VOLUME 5 NO. 2 FEBRUARY 2005 fiiu] journal ^^mm <^^^^^^^ ^ Association of Jewish Refugees Bridging the Bosphorus Readers who attended Austrian schools patriarchal Arab societies as typical of the before the Anschluss will not have been Muslim world as a whole. surprised that Chancellor Schussel was Since a closer integration with Europe is one of the EU leaders most vehemently bound to raise living standards in Turkey opposed to Turkish membership of the other Muslim countries would feel organisation. Austria's national myth casts challenged to 'do better'. However, the Vienna in the role of a fortress of most important lesson they would derive Christianity which the Turks besieged in from the Turkish example is that a state can both 1529 and 1683. retain its Islamic religious identity while The protracted warfare between the adopting Western values. Cross and the Crescent left its mark in the Schiissel, Chirac and Schroder are not Austrian racial memory. In folk speech totally wrong when they point to the risk 'cacophony' is called a Heidenldrm (noise posed to the cohesion of Europe by the made by heathens) and the expletive accession of close to 100 million poor The Bosphorus Strait KruzitUrken has religious roots (not unlike non-Christian non-Europeans. However, 'blimey') relating to the Crusades in this and the state, and introduced Western on balance this is a riskwort h taking. instance. reforms into relations between the sexes, The world can only become a better place What the Austrian myth about having the dress code and the alphabet. if the number of democracies in it been a bulwark of European civilisation Since his death in 1938 Westernising increases, and eventually neutralises the against a heathen onslaught leaves out of trends have continued in Turkey, but there influence of the dictatorships and account is that, at the time, the Turkish have also been counter-currents of Islamic theocracies. After the end of the Second Sultans were far more tolerant of non- revivalism, especially in the countryside. World War a few West European countries Muslims than the Habsburg emperors The country has also been debilitated by took a gamble on a closer union with were of non-Catholics. Under the Double the Ankara government's policy of Germany - yesterday's enemy - and the Eagle Protestants suffered wholesale pressuring the large Kurdish minority into gamble paid off. Sixty years on from the expulsion and, except for a handful of assimilation. liberation of Auschwitz and the destruction government contractors, Jews eked out a This, plus Turkey's relative economic of Dresden, Germany is one of the most miserable existence. (Interestingly, when backwardness and poverty exacerbated by stable democracies. Jews expelled from Spain eventually a soaring birth rate, has prompted Elsewhere, the pendulum has swung in reached Vienna, their congregation was scepticism among some EU member states the opposite direction. Russia under Putin called the Turkentempd - due to the fact about the desirability of Turkish is less free than it was in Yeltsin's day - that their first country of asylum had been membership. Those who favour Turkey's though ongoing developments in Ukraine Turkey.) admission take a more global - not to say may yet provide a corrective to that Not that Austria remained totally geopolitical - perspective. retrograde tendency. The prospects for untouched by the Enlightenment. Mozart They see Kemal Ataturk's Westernising democracy in most Third World countries wrote a Turkish march and peopled II reforms as a foundation on which a more are anything but favourable. Seraglio with humanly believable ambitious transformation of far wider Given this backdrop, the locking of characters. Gradually religion declined as a application could be based. Turkey could Turkey into the European system would be driving force in interstate relations, and become the first Islamic country which of a huge building block in the construction of was replaced by nationalism. The its own volition adopted the full panoply of a democratic edifice bridging Europe and nationalism of the Balkan peoples, Serbs, Western instructions: parliamentary Asia. It is a riskyenterpris e - but who would Greeks and Bulgarians undermined democracy, an independent judiciary, press gainsay its potential for future good? The Turkish power in Europe and, during the freedom and human rights. It has already game is certainly worth the candle. Turkey Great War, the Arab revolt produced a moved significantly Westwards in one is no longer the country of corruption and corresponding effect in Asia. particular direction: relations between the brutality conveyed in the film Midnight The shock of defeat was the beginning of sexes. Turkey, like Indonesia and Pakistan, Express (if it ever was); it is a state the recovery for the country long derided has had women at the very head of embarked on the boulder-strewn path to as the 'sick man of Europe'. Kemal Pasha government, demonstrating that it is a democracy and deserves to be helped along abolished the Sultanate, separated religion misconception to see the exceptionally the way. AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

A tale of Emotional farewell as Day Centre Jewish Delilahs Richard Grunberger organiser Sylvia Matus retires

I was only moderately surprised at the Sylvia Matus, organiser of AJR's Paul news (Jewish Chronicle, 10 December) Balint Day Centre, retired at the end that Kimberley Quinn is Jewish. My of January after 29 years service to blase attitude does not stem from a theAJR. suspicion that many Jewish women are At a crowded, emotional farewell femmes fatales, but rather from pride lunch, AJR Chairman Andrew in the fact that their allure can bring down governments - or, at least, home Kaufman paid tribute to 'the secretaries. tremendous efforts made by Sylvia It was ever thus! If you don't believe on behalf of the AJR. We will miss her me, a reading of the Megittah Esther at energy, enthusiasm and commitment the upcoming festival of Purim should - as will our members, who regard cure your scepticism. her as the embodiment of the Day A crowned monarch who, within Centre.' He described Sylvia as having living memory, fell under the sway of a administered 'tender loving care' to Passing the baton: Sylvia Matus, right, with her successor, Susie Kaufman Jewish charmer was Carol of Romania. members. Her successor, Susie He made Madame Lupescu his mistress Kaufman, who has worked so closely takeaway and meals-on-wheels. at the same time as his subjects grew with Sylvia for 18 years, perhaps even In addition, Sylvia initiated increasingly antisemitic. Small wonder more tearful than Sylvia herself, weekends away for AJR members. In that he lost his crown in 1940. spoke of her colleague's 'labour of response to the success of this During the previous decade Austria's love'. Bertha Leverton expressed scheme, week-long holidays now Catholic Chancellor Schuschnigg, deep gratitude on behalf of take place twice a year in resorts such widowed in a Nazi-engineered car Kindertransport members. as Bournemouth and Eastbourne. accident, paid court to the half-Jewish sculptress Anna Mahler - only to be Sylvia joined the AJR in 1976 as a Sylvia cultivated a family turned down by the great composer's volunteer, later becoming an atmosphere at the Day Centre. daughter assistant in the home help Members, volunteers and staff - all A more bizarre story involved the department finding paid helpers for were part of her extended family. She second most powerful man in 1940s members. When the Day Centre never failed to put her own interests Russia, Premier Vyacheslav Molotov, opened in 1987, Sylvia, with her firmly behind those of others. and his Jewish wife Polina, Commissar gentle and sympathetic approach to Sylvia's immediate plans are clear. of the Perfumery Industry. Polina people, seemed the obvious choice to She and her husband Howard are greeted the newly appointed Israeli lead it. going on a South American cruise, ambassador to Moscow, Golda Meir, in Sylvia held overall responsibility for following which she is planning to Yiddish - a transgression that earned the daily running of the Day Centre, begin a course at the University ofthe her six years in the Gulag. However, including the entertainment Third Age. To say Sylvia will be after Stalin's death, the Molotovs were re-united again, and lived happily programme and, with Susie as missed by her family at the Day ever after Catering Manager, the production of Centre she has done so much to over 20,000 kosher meals a year for A romance across the Judeo- shape, seems trite. Christian divide which almost provoked members at the Centre as well as Howard Spier a constitutional crisis was, of course, President Clinton's dalliance with the AJR Heads of Department White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gordon Greenfield Finance JACKMAN • Carol Rossen Administration and Personnel This is a show that will run and run. IVIarcia Goodman Social Services In a year or two the spotlight will SILVERMAN IVIichael Newman Media and switch to France, where the Young COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS Public Relations Pretender Sarkozy stands poised to AJR Journal snatch the crown from the grizzled Richard Grunberger Editor-in-Chief head of President Chirac. And who do Howard Spier Editorial and Production you think is Madame Sarkozy - a Jewess 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA Andrea Goodmaker of course! Telephone: 020 7409 0771 Fax: 020 7493 8017 Secretarial/Advertisements AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

