AJR Information

Volume XLVII No. 11 November 1992

£3 (to non-members)

Don't miss . . . Postwar Germany's guilt of omission Schools in the shadow p3

Elsinore among The Fires of Rostock the grot p4

Compounded n any society, whether democratic or totalitarian, on the threadbare grounds that the capitalist sponsors guilt p7 'published' and public opinion can be out of sync. of Nazism had all absconded to the West. East Berlin I In this country, for instance, the death penalty likewise proclaimed its internationalism while ghet- would be back on the statute book if the 'people' toising darkskinned guest workers - 'Vietnamese, rather than 600-odd parliamentarians had their say. Mozambicans, etc — in segregated compounds. Perils of (To state this is not to denigrate the man in rhe street — East Germany resembled nothing so much as a publicity but to point out that the working of parliamentary prefabricated house built without a damp-course. democracy is based on the interaction between With no air - in the form of open debate about the avid Mellor pohtical elite and grassroots.) visibly present foreigners, or totally absent Jews - resembles If countries like Britain evince occasional diver­ circulating through the artificial edifice mildewed Dthe young gences between government policy and popular notions of unadulterated Germanness clung to the lady from Riga feeling, dictatorial regimes show huge gaps. Nowhere walls of its cellars. who went for a did such a gap yawn as wide - pace the events of the Whereas the DDR not only omitted to fundamen­ ride on a tiger. late Eighties — as in the ludicrously ill-named Peoples' tally eradicate the Nazi mindset, but re-inforced it by The particular Democracies. its own authoritarianism, West Germany underwent tiger he elected to (albeit limited) Denazification. Thousands of tainted ride during his rise Pretence of internationalism judges, civil servants and others, admittedly kept their to cabinet rank The DDR typified the gap better than most. Its official posts, but in the educational and artistic spheres was media media pronounced the country free of the Nazi taint profound questions about the roots of the 'German publicitv'; few will catastrophe' were raised and debated. forget his 'star turn' on television Instances of moral blindness news berating a Even here, of course, instances of moral blindness hapless Israeli occurred. Professor Nolte argued that the Holocaust officer in Gaza slotted into a normal pattern of 20th century atroci­ whose lack of ties, and Chancellor Kohl both laid wreaths at Bitburg English left him AJR Waffen SS cemetery and attended the reburial of unable to answer Frederick the Great at Potsdam. back. & Bonn also licensed extreme rightwing parties, Now Mellor has SELF AID provided they eschewed actual physical violence. provided a tasty Ever since the fall of the wall rightwing firebrands morsel for the 45TH from the West have been active in the East, where they same media he ANNUAL CHARITY CONCERT found plentv' of combustible material. Thanks to once deliberately November 8th, 1992 Communist mismanagement the economy is near- supplied with eye­ moribund; equally crucially, thanks to Communist catching copy. He Guest artists: authoritarianism, tolerance and cultural diversity are proved a less unknown concepts in the five new Lander. adroit tiger JOHN & KATHRYN LENEHAN - This is the background to Rostock. After that handler than PIANO DUO pogrom the Land Interior Minister of Pomerania said befitted - to he understood the frustration of the Rostockers who continue the Have you ordered your tickets? had applauded the neo-Nazi thugs. His comments zoological cannot be condemned too strongly. If the issue of the metaphor — a legal right to asylum is settled by 'the street' it will fatally Avoid queues in the interval by buying your coffee vouchers eagle puffed up damage the mechanism of interaction between politi­ before the concert from the desk in the foyer. with effortless cal elite and grassroots, which is at the heart of superiority. democracy. D AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Genuine fakes Profile A notebook from the forged Hitler diaries has been sold in Frankfurt to an anonymous buyer for about £19,000. Spiritual guide where he chaired the Jewish Refugee Com­ The Sunday Times serialised the fake mittee. That was in 1945. Three years later diaries after a German forger, Konrad he received a call to the prestigious West Kujau, sold a collection of 60 notebooks to London Synagogue, where he was to spend the German magazine Stern in 1983. nine years. During this period he also served on the Board of the AJR. Kujau was jailed for forgery. Since being freed he has opened a Stuttgart art gallery In 1957 Rabbi Cassell was offered the specialising in fakes. D position of Rabbi to the Reform Con­ gregation in Bulawayo, at that time in Rhodesia. He accepted the post instantly Mameloshen marches on because it presented a great challenge ('And As a practice, circumcision has long been then I had to go home and look it up in my familiar to non-Jews (and not just to any old atlas'). He stayed in Africa until his retire­ non-Jews, as Dr Snowman's attendance at ment in 1977, when he returned to London, Buckingham Palace in the 1950s testified). which he had come to love during his time As a word, though, bris is an exotic here. ('When I left Bulawayo they made me newcomer in English, liable to pop up in the a lifetime member of the Chevera Kadisha, most unexpected places; a recent opera the Burial Society'.) On his return to review referred to Delila's shearing of the London Rabbi Cassell rejoined the Board of sleeping Samson's locks as a bris. the AJR. He continues to take an active role Shmooze is a marginally longer estab­ in the community, as does his wife, Cecilia, lished 'anglicism', or at least anglo-america- who acts as a voluntary visitor. He is also nism. We hear from the States that a Barbra involved in research and writing on the Streisand benefit concert for Bill Clinton, to Rabbi Curtis Cassell Photo: Newman. history of the reform movement. be attended by a bevy of Democrat sup­ His most recent reminiscence concerned porters from Hollywood and Broadway, n first meeting Rabbi Curtis Cassell an invitation he received to attend an has been called 'the ultimate shmoozerama'. appears to be a very serious man. ecumenical memorial service in a Catholic Lastly, an out-and-out newcomer to the OHe speaks knowledgeably, and church in Frankfurt/Oder on the 50th COD: maven. When a Sunday broadsheet with gravitas, about a wide variety of anniversary of Kristallnacht. He was not described an Englishwoman appointed subjects. However, within a few minutes greatly moved by the usual speeches until editor of Vogue as 'New York's latest one finds oneself smiling, then laughing, one layman mentioned the 'kindly eyes' of a fashion maven' a columnist in the Indepen­ then scratching one's head and wondering if Jew he had known. From this description dent complained that neither he nor any of one is being teased. The serious mask is a Rabbi Cassell recognised one of his pre-war his colleagues knew what the word meant. mere cover, from under which an extremely congregants. He felt moved again when, at This complaint indicated how independent sharp wit operates. Sharp, but not cutting, the end of the ceremony, the presiding of - not to say cut off from - the Zeitgeist the Rabbi's humour is gentle and works clergyman turned to him and said: 'Please the Independent scribes are. Would any towards putting people at ease, rather than accept, on behalf of your people, our writer on film nowadays admit to ignorance on edge. confession of sin and regret. Please bless our of such terms as shmaltz or shlock} By the Curtis Cassell was born in Oppeln, Upper congregation'. This memory will remain same token how can anyone write knowled­ Silesia, the son of a wine merchant. ('We with him forever. geably about the fashion industry to whom were always a spiritual family' says the We extend our sincerest congratulations such insider-speak as shmutter or maven is rabbi, the first glimmer from beneath the to the Rabbi on his eightieth birthday this all Greek?! D cover). He obtained his rabbinical qualifica­ month and wish him and Mrs Cassell man)' tions at the Hochschule fiir die Wissen- more happy years together. schaft des Judentums in Berlin. In the years D /V1.N- 1936-39 he held the appointment of Rabbi JACKMAN • of Frankfurt/Oder. In August 1939 he 1 managed to obtain a visa for Australia, but THURLOW LODGE SILVERMAN never got there. He left Germany for and COMMERCLAL PROPERTY c:ONSULTANTS England, from where he was to fly by KLM HAMPSTEAD HOUSE airlines but, on the outbreak of war, KLM (Residential Homes) for the elderly and retired, situated in an ceased to accept holders of German exclusive part of Hampstead. Both homes passports. provide luxurious accommodation with In Britain Rabbi Cassell joined the Pio­ 24-hour nursing care in a homely neer Corps. He was to serve throughout the atmosphere. Strictly kosher cuisine. Long and short stays welcome. Many bedrooms war in the United Kingdom eventually have en-suite facilities. Moderate fees. becoming an interpreter in POW camps. For further information and brochure: Tel. 071 794 7305/071 435 5326. 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA After the war Curtis Cassell's first rabbi­ 11/12 Thurlow Road, Hampstead, Telephone: 071 409 0771 Fax: 071 493 8017 nical position was the leadership of the London NWS Progressive Congregation in Glasgow, AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

