AJ R Information Volume XLVIII No. 6 June 1993 £3 (to non-members) Don't miss . .. Questioning editorial policy Schtonk inc p3 Dissent in the Cockpit p4 Of Prejudice and Pride Pensions news - special report pi6 f late several readers have accused the editor pally organised refugee reunions with three native of anti-German prejudice. This is a key issue towns: Baden-Baden, Aachen and Berlin. Oand must be addressed, even if I incline to the The critical letters, nonetheless, keep arriving. 'In view that such criticism arises from a misreading of your eyes Israel can do no wrong and Germany no my actual words. right' said one, and that after a thorough airing of the Hitler - the The December 1991 editorial commenting on the Vanunu controversy in our letter columns. Another home movie post-unification upsurge of xenophobia concluded: critic objects to part of his membership subscription 'There is reasonable hope that Bonn's Europeanism supporting an 'unacceptable editorial policy' and he footage and economic assistance to the Ossies will ultimately demands that the journal 'publish information - not of Hider make rampaging neo-Nazis appear of no greater one-sided views'. He goes on 'In Hesse the great Tand his political consequence than our homegrown lager majority supported the established poUtical parties henchmen recently louts'. In November 1992 I quoted the Frankfurter which have given post-war Germany due recognition screened on Allgemeine verbatim as saying 'if others won't let the as a democratic country'. Channel 4 showed wound of the mass crime heal, (our italics) then If only it were as simple as that! In Hesse on a lower them in glowing almost of necessity generations of Germans will voter turnout than previously, the Republikaner soft pastel shades remain identified with the crimes of their fathers'. My averaged 10% of the vote - far more than previously. instead of the February 1993 editorial ended with a reference to In other words, Schonhuber is on a rising curve and customary harsh Munich staging the country's largest anti-xenophobia the CDU and SPD on gradually declining ones. black-and-white demonstration. In March I wrote 'The Bundesrepub­ Schonhuber sprang to prominence with his auto­ of newsreels. An Uk has provided long-term stability through the biography Ich war dabei, exonerating the Waffen SS. insinuating successful operation of the democratic process'. In his election speeches he 'disavows' racism, but niedium for an In addition, in the half-year between June and demands that no non-German ever be given voting already seductive December 1992, we carried lengthy reports of munici- rights in Germany. (NB. M. Balladur, the French message: these Prime Minister, and M. Beregoroy, his predecessor, alleged monsters were, respectively, of Armenian and Ukrainian des­ were human, cent. As regards citizenship, Germany still operates after all - look ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING the jus sanguinis, the law of blood). at them turning In France the neo-Fascist vote has steadied up, in their Will be held on nationally at 12%. neatly pressed Thursday 10 June 1993, 7.30 p.m. In Germany, pace Hesse, it stands at 10%. Should uniforms, for an at we say vive la differenced Over fifty years ago France arts festival! produced Petain, Italy Mussolini and Germany Hitler. 15 CLEVE ROAD, LONDON NW6 3RL Should the That signified a difference! constraints of AGENDA The lesson of history surely is that, if Germany political Annual Report 1992 shows any signs of relapse, alarm bells should be rung. correctness not I happen to think it behoves AJR Information to be perhaps be Hon. Treasurer's Report Discussion among the bell ringers. I don't believe I am alone in extended from this. Words to images? Election of Executive Committee Nor do I believe that the term 'Information' in our On the other hand, Followed by a talk by Ralph Blumenau entitled 'The University of the 3rd Age'. masthead, devised under totally different conditions such an extension 1941, enjoins abstention from comment, i.e. might be inimical Refreshments will be served after the meeting. m anaemic objectivity, upon editors for all time. Any to the freedom of All questions for the Chair should be submitted to the Administrator at: editor worthy of that name would be too proud to be information, the 1 Hampstead Gate, 1a Frognal, London NWS 6AL a conduit of news without views. At the same time, basis of all true by 3rd June 1993. though, he must be humble enough to give space — and scholarships. D i i not only in the letters column - to contrary views. •H AJR INFORMATION JUNE 1993 Club 43 Profile SOth Anniversary Club 43 was founded in 1943 by mostly Jewish immigrants from the Continent The seven ages of women including