius Caesar potential members, chiefly in West London. as Bloodstains in the Forum, King Lear as There was little 'sales resistance' and meet­ Single Parent Royal in Retirement, Macbeth ing so many members of our community as Scot on the Rocks, Romeo and Juliet as made the job interesting.' Teenage Love before the Pill, Hamlet as His real job meanwhile was teaching Danish pastry at the Oedipus Cafe, The inusic at schools in Bedford — though, as Merchant of Venice as Rock around the before in Berlin, he did not limit his service Rialto, Richard II as The King with a kink, to the Orphic muse to classroom teaching. Richard III as The Hunchback of St Paul's, The Freyhans are long-time stalwarts of and Henry VIII as Der lustige Witiver. the Bedford Music club providing hospi­ Othello is still under debate, with some tality at their home to visiting performers members favouring Mixed marriage in the like Menuhin, Tortelier and Brendel. (Apro­ Med, and others Jalousie, or How to make a Hans I reyban. pos of musical luminaries they also have a Venetian blind. To disabuse students of the link with Sir David Willcocks - both as notion that writers don't do a real job, in ith a piano-playing father and a guest conductor of Bedford Musical some cases not only the work but also its mother who had trained as a Society, and as teacher of their sons at author will appear under a new guise. Thus Wsinger Berlin-born Hans Freyhan Cambridge.) John Milton's Samson Agonistes will figure was virtually predestined to lead a life given In addition Hans has long been music as Short back and sides by Cromwell's PR over to music. He studied piano from the critic of the Bedfordshire Times, as well as man on the exam paper, and Henry Field­ (relatively late) age of nine - and later the author of the programme notes for our ing's Tom Jones as Elvis from Ebbw Vale hy cello and the organ. In 1928 he read annual AJR and Self Aid charity concerts. the Beak of Bow Street. musicology, and other subjects, at Freiburg He is truly a man of harmony - not only in n R.G. University, preparatory to attending a its literal meaning, but also in the wider three-year course for music teachers at sense of harmonising his membership of the Berlin. Here the exam requirements refugee community with participation in the included an hour-long piano recital of Bach life of the town that has become his true and Beethoven from memory (!). He passed home. Let your body nonetheless and became a trainee teacher in D Richard Grunberger Berlin grammar schools. Halfway through take a holiday that school year the Nazis came to power Whilst enjoying good quality hotels and excel­ and the creeping ghettoisation of Gerinan FOR THOSE YOU CARE MOST ABOUT lent cuisine, why not ease your aches and Jewry began. pains with the famous Fango mud treatments or Thalassotherapy as well as Health, Beauty Hans Freyhan obtained employment at and Fitness Courses. Jewish schools; as a teacher for the Adass Springdene n ABANO, MONTEGROTTO, ISCHIA, Jisroel he also conducted the synagogue A modern nursing home with IN ITALY choir (and wrote music criticism for the 26 yrs of excellence in health D YVERDON IN SWITZERLAND C. V. Zeitung.) care to the community. Licensed by Barnet area health [J BIARRITZ IN FRANCE He avoided the Kristallnacht round-up by authority and recognised by Scheduled flights from Heathrow or Gatwick going into hiding. In January 1939 he came BUPA & PPP. and regional airports. HYDROTHERAPY & Prices with or without treatments. to England, followed by his wife Kate PHYSIOTHERAPY Private car transfers included. whom he had met in far-off idyllic Freiburg provided by full time chartered FOR FREE COLOUR BROCHURE CONTACT: cares physiotherapists for inpatients days ten years ealier. and outpatients. Over here the couple initially faced finan­ cial problems but were cheered by the SPRINGDENE 55 Oakleigh Park North, Whetstone, London N.20 of Westminster Linnitedaai^ friendliness of people. War brought further 081-446 2117 276 PRESTON ROAD, HARROW HA3 OQA upheavals; the enforced move from the SPRINGVIEW 6-10 Crescent Road, Enfield. Our 'invasion coast', Hans' internment, and completely new/ purpose built hotel style retirement *'»^ TEL: 081-904 2202 f^^ home. All rooms with bathroom en-suite from £305 24hr answerphone 081-908 1515 *iIA Kate's, and their little son's evacuation from per week. 081-446 2117. blitzed London. AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

desirable event'. GBS, then probably the in the U.S. it was nominated for an Oscar — Art and power most famous writer in the world - whom but not in its country of origin. Since its translation by the Jew Siegfried Trebitsch subject was the refusal of a Bavarian town eltsin arrived in the Kremlin leaving had gained a large German readership — was to face the Nazi past, the film's poor onlookers dazzled by the speed of quite blind to the true nature of Nazism. performance in the Bundesrepublik struck Yhis elevation, and deeply uncertain This is evidenced by his league of Nations observers as a further example of German whether the ex-apparatchik was a democrat 'comedy' Geneva, which featured Musso­ collective amnesia. Now a much more or a demagogue. No such doubts shadowed lini as Signor Bombardone and Hitler as innocuous explanation for The Nasty Girl's the arrival of ex-playwright Vaclav Havel in Herr Battler. unpopularity with home audiences has Prague's Hradczany Castle: his work had During the war the BBC asked Shaw to appeared in The Independent. German established his democratic credentials give a Sunday night talk. He submitted a cinema-goers, it appears, are so addicted to beyond peradventure. By the same token script stating 'we should have declared war films made in Hollywood that the native President Landsbergis' earlier career as a the moment Mr Hitler's police stole Ein­ product accounts for under a fifth of box musicologist augurs well for the future of stein's violin'. Duff Cooper, the Minister of office takings. Lithuania, a nation deeply stained by war­ Information, vetoed the script on the In the U.S. meanwhile, director Spike time collaboration with Nazi genocide. grounds of Shaw's main theme being 'that Lee's cameras are set to roll for the shooting The fact that a man has devoted his life to the only thing Hitler has done wrong is to of Malcolm X, one of the most explosive music, the most sublime of the arts, does persecute the Jews'. Harold Nicolson, Duff subjects ever brought to the screen. The not, however, always prove him to be a fully Cooper's parliamentary secretary said 'As film's hero created the 'Nation of Islam' as paid-up member of the human race. Russia, the Minister remarks, millions of Americans an instrument of Black confrontation with which traditionally demands engagement and others believe that this is the only thing American society in contradistinction to from creative artists, has produced two he has done right'. Martin Luther King's non-violent composers of pronounced anti-humane dis­ The men who expressed these sentiments approach. As indicated by the name of his position: the pro-Fascist Stravinsky and the in the darkest hour of Jewish history were, organisation Malcolm X was also extremely antisemite Rachmaninov. alas, key figures of the Establishment and hostile to Israel - and his successor Louis In complete contrast Shostakovitch was luminaries of the British cultural elite. They Farrakhan is a notorious Black worshipper philosemitic. He had a high regard for also, incredibile dictu, formed part of Chur­ of Hitler. D Jewish music as a means of alleviating pain, chill's team which saved the world from the and showed himself deeply sensitive to black night of Nazism. D R.G. Golden Oldies Jewish suffering during the Shoah. The iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Russian musical community also produced By coincidence the English stage right now Rostropovitch who, having been forced into Cine matters appears to be awash with German plays of exile for sheltering Solzhenitsyn, returned to more or less Weimar vintage. The Royal Moscow during the coup and, aged 74, took ecently several board members of the Shakespeare Company at Stratford have his place among the defenders of the British Film Institute put forward the premiered a musical version (courtesy Parliament against the expected onslaught Rsuggestion that Claude Lanzmann, Friedrich Hollander) of the Blue Angel; this of the junta's tanks. director of Shoah, be awarded an Institute is, happily, rather more faithful to Heinrich Would that 1930s Germany had boasted fellowship. Simultaneously staff of the BFI Mann's Professor Unrath than Josef von conductors like Rostropovitch, instead of proposed the award of a fellowship to the Sternberg's 1930 film classic. the career-obsessed Furtwangler, and the radical British film director Ken Loach. The National Theatre are staging The likes of Karajan and Karl Boehm, whose (This is the same man who in 1986 was Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt spectacular rise owed much to the elimina­ scheduled to direct the poisonously anti- Brecht's dramatically gripping, if histori­ tion of Jews from public life. Zionist play Perdition, which, thanks to cally incorrect, allegory on the Nazi The two last-mentioned moral pygmies Jewish protest, remained unperformed.) BFI Machtergreifung. Were, strictly speaking, Austrian and not President Sir Richard Attenborough Still in London, the Lyric Hammersmith German. It is a notorious fact that the resolved the dispute between the partisans are showing Carl Sternheim's deliciously Austrians celebrated Hitler's arrival in of Lanzmann and those of Loach by the sardonic comedy Die Hose; this expose of Vienna like a Second Coming. Less well Solomonic ruse of awarding the fellowship Wilhelminian petty bourgeois mores, once known is Bernard Shaw's description of the to Sir Alec Guinness. anglicised as The Bloomers, is now being Anschluss (which instantly triggered an The German film The Nasty Girl (direc­ served up to English audiences under the epidemic of Jewish suicides) as a 'highly tor Michael Verhoeven) did well abroad — more 'catchy' title Knickers. D