Ukraine, a Jewish heartland NEWTONS Richard Grunberger Leading Hampstead Solicitors advise on The current focus on Ukraine in the violinists Jasha Haifetz, Misha Property, Wills, Family Trusts newspaper headlines ought to jog our Elman and David and Igor Oistrakh, but and Charitable Trusts memory. This country, wedged between there was also the 'Constructivist' French and German spoken Poland and Russia - its very name means painter El Lisitsky and the writer Home visits arranged borderland - has long been a habitat of Isaac Babel. Jews. To actually call it a country may be Babel ventured into uncharted 22 Fitzjohn's Avenue, a bit of a misnomer because its ranking territory. During the post-1917 London NW3 5NB in the world, and its exact borders, have Russian Civil War he rode with the Tel: 020 7435 5351 often been matters of fiercedispute . For Cossacks - talk about a culture clash! - Fax: 020 7435 8881 instance, Lviv, the current capital of and his tales ofthe Moldavanka district Westem Ukraine, bore the Polish name of Odessa chronicle the activities ofthe Lw6w until 1939 and the Austrian Jewish gangster Benya Krik. designation Lemberg before 1918. Just Babel also had a delicious gift of irony. as confusingly, Czernowitz, the At a congress of Russian writers in the CONSULTANT easternmost outpost of Austro-Hungary mid-1930s, he complained that because to long established English which briefly belonged to Romania, now the Soviet system had removed all the finds itself inside Ukraine. Solicitors (bi-lingual German) reasons for human unhappiness - such would be happy to assist clients These violent shakes of the as poverty, insecurity, frustration - with English, German and kaleidoscope started around 1650 when writers had little to get their teeth into. Austrian problems. the Cossack hetman Bogdan Such levity was not to be countenanced Contact Henry Ebner Chmelnitsky severed Eastern Ukraine for long and by 1939 he had disappeared from Poland and attached it to Russia, into the Gulag, never to return. Myers Ebner & Deaner 103 Shepherds Bush Road killing the bulk of the region's Jews in The disturbed aftermath ofthe Great the process. When Poland went into London W6 7LP War saw a short-lived independent Telephone 020 7602 4631 terminal decline over a century later, Ukrainian state established in Kiev, ALL LEGAL WORK the territory was carved up between the whose head, Simon Petliura, was a UNDERTAKEN Romanovs and the Habsburgs, and a pogromshchili in the Chmelnitsky greater part of the world's Jews became mould. By 1922, however, Ukraine had subjects of Tsarist misrule. As their been integrated into the USSR, and situation worsened, the active section of local Jewry enjoyed the (mixed) the Jewish population reacted in three blessings of Soviet rule. AUSTRIAN and GERMAN different ways - mass migration, Then came the Second World War PENSIONS revolutionary activity, or strengthening and Nazi occupation, during which the Jewish national consciousness (in other Ukrainians, further alienated by PROPERTY words, Zionism). Stalin's forcible collectivisation and RESTITUTION CLAIMS Zionism as a force on the world stage consequent famine, collaborated with EAST GERMANY-BERLIN is usually perceived to have been the Germans in carrying out anti- launched by Herzl in 1896 - but it had its Jewish massacres. The most notorious On instructions our office will precursors in the Ukrainian port city of such atrocity occurred at Babi Yar in assist to deal with your Odessa, Leo Pinsker's Auto- 1941 and has been commemorated in a applications and pursue the matter with the authorities. Emancipation, a work arguing the need Yevtushenko poem and a Shostakovich for a Jewish national home, received symphony. For further information powerful reinforcement from the The Ukrainians are among the and an appointment aimilarJy Odessa-based Hebraists Ahad European nations with the worst please contact: Ha'am and Bialik and inspired the record of inhumanity towards their ICS CLAIMS Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion), whose Jewish fellow citizens. One only hopes 146-154 Kilburn High Road (fliy^h to Palestine raised the active that the current crisis will so fortify the London NWS 4JD Jewish population there to 2S,Q00 by democratic antibodies in the national 1914. consciousness that they will in future Tel: 020 7328 7251 (Ext. 107) Odessa Jewr>' was a teeming womb of no longer succumb to the virus of Fax: 020 7624 5002 talent. Pride of place probably belongs to Jew-hatred. n AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

Franl< Foley - the paper trail Ruth Rothenberg

Back in Germany, on 7 May 1933 Foley had reached him [from MI5], suggesting wrote an eight-page memorandum that the Germans were anxious to detailing the disastrous consequences of inundate this country with Jews, with a Hitler's racial laws, which deliberately view to creating a Jewish problem in the prevented Jews from earning a living. At United Kingdom.' the same time, he noted police The outcome was to put in charge ofthe indifference to Nazi vandalism against Austrian refugee question ministers who Jewish property and the blocking tactics would adopt 'as humane an attitude as used to prevent Jews from taking their possible' while 'avoiding the creation of a money out on emigration. Jewish problem in this country'. 'Since the beginning of 1935', he wrote, The glaringly obvious answer to British agent Frank Foley 'a recrudescence of antisemitism has enforced Jewish emigration from Control reported that passport staff in become evident and it is becoming Germany was Palestine. German Jewish Vienna had been increased from 4 to 25, increasingly apparent that the Party has preparation for this destination was and in Berlin from 8 to 22, while Hungary not departed from its original intentions meticulous. Hitler put no bars in its way. and Czechoslovakia also needed more and that its ultimate aim remains the But British policy, constrained by staff. The statistical update was attached disappearance of the Jews from Germany opposition from Arabs and from the to a letter, dated 3 January 1938, or, failing that, their relegation to a Muslims of undivided India, blocked any addressed to Sfr Alexander Cadogan, position of powerlessness and inferiority large-scale immigration. in Germany.' Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The real 'Palestine problem' is not Attached to this memorandum, which raised by Foley. In January 1936 he simply The letter was written by Sir Hugh was forwarded to London on 10 May, is an noted that economic prospects were good Sinclair, chief of the SIS, Frank Foley's observation from a senior Foreign Office - Jews could be absorbed - but that true boss. He wanted Foley to get on with official, M. J. Creswell: 'Not only the permits issued by the government of his real work of providing information - status of the Jew but the whole political Palestine were going down. outlook of present day Germany is pure spying - not to get bogged down with When the Cabinet discussed the crisis mediaeval.' actual passport work. on 22 November 1938, nearly two weeks Sinclair's 'Most Secret' letter - due for Other embassy officials also reported to after Kristallnacht, the Secretary of State London on unprovoked assaults, the fact release by the National Archives in 2005 - for the Dominions and Colonies, Malcolm that 'Jews have been hunted down like reads: MacDonald, was minuted as saying that rats in their homes', and the breakdown of I am getting extremely concerned about the 'the Palestine position had been difficult domestic life, when a non-Jewish partner present situation in regard to the admission of enough before the latest persecution of felt the only way out was through divorce. aliens into this country. At present it seems that for an unlimited the Jews had started ... If the matter was This affected the embassy when a period an unlimited number of aliens are to be looked at simply from the point of view of British national was involved. A British- admitted. The result of this is that the Passport the present economic absorptive capacity born woman married to a German Jew Control Officers abroad are simply snowed of Palestine, it was clear that large would try to obtain a divorce in order to under with the work entailed in granting many numbers of Jewish immigrants could be reclaim British nationality and go to thousands of visas, in addition to those which admitted to the country ... The matter, Britain with her children, hoping that her continue to be authorised in the ordinary way however, was not one which could be ex-husband 'in some miraculous way by the Home Office at the rate of some two hundred a day... considered simply in its economic aspect.' might be able to rejoin her'. I shall be glad if the strongest possible The number of British refugee visas The Berlin consular report of 8 June representations may be made to the Home issued across Europe from the beginning 1938, describing such cases, concludes: Office with a view to limiting the number of of May 1938 to the beginning of April 1939 The anguish and misery thus imported into such people to be admitted to this country. was officially estimated at around 85,000, Jewish households by means of legislation and Sinclair reiterated his view in writing a with over haff in Germany. The number the activities of the police, secret and public, year later. have evoked much public sympathy during the issued by Frank Foley between 1933 and past month, and expressions of regret and The Anschluss was effected in March 1939 is unofficially - but realistically - disgust at the action, or inaction, of the 1938. The Cabinet met at Downing Street estimated at 10,000. Government have been heard in many on 13 March to discuss the expected Foley died in May 1958, aged 73. He was quarters. influx of Austrian Jewish refugees. The honoured by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Meanwhile, in Britain the pressure was minutes note that the Home Secretary, Sir Gentile in August 1999. on to keep refugees out, as desperate Samuel Hoare, 'felt great reluctance in queues increased on the Continent. In putting another obstacle in the way of The first part of this article appeared in the January 1938 the Director of Passport these unfortunate people. A curious story fanuary issue o/AJR Journal AiR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005 Remembering My Father in Berlin Marion Charles Armistice Day, 14 November, the Jewish adjoining Memorial Hall. Cemetery, Weissensee, Berlin. My father, During the luncheon, later, I am having Georg Czarlinski, is one of 395 Jewish a conversation with the Brigadier soldiers out of the 100,000 German General and the Chief of the Berlin Police. Jews who fought for their Fatherland in The Police Chief tells me how interested the First World War - buried in the Field he is in the lives of the First World War of Honour 12,000 Jewish soldiers died Jewish soldiers because his father was for Germany. Although seriously responsiblefortrainingsomanyof them. wounded, my father died of natural He tells me how impressed he was by Marion Charles reading presented book causes in a Berlin hospital - partly as a their patriotism and love of Germany. result of his wounds, but primarily of Listening to him, I remember a patriotic When he died, my mother was by his grief after he and my mother were poem my father wrote which is reprinted bedside. After his death, she was left compelled to send me, aged 11, and my in the book. It makes me feel most alone in Berlin. Neither of them was able sister, Ingelore, aged 16, to England on uncomfortable, particularly as he calls to flee Germany owing to the fact that the Kindertransport. England 'The enemy which has to be my father was 80 per cent war-wounded Now I am in Berlin to attend a defeated'. Little did he know then that - which meant that no country would ceremony that has taken place for the his daughters' lives would one day be grant him a visa. past eight years honouring the Jewish saved thanks to the English. As I stood by his grave, with the soldiers who died or were wounded grandchildren he never knew, I fightingforGermany. This year, the focal Wonderful memories pondered the many ironies of his life and point of the event will be the My mother kept my father's War death. Here I was in Berlin being treated presentation of a book newly published Chronicle throughout all the years until as an equal by other Germans - not by the Centre Judaicum (in conjunction her death in 1978. She kept it hounded by German officials but being with the Military Archives Institute), Bis throughout the Second World War, when befriended by them. For a moment, I Der Krieg Uns Lehrt, Was Frieden she lived underground and was hidden had an intimation of the life I might have Bedeutet (Till War Teaches Us the by German friends. My mother brought lived had Hitler never come to power Meaning of Peace). The book contains a my father's chronicles - now bound into a Then I remembered my father, section featuring my father and excerpts book - with her when she came to standing hour after hour at foreign from the newspaper A War Chronicle. England in 1947 and I presented it to the consulate after foreign consulate, trying I stand by the grave of the dead, with CentreJudaicum. to flee Germany, yet being rejected, Rebecca Michael and Debra Kasler, my In the book there is a photograph of simply because of the war wound he nieces. A wreath is being laid by the my parents, my sister and me on the lawn had incurred fighting for Germany. Berlin Commandant, Brigadier General of our home in Dahlem. The date is 3 July But I know he would not have wanted Victor von Wilken, in memory of the 1939. Ingelore and I are smiling. My me to be bitter Instead, I treasure the Jews who died for Germany. A soloist parents look sad. The next morning, my wonderful memories I still retain of trumpeter is playing 'Ich Hatt' Einen father took us to the station and put us those first 11 years of my life with him Kammeraden'. on the train to England. It was the last and my mother. And I thank God that he After that, the head of the Jewish time we ever saw him. He died in Berlin didn't die in Theriesenstadt, like his community, Albert Mayer, presents on 2 January 1941 and was buried a few parents did, and that he is buried here - the book to the general in the weeks later in the Field of Honour. in Berlin, in the Field of Honour.

