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.