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Years War the West appeared exhausted Polish prelude while Poland seemed united and, relatively, Collective biography unscathed. Such appearances were decep­ Hillel Levine: ECONOMIC ORIGINS OF ANTI- Monika Richarz. Ed JEWISH LIFE IN SEMITISM - Poland and its Jews in the early tive. It was in Western Europe that the GERMANY Memoirs from Three Centuries, tr modern period. Yale University Press, 1991. scientific, industrial and cultural forces by Stella and Sidney Rosenfeld, Indiana which created the inodern world thrived, University Press. he ultimate tragedy of European whereas Poland embarked on a course of Jewry had long been in preparation. stagnation and disintegration. Society was TThe anomalous position of the Jews dominated by the great lords and a restric­ his volume, comprising over 50 auto­ in Christendom had provided the various tive ideology, derived from inedieval Catho­ biographies of obscure individuals, strata of society with a symbol epitomising licism, of economic self-sufficiency and anti- Tconstitutes a sort of collective bio­ all those social evils of which the real causes commerce prevailed. Jews were compelled graphy of German Jewry during the last — were ill-understood. The Jew was a general to operate in the interstices of society. They and simultaneously most glorious and tra­ 'resource' which could be drawn upon to did so as pedlars, administrators on large gic — phase of its existence. blame for disaster. The history of Polish estates, and as manufacturers, wholesalers The accounts start around 1780 when Jewry is a case in point. or retailers of grain-based intoxicants, Germany still moved to a slower rhythm Comprising about ten per cent of the largely consumed by the enserfed than England and France with their indus­ population, they were compelled to play a peasants. Far less encumbered by anti- trial and political revolutions. The 'Holy peculiar role in the self-imposed disinte­ commerce attitudes than the Polish gentry, Roman Empire of the German nation' was gration of Polish society after the Thirty the Jews played roles in the towns (as so territorially fragmented that a move from Years War and to be the target of the artisans and merchants) and in the country­ Franconia to Dessau ranked as 'emigration' hostility of peasants. Church, lower gentry side which, while essential to the function­ and so constitutionally backward that Jews and burghers alike. By the time of the final ing of the social order, drew upon them the still laboured under medieval disabilities. partition of Poland (1795) the Jew had been hatred of all goups. 'The Jews', writes Despite the discrimination they endured the defined as a non-person, without any civic Levine, 'were placed in positions of rivalry (mainly rural and small-town) communities rights or obligations. This story is told with with the interests of every other segment of had built up an institutional framework impressive acumen by Levine. Polish society: the burghers, the peasants foreshadowing elements of the welfare When Europe emerged from the Thirty and the clergy. The burghers, undermined state: transient poor Jews would on arrival by the gentry and their own inability in the in a strange town receive a blett, or coupon face of competition, against which their for free meals at the home of designated guilds could not protect them, blamed their community members. BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE decline on the Jews. The accounts also attest to the warmth The peasants grew more rebellious and and cohesiveness of Jewish life, with co­ 51 BELSIZE SQUARE, NW3 the burden of their feudal obligations religionists, particularly in the smaller com­ In conjunction with St Peter's Church became heavier with the decline of the munities, virtually forming an extended Belsize Square have great pleasure in Polish economy. Peasant discontent had family. Inevitably such a pattern of exis­ hosting the hariTiful consequences for the Jews, who tence had its downside, too, in that the ANNE FRANK IN were becoming the most visible agents of THE WORLD EXHIBITION (1929-1945) communal authority figures, i.e. the rabbis, peasant enserfment.... The clergy provided felt inclined to enforce rigid conformity. We 4th to 28th NOVEMBER, 1991 religious zeal to fan the antagonisin of read of over-zealous custodians of the faith Monday to Wednesday 10.00 a.m.-5.00 p.m. iTiembers of all of Poland's classes towards 'testing' ritual slaughterers by making Thursday 10.00 a.m.-B.GO p.m. the Jews.' Friday 10.00 a.m.-2.00 p.m. barely discernible nicks on their knives — Sunday 10.00 a.m.-6.00 p.m. This is an exemplary socio-historical and even of a rabbinical order that all men Saturday CLOSED study of a crucial episode in modern Jewish circumcised by a particular mohel in Hesse Entrance; £2.00 per adult history, which investigates the economic, undergo a second circumcision because the El ,00 OAP's and Students CO.50 School children cultural and political forces at work in latter had been retrospectively found lack­ Polish society in the century or so leading up ing in kashrus. SPECIAL EVENTS IN NOVEMBER Sunday 3rd - Grand Opening and Salzberger to the Partition. Not for the last time a German Jews, as is well known, pion­ Lecture ruling class blinded by an anachronistic eered Reform Judaism; this internal 'libera­ by ticket only from Synagogue Office ideology failed to accept the challenge of lisation' was a corollary of the more liberal Wednesday 6th - Forum on 'Antisemitism Today' St Peter's Church at 8.30 p.m. modernisation. In this instance an internal climate evolving - thanks to political and Friday 8th - Kristallnacht Service group — the Jews - was blamed for the economic changes — in mid-19th century Belsize Synagogue at 6.30 p.m. Thursday 14th - Much acclaimed play 'Rescuers inevitable failures; in other instances, as in Germany. Speaking' by Wilfred Harrison Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, locally The Jews themselves, of course, played no St Peter's Church at 8.30 p.m. Thursday 28th - Talk by Rev. Edwin Robertson on resident Jews - as well as external groups - siTiall part in quickening the pace of econ­ Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer were blamed. We can learn a great deal omic change in the initial stages of Ger­ St Peter's Church at 8.30 p.m. about modern developments from Levine's many's transformation into an industrial Space donated by Pafra Limited excellent case study of Poland. power. Other changes were much harder to n Harold Freedman effect: acceptance of the Jews as social - and AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

not merely legal - equals of the host one woman who survived as a, so called, Reinhard who knows full well that they are community foundered on the twin rocks of 'U-boat' in Berlin reads 'I now decided to Jewish. Tania becomes his mistress. When xenophobia and social exclusiveness. 'I can put an end to my life. I went to your good Dr he is found out, by happy chance Tania and as little associate with the Jewish doctor' Lissner and asked him for Veronal. He Maciek are elsewhere. As the Gestapo men said a Lutheran pastor in late-19th century refused it to me. But he himself took poison enter his flat, he kills the mother and Hesse 'as I can with the gendarme. As a Jew a week later. I already had 16 tablets, but himself. the man stands outside society; he is not one you could not do anything with that... In The author demonstrates the hurtfulness of our notables.' those days Veronal was a desired item; Jews of living under false identity even if it saves Hessian Jewry incidentally was largely paid 1,000 reichsmarks for 30 tablets.' Of one's life. Surrounded by exultant anti­ comprised of cattle dealers. Some of the her husband she writes that he suffered semites they have to watch from the roof of latter took advantage of peasant indebted­ terribly even before his deportation. 'He their refuge as the Ghetto is destroyed. And ness to distrain land and sell it to the highest simply could not grasp that the German when the turn of the Poles coines, after their bidder — and became known as 'estate people — the people of Bach, Beethoven and abortive uprising, the two are among those butchers' in the process. Goethe — had let things reach that point.' slated for deportation to Auschwitz, albeit The memoirs abound in criticism of Nor indeed can anyone, even half a with a gentile transport. Again Tania's fellow-Jews who promoted risches (anti­ century later. What we can understand chutzpah saves them. The Soviet victors, semitism) in this and other ways. Com­ however, thanks to this highly informative and the returning father, find them alive and plaints range from the uncouthness of rural - and meticulously annotated - book, is relatively well. - or, alternatively, Polish - Jews to the how German Jews thought and acted (or Mr Begley points up the fact that the ostentatious status-seeking of newly-rich failed to act) in the last stage of their war's end has not cured the ills of Poland. social climbers. Another target of reproof is remarkable history. Jews are still being hunted, and Maciek the pomposity of religious officiants. The n Richard Grunberger keeps his gentile identity until final Chief Cantor of Fasanenstrasse Synagogue migration. in Berlin is described as a 'cross between All those experiences have left him with a Joshua and Parsifal who at the Shabbat Outwitting death survivor's sense of guilt. He even feels guilty kiddush would raise the silver goblet aloft towards the Catholic faith which he, cir­ as in a Grail scene'. Louis Begley. WARTIME LIES, Macmillan, cumcised and unbaptised, has so falsely and German Jews certainly knew - and loved 1991, £13.99 successfully professed. In an introduction - their Wagner; they even thrilled to the and an intromission, printed in italics, he nationalist outpourings of the Bisinarck his is the story of two people who tries to universalise these feelings by an devotee Heinrich von Treitschke, for all escaped the Holocaust - successfully appeal to Virgil and Dante. This is ex­ that he raised the spectre of Jewish pants- Tshedding their Jewish identity and tremely interesting, though it clashes with sellers flooding across the Reich's eastern lying their way out of every situation; they the tone of the rest. The diversion to Troy borders. were aided by the fact that they looked and the Inferno notwithstanding, this tale of They were thus in a profound identity 'Aryan'. I call it a story because it is not the Holocaust outwitted is well worth crisis - vertiginously suspended between presented like a novel, but nor does it admit reading. Judaism and Germanness - when Nazism to being autobiographical. One surmises D John Rossall irrupted barbarously into their lives. In the that the lies of the title refer to fooling the hour of trauma some solace came in the foe, and that what one reads is pretty well form of rediscovering Jewish roots - a the truth as the author, now living in the Israel's process helped by Robert Weltsch's exhor­ U.S.A., experienced it as a child. tation 'Wear the Yellow Star with pride' in The boy Maciek lived with his assimi­ Very finest Wines the editorial columns of the Jiidische lated doctor father, a widower, in a small Rundschau. town. He does not deny that he was a SHIPPED BY The final section of the book makes selfish, spoilt brat. A Polish country girl painful, but essential, reading. There are nanny loves him to a degree that might post-Kristallnacht concentration camp nowadays come under the suspicion of child HOUSE OF experiences that are doubly chilling - for sex abuse. Not that he objected. Into his their depiction both of SS sadism and of lack near-paradise come the Germans, and the HALLGARTEN of Jewish solidarity. In Dachau Austrian retreating Russians take father doctor with Jews dubbed their German co-religionists them. Piefke militarists for endeavouring to march The heroine of the story is beautiful Aunt YARDEN and GAMLA smartly to the orders of SS drill sergeants Tania. Hard as nails, she obtains first forged AVAILABLE NOW and were in turn cursed by the Piefkes when and then 'genuine' false papers (some they prompted blanket punishment by fail- vanished person's), and presents Maciek as Please write or phone for 'tig to keep in step. The behaviour of her child. Together they move from rela­ full information individual Jewish inmates towards one tively safe to slightly safer havens: brothels, another was also much more anti-social bug-ridden rooming houses and a farm DALLOW ROAD than the conduct of the political prisoners where they live with the animals. Tania LUTON BEDS rules the boy with an iron fist lest he slip up ^ho had formed the core of the camp LU11UR population since 1933. and give them away. Worse was to come with the advent of For a while they and Tania's sick mother, 0582 22538 *ar and the deportations. The account of enjoy the protection of a German called AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