I was alone - but had never left I have lived on the Isle of Wight for 25 sons, their wives and children live on the goodbye to my dearest parents, never to years, believing myself to be the only mainland. see them again. Jewish person living on the island. I [recently] saw in our local newspaper Louis Lawrence and all the other Jewish After my release from internment on an article which read: Jewish festival people I met at the party - please accept the Isle of Man, I became a student nurse marked for first time in 50 years' - my heartfelt thanks for a beautiful in a Newcastle hospital. There I fell in love speaking of a Jewish community on the gathering of 26 or more Jewish guests with [and later married] a naval officer Isle of Wight! It was to be a Chanukah celebrating Chanukah! whose ships had been torpedoed. He was festival. The telephone number of Louis There were children being invited to not a Jew. Throughout our married life our Lawrence, described as 'a member of the light the Chanukah candles. Hebrew homes were in various places in England. Island Jewish community', was given. prayers were said (oh, how I remember Fearing rejection, I isolated myself from When as a teenager I packed my small these). We sang many songs, all of which I thejewish community. suitcase to leave Leipzig, my father knew. I was Jewish again, regaining Four years ago my husband, Peter, died, packed for me a menorah, which I have my roots. I was no longer alone - I had since when I have lived alone. My two cherished since 1939 when saying never left. Ruth E. A. Lansley AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

experience was very different: inevitable elements of feelings of rejection, abandonment and betrayal The Editor reserves the right created inner contradictions that 1 TO THE ) to shorten correspondence made for huge problems in resuming submitted for publication a relationship with parents after the X EDITOR I war Kinder and their parents were by then in different worlds not only culturally but also emotionally. Ruth Barnett was taken into consideration afterthe FORGOTTEN VETERANS London NW6 Nazis gained power! Sir - Francis Steiner writes (December 2004) that while in Prussia Jews could Henry Walton Sir - Although a Kindertransportee not become officers before the First Sale, Cheshire myself, I have only just seen the World War, there was certainly no memorial outside Liverpool Street such ban in the pre-war Bavarian Sir - As regards the officer corps of the Station and was appalled at its army. This led me to do some research pre-1914 Prussian army, I have always condition and siting. on the internet. My research shows understood from my family that in the Erna Angus that in 1910 there was just one Jewish 1870s we supplied six Jewish officers. London Wl officer in the entire German army, and My grandfather was described in his he was indeed in the Bavarian army. I marriage certificate as 'Bankier Georg have not been able to ascertain his Schreiber, Sekonde-Leutnant der BELGIUM name. In 1910 there were 23 officers Reserve im 2. Schles. Husaren- Sir - Richard Grunberger's interesting in the German army who were recent Regiment Nr 6, israelitisch, wohnhaft article in the August issue seems to me converts from Judaism. in Breslau'. Any exclusion of Jews from to have a rather glaring omission. Surely some honourable mention The Jewish officer who commissions in the regular Prussian should have been made of the one recommended Hitlerforthe Iron Cross army clearly did not apply to the country, where, so far as I can judge, a First Class in August 1918 was Hugo reserve. greater proportion of Jews survived Gutmann. He had joined the Bavarian Alfred Simms than in any other German-occupied army in 1902 and was an NCO; was in Harpenden territory (with the possible exception the reserves after 1904; was called up of Denmark): Belgium. on the outbreak of war; and did not KINDERTRANSPORT The fact that the Belgians, having become an officer (a lieutenant) until Sir - Your January issue contains a suffered an earlier German 1915. He escaped to Belgium in 1939 letter from Iris Guske in response to occupation in living memory, were and in 1940 went from there to the the profile Howard Spier wrote of me possibly more experienced in knowing United States, where he changed his (September issue). She is right to how to cope with it may have played a name to Henry G. Grant. The historian point out that my parents' permitting part. Werner Maser says that Hitler me to return to England was part of a personally saw to it that he was paid a complex emotional situation that has When I was posted to HQI Corps pension right up to the end ofthe war; taken me most of my life to come to (Field) in Brussels early in 1945, I but in November 1941 he described terms with. However, at the time, I did found a thriving Jewish community. It Gutmann who, like Hitler, had the Iron experience it as 'a battle won' included a cousin of my mother and Cross First Class, as 'an unparalleled compared with all the previous two family friends. All three elderly cowardly person' whose decoration changes of home and country. ladies had previously been resident in was 'revolting and a disgrace'. Howard Spier could not be expected Germany and had 'escaped' to Ralph Blumenau to grasp the whole emotional weave Belgium before the war They were London Wl 1 from one short interview and I am aided by Belgian friends and grateful to him for his profile of me, neighbours, as evidently were countless others. Sir - My father, Siegmund Weltlinger, which has stimulated much more was arrested on Kristallnacht and interest than I had anticipated. John D Phillip taken to Sachsenhausen, but released Intriguingly, Iris's letter resonated Barnet, Herts after only five weeks because he had with Andrew Herskovits's review of served in the First World War! Diane Samuels's play Kindertransport, FRANCE Incidentally, both my parents survived directed by Melanie Frost in Oxford. Sir - I would like to reply to Freddie in Berlin through being hidden by six Many Kinder may have understood Knoller (December issue). General de non-Jewish friends, at the risk of their rationally the enormous sacrifice their Gaulle never pretended that he had own lives. So, as you can see, the parents made in sending them to won the war 'single-handed'. To say sacrifice of German Jewish soldiers safety. At an emotional level, the that most of the French people were

