VOLUME 19 NO.6 JUNE 2019 JOURNAL The Association of Jewish Refugees

The gift that keeps A GREAT MIDSUMMER on giving MIX As the popular song goes, our June issue is busting out all over, with We all know what an extraordinary contribution Jewish refugees a great selection of reports and comments. made to wartime and post-war Britain. And the contributions of some Articles include tributes to Bruno of their children and grandchildren are proving equally extraordinary. Kresiky, Arthur Koestler and Julius Braunthal and – on our obituaries page – Rabbi Harry Jacobi, among others.

June is also a very busy month for AJR’s Outreach department and we hope that many readers enjoy taking part in at least one of the various inspiring and entertaining events that are advertised throughout these pages.

News...... 3 Stephen Fry, Dame Margaret Hodge, Ed Miliband, Bella Freud and Ben Elton are all German Citizenship Restoration...... 4 descendants of Jewish refugees Letter from Israel...... 5 Letter to the Editor...... 6-7 There is hardly any area of British culture Schleger designed the distinctive London Art Notes...... 8 which was not transformed by refugees: bus-stop sign. Bruno Kreisky...... 9 from psychoanalysis and physics to Two political thinkers...... 10-11 classical music and history, from publishers Of course, this was partly a matter of Reviews...... 12 and art dealers to economists and circumstances. Architects benefited from An appropriate response...... 13 Looking For...... 14 cartoonists. It was as if European culture the massive rebuilding of post-war British Lament to Rosa, Susi & Lotte...... 15 was tipped up and the greatest intellectual cities. Money was poured into new Obituaries...... 16-17 and cultural figures of central Europe fell universities, art schools and concert halls. Around the AJR...... 18 into Britain and America. The legacy, as The post-war boom meant there was a Adverts...... 19 the year-long Insiders/Outsiders festival new middle class to buy art books like Events & Exhibitions...... 20 shows, was simply astonishing. Gombrich’s The Story of Art or paintings by artists such as Lucian Freud and Frank You could see and feel their impact Auerbach. AJR Team everywhere. The Academy Cinema Chief Executive Michael Newman on Oxford Street, owned by George But that was not the end of the Finance Director David Kaye Hoellering, or Ackermans Chocolates at extraordinary story of the impact of Heads of Department the top of Goldhurst Terrace; eating places refugees on Britain. A second and Community & Volunteer Services Carol Hart like Cosmo’s, the Dorice and Café Daquise third generation have emerged whose HR & Administration Karen Markham in South Kensington; the Penguin Pool contribution is also just as spectacular. Educational Grants & Projects Alex Maws at London Zoo, designed by Berthold Again, this has touched every area of AJR Journal Lubetkin; Selfridge’s, where Ernst Stern did British life. Broadcasters like Dame Jenny Editor Jo Briggs the Christmas decorations, or Simpson’s in Abramsky, who ran Radio Five Live and Editorial Assistant Lilian Levy Contributing Editor David Herman Piccadilly, where Moholy-Nagy arranged was the daughter of Professor Chimen Secretarial/Advertisements Karin Pereira displays. Any bus stop, because Hans Continued on page 2

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The gift that gives on refugee charity based in New York. Closer to home, significant second- generation figures within the AJR, include giving (cont.) Other politicians are also the children of Chairman Andrew Kaufman MBE, the Abramsky, and Mark Damazer CBE, refugees. Dame Margaret Hodge is the son of two refugees. Antony Grenville, former Controller of Radio 4 and the son daughter of Jewish-German refugees. formerly of this parish and a leading of a Polish-Jewish deli owner in north Lord (Michael) Howard is the son of historian of German-speaking refugees, is London. Bernat Hecht, born and brought up in the son of two Jews from Vienna. northern Transylvania. Hecht left Romania Academics, of course, such as Jeremy in 1939 and arrived in South Wales, aged There are extraordinary dynasties Adler, emeritus professor of German at 23. His brother and sister were deported such as the three generations of King’s College, London, son of HG Adler; to concentration camps, but survived Borns, Ehrenbergs/Eltons and Freuds, Gustav Born, Professor of Pharmacology and emigrated to Britain after the war. psychoanalysts but also PR people at Cambridge and later at King’s, London, Michael Portillo’s father, Luis Gabriel (Matthew), fashion designers (Bella) was son of the great physicist Max Born; Portillo, was a Spanish republican, forced and novelists (Esther). Some stories are Benjamin Chain, Professor of Cell and to leave Spain after the Spanish Civil War. of getting out in time and what seem Molecular Biology at UCL and son of Ernst Nicholas Clegg’s paternal grandmother, to be relatively smooth assimilation. But Chain, one of the men who discovered Kira von Engelhardt, was a Baroness there are also desperately sad stories of penicillin. Orlando Figes, the acclaimed from Imperial Russia, of German-Russian loss and struggles. No one at the recent Russian historian, is the son of the and Ukrainian origin, whose aristocratic AJR conference on the Kindertransport German-Jewish refugee writer, Eva Figes, family fled the Bolsheviks after the 1917 will forget Jane Merkin’s account of her and Lord John Krebs, a leading figure in Russian Revolution. Baroness Deech is the mother’s lifelong battle with depression. zoology, is the son of Sir Hans Krebs, the daughter of Josef Fraenkel, a Viennese famous biochemist. journalist and historian, and his wife Dora. A key theme of the conference was The parents of David Cameron’s advisor, that, as the first generation passes away, Then there are household names like Steve Hilton, fled Hungary after 1956. we need to listen to the stories of the the comedians David Baddiel, whose second and third generations. They are mother, Sarah (then five months old), Many children and grandchildren of becoming increasingly engaged with escaped from Nazi Germany three weeks refugees became significant cultural the AJR and the experiences of their before the outbreak of World War II, figures. These include the composer parents and grandparents. Often this is an and Ben Elton, son of physicist Professor Alexander Goehr, son of the German- extraordinary legacy. But it also has a dark Lewis Elton, born Ludwig Ehrenberg, and Jewish composer and conductor Walter side which has haunted many lives. nephew of the Tudor historian GR Elton, Goehr; the publishers Ursula Owen, one born Gottfried Ehrenberg. of the founders of Virago, Tom Maschler, David Herman whose parents left Berlin in 1938 and In the media there are journalists like Tom Peter Halban, son of physicist Hans Halban Bower, Anatole Kaletsky, Lord Daniel and stepson of Isaiah Berlin; the famous Finkelstein and Alex Brummer. Kaletsky’s children’s writer, Judith Kerr, daughter of THE AJR CRUISE IS mother was born in Odessa just before the the great Weimar theatre critic, Alfred Russian Revolution. Her parents managed Kerr; and the pop musician Mark Knopfler SETTING SAIL AGAIN to get onto the second last train out of from Dire Straits, son of Erwin Knopfler, Leningrad before the Nazis completed a Hungarian Jew who fled in 1939 and P&O Ventura their encirclement. Finkelstein’s mother, settled in Glasgow. Mirjam, survived Bergen-Belsen, while his father Ludwik (Ludwig) Finkelstein OBE Some, of course, are quintessentially was born in Lviv (now in Ukraine) and English. Take Stephen Fry, for example. 6 – 13 SEPTEMBER 2019 became Professor of Measurement and He grew up in the village of Booton in SOUTHAMPTON – NORWEGIAN FJORDS Instrumentation at City University London. Norfolk. He went to Cambridge and at Stavanger, Olden, Innvikfjorden, Fitzbillies, the famous cake-shop near Nordfjord, Alesund, Bergen Brummer said that, ‘My wonderful father, Pembroke College, you can see his Prices: Twin/Double Cabin Single Cabin just like Ralph Miliband, arrived in Britain recommendation of their Chelsea buns. inside from £874 p.p. inside from £1399 p.p. on a boat as a refugee from what is now Perhaps his most famous acting role outside from £1150 p.p. outside from £1859 p.p. balcony from £1530 p.p. balcony from £2500 p.p. Ukraine, in 1939.’ ‘My father’s parents,’ was as the butler Jeeves in Jeeves and Brummer said, ‘died at Auschwitz. His Wooster. What could be more English? His Prices include all meals and coach transport younger sisters survived the horror of the maternal grandparents, though, Martin to and from Southampton from London. Any excursions from the ship are extra. death camps, partly because Nazi doctors and Rosa Neumann, were Hungarian An AJR staff member will be available at all found them useful as human guinea pigs Jews, who emigrated from Šurany (now times for any assistance or queries and will during their eugenics experiments.’ in Slovakia) in 1927. Rosa’s parents, in accompany all trips off the ship. Vienna, were not so lucky. They were We will eat our evening meals together, but aside from that you are free to do as you wish. Talking of Ralph Miliband, his sons David sent to Riga in Latvia where they were and Ed became leading Labour politicians murdered by the Nazis. His mother’s aunt For details, email Susan Harrod on under Blair and Brown, Ed going on to and cousins were killed at Auschwitz and [email protected] or call 020 8385 3070 lead the Labour Party while David runs a Stutthof.