more has to happen with Socialism before some of our fellow Jews see the light. Please allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate you on performing a remarkable feat: breathing Ufe into a publi­ cation that was, by its nature, somewhat sluggish. You have done this in the only way HUMAN SINGER, GODLIKE SONG Autumn 1991. Chapel and murals were that journalism can succeed — by being your Sir — I sympathise with Mrs Harvey and her presented by the Behrends to the National own man. Keep it up, and let those who concern about the reputation of Wolfgang Trust in 1947. want a tame house journal look at the AJR Amadeus Mozart. Pandering to the tastes of John Louis's father, an emigrant from bulletin board. the reading public biographers had created Germany in the 1860s, was a nephew of Worten Mill, Great Chart Victor Ross an image of Mozart to befit the fame of the three earlier (1809, 1817, 1821) emigrating Nr Ashford, Kent Jewish brothers, the last of whom was my greatest genius in music history. Along great-great-grandfather. comes a muckraker in the shape of Wolf­ BOUQUETS Alleyn Road M. L Meyer gang Hildesheimer and disputes the findings Sir -1 must congratulate the editor on a very London SE21 of the scribes. fine and informative publication, which I How dare Hildesheimer challenge long always read with great interest. established and deeply cherished beliefs?! Sir -1 greatly enjoyed your obviously deeply Asmuns Place Mrs I. Silvertown Surely, majority opinion must be right, researched essay. However, you left out the London NWl I particularly when posthumously supported most famous of all Anglo-Jewish writers — by Papa Haydn! Charles Dickens, author of David Kupfer- Sir - I found Outing a la juive (September As regards the 'funeral legend' no feld and Martin Chutzpadikl issue) very amusing, especially the reference research, however scholarly, can cover up Winifred's Drive Franz Peters to 'Windsor Cassel'. the fact that Constanze Mozart failed to Combe Down, Bath Cotswold Gardens Stefan Bukowitz accompany her husband's remains to their London NW2 final destination. Had she observed a griev­ SINGULAR POWER, MULTIPLE ing widow's most basic duty, posterity GUILT RESEARCH PROJECT would at least be certain of the whereabouts Sir — I feel I must answer G. Schmerling's Sir - A second year history student at Bristol of Mozart's grave. assertion that it is quite wrong to describe University, I am currently researching an Holland Park Avenue J. Rotter the German people as complicit with undergraduate dissertation on the image of London Wl I Hitler's crimes. the Jews in Great Britain. I am keen to hear OUTING A LA JUIVE To illustrate my point I quote a personal from anyone who has personal recollections experience: In 1935, already living in Eng­ of being a Jew in GB between 1945-1950 Sir - Your light-hearted frolic (September land, I had occasion to visit Germany on with particular reference to the behaviour issue) deserves a factual byline regarding business. I called on a hosiery manufacturer of non-Jews towards them. Benjamin Britten. In the journal Country in Cologne, a man of upper middle class My aim is to analyse British attitudes Life of 28 October 1978 an article on the background. When our non-business con­ towards Jews in light of the revelation of 'Patrons of Talent' Mary and John Louis versation turned to contemporary con­ Nazi activities, and the events in Palestine. Behrend relates: ditions in Germany, he commented Jetzt Any information would be very gratefully 'In the late 20s they were impressed at a kommen auch wir Anderen mal dran (Now accepted and may be used in my concert ... by the work of a composer it's our turn for a change). His second dissertation. whose name was unknown to them. They comment, in reply to my remarks about the 36 Linden Road Jonathan Kanter asked if they could meet him, and a very persecution of the Jews, was Wo gehobelt Muswell Hill shy, very young man was presented to them. wird, fallen Spaene (You can't make London NIO 3DH They asked him about his work and Mrs omelettes without breaking eggs), noncha­ Behrend said: 'if you should need peace and lantly shrugging his shoulders as he said so. quiet..., we have a house in the country ... The German present young generation is You would be welcome to stay there quite right in being thoroughly ashamed of whenever you like and as long as you like, JACKMAN • what their grandparents allowed to happen. whether we are there or not . . .' This Carisbrooke Road Henry Mortimer ^ invitation led to the many lengthy visits by SILVERMAN Leicester t:OMMi;Rc:i.'\l. PROrERTY C,X)N.SLiLTANTS Britten . . . later joined by Peter Pears, and the long friendship between the two young musicians and the Behrends.' GIVING HYPOCRISY A BAD NAME (So perhaps Britten and Pears in fact took Sir - It may be that a flattering reference to to gefilter fish in the Behrend household.) my person in your September correspon­ The Behrends also erected Sandham dence went to my head, but it caused me to Memorial Chapel near Newbury, Hants, read the other letters with extra care. Three for the painter Stanley Spencer to execute of them, commenting on your political his murals, 'the only one of the many stance, reminded me that there is no left- 26 Conduit Street, LimJi)ii WIR 9TA visionary schemes he was able to fulfil', as wing creed so discredited but that it will find Telephone: 071 409 0771 Fax: 071 493 8017 stated in the National Trust Magazine of a Jew to speak up for it. One wonders what AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

was probably Giordano Bruno. A leading Hero villains Renaissance scholar, Bruno had joined the The Kvetch conundrum Dominican order at 15 and remained a friar teve Berkoff presents a teasing enigma ne man's terrorist is another all his life. Despite this he rejected much to critics and theatre-goers alike. The I iTian's freedoin fighter'. How Church dogma, and could be described as question, put bluntly, is this: where often one hears the tired old more of a Protestant than a Catholic. In S 'O does he find the time and the resourceful­ cliche trotted out! It is, of course, manifestly addition he was sufficiently modern in his ness to be director, designer, actor, adaptor untrue: in whose eyes could the Arab who outlook to accept Copernicus' theory that and playwright all at once. shot wheelchair-bound Arthur Klinghoffer the earth moved round the sun, and not aboard the Achille Lauro conceivably be a vice-versa. (Galileo's subsequent corrobor­ I think that I, being something of a freedom fighter? ation of the theory by astronomical obser­ I literary sleuth, know the answer. Close It is possible, on the other hand, that an vation led to his trial by the Inquisition - textual analysis of Kvetch reveals that, far individual can at the same time be a hero and to his famous recantation.) Bruno from being original, it is a rehash of and a villain of sorts. Dr Schweitzer had a would not recant and was duly burnt — Moliere's The Misanthrope, to which Ber­ colonialist-patriarchal attitude to the Afri­ thereby becoming an emblematic martyr koff simply affixed the modishly Yiddish cans - whether staff or patients - at his figure of man's painful advance from blind title. hospital at Lambarene. Mother Teresa dogma to enlightened inquiry. When I contacted the playwright by brings succour to the poor of Calcutta and Now it transpires that the Dominican means of mental telepathy and confronted simultaneously opposes birth control which friar was not only drawn to Protestant ideas him with my findings he threw a tantrum. could alleviate such poverty. Winston but intervened covertly - as a spy - in 'You are calling me a plagiarist' he splut­ Churchill had the foresight to warn against the ongoing Catholic—Protestant power tered. 'What's sauce for the goose is shmaltz Hitler and the heroic stature to encompass struggle. A priest at the French Embassy in for the gander. Moliere took my Erfershteit his defeat; but he was also a Chancellor who London, he informed Queen Elizabeth's spy a krenk and turned it into Medecin malgre put Britain back on the disastrous Gold master of plots to put Mary Stuart on the lui. And do you think Brecht's St Joan of the Standard, a government publicist who throne. In so doing he betrayed the trust of Stockyards is original? Not on your Nellie! 'bashed' the unions, and an MP who friends, breached the secret of the con­ 1 It's a plagiarised — and transvestised — opposed Indian independence. fessional and helped send men to their version of my Schechita under supervision At the Reichstag Fire trial George deaths. And, as if this weren't enough, the of the Beth Din. They've all done it to me! Dimitrov put up a magnificent resistance to Renaissance martyr also evinced vicious That rosche from the other Stratford, Shak­ Goring's bullying. Released, he went to hatred of the Jews. In this at least, if in little espeare, did it twice. First he took my Es Moscow and cravenly served Stalin during else, Bruno proved consistent since both his bluzt a vind and turned it into The Tempest, the Great Purge. Chairing a meeting of the Catholic and Protestant mentors - Saint and then he recycled my Klafte as Lady Bureau of the Communist International, he Dominic and Martin Luther - had been j Macbeth. Ibsen took my Dybbuks (Ghosts), addressed the one-time leader of the Hun­ notorious antisemites. Galsworthy my Meshpoche (The Forsyte garian Soviet Republic as 'citizen', rather But to end on a more hopeful note: I very Saga), Joseph Conrad my Medine finster than 'comrade', Kun; all present knew this much doubt if posterity will reveal that the I (The Heart of Darkness) and John Osborn to be code for saying that Bela Kun had been great martyr figures of our own age - my Kik ts'rik broiges (Look Back in Anger). stripped of his Party membership and was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Raoul Wallenberg, And now the film-makers are at it. That being sent to the Gulag. Andre Sakharov — had such feet of clay. shmendrick Greenaway appropriated my But the greatest hero-villain of all time n Richard Grunberger Ganev for The Thief, the Cook, his Wife and her Lover, and my Pipik for The Belly of an Architect.' 'Would you like me to quote you on this?' BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE Annely Juda Fine Art I asked. The playwright, suddenly in a 51 Belsize Square, London, N.W.3 Has moved to contemplative mood, hesitated. Then he Our communal hall is available 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street), said 'Not in so many words. But you could for cultural London W1R 9AA alert your readers to the forthcoming publi­ and social functions. Tel: 071-629 7578 cation of my six-volume study of the greats For details apply to: Fax: 071-491 2139 Secretary, Synagogue Office. of world literature from Homer to Jeffrey CONTEMPORARY PAINTING Archer'. 'Oh, yes' I said, pen poised over AND SCULPTURE Tel: 071-794 3949 note-pad, 'What is the title?' Berkoff smiled Mon-Fri: 10 am-6 pm Sat: 10 am-1 pm 'Paskudniaks, or a Plague of Plagiarists'. I , made my excuses and left. D