6 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005 with the Nazis is an outrage. My Sound of Musid (December issue) division suffered 4,000 killed and 6,550 Richard Grunberger implies that Paula ARE YOU ON A LOW wounded. It seems Mr Knoller has Wessely may have been a Nazi INCOMEANDINNEED never heard of the Battle of Bir Hakim, sympathiser, and therefore which allowed General Montgomery to antisemitic. I don't accept this. My first OF HOMECARE HELP? re-form the 8th Army. Monty was able cousin. Professor Otto Durer (born AJR might be able to offer you to regroup his forces! There was not Otto Demant), a Jew who was in financial assistance for cleaning, one city in France without a resistance hiding throughout the war in gardening and caring. movement. Amsterdam, produced nearly all her Members who might not Rolf Weinberg films after the war, until her death. otherwise be able to afford Sidcup Would she have wanted to work with homecare please contact: him if she had felt any guilt about her Estelle Brookner, Secretary part in the vile and violent anti-Jewish CZECHOSLOVAKIA AJR Social Services Dept movement in Vienna? Indeed, Otto Sir - I refer to Robert Miller's letter Tel: 020 8385 3070 brought her and her husband Attila (November issue). His ignorance of Horbiger to visit us when I was living immediate postwar events in with my parents in Banbury. I found Czechoslovakia is quite extraordinary. I them both charming, and they even shudder to think what the origin of his Companions participated in one of our Shabbat sources is. The Czechoslovak of London services. Richard, you're a good writer, authorities never expelled any of the Incorporating but unbelievably biased. Talk about Hampstead Home Care few returning Czech Jews who had OrlaGuerin! survived the German concentration A long established company Peter Phillips camps, for the reason that they spoke providing care in your home Loudwater, Herts German. On the contrary, up to the Assistance with personal care Communist putsch in 1948, the General household duties BOUQUETS Czechoslovak authorities were helpful Respite care and sympathetic to returnees who had Sir - I think your articles and Medical appointment service comments are witty, well-expre.ssed, proper claims to the restitution of Nazi- 'OUR CARE IS YOUR CARE' in excellent English, and with a confiscated property. 020 7483 0212/0213 JUm wonderful sense of humour. I am full Arnost Polak, Lt.Col. ret. of admiration and look forward to Cobham reading all future copies of the Journal. A^ SPRING AUSTRIA Zemira Hassett GROVE Sir - As well as paying the final Loughborough 214 Finchley Road instalment of the restitution from London NWS the General Fund by the Austrian Sir - Please keep your very welcome London's Most Luxurious Government, the City of Vienna monthly edition coming regularly for RETIREMENT HOME has made a further gesture of our enjoyment. • Entertainment-Activities reconciliation by sponsoring a week's Frank Reichmann • Stress Free Living visit to the city with hotel and flight North Leigh, Oxon • 24 Hour Staffing • Excellent Cuisine paid for, on behalf of former Jewish • Full En-Suite Facilities Viennese citizens. It is gratifying to see Call for more information such a gesture by people in authority LIFE CERTIFICATES or a personal tour who probably had not been born when Sir -1 refer to Michael Newman's note 020 8446 2117 those citizens had been forced to flee on this subject in the December issue or 020 7794 4455 their homes. As one of the former of the Journal. For many years now my [email protected] Kindertransportees who has been Certificate of Life form has been fortunate in being selected for the next signed by the Electoral Registration such visit, on 13 March 2005, I would Officer in York (with York City Council's Simon R Rhodes M.Ch.S. STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST be interested in contacting others on nice official stamp on it) and this has Surgeries at: this visit. My telephone number is always been accepted without demur 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp M&S) 020 8770 9807, my email address by the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt Telephone 020 7624 1576 in Vienna. I pointed this out at a [email protected]. 3 Queens Close (off Green Lane) Alfred Kessler meeting some years ago. The service Edgware, Middx HA87PU has always been free of charge. Telephone 020 8905 3264 BRICKBAT Stefan Ruff Visiting chiropody service available Sir - In his article 'A change from The York AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

David Bomberg's Ghetto Theatre, painted in 1926, similarly focuses on RG'S INTGRFACG NOTES thematic colour: the black hats and red suits seen in the upper gallery contrast Postwar Austria under the Gloria Tessler with the duller attire worn below, as microscope In January the Austrian Cultural Institute showed the entire though Bomberg is commenting on a Axel Corti trilogy of films entitled Faces in the Crowd is an enticing title Jewish isolationism - self-imposed or Where to and Back scripted by Georg for Whitechapel Gallery's current otherwise. From theatre to other types Troller. It also screened Carol Reed's exhibition. It implies the kind of broad of exhibitionism, there are ringside The Third Man with a script by brush-stroke that sweeps through post- boxers showing off their brute Graham Greene. Impressionism to Modernism, and is a musculature, primitive masks, and Meanwhile, the New End Theatre brave and imaginative attempt to see sleeping girls, such as Edvard staged the cabaret-type show Tonight man from his outer perimeters. Munch's The Day After, an erotic Lola Blau with music and lyrics by Georg Kreisler (and programme Sometimes, it is the crowd rather than painting in which the girl has fallen notes by RG). the face which offers the defining asleep dressed in her chemise and Mythical martyr The Turkish opportunity to express change. boots. Umberto Boccioni's 1910 director Galip Lyitanio has made a In his poem whose title inspired the work The City Rises is a mass of semi- biopic of a German-Jewish exhibition, Ezra Pound described the abstract movement which, in its way, Communist heroine under the title faces he saw on the Paris Metro in 1913 epitomises the exhibition's context of Resa Benario - a Life for the Revolution. as 'petals on a wet, black bough'. In fact, the evolution ofthe modern city. Resa was born in Munich in 1908 the daughter of a socialist lawyer. In 1928 the only face that stands out for me is Marcel Duchamp - he ofthe famed she liberated a political prisoner from Christian Schad's somnolent flapper latrine - offers a rectangular Moabit jail and fled with him to girl, a tight-lipped brunette with a red photograph of two seated men Moscow. In 1933 the Comintern sent hibiscus flower. mirrored as four. It states the intention, her to Brazil to prepare a left-wing equally mirrored in much of the work, uprising, which was bloodily that all is not what it seems. In fact, suppressed. Extradited to Germany, quoting Baudelaire's spectacle of she was gassed at Ravensbruck. Birthday Lauren Bacall has turned thousands of floating existences, the 80. A cousin of the Israeli politician whole show made me feel a sense, not Shimon Peres, she was bom in the of communication but isolation. The Bronx and discovered by Howard fear instilled into people by war, for Hawkes. In her first film, To Have and example, is memorably captured in Have Not, she was cast opposite Henri Cartier-Bresson's disturbing Humphrey Bogart, whom she photos of a transit camp in Germany in married. The couple resisted McCarthyism in Hollywood and at 1945; the returnees from the Eastern one point Bacall was sacked by Front liberated by the Soviet Army; or Warner Brothers for refusing to most chillingly, a young Belgian woman appear in a film with the right-winger being identified as a Gestapo informer Ronald Reagan. as she tries to hide from the crowd. In Obituaries The Israeli author Moshe Shamir has died, aged 83. He achieved Maika 1929 by Christian Schad. similar vein, there are Reich Oil on canvas. Private Collection. propaganda posters typifying the fame with his account of Kibbutz pioneers but later moved to the right, © VG-Bildkunst, Bonn totalitarian art of its time, while the resigning firom the Likud Party in deathly etchings of Kathe Kollwitz There are two magnificent paintings protest at Begin's return of Sinai in which the face is subsumed by the identify the victims' pain. to Egypt. crowd. One is Andreas Gursky's Humour comes through George The Austrian-born film actor Willy stunning May Day, in which a mass of Segal's dry cleaning shop installation Eichberger has died in Hollywood golden hands raised up in the darkness and a pair of polyester resin life-size aged 93. He first attracted attention in demonstrates the communication twins perched on swings above eye- the film version of Arthur Schnitzler's Liebelei, directed by Max Ophuls. between people through one event. The level by Juan Minoz. The whole is Being Jewish, both their names were other is Manet's Masked Ball - punctuated by the mournful, repetitive omitted firom the credits when the film ominous, close up with its ubiquitous strains of a bassoon accompanying an was shown in Germany in the mid- black top hats, court jester and glimpse animated sketch installation by thirties. Eichberger subsequently of a white leg in a red boot. It certainly William Kentridge. All human life, it appeared in British and American brings an eerily cultish feel to the party. seems, is here. films under the name Carl Esmond. AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