been carried out under threat and in the reminding her how she had captivated even Schools in the shadow social fringes now the object of such civic awkward pupils with her retelling of the tributes. Greek myths. Despite the outside adult Vera Lachmann had aimed at a rarified world, which had grown ever more threat­ academic career, but in 1933 she instead put ening, they had retained the fondest memor­ her talents to practical use and opened a ies of the rather chaotic, freewheeling but school for some of the Jewish children now creative institution. excluded from the public system. Sometimes the threats came pretty close. Ironically, next door to number 35 was the Familiar with Goethe residence of Heinrich Himmler. Beate Each of the five schools commemorated had remembers having daily to walk past the SS a quite different character. Some had been guard on the way to school. Sometimes a established as independent schools long football went over the fence into Himmler's before the Nazis but in 1933 all the Aryan garden, which the guards always threw pupils had to leave. Since Jewish emancipa­ back. Nearly as bad was an old peoples tion and the social integration there had home which backed on the garden. Its been a steady decline in enrolment at Jewish antisemitic residents made remarks like schools. The Nazis changed that and 1937 'Jewish children should not make so much saw the peak number of children in Jewish noise' when playtime shouts disturbed schools. Vera's pupils were mainly from them. assimilated backgrounds, more familiar with Goethe than the Gommorrah. As she Escape through Sweden later said in an interview '. . . Um etwas zu The school was under constant danger of Vera L.i, (442 Photo Private. tun and auch, well es dringend notig war, being shut down. Though barely five foot sammelten wir verlorene Kinder von der Vera had a formidably strong will. On n June my aunt Beate Planskoy travelled Strasse auf and fingen eine Schule an\ several occasions she dared confront the to Berlin on her first visit since she left on authorities. But eventually the Gestapo I a Kindertransport in 1939. Fifty-three Extraordinary institution moved in at the end of 1938. Vera spent the years is a long time and Beate never thought From all accounts the Lachmann Schule fiir next few months working in the Jewish she would return, but she had been talked nicht-Arische Kinder was an extraordinary emigration headquarters helping some of into it by the persuasive curator of Berlin's institution. It was situated in a rambling old 'her' children to leave. Finally at the end of Wilmersdorf Museum. chauffeur's house, provided by a cousin. 1939, when the war had begun, she could Three months earlier the museum had The staff were far more high powered than do no more and managed to escape through opened the exhibition Hier is kein Bleiben in any normal school, teaching drama, Sweden. Idnger, (after the words of Nelly Sachs), storytelling, languages to the highest By the time I knew her, much later, she dedicated to the achievements of 5 Jewish standards, and staging plays or Mozart was following her original course as a women who had run schools for Jewish operas. Vera's own leadership was inspira­ classics professor in New York. Yet she had children during the 1930s. One of them. tional, though her financial and practical derived such pleasure and purpose from the Vera Lachmann, was Beate's aunt, and skills were non-existent. Only pupils who school that she had carried it on in another from 1936 Beate had attended the school as could afford it had to pay fees, and only form. For 26 years she ran a boys' summer its youngest pupil. staff who needed it were given salaries. camp in a primitive site in the Blue Ridge The museum authorities have travelled Everyone who could supplied their own mountains, North Carolina. It specialised in the world to collect photographs, stories, chair. During periodic financial crises music and arts and there was the same momentoes of the five schools. They organ­ Vera's uncle Max Warburg came to bale her slightly crazy, happy-go-lucky atmosphere. ised a programme of seminars and lectures out. We visited the museum exhibition with a oy former pupils, held in the museum and For the pupils it was an inspiration. Years sense of relief to know that Vera had Walking tours of the beautiful Grunewald later, scattered throughout the world, they managed to leave. Until nearly the end she district, where the schools were located. It wrote to her citing happy memories of their believed that it was better to stay in her ^as strange to see this activity which had time at the school at 35 Jagowstrasse, and beloved Germany and oppose because the

--53** Jw^V-^ .«P.^S*.^'fr.?^i&. rt^^f^i bad times would pass. A fellow teacher who attended the exhibition recalled vivid rows where she argued this point with him. Two LANDAU, BAKER & CO of the other women featured in the exhibi­ Chartered Accountants tion did nor get out. Vera never came to Registered Auditors terms with what happened. D Suzanne Franks Albany House, 324/326 Regent Street, London WIR 5AA Company Audits, Individuals and Partnership Accounts and Taxation GOLDMAN Wages; Acquisitions Systems Curtains made to measure. and other specialist work Select material in your own home. Initial free consultation. Competitive Fees. Rail, blinds supplied and fitted. Telephone: 071 636 2727 Fax: 071 436 0727 Telephone: 081-205 9232 'M

AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Reviews

As for the ghost, he shuffles into view like Party in exile) they returned to the Eastern Elsinore among the a vagrant escaped from the set of The Last Zone of Germany in 1947. Gerhard grot of the Summer Wine. worked in journalism till the 1950s purge of All in all, the cast appear in the ill- suspect returnees from the West pushed him HAMLET by William Shakespeare, Riverside matched melange of costumes - from court­ into the politically less sensitive area of studios, Hammersmidi, and touring iers' togas, through Lanzknecht jerkins to industrial management; Alice became a Edwardian tailcoats — by which contempor­ social work administrator. Thy can't we have a Jewish ary directors advertise the 'timelessness' of They were around 70 when the DDR, Hamlet?' Frances de la Tour the play they're staging. which they had helped to build, collapsed. 'Wicomplaine d in an interview in The stage-set rounds off the generally This would have been a shock to the system the 1980's. I sympathised. After all, the 'deconstructed' look of the production: for people half their age; the Zadeks rode Danish prince had a penchant for friends mounds of sand, bits of wood, a disarray of with the punch and wrote their joint named Rosencrantz or Guildenstern. (As, books, a rainwater barrel, scattered leaves, autobiography. incidentally, did other Royals: Edward the the odd dustbin. Is this Brecht's ghost crying I read it with decidedly mixed feelings. Seventh chummed up with Ernst Cassell, Verfremdung from beyond the grave? Or On the one hand there are poignant evoca­ and Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf with the 'politically correct' revelation of the grot tions of the Alexanderplatz seen through a beneath the feudal glitter? Moritz Szeps). child's eyes, of the Grenadierstrasse, and of 'And why can't we have an 18 stone Brecht, the greater debunker of power Jewish family life ('Papa, who was Rosa Hamlet?' continued de la Tour, obviously holders ('General Tilly won a battle and Luxemburg?' 'A Polish Jewess who made a thinking of her (then) husband Toni Kem­ Mother Courage lost three shirts'), would lot of rishes for us German Jews'). pinski. At this point she forfeited my have applauded the final scene where For- Stressing roots support. I can, if pressed, accept a slim tinbras of Norway, a jerkin-clad lager lout, female Hamlet (Frances de la Tour herself), struts to centre stage and divests himself of On the other, 'political correctness' d la his Doc Martens which a frockcoated or even a septuagenarian female Hamlet DDR keeps rearing its ugly head. The Danish courtier gingerly deposits in the with a wooden leg (Sarah Bernhardt) — but Zadeks stress their working class roots in wings. The rest is silence. not an overweight Sumo-wrestling one. contrast to the bourgeois origins of such Nor, for that mattter, an over-age male. Postscript Frances de la Tour asked 'Why returnees as Brecht and Stefan Heym; can't we have a Jewish Hamlet?' Pre- Zionism is depicted as an instrument of Perverse casting Anschluss Vienna actually had one: Hans British Imperial 'divide and rule' policy; Jaray at the Deutsche Volkstheater. I, who Alice writes apropos of Manchester's VE Shakespeare's gloomy Dane long prefigured saw Jaray's Hamlet, somehow doubt that Day celebrations 'Little did the revellers Freud's discovery of the Oedipus complex, I'll remember Rickman's for as long. know that British soldiers would still be being both a would-be parricide of his D R.G. stationed in Germany years hence'. But substitute father Claudius and repressed what I found really insupportable was wooer of his mother Gertrude. In a play Gerhard's post-Unification comment that shot through with Oedipal feeling it there­ Half-learnt lessons the coming of democracy to East Germany fore seems perverse to cast a Hamlet - Alan went, as if by design, hand in hand with Rickman - old enough to be Ophelia's Alice und Gerhard Zadek MIT DEM LETZTEN increased neo-Nazi activity. (Julia Forbes) father. Equally crucially, ZUG NACH ENGLAND Dietz Verlag, Berlin Proto-Nazis are, alas, found in every Rickman, an unrivalled impersonator of 1992 European country, but they surely stand less icily detached villains {Liaisons Danger- of a chance in a setting of unfettered debate euses. Bob Roberts), fails to carry convic­ his is a book in which a husband and than in one where the Jewish 'problem' gets tion as the near-desperate potential avenger. wife take turns in telling their story. swept under the carpet. He gives the line 'O, from this time forth/ The spouses had a lot in common T D Richard Grunberger My thoughts be bloody or be nothing even before marriage: Jewishness, birth in worth' a dying cadence as if - contrary to post-Great War Berlin, working class back­ the thrust of the plot - he had already ground and early political awareness. The PARTNER inwardly opted for the second alternative. rise of Nazism intensified both their left- in long established English Solicitors By contrast, elsewhere we find Hamlet on wing leanings and Jewish consciousness. (bi-lingual German) would be happy to all fours hurling saliva-flecked abuse at the They had to attend Jewish schools and assist clients with English, German and similarly prostrate queen (Geraldine Gerhard went on hachschara; ultimately Austrian problems. Contact McEwan), but even this climactic closet though, in wartime Britain they decided scene generates more heat than light. that their future lay in a - hopefully Social­ Henry Ebner Rickman has not only been ill-served by ist - post-war Germany. One person who, at his director Robert Sturna but also by the more than any other, influenced this Myers Ebner & Deaner 103 Shepherds Bush Road costume designer. Granted that as a student decision was Herbert Baum, charismatic London W6 7LP Hamlet may conceivably have purchased organiser of an illegal Jewish anti-Nazi cell Telephone 071 602 4631 the odd cast-off at Wittenberg's equivalent liquidated by the Gestapo. of an Oxfam shop, but here his entire Having married in Manchester (where ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN wardrobe consists of shmutters. they also joined the German Communist AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