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REMEMBERING & RETHINKING More than 200 people took part in Remembering & Rethinking: The International Forum on the Kindertransport at 80, the landmark event in April that was organised by the AJR and co- hosted by the UK Special Envoy for a story of great pride, it is also marked with depth at how children were selected, how Post-Holocaust Issues, The Rt. Hon. deep sadness at every turn and provokes they were welcomed and the contributions The Lord Pickles. many painful questions, underlining the made by many key players behind the important role that we have today in helping initiative, including Wilfred Israel, Doreen Sponsors included the Foreign and in international crises.” Warriner, Trevor Chadwick and, of course, Commonwealth Office, the Ministry the Quakers. for Housing, Communities and Local A central theme of the forum was Government, and the embassies of Austria rethinking the historical narrative about the As James Brokenshire said, “Learning and Germany, all of whom thanked the Kindertransport. A range of academic scholars and remembrance is at the heart. It is so AJR for convening such an important were given a platform to share their essential important that we come together, that we gathering. As James Brokenshire MP, but often-overlooked research. Now the AJR remember, and that we apply those lessons Secretary of State for Communities, said Journal plans to carry on this theme by casting for the future.” “The Kindertransport has been seminal its spotlight on some of the lesser-known to countless lives and remains relevant strands of history and critically debating some Email [email protected] if there is a to politics today, underlining the need to of the commonly accepted narratives. particular aspect of the Kindertransport – or always challenge inequality or division or indeed of the wider refugee movement – hatred… Although the Kindertransport is Starting next month, we will be looking in you would like the AJR Journal to cover.

Plaque to Chain AJR has unveiled a commemorative plaque in honour of Nobel Prize winning Jewish émigré Professor Sir Ernst Chain at Imperial College, London.

Born in Berlin in 1906, Ernst Chain From left to right: Frank Harding (AJR), Prof Alice Gast (President Imperial College), received his degree in chemistry from Judy Chain (daughter), Benny Chain (son) Friedrich Wilhelm University in 1930 but fled Germany immediately after the Under Chain’s direction, the College the pioneering and eminent scientist Nazis came to power, arriving in England became a leading international centre for whose endeavours and research have in April 1933. physiological biochemistry with a focus profoundly impacted and benefited on fermentation technologies that were people throughout the world. Together with Alexander Fleming essentially industrial biotechnology years and Howard Florey, Ernst Chain was ahead of their time. We believe that these commemorative awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology plaques will help form a tangible link or Medicine in 1945 in recognition of Through its plaque scheme the AJR is between illustrious refugees who have the discovery of penicillin and its curative honouring prominent Jewish émigrés made an everlasting contribution and the effect on various infectious diseases. from Nazism who made a significant local community, as well as fascinating contribution to their adopted homeland. residents and visitors. As well as being Ernst Chain, who was knighted in AJR Trustee Frank Harding, who devised instructive and informative, they bring 1969, arrived at Imperial in 1961 the plaque scheme, said: “It is with the past into the present, and they and is remembered for his foresight great pleasure that we are recognising perpetuate the memory of the person around the importance of biochemistry. and honouring Prof Sir Ernst Chain, being honoured.”

3 AJR Journal | June 2019 ROYAL Missing those “black BRADFORD HRH Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, recently visited Bradford’s Tree of Life and white” days Synagogue, which overcame possible closure in 2013, partly due to support from the local Muslim community. London based Sara Leshem tells The rest, as they say, is history with a serious sprinkling of irony. I did indeed marry a Synagogue Chair and AJR member us how life led her to become German from that conference, a Munich Rudi Leavor said: “The synagogue intrinsically linked to Germany, born, Jewish guy, from precisely the country has enormously close relations with I vowed NEVER to visit. We live happily in the Muslim, Christian, Hindu and the only country she vowed never London with our two boys and they too, Sikh communities.” Prince Edward, have German Citizenship. With regular who unveiled a plaque at the shul, to visit. trips to Munich they often refer to their described it as “…a snapshot of our grandparents’ house in Germany as their heritage in this country.” Born in 1975 into a British third generation “second home”. family, I always felt 100% British, with a strong traditional Jew-“ish” identity. We With the birth of my first son in 2004, I were not particularly observant but always remember feeling extremely uncomfortable a fixture in Shul on the obligatory High when my husband applied for our son’s Holydays. Family Friday nights were special, German passport. Thankfully, I didn’t allow always spent in loving company and I my former prejudices to veto the application. was one of the first few to celebrate a Bat Now with the Brexit fiasco, I’m deeply Mitzvah. grateful (admittedly still a touch bemused), that my boys have German citizenship and My early years were a fuzzy, lovely bubble of full EU rights. friends, family and security. At no point did I Rudi Leavor BEM and HRH The ever encounter antisemitism; on the contrary, This Spring, to add to the irony, together Duke of Wessex, Prince Edward I was proud and outspoken about being with a partner we are launching GCR, Jewish. We seldom talked about our past or German Citizenship Restoration, a legal about the Holocaust; on the rare occasions service to help former Jewish German Please join us for an outing to when we did, blame obviously went to citizens and their descendants, unlawfully Hitler, the Nazi Germans and conspirators. stripped of their citizenship in the country’s AUDLEY END HOUSE Such discussions of the past would evoke darkest period (1933-45), to restore it and Thursday 20 June 2019 images of ghettos, yellow “Jude” stars, train access their EU freedoms. tracks, carts of rotting bodies and vivid blood red, Nazi flags. I vowed NEVER to go to Holding on to hate, resentment, and Germany and NEVER to mix with Germans. preconceived beliefs won’t help us survive Let’s face it; most of them had relatives who as British Jews today. We are in uncharted conspired, at the very least, and some whose waters: antisemitism is rising globally even roles were unforgivable. It was crystal clear here, in my beloved UK. Which is why, to me – black and white. despite my former self, I’m applying for a German passport of my own. Hopefully, Destiny had other plans. It laughed in the I’ll never have to use it to leave the UK face of my youthful naïvety and highly but history has already bitterly warned us: principled beliefs. In 1999, I found myself expect the unexpected. exactly where I vowed I’d never be – in Coach pick-ups in Munich, Germany, at a UJIA European My friends, the lovely bubble has burst, Edgware and Finchley Road conference for Jewish youth. Hosting a those black and white days are over … Explore this decadent Jacobean mansion Jewish event in Germany seemed totally house and meet the staff in the Victorian crazy, wildly inappropriate even, but the Sara Leshem can be contacted via Service Wing. Enjoy stunning views persuasive powers of my friend, coupled 020 8066 9900, across the unspoilt Essex countryside and wander the tranquil gardens created by [email protected] with the promise of meeting “gorgeous ‘Capability’ Brown. guys” proved too tempting. As a former French & Spanish student, I was excited For full details and a booking form at the prospect of dating a European guy, please contact Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 perhaps even a dashing Italian but definitely or email [email protected] NOT a German.

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LETTER FROM ISRAEL BY DOROTHEA SHEFER-VANSON

A COLLEGE IN The college is supported by the UK’s UJIA village of Dir al-Assad, visits an elderly which supports a number of educational lady, a Christian Arab, living in Akko. WESTERN GALILEE projects and institutions in northern Israel ‘She is like a second mother to me,’ in cooperation with Israel’s government. she told me, visibly moved, noting that ‘The Future she had lost her own mother at a very of Holocaust The college, which focuses primarily on the young age. She was full of praise for Testimonies’ humanities and social sciences, numbers the way the college has helped her was the subject about 2,500 students, half of them to continue her studies, despite her of a three-day drawn from Israel’s Arab population. Pre- financial and physical difficulties, and conference held academic studies are provided for students hopes to continue to a second degree last March at who lack the necessary qualifications in economics. The second student I the Centre for Holocaust Studies of the for acceptance to the academic track interviewed pays weekly visits to a Western Galilee College, situated just (accounting for another 1,000 students). Holocaust survivor aged ninety-four, outside the ancient city of Acre (Akko) The college also has a programme for who lives alone and writes poetry in in the north of Israel. Scholars from all gifted schoolchildren. several languages. The student proudly over the world attended, among them told me how he has helped the survivor Dr. Verena Buser of the University of I spoke to Dr. Inbal Veinberg, the to realise his dream of publishing a book Applied Sciences in Potsdam, Germany, Dean of Students, who stressed the of his poems. whose lecture was entitled ‘The Lucifer college’s emphasis on outreach to local Effect, A Promising Approach to communities, which constitute part of Some seventy percent of the students Understanding Functionaries’ Holocaust Israel’s periphery, thereby providing a link are women, and in many cases the Testimonies,’ and Professor Wolf Gruner to different segments of the population. programme enables Arab girls and of the University of South California, Students who are awarded scholarships women from villages in Galilee to USA, whose subject was ‘Salvation to cover tuition fees are required to overcome the traditions and customs Through Servitude: Life Narrations of undertake community service, which that restrict them. Regarding education Jewish Refugee Domestics, 1938-1950.’ in several cases involves visiting elderly as the key to social progress and individuals living alone. This project is integration, the college focuses on To reach the Western Galilee College, implemented in conjunction with the Akko providing financial and moral support an academic institution established in municipality’s social services department. for students experiencing social and/or 1994 and recognised as an academic economic difficulties, thus enabling them institution by Israel’s Council of Higher I was introduced to two of the students to complete their degree. The college Education in 2000, I took a trip to the involved in this program. The first, a also provides assistance in helping north of Israel on a sunny winter’s day. mature woman student from the Arab graduates to find employment.

YOM HASHOAH IN PINNER Pinner Synagogue was packed to capacity for its annual Holocaust commemoration on Wednesday 1 May. Guests included the Polish and Lithuanian Ambassadors and senior diplomats from Six survivors from Poland, from left to right: Helena Kaut-Howson, Henry Margulies, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania and The Helen Aronson, Lili Stern Pohlmann, Ralph Lubinsky, Jan Goldberger PHOTO CREDIT STEPHEN GEE Netherlands. AJR member Lili Stern Pohlmann, who was The Polish Ambassador took pride The focus was on Poland at the outbreak interviewed by Antony Lishak, founder of in the number of Righteous Gentiles of WW2, eighty years ago. Six survivors, the charity ‘Learning from the Righteous’, but also acknowledged the atrocities all originally from Poland, led the candle recalled her experiences with wit and candour, committed by individual Poles against lighting ceremony. Only children when the especially a daring escape from the Lwow Jewish neighbours before, during and Germans invaded, they each beat the odds, ghetto one snowy night in November 1942. after the war. considering that 90% of Polish Jews were She emphasised how non-Jews saved her annihilated by the Nazis during the war. and her mother at great risk to themselves. Sharon Mire

5 AJR Journal | June 2019 Letters to the Editor The Editor reserves the right to shorten correspondence submitted for publication and respectfully points out that the views expressed in the letters published are not necessarily the views of the AJR.