Labour of love like Oz's parents and grandparents, had been caught up in the Zionist fervour REFLECTIONS: BUNCE COURT infusing the towns and villages of edited and published by Hans Meyer, REVIEWS Eastern Europe but were reluctant to 2004, £17 post-publication incl. leave the Europe they loved for the postage and packaging, 122 pp. distant 'Asiatic' homeland that offered them refuge until the ground 'burned the war in Poland, hidden or in camps. under their feet'. This privately published book has its He became Professor of Sociology at genesis in a Bunce Court school reunion Humboldt State University, California Oz's parents, Fania Mussman and which took place in the garden of Hans and heads an institute which conducts Arieh Klausner, deracinated Meyer, one of the few surviving research on altruism, heroism and immigrants who met at the Hebrew teachers, 18 months ago. Following the forgiveness! One set of reminiscences University in the late 1930s, were, like reunion, Hans Meyer invited as many comes from Hans Meyer's son Joseph, many of their contemporaries, victims former pupils as he was able to locate who was born in the school (his mother of this 'unhappy love affair with to write a short article on what Bunce was Hannah Goldschmidt) in 1938. He Europe'. And in this haunting tale of his Court meant to them, 'warts and all'. writes: 'However, for the rest of my life I childhood and adolescence, This book is the result of his labour of have retained a modicum of tolerance, masterfully reconstructed like a novel, love and it provides a fascinating of rebelliousness and of a care for Israel's leading writer confronts the historical record of a small group of children who, as were my school trauma he experienced at the age of former refugees and a few English fellows at Bunce Court, so much less twelve-and-a-half when, as he puts it, people who were fortunate enough to fortunate than I.' He has now retired as his mother 'chose to end her life'. find shelter and an education in Anna a paediatrician. In a 'low-ceilinged ground floor flat' Essinger's avant-garde co-educational Finally, Hans Meyer himself has in Jerusalem stuffed full of books, the boarding school. written, at the insistence of some of his seeds of the future writer were sown. The book has a lengthy and lucidly former pupils. He concludes: 'We knew Here the erudite, loquacious and written introduction and a brief of Bunce Court's precarious situation, pedantic Arieh, frustrated in his appreciation of Anna Essinger, the we knew that it could not and probably ambition to pursue an academic career, headmistress, by Eric Bourne. Some 70 needed not to exist for longer than its and the dreamy, subdued and people contributed their memories, efforts required. But as long as there insightful Fania, enmeshed in the and the text - some of it a direct copy of were children to whose wellbeing and gothic fantasies with which she regales the handwritten articles, letters or even thus their future we could make a her young son, play out the disastrous cartoons - is interlaced with old modest contribution, we hoped to stay marital liaison they entered with the photographs of buildings and people. on. Their trust and affection was the best of intentions. This claustrophobic One particularly striking one is of the school's greatest gift to us.' environment pervades Oz's depiction bell that was rung at critical moments of Jerusalem as a dim outpost, remote Copies of this book can be obtained of the day. The cover has an attractive from the world out there, 'over the hills from Hans Meyer, Greet Cottage, painting of the main building on the and far away', a Jerusalem he abandons Doddington, Kent ME9 ONI North Downs of Kent, executed by a in the wake of the tragedy and his Leslie Baruch Brent former pupil when she was in the father's remarriage a year later school inthelate30s or early 40s. Not only does the teenage Amos Contributors come from 12 embrace kibbutz life; he changes his countries, with the majority from the Confronting a trauma family name from Klausner to Oz, a UK and the USA. One encounters decision that, he claims, 'killed' his A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS relatively few 'warts', although there father A family of eminent Revisionists, are a few criticisms. One concerns the by Amos Oz supporters of Jabotinsky and Begin, the virtual absence of sex education. In translated by Nicholas de Lange, Klausners were in thrall to the general, some 60 to 70 years later, Chatto & Windus, £17.99 distinguished head of the clan, Arieh's people are extremely grateful to the uncle. Professor Joseph Klausner. Oz school and recount happy memories; 'Nowhere in the world wants me. recalls with humour the rivalry there seems to be an extraordinarily Nobody in the world wants me... That's strong bond between them even now. the only reason I'm here. That's the only It is perhaps invidious to single out reason I'm carrying a gun so they won't Annely Juda Fine Art kick me out of here the way they've particular contributions, but 23 Dering Street undoubtedly the most famous of the kicked me out of everywhere else.' (off New Bond Street) ex-pupils is the painter Frank Auerbach. These words of Ephraim Avineri, He concludes his handwritten eulogy founder member of Kibbutz Hulda Tel: 020 7629 7578 by writing 'I cannot imagine a better and a mentor of the teenage Amos Fax: 020 7491 2139 home', and these sentiments are Oz, encapsulate the predicament CONTEMPORARY PAINTING echoed by many Samuel Oliner had confronting immigrants to arrived in Bunce Court in 1945; he was Palestine/Israel in the pre-state period AND SCULPTURE one of a dozen or so boys who survived and the early years of statehood. Many, AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005 between 'Uncle Joseph' and his with Harold Wilson. The pace of the neighbour across the road, the future narrative and continuous dialogue and Letter from Israel Nobel laureate 'Mr S Y Agnon'. passion from the cast ensured wrapt Dorothea Shefer-Vanson With consummate skill, Oz merges attention from a full house despite the personal history with the momentous rather long two hours and twenty Coming back to Israel after a trip events of the 1940s. The vote at the minutes on stage. abroad almost always produces United Nations partitioning Palestine The play's author, C. P. Taylor, who mixed feelings. Suddenly one into a Jewish and an Arab state and the was born into an immigrant Jewish realises how hot, dry and dusty resulting siege of Jerusalem are family in Glasgow in 1929, originally the country still is, despite the particularly vividly recreated. Also premiered his play in 1966, and in all valiant efforts of the authorities striking are Oz's recollections of rival wrote more than 70 plays before his and the various settlement political giants: Begin, his one-time untimely death in 1981 at the age of organisations, whether pre- or hero, whose speech at a political rally 52. Bread & Butter is one of several post-state, to plant trees and turns 12-year-old Amos away from which continue to be produced and shrubs, sow crops and generally Revisionism, and Ben-Gurion, who appreciated. „ , , ^, 'make the desert bloom'. invites the young kibbutznik, who Ronald Channing Of course, there is no point had dared challenge a newspaper comparing Israel with the article he had written, to a personal countries of temperate Europe, meeting. A special highlight of Oz's Wilhelm Busch where all is green and fertile. And childhood, despite its less than Humoristischer Hausschatz the contrast with North America is auspicious ending, is a visit with friends Gothic German: 12 x W/i": 358pp even starker. The vastness, wealth of his parents to the opulent villa of a 1908 edition: fully illustrated and abundance of that part of the wealthy Arab family. Excellent condition, £45 world is so striking as to put it in But the constant, pervasive Radlett (01923 856903) a category of its own. undercurrent to this Bildungsroman. a superb literary achievement, is Fania's But each time I visit the USA I tragic fate, which Oz treats with great cannot help having a mental image of the Jews of Germany who were sensitivity and courage. TALES IN TANDEM Emma Klein refused refuge by any Western by country, despite the immense PETER and LILI HART territories available to the USA, Park bench dreamers A selection of their Short Canada and Australia, to name but Stories and Poems a few. That helped to produce BREAD 8< BUTTER Auto-biographical and what became known as the Final by C.P. Taylor Fiction on many topics Solution, wherein most of the Jews directed by Mark Rosenblatt of Europe were systematically Bookshops & internet £8.99 Tricycle Theatre, London murdered. www.authorsonline.co.uk And so, whenever I come back Two working class Jews living in ISBN No. 07552 01531 to this poor, arid land my heart Glasgow's Gorbals slum in 1931 dream swells. After all, it does have a together on a park bench. Alec, a strange beauty of its own. Yes, it's presser in a clothing factory, played by imperfect. Yes, many of us are not Michael Wilson, is content to feed the WANTED TO BUY happy with the government. Come pigeons, but his best friend Morris, German and to think of it, about 50 per cent of then a 'student' and later an insurance Americans aren't too pleased with man, played by Gerry Lepkowski, English Books theirs. And probably the same will favours a revolution. Bread & Butter is apply to England's population at the hilarious and heartbreaking story of Established bookdealer the next election. That's what their eccentric friendship. Mixing talk (AJR member) happens in democracies. The point of war and women with salmon always welcomes invitations is that one always has the right to sandwiches, the two men search for a to view and purchase protest, demonstrate and/or vote little happiness among the rubble of at the next election. the twentieth century. valuable books The idea here is, of course, that With the play beginning in 1931 and For an immediate response, Israel is 'a poor thing but our spanning four decades of British life, please contact: Robert Hornung own'. Here we can feel at home. the passage of time is demarcated by 2 Mount View, Ealing, Here we can defend ourselves and reference to the prime minister London W5 IPR give our brethren refuge. And that currently in office, so the audience is Email: [email protected] is something we cannot always be led from Ramsey McDonald, through Tel: 020 8998 0546 Neville Chamberlain and Clement (Spm to 9pm Is best) sure of an3^where else. Atlee, to Harold Macmillan, finishing