What, moreover, Howe queried, has all Archway area. (It, too, has been devoured Black Streicher that to do with Jews? Jeffries riposted that by time and a road-widening scheme.) The they, (and the Mafia), controlled Holly­ threesome were a handful for this utterly n early September Channel Four's Devil's wood, and made films denigrating the conventional Englishwoman, but they made Advocate programme directed a search­ Blacks. Challenged on the AIDS allegations a go of it and were quite happy, Laura I light onto the phenomenon of Black the professor sidestepped the question by helping in the shop when Miss Harder was antisemitism in the U.S.A. and the attempt stating . . . that U.S. Negroes had been de­ fighting to keep afloat in the wartime to spread it to this country. liberately infected with syphilis in an ex­ economy. Yet fate struck once more when Devil's Advocate was conducted by the periment in the 1920s. The Jewish involve­ Miss Harder died in the nearby Whittington redoubtable Darcus Howe, himself black, ment in this was not mentioned. hospital and the girls were cast adrift again. who subjected Leonard Jeffries to relentless Interestingly, Dr Jeffries was over here as But they did not despair. Laura became questioning. part of the 'Sun people's' protest against the 'Annie the maid', and had one or two Dr Jeffries is a black professor (currently Columbus celebrations; in other words employers who could have graced a Dickens suspended from City College, New York) Black antisemites load on us the transgres­ novel, and eventually she joined the ATS. who alleges ludicrous pseudo-grievances sions of Ferdinand and Isabella, who Quite surprisingly she does not once com­ against the only community which has expelled the Jews from Spain but employed plain about her life in the Forces; she never persecuted his. On the contrary, Columbus. enjoyed it and made friends. young U.S. Jews have even sacrificed their n John Rossall Her other qualities are a sense of humour lives for Black civil rights. In fact, real neo- and a large degree of selfknowledge. These Nazis accuse the Jews of having shipped the help to keep the book interesting and Negroes to the States and Britain. Out of From KuDamm to readable. this murky brew the black antisemites have D J.R. distilled the charge that Jews conducted the Archway slave trade and that they also participated in a conspiracy to infect Africans and Afro- Laura Selo, THREE LIVES IN TRANSIT, Righteous gentile Excalibur, 1992, £6.95 migrants with AIDS. (These canards can probably be traced back to the Blacks' WHO SINGS THE HERO? BBC Radio 4, sympathies with Islam and hostility towards he three Gumpel girls were the issue 16.9.92 Israel.) of one of those happy and prosperous Jewish families who were torn apart Darcus Howe tried to make Dr Jeffries T his programme celebrated the deeds by the events which eventually shattered explain why a man of his standing could go of a Dutchwoman, Gertrude Wijs- Europe. The author is very aware of often to such lengths of Afro-Centrism as to muller, who defied Adolf Eichmann having reached and retained safety by the T propound theories of 'Ice People' — whites to save the lives of hundreds of Jewish merest chance. who, driven by Ice Age chill, stand for children. domination, destruction and death — and On the kindertransport to Britain the The tribute combined dramatised epi­ 'Sun People' who have the opposite values three sisters wanted to stay together, but sodes, with the characters portrayed by communalism, co-operation and who would take in three foreign children? actors, with the evidence of Richard Grun­ Such an angel materialised for Laura, Lilo collectivity. berger, one of the children rescued from and Romi in the solid and seemingly Vienna. commonplace shape of a sUghtly dowdy The mood of the playlets was set by spinster running a tiny tobacco shop in the CLUB 1943 Richard Tauber singing of a happier Anglo-German Cultural Forum Vienna, an ironical counterpoint to the Meetings on Mondays at 8 p.m. events portrayed. at the Communal Hall FOR THOSE YOU CARE MOST ABOUT The reasons for Gertrude Wijsmuller's Belsize Square Synagogue interest in the fate of Vienna's Jewish 51 Belsize Square children was not made very clear; suffice it London NW3 Springdene to say that she cared for them sufficiently to Nov. 2nd Alan Freeman. A modern nursing home with walk straight into the midst of post An­ German Reunification and its Consequences. 26 yrs of excellence in health schluss Austria in 1938 and confront Eich­ care to the community. Nov. 9di Dr Carol Diethe. Licensed by Barnet area health mann himself. Thoughts on the Death of Wedekind's Lulu. authority and recognised by Villains, alas, always get the best parts in This is what happens to bad girls. BUPA & PPP. plays. Jonathan Tafler made the criminal Nov. 16th David M. Jacobs. HYDROTHERAPY & The Jewish Community of France. PHYSIOTHERAPY seem almost acceptable. But then that was Nov. 23rd Roland Hobsbaum. cares provided by full time chartered the real Eichmann's game. He fooled Ger­ physiotherapists for inpatients The Economy of Japan. and outpatients. trude, who later said that she had felt a Nov. 30th Walter Lewis. smidgeon of redemption in him at the time. Walter Rathenau. His Assassination 70 SPRINGDENE 55 Oakleigh Park North, Whetstone, years ago. London N.20 The broadcast, although well-inten­ Dec. 7th. No Lecture. 081-446 2117 tioned, had several defects. Some of the Dec. 14th. P. E. N. Lesebiihne Tamara SPRINGVIEW 6-10 Crescent Road, Enfield. Our factual data were incorrect; more crucially, completely new purpose built hotel style retirement Wyss. home. All rooms with bathroom en-suite from £305 a humorous interlude was both ill-chosen Shows a Video film made recently in Berlin: per week. 081-446 2117. and rendered in inappropriate East End 'Searching for Mr Moses' (Moses Mendelssohn). accents. D J.R AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Dictionary' (which refers to it as of U.S. origin) it dates back to at least 1880! I may add that the 1964 edition of the COD lists the verb, 'acculturate'. GreW//e Place A. Fainberg FIL FRSA A BALLOT-PROOF FUTURE? A biography of Heisenberg, Uncertainty, London NW6 At Mr Blumenau's request we reprint by David Cassidy, published in 1945, excerpts from previous correspondence, quotes Weizacher, one of the scientists CHERCHEZ LA FEMME followed by his rebuttal: involved, as saying 'I believe the reason we Sir - My father owned the house in didn't do it is because all the physicists Hamburg where Emmy Sonnemann's father Sir - When you list a number of present and didn't want to do it, on principle. If we had was the porter. My late mother knew her past MPs who harbour 'anti-Jewish or wanted Germany to win the war we would quite well, and I can confirm that she was {antisemitically tinged) anti-Israeli senti­ have succeeded'. Heisenberg is quoted as helpful to Jewish people. ments' you do not make clear which you making statements similar in intent. Cassidy Fulham Road H. H. Marcus remarks that there is no evidence to support consider to be anti-Jewish, and which anti- London SW7 Israeli, conveying the impression that you these claims. It would be interesting to don't think the distinction really matters. know whether time has clarified these VERSE AND WORSE The tendency of some Jews, especially in issues. Sir - Re Dr Casey: It is one thing to satirise representative positions, to be careless Dr T. L Lukes Philpot Street your own but quite another to be tactless about this distinction may create the very London Wl 2DP antisemitism of which they complain. where others are concerned. Harcourt Drive Arnold Rosenstrauch Ralph Blumenau Sir — Whilst it is true that many German Earley, Reading women were absolutely crazy about Hitler, Winifred Wagner can hardly be counted as The Jewish community has to face up to LYING THROUGH GOLD TEETH rising antisemitism. Ralph Blumenau thinks one of them. A German national by mar­ Sir — The publication of the Goebbels British Jews must support MPs who criticise riage, she was nevertheless an English­ Israeli actions to prove their loyalty to the woman by birth. Like her compatriot Unity Diaries in Der Spiegel could not, in fairness United Kingdom. The debate between Zio­ Mitford, she was one of Hitler's most be termed 'giving the evil Doktor a sound­ nists and anti-Israeli Jews reminds me of ardent foreign admirers. ing board'. Describing the sinister machi­ 1937/38 debates in Vienna between the Eost Hill Ruth Willers nations surrounding the publication in the 'Unionists' (assimilationists) and the Wembley Park, Middx Sunday Times and Daily Mail, Der Spiegel Zionists. used scathing criticism. The very context in which it published extracts, with telling Hawkshead Lane Henry Toch DISADVANTAGED GROUP photos and 'soundbites' describing the Hatfield, Herts Sir - As a 'Kind' who arrived in Harwich in unspeakable character of the man puts Der December, 1938, with 10 Marks in his Spiegel firmly on the side of the righteous. Sir - Mr Toch's letter libellously distorts pockets, may I make the following Temple Fortune Hill Dr F. Shelton mine pubHshed in July. By no stretch of comment: London NWl I legitimate interpretation can one deduce I do not think any legitimate job is from my letter that 'British Jews must degrading if no 'better' job is available. This AJR BOUQUET support M.P.s who criticise Israeli actions applied particularly in our situation as Sirs - You have done a wonderful job for to prove their loyalty to the United newcomers with a poor command of the my sister and I am so happy that during the Kingdom'. I think no such thing. I did say English language in times of unemploy­ remaining years left to her she will be cared that Jews should not automatically label all ment. After Lowestoft, the Salvation Army for. I have just rung the home and have been critics of Israel as anti-Semites. They should in Harwich, and Dovercourt, someone told that she has settled in well. avoid this knee-jerk reaction not to prove found a factory job for me in Lambeth. I their loyalty to the United Kingdom, but was 16 and my pay was 14/6 per week. I Anyone from your organisation who because it is intellectually sloppy, emotion­ didn't particularly Hke it; indeed, I hated it. wants to come to Zimbabwe for a holiday is ally paranoid, and therefore politically But I was clear-sighted enough, even then, very welcome to stay at my daughter's counter-productive. Of course all Jews have to understand that it was better than no job place, she runs a business with accommo­ to combat genuine anti-Semitism. In that at all. To this day I am grateful to that firm. dation, without charge. cause I am united even with Mr Toch. I just Watts & Sons, for employing me when jobs Garden Park Trust Mrs G.H. wish he didn't wage that battle with were as scarce as hen's teeth. Bulawayo crooked weapons. Canberra, ACT Bern Brent Kensington Park Road Ralph Blumenau Australia London Wl I Eric T. Brueck LINGUAPHONIES Metropolis Antiquarian Books Sir — Mr K. L. Orpen should have been in is moving to APPORTIONING GUILT less of a hurry to display his ignorance. L^erbachstr. 85 Sir - Your August Editorial raises the 'Acculturation' is a perfectly acceptable 6000 Frankfurt a/M I Germany question of whether Heisenberg and other term in current use and can hardly be Tel: 01049 69 55945! German scientists deliberately chose not to described as a neologism since, according Tel: 01049 69 745919 (Private) develop the atomic bomb. to 'A Supplement to the Oxford English AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Compounded guilt Multi-issue group

he German language teems with com­ pound nouns such as Kriegsschuld- Tliige or Vergangenheitsbewdltigung, which English-speakers find difficult to disentangle, never mind understand. Kriegs- schuldliige, war guilt lie, encapsulated right- wing feeling about (a clause in) the Ver­ sailles Treaty which held Germany responsible for the outbreak of World War One. Vergangenheitsbewdltigung, over­ coming the past, is the duty incumbent upon post-World War Two Germans to probe their nation's complicity in Nazi crimes.