TRUMPF MIGRATED Jews. The world would be very different how far Holocaust education for future Ruth Deech (April) believes that the and it is this difference which causes all generations has developed since 2011. luminous success of Israel (at present the trouble. cheerily arm-in-arm with fellow I also very much appreciated Dr Elena musketeers Trumpf and Mohamed Bin Keep the Golan Heights, I say. Rowland’s letter about genocide. In my Salman) makes it the ideal role model Fred Stern, Wembley, Middx. experience of 20 years involvement in for vulnerable minorities. Jaroslav Holocaust education there has not been Hasek, Orwell, Joseph Heller are long enough focus on, and understanding dead. Tom Lehrer is in retirement. Who THE POWER OF THE INTERNET of, the term ‘genocide’. Most genocides will chart the inexorable rise of Roma For the last seven months, our grand- do include killing but the definition and LGBT when they become heavily daughter has prepared for her Bat (see Greg Stanton’s online website militarised nations? Mitzvah. My husband and I were ‘Genocide Watch’) makes it clear that privileged to attend the service, held the basic element is to deliberately (The spelling Trumpf is a little reminder in Tarrytown, New York, and join in destroy a people, its culture and identity. that his parents, like his wives, were with the celebrations on the face of it The Yazidi culture is being deliberately economic migrants). a wonderful but quite commonplace destroyed by Isis; the Uyghur culture is Joyce and George Schlesinger, Durham event. However, our American grand- systematically being subjected to mass daughter did not attend one class at deportation of whole Uyghur families her New York temple, as she lives 3500 into what the Chinese Government THE GOLAN HEIGHTS miles away in Essex. She performed claims are ‘re-education camps’. Israel’s Declaration of Independence everything quite beautifully although Similarly, the first major genocide of took place on 14 May 1948. The Arabs she had never sat in a class to learn the 20th Century was the Ottoman surrounding Israel attacked it, but were anything; everything had been done Turks’ attempt to ‘Turkify’ the Anatolian driven back and Israel annexed portions in twenty minute sessions held once a Peninsular. of Arab lands to ensure the security to week facetiming with the cantor! which every country has the right. The There is a danger of defining genocide Golan Heights were part of this move. Whether speaking in Hebrew or in by numbers killed – a perverse sort of At that time there was no international English, or performing in the service, pecking order – instead of focusing law on annexation. In fact, it has been everything was learned via the tiny on the attempt to destroy the ethnic flouted numerous times by many screen of her iPhone. The internet cultural core of the target group. “If nations since. enabled her to participate perfectly and it doesn’t reach the stage of killing it we were moved to tears during the isn’t a genocide” is a distortion often At one time Britain occupied one service: grandparents’ privilege. To have used by politicians, and those with a quarter of the globe. Therefore, it ill travelled to the USA to witness and vested interest, to avoid acknowledging behoves Britain to admonish Israel, an participate in the service was one of the genocide. insignificantly small country, for ensuring proudest experiences of our lives. We Ruth Barnett, London NW3 its existence. wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Susie Barnett Given that only two in every thousand FRANCIS STEINER people are Jews, a disproportionate Further to your obituary of Francis amount of attention is devoted to WHAT TO TELL THE CHILDREN Steiner (May), I recall writing an article us. However, the many contributions I read the May issue of the AJR journal for the AJR Journal in 2008 on the to life on earth, created by Jews, are with great interest and pleasure, as Isle of Man Internment Records. I immeasurably out of all proportion always: It gets better and better. was contacted afterwards by Francis to the population of this world. The and had considerable post and email influence of Levy Strauss’ jeans and David Herman’s fascinating article correspondence with him and some Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook alone are “What shall we tell the children?” entertaining telephone calls in his enormous. There are or were hundreds about a conference in 2011 made distinctive accented voice. I then had of Jews, from Jesus Christ to Karl Marx, me realise how much I miss the LJCC the pleasure of meeting him and driving from Sigmund Freud to Albert Einstein, although the LJCC-ites who transferred him around some of the Isle of Man who changed the world. to JW3 have been doing some great Internment Camps when he returned to stuff. One of these was the panel on the Island for his first visit since the war. There is not an area in which Jews were “Has Holocaust Education Failed?” not predominant. Civilisation would be It was a most inspiring event, jointly Whilst interned on the Isle of Man in a back many generations if it were not for organised with the AJR, which showed ‘Catch 22’ situation – he failed to meet

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any of the many release clauses – he the distances that have to be covered, EUROVISION SONG CONTEST unusually moved around three camps are on average a little older than In her Letter from Israel, Dorothea over 18 months in 1940-41, writing some of the younger children on the Shefer-Vanson (May) writes about the letters to his older brother Wilhelm Kindertransport. Eurovision Song Contest taking place (William) who had also been interned in Tel Aviv, saying that “the last time on the island, but only for about six Nevertheless the Kindertransport Israel’s entry was victorious was forty months. When his brother’s family remains a symbol of what should and years ago, with Gali Atari and the heard he was visiting they returned can be done if the will is there. That is Hakol Over Habibi ensemble singing the letters to him and he deposited why Lord Dubs, Dame Steve Shirley and ‘Halleluya’”. them in the Manx National Heritage myself are suggesting that the money Library Collection [MS 11882] along from the German Government be However, Dorothea seems to forget with a family memoir [MS 12001]. Such given to help unaccompanied children that Israel won the contest in 1998 material is a vital link to the experiences of today. By donating these funds to with Dana International singing ‘Diva’ of refugees both for family use and Safe Passage we are assisting them in in Birmingham. Consequently, the researchers and I included it in my 2017 persuading the British Government to 1999 contest took place in Jerusalem. book ‘Involuntary Guests’. He was a allow 10,000 children into the UK over Eurovision is a bit of fun, but facts very cultured man who lived a long and 10 years. So far fewer than 300 have are important and it’s a shame not successful life and will be sadly missed. been absorbed into the UK. Out of the to acknowledge Dana International’s Alan Franklin, thousands strewn over the European victory! Librarian 1992-2016, continent, and those who have been Claire Wills, London SE15 Manx National Heritage lost, the number is indeed very small.

I am very aware that not all those KINDERTRANSPORT RESEARCH CHARMING CALL reading this article will think the same I am a sociologist/oral historian based I was one of the favoured 300 who or be financially in a position to donate in Budapest, Hungary, and I work received a charming telephone call their grant, but any sum will be of help. as a contracted researcher for the from your team before Pesach. It was I personally am unlikely to ever forget United States Holocaust Memorial a wonderful idea, although I did not those words of Prince Charles at our Museum (www.ushmm.org). We are subsequently receive the Red Cross 70th anniversary commemoration at JFS, working on finding and documenting parcel of chicken soup I had requested! when he said: ‘ I am delighted that the Jewish and non-Jewish testimonies Government of the time allowed you about the events of the Holocaust in My sincere thanks to you and to the in. You have given so much back to this different countries in Europe. Since lovely lady on whose list I was fortunate country. I am proud to be British!’ 2011 we have recorded around 300 to land. video interviews mostly in Central and Dr Hans Eirew, Manchester By donating what we can we will not Eastern Europe (Hungary, Ukraine, only save these children but will at the Austria, Poland, Romania and recently same time also strengthen the future of also in France, UK and Ireland). GIVING BACK TO CHILD REFUGEES this country. Who is to say how much Recently the German Government the unaccompanied children of today Recently we have started a project in decided to donate some £2000 to will give back to this country? England in which we are particularly Kinder still alive. A pittance and certainly Sir Erich Reich interested in memories about the does nothing to alleviate the pain of Chair, AJR’s Kindertransport Special Jewish children’s arrival with the losing or separating from parents as a Interests Group Kindertransport in 1938 or later. We result of the Holocaust. Unfortunately are looking for foster families (Jewish we have not learned a lot from past Note from Editor: If any other AJR or non-Jewish) who took in children, experiences, so that today we still have members would like to financially help and British people (including those who unaccompanied children fleeing from today’s child refugees please contact were themselves children at that time) death and extermination. Safe Passage, the charity which helps who spent time with a Kind in school or unaccompanied children, as well as elsewhere during the war. But the Kindertransport was not the vulnerable adults, access safe legal same as the unaccompanied children routes to asylum. I would be very grateful if you could today. It was more organised and the You can call them on 020 8017 2937, help me to find and contact those distances far less. Furthermore the email [email protected], or even kinders who are in your Association. children coming today from the Middle donate online at Borbala Kriza, East, because of the time taken and www.safe-passage-c.fundraise.tech +36 20 392 0949 or [email protected]

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Van Gogh’s ART NOTES: Self by Gloria Tessler Portrait

Who influences an artist? And who is influenced by him? In

The EY Exhibition Van Gogh and Britain, at Tate Britain, we learn that Vincent spent nearly three years in England from

1873, during which time the social conscience of Charles

Dickens, the works of Shakespeare, Christina Rosetti and the art of John Constable and the Pre-Raphaelites inspired a lifelong love of British culture.

