VOLUME 20 NO.8 AUGUST 2020 JOURNAL The Association of Jewish Refugees

SUMMER READING Racism and The AJR has been extraordinarily busy over the last few weeks, hosting a record number of online events and making sure that all our members have everything they need Refugees during lockdown. We hope August brings more peaceful times for everyone and are delighted to bring you a raft of interesting The death of George Floyd, an African-American man, in May articles to read in this month’s issue. triggered off a summer of demonstrations, riots and debates on Top of the list is Joel Hockman’s both sides of the Atlantic. It started with the question of police fascinating tale of finding an unknown cousin (page 13) and our own Debra racism in America and quickly turned into a series of passionate Barnes’ account of writing her novel The Young Survivors (page 14). Continuing debates about race, colonialism and how western societies the literary theme, David Herman has should teach and remember our colonial past. written a great piece about his recent interview with the author Thomas Harding (page 5), while our Reviews page features four very different books.

We hope you enjoy this issue and would be delighted to receive any comments.

Educational partnerships...... 3 Interview with Thomas Harding...... 4 Letter from Israel...... 5 Letters to the Editor...... 6 – 7 Art Notes...... 8 Human Rights – our legacy...... 9 Lives in Focus: Rabbi Harry Jacobi...... 10 – 11 Making Connections...... 13 Writing The Young Survivors...... 14 Looking for...... 15 Reviews...... 16 – 17 Obituaries...... 18 – 19 News and events...... 20

Rabbi Joshua Lesser of Congregation Bet Haverim in Atlanta, Georgia, takes a knee Please note that the views expressed during a 4 June interfaith march against racism. throughout this publication are not necessarily the views of the AJR.

The Anglo-Jewish community was quick come forward and give evidence… about AJR Team to respond. Leading voices condemned their experiences in the community – Chief Executive Michael Newman racism and Floyd’s death. On 8 June the good and bad…” Second, it will talk to Finance Director David Kaye Jewish Board of Deputies announced its a range of community organisations “to Heads of Department Community & Volunteer Services Carol Hart intention “to form a Commission on Racial discuss best practice and challenges, and HR & Administration Karen Markham Inclusivity in the Jewish Community to seek to overcome them.” Findings will be Educational Grants & Projects Alex Maws banish prejudice and promote inclusion.” published in a report before the end of the Social Work Nicole Valens The Commission is to be chaired by the year. AJR Journal leading political journalist, Stephen Bush. Editor Jo Briggs First, the Commission will invite “Black The Board of Deputies should be praised Editorial Assistant Lilian Levy British Jews and other Jews of Colour to Continued on page 2 Contributing Editor David Herman