Treading a fine line Just as in Britain accountants know how to tread a fine line between tax avoidance and tax evasion, so opinion moulders in Ger­ man-speaking countries have perfected Just a few of those attending the ACJR AGM. Photo: Neufman. merely-going-through-the-motions of Ver­ he Association of Children of Jewish absence to any other business, took only 35 gangenheitsbewdltigung into a fine art Refugees (ACJR) convened on minutes and was followed by a grand buffet form. The crudest variant of this was Sunday 20 September at the Survi­ supper, which lasted a great deal longer. practised in the old DDR; it said that since T vor's Centre, Hendon, for its seventh Because most of those present have Fascism resulted from capitalism, and capi- Annual General Meeting. The meeting was similar backgrounds and many experiences taUsm had been abolished on their side of well attended and, all-in-all, a rather up­ in common it is not surprising that the the Wall, the sole guilt for the Nazi past beat occasion. general atmosphere was warm and easygo­ rested on the Bundesrepublik. Official business was conducted with ing. Within ten minutes of arriving, a total In West Germany a prime example of despatch, and the news was mostly good: stranger could find himself involved in deliberately aborted Vergangenheitsbewdl­ membership is up on last year and the conversations which can range from the tigung was Hans Jiirgen Syberberg's Hitler Treasurer was able to announce that the problems of producing a perfect chocolate film made in 1977. Syberberg intended the group's finances had been sufficiently in the mousse to photography via the implications exact opposite of Claude Lanzmann's aim black to allow a £181 donation to Heinrich of privatising the Department of the in Shoa, which was to focus on the all-too- Stahl House, with a similar sum being Environment's library section and the willing human cog-wheels in the Nazi death earmarked for another charitable donation advertising of Guinness products. This is no machine. Syberberg's Wagner-style 7-hour in the near future. 'one issue' group. epic Hitler—A Tale from Germany 'vapour- The election of the committee followed. The ACJR can also boast a lively calendar ised' the thousands, who unquestioningly The candidates — Chairperson Linda Stern, of events which includes cinema and theatre implemented the Final Solution, by the Vice-chair Anne Salinger, Treasurer Ian outings, nature rambles, weekends away simple device of loading all the guilt on one Rosmarin, Administrative Secretary Rachel and Seder Night services. Advance notices man, the Fiihrer. Benedyk, Membership Secretary Naomi of all these events appear in the organisa­ Austrian analogy Fletcher, and members Juliet Buckner, tion's regular newsletter. If you wish to find David Cronheim, Pauline Levis, Jackie out more about the ACJR please write to Austria produced an analogous phenom­ Mansbach, David Selo and Malcolm Box No. 1227, AJR, 9 Adamson Road, enon. In a history school textbook pub­ Waldwere — were elected unopposed. Swiss Cottage, NW3 3HX. lished in 1982 the author Dr Tscherne The whole AGM, from apologies for D M.N. wrote: 'Following the National Socialist takeover dered in gas-chambers and then burnt'. Technical 'expert* triggers of power Jews were excluded from the This account neither travesties nor triv- legal proceedings Volksgemeinschaft. After the assassination ialises the truth. And yet: 'there occurred' of a German diplomat in Paris by a Jew . . . 'man schritt' . . . 'were transported'. . . there occurred the destruction of Jewish 'were murdered', etc are all impersonal, or The Vienna Jewish Community has started shops and many synagogues. During the passive voice, formulations which conceal court proceedings against the journalist War one proceeded (schritt man) to mass as much as they reveal about the Holocaust. Richard Nimmerrichter of the mass circula­ executions of Jews in Poland and occupied What they conceal is the existence, never tion Kronen-Zeitung. The columnist con­ Russia. In 1941 the Final Solution of the mind the identity, of the thousands of travened the recent Austrian law against Jewish Question was ordered: in all Ger- willing intermediaries — civil servants, Holocaust denial by his statement of 10 Tian-occupied territories the Jews were poHcemen, soldiers, railwaymen et al - May 1992 that 'relatively few Jews were arrested and transported to camps. The who wrought the will of the 'one' upon the gassed at Auschwitz - since the murder of camp at Auschwitz became the epitome of six million. so many people with gas is technically die killing grounds where Jews were mur- n Richard Grunberger simply not feasible'. D AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Tripping the light fantastic

Veteran waltzers (left) and beginners alike can benefit from expert tuition (right). Photos: Newman.

t is time to cast off those dowdy feathers the ladies' enthusiasm for the terpsichorean and display your twinkling toes at the arts far outweighs that of the gentlemen. I Paul Balint AJR Day Centre as the new Yes, the men are outnumbered. This is not twice-monthly dance classes get into full to say that there are not enough to go glide around the centre the years can be seen swing. Every other Thursday afternoon the round, they are simply more shy about slipping away. centre grooves to the music of Joe Loss, letting themselves go on the dance floor. Victor Sylvester and many other great dance Some, however, do manage to cast off their It isn't all nostalgia though. When the band sounds. inhibitions and shake their collective boo­ well versed dancers have had a warm-up The only problem at the moment is that ties. The effect is almost magical. As couples waltz, the floor is opened up to those who wish to learn new steps. Professional dance teacher Lynn Musik is on hand to explain the finer points of the Rumba to first-timers Dynamic duo more Hall. She has just made her first CD recording with the clarinettist Fiona Cross and the secrets of the perfect paso doble to he guest artists at this year's Annual for the Meridian label. those who wish to brush up rusty routines. Charity Concert are John and Kath­ The duo will be performing works by The dance class is just one of the new ryn Lenehan. This husband and wife Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Schubert, activities on offer during the extended hours T at the day centre. It is part of the enjoyment duo was established in 1985 when they Rachmaninov, Ravel, and one specially com­ were awarded first prize in the Royal missioned piece by Barrington Pheloung. to provide self-entertainment which involves Overseas League competition and made a Mr Pheloung is also possessed of an a high level of audience participation from highly acclaimed debut at the South Bank impressive set of credentials. Born in Aus­ members. The upcoming fashion show is a Centre. As well as being one half of a duo tralia, in 1954, he won a place on the further example of how day centre members each has an excellent record as an accom­ International Course for Professional Com­ look to themselves for witty ways to make plished solo performer. posers and Choreographers at Surrey full use of the facilities at their disposal. John Lenehan is well known in his own University in 1977. Since then he has In the meantime anyone who wishes to right as a chamber music pianist and written 48 commissioned pieces for ballet learn the Lambada should shimmy down to performs regularly in recital and on tele- and dance companies in Britain and Europe. Cleve Road where a warm reception awaits vison with many of the country's finest In 1979 he was appointed Musical any aspiring Astaires. U MN. musicians. He also composes and arranges Advisor to the London Contemporary music for silent films and, as director of Dance Theatre and toured up until 1990 as DDDDnnnnnnnnnnnc; 'Sound for Silents', has performed his its Principal Conductor. ° FASHION SHOW • soundtracks to great critical acclaim both in Since 1985 he has composed music for • What are they wearing in the Paris p the UK and abroad. the TV series Inspector Morse and Boon • basin this year? Find out at the Paul • Kathryn Lenehan's career has taken her and the documentary series Red Empire. D Balint AJR Day Centre on: • to AustraUa, Switzerland and Canada. Since The piece Mr Pheloung has composed for D • her 1983 solo debut she has been in this concert holds special meaning for those |--| Sunday 29 November - Q increasing demand, she has broadcast for attending the concert as he had tried to • 3.30-4.30 p.m. • BBC Radio 3 and ABC (Austraha), relate the music to the refugee experience. n "T ^ AC D appeared at the Aldeburgh prom concerts, How he will choose to represent this Tea - 2.45 p.m. p-, the Harrogate and Brighton International experience in musical form is yet to be seen, |--| Supper 5.45 p.m. p Festivals and given numerous performances or heard, but whatever the outcome it is Q Entrance £2.50 (Ticket only) p at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wig- sure to be very interesting. D nnnnnnnnnnnnnnDD 8 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Talking shop MEALS ON WHEELS

WE ARE NOW ABLE TO OFFER A LIMITED DELIVERY OF MEALS ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TO MEMBERS LIVING IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

Criclclewood West Hampstead/Finchley Road Hampstead Golders Green Finchley Edgware Stanmore Harrow

Some members of the discussion group preparing for the afternoon's debate. Photo: Newman. The cost for a kosher 3 course meal is £2.00. Delivery charge 50p. Payment new discussion group has been Political issues, economics and cultural for meals to be made to the Driver. added to the Paul Balint AJR Day problems are frequently mooted and, as is ACentre menu of activities. The sometimes the case with such 'loaded' Meals can still be collected from regular meetings of the group are led by Mr subjects, discussion often becomes heated. 15 Cleve Road on weekdays «l Rolf Weinberg, a tenant at Cleve Road. The The talks provide great enjoyment for the (Mondays - Thursdays) for £2.00 response has been very healthy and the participants. Not only are they informative, per meal. 1 sessions are proving extremely lively. but the cut-and-thrust of intellectual debate Members who feel they may The subject under debate varies from can be a real tonic. There is a great deal qualify for delivery because of week to week, with topicality as the main more to keeping fit than simply taking mobility problems, or other criteria. Initially the group is asked to exercise; keeping mentally fit is important reasons, should contact Mrs Ruth nominate a topic for discussion; if there is too. Finestone for further details and any disagreement about the viability of the If you would like to join in the great an assessment interview on: subject the Chair makes a choice on behalf debate contact Bobbi Spencer on: 071-328 071 328 0208 of the group. 0208. n