And then there were those who came he said. And when he left briefly for the but compared to Vincent’s Sunflowers later, like Charles Bacon and David Paris cosmopolitan art world, he met – which speak not of beauty but of an Bomberg, Vanessa Bell, and Walter British-based painters and collectors who entire life-cycle of growing and dying and Sickert, who brought his influence to their responded to his work. falling away – these others are simply own work. Van Gogh loved London, its beautiful yellow blooms. However, his galleries and museums even before his Yet Vincent Van Gogh was the very influence contributed to a renaissance in brother Theo persuaded him to become essence of the tortured artist; a man who British flower painting. Many are united an artist himself. The symbolism for which cut off his ear when he felt betrayed here with the source of their inspiration. he became famous: avenues of twisted by his friend Gauguin, who desperately David Bomberg’s Flowers do have a trees, the radiant blues and yellows, needed silence yet who craved love and touch of Van Gogh and also suggest solitary figures in woodlands, old boots understanding. that wavering and too human world of and yellow sunflowers, all transcend his plant life. Jacob Epstein’s Epping Forest, own time. His raw pain is expressed in every leaf 1933 was inspired by Van Gogh’s Pollard on every tree, in every petal, in every Willows at Sunset and his dramatic dark His only painting of London, The Prison face and in every shoe. He worked blue trees on an orange and yellow Courtyard, 1890 on loan from the passionately, believing a painting must be landscape also convey some alliance Pushkin State Museum in Moscow, is a finished in one day, almost a nod to the with the Impressionist. It is not hard to poignant reflection of his own experience classic concept of unity of time, place and see the Impressionist’s hand on Francis in the Saint-Paul asylum in France; based action. The truth he revealed behind each Bacon either. Van Gogh’s original interest on a print of Newgate Prison by Gustave work was usually a bitter one. in flower painting came from a baroque Doré, it was painted during the last year painting of a vase overflowing with of his life and recalls Dickens’ accounts of He inspired many great artists. Yet who flowers by Adolphe Monticelli, given to the seamier side of London and his own among them can convey the human Van Gogh by a Scottish dealer. He wrote city walks. character in his Shoes, 1886 or the feelings to Theo:-“if our Monticelli bouquet is of the solitary figure in Avenue of Poplars worth 55 francs to an art lover…then I At the beginning of his creative life he in autumn 1884? His Path in the Garden dare assure you that my sunflowers are had written of a “prison of poverty and in the Asylum 1889, a place where his also worth 500 francs to one of those social prejudice” that prevented him from genius was derided, is painted in blood- Scots in America!” expressing his art. Later, in hospital, he red vermilion; the trees are surely tortured Until August 11, 2019 would say “the prison was crushing me.” human souls as they are in Olive Trees, 1889, while Starry Night is a continuum of For this exhibition the Tate has brought light drifting back and forth between the Annely Juda Fine Art together the largest group of Van Gogh stars, the land and the water. 23 Dering Street paintings shown in the UK for nearly a (off New Bond Street) decade and includes over 50 works from William Nicholson’s Miss Jekyll’s Tel: 020 7629 7578 public and private collections around Gardening Boots demonstrate Van Gogh’s Fax: 020 7491 2139 the world. “My whole life is aimed at influence, as does Christopher Wood’s CONTEMPORARY making the things from everyday life that Yellow Chrysanthemums. There is a PAINTING AND SCULPTURE Dickens describes and these artists draw”, virtual garden of flower paintings here,

8 AJR Journal | June 2019

Bruno Kreisky, 1911-1990, a life-long socialist

Bruno Kreisky was born in Vienna into a time of

great change. He started school towards the end

of WWI and growing up saw the consequences of

the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The post-war years brought great They, together with others of the group government. Simon Wiesenthal hardship for wide segments of the of international Social Democrats in revealed that several of them, Austrian population. exile, determined to enter politics and including SS Obersturmführer laid plans for a European post-war order. Friedrich Peter, had been Nazis. Kreisky’s was a well-to-do but not at In 1969 Brandt became the first social Kreisky as Chancellor of Austria all observant Jewish family. However democratic German chancellor and in had to retain them to maintain his they never denied or renounced their 1970 Kreisky was elected Chancellor of coalition. This led to a bitter and Jewishness. At school Kreisky noticed Austria. In his moving speech at Kreisky’s long-lasting feud between Kreisky that not everybody lived in such funeral Brandt called Kreisky a “lieber, and Wiesenthal, culminating in charmed circumstances as himself. The schwieriger und guter Freund” – a dear, several legal actions and bringing unfairness he saw motivated him to challenging and good friend. One could Kreisky to state that “he was no join the Youth Wing of the Socialist not define Kreisky better. longer Jewish”. Wiesenthal retorted: Party of Austria at the age of 15, “the only Austrian who does not progressing to the Young Socialist As an agnostic, Kreisky had decided in believe that Kreisky is Jewish is Workers in 1927. 1931 to leave the Jewish community Kreisky himself.” in Vienna. His relationship to Judaism While studying law at the University and Israel was complicated. He had That after the Shoah a Jewish socialist of Vienna he remained politically an uneasy relationship to Zionism and could be elected as Chancellor of active. An interesting detail mentioned was very critical of Golda Meir and Austria is certainly due to Kreisky’s in Wolfgang Petritsch’s biography: Menachem Begin. All the same, he used political ability but also to the fact Kreisky graduated in March 1938, on his position and contacts in the Arab that Austria. That former Nazis the same day as the Anschluss! world as a mediator to promote peace served in his government, though between Israel and the Arab States. now as democrats, shows better than After Dollfuss’ government banned anything else how widely Nazism the Socialist Party in 1934 Kreisky Kreisky’s efforts brought Shimon Perez, had embedded itself into society; became active in clandestine political Anwar El-Sadat and Willy Brandt to meet and that, like in Germany and other work. For this activity he was arrested in July 1978 in Vienna. A Middle East German occupied countries, it was in January 1935. He was convicted of peace proposal was published after this impossible to bring them all to justice. high treason but released from prison meeting and, following the Camp David This resulted in many unsavoury in 1936, and in September 1938 he Accords in 1978 and in 1979, Israel and compromises and highly complex made his escape to Sweden. Egypt signed a peace treaty, the first post-war relationships. The Kreisky- with an Arab State. Wiesenthal conflict demonstrates this In Sweden Kreisky met other exiled very poignantly. socialists, among them Willy Brandt. In 1970, after a close electoral result, The two became firm personal friends. Kreisky had to form a minority Shulamit Spain

9 AJR Journal | June 2019 Two political thinkers

This month we bring you profiles If you wish to know more about day brings together what would earlier of two very different left-wingers, Koestler’s extremely interesting life have been seen as non-communist left- I recommend you read Arrow in the wing parties. Arthur Koestler and Julius Branthal, Blue, The Invisible Writing, (both both of whom had great influence. autobiographical), Dialogue with Death, He left Belgium for Britain the day Hitler Spanish Testament and the very moving attacked Poland. The UK authorities Thieves in the Night, based on his stay exempted Braunthal from internment ARTHUR KOESTLER in Israel. because he was a well-known refugee from Nazi oppression but only weeks Arthur Koestler, the author of Janos Fisher later he was struggling with red-tape. Darkness at Noon was described as Edward Grigg (later Lord Altrincham) at the “last renaissance man”. He had the information ministry told him on 17 an unbelievable life and the book is, JULIUS BRAUNTHAL 0ctober ‘...I do not think it will be right according to some, one of the most for me to ask you to prolong your stay influential works of the 20th century. In the regenerated docklands of in London, and...I expect you will, in due Amsterdam stands the International course, decide to return to Brussels... The inspiration for the book came from Institute of Social History whose 50km of Should you wish later on to come back the Moscow Trials in which prominent shelf space house archives dealing with to England, I feel sure you will have no figures, many of them known personally labour relations from all over the world – difficulty in getting a visa from the British to Koestler, confessed to non-existent from slavery to self-employment. Here Passport Office in Brussels.’ sins against the state in open court. you will find an important collection These included Kamenew, Zinoviev, of documents about Julius Braunthal, Braunthal also had to worry about Bukharin and many others, and the book the internationally prominent Social bringing over his family. His wife had is dedicated to their memory. Democrat who fled from ‘Austrofascist’ worked for the Socialist International, Vienna and ultimately settled in too. She was suffering from a glandular He wrote Darkness at Noon in Paris, just Teddington on the Thames. ailment, and she had in her charge before the Germans arrived. The details her frail mother and her two sons. are based on his experiences in Franco’s Born in Vienna, Julius Braunthal began Stafford Cripps, a renegade Labour jail, where he was condemned to death, his career as a bookbinder’s apprentice MP with a legal background, acted as and as a result of which he wrote and studied socialism at night classes. political guarantor and intervened. On Dialogue with Death. In his twenties he worked as a left-wing 20 February the Aliens Department of journalist, but was caught up in the the Home Office told Cripps ‘...we have Rubashov, the hero of Darkness at near civil war that shook ‘red Vienna’ felt able to authorise the desired visas in Noon, served the communist state in particular and brought about a this case...’ Tini was allowed to come to heroically all his life. One night two men Mussolini-influenced autocratic regime the UK for the duration of the war. come to arrest him, an older one who in 1934. With other Social Democrats, symbolises the civilised generation and Braunthal was arrested, charged with She and the rest of the family landed in a younger one, the brutality of the new high treason and put behind bars where, March 1940, some two months before generation. Meditating when not with he complained, he was ‘von den Wanzen Hitler occupied Belgium. She managed his interrogators, he thinks he loyally zerfressen’ (‘devoured by bugs’). The to bring ‘all our belongings and even served the Party and doubts awaken in archives include a letter in which Thomas half our books,’ Julius recorded. By him. Eventually the older interrogator Mann thanks an imprisoned Braunthal the following May, however, she was disappears; he is executed as an enemy for his kind remarks about, presumably, interned, for six weeks, in Port Erin, on of the people. This is when Rubashov the recently-published second volume the Isle of Man – not because she was capitulates, signs his false confession and of Mann’s four-part Joseph and suspect, but because she had not had is condemned to death on false charges. His Brothers. The two had met at a the chance to appear before the tribunal reception in Vienna. that decided whether enemy aliens were The book is difficult to put down. It dangerous spies or genuine refugees. is a study of state brutality, fear and Braunthal was released without trial after victimhood. Neither the Soviet Union a year, on condition he leave Austria; And then there was the disappearance nor Stalin is named, but the allusions are he moved to Brussels where his wife, of their elder son, Friedrich/Fritz/ obvious. On a lighter note, President Ernestine (‘Tini’) née Gernreich and Freddy, born in August, 1922. He was Clinton, at the height of the media their two sons were awaiting him. He a student at the London School of attention during the Monica Lewinsky accepted a job in the Belgian capital Economics which had been evacuated affair, referred to the novel saying he felt as assistant secretary of the Socialist to Cambridge, a ‘protected area’ at the like a character out of Darkness at Noon. International, a body that to this time. Aliens in the Cambridge region