1 AJR Journal | August 2020

Racism and Refugees and universities, some Black teachers have should be thinking of how to use plaques looked to Holocaust education as a model. or our own “stumbling stones” to learn (cont.) They have admired the use of education about our colonial past, so that we learn for its swift and positive action. Bush, a packs in schools and the way a new about the darker side of our history. In the thoughtful political commentator, was an awareness of the Holocaust has emerged. best piece I have read on this debate, the interesting appointment. One significant Once there was silence. Now there are distinguished historian of British slavery, word, however, was missing from their exhibitions in leading museums, TV Dr Nicholas Draper, wrote in History & statement. There was no reference to dramas and documentaries and Holocaust Policy, responses could have included to the word, “history”. Refugees who Memorial Day. What lessons could be “modify statues, to provide a new context experienced appalling racism during the drawn for people thinking about how to for them,” or “build new memorials to 1930s and ‘40s may have wondered why promote the knowledge of slavery and the victims of slavery, to create counter- there have been so few attempts to draw colonialism from the growing awareness of narratives that reflected a fuller account of on their experiences and other lessons from the Holocaust in British culture? our histories.” None of these alternatives the European past or, indeed, the role of have been implemented so far, but this Jews in fighting for Black rights in the past. Thirdly, and this might be most relevant may still be a positive way forward. of all for Jewish refugees, there has been For example, during these debates within almost no discussion about what we can By contrast, many Jewish refugees, the Jewish community and beyond, there learn from Germany and other countries servicemen and women among them, have been surprisingly few references to in Europe about how to deal with the will have looked on with bewilderment, the complicated history of Black-Jewish traumas of modern history. horror even, at the desecration of the relations in America over the past century. statue of Churchill and The Cenotaph American Jews played a significant part In 1945 statues of Nazi leaders were torn by demonstrators and rioters. This had in supporting Black Americans in their down all over Germany. Many Germans nothing to do with education, rights or struggle for equality and improved rights. wanted to forget. Since the 1960s and finding creative solutions to the issue of In 1909, Henry Moscowitz joined W.E.B. ‘70s, Germany has started to find new statues and national memory. DuBois and other civil rights leaders to ways of confronting its dark past. found the NAACP. Kivie Kaplan served This moment has a more positive side. It as the national president of the NAACP In an essay called “The History Wars”, is an opportunity to learn about our past: (National Association for the Advancement published in The New Statesman on 19 what we regret but also what we should of Colored People) from 1966 to June, Richard J Evans, a leading historian celebrate, what divides us and what brings 1975. Arnie Aronson helped found the of Nazism, wrote, “We might learn from us together as a nation. Leadership Conference. In the early 20th Germany about how to deal with physical century, nearly 40% of southern Blacks reminders of a controversial past.” He We also need to broaden our were educated at schools and black took the example of a huge statue of understanding of racism and displacement. colleges established in whole or in part by an elephant in Bremen, built in 1932 to Black Britons are discovering their contributions from Jewish philanthropist commemorate the colonies taken from experience of slavery and colonialism. But Julius Rosenwald. Germany by the Allies after the First World rather than create hierarchies of victims, War. By the 1970s, however, German we need to make links between this Later, during the Civil Rights Movement, historians had uncovered the German experience and that of other victims of Jewish activists represented a army’s genocide of native inhabitants of historical trauma: Jewish refugees, Asian disproportionate number of whites German South-West Africa (now Namibia) refugees driven out of east Africa, families involved in the struggle. Jews made up half in the 1900s. Instead of taking the statue who experienced the horrors of Partition of the young people who participated in down it was rededicated in 1989 as an in India and Vietnamese “boat people”, the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964. “anti-colonial memorial”, accompanied and many more. How can different groups Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched by a plaque explaining the history of the learn from each others’ experience? arm-in-arm with Dr King in his 1965 March atrocities. The AJR with its wealth of experience in on Selma. Holocaust education and the issues of There are numerous monuments and memory and memorials (for example, the This changed later in the Sixties. The New museum exhibitions in Germany dedicated AJR plaques) could, and doubtless will, play York City teachers’ strike in 1968 led to to the memory of the Holocaust. But a significant role in this. increased racial tensions between Blacks some of the most interesting examples are and Jews. The strike symbolised a change the tens of thousands of Stolpersteine, This is a chance to transform our in relations between the communities. “stumbling stones”, small brass plaques understanding of the past, in schools More recently, there have been numerous built into countless German streets which and universities, in museums and in violent attacks on Jews in Brooklyn and bear the names of victims of Nazism public spaces. But this shouldn’t be about attempts to ban pro-Israel organisations outside their last-known freely chosen censorship or destroying the past. History, on US campuses which have barely been residence. As of last December, 75,000 of to paraphrase the German-Jewish refugee, reported by the British media. these had been laid, most in memory of Walter Benjamin, is not about the abolition Jewish victims of the Holocaust. of the past, it is about the bringing of the Secondly, in the discussion about how past to life. we might include more teaching about In Britain this summer the talk has been of slavery and colonialism in British schools tearing down monuments. But perhaps we David Herman