10 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

A wise and kindly man, now in his 90th government was prepared to accept year, Arieh Handler remains reticent 1,500 of them, so Arieh was sent from about recounting his courageous rescue PROFILE London to organise their absorption. of children from Hitler's Germany. He Ronald Channing Against his strong opposition, was born in 1915 in Brno, where his Stockholm's Jewish community agreed father was a serving Austrian army that they be sent to Lapland! Many officer. The family owned a large metal married and settled, others sadly recovery business in Halberstadt, but Arieh Handler committed suicide, but the majority moved to help establish an orthodox reached thejewish Agency and obtained community in Magdeburg. Though Dedicated to the certificates to go to Palestine. Later in Arieh's early education was at a Catholic rescue of 1945 he returned to Palestine as school, in 1929 his parents sent him to a Director of the World Religious Labour yeshiva in Frankfurt, where he also Jewish children Movement in Europe and Treasurer attended the famous Lessing of Hapoel Mizrachi, continuing to Gymnasium with the expectation of ievelo^ aliyah. becoming a lawyer. On 14 May 1948 Arieh was present in By 1932 Arieh, though only 17, was the Tel Aviv Museum at the declaration convinced that Jews unable to emigrate of the State of Israel and may well be the would be 'done away with', so he left sole survivor of that historic assembly. school and, with other youth leaders, He was sent on many clandestine travelled to Crakow and Warsaw to warn missions for the Jewish Agency to of the coming danger. As a leader of the organise the rescue of North African religious Zionist youth movements in Jews. Eventually, Prime Minister Germany, B'nai Akiva and Bachad, he Sharett convinced him of the need to was from then on engaged non-stop in establish an Israeli insurance company rescuing children, sending them to in London: Migdal. Though he remained training farms in Belgium, Denmark, in banking in England, he retained his the Netherlands, France and England. agricultural training of young people for many friends and close family in Israel From 1933 to 1938 the Nazis kibbutz life, working with such notables and regularly commutes between encouraged Jews to leave Germany. The as Rebecca Sieff, Lola Hahn Warburg London and an apartment near the Gestapo did not stamp his passport with and Mrs Neville Laski. Knesset. In 1972 he accompanied the a 'J' as he was permitted to go in and out Eager that Kindertransport children late Lord Fisher to Ethiopia to evaluate of Germany. 'We could have saved at and young adults should retain their the plight of the ancient Jewish least two-thirds of German Jewry if Jewish cultural identities, he fought to community of the Falashas, who Western countries would have provided find Jewish homes and hachsharah eventually settled in Israel. visas', he says. He was sent to Palestine centres, but the Jewish-German He believes it is imperative that Israel in 1935, the first of many visits to Refugee Committee in Bloomsbury be built as a 'light unto the nations', and increase the absorption of religious House saw its prime responsibility as cannot be just another nation-state. immigrants, working with Dr Joseph rescue. Non-Jewish friends too were Even Zionists and Jews did not always Burg (later an Israeli government generous, such as the Cadbury family, know how to defend Israel's interests. minister) in Germany. During a short who gave Avoncroft Agricultural 'Once our enemies wanted to kill us', he visit to Austria, Arieh is convinced that College, in Bromsgrove, and Lord says, but now Israel's universities, he came face-to-face with Adolf Balfour, who donated the use of hospitals, hi-tech industries and Eichmann on the train. Whittingehame College in Scotland. businesses make him an optimist. It is In November 1938 Henrietta Szold, 'Anything to save a life has to be a good the spirit of Israel that is all-important. head of Youth Aliyah, requested Arieh to thing', says Arieh, but Anglo-Jewry Arieh has never really retired from create places for religious children in 'could have done more to help'. active communal leadership, continues Palestine. While he was there, a coded At the end of the war he established to edit the fewish Review, the voice of cable from Dr Burg implored him not to contact with Jews in Eastern Europe and reUgious Zionism, and remains in retum to Germany as he faced arrest the USSR. In the DP camps he offered demand as a speaker and adviser. He - as there. Instead, armed with a letter from help and training to survivors desiring to did his wife Henny too until recently - Henrietta Szold to Chaim Weitzmann reach Palestine, including those leaves his St Johns Wood cottage every and Chief Rabbi Hertz, he went to embarking on the Exodus. Among the weekday at 6.30 am and at 8 am on London. From an office in Woburn DPs in Theresienstadt and other camps Sundays to go swimming just as they did House Arieh continued the rescue and were hundreds of Jewish girls, mostly in the Elbe in Magdeburg all those hachsharah, the vocational and from Poland and Hungary. The Swedish years ago!

11 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

many members had never had the details were not so well known. We were INSIDE opportunity to light a Chanukah candle, regaled with delicious seasonal delicacies. Rudi Leavor conducted a special Members contributed some of their theAJR Chanukah service. Finally, delicious personal experiences of Chanukah. refreshments were served, concluding a Rudi Simmoruis very successful function. A A Waxman Next meeting: Monday 21 February Next meeting: Monday 21 February South-West Midlands chinwag High-Style catering in We were once again entertained royally by Liverpool harmony Ruth and Allan Jackson in Pershore, with North London all members also making a small We held a most enjoyable pre-Chanukah Our Chanukah party was catered - contribution of goodies. Having had a good party. Those attending were entertained as we have almost come to expect - in 'chinwag' and learned a bit more about by The Fynettes - Tamara and Leslie from high style by Helen and Leo Horn, each other, we inspected, and admired, the Second Generation - who sang a complete with doughnuts and latkes. Not Ruth's newly published book Memories of selection of melodies from well-known exactly the diet a doctor would a Childhood (see review in December musicals as well as other songs. Their recommend, but most enjoyable issue of AfR fournal). Ruth Price harmonisation and accompanying dance nevertheless. Many thanks, the Horns. steps were delightful. The entertainment This was followed by members talking was followed by appropriate about their memories of Chanukah past. Essex Chanukah celebration refreshments, including doughnuts. It is really most interesting to hear people We were invited to celebrate Chanukah by Geraldfayson reliving their past experiences. joining the community party provided by Herbert Haberberg the Ladies' Guild of Southend and Westcliff Hebrew congregation. Over 120 Traditional party in Pinner Next meeting: Thursday 24 February. people from organisations attached to the Over 50 members gathered for this Israel update community enjoyed the afternoon, which enjoyable event. We were well entertained by Vivienne Keiles with a consisted of musical entertainment Cambridge talk on Anglo- mixture of East End Yiddish-Cockney, followed by a delicious tea and candle- Jewish history lighting. To complete the afternoon, Scottish Gaelic, South American, English, and Spanish-Jewish songs, ably We greatly appreciated a talk by Susannah everyone was given a Chanukah gift. Alexander, Education Officer at the Myma Glass accompanied by Ian Watson on the accordion. We then indulged in more ofthe Jewish Museum. Having outlined her role Next meeting: Tuesday 8 February, 11.00 traditional Chanukah activities of lighting at the Museum, where she is particularly am. Essex group's third birthday party candles, singing, eating and talking. A concerned with teaching young children, good time was had by all. PaulSamet she gave us an excellent talk on 'The llford party and quiz History of the Jews in England'. Her Next meeting: Thursday 3 February, 2 pm. address ranged over Jewish history in this A most enjoyable party and quiz were Graphologist Allan Conway, 'Just when country from 1066 to the present, giving a arranged for us with a great deal of thought you thought it was safe to sign your name' fascinating insight into the role and status and care by the AfR's Myrna and Karen. of succeeding Jewish communities, often As well as prizes we were all given a Old and new friends at affected by adverse conditions and Chanukah present and the party Newcastle post-Chanukah social the influx of new groups escaping atmosphere was further enhanced by the We had a most enjoyable 'Post-Chanukah persecution. Keith Lawson provision of seasonal goodies. Many, many Social' in the Lionel Jacobsen House. thanks fromal l of us. Susie Shipman Next meeting: Thursday 17 February. Musical entertainment was organised by Danka Binks tells her story Next meeting: Wednesday 2 February, the accomplished pianist Agi Albert, who 10.30 am. Richard Grunberger, AfRJoumal accompanied Margaret Borthwick in Editor-in-Chief, 'Speaking Memory' works by Faure and Bozza. We then heard FORTHCOMING MEETINGS a recital of works by Gershwin and Jerome Kent Tuesday 1 February. Bertha Leverton, 'Aspects ofthe Kindertransport' Joint pre-Chanukah party in Kern. A delectable spread of refreshments North London Thursday 10 February. Visit Bradford provided a much appreciated element of a to Disraeli Exhibition at Jewish Museum Susanne Green organised a delightful and very pleasant get-together of old and new Norfolk Tuesday 15 February. Lunchtime very well attended Chanukah party at the friends. Susanne Green spoke briefly get-together Mornington Hall of the Bradford Hebrew about plans for future meetings. Congregation Synagogue. Members came Kurt Schapira llford Tuesday 15 February. Disraeli Exhibition from Hull, Harrogate, Leeds, Batley, Elland and, of course, Bradford and Seasonal delicacies in Brighton and Pinner Wednesday 16 February. Disraeli Shipley, to be treated to most enjoyable Hove Sarid Exhibition entertainment provided by the Freylach Myrna Glass talked about the historical Nottingham Tuesday 22 February. Spielers together with Hymie Cohen. As background of Chanukah, of which many Lunchtime get-together

12 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

Paul BalJnt AJR Day Centre Tsunami: AJR members' response 1 5 Cleve Road, London, NW6 Corey Simon Tel: 020 7328 0208

Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) is a Jewish Aid as part of the UK Jewish DAY CENTRE CLOSED ON TUESDAYS Jewish obligation to our community community's response to the and to the world, Jews and non-Jews humanitarian needs, as well as long- Would members please note that, alike. Asia and those affected by the term development programmes, of as from 1 February 2005, tsunami disaster are in need of urgent victims. Donations to World Jewish Aid the Paul Balint AJR Day Centre help. One way to commemorate can be made by telephone on 020 7691 will be closed on Tuesdays Holocaust Memorial Day is to donate to 1771 and further information is tsunami victims facing displacement, available on their website: AJR LUNCHEON CLUB the horror of rebuilding their lives, the www.worldjewishaid.org.uk loss of loved ones and separation from For updates on how to contribute to Wednesday 16 FEBRUARY 2005 theirfamily the tsunami disaster recovery process, Lady Valerie Cocks The AJR is collecting monetary read AJR Journal and check our 'Brick Lane to the donations to aid the survival of victims website: www.ajrorg.uk House of Lords' of the tragedy. If you would like to Corey Simon, a student in Psychology 11.45 am for 12.15 pm contribute to the relief effort, please and International Development at send your donations to the AJR Clark University in Worcester, MA, USA, Early reservations please! (reference Tsunami Disaster). is working at the AJR as part of her Lunch now only £5 The AJR is also working with World internship. Please telephone Sylvia or Susie on 020 7328 0208