10 AJR Journal | June 2019

Two of the many books either by or about Arthur Koestler or Julius Braunthal

were rounded up as ‘enemy aliens.’ I consider my own. I am therefore Germany – the many who had resisted In July 1940 Braunthal asked the War thinking of emigrating to the United the Nazis. Office for news of his son, explaining States...’ But Braunthal stayed in Britain, that the Post Office had returned a and did take part in the struggle. On But Braunthal, living in London, was telegram because his son had been sent reaching these shores he had tried to get freelancing, unable to find a permanent overseas. the government to engage in ‘political’ job. He sometimes earned nothing for warfare in Germany, taking advantage weeks, using up his precious savings. It was four months before Braunthal of the anti-Nazi labour organisations in He applied for citizenship soon after received a letter from Freddy – Germany’s neighbours with which he the war ended but in January 1946 the from Canada: he had been given no was so familiar, but there was no follow- Home Office told him it could not give opportunity to inform his parents up. priority to his case: it did not want to and had been sent away without a face charges that it gave preference penny in his pocket and without warm Braunthal commented bitterly that to those known to ministers and MPs. clothes for the severe Canadian winters. the Chamberlain government was He became British in 1948. Canada, which regarded internees as ‘apparently unwilling to make use of prisoners of war, allowed Freddy to the services of international labour.’ With the Socialist International based work twice a week to earn enough for Later he did write scripts and broadcasts in postwar London, Braunthal became cigarettes. In August 1940 Braunthal for the Foreign Office; the Daily its secretary. He was now recognised as asked ‘My dear Michael (Foot)’ to Mail used him to monitor radio a leading figure in the movement. On approach the prominent Canadian broadcasts; and, at the US embassy, retirement, he lectured on it around Social Democrat, David Lewis, for help he worked for the Office of War the world and wrote a major history in securing the release of ‘ Internee F. Information, which dropped millions of about it. The city of Vienna honoured G. Braunthal...’ The following January leaflets over Germany. him in 1971 for his journalism. Freddy was able to return from Canada Two of his five siblings, Bertha and and went on to have a career in the In the pre-war years and during the war, Gerard, became well-known in left- British army. Braunthal wrote for Tribune, started in wing politics, in Britain and in the 1937, and other socialist publications. USA respectively. Another relative, Braunthal, meanwhile, was struggling He became acquainted with leading his fashion designer nephew in Los to make a living. He wrote in October left-wing figures. One of them, Victor Angeles, Rudi Gernreich, acquired 1940 ‘The tide is against foreigners, Gollancz, published his first works in international if fleeting celebrity in though not the feeling of the English one of which, in 1943, was the 1960s, when he unveiled his people...I am entirely idle and getting the provocatively titled Need Germany ‘monokini’. rather desperate...I cannot bear to Survive? Gollancz shared his view that watch, unactive (sic), the struggle which the Allies should bear in mind the ‘other’ Martin Uli Mauthner

11 AJR Journal | June 2019 REVIEWS

THE EXIT VISA: A family’s flight from Belgium living mainly in Antwerp over school, in fact he didn’t even register Nazi Europe the next three years where she met up their births. Her unfailingly loyal mother by Sheila Rosenberg with relatives. Descriptions of Jews’ hand largely deferred to him, although she Bloomsbury Academic to mouth existence are very touching. found some independence in her roles ISBN 978-1-78831-495-4 Many were destitute but Toni, although as a kind of faith healer and as an careful with money, always had means. experienced but apparently unlicensed Holocaust poet Hilda Schiff’s story is She corresponded with Moses who went midwife. unveiled in this moving book telling to herculean lengths to secure her precious how she and her older sister, Gitti, permission to enter Switzerland. Life was grim and money was a constant came to England on a Kindertransport, struggle. An amazing number of freak leaving their mother Toni behind. Toni The plan was to cross over from France accidents befell the family, but hospitals stayed in Vienna planning her own but unfortunately summer 1942 saw and western medicine were forbidden escape but tragically they never saw her increasing tightening up of paperwork as so injuries persisted and festered. Tara again. The account – written by Hilda’s the Nazis pursued deportation quotas. herself was repeatedly beaten and literary executor Sheila Rosenberg – At long last Toni reached the border and abused by an elder brother who called explores her life in a strange country saw Moses within yards on the other side her a whore because of her innocent without parents and her tireless and but she lacked a crucial exit visa so was friendship with a local boy. heart-breaking quest to discover what disastrously called back. His anguish that happened to Toni. she did not leap across haunted him for Yet despite having no formal education the rest of his life. she managed to study her way to Until Germany annexed Austria in March college. She struggled initially but 1938, as Hilda turned seven, the family Hilda searched tirelessly to find out what got good enough marks for a PhD led a happy, fairly prosperous existence. happened to her mother. In 2002, 2004 scholarship at Cambridge. And in Her father, Moses, ran a textile business and lastly 2009, nine months before the course of all that, she found and shop. She remembered Kristallnacht: her own death, she visited sites of her herself – through what some might as Moses was ill he was allowed to mother’s last fatal journey; on these visits call a “transformation” and others a remain at home – and Toni was taken Hilda was accompanied by Sheila or her “betrayal”. As she writes in the last line away to barracks instead. She was nephew Benny. of the book: “I call it an education.” released that evening and never spoke about her experience. But the brush with This is a well-researched and often heart- For me, the level of Tara’s childhood the Gestapo convinced Moses to flee rending book, illustrated with poignant ignorance was most highlighted by the soon afterwards with other relatives into poetry. It draws from Hilda’s own fact that she never even heard of the neutral Switzerland. recollections and extensive investigations Holocaust until she got to college. When as well as on historical research by she challenged her father about this, Meanwhile Hilda – later an AJR others. It is strong in human interest and he told her that “…Jewish bankers in member – and Gitti arrived here in painstakingly put together with helpful Europe had signed secret agreements to February 1939. Hilda came with a headings to make reading easier. start WW2 and that they had colluded case of beautiful clothes but what she Janet Weston with Jews in America to pay for it. They later minded most was that she had had engineered the Holocaust because no recollection of saying goodbye to they would benefit financially from her mother. The girls ended up with EDUCATED worldwide disorder. They sent their own different families and Hilda soon learned By Tara Westover people to the gas chambers for money.” fluent English before her school was Windmill Books evacuated to Penzance, where she ISBN978-0099511021 Although Tara was quick to highlight the acquired a Cornish accent. Here she untruth of these shocking allegations, lived with the Rogers, a childless local This is a hugely compelling and well I find it very disturbing that in this day butcher and his wife who was devoted crafted true story that chronicles a young and age, after all the effort that has to her young refugee. Mrs Rogers woman’s efforts to study her way out of a been invested into Holocaust education, provided love, support and fun until tough childhood in Idaho and find herself such views can persist. For every Hilda’s twenties. The school’s head through books. Tara, who has managed to escape the teacher Mr Canfield also gave tireless clutches of her radical parents, there encouragement. Hilda always regretted Tara Westover was born in 1986 to must be hundreds who never even leaving Toni’s loving letters unopened Mormon fundamentalist parents, the dream of getting away. No wonder and unanswered. youngest of seven. Her father Gene was antisemitism is flourishing, and no convinced the world was going to end wonder that this inspiring book has won After her daughters left, Toni found a at the stroke of the millennium. He did so many literary prizes. new courage and fled via Cologne to not believe in sending his children to Jo Briggs

12 AJR Journal | June 2019

An appropriate response

Professor Robert A. Shaw was born in Vienna on 2 November 1924. Following the Anschluss, he left Austria by a Kindertransport, arriving in England on 6 July 1939. At the earliest opportunity, he joined the British Army, seeing service in India, Burma, Thailand and Singapore before embarking on an academic career in Chemistry, and building

a distinguished international reputation. Last March he received an Professor Robert Shaw (seated) with honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna. This is an extract his Honorary Doctorate, together with from his acceptance speech. colleagues