scientists, artists, musicians, writers and others interested in cultural scription Department of Lange, Maxwell progress. The Club holds weekly lectures, of and Springer, the chrysalis of the emerging a high standard, on a large variety of Maxwell media empire. From 1956 she was subjects. These are followed by lively the Secretary of the London Office of the discussions. Leo Baeck Institute, giving sterling assist­ In its first year 15 founder members each ance to the late Robert Weltsch up to (and contributed an Essay to a book called In beyond) his emigration to Israel. Tyrannos. It was written in English to Her spare time activities revolved around demonstate to the English-speaking world the AJR Club where she worked closely that democratic, freedom loving tendencies with Margaret Jacoby. When Hannah have been alive in Germany since the 5th Karminski House opened its hospitable century. doors in the mid-sixties Peter Herz (of Blue During its 50 years of existence the Club Danube Club fame) apostrophised her as has been led by 7 different presidents. The die Seele des Hauses. A more tangible most successful was Hans Jaeger, who honour was the Federal Order of Merit — shaped the character of the club during his for refugee welfare work and services to 23 years of service (1952—1975). His great German-Jewish reconciliation — she knowledge of history and topical events Dora Segall. Photo: Newman. received from the German Ambassador in attracted up to 200 people at a time to his 1984. lectures. ne man in his time plays many By that date Dora had been a widow for Since 1945 many refugees have emigrated I parts, his acts being seven ages' eleven years. She has, however, a sizable to other countries or gone back to Ger­ wrote the Bard. He did not 'O family in America, and a 'substitute' many. But new members are still joining the know of Dora Segall whose acts exceed daughter - a Kindertransportee she helped Club, which continues in its old traditions Shakespeare's number in the same way that bring over - in the U.K. When I visited her at the Communal Hall, Belsize Square her age exceeds the biblical three-score-and- in her top floor flat I though I'd carry up the Synagogue, every Monday evening at ten; Dora will be ninety next year. mail stuffed into her letter box - but there 8pm. D Born into a liberal Berlin family she was so much that I had difficulty extracting showed an early penchant for the arts but it all. Cheering evidence, I concluded, that her practically-minded mother inisted that Dora keeps her many friendships in good AJR she train as a secretary. Thus equipped she repair. 'Fellowship is life'. Our new address is: ran the office of the German Playwrights' I HAMPSTEAD GATE, and Composers' Association in Weimar D R.G. IA FROGNAL, LONDON NW3 6AL. days. As a hobby she gave well-received poetry recitals, some of them over the radio. Our new phone number is: She met and married a Social Democrat journalist working for the German Broad­ 071-431 6161 casting Corporation. Our new Fax number is: In 1933 he was briefly imprisoned and she lost her job. Hereafter she worked for PARTNER 071-431 8454 the Reichsvertretung in various capacities; from 1937 she was delegated to tht JUdische in long established English Solicitors Frauenbund where she served under (bi-lingual German) would be happy Hannah Karminski, with whom she became to assist clients with English, German great friends. In 1939 the Segalls came to and Austrian problems. Contact John Denham London where he eventually headed the group of German Social Democrats in Henry Ebner Gallery Britain while Dora worked under the tute­ lage of Anna Schwab in the Welfare Depart­ at 50 Mill Lane, West Hampstead ment of the Jewish Refugee Committee. Myers Ebner & Deaner London NW6 1NJ 071-794 2635 Postwar she was Secretary of British Aid 103 Shepherds Bush Road for German Workers, liaising with such London W6 7LP I wish to purchase paintings Labour notables as Fenner Brockway, MP, and drawings by German, Austrian or British Artists, and Victor Gollancz. She also studied for a Telephone 071 602 4631 pre-war or earlier, also Social Science Diploma, which she gained in paintings of Jewish interest. 1947. ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN After the reorganisation of Bloomsbury House in 1949 Dora managed the Sub­ AJR INFORMATION JUNE 1993 Judged by any criterion other than victim brouhaha, and again when the end of Schtonk Inc numbers Nazism was worse than Commu­ Communism pushed refugees and economic nce again we have to say with Karl nism. The latter was a grandchild of the migrants westwards. Marx that when history repeats Enlightenment that had gone to the bad, i.e. Haider warned of swamping by Oitself it does so first as tragedy, and Stalin's means had vitiated Marx's ends.