IXTT AID Kindertransport HOLIDAY FOR NORTHERN MEMBERS Ix I ~r\J W special interest group Sun 10 July 2005 - Sun 17 July 2005 MONTHLY MEETINGS AT CLEVE ROAD AT THE FERNLEA HOTEL 11/17 South Promenade, St Annes tel 01253 726 726 The cost, including DINNER, BED AND BREAKFAST, is £395 per person. The hotel Monday 7 FEBRUARY 2005 charges a supplement per room for sea view or deluxe room. 11.45 am for 12.15pm Please book early to avoid disappointment Michael Newman Please contact Ruth Finestone on 020 8385 3070 Director, Central Office for Holocaust Claims & AJR's AJR GROUP CONTACTS Head of Media and Public Relations Norfolk (Norwich) Brighton & Hove (Sussex Region) Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Reservations required Fausta Shelton 01273 734 648 North London Please telephone 020 7328 0208 Cambridge Jenny Zundel 020 8882 4033 Lisel Eisner 01223 356721 Oxford Monday - Thursday Dundee Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 9.30 am - 3.30 pm, Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Pinner (HA Postal District) Sunday 2 pm - 5.30 pm East Midlands (Nottingham) Vera Gellman 020 8866 4833 Bob Norton 01159 212 494 February Afternoon Entertainment: Sheffield Edinburgh Steve Mendelssohn 0114 2630666 Tue 1 CLOSED Fran^oise Robertson 0131 337 3406 South London Wed 2 Kentertainers Essex (Westcllff) Lore Robinson 020 8670 7926 Thur 3 Katinka Seiner Larry Lisner 01702 300812 South West Midlands (Worcester area) Sun 6 CLOSED Glasgow Ruth Jackson 01386 552264 Claire Singerman 0141 649 4620 Mon 7 KT LUNCH - Kards & Surrey Harrogate Games Klub Edmee Barta 01372 727 412 Inge Little 01423 886254 Tue 8 CLOSED Weald of Kent HGS Max and Jane Dickson Wed 9 Jack Davidoff Gerda Torrence 020 8883 9425 01892 541026 Thur 10 Simon Gilbert Hull Wessex (Bournemouth) Bob Rosner 0148 2649156 Sun 13 CLOSED Mark Goldfinger 01202 552 434 llford Mon 14 Kards & Games Klub West Midlands (Birmingham) Meta Roseneil 020 8505 0063 Ernest Aris 0121 353 1437 Tue 15 CLOSED Leeds HSFA Myrna Glass, AJR South and Midlands Wed 16 LUNCHEON CLUB Trude Silman 0113 2251628 Groups Co-ordinator Thur 17 Mike Marandi Liverpool 020 8385 3077 Sun 20 DAY CENTRE OPEN Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Susanne Green, AJR Northern Groups Mon 21 Kards & Games Klub Manchester Co-ordinator Werner Lachs 0161 773 4091 0151 291 5734 Tue 22 CLOSED Newcastle KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Wed 23 Nicola Smedley Walter Knoblauch 0191 2855339 Andrea Goodmaker 020 8385 3070 Thur 24 Margaret Opdahl Sun 27 CLOSED Editorials and articles published, and opinions expressed, in AJRJournal are not necessarily Mon 28 Kards & Games Klub those of the Association of Jewish Refugees and should not be regarded as such.

13 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENTS CARA Birth BELSIZE SQUARE Alweiss/Rosenkovitch. On Sunday 26 Were you involved with the Society for SYNAGOGUE the Protection of Science and Learning December 2004 at the Elizabeth 51 Belsize Square, NW3 4HX between 1951 and 2004? CARA (Council Garrett Anderson Hospital in London to Lilian for Assisting Refugee Academics) is keen and Noam, a daughter, Anna Lotte, a We offer a traditional style of to trace SPSL Committee Members and sister for Julia and Ben. religious service. Refugee Academics, their spouses and Birthday Details can be obtained from the children who may be interested in taking Synagogue Administrator Nathan. Regi. Mazeltov on your 90th part In an exciting new Oral History Telephone 020 8959 7086 or birthday With love from your daughters Project for a Museum of London email: [email protected] Frances and Jackie, sons-in-law Edward and exhibition. Warren, and grandchildren Debbie, Nicky, Minister: Rabbi Rodney J Mariner For more information please contact the Moshe Hadassah and Nicola. Regular Services CARA FIELDWORKER on 0207 021 0880, Deaths Friday evenings at 6.45pm CARA London Southbank University, Fuss. Grete Fuss passed away on 28 Saturday mornings at 10.00am Technopark90, London Rd SEI 6LN December 2004, sadly missed by her Religion School: Sundays 9.45am - 12.30pm daughter Diana. Nursery School: 9.15am - 12.15pm cara@[email protected] Belsize Under S's: 9.30 am - 11.30 am Michaelis. Hedda Irene, dearly loved aunt and friend to many, died 16 December. Private Space donated by Pafra Limited cremation. PHYSIOTHERAPY Salomonson. Walter Salomonson, bom in Meeting Rooms and our reburbished communal hall are available for cultural Ultrasound treatment Nordhom, passed away peacefully on 26 and social functions. where appropriate. December 2004 in his 101st year, deeply Tel: 020 7794 3949 Manual Lymphatic drainage. mourned by his wife I^ula, relatives and Therapeutic treatment for the Elderly. fiiends in the USA, Israel, Holland. England Therapeutic massage. and many other countries. Jewisfi Care & tfie Otto Pre and post op. Classified Sctiiff Housing Association Home visits women only Manlcurf) & Pedicure in the comfort ofyour N3, NW2, NW3, NW6, NWS, NWl 1 meet the personal and nursing care needs own home. Telephone 020 8343 0976. Andrea Langfritz of the Jewish Refugee Community. Chartered Physiotherapist Balint House, Leo Baeck House & Osmond House BUPA and PPP registered 2s COMPANY are situated In The Bisliops Avenue, where residents live In spacious and comfortable Telephone: 01494 876043 U Company sp«eiali8»)i In surroundings, looked after In a warm and caring (ompanionsihip, wh«th«r for yourself, environment. Residents can enjoy a variety of your ftimily or (fiends. We can be activities and outmgs, as well as take part In there at any time and any plaee to traditional synagogue services and the celebration ACACIA LODGE aeeompany you on any thopplng of Jewish festivals. Mrs Pringsheim, S.R.N. MATRON tr)p«, journeys, hoUdays, walks or Short term respite care also available. For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent even a euppa, Uving In or living out. For mon intormatlofl call Jewish Cirt Dlrtct lUcenstd by Borough ot Bamet) Why not eall ui for an Informal ehat en MO Mas 3222 w enuil us at • Single and Double Rooms. on 030 7373 3344 iewUhea(«

Audto-typtsta require to tranicrilE»« fltffl«d tHt«rvt«wi ALTERATIONS with f^rm«r reftig«M (on vifl««). SWITCH ON ELECTRICS Contact Dr Anthoay GrenvUI« at Rewifea an^ all howaeheld OF ANY KIND TO LADIES' FASHIONS AJR (Mondays) or email electrical work I also elesign and make children's clothes ABfirenvU)e®ao),com PHONE PAUL: 030 8200 3818 Weat Hampstead area (Mobile: 0798 614 8888 030 7U8 8571