Deutsche Bucher, Bilder, Autographen und Asiatica RELIABLE AND CONSCIENTIOUS CAMPS sucht HANDY lUIAN INTERIMMENT-P.O.W.- FORCED LABOUR-KZ A. W. MYTZE Decorating, garden clearance, general repairs. I wish to buy cards, envelopes and folded post­ 1 The Riding, London NW11. marked letters from all camps of both world wars. Reliable and friendly service. Piease send, registered mail, stating price, to: Phone Andy Wilson on 081-346 3186 14 Rosslyn Hill, London NWS Tel: 071-586 7546 PETER C. RICKENBACK WL

AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

PAUL BALINT AJR 1 DAY CENTRE n^^HFaOmT^ 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL Tel . 071 328 0208 Popular pair Morning Activities - Bridge, kalookie. scrabble, chess, etc., keep fit, discussion group, choir {Mondays), art class {Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Afternoon entertainment - NOVEMBER Monday 4 . London Ladies Choir Conducted by Doris Samuels Tuesday .S Paris Cafe - Parisian Songs by Nina Fogelberg (Soprano) with own piano accompaniment Wednesday 6 The Art of Breadmaking mit Feeling - Talk and Demonstration by Vivian Goswell of Goswell Bakeries Thursday 7 Continental Cocktail - Helen Mignano and Sylvia Cohen Use (left) and Marianne - keeping; busy. Monday 11 Operetta and Musicals — Newman. Nina Fogelberg (Soprano) or several years now Use Knopf and charity concert. For two months prior to the with own piano concert date the office is inundated with accompaniment Marianne Hertz have been coming into the AJR offices in Adamson Road telephone calls and written enquiries about Tuesday 12 Songs of Love and Life - F Elizabeth Fletcher for two days a week almost every week of tickets and seating arrangements. Marianne (Soprano) accompanied the year. From mid-September to mid- and Use deal with all these enquiries with by Brian Fletcher (Piano) November, however, these two volunteers maximum efficiency and minimum fuss. Wednesday 13 Recital by Students from work every day of the week. On top of this mammoth task the ladies The Trinity College of The reason for this yearly disruption in are also a great help when it comes to the Music routine is the approach of the annual AJR production of the concert programmes, Thursday 14 Joint Recital from making sure that advertisers get their copy Finland and Israel for in on time and keeping an eagle-eye out for Violin and Piano - Atalia NOVEMBER Weiss (Piano) and Riikka Wednesday 27 A pre-Chanukah Concert errors. Silvenon (Violin) - Rev. Stephen Robins In less hectic times Use and Marianne find Monday 18 Winter Serenade - Ian Thursday 28 The Palm Courtet from plenty to do in the editorial offices of AJR Bradford (Flute) the University College Information. Use brings a lifetime's skill to accompanied by Carol School - Presented by bear on the administrative side. As well as Alyranan (Piano) Mike Alsford the usual office duties, filing, typing and Tuesday 19 The Music Makers - sending out invoices, she offers an excellent Elizabeth Winton and line in constructive criticism of the journal's Stan Longmire accompanied by Ken contents. Stow Marianne assists the editor of AJR Infor­ DECEMBER Wednesday 20 Rodgers, Hart and Monday 2 Light Up Chanukah with mation, Richard Grunberger, with sec­ Hammerstein - Their Shelly Weldon retarial chores. She also bears responsibility Lives in Words and Tuesday 3 Music For You At for the creation of a new archival index file, Music - Presented by Chanukah - Lucy White covering 50 years of the magazine. Sylvia Dombey (Violin) and Juliet Davey Although these ladies make a very valu­ Thursday 21 The Violin in Various (Piano) able contribution to the AJR they maintain Ways - Jeremy Birchall Wednesday 4 Connaught Opera - (Violin) accompanied by a low profile. Anyone who has attended one Maria Arakie (Soprano) Carole Prestland (Piano) of our charity concerts in the past few years and Glenn Wilson Monday 2S Songs to Light Up your (Baritone) accompanied could have seen them both busily working life at Chanukah - by Carol Wells (Piano) on the ticket stalls dealing with last minute Geoffrey Strum (Tenor) Thursday 5 Susi and Arnold Horwell: problems. accompanied by Johnny 'Richard Tauber - A For all that this popular pair shun publi­ Walton (Piano) 100th Birthday Concert' city, their colleagues feel that this small — Tuesday 26 Chanukah is Coming - - Preceded by lighdng of and quite inadequate - tribute is long Hans Freund the Chanukah Candles overdue. D M.N. AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

Our 50th Anniversary Dinner R^i^^^H

^^^^^^^^L /

BE^ ^^ H^^^^H

AjR Chairman Mr C T Marx (centre) ivith Mrs Marx, and Vice-Chairman Mr Max Kochmann welcome guests. The guest speaker, Sir Claus Moser. Photo: Goldhill. Photo: Goldhill.

he Golden Anniversary Dinner, With peace came the widespread acqui­ In his response AJR Chairman Mr C T attended by 150 guests, including sition of British nationality. Sir Claus gently Marx traced the story of the AJR from its TGerman, Austrian and Israeli diplo­ satirised some people's excessive 'British- strong foundations, laid by such men as Dr mats, took place on 15 October in an ness' in an anecdote: in 1947 a newly Rosenstock, via such landmarks as the atmosphere of conviviality which not even a naturalised refugee walks down the Home establishment of a highly efficient Social power cut could dent. In his address Sir Office steps with a hangdog expression. Services Department and the establishment Claus Moser followed the chronology of Asked the reason for his glumness just when of the Paul Balint AJR Day Centre which events in all our lives. He recalled with his dearest wish has been granted he replies provides such an essential social and cul­ bitter-sweet emotion growing up in a Berlin 'We have just lost India!' tural lifeline for so many of our members. boasting five opera houses, and then being In a more serious vein Sir Claus took issue Mr Marx also spoke of the continuing need treated as an outcast at school in 1933. with refugees who have criticised him for for residential care and sheltered accommo­ There followed ever worse Jewbaiting - and saying in public that, for all his immense dation. He concluded by saying that this emigration, with its problems of adapting gratitude to this country, he did not feel organisation, which perforins many valu­ compounded by the shock of internment. wholly British. We should not, he con­ able social welfare functions should Not that he found the latter experience cluded, be defensive about our German- continue to operate for the benefit of totally negative: work done at Huyton Jewish heritage which shaped our contribu­ descendants of refugees or even the wider Camp launched him on his career as tion to Britain, not least in the sphere of Jewish community well into the next a statistician. On release refugees joined charitable work - of which the AJR is an century. 'So let us stop being defensive the Forces, as he did, or undertook war outstanding example. In addition we ex- about our background; let this, our own. work. refugees need to make our voice heard in the Association continue to flourish as a public arena where the issue of 'asylum' is memorial of success created out of iiiimniiini iiiiii now being so hotly debated. adversity!' D AJR CLUB 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL Telephone: 071-624 3079 DDaDDaDDDonnaaDDnaDDDDaDaDD D D D TEA DANCE D DID YOU MAKE A SUNDAY 17th November CLOSED a a JEWISH NEW YEAR SUNDAY 24th at 3 p.m. D The Paul Balint AJR Day Centre D D D THE DOiNA DANCE GROUP D Presents another D RESOLUTION? a D presenting Afternoon Tea Dance EASTERN EUROPEAN DANCES D a n on D If not - please decide to visit members n D D in their own homes, in the residential We welcome you and your friends on n SUNDAY 17th NOVEMBER n D homes and/or drive people to and from TUESDAYS - THURSDAYS - SUNDAYS n from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. D 2p.m.-6 p.m. a Admission by ticket only D our day centre in West Hampstead. You will enjoy the friendly atmosphere D D D (Cost £4 including refreshments) D you can talk - play cards - play games. D D One Sunday a month live Entertainment. D a Information from Laura Howe, D Please contact Mrs Sylvia Matus: a AJR Volunteers coordinator - D a Our annual membership fee is only £4. • 071-328 0208 D Phone 071-483 2536. nDDDDnaDanDDDnnnoDDDannanaD aa AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