PAUL BALINT AJR Sunday 8 AJR CONCERT At Queen Sunday 22 Take a Quick-Step Back in Elizabeth Hail. The Day Time with Geoffrey Strum DAY CENTRE Centre will be open (Tenor) accompanied by Monday 9 A Feast of Nostalgia vrith Johnny Walton (Piano) 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL Alan Kane Monday 23 Four Strings Each - Light lei 071 328 0208 Tuesday 10 The Two Rs Cabaret - Classical Entertainment Richard Moody m with Lucy White & Juliet J • accompanied by Robert -^ Davey Open Tuesday and Thursday 9.30 a.m.- w Douglas (Piano) Tuesday 24 Recital by Young 7 p.m., Monday and Wednesday 9.30 a.m.- Wednesday 11 Gerard Tichauer Musicians of the Purcell 2.30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Entertains at the Piano School Thursday 12 AJR SINGERS - Wednesday 25 Ex-Directory Variety Group Morning Activities - Bridge, kalookie, Conducted by Angela Thursday 26 CANADIENNES COULfi scrabble, chess, etc., keep fit, discussion Arratoon accompanied by - Diana Sharpe (Soprano) group, choir (Mondays), art class {Tuesdays Gerard Tichauer (Piano) and Allyson Devenish and Thursdays). Sunday IS Love Unspoken - (Piano) Favourite Arias & Duets - Sunday 29 FASHION SHOW - Lianne-Marie Skriniar J| Presented by Marcia Afternoon entertainntent - m (Soprano), Sean Sweeney • • m ^^ Sheeter accompanied by •i^B' (Baritone) accompanied || IHI^ Valerie Hewitt (Piano) NOVEMBER I^^^^K by Kevin Bashford ' ^^^B (Ticket only) • Sunday I Musical Quiz - Presented (Piano) Monday 30 Light Classical Music - by Dennis Snowman Monday 16 Eddy Simmons Sings & m Tessa Newman (Piano) & Monday 2 Melody Hour - David Entertains with Gerald ^ Isbael Barry (Soprano) 5 • Jedwab (Tenor) Benson at the Piano ll 0 accompanied by Mabel Tuesday 17 Jack Davidoff & DECEMBER Witztum (Piano) JulesReubin Entertain on Tuesday 1 Duo Kinnor - a pot pourri Tuesday 3 Four Strings Each - Light Viohn & Piano of music. Madeleine Classical Entertainment Wednesday 18 A Feast of Songs - Terri Whitelaw and David with Violin & Piano - Thomas (Soprano) Richmond Lucy White 8c Madeleine accompanied by Lynda Wednesday 2 Take a Quick-Step Back in Whitelaw Ang (Piano) J IHi Time with Geoffrey Strum Wednesday 4 Trinity College of Music - Thursday 19 Songs & Arias - John " and Johnny Walton Light Classical Music Freeman (Bass) and Helen Thursday 3 Trinity College of Music - D Thursday 5 Sue Parker At The Piano Blake (Soprano & Piano) Light Classical Music ^^m nD "J AjR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

FAMILY EVENTS Companion/Carers Miscellaneous Birthday Hove. Lady, 70s, offers temporary Electrician City and Guilds quali­ 'SHIREHALL' Landau Professor Hans Landau accommodation in her flat, reduced fied. All domestic work undertaken Licensed by the Borough of Barnet rent for some help/companionship. Y. Steinreich. Tel: 081-455 5262. Home for the elderly, convalescent celebrated his 100th birthday on 27 Box No. 1223. Manicure and pedicure in the com­ and incapacitated October. Congratulations from his Live in housekeeper/companion fort of your own home. Telephone: * Single rooms comfortably appointed wife, daughter-in-law and required by elderly lady. Light 081-455 7582. * 24-hour care attendance grandchildren. * Excellent cuisine duties. Would suit early retired pen­ Ladies alteration work. For quick, * Long or short-term stay sioner. Kensington area. Box No. accurate, reliable service phone: Deaths Telephone Barker Claire Barker has died 1225. 081-455 0168. (German spoken) Matron 081-202 7411 or after a short illness on 20 Sep­ Can anyone help with the loan of a Administrator 078 42 52056 Seeking Friendship catwalk for a fashion show at the tember. Much missed by husband Cultured lady seeks friendship with 93 Shirehall Park, Kurt and daughter Sue. Paul Balint AJR Day Centre? Please Hendon NW4 lively, intelligent gentleman or lady phone 081-958 5080. (near Brent Cross) Freund Susanne Freund (Jerusa­ 69—77, n/s, diverse interests. Box lem) passed away on 24 September, To let, near Edgware Station and No. 1224. shops, bed-sitting room and kitchen 1992, after a long illness. Deeply Male partner wanted for concerts mourned by her uncle and aunt in centrally heated house. Would ADVERTISEMENT and outings, holidays abroad, going suit mature lady. Modest rent for Werner and Hilde Georke (Leeds) Dutch, by attractive, petite divorcee RATES and all her friends. suitable applicant. Box 1228 50's, financially secure in business. Flat wanted. Two bedroom flat in FAMILY EVENTS Graetz-Jacoby Johanna Graetz- Box No. 1226. First 15 words free of charge, Jacoby (Mother of Marianne Fried, N.W.5 required for young family £2.00 per 5 words thereafter Basel) died, aged 98, on 22 Sep­ (one child). Max rent £500 p.cm. CLASSIFIED Box No. 1229. tember 1992. Sadly missed by her SEEKING FRIENDSHIP £2.00 per five words. I am working on the oeuvre cata­ family. BOX NUMBERS Reichsthaler Melanie Reichs- Are you looking for congenial logue of my father, the painter £3.00 extra. company in your area, or a Anton Kerschbaumer. I am anxious thaler, nee Ullmann, born Vienna DISPLAY, INCLUDING SEARCH 1899, died on 27 September after a new penfrJend with shared to trace the whereabouts of two NOTICES short illness. Remembered by her interests? Why not advertise persons, both of whom I know per single column inch friends and cousin Trude Levi. in AdR Information? owned paintings by my father. Sieg­ 16 ems (3 columns per page) £8.00 fried Roos, Banker, moved to Zur­ 12 ems (4 columns per page) £7.00 Reis Ruth Reis, nee Kronheimer, Phone: 071-483 2536 and born in Fiirth, Bavaria in 1903, died ich in the late twenties; Bruno Israel, ask for the advertising art collector. Information please, to 25 September, 1992, in Haifa. She department. will be greatly missed and remem­ Box No. 1230. Sheltered flats at bered with affection by her family Otto Schiff House and friends. The conversion of the former ANTHONY J. NEWTON residential home in Netherall The AJR does not accept ] Gardens NWS into 23 self- responsibility for the 1. &C0 contained, one-bedroom flats is standard of service nearing completion. New tenants SOLICITORS began moving in from 1 rendered by advertisers, i November. A warden is In 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, NW3 5NB regular attendance. Only two flats remaining. ALTERATIONS ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN Details from: IMrs K Gould, OF ANY KIND TO AJR, on 071-483 2536 Tuesday Telephone: 071 435 5351/071 794 9696 LADIES' FASHIONS and Thursday mornings. I also design and make Viewing by appointment only. children's clothes SHELTERED FLAT West Hampstead area 071-328 6571 BELSIZE SQUARE to let at Eleanor Rathbone APARTMENTS House, Highgate, comprising SWITCH ON bed-sitting room, kitchenette, ELECTRICS FOR FAST EFFICIENT FRIDGE 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, N.W.3 bathroom and entrance hall. Tel: 071-794 4307 or 071-435 2557 Resident warden. Rewires and all household & FREEZER REPAIRS Enquiries to:- electrical v^ork. 7-day service AJR PHONE PAUL: 081-200 3518 All parts guaranteed MODERN SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY y^^TN ROOMS. RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER HANNAH KARIUIiNSKI HOUSE PV2o5>J MODERATE TERMS. 9 ADAMSON ROAD, 1 J. B. Services NEAR SWISS COTTAGE STATION / Tel. 081-202 4248 LONDON NW3 3HX SATELLITE INSTALLATION until 9 pm 071-483 2536/7/8/9 SALES & REPAIRS Television - Videos - Aerials - Radios - Stereos - Electrical Appliances NEW & SECONDHAND TVs/VIDEOS MAPESBURY LODGE TORRINGTON HOMES FOR SALE (Licensed by the Borough of Brent) AUDLEY MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N., for the elderly, convalescent and partly REST HOME Tei: 081-909 3169 Answerphone MATRON incapacitated. AVIS TV SERVICE Lift to all floors. For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (Hendon) Luxurious double and single (Licensed by Borough ol Barnetj for Elderly Retired Gentlefolk ^A. EISENBERG ^ rooms. Colour TV, ti/c, central heating, * Single and Double Rooms. private telephones, etc., in all rooms. Single and Double Rooms with wash ' H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. Excellent kosher cuisine. Colour TV basins and central heating. TV lounge lounge. Open visiting. Cultivated * Gardens, TV and reading rooms. C. H. WILSON Gardens. * Nurse on duty 24 hours. and dining-room overlooking lovely garden. Carpenter Full 24-hour nursing care * Long and short term, including trial period if required. 24-hour care—long and short term. Painter and Decorator Please telephone From £250 per weel< French Polisher Licensed by the Borough of Barnet sister-in-charge, 081-450 4972 081-445 1244 Office hours Antique Furniture Repaired Enquiries 081-202 2773/8967 17 Mapesbury Road, N.W.2 081-455 1335 Other times Tel: 081-452 8324 39 Torrington Parl<, N.12 Car: 0831 103707