14 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

Disco). At Goethe Institute, German Obituary Cultural Centre, 50 Princes Gate, Central Office for Exhibition Road, London SW7, 7 pm. Holocaust Claims Shimon Wincelberg Organised by London Jewish Cultural Michael Newman Centre Shimon Wincelberg, a script writer who Hungarian'Gold Train' lawsuit Mon 14 Dr Gwen Williams, '"Shadows" in pioneered the portrayal of Orthodox At the end of last year, the US Judaism in US television drama, has died 19th-century English Literature'. Club government announced its intention to at the age of 80. Having arrived in the 43 settle the lawsuit dubbed 'Gold Train' USA as a refugee from the German city of Tues 15 Rehearsed Reading: 'Goys and filed by a group of Hungarian Kiel in 1938, Wincelberg introduced Gals', a new play by Penelope Solomon, Holocaust survivors. Jewish themes into some of the most directed by Julia Pascal. Soho Theatre, 21 popular shows on television. Over a The judge presiding over the case Dean Street, London Wl. Tel Spiro Ark on hundred of his scripts were dramatised, being heard in a Florida court ordered 020 7723 9991 in Gunsmoke, Star Trek, Dynasty, Paper that the precise terms of the settlement Chase and others. Thurs 17 Professor Leonard Dinnerstein, now be decided, and they will be Having served in the infantry in the 'Is There a New Antisemitism in the announced at a hearing at the end of Second World War, Wincelberg scored his United States?' London Jewish Cultural February 2005. Plaintiffs have first success on Broadway with Kataki, a Centre, 7.30 pm demanded up to $10,000 each for as play about an American and a Japanese many as 30,000 Hungarian Jews and Mon 21 Rhoda Atkin MA, 'History and soldier isolated on a remote island. Later their survivors. Memory: Remembering the Lodz screenplays also included A Cat in the Ghetto (October 1939 - January 1945)'. The dispute centres on the alleged Ghetto and King of the Schnorrers. His Club 43 looting of valuables by American short stories and reviews were published soldiers during the Second World War. in leading US and British magazines. Tues 22 Dr Tobias Brinkmann (University Some 24 boxcars filled with $200 Wincelberg was a four-time winner of the of Southampton), 'Community in million worth of art, gold, silver, furs Writers' Guild of America awards and was Transit: Jewish Migrants from East and household goods stolen by the also honoured by the Mystery Writers of Central Europe in Berlin after the First Nazis were confiscated by the United America, the British Council and the World War*. Parkes Institute, University of Edinburgh Festival. Southampton, 5.30 pm, Room 1163, States army. American troops Avenue Campus tel 023 8059 2261 intercepted the train in May 1945 and moved its contents to a warehouse Tues 22 BAFTA winner Carl Davis near Salzburg. Arts and Events Diary discusses his career composing music for February 2005 silent film, particularly Charlie Chaplin's Additional Swiss bank accounts films since 1980. London Jewish Cultural Further to the notice in last December's Centre, 7.30 pm To Thurs 17 March 'Art Behind Barbed Journal, an additional list of names of Wire'. Exhibition of works by refugees Wed 23 Professor John Rohl (University of owners of Swiss bank accounts has in internment camps during Second Sussex), 'The Kaiser and the Jews'. been published on two designated World War. Artists include Hugo Centre for German-Jewish Studies lecture websites: www.crt-ii.org and Dachinger, Walter Nessler and Fritz at Wiener Library, 7.00 pm. Tel 020 7580 www.swissbankclaims.com. Rosen. London Jewish Cultural Centre 3493 or email [email protected] Signing of Austrian life certificates Mon 31 January Dr Anthony Grenville Wed 23 Dr Nils Roemer (Southampton), The AJR continues to be available to talks about his forthcoming book on 'German Cities - Jewish Memories: The notarise the Lebensbescheinigungen Jewish refugees from Hitler in Britain, Story of Worms'. Institute of Jewish (life certificates) of Austrian 'Aliens' and After. Club 43 Studies, UCL, Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, 6.45 pm (from 6.00 pm pensioners. Please note that an item of To Sat 5 Feb Diane Samuels's play reception in Haldane Room) tel 020 7679 official identification, such as a Kindertransport. Ilkley Playhouse, tel 3520 passport or driving licence, must be 01943 609539,7.30 pm presented for this purpose. Mon 28 Prof Michael Alpert, 'An Earlier Sun 6 Seminar: Internees Behind Kindertransport: The Basque Children Further help Barbed Wire in Britain. Historians, art of 1937'. Club 43 Written enquiries should be sent to critics, film-makers and refugees discuss internment and policies that led to it. ORGANISATION CONTACTS Central Office for Holocaust Claims London Jewish Cultural Centre, 2.00 to Club 43 Belsize Square Synagogue. (UK), Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, 5.00 pm Meetings 7.45 pm. Contact Hans Seelig Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL, by fax to tel 01442 254360 020 8385 3075, or by email to Mon 7 Dr Rudolf Muhs, 'Between [email protected]. Assistance can be Nazism and Resistance: German London Jewish Cultural Centre, Kings provided strictly by appointment at the Protestant Pastors in London during College, Kidderpore Avenue, London Holocaust Survivors Centre in Hendon, theThird Reich'. Club43 NW3, tel 020 74310345 north London. For an appointment, Tues 8 European Voices: An Evening Wiener Library 4 Devonshire Street, please ring 020 8385 3074. with Author Wladimir Kaminer (Russian London Wl tel 020 7636 7247

15 AJR JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2005

Television follows Ludwig Spiro's return to Isle of Man Newsround

Ronald Channing New legislation on Jewish immigration to Germany After an interval of 65 years, Ludwig recorded responding to David's Under legislation effective from the Spiro, now a sprightly 92-year-old, a questions about the conditions under beginning of this year, those wishing to former internee and supervisor of which he and David's grandfather emigrate to Germany as Jews need to be Onchan internment camp on the Isle of Ernst had been arrested, transported to semi-fluent in German, not dependent on Man, returned to the island with the and lived on the island in 1940-41. welfare and not over the age of 45, and author and television personality David Ludwig recalled having to report to will have to apply to one of Germany's Baddiel. They were exploring the Kingsbury police station and being Jewish communities for a certificate common experiences of Ludwig and pelted with eggs as the internees stating that they would be accepted as a Baddiel's grandfather, Ernst Fabian, who walked through Liverpool, regarded as member should they emigrate to had also been interned as a German- despised Germans. Germany. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Jewish refugee at the beginning of the Both Ludwig and Ernst had been Germany's Jewish population has risen to Second World War Ludwig confided classified as category 'B', which over 100,000 with the arrival of Jews from that accepting the repeated invitations suggested the possession of the former Soviet Union. The legislation is of the production company and the BBC professional, academic or other prompted partly by budgetary demands to take part in the programme had been intellectual qualifications. This led to the and, apparently, by the fear that the a difficult decision. eight or nine camps' legendary expanding Jewish community could ignite David Baddiel was exploring the 'universities' in which world authorities antisemitism in Germany. genealogical history of his own family lectured on their special subjects and New light on Jewish refugee GIs for a programme in the fascinating renowned musicians gave recitals. The Second World War exploits of the television series Who Do You Think You The following day Ludwig was 'Ritchie Boys', a US army unit made up Are? Baddiel senior, who owned a brick- filmed while accompanying David mainly of young Jewish refugees from making factory in Konigsberg before the on a beachside walk. Several hours Germany, have been recorded for the first war - the site of which David Baddiel of unique recollections from a time in a 90-minute documentary by rediscovered in the programme - had contemporary witness were edited German filmmaker Christian Bauer. The found refuge in Swansea, before facing down to a precious few minutes, but Ritchie Boys served on and behind the internment. Ludwig Spiro's fully recorded memoir frontlines as, among other things, Settled comfortably in the bay is to be made available to scholars interrogators, psychological warriors, and window of a seafront hotel, Ludwig was and researchers. authors of anti-Nazi leaflets and broadcasts Poland trip 2004: the experience of a lifetime Yad Vashem database assembled Yad Vashem has assembled and made It is amazing what you can learn, see and incredible. We sat in a candle-lit room in available on the internet the world's do in a week, but on the JFS trip to the synagogue and each person got a largest and most comprehensive database Poland I discovered this. chance to express their thoughts about of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Three the trip, which was amazing to hear as We finally arrived at this famous camp million names, together with all available everyone had something different to [Auschwitz] and got to see the train biographical details and photographs, are say. But overall the general consensus tracks where hundreds of thousands of accessibleatwww.yadvashem.org. people were brought in for what was to was that this trip was moving, powerful, be an inevitable death. This site was emotional, and a once-in-a-lifetime 'WW2 People's War' project once again huge and very powerful, to experience. The BBC website is running a project which try and imagine numbers and what a All in all, I would advise any student to will be a way of honouring the efforts horrible life those must have had being go on this trip if possible. It is simply a made by members of the armed forces there. But this day was special as we met one-off trip which you can't get in who fought for Britain during the Second a survivor with his daughter returning to museums or by watching videos. The World War This is an online project to Poland for the first time. His stories group you go away with is incredible submit the stories and accounts of British brought tears to some and a smile to and the sites you get to see are just soldiers as well as those who endured the others to know that there were survivors breathtaking. There is no experience war at home. Details are available at to tell the tale. quite like this! www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/. Shabbat was for me an incredible day JFS received a grant from the AJR Anniversary of Herzl's death marked as I have never observed it properly. towards the participation of JFS The New York consuls-general of Austria, Everything we did was enjoyable. We students in the annual Poland Hungary and Switzerland joined their went to synagogue, had discussions, educational visit. These are excerpts Israeli counterpart at a ceremony marking sang and danced. In the evening we had from an article written by a child who the 100th anniversary of the death of our leaving ceremony, which was took part in that visit. Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism.

Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL Telephone 020 8385 3070 Fax 020 8385 3080 e-mail [email protected] Website www.ajrorg.uk

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