FAMILY EVENTS Fischer Hanoch Fischer died sud­ CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENT denly on 29 September 1991, aged Birthday Compan ion/Carer 65 years. Sadly mourned by his only RATES Schwab Mrs Kathe Schwab will Mature Housekeeper/Companion sister Hedi. FAMILY EVENTS be celebrating her 95th birthday, in wanted, light duties incl. cooking Magnus Ernest Magnus died on for single lady. Comfortable flat First 15 words free of charge, the company of her children, grand­ £2.00 per 5 vi^ords thereafter. 19 September, 1991. Sadly missed children and great grandchildren, near Wimpole St. Please ring: 071- by his wife, family and many CLASSIFIED on 17 November 1991. 486 6475. (9-10.30 Mornings). friends. £2.00 per five words. Personal Michel Anne Michel died on 13 BOX NUMBERS Wedding September, peacefully, after a long Dr Fritz Hellendall wishes to inform £3.00 extra. Gruenwald Margaret Gruenwald illness borne with great bravery at readers of AJR Information that he has resigned from the PEN Centre of DISPLAY, INCLUDING SEARCH is pleased to announce the marriage Eden Hall Marie Curie Centre. NOTICES of her youngest son Stephen to Tina Deeply mourned and missed by all German-Speaking Writers Abroad per single column inch in Barbados. The wedding took her relatives and friends. after having been a member of that 16 ems (3 columns per page) £8.00 place on a beach on 24 August Petzal Harry Petzal died suddenly organisation for 30 years. 12 ems (4 columns per page) £7.00 1991. We wish the young couple all on 14 September 1991, while on Couple wanted for friendly game of the happiness in the world. holiday in California, in his eighty- Bridge. Box No: 1209. SHELTERED FLAT third year. He is desperately missed Mazletov. Miscellaneous to let at Eleanor Rathbone by his wife, children, grandchildren, Collector of old Jewish and House, Highgate, comprising colleagues and many close friends. Palestine picture postcards. Single bed-sitting room, kitchenette, Deaths Pick Alice (LisI) Pick died, aged cards purchased. David Pearlman, bathroom and entrance hall. Bachrach Lotte Bachrach died 83, on 6 October 1991. Sadly Resident warden. Monday 14 October in London missed by her many friends. 36 Asmuns Hill, London NWll. Enquiries to:- 081-4.55 2149. NW3, aged 89. Sadly missed by her Sharland Hildegard Sharland AJR Electrician City and Guilds quali­ many friends. passed away peacefully on 28 Sep­ HANNAH KARMINSKI fied. All domestic work undertaken Cohn Stephanie Cohn, born in tember after a long illness. She will HOUSE Y. Steinreich. Tel: 081-455 5262. Breslau in the year 1900, formerly be missed greatly by her husband, of 9 ADAMSON ROAD, LON­ Manicurist visits your home. Phone: of Ashford Court and Heinrich 63 years, Albert, son Walter, DON NWS 3HX 071-328 1176. 071-483 2536/7/8/9 Stahl House, passed away peace­ daughter-in-law Audrey, grandson Secretary/Book-keeper, fluent fully on 18 September 1991 at the Nigel and his wife Phillipa. French, German, English, good Whittington Hospital. Mourned by Sturmthal Hildegard Sturmthal, working knowledge of Italian seeks her many friends in Australia, Israel, widow of Dr Gustav Sturmthal, DAWSON HOUSE HOTEL part time/full time position. Car U.S.A., Africa and Europe, with formerly of Bad Pyrmont, died on 9 driver. Any suggestions? Ring 081 • Free Street Parking in front of the Hotel whom she had kept in touch September 1991, aged 94. Sadly 455 0168. • Full Central Heating • Free Laundry through visits and a lively missed by all her family. • Free Dutch-Style Continental Breakfast correspondence. FOR SALE - FURS 72 CANFIELD GARDENS Tombstone Consecration White Hermeline Stole £50, Mink Stole £50, Mink Tie £40, 2 Fur Near Underground Sta. Finchley Rd, ALTERATIONS Fry The Memorial Stone in loving Hats - Beaver/Mink £25 each, 2 memory of Louis Fry will be conse­ prs Mink Crevats (with heads) OF ANY KIND TO LONDON, N.W.6 crated at Bushey cemetary on Wed­ £25 each. Phone 0932 851439 Tel: 071-624 0079 LADIES' FASHIONS (mornings). I also design and make nesday 27 November at 11 a.m. children's clothes West Hampstead area ANTHONY J. NEWTON SATELLITE INSTALLATION 071-328 6571 SALES & REPAIRS Television - Videos - Aerials - Radios - &C0 Stereos - Electrical Appliances NEW & SECONDHAND TV'sA/IDEOS FOR SALE FOR FAST EFFICIENT FRIDGE SOLICITORS Tel: 081-909 3169 Answerphone & FREEZER REPAIRS 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, NW3 5NB AVrS TV SERVICE 7-day service With offices in: Europe/dersey/USA All parts guaranteed A. EISENBERG J. B. Services ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN Tel. 081-202 4248 Telephone: 071 435 5351/071 794 9696 RELIABLE & CAPABLE until 9 pm PLUMBER

offers a complete 24-hour MAPESBURY LODGE TORRINGTON HOMES plumbing service. Small (Licensed by the Borough of Brent} AUDLEY jobs welcome. Please ring MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N., REST HOME for the elderly, convalescent and partly MATRON incapacitated. JOHN ROSENFELD Lift to all floors. For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (Hendon) Luxurious double and single (Licensed by Borough ol Barnel) for Elderly Retired Gentlefolk rooms. Colour TV. ti/c. central heating, on 071-837 4569 ' Single and Double Rooms. Single and Double Rooms witti wasti private telephones, etc., in all rooms. * H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. Excellent l

10 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

Alice Schwab tion of her work is at the National Portrait Gallery (until 23 February 1992). The Queen's Pictures: Royal collectors throughout the Centuries, is in the new Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery (until 19 January 1992). Nearly 100 fine 'he Pop Art Show (Royal Academy paintings will be on view, including works until 15 December), already men­ by Holbein, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, T tioned in these columns, should not Vermeer, Gainsborough and Reynolds. be missed. In the 1960s critics predicted that The Julius Gottlieb Gallery at Carmel the POP ART movement would soon be College has recently shown works by six forgotten, but its continuing vitality and Jewish artists, Judy BeriTiant, Barbara Shuk- freshness created a lasting impression. man, Daniel Gibson, Naomi Blake, Adam Gerhard Richter is one of the iTiost Green and Ricky Romain. eminent painters working in Germany There are two exhibitions to be seen at the today. Some of his paintings are derived British Museum, Kamakura: the Renais­ from photographic images with vigorous sance of Japanese Sculpture 1165—1333 over-painting obliterating the otherwise (until 24 November) and Collecting the 20th straightforward image. He has also pro­ Century, a selection of 20th century material duced a serial work of '48 Portraits' depict­ acquired by the Museum through purchase, ing scientists, writers and thinkers of the last bequest, gift and fieldwork (until 16 Febru­ 150 years. During the late seventies he ary 1992). began painting free and soft abstracts. An Print Europe, a wide-ranging exhibition exhibition of the full range of his paintings is at the Tate Gallery (until 12 January of over 200 original prints by 80 artists from 1992). The Goethe Institut, London is France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and showing a representative selection of the Netherlands is at the Concourse Gallery, Richter's watercolours, photographs and Barbican Centre (until 18 November). The prints (9 January-8 February 1992). exhibition has been devised by the painter and printmaker Irene Scheinmann. Etchings by Gorgio Morandi (1890- Roy Lichtenstein: 7 know bow yon must feel. Finally, something entirely different! 1964) are also on show at the Tate Gallery Brad. ..• 1963. Betty Myerscough is an artist in needle and (until 9 February 1992). Morandi is gener­ (Picture courtesy Royal Academy of Arts.) ally thought of as a painter of still lifes and thread, and an unusual exhibition People in landscapes, but he was also a very accom­ American-bom Eve Arnold, now living Stitches will be at Smith's Galleries, Covent plished etcher. And Turner's Rivers of and working in Britain, is a distinguished Garden (2—7 December). The exhibition Europe: the Rhine, Meuse and Mosel can photo-journalist best known for her insight comprises small studies and large wall still be seen at the Tate (until 26 January into social and political situations as well as hangings, and prices range from £60 to 1992). for the freshness of her imagery. An exhibi- several thousand pounds. D The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, is Peter Stein, the new version is to appear in hosting The Transformation of Appearance SB's Column 1994. exhibition (until 8 December). This exhibi­ Birthday. Longest-serving member of tion comprises 19 works from the Tate Vienna's 'Josefstadt' and still very much in Gallery's collection, focusing on the work the limelight, Vilma Degischer will be 80 of five contemporary British painters, 400 years Jewish presence in Hansa City. years old this month. A most versatile Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis The City's Museum of History will stage an actress, widow of Hermann Thimig, she has Bacon, Lucian Freud and Leon Kossoff. exhibition on the history of Hamburg Jews been hailed as 'grand old lady' of the Kalman Kemeny (born 1896 in Hungary) from their first recorded residence to the Austrian stage where her activities began in settled in London in 1938. He taught at the present (November 1991-March 1992) as 1934. Hammersmith College of Art and his work an act of homage to their political, econ­ Obituary. Hans Weigel, the Austrian has been exhibited at the Royal Academy, omic and cultural contribution over the author who has died in Vienna at the age of Imperial War Museum and numerous Lon­ centuries. 83, started out as cabaret writer. The first don galleries. The Ben Uri Art Society is New brooms in Salzburg. After mixed station of his remarkable career was the mounting a retrospective exhibition of his reactions, caused by some indifferent pro­ fringe theatre Literatur am Naschmarkt. Work (until 17 November). ductions at the 1991 festival, plans for the On his return to Austria in 1945 his drama Richard Diebenkom (b. 1922) is an next 3 years have been revealed. They give Barabas was an immediate success with a abstract painter with a considerable repu­ priority to Shakespeare and Hofmannsthal much wider public. It is belatedly learnt that tation in the U.S.A. The Whitechapel Art revivals by Peter Stein; aker Julius Caesar in the former Austrian actress and diseuse Gallery is mounting a retrospective exhibi­ 1992 and Anthony and Cleopatra the year Hilde Lederer died earlier this year, aged 88. tion of his work (until 1 December), includ­ after, even the hitherto untouchable Jeder­ She had been ill for many years. Old ing his famous Ocean Park series. This is the mann (originally produced by Reinhardt in faithfuls who visited the Peter Herz shows first major exhibition of this artist's work in 1920!) is to be partly re-written, allegedly by at the 'Blue Danube Club' will remember Europe and will subsequently travel to Peter Handke; this would be a daring step her manifold characterisations during her Spain and Germany. indeed to all the regulars! Directed by activities there in the late 1940's.

II AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

With the escalation of the international mouth-piece at question time. More impor­ Silver spoon girl crisis the latter country was becoming tantly she helped in the Herculean labours (Part 2) preferable to Western Europe as a place of involved in the gestation of Mann's final refuge, though few emigres realised it at the masterwork, Dr Faustus. (Erika's part The second of two extracts from Richard time. Once again it was left to Erika, by now in the correction and rewriting of the Grunberger's book OLD ADAM NEW EVES. - 1938 - resident in New York, to pressure huge Faustus manuscript earned her the he wedding ceremony duly took place Thomas and Katja, vacillating in France, soubriquet 'the best publisher's reader at Ledbury Registry Office; as soon into taking the decisive step of emigrating to ever'). as it was over the groom returned to the United States. (Her farsightedness in this T respect became clear after the Fall of France Growing estrangement afternoon school and the bride drove back when 69-year old Heinrich Mann - and he to London. (This did not betoken any However, this increasing devotion to counted himself fortunate - had to scramble strained relations; Auden was to remain on father's work could not but affect the across the peaks of the Pyrenees to escape friendly terms with Erika, and her family, intimacy that had previously existed the clutches of the Gestapo.) By 1939 Klaus, for several years). between her and Klaus. This hit the latter, too, as well as some other Mann children Some time after the Ledbury cereinony already unsettled by the problems of peace­ had settled permanently in America. A few Erika's Pepper Mill colleague Theresa time readjustment quite hard. Founder- weeks later when Auden and Isherwood Giehse got married in a like manner. On this editor of the Decision, a politico-literary arrived in New York - a 'flight from danger' occasion Auden, appealed to as a potential journal, in pre-Pearl Harbour days, he had that earned them a bad press in Britain — subsequently served in an US army psycho­ marriage broker, had commented 'That's Erika, accompanied as so often in her life, what buggers are for' and instituted a search logical warfare unit. A stay in Germany at by Klaus, was at the quayside to ineet her the war's end had taught him in his own which eventually yielded a suitable paper 'husband' and their erstwhile go-between. husband in the shape of one of E. M. words that, he was not 'wanted' there. In autumn 1940 Heinrich Mann, his wife, Lacking roots in America — where Thomas Forster's acquaintances. and Erika's and Klaus's brother Golo and Katja were hardly welcoming — he arrived in the States after their nerve- Daughter censures father perforce went back to the old haunts of his wracking escape from France. Erika was meanwhile engaged in a crucial exile in Western Europe. Before that hap­ trial of strength with her father, who since Golo and Auden rented a house in pened, however, he had a bizarre encounter settling in Switzerland three years earlier Middagh Street, Brooklyn, which during with Gustav Griindgens who had survived had refrained from making any public anti- 1940/41 accommodated a floating ga/ere of the Third Reich, and post-war tribunal Nazi gestures; he had even allowed the diverse artistic personalities: Benjamin Brit­ hearings, with his reputation unimpaired. Tales of Jacob (first volume of his Joseph ten, Peter Pears, Carson McCullers, Chester (The actor's defence against the charge of cycle) to be published in Germany in late Kallman and others. (Kallman, Auden's Nazi collaboration had been that 5 people — 1933. The publishers involved, the Jewish- newly acquired lover, co-wrote the libretto including his aged parents and a Jewish owned Bermann Fischer Verlag, were still in of Stravinsky's The Rakes Progress). Erika friend - depended on his income and/or business in Nazi Germany in 1936 — an also lived at the house for a while, and protection.) Duly denazified, he made his arrangement which suited the firm for Carson McCullers, who had come to post-war debut in 1946 at a Berlin theatre business reasons and the regime for propa­ Brooklyn in the aftermath of a painful where Klaus, in the front seat was deafened gandist ones. Because Bermann Fischer marital break-up, embarrassingly de­ by the applause that greeted the stage idol's helped drape a fig leaf over the nakedness of veloped a passion for her which she did not return. By malign coincidence the play he Nazi culture a Paris-based emigre paper reciprocate. appeared in was by Carl Sternheim, whom dubbed them 'Goebbels' Schutzjuden' (pro­ Pamela Wedekind had preferred to Klaus tected Jews). The attack on his publishers War work 20 years earlier. angered Thomas Mann, who sprang to their At the time other, weightier, matters were The late Forties were a period of deepen­ defence in the columns of the ZUricher claiming Erika's attention. She collaborated ing depression for Klaus. After a first suicide Zeitung. This in turn brought Erika into the with Klaus on two books; one with the self- attempt in 1948 had miscarried, he was fray. She addressed a letter to Mann, explanatory title The Other Germany - the cheered by the news that a W. German chiding him for his silence since 1933, and second, Escape to Life, recounted the publisher was about to re-issue Mephisto. charging that the statement in the Swiss siblings' dangerous work in, and escape Then, in May 1949 the publishers informed paper had been a stab-in-the-back for the from, Nazi-infested Europe. him that Griindgens had obtained a court emigration. In an emotional envoi she all But danger attracted rather than repelled order banning the book as defamatory. but threatened to break off contact with Erika, prompting her to become a war him unless he abandoned his detachment correspondent again. In this capacity she No time for tears from the other anti-Nazi emigres. This toured Britain during the Blitz — making A few days later Klaus killed himself in a appeal, strongly echoed by Klaus, had an some Fleet Street headlines en route by hotel-room at Cannes. No member of the effect on the writer who within days pub­ revealing Auden's total lack of interest in Mann family attended the funeral - not lished a ringing denunciation of the Nazi the progress of the war - the Persian Gulf in even Klaus's favourite sister, which, consi­ regime. Mann's change of stance coincided 1943, and, after D-Day, France, Belgium dering that the rage that had fuelled his with the outbreak of fighting in Spain, and Germany. She alternated these tours of writing of Mephisto had been part-moti­ which Erika covered as a war correspon­ 'front-line' duty with periods back in the vated by Griindgens' divorce, did not reflect dent for several months. Meanwhile Klaus, States largely given over to assisting her too creditably on her. whose AmsterdaiTi-based journal had father in his work. She accompanied Mann Erika's absence was probably due to a closed for lack of funds, contemplated (whose spoken English left much to be mixture of the impatience of the strong- emigration to the United States. desired) on lecture tours, acting as his willed with their weaker brethren, and