10 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Alice Schwab SB's Column

nglish Natiorial Opera will have new directors in 1993 as Peter Jones and E Mark Elder will follow the call to Munich. New director Dennis Marks has chosen young Sian Edwards as replacement t is well worth making the long journey to for Mark Elder, and plans to be realised by the Whitechapel Art Gallery to see the the new team are awaited with interest. IJuan Gris exhibition (until 29 Some lovers of traditional opera may hope November). Gris (1887-1927), one of the for less experiments with new works, and great Cubist artists, made sumptuous use of Sian Edwards, aware of the problems con­ colour but remains one of the lesser known fronting a female conductor and musical painters of his period whose work has not director, is anxious not attempt 'compe­ yet been fully explored. This is the first time tition' to Covent Garden; she has firm ideas his work has been shown in depth in about young talents to be promoted and the Britain; the exhibition brings together works to be included in the repertoire; she about 60 paintings and 30 drawings from will - in her own words - 'be careful with many sources. Strauss and Wagner'. The Ali of Ancient Mexico at the Hay­ ward Gallery (until 6 December) is a major Austrian Notes. The legendary operetta exhibition of pre-Columbian sculpture and star Martha Eggerth, widow of tenor Jan pottery. The ancient culture of Central Priest, Central Veracruz, Clay, 200-900 A.D. - Kiepura, visited Vienna to appear in two Mexico has long fascinated Europeans; National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico. Photo: Mario Carrieri. performances of Marcel Prawy's Robert visitors will be intrigued by the influence Stolz revue Servus Du. - The city of Graz is that these early works have had on such 1964) are being shown at the Camden Art to commemorate one of Styria's most popu­ artists as Henry Moore and Max Ernst. Centre (until 3 January 1993). This is a new lar authors, Peter Rosegger, often condes­ New paintings by Bridget Riley Accord­ National Touring Exhibition from the cended to as a 'Heimatdichter' with a ing to Sensation can also be seen at the South Bank Centre sponsored by B.T. special exhibition in 1993. Linz, capital of Hayward Gallery (until 6 December). The major exhibition forming part of the Upper Austria, musical highlights under the Bridget Riley was the first contemporary Barbican Centre Scandinavian Festival is title 'Sound City' during September and painter to have had a full-scale retrospective Border Crossings, featuring 14 of Scandina­ October with works by Mahler, Bruckner exhibition at the Hayward. via's most exciting artists (until 7 February and Bernstein, and a concert performance Ukiyo-e Paintings, the pleasures to be 1993). Among the pictures exhibited is a of Wagner's Flying Dutchman. The musical enjoyed in Japanese cities during the Edo group of major late works by Edvard Elisabeth, recently premiered in Vienna period (1600-1868), is an exhibition at the Munch (1863-1904). illustrates the life of Emperor Franz Josef's British Museum in two parts (25 Sep- The Last Goodbye. The exhibition of docu­ 'Sissi' within the framework of contempor­ tember-29 November; 1 December-31 ments, photographs and personal testi­ ary politics, the rapidly declining power of January 1993). On show will be over 100 monies illustrating the story of the Kinder- the monarchy and Elisabeth's assassination screens, hanging scrolls, handscrolls and transport returns to Belsize Square in n albums, with an important group by Holku- Synagogue from the 11 to 29 of November. sai (1760-1849), one of the best-known of For details contact Henny Levin on 071- Opera Films. There will be notable perfor­ all Japanese painters. 794 3949. • mances at London's NFT during The Ben Uri Art Gallery will be holding a November/December when some favourite prestigious exhibition (9 November-20 singers of 'olden days' can be seen and December) of the work of Claude Rogers Annely Juda Fine Art heard; Grace Moore in her 1934 film One O.B.E. (1907-79), a founder member of the 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) night of love, Lily Pons in That girl from Euston Road School. A member of the Tel: 071-629 7578, Fax: 071-491 2139 Paris (1937) and Rise Stevens of Met fame Rodrigues family, Rogers studied at the CONTEMPORARY PAINTING AND SCULPTURE in the Chocolate soldier (with music by Slade and then, with Sir William Cold­ Oscar Straus) which was shot during World stream and Victor Pasmore, established the HILARY'S AGENCY War II. Euston Road School, with Duncan Grant Specialists in Long and Short-Term Live-in Care and Vanessa Bell as external advisors. The Obituary. Gerhard Hetzel, leader of the RESPITE AND EMERGENCY CARE present exhibition comprises some 50 paint­ CARE FOR THE ELDERLY Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, became ings and drawings, mainly from private HOUSEKEEPERS the victim of a mountaineering accident in RECUPERATION CARE collections. MATERNITY NURSES the Alps at the age of 60. Hetzel began his Eduardo Chillida, one-time goalkeeper NANNIES AND MOTHER'S HELPS musical career in Lucerne and Berlin and EMERGENCY MOTHERS for the San Sebastian football club, is a very Caring and Experienced Staff Available joined the Vienna Philharmonic in 1969, •rnportant Spanish artist. An exhibition of We will be happy to discuss your becoming leader in 1972 when he succeeded his sculptures and works on paper is being requirements Willy Boskovsky. John Cage, the American held at Annely Juda Fine Art (until 14 PLEASE PHONE composer and pupil of Schonberg, died two 081-559-1110 November). Works by Peter Lanyon (1918- weeks before his 80th birthday. D

«» II AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

A history of the Jews in the German-speaking lands killed the relaxed and fairly tolerant spirit of the Renaissance: in the bitter reUgious wars between Protestants and Catholics, both Part 5: The Reformation Period sides tightened up on their respective ortho­ doxies and were determined the extirpate Martin Luther heresies or any other deviations; and in that atmosphere things would go ill for the Jews. he year after the Pope had pro­ when he finally saw they remained true to It had been thus during the last religious nounced against the Dominicans in their faith, the vehemence of his reaction war, the Hussite rebellion in Bohemia at the Tthe Reuchlin controversy (see last was extreme. In 1542 he published another beginning of the 15th century. The Hussites issue), Martin Luther pinned up his 95 pamphlet. Against the Jews and their Lies, had been the forerunners of the Lutherans Theses on the church door of Wittenberg, in which he called on Christian princes to in embracing the Old Testament in their and the German Reformation began. proceed against the Jews with the utmost biblical fundamentaUsm. So the Catholics The Protestants prided themselves on ferocity: they should burn down their had accused the Hussites of being a Judaiz- being people of the Book. More vigorously synagogues and destroy their homes, confis­ ing heresy, and the Jews of supplying them than the Humanists, they claimed to found cate their prayer books and holy writings, with arms. The result had been their expul­ their faith on the Bible and nothing but the seize their property, forbid them to lend sion from Austria in 1421, and from Bible; and they repudiated those CathoUc money, and expel them 'hke mad dogs' Bavaria in the following year. This did not doctrines and institutions which had no from their lands. All this was couched in the prevent the Hussites from attacking the biblical warrant. And because they saw the utmost violence of language which seeped Jews for not converting, from burning them whole Bible, the Old as well as New into the consciousness of Germans for at the stake, or from sacking the Jewish Testament, as the word of God, they had to generations to come. quarter of Prague. take seriously what the Old Testament said The Hussite rebelHon had been crushed about the Jews being God's Chosen People. Yossel von Rosshelm by the Catholic armies; but the struggle The New Testament, they thought, did not Even before this diatribe was published, against the Lutherans and Calvinists was far repudiate the Old but had quite naturally some of the protestant princes had done more difficult, and Protestantism made grown out of it; and, so Luther originally what Luther desired. In 1537 the Jews were irreversible headway in Europe. The Cath­ believed, once Christianity had been puri­ expelled from Lutheran Saxony. On the olic Church responded to the advance of the fied and shorn of its non-biblical elements, verge of expulsion from Lutheran Branden­ Reformation with the Counter-Reforma­ the Jews would come to accept this natural burg in 1543; they were saved by the efforts tion; and the easy-going Renaissance Popes development, as indeed many Jews had of a remarkable Jew, Yossel von Rossheim. were succeded by stern theologians like Paul done at the time of Christ, whom Luther A prosperous financier from Alsace, and IV (1555 to 1559) and Pius V (1566 to regarded as the greatest of all Jews. By recognised by the Jews and the Emperor 1572). In his Italian possessions the devout purifying Christianity, Luther thought he alike as the spokesman of Jews {stadtlan) Charles V was their ready instrument, and would prepare the way for the mass conver­ throughout the Holy Roman Empire Yossel he expelled the Jews from Naples in 1540; sion of the Jews. In preparation for this, of owed his influence to a number of factors. but, as we have seen, he followed the course. Christians would have to extend He was the only stadtlan in German history opposite policy in the Holy Roman Empire) brotherly love to the Jews. In 1523, in a whose authority was acknowledged by where the Jews enjoyed his protection. pamphlet entitled That Jesus Christ was a every Jewish community (for they were However, his successor, the Emperor Ferdi­ Born Jew, he honoured Christ as a Jew, usually far too jealous of their communal nand I, expelled the Jews from Bohemia m poured scorn on the foul lore of ritual independence to submit to one spokesman.) 1542. As so often happened in history^ murder, profanation of the Host etc that The Emperor Charles V found him and his before and since, the expulsion harmed the had brought so much suffering to the Jews, co-religionists useful as suppliers of money government as much as it harmed the Jews, and he called for their economic and social and provisions for the wars in which he was and in 1545 the decree was revoked; only ^° emancipation. Christian persecution, he engaged almost throughout his reign; but be reimposed in 1557, and then once more said, was to blame for such unlovely Yossel must in any case have been a revoked five year later. characteristics as the Jews had developed in remarkably persuasive advocate, because response; treat them with friendship, and time and again his intervention to protect The Jews of Prague they would perceive virtues in Christianity his co-religionists was effective. On one The next three Emperors (MaximiHan H' which naturally remained hidden for as occasion he had the active backing of Philip Rudolf II and Matthias, whose combined long as they could only see the most brutish Melanchthon; and he tried, in vain, for a reigns spanned the period from 1564 to cruelty in Christian behaviour towards meeting with Martin Luther also. At any 1619) all protected the Jews of the Empire them. rate he managed to prevent the expulsion of as best they could. Indeed Matthias had the But the conversion that Luther hoped for the Jews from Brandenburg in 1543. Alas, it leaders of an attack on the Frankfurt ghetto did not take place: indeed, some Jews even was only a temporary reprieve: the expul­ executed. The Emperor Rudolf made saw in Luther's respect for them some hope sion took place 30 years later. Prague his capital, and during his and his that it was he who might convert to Jews also fared ill in some of the German successor's reign the Jewish community "i Judaism. In the end, Luther went the same states which embraced Calvinism, like the Prague was the most flourishing of Europe» way as Mohammed had done: he, too, had Palatinate from which they were expelled with a high level of culture and prosperity- hoped to win the Jews over to his beliefs, for a time - although Calvin himself was The head of the community for much of this and when that hope had been disappointed, quite well disposed towards them. time was Mordechai Meisel, who has been had waged furious war against them. One of the explanations for this renewed described as 'the first Jewish capitalist', and Luther was never a man of moderation, and persecution was that the Reformation had who financed Rudolf's war against the