I am honoured to receive this award As a result my parents died impoverished. I Interdisciplinary and International from one of the oldest (founded in 1365) find this very difficult to forgive and unable collaboration in scientific research. and most famous universities in Europe. to forget. This led to my becoming a UNESCO But I feel I must also tell you about the Consultant and in 1977 to a mission to considerable soul-searching I had to The Austrians’ delaying tactics lasted over Turkey, to advise the Turkish Government undergo to be here today. half a century and yielded only after very on the establishment of Faculties strong American pressure. Even then, the of Science. In Adana at Çukurova We are commemorating the 80th compensation offered was derisory. I, University, I met my future wife, Leyla, anniversary of the Anschluss. Welcomed personally, refused to accept this and will a young Turkish physicist. She was at the time by many Austrians, the event continue to fight for complete restitution of very beautiful, highly intelligent, had a proved catastrophic for Austria’s Jewish my family’s property. This is not a question wonderful personality and a smile more citizens, who experienced brutality, of money, but of Justice! dazzling than the sun. Our love has now humiliation and the looting of all their blossomed for over 40 years and our property. For the lucky ones (including All these add up to not very rosy memories of joint research has also flourished, Leyla’s my parents and myself), survival meant the country of my birth. Thus my instinctive expertise in crystallography bringing a penniless exile; for the less fortunate reaction, when I first learned of the honorary a new dimension to my Phosphazene ones (including five members of my doctorate, was “a polite decline”. research. The Nazis had destroyed my family) a brutal death. Kristallnacht, in Schlesinger family in Vienna; Leyla and I November 1938, was followed by the Then friends (academic and diplomatic), have created our Shaw family in London. most depressive and hopeless period of whose opinions I greatly value, pointed out We have two wonderful children, a son my life. that the University of Vienna is independent Robert Jr and a daughter Lily. Both are of the Government and has made its young NHS physicians. The British Kindertransport was my position regarding Austria’s dark past salvation. A very religious Church of very clear. They also suggested my views Another refugee from Vienna who England family in Suffolk deposited the might be of interest to younger Austrians. found sanctuary in Britain, was the great required £50, which allowed me to join Their arguments convinced me and I have Sigmund Freud. He defined Happiness as a Kindertransport less than two months established new friendships with academic Love and Work. I had both of these, in before war broke out. A society which, in colleagues here. Sadly this does not apply great abundance, for the last 40 years. 1942, sent my 76 year old grandmother to a variety of other Austrian organisations, to a death camp, would hardly have with whom I am still, regrettably, in I would like to finish with a wish. If we spared a youth then reaching military disagreement about a number of issues. would learn to collaborate more, help age. Instead of being here today, I would I hope that Justice will eventually prevail, and respect each other, the world would have just been another number added to perhaps still in my life time. be a much better place. Mankind faces the six million Holocaust victims. grave dangers from Global Warming, My circle of friends includes my former new virulent diseases, tsunamis, In emigration, I was young and resilient students and my colleagues. They come earthquakes and many other natural enough to adapt; my parents were not. from all over the world. Their ethnicity, the disasters. Let us work together, to defeat After the war, they desperately tried to colour of their skin, their different cultures these dangers, which threaten us all! regain possession of, or compensation or their religious affiliations (if any) play for, their stolen property. They ran into no part. Their knowledge, humanity and Finally, I wish to dedicate my honorary a brick wall, which is best demonstrated personality are what counts! doctorate to the principles which by Robert Knight’s book: “Ich bin dafür, have guided me through life: Love & die Sache in die Länge zu ziehen” (I am I have spent the whole of my professional Friendship, Tolerance & Respect and, in favour of dragging this matter out). life practising and proselytising for above all, Justice.

13 AJR Journal | June 2019

SS Warszawa, which brought several Kinder to Britain in 1939 before being sunk by LOOKING a U-boat in 1941 FOR? The AJR regularly receives messages from our members and others looking for people or for help in particular subjects. Here are some of the most recent requests – please get in touch directly with the person concerned if you can FAMILY VON MARX WARSZAWA REUNION help. Ed van Rijswijk seeks information on AJR is planning an event to mark the Ellen May von Marx, born 1 May 1898 80th anniversary of the 29 August in Amsterdam, Alexander von Marx, 1939 arrival of the packet steamer DORA MITZKY born 6 June 1895 in Wiesbaden, and Warszawa from Gdynia, bringing Anna Antonello is a researcher in their children, Vera, Paul and Robert. several hundred Polish Kinder. German literature, currently collecting The family came to the UK and then Organisers would be delighted to hear material on Dora Mitzky, an Austrian moved to Canada. from family members of Kinder who refugee who escaped from Italy to [email protected] travelled on the Warszawa, and who England in 1938/1939. She taught are interested in commemorating this at various colleges (especially at the special anniversary. Wentworth School in Boscombe, PETER DAVID KATZ [email protected] Bournemouth) until 1956. The local history society and [email protected] Stolperstein Initiative in Malsch, Germany, is looking for help locating Peter, son of Emanuel & Hilda Katz (née WOLFSTEIN/WOLFSCALE Hess) and any other descendants in the AJR Scotland Duncan Stirk is looking for information UK, USA or South America. Hilda was on Wolfstein or (less likely) Wolfscale, born in Malsch and emigrated to the Regional Lunch who fled Germany just before WW2. UK in 1939. Her last known address Wednesday He may have settled near Rugby, and in the 1980s was Collingwood Court, 17 July 2019 by 1944 he was serving in the Army Queens Road., NW4. Holocaust Learning Air Corps and participated on D-Day, [email protected] and Education Centre perhaps as a glider pilot. His son David Huddersfield University passed on his father’s battledress With Guest Speaker uniform, which Duncan has acquired IRMA RAWITCSHER & INA Rt Hon David Mundell MP and would now like to know the full LAUTENBACH Secretary of State for Scotland story. Tim Grubb, the owner of the historic [email protected] Algars Manor in South Gloucestershire, is hoping to find more information about Irma Rawitscher (née Werner THOMAS HALL FRAME MBE and, post-war, Kohlberg) and Malvene/ Matt Smith is producing a special Ina Lautenbach, who both worked at programme for the Antiques Roadshow the house during WW2. Irma arrived commemorating 80 years since the in 1939 from Bremen, while her son outbreak of WW2 and is hoping to find Heinz escaped to America via Norway AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman will also be attending. survivors who knew the former British and Sweden and her brother Georg consul in Berlin, Thomas Hall Frame also made it to the UK and served in Transport will be provided from Edinburgh and the surrounding area. MBE, who helped Jews to emigrate to the pioneers. Both Irma and Malvene/ Britain by issuing visas, working with Ina moved to London after the war. For further details contact Frank Foley until August 1938. [email protected] or [email protected] / 07908 156 361 [email protected] 07786 067336

14 AJR Journal | June 2019 LAMENT FOR ROSA, SUSI & LOTTE

One thing my mother, Susi until her 50s that she discovered her birth memorial in Bechhofen consists of stones, mother was from an orthodox Jewish family, commemorating each victim individually Bechhöfer, had been looking who had been ostracised because of her by name, placed in a long wall. In 2014 I forward to before she died in April affair with a non-Jewish German, Otto – my returned to Bechhofen to give an organ grandfather. My mother changed her name recital, by way of thanks, in the church next 2018 was attending the placing from Grace Stocken back to Susi Bechhöfer, to where the memorial stands. I was touched of a Stolperstein in memory of the name she had as a child in Germany, and to learn that, despite being Jews, my family her story has been widely told in books and in Bechhofen gave money towards the her mother, Rosa, who died in on TV. building of the church, an example of how well Jews had coexisted with Christians in Auschwitz. Ever since my mother first discovered Germany in times gone by. her heritage, I have conducted my own The idea for a Stolperstein in memory of my exploration of my German background. I travelled to Munich in November 2018 grandmother was that of Steven Bechhofer, I was in my early 20s and began to learn for the unveiling of three Stolpersteine – to the son of my mother’s first cousin, Fred, German, which was also integral to my my mother, my aunt and my grandmother who returned from the US to Germany doctoral work on the music of Anton – with some friends. After we arrived at after WW2 (most of the family dropped the Bruckner. When I was asked to compose our hotel we asked for directions to good umlaut in Bechhöfer on moving to the US). a piece of music commemorating the war traditional German food and were pointed Steven lives in Munich, where my mother in Bosnia, I dedicated it to the memory of to the Augustiner Keller. It was only whilst and her twin sister Lotte were placed in an my grandmother, Rosa. I was eventually eating that we discovered it was here that orphanage shortly after their birth. They commissioned to write a ballet for the State Hitler had given many speeches in his early escaped Germany on the Kindertransport Theatre in Giessen, Germany, called Alice. I days. in 1939 aged just three. Rosa, their mother, was also privileged to be asked to conduct could not escape and worked as a domestic my own music with the strings of the Royal I knew that many Stolpersteine were being servant until the Nazis caught up with her. Academy of Music at the opening of the laid around the city that day, but it was She was deported to Auschwitz in 1942, permanent Holocaust Exhibition at the something of a shock to arrive at the site where she died. Imperial War Museum in 2000. the following afternoon to hear the loud hacking of the pavement, and to witness the Adding tragedy to tragedy, Lotte was ill for I accompanied my mother to Bechhofen in actual placing of the stones. It gave drama much of her life after arriving in England 2013, the town where my grandmother was to the event, on one of Munich’s grandest with a gradually-developing brain tumour; born, and which gave us the family name streets, as if my grandmother, my mother she died in her early 30s. of Bechhöfer. My mother was an honoured and her sister, were physically claiming back guest at the unveiling of a memorial to local a part of the city. It was also uncomfortably My mother was fostered by a Baptist victims of the Holocaust, who included reminiscent of my mother’s burial only minister and his wife in Wales and it was not various members of our family. The months before. Kaddish was said, speeches were made, and a singer sang traditional Jewish songs. Words I prepared to say at the ceremony translate into English as:

Frederick Stocken (left) ‘From one perspective WW2 is a long time and Steven Bechhofer ago – many people can no longer imagine this period, or its ugly political ideology. From another perspective this era seems not so far distant, as these Stolpersteine signify – after all, these are memorials which commemorate not only my grandmother and aunt, but also my mother, who died only six months ago. Finally, there is a third perspective; that of God, who not only forgets nothing, but also understands everything.’