12 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

involvement in her father's work. Even voluminous correspondence. She also acted more than in the case of the Faust novel she as the literary legatee of Klaus, the brother Harzreise post-Heine had to encourage, chivvy, and manipulate to whom she had once been so close that she the septuagenarian whose gestation of the referred to both of them jointly as 'Erimaus' conference on Nationalism — Then Confessions of Felix Krull was impeded by in her diary entries. and Now, organised by the Sonnen- recurrent depressions and writer's block. Debilitated by a bone disease, Erika Aberg Association at their centre in Though Thomas Mann could now look struggled on gamely into the 1960s. 1963 the Harz Mountains, attracted fifty partici­ back on a nonpareil writing career in which brought news of the death of her ex- pants, from Germany, Eastern Europe, he scaled peaks of creativity three times over husband Gustav Griindgens of a drug Scandinavia and Britain. — The Magic Mountain, the Joseph cycle overdose at a Manila hotel. Three years The most valuable experiences came from and Dr Faustus — the late Forties were a bad later a German film-producer approached individual encounters outside the formal time for him. While near-Olympian detach­ her with a project for making a TV docu­ sessions, but some of the latter were also ment insulated him from various family mentary about The Pepper Mill. She turned fruitful. A sociologist from Gottingen de­ disasters — the suicides of Klaus and of it down, arguing that the German public scribed her research into right-wing Henrich's wife, and Heinrich's own lapse had no interest in the Nazi - and even less in violence directed against such 'foreigners' as into terminal melancholy - he found it hard the anti-Nazi(!) —past. In 1979 Erika Mann Ossis (former East Germans seeking work to deal with buffetings received in the public died. in Western Germany), and Turkish guest- arena. In the course of a visit to Germany In 1985 the American Motion Picture workers. She suggested that antisemitism, for the 1949 Goethe bicentenary he Academy awarded the Oscar for best gratifyingly, was diminishing. outraged West German opinion by deliver­ foreign film to Mephisto, a Hungarian- In a short paper on psychological founda­ ing commemorative addresses at Weimar - German co-production based on Klaus tions of nationalism, I traced its appeal to in the Soviet Zone - as well as Frankfurt. He Mann's eponymous novel. If only Erika deep-seated human needs, such as the need was also drawn into an acrimonious debate could have made her sibling bide his time to belong to an entity larger than oneself, with some writers who claimed a moral for thirty-six years! D from which one draws strength to compen­ superiority for 'inner emigration' over exile Old Adam New Eves is published by Vision sate for the sense of personal powerlessness. (i.e. leaving one's country). Press. £8.95. An encouraging note was struck by a group of young German interpreters who A sort of return were severely critical of the older gen­ Like Klaus, who had already realised at the eration. They were admittedly well-edu­ end of the war that he could never go home OLD ADAM, NEW EVES cated, and (because of their profession) again, Thomas - the universally acknow­ by Richard Grunberger internationally-minded, but still provided a ledged spokesman for 'the other Germany' refreshing counterbalance to the prejudiced during the Hitler years — now definitely This book profiles more than two dozen youngsters reported on by the sociologist decided against resettling in his native wonfien of diverse national and social from Gottingen. country. When Wilhelm Furtwangler, origin whose lives represent the whole The work of the Sonnenberg Association whose musicianship had helped conjure up gamut of male/female relationships - (which was founded after the second world a mirage of culture in the Nazi desert, from vulnerable dependence through war) is to bring people of all nations combativeness to egocentric self-asser­ Wanted to renew their old acquaintance together, irrespective of politics or religion. tion. Half were wives, or mistresses, of Mann, influenced by Erika in this, as in so Information about the Sonnenberg Asso­ famous politicians, thinkers, authors and ciation can be obtained from its British many other matters, snubbed him; the composers; the other half achieved fame secretary, Dr W. Roy, Magnolia House, conductor countered with the quip 'Unlike through their own efforts, whether in Thomas Mann I don't change nationalities politics, literature, theatre, film, ballet, or Chester Place, Norwich NR2 3DR. like shirts'. as 'free spirits'. D Sidney Jones Unable to settle in post-war Germany on A * * account of its unexorcized past, the Manns Maya Angelou • Lida Baarova • Simone no longer felt welcome in their adopted de Beauvoir • Annie Besant • Vera American homeland either. In the late '40s Brittain • Nancy Cunard • Isadora the United States was gripped by an intensi­ Duncan • Jane Fonda • Jarmila HaSek • fying Cold War psychosis, which enabled Cynthia Koestler • Mamaine Koestler • BRAHAM LASSMAN Senator McCarthy and his minions to smear Krupskaya • Erika Mann • Jenny Marx • any individual with a prominent anti-fascist Golda Meir • Romola Nijinska • Dorothy We buy, sell, collect, deliver and record as a Communist agent. Feeling Parker • Eva Per6n • Lina Prokofiev • restore second hand and Elvira Puccini • Jiang Qing • Clara Rilke herself an imminent target of the anti-Red period furniture. • Alleluyova Stalin • Sonia Tolstoy • witch-hunt, Erika persuaded her parents, Helene Weigel • Friederike Zweig • tor the third time in their lives, to change Charlotte Zyeig ^ ^ 5 Hatton Place, Hatton Garden, their country of domicile. In 1952 the London EC1N8RU Manns left the U.S.A. for Switzerland, Richard Grunberger is the author of four ^here they settled in a villa overlooking books on modern history: Red Rising in 071-405 5674 - Daytime Lake Zijrich. Here Erika assisted her father Bavaria (1973), A Social History of the 081-907 1252 - Eves and Weekends m the literary labours of his declining years. Third Reich (1971), Hitler's SS (1970), •After his death in 1955, she occupied herself and Germany 1918-45 {^%A). With the administrations of his estate - overseeing the publication of his diaries and

13 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

VERSE AND WORSE 40 Years Ago Search Notices AMIS PERE Gesucht Im Zusammenhang mit A campus prankster in his youth this Month Recherchen uber die Familie Sigmund He's now a blimp of aspect mottled Freuds: Drinks in the elixir of truth Berlin Festivals: - It cost Washington Marianne Fiirst (Madchenname), Tochter three-quarters of a million to stage Berlin's As a libation, neatly bottled von Benno und Elsbeth Furst, geb. 28 Nov. theatrical festivals, the city itself paid 1909, emigriert am 15 Sept. 1938 von Wien 500,000 Marks, and quite a lot is sdll nach England. AMIS FILS missing to cover the expenses. Of course, it Susi Duschnitz (Madchenname), Tochter He first burst into purple print was a prestige affair to send so many von Robert und Alice Duschnitz, geb. 22 As a precocious teeny-bopper companies to the former capital. The Ameri­ Feb. 1922, emigriert am 22 Dez. 1938 von cans shipped 'Oklahoma' over, and it Wien nach England. And now, to ward off getting skint. flopped soundly. England sent 'Othello', not Nachrichten - auch etwaiger Angehoriger He's penned a backward Shoah stopper yet shown by the 'Old Vic' in London, and Oder Hinterbliebener - erbeten an Erika the Berliners did not like it at all. Maria Fein Wantoch, A-1010 Wien, Marc Aurel Str. 12, THE MOSLEYS acted 'Medea', but the people preferred Fax (01143-1) 638 700. A Booker without resignation Judith Anderson, who acted the same play Ehrlich - Dr Hans, last heard of in Dar-Es- in English. Gruendgens came from Dussel­ Would be like Beckett without bins Salaam, Tanganyika (1940) Ehrlich - Ernst dorf to present and act in Eliot's 'Cocktail (Landgerichstrat a.D), last heard of in Koog On cue the son, in indignation. Party', had 'sold-out' notices, but the an de Zaan, Holland (1940); Erhlich - Dr Walks out over The Father's Sins audience was bewildered. Said one lady: phil. Walter, died Ragaz, Switzerland 1968. 'After having studied Freud, philosophy, If any of the above, or their heirs, contact l'!tlllll|lllilKIIMI!lllllllllllll[l!limi!|IM and all the rest of it, I understood of course Dr G. Leon c/o AJR Offices they may learn every word. Only when someone remarked something to their advantage. on the stage 'Goodbye' 1 didn't know what Paule Kahane, born 16/5/1914 in Vienna, CANEV YANAYEY Eliot meant.' Ludwig Berger produced emigrated to England 1938. Married Mr Losing power comes quite hard 'Geduld der Armen' by Egon Larsen (Lon­ Glance in 1948 in London. Last known To King Canute with the Party card, don), and the newly opened 'Schiller- address: 28 Elfindale Road, Heme Hill, London, up to August 1948. Any information But from far Vladivostock Theater' (cost over nine millions) offered three first-nights: 'Tell' with 84-year-old to her niece: Mrs Wilhelmine Zohmann To Vilnius and Yerivan (Nee Kahane), A-1030 Wien, Leberstr. Albert Bassermann, Zuckmayer's 'Gesang 2/41/15, Austria. It's harder still to stop the clock, im Feuerofen' and Ernst Deutsch as 'Oedi­ Time and tide waits for no man. pus'. The biggest success was the mime Marcel Marceau of Paris and Benjamin Britten's 'Beggar's Opera' directed by Ham­ burg's producer Rennert. CAR HIRE AjR Information November 1951. Comfortable, air conditioned car with helpful driver. Airports, stations, coast, etc. Fully PROPERTY COMPENSATION insured. ,' 1 Tony Burstein 081-204 0567. HUNGARY 1 Car 0831 461066.