3WMSJ»P!S«ii«iBISiWiWrtMfflMSffiPP.S™sa«iBa*i 12 AjR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Turks. The Emperor gave him land (includ­ Masonic wodge ing church lands) as a security, and even German grievance attended his funeral - which did not stop him from having all the childless Meisel's he Fuhrer, himself an artist manque, questionable form of remembrance possessions returned to the Crown. During had two favourite artists: the archi­ was the tide of a recent article in the his life-time, the princely financier spent Ttect Albert Speer and the sculptor A Frankfurter Zeitung that dealt with much of his wealth in philanthropic activi­ Arno Breker. In keeping with the prefer­ the way American Jewry perceives the ties from which both Jews and Christiims ences of their megalomaniac patron Speer's Holocaust. Gunther Gillessen opened his benefitted. He endowed the Jewish quarter and Breker's work tended towards giganto- piece with a reference to Art Spiegelman's of Prague with a hospital, with several mania; the two also earned gigantic sums Maus - a comic-style retelling of the Holo­ religious buildings, and (allegedly) with the executing his commissions. caust in which the Jews figure as mice and Jewish Town Hall with its Hebrew clock After the war Speer's and Breker's paths the Nazis as cats. The journalist conceded face which still exists. He also brought diverged. Speer first served a jail sentence, that, contrary to expectations, the strip- Rabbi Judah Loew, known as the Maharal, and then enjoyed acclaim as an author. cartoon treatment of such a sombre theme from Worms to Prague. The Maharal was a Breker, on the other hand, slipped into worked, but criticised Spiegelman for distinguished talmudist, kabbalist, and relative obscurity unalleviated by the publi­ making the terms Nazi and German inter- niathematician, a strong personality revered cation of an autobiography with the pom­ changable. He then went on to inform his for his piety, and one of the great religious pous title Im Strahlungsfeld der Ereignisse. readers that by 1993 eleven US cities will teachers in the history of Judaism. He lived He kept busy, nonetheless - only now he have Holocaust museums; in addition, the to be over 80, and became the subject of sculpted muscle-bound sporting person­ school curriculum in many States includes many legends; one was that he had created a alities in place of Nazi heroes. Not that Holocaust studies. golem by his mystical craft - another, that there was a great difference between the Gillessen continued: // others won't let he exercised power over Death. Both two: his Hitler commissions had all looked the wound of the mass crime heal then, legends are depicted in a statue outside athletic, intrepid and, of course, Nordic. It almost of necessity, present and future Prague's (non-Jewish) Town Hall where he could be argued that in the Third Reich generations of Germans will remain ident­ is flanked by the golem and a nude woman - Breker's art had subserved the illusion that ified with the crimes of their fathers. This the latter to illustrate the story that only all Germans were supermen immune to will narrow down interest in Germany to when she distracted him for a moment did weakness, illness and death. watchful probing for indications of renewed the Angel of Death have a chance to take The sculptor - or, as some would say, antisemitism. ABC Television recently him. The Encyclopaedia Judaica, which monumental mason-who died last year, broadcast an hour-long programme about devotes four columns to his teachings, aged ninety-one, has now himself proved German hostility to foreigners which alter­ observes how ironical it is that he is better immune to death. The town council of nated shots of Bundeswehr passing-out known to later generations for these legends Norvenich, near Diiren in Westphalia, has parades with archive footage of marching than for his original and profound ideas. decided to turn a local Schloss into a Breker Nazi columns. D Ralph Blumenau museum. Aficionados of monumental How, Gillessen asked rhetorically, should kitsch, of whom there is no shortage, will German politicians deal with this phenom­ thus be able to feast their eyes on the array enon? He suggested that Bonn withhold of Teutonic Schwarzeneggers in stone, and financial support from Holocaust Valkyries promising pneumatic bliss, with museums — which the German Consul- Israel's which the sculptor populated Hitler's General in Detroit had promised - unless Very finest Wines dreamscape. the museum display makes mention of D R.G. German righteous gentiles, of the moral SHIPPED BY motivation behind the Officers' Plot, and of the postwar restitution undertaken by the OLD AGE PENSIONS Federal RepubHc. D HOUSE OF GERMANY CAR HIRE HALLGARTEN Comfortable, air conditioned car with anil, Consultation and advice In helpful driver. bined connection with the recently enacted Rentenreformgesetz and Judgement Airports, stations, coast, etc. Fully 64 to YARDEN and GAMLA insured. of the European Court of Justice. mpit^ Tony Burstein 081-204 0567. AVAILABLE NOW dthe On instructions our Office will assist Car 0831 461066. hetto you in pursuing your Pension claim Please write or phone for with the Authorities. made BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE full information dhis For further information please 51 Belsize Square, London, N.W.3 ity of contact: DALLOW ROAD Our communal hall is available rope» ICS - Claims LUTON BEDS for cultural erity- 146-154 Kiiburn High Road and social functions. LU11UR ,fthis London NW6 4JD For details apply to: been Secretary, Synagogue Office. 0582 22538 Tel: 071-328 7251 (Ext. 107) ',and Fax: 071-624 5002 Tel: 071-794 3949 Bt the

13 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

Search Notices VERSE AND WORSE Cookery Corner Would anyone with personal memories or PEN-CLUBBED experiences of former booksellers in Berlin, When critics call my verse The following recipe is, as usual, not meant who would be willing to give written to be followed to the letter. It is a guide for information, or answer an interview, please Sheer doggerel, and worse contact: Bezirksamt Charlottenburg von Berlin, I draw solace from the rumour those people who, like me, often find bits of BiJro der BezirksbiJrgermeisterin, z.hd. Herr That they've no sense of humour vegetables wrapped in clingfilm in corners Pannemann, Otto-Suhr-AlleelOO, 100 Berlin of the fridge a couple of days prior to 10. LENI RIEFENSTAHL making the weekly shopping trip. If you Moses Niemand came to London in 1939 from Vienna, where his family, originally of She used the camera's hocuspocus have a small hoard of half-onions and Polish descent, had lived since 1914. Last Shot the Fuehrer in soft focus peppers, left over mushrooms, single known address: Chhstian Road, Whitechapel. Shrunk from Goebbels' personal embrace potatoes and small pieces of cheese which London El. He served in the British army and served in Germany at the end of the war. Shrieked 'Me a Nazi? What a jibe!' seem to spend forever hanging around, this Would Mr Niemand, or anyone who has any Filmed a nobly naked race is an ideal way to get rid of the lot in one fell information about him please contact his friend Of Blackamoors as ersatz master race swoop. Hans FrankI, who has not seen him since 1977, at 115 Cashmere Avenue, Khandallah, PYGMALION Wellington 4, New Zealand. Those who know Grecian myths would call No. 8 ESPERANTO OMELETTE An American organisation is producing a documentary film about the life of Bertha her Galatea Ingredients (serves as many as you like) Pappenheim late of Der Judische But that's just pedants' talk and neither 2, 3 or 4 eggs Frauenbund. Would anyone who knew her, or there nor heah was associated with her in some way, and is 1 small potato willing to have their commentary video-taped A poll of phoneticians declared the play a i large onion (or one small one) (this can be done in their own home) please hit i red or green (or both) peppers contact: Roberta H. Schwartz, 1224 Lake For it is by his accent that ye shall know the Street, Evanston. III. 60201, USA. 4oz Cheddar cheese (or whatever else you Brit have around) Dr K. Singer, last known residence (19.07.65) Stanmore, Middx., and Elen Jelllnek, born JAKARTA 2-3 mushrooms (as many as you like really) 23.01.1909. Information about the above, or Salt, pepper, mixed herbs Hot air galore (a global warming?) any surviving relatives, is needed with respect 3 fluid oz milk to the estate of Friedrich Jellinek, deceased on At gatherings of the Non-aligned 03.12.1990. Please contact Andreas Beeking Where all complain of chains that bind (Administrator of estate), Nymphenburger Str. Method: 36. 8000 Munchen 2, Germany. And none wants to be seen disarming Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and add a generous splash of milk. The pepper, salt Helga and Klaus Tischauer, siblings from Not Sarajevo, not Belgrade Hamburg, arrived in Britain in 1938, aged 19 and mixed herbs can be added at this stage. Neither the Afghan killer clan and 17 respectively. Helga remained in UK, Beat all together vigorously until well Klaus went to Canada, possibly as an Nor Iraq's bloodbrother Iran — mixed. Peel the potato and chop into small internee. Please contact Jewish Refugees The Third World walks in war's grim shade Committee: 071-387 3925. cubes. Boil until soft. Chop the onions, peppers and mushrooms and fry until sweated. Chop the cheese into small cubes and add to the beaten eggs. When the Simon P. Rhodes I^.Ch.S. potatoes are soft, drain and add to the eggs- The same for the fried vegetables. Give the STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST whole thing a gentle stir and pour into the East-Germany Surgery hours: frying pan at a medium heat. As it cooks stir 8.30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday once or twice to ensure the mixture is not and Berlin 8.30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday burning underneath. Make sure the grill is Visiting chiropody service available on full. When the mixture in the pan begins We give immediate attention. to bubble through take the pan from the 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp. M&S) We process and buy properties/claims. ring and place it under the hot grill. As the Telephone 071-624 1576 surface browns the mixture should begin to We pay cash. rise. Rotate the pan occasionally to ensure the surface browns evenly. We have proven ua^.^ ,C..^,.JJ UHV. ;..;,„.,-. 7AHNARZT/DENTAL SURGEON Serve with fresh bread and salad. documentation. Dr H. Alan Shields, MB ChB, BDS. LDS RCS(Eng) D A1.N. 46 Brampton Grove. HENDON, London NW4 4AQ Wnte to; Nagel & Partner ALL TYPES OF DENTAL CARE Kjrfurstendamm 182 • 1000 Berlin 15 Home visiu for the disabled CAMPS Phone; 030-882 56 31 Dentures and cosmetic dentistry INTERNMENT-P.O.W.- Fax:030-881 39 16 Emergencies FORCED LABOUR-KZ TOP QUALITY DENTAL TREATMENT I wish to buy cards, envelopes and folded post- AT PRICES YOU CAN AFFORD Tiarked letters from all camps of both world wars. Please send, registered mail, stating price, to; Phone: Ml-203-0405 for appointment 14 Rosslyn Hill, London NW3 Deutsch wird auch gesprochen PETER 0. RICKENBACK CARING AND PERSONAL SERVICE