Frederick Stocken

Frederick’s Lament for Bosnia, dedicated to his grandmother, can be heard on www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-t63OZj47Q

15 AJR Journal | June 2019

OBITUARIES

RABBI HARRY MARTIN JACOBI MBE Born: 19 October 1925, Berlin Died: 24 April 2019, London

Rabbi Harry Jacobi survived was among 74 children rescued by Truus strafing from a fighter-bomber Wijsmuller-Meijer, who was later honoured while on an escape boat and went as a Righteous Gentile. Harry contributed to the film about her, which is being released on to be a much-loved Liberal this year. His rabbinic career took him to Wembley, rabbi. He was an active member Zurich and South Bucks, and to chair the of AJR, campaigned on behalf of Coming to England, Heinz lived in a Liberal Bet Din. Wherever a rabbi was child refugees, spoke to hundreds Manchester boys’ hostel, where his passion needed, Harry responded, touching people for classical music was kindled by Halle through his warmth, compassion and of school children about his Orchestra concerts. Called up in May 1945, integrity. He was awarded an MBE for experiences, and was interviewed he served for three years, mainly with the services to the Jewish community in 2006. last year for AJR’s Refugee Voices. Jewish Brigade. After demobilisation, he changed his name to Harry Martin Jacobi – In 2016, Harry visited the Calais refugee Born Heinz Martin Hirschberg, his early his mother’s maiden name – and returned camp with Lord Alf Dubs and the visit childhood was spent in Auerbach, until the to Amsterdam. In July 1949, as a delegate moved him deeply. He joined the UNICEF Nazis refused him access to the grammar to a conference on Progressive Judaism, campaign for child refugees, saying, ‘There school. Returning to Berlin, attending the an address given by Rabbi Dr. Leo Baeck shouldn’t be any restrictions at all to saving Theodor Herzl Schule made him a lifelong inspired him to become a rabbi. lives when you can save lives.’ Zionist. His Barmitzvah was held at the Friedenstempel in October 1938, just While working as a lay minister in Aberdeen, He was proud that two of his children before Kristallnacht, and he forfeited his 64 he made a pen-pal in Bombay, Rose followed him as rabbis and of David, a Marks of Barmitzvah money as part of the Solomon, who became his wife in 1957. chemical engineer. Harry’s resilience and reparations demanded by the Nazis. Rose and Harry were a formidable and optimism, especially in caring for Rose and inseparable pairing, and Harry was a real David before their deaths in 2014 and 2016, The following February, his uncle romantic, with a love of surprises and fun. was inspirational to all who encountered him. in Amsterdam could afford to bring one nephew from Berlin and chose He began his ministry at Southgate He is survived by children Margaret and Heinz. Sadly, his cousin, Werner Lesser, Progressive Synagogue, which quadrupled Richard, grandchildren Josh, Abigail, perished in the Holocaust. Heinz himself in size under his leadership. A pioneer of Hannah, Yoni and Tali, and great survived diphtheria and then stayed interfaith relations, Harry founded the grandchildren Zachary and Harry. in the Burgerweeshuis orphanage in Southgate branches of the Council of Amsterdam. As Nazi troops invaded, he Christians and Jews and B’nai B’rith. Margaret and Richard Jacobi

ANITA RAPP (née STRAUSS) Anita discovered her true forte doing Born: 7 February 1925, Essen, Germany voluntary work at Alyth Gardens (North Died: 15 February 2019, London Western Reform Synagogue). She was the personification of gemilut chassadim – Anita Rapp on a 1939 doing selfless acts of loving kindness. Kindertransport, living in Despite suffering ill-health for many years, Manchester, New York and Without any formal qualifications, Anita Anita bravely kept going, maintaining her London. worked as a dressmaker, a book keeper, dignity when others would have given in. a secretary and even a capstan operator, She wanted and managed to stay in her In Essen, Anita witnessed first-hand the keeping Spitfires in the sky. own home – and kept it pristine – till the rise of Nazism and after Kristallnacht her end. schooling effectively ended. An aunt and In New York in 1949 she met Heinz (Henry) uncle in Manchester vouched for Anna and Rapp from Düsseldorf. They married in 1950 When asked how she was, she would say, her sisters to come over. Parents Klara and and returned to London, where Henry joined with typical gallows humour: “Wonderful. Siegfried planned to come later, but sadly his father’s metal business. Anita took pride Are we going dancing tonight?” were deported to Theresienstadt and then in her role as a wife, mother and homemaker, Auschwitz. bringing up David and Nicola. Nicola Baker

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BEN (BENNO) GODFREY (GOTTFRIED) Born: 5 June 1916, Vienna Died: 3 March 2019, London

Ben was born in the Second to vouch for Ben and they found him work District of Vienna. As a child he as an apprentice to a butcher. had a beautiful singing voice and Ben and Lily were married in July 1939 was one of the soloists at the in the West End Talmud Torah and Bikur March 1975 but shortly afterwards he was Holim Synagogue. In August 1939 Ben given another chance of happiness with main Synagogue in Vienna. went to Belgium to visit his father, sister, Mrs. Lily Nelson, also a widow originally husband and child who had escaped from from Vienna, Austria. Ben’s mother died when he was 17 and Vienna. His sister and father later perished in he left home to work in Loewen, outside Auschwitz. After retirement, Ben and Lily kept Vienna. During this time he met Lily themselves active, delivering meals-on Markovitz who was later to become his When war broke out Ben and Lily were wheels and doing other charity work. wife. He was called up into the Austrian working in a boarding house. In June 1940 They were regular visitors to the AJR army in 1937 and in March 1938, when the he was interned in Huyton near Liverpool centre where they enjoyed playing bridge. Germans marched into Austria, he paraded and in September 1940 he joined the British with a loaded rifle as Hitler’s motorcade Army, changing his name to Ben Godfrey. His last few months were spent as a passed. Being the only Jew in the company, Upon his discharge he worked as a waiter resident at the Lady Sara Cohen home he was soon discharged. in Lyons Corner house in Piccadilly and in Friern Barnet. He is survived by two eventually opened his own working class sons, three grandchildren and nine great- Ben came to England in February 1939. Lily café which he ran until 1975. grandchildren. had left Vienna in July 1938 for London on a domestic permit. She asked her employers Ben’s wife Lily passed away suddenly in Yisrael Geffen (son of Ben Godfrey)

ALICE SLUCKIN (née KLAUS) Born: 21 July 1919, Prague Died: 15 February 2019, Norwich

Alice Sluckin OBE was a (2010) and the Sir Sigmund Sternberg distinguished social worker Active Life Award (2012). employed by Leicester City and She was the daughter of Otto Klaus, a Leicestershire Social Services doctor in Prague. Her mother came from from failed electrician into professor of as a psychiatric social worker, a large family in Radom, Poland. They met psychology at the University of Leicester when her father was in the Austrian army, (1966-84). Unfortunately he died young specialising in children who did billeted in her maternal grandparents’ home. from oesophageal cancer in 1985. not attend school and those with After the Munich crisis in 1938 the family incontinence problems. fled to Prague. In February, 1939 Alice came In widowhood Alice loved hiking, to England, working as an assistant nurse in birdwatching, the Labour Party and Southampton Children’s hospital. photography. She and the late Trude After retirement she continued on a Dub (Leicester Jewish Chronicle voluntary basis and established an Her parents were transported to correspondent) were the mainstays of the academic career, contributing to several Theresienstadt, dying in Auschwitz in Leicester Czech-speaking circle. In 2018 books on social work. In 1992 she 1944; her younger brother Martin died she moved to Norwich, near her son founded the Selective Mutism Information of typhus in Dachau in 1945. Alice was Andy and his extended family. and Research Association (SMIRA). able to transmit news of her marriage in Selective Mutism is a relatively rare 1942 to Władysław (Wladek) Sluckin, Alice died after a short illness, only five condition: children can speak at home an electrical engineering student whom months short of her centenary. She but not at school. Experts thought that she had met at the Jewish Refugees’ leaves two sons (Tim and Andy), five the symptoms were simulated, but Alice Club in Cambridge. She studied social grandchildren and a great-grandchild. established that the problem was anxiety. work at Leeds University and LSE. Alice For this work, Alice was awarded an OBE masterminded Władek’s transformation Tim Sluckin

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and got us all playing a range of simple and we spent a most lovely lunchtime full musical instruments to illustrate some of of laughter and smiles… just what everyone Around the methods used. needs! Robert Gellman Wendy Bott

the AJR SHEFFIELD LIVERPOOL Dennis Dell (recently relocated from We enjoyed a talk on the fascinating and These are just a few of the many recent Aylesbury with his wife, Sonia) treated us troubling life of Coco Chanel. The guest AJR events around the country. to an illustrated talk on his lifelong hobby of speaker was the actor and author Christine butterflies; we learned about their different Dawe and a wonderful afternoon was had PINNER habitats and the threats to their survival. by all. Music Therapy can help reduce the need Wendy Bott Wendy Bott for prescription medicines for a range of illnesses and disabilities. Rosie Axon of PRESTWICH ERRATUM: Please note that the North Chesham Music Therapy told us about Members giggled throughout Werner’s West London meeting with Rabbi Jonathan the fascinating work of her organisation presentation on “What makes you laugh?” Wittenberg is on Tuesday 25 June. JUNE GROUP EVENTS CONTACTS