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14 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

Obituaries

Wolfgang Hildesheimer literature after its decline during the Nazi and a Federal German Order of Merit with period. In the early seventies he wrote his Star. Wolfgang Hildesheimer, writer, artist and masterpiece, the widely acclaimed biogra­ Dr Mann always identified with the philosopher, died in Poschiavo, Switzer­ phy of the composer Mozart. problems of present-day Jewry. Originally a land, on 21 August. He was 74. In 1981 his next 'biography' appeared — strong supporter of Israel, he later became How does one judge the life's work of a in truth it was a work of fiction: his last. He disappointed with the country's political brilliant writer who, at the height of his now abandoned writing, convinced that development. achievement, puts down his pen and writes civilized society would not survive another He joined the AJR soon after its inception no more? The last ten years of Hildes- hundred years. But he did not 'withdraw his and dispensed free legal advice to members. heimer's life were characterised by a self- labour' as a creative artist altogether; he For several years he served on the AJR imposed silence as a consequence of his concentrated once again upon the visual Executive; he was also a Trustee of the Leo determination not to contribute further as arts, as in his youth. Baeck Charitable Trust, the financial instru­ an author to what he saw as a moribund Does this seem paradoxical? No matter. ment of the Council of Jews from Germany, civilization. Was this a valid point, and did As has been pointed out elsewhere, his name and a Board Member of URO. he make it? will be remembered for what he said and His wife, an outstanding jurist in her own Wolfgang Hildesheimer was born in not for what he did not say. And that is no right, died in 1980. He is survived by a son Hamburg on 9 December 1916, into a mean epitaph. and two daughters. highly cultured Jewish family. He left Ger­ D David Maier D W.R. many with his parents in 1933 and lived in England, then in Palestine, before returning Anne Michel once more to this country in 1937. He Richard Lowenthal Anne Michel's death in September has left a studied drawing and painting, stage design Richard Lowenthal has died, aged 83, in gap not only in the lives of her family but of and interior decorating. He worked as an Berlin. Offspring of a liberal middle-class her many friends. official interpreter at the Nuremberg Trials family he had, as a student at Heidelberg, Anne had come to this country, with her and decided to take up residence in Bavaria; joined the Communist party, only to be parents, as a refugee, and much of her work and here he wrote his first short stories, expelled for 'rightwing deviation' in 1929. was concerned with helping her fellow published in 1952 under the title Lieblose At Hitler's accesssion to power he played a refugees. Legenden. A novel [Paradies der falschen key role in establishing Neu Beginnen, a I first met her when she came to work for ^ogel) followed; then came three prize- leftwing anti-Nazi underground organisa­ the Jewish Refugees Committee but my winning radio plays and translations and tion. Escaping from Germany in 1935, he friendship with her really began when she two novels - Tynset and Masante. first went to Prague, then to London where became Dr Charles Kapralik's secretary and Throughout the sixties he collected prizes he worked as a political journalist. After the personal assistant at the Central British and awards for his by now considerable war he was Berlin correspondent of the The Fund. contribution to the revival of German Observer, and eventually became Professor In that capacity, she was involved in the of Politics at the Free University. He was the establishment and subsequent running of author of several books and acted as advisor the CBF/AJR Homes and in the work of the THE B'NAI B'RITH to the SPD Chancellors Willy Brandt and Jewish Trust Corporation which was re­ LEO BAECK LONDON Helmut Schmidt. D sponsible for reclaiming Jewish heirless LODGES property in Germany. My work with her was varied but a great Welcome visitors at their open Dr Francis Mann deal of it was in connection with the CBF's meetings: The exalted position in the legal profession overseas commitments and projects. attained by Dr Francis Mann, who died on When she retired from CBF, she joined Wednesday 6 November at 8 p.m. the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain to 33rd Leo Baeck Memorial Lecture, 16 September at the age of 84, is reflected in given by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, MA, the detailed tributes published in the leading help with their appeal. Later she became the on 'Jewish Attitudes to Illness'. national newspapers. As a practising solici­ Secretary of the West London Synagogue tor he counted among his clients such names Charitable Fund, which post she held until Wednesday 20 November at 8 p.m. as Calouste Gulbenkian, Somerset Maug­ her last illness forced her to retire. Mr Asher Gailingold, Head of the Her intelligence, warmth and concern for pritish Aliyah Department, speaks on ham, West German Zeiss as well as the 'Israel's New Citizens'. British and Belgian governments. A highly others were rare qualities and she will be qualified academic he was the author of sadly missed by all who knew her. Wednesday 18 December at 2 p.m. numerous treatises in English and German. n Joan Stiebel A talk by Mrs Evelyn Friedlander on 'Remnants of Jewish Village Life His book The Legal Aspect of Money is considered a standard work. He held guest in Germany', with slides. CZECHOSLOVAKIA, PRAGUE professorships at various universities in this At: country and abroad and regularly con­ Holidays, W/end breaks. Central accommodation. £30 double, £20 single. 11 Fitzjohn's Avenue, ducted tutorials at Bonn University. The Hampstead, NW3 honours bestowed on him include an Telephone George Czaban: honorary DCL of Oxford, a British C.B.E. i (0626)770211

15 jsggB^SIiSHHBSS BFiiaw:' ?•".'• "-.'-:- •>;!.••. JEHitjgWS: c^aiyv'<^^jf-'l^—-.-^ j,-; t^fjCT

AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1991

Moreover, far from being a resistant he had The U-shaped block of five-storey flats Waldheimer's disease written pro-Nazi articles in the leading stands to this day, and is again inhabited, as Brussels newspaper under the Occupation. it had been prewar, by poor people. (The he pun on Alzheimer's, though in Hitler, he had argued, was Europe's man of wartime use of Drancy is commemorated by questionable taste, hits home. It de­ destiny and collaboration meant going with a granite memorial.) Some residents feel Tscribes the amnesia that afflicts the grain of history. Worse, at the height of uneasy at living in buildings where famous continentals of a certain age. The the deportations he had described the Jews scratched, despairing messages from de­ condition owes its name to the current as so bereft of creative genius that their tainees are still visible on the walls of cellars. Austrian President whose autobiography elimination would not harm European The locals have little to reproach them­ omitted events in Yugoslavia beside which culture. selves for: in sharp contrast to say the the ongoing mayhem in that country dwin­ Except for the Jekyll-and-Hyde compart- inhabitants of Mauthausen, who waxed dles to a vicarage tea party. mentalisation of his life, de Man thus prosperous through the proximity of a Another victim of Waldheimer's disease closely resembled Wagner. He echoed the camp, those of Drancy are well represented was Herbert von Karajan. The conductor latter's creativity libel, had no regard for on the roll of honour of the resistance. claimed to have joined the German Nazi truth and even less for the sanctity of the Less honourable by far was the role of the party in 1935 - when joining could be marriage bond. Ironically, just as Wagner French gendarmes initially in charge of the presented as a straightforward career move benefited from Jewish partisans like the camp; they beat, starved and robbed the - whereas his membership of the Austrian conductor Hermann Levy, de Man may inmates, stealing even their food parcels. Nazi party actually dated back to 1933 never have scaled the Ivy League walls When the Austrian-born genocide specialist (when Austria was still a democracy). without his Jewish sponsors. Alois Brunner took over in 1943 he These lapses of memory somewhat tar­ It may be an exaggeration to say that we improved living conditions and reorganised nished the postwar reputation of the two. Jews are our own worst enemies - but we food supplies, fiendishly drawing the Jews By contrast a famous Belgian-born and sure fail to recognise them! closer into arranging their own extermi­ U.S.-domiciled academic managed to hide D R.G. nation through a mixture of deception and his discreditable past so successfully that he li;l1llllli|i||.|lN!lllillililllllililil|||lll;lilll!ll, l!!ll!i|'llil!lll|illil!ll:lill:l!ll:l!llillllllllllllillli:llil!lil||||||:ll. brutality. Jewish Lagerdlteste and staff took was only found out posthumously. Henri their responsibilities seriously; their com­ de Man arrived in postwar America as a A very ordinary camp pilation of lists of names for the transports poor emigre with a rumoured resistance eased the logistical burden on the SS. record. After initial drudgery he obtained eriodically over the last few years the Brunner currently lives in Syria, courtesy study stipends and academic appointments sites of former Nazi camps - Ausch­ of President Assad. Captain Marcel Vieux, largely through the intercession of influen­ Pwitz, Ravensbriick, Mittelbau Dora - the chief gendarme of Drancy camp, also tial Jews eventually being appointed a have become foci of intense controversy. escaped postwar punishment. The detainees professor at Yale. This is unlikely to happen to Drancy, a who did the Germans' bidding were all When de Man died in 1983 the intellec­ council estate near Paris which, enclosed eventually 'sent East'. tual community went into mourning. Soon with barbed wire, served as transit camp for All - victims, 'collaborators' and per­ after, a young Belgian unearthed some 75,000 (mainly non-French) Jews on the petrators — are recorded for posterity in startling facts. It appears that in 1940s way to the gas chambers. Drancy, Un Camp De Concentration Tres Belgium de Man had been a shady business­ Ordinaire published by Manya, Paris. The man and a bigamist who had ruined his book's author, Maurice Rajsfus, was 14 father and abandoned his first family. GERMAN BOOKS when his Polish immigrant parents were BOUGHT seized in the Paris razzia in July 1942, never lil,ll.lllllllllllilMlllilli|:IIIIJUIIIilil|i|lll1Hi||illllllll|illllilll|iil.|ill.lliMlllillilili:ii||||l!lilllMlililM^ Metropolis Antiquarian Books to be seen again. 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We will be happy to discuss your For a service tailored to your individual needs STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST requirements by Companions who care - Please call PLEASE PHONE Surgery hours: 081-559-1110 071-483 0212 8.30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday 071-483 0213 8.30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday Visiting chiropody service available GOLDMAN 110 Gloucester Avenue, Curtains made to measure. Primrose Hill, 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp. M&S) Select material in your own home. London NWl 8JA Telephone 071-624 1576 Rail, blinds supplied and fitted. (Emp Agy) Telephone: 081-205 9232

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 Blacl< Bear Press Limited, Cambridge