14 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER \991

Obituaries 40 Years Ago this Month Herta Silberstein Hans Walter Philipp LETTER FROM JERUSALEM From the early 1940s Herta Silberstein With the death of Dr Philipp at the age of The Way of All Flesh: The news that the worked at Bloomsbury House, the Head­ 87, our community has suffered a loss. meat ration will be reduced to 100 gms per quarters for many Jewish organisations, as Berlin-born he lost his sight at an early month has caused some consternation - especially among Israel's butchers. With just secretary to Rabbi W. van der Zyl, who was age. Learning braille, he became so profi­ over a kilo per head of the population to sell employed by the Refugee Children's Move­ cient that he was able to teach it and to over the whole year, it wouldn't be worth ment. In 1950 she joined the staff of the transcribe it. their while to keep their shops open. So far, Jewish Blind Society (now merged with the Dr Philipp came to this country in 1939; only the sweet shops - in the absence of Jewish Welfare Board) just two weeks after retiring, at 65, from the Royal chocolate - have had to supplement their before the opening of its first holiday home trade with stationery and tourist souvenirs, National Institute for the Blind he became a and no suggestions have yet been made to in CUftonville, Kent. She was to spend the stalwart worker at the Jewish Blind Society keep the butchers going. Jerusalemites still next 30 years managing the holiday scheme, in Stamford Hill. His knowledge of scrip­ remember, from some years ago, the sign in in which time over 20,000 people were able ture was immense, and he kept in constant a butcher's shop in Rehavia: 'I slaughter to enjoy the facilities of the home. She also touch with current developments, by, myself twice weekly'. It is feared that, in the oversaw the home's move to Bournmouth. meantime, the man might have learned among other things, listening to the taped English and made good this threat - just She is remembered by her colleagues and editions of AJR Information. once. friends for her efficiency and coolness in His hobbies included the study of Esper­ Sad Record: Israel has the sad distinction crisis. anto; a few years ago he had no hesitation of holding the world record in fatal traffic In 1978 she entered Osmond House to accept an invitation to Warsaw to accidents. While there are only 23 cars to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 20,000 citizens, 18 persons out of 100,000 where she settled comfortably. Even here were killed on the road last year. Compara­ Herta Silberstein never lost her desire to death of the Esperanto founder L. L. tive figures in the U.S.A. are 264 cars and 22 help others. Though very unassuming, Zamenhof. fatal casualties; in Britain, 75 cars per Herta was unforgettable and she will be Friends will miss his humour, his conver­ thousand with 9 killed per 100,000. And missed. She died on 29 July, aged 89. sation and the warmth of his company. yet, one cause of accidents is almost unknown in Israel: driving under the n Rosemary Lewis D W. E. Goddard influence of drink. For the Jewish State is the country with the proportionately smallest number of alcoholics. The world's heaviest drinkers are in France which has 22 drun­ kards for every 1,000 people. Birthday HERBERT FREEDEN AJR Information November 1952. Dr Frank Falk 85 recently retired as chairman of the Israel Cultural Committee of Belsize Square Syna­ At the age of 85, Frank Falk's physical and gogue, and from its board. mental capacity has in no way diminished We would like to wish Frank Falk, and and he remains a servant of the community. his wife Lilo, many more happy and active He continues to practise as a Chartered years. D Retirement by the sea Accountant, making rounds to visit his Come to sunny Hove clients. He does not confine himself to A 'Profile' of Dr Falk appeared in the dealing with tax matters, but also helps with September 1991 issue of AJR information. Are you finding it hard to cope the personal problems some face. His assist­ alone . . .? For a happy and secure ance has been of particular value in recent retirement start a new life at Marigold years to Nazi-victims from East Germany House, a small, friendly kosher home able, since 1990, to make restitution claims. RESTITUTION - COMPENSATION close to the sea, synagogue and shops. Dr Falk has also provided valuable help to We like to remind readers that the last people claiming German pensions when the date for registering claims for Happy atmosphere in homely Voluntary' contributions option was intro­ Restitution of and/or Compensation for surroundings, 24 hour personal care, AN. duced, and has written articles for AJR Property in the Eastern part of good kosher food, special diets, level ^^tformation on these issues. Germany (including East Berlin) will be ground, bus stop outside, one hour from the 31st of December 1992. We shall central London. Frank is still very active in the B'nai B'rith be pleased to assist in preparing and Leo Baeck Lodge Cultural Activities Com- submitting claims. Tiittee and as an officer of the Leo Baeck Long-term, convalescence, holiday stays Housing Association. He is also a hfe- Please contact Mr H. H. Marcus or from £200 per week. member of the B'nai B'rith District 15 Dr Karsten Kuehne at Pannone & Executive Committee. At the same time he Partners (incorporating Pritchard Marigold House Residential Care continues to be active on the National Englefield & Tobin) 14 New Street, Home, 72 New Church Road, Hove, Council of the Zionist Federation, and London EC2M 4TR. East Sussex. Tel: Mrs Jacqui Clewes Serves as joint chairman of the Ex-Service­ Tel. 071 972 9720, Fax 071 972 9723. 0273 778759-771957 men's 1943 committee. He has only

15 ^n^Hg f^SS ^"^^"""^^^'-"^''^

AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1992

among those whose work had enriched Professor Eugen Mittwoch (1876-1942) British science and culture. His last publication was about a hitherto rofessor Eugen Mittwoch, whose unknown fragment, written in Arabic but in death occurred 50 years ago in Hebrew letters, by Saadia Gaon, whose PNovember, 1942, was one of AJR's death in 942 was to be exactly one thousand most distinguished founder members. A years before Mittwoch's own. Since this scholar and philanthropist, he was born in essay appeared posthumously, the editor, Poznan province, and at 18 became a Erwin Rosenthal, added a postscript, from student at the University of Berlin. which the following lines are taken: Although originally intended for a rabbini­ 'Professor Mittwoch's many contribu­ cal career, he changed to Oriental lan­ tions to Semitic epigraphy, his model edi­ guages, graduating in 1899. After a visit to tions of Arabic, Ethiopic and Aramaic texts, the Middle East he became lecturer in his deciphering of inscriptions on objects of Semitic philology at the University of Ber­ Islamic art, his pioneer researches in the lin; he also taught Ethiopic and Amharic in Ethiopic dialects and their literary docu­ the new Department of Abyssinian at the ments, have . . . enriched the whole range of Seminar fUr Orientalische Sprachen. During Semitic philology. Islamic historiography the first World War he was head of the and literary history. . . . The scholar in him Nachrichtenstelle fiir den Orient. In 1919 Eugen Mittwoch. Photo: Private. represented only one side of his rich life. He he became professor at the University of the task of directing the Berlin office, aiding was ever ready to help, to encourage, to Berlin, and the following year director of victims of oppression and helping them to guide. Nobody appealed in vain to the Orientalische Seminar. emigrate. him. ... In the difficult years since Hitler His wide knowledge of Eastern languages He was on a mission in Paris in came to power he extended his helping hand included Arabic, Hebrew, and the South November 1938, when the events of Kris­ to many, bringing his administrative skills Arabic languages of the Sabaeans and tallnacht caused friends to persuade him not to the tasks of Jewish relief in which his Himyarites, who lived in Southern Arabia to return. In April 1939, he was re-united international reputation helped him not a long before the rise of Islam, and whose with his wife and children in London. little'. writings are known only from inscriptions, When, in the following year, Picture Post D Ursula Mittwoch which he helped to dicepher. Among his published an article on the beneficial contri­ many publications are a study of Ibn Saad's butions made by refugees, he was listed biography of Mohammed, as well as popu­ lar Amharic texts, including proverbs, GERMAN BOOKS riddles, fables and children's games. He was equally at home in Jewish BOUGHT scholarship, and had been chairman of the Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Wissen- A. W. MYTZE schaft des Judentums in Berlin, besides 1 The Riding, London NW11. being a member of the executive of the Berlin Jewish Community. BELSiZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE Tel: 071-586 7546 In 1933, he was suspended from his professorship and lost his post as director of 51 BELSIZE SQUARE, NW3 the Orientalische Seminar. Relieved of academic duties, he spent more time than hitherto on social work, an BAZAAR 1992 COMPANIONS activity close to his heart. The need for relief work among Jews had greatly increased, Saturday, 5th December OF LONDON and while the main office of the American from 5 p.m. Joint Distribution Committee was trans­ A specialist home care service ferred to Paris, Mittwoch was charged with to assist the elderly, people Sunday, 6th December with disabilities, help during 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and after illness, childcare and household needs. D S W BYE Bargains, entertainment and For a service tailored to your individual needs GENERAL BUILDING, superb cuisine, in a new and by Companions who care - Please call REFURBISHMENT AND DECORATING improved layout. 071-483 0212 071-483 0213 All aspects of building & decorating carried out to the highest standards. ENTRANCE: 110 Gloucester Avenue, References supplied. Adults 50p. Children 25p. Primrose Hill, London NWl 8JA Telephone: 081-366 1028 Space donated by Pafra Ltd (Emp Agy)

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