All AJR members are welcome at any of these events; you do not have to be affiliated Susan Harrod to that particular group. Please contact the relevant regional contact for full details. Events and Outreach Manager 020 8385 3070 Cardiff 3 June Social get-together [email protected] Cheshire 3 June Social get-together Wendy Bott Ealing 4 June Maurice Kanerek – ‘The Refuseniks’ Northern Outreach Co-ordinator Ilford 5 June David Morris – ‘My Woodcraft Creations’ 07908 156 365 Pinner 6 June Helen Pankhurst –‘Deeds not Words. The story of [email protected] Women’s Rights’ Agnes Isaacs Bromley CF 11 June Social get-together Northern Outreach Co-ordinator Essex/Westcliff 11 June Social get-together 07908 156 361 Didsbury 11 June Social get-together [email protected] Birmingham 12 June Lunch and a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan songs Ros Hart by Rob Mead Southern Outreach Co-ordinator KT Lunch 12 June David Lawson – ‘The Story of the Czech Scrolls & 07966 969 951 Ostrava Jews’ [email protected] York 12 June Visit to Beningbrough Home Farm Wessex 13 June Bournemouth outing to Exbury Gardens Karen Diamond Cards & Games 17 June Cards and games Southern Outreach Co-ordinator Edgware 18 June Caroline Stock – Deputy Mayor of Barnet 07966 631 778 [email protected] Radlett 19 June Barbara Nadel – ‘Jewish Istanbul’ Lees 20 June Peal Leach, former Police Inspector – ‘A Policeman’s KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Life’ (re-scheduled from May) Susan Harrod Nottingham 24 June Social get-together at Ruth & Jurgen 020 8385 3070 N.W. London 25 June Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg [email protected] Book Club 26 June Anthony Grenville, author Child Survivors’ Association-AJR Muswell Hill 27 June Maurice Kanerek – ‘Palestine Police’ Henri Obstfeld North London 27 June Rabbi Celia Surget – ‘The Marathon-Running Rabbi’ 020 8954 5298 Oxford 27 June Lunch and social meeting [email protected]

AJR CARD AND GAMES CLUB WHY NOT CONVERT Monday 17 June 2019 at 1.00pm YOUR OLD CINE at North Western Reform Synagogue, Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, FILMS London NW11 7EN AND PUT THEM Bridge, card games, backgammon, scrabble. You decide. ON DVDS £8.00 per person, inc lunch FREE OF CHARGE?

Booking is essential – when you book please let us know your choice of game. Contact Alf Buechler at [email protected] Please RSVP to Ros Hart on 07966 969 951 or email [email protected] or tel 020 8554 5635 or 07488 774 414

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PLEASE JOIN US NORTH WEST LONDON Kindertransport FOR A VERY SPECIAL AJR EVENT LUNCH & TALK A special interest group of The Association of Jewish Refugees on Tuesday 25 June 2019 12:30pm LUNCH at Alyth Gardens Synagogue on Wednesday 12 June 2019 at 12.30pm We are delighted to welcome at Alyth Gardens Synagogue RABBI JONATHAN WITTENBERG We are delighted to welcome DAVID LAWSON Highly respected rabbi of New North The Story of the Czech Scrolls London Synagogue, President of the and Ostrava Jews council of Christians & Jews, Member of the Council of Imams and Rabbis, co- Ostrava is located near the Polish border, A BOOK TALK founder of Eco-Synagogue and deeply where the Odra, Opava, Ostravice, and engaged in environmental issues, as well Lucina Rivers meet. It is the third-largest with Author as being a best-selling author of 9 books, city in the Czech Republic. Until 1918 Dr Anthony Grenville a dog lover, hiker, devoted family man Ostrava was part of the Austrian Empire. who will be discussing his latest book: and an all-round really good guy During the interwar period, and from the ‘Encounters with Albion: Britain and the end of World War II until 1993, it was British in Texts by Jewish Refugees from Please come along and hear him speak – part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Nazism’ he is articulate, funny and endearing One of the Torah scrolls sent from Wednesday 26 June 2019 A delicious deli lunch will be served first. Ostrava to the Central Jewish Museum at The Wet Fish Café £8.00 per person in Prague during WW2 is currently 242 West End Lane, London NW6 1LG located in the Kingston Synagogue in the BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL Starts promptly at 3.00pm United Kingdom. Ends at 4.30pm Call Ros Hart on 07966 969951 £7.00 per person incl. lunch or email [email protected] Books will be available for purchase BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL Coffee, tea, cakes, snacks and a full Call Susan Harrod on lunch menu will be available for purchase JOSEPH PEREIRA 020 8385 3070 or email Please note that due to the age of the venue, [email protected] there are a few stairs to climb for the W.C. (ex-AJR caretaker over 22 years) and there are no disabled facilities. is now available for DIY repairs and general maintenance. Booking is essential for this event as No job too small, spring grove seating is limited. very reasonable rates. London’s Most Luxurious Please call Karen Diamond on 07966 631778 or email Please telephone 07966 887 485. RETIREMENT HOME [email protected] 214 Finchley Road London NW3

 Entertainment  Activities www.fishburnbooks.com  Stress Free Living Jonathan Fishburn Outstanding live-in and hourly care in  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine buys and sells Jewish and Hebrew books, your home at flexible, affordable rates.  Full En-Suite Facilities ephemera and items of Call for more information or a personal tour Jewish interest. 020 8446 2117 or 020 7794 4455 He is a member of the Antiquarian [email protected] Booksellers Association. Contact Jonathan on 020 8455 9139 or 07813 803 889 JACKMAN . for more information 020 7482 2188 pillarcare.co.uk SILVERMAN COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS Books Bought switch on electrics Modern and Old Rewires and all household electrical work Eric Levene PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 Telephone: 020 7209 5532 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 Mobile: 0795 614 8566 [email protected] [email protected]

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Events and Exhibitions NORTHERN REGIONAL JUNE 2019 Wednesday 17 July 2019 Holocaust Learning and Education Centre BERLIN/LONDON: THE LOST better understanding of how Huddersfield University PHOTOGRAPHS OF GERTY the Kitchener men managed to SIMON escape from Germany, Austria, We are delighted to be able to hold our Annual Northern The Wiener Library’s summer Poland, and Czechoslovakia in Regional at the Holocaust Learning and Education Centre at Huddersfield University. 2019 exhibition displays the 1939. We will be arranging transport from all major areas in 1 September remarkable work of German- the North of England. Jewish photographer Gerty Jewish Museum, London Lilian Black, Chair of HSFA, will be welcoming us and Simon, and features many of her NW1 7NB talking about the key part she has played in setting up original prints from the 1920s www.kitchenercamp.co.uk this new learning facility. and 1930s. She photographed We will also hear from Professor Tim Thornton, Deputy the likes of singer and actress Vice Chancellor of Huddersfield University on the Lotte Lenya, theatre critic Alfred JANKEL ADLER impact the new centre has had on the University. Kerr and his young daughter This will be the first museum There will be an opportunity to tour the exhibition at Judith, the artist Käthe Kollwitz exhibition of Jankel Adler’s works your leisure. and Albert Einstein. in Britain since the Arts Council Please join us for lunch and the opportunity to socialise memorial show in 1951, and with old friends and meet new ones The quality of the photographs commemorates the seventieth We will be joined by Michael Newman CEO of AJR and and significance of many of anniversary of his death. other Heads of Department from AJR Gerty Simon’s sitters, as well Opens 3 June For full details and an application form please contact: as her story of displacement Ben Uri Gallery, London, Wendy Bott on 07908 156 365 or at [email protected] from Germany and re- NW8 0RH establishment in Britain makes www.benuri.org.uk this is a particularly compelling collection Unveiling of AJR Plaque at 30 May – 15 October HIDDEN HISTORIES Belsize Square Synagogue Wiener Library Arts lecturer Caroline Marcus www.wienerlibrary.co.uk takes a closer look at famous paintings and reveals their hidden histories. DOROTHY BOHM PHOTOS 17 June at 2.30pm A selection of small and JW3 London exquisite colour prints by the www.jw3.org.uk doyenne of British photography, Dorothy Bohm, many of them images never seen in public JEWISH WOMEN COMPOSERS: before, are on show. Dorothy A Musical Heritage of the The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) was born in Königsberg, East Holocaust is unveiling a plaque at Belsize Square Synagogue Prussia in 1924, coming to Josefine Auspitz-Winter died on Tuesday 25 June 2019 at 2pm England in 1939. in Theresienstadt, Ilse Weber Belsize Square Synagogue was founded in 1939 by Until 14 June died in Auschwitz and Johanna Refugees from Germany and Central Europe and is still a place of worship for many families from a refugee Avivson Gallery, London N6 5JX Spector survived the Holocaust. background today. www.avivsongallery.com Pianist Sigrid Hagn and violist Janina Ibel present a versatile There will be a small reception following the unveiling programme commemorating Places must be booked due to security and catering KITCHENER CAMP these brave composers. An exhibition of Kitchener camp 10 July at 7.30pm Please contact Susan Harrod documents, letters, photographs JW3 London on 020 8385 3070 or email and histories will create a www.jw3.org.uk [email protected] if you wish to attend

Published by The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), a company limited by guarantee. Registered office: Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, Finchley, London N3 1HF Registered in England and Wales with charity number: 1149882 and company number: 8220991 Telephone 020 8385 3070 e-mail [email protected] AssociationofJewishRefugees @TheAJR_ For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters, Unit 5, St Albans House, St Albans Lane, London NW11 7QB Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected] The AJR Journal is printed on 100% recycled material and posted out in fully recyclable plastic mailing envelopes.

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