2 AJR Journal | August 2020

A YEAR OF EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS In June, the AJR hosted a three- part online symposium on behalf of the UK’s delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to launch the IHRA’s new publication Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust. This was just one Teachers gathering together after one of the HET residential courses supported by AJR of several educational projects that have recently benefited from key to genuine understanding.” have of course negatively impacted AJR’s financial support. many institutions’ ability to deliver these Teacher professional development is the educational programmes, but the AJR The IHRA’s practical guide for educators, focus of another AJR-funded programme, is collaborating with its grant-receiving teacher trainers and policymakers was Vision Schools Scotland, launched in 2018 institutions to help them adapt their compiled by a team of the world’s by the University of the West of Scotland to programmes where necessary. leading experts in Holocaust pedagogy. create a network of primary and secondary The AJR’s decision to take a leading role schools in Scotland that serve as models of One such programme is the National in disseminating the recommendations Holocaust education. Holocaust Centre and Museum’s Virtual was based on the view that the IHRA’s Journey, updating the museum’s popular approach to promoting good practice During the 2019-2020 academic year, 15 Kindertransport-focused exhibition for in the teaching of the Holocaust very schools were accredited as Vision Schools. the digital age. The AJR’s support of this much reflected our organisation’s own Teachers from those schools took part in a project has enabled the creation of an commitment to promoting good practice series of workshops aimed at improving their app for tablets and smartphones which in the teaching of the Holocaust. historical knowledge and teaching practice. follows a young German-Jewish boy, Leo, They also forged relationships with other as he experiences the rise of anti-Jewish The initiatives supported by AJR’s local schools to disseminate their learning persecution before eventually fleeing to educational grants programme over the and encourage other schools to take steps Britain on a Kindertransport. Originally past academic year – despite the extreme towards Vision Schools accreditation. envisaged as a digital resource to be educational challenges presented by incorporated into classroom learning, the Covid-19 – demonstrate some of the ways In addition to increasing teachers’ access to app is now available to the public and the that we have sought to influence how the adequate specialist training to teach about Centre has produced guidelines for using it Holocaust is taught in the UK. the Holocaust, the AJR has also awarded as a tool for remote home-based learning. grants to several institutions that deliver One example is the Holocaust Educational educational workshops directly to students. “The AJR sees our role as being more Trust’s Exploring the Holocaust four-day than just a funder,” AJR Chief Executive residential course. The course, which took The Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Michael Newman commented. “Through place in Leicester over February half-term, Centre at the University of Huddersfield the partnerships that we develop, we brought together 36 trainee and practising opened in 2018 and is now expanding its are helping to facilitate the exchange of teachers from across the UK in intensive offering, with a specific focus on reaching expertise in teaching and learning about workshops to develop their knowledge disadvantaged communities across the North the Holocaust. We help formulate and of the Holocaust and provide practical of England. The AJR awarded the Centre a share best practice within the UK; we approaches to teaching about it. three-year grant to help reach out to 15,000 share the best ideas from the UK for the new students and adult learners. benefit of our counterparts abroad; and One participant, Roisin Daly, a History we encourage our funding partners to and RE teacher at Harris Academy in In London, the Jewish Museum was also cooperate with each other in order to Morden, commented, “This course had awarded a three-year grant. The museum improve knowledge and understanding three major successes. Firstly, it enhanced offers six different Holocaust workshops about the Holocaust across our society.” my subject knowledge with informative for secondary schools and two workshops speakers. Secondly, it questioned for primary schools. With the AJR’s support Alex Maws traditional narratives and focused on the it can deliver 110 workshops each year, to Alex is Head of Educational Grants and complexities of the Holocaust and other over 6,000 students. Projects for the AJR and can be contacted genocides. Finally, it allowed space for via [email protected] or both questions and reflections which are The disruptions caused by Covid-19 +44 (0)20 8385 3076

3 AJR Journal | August 2020 Much more than a family historian

One of the most exciting things father Höss was. Harding struggled to reconcile her account with what he knew to emerge from the Coronavirus about Höss’s sadistic rule at Auschwitz. crisis has been the rise of The House by the Lake is the story of a interviews on social media, house occupied by five families over a especially Zoom. Several Jewish century, including Harding’s own family. It is a deeply moving story, brilliantly told, organisations have led the way, but what is especially interesting is how Thomas Harding and last month I interviewed the wooden house by the lake becomes a symbol of 20th century Germany, from the the acclaimed writer, Thomas rise of Nazism and the Terror of the Red larger history of modern Germany (and Army in 1945 to denazification in post-war then in Legacy with the history of modern Harding, online, for the AJR. Germany and life in East Germany. Britain). The books are full of big names and events from Dr Alexander’s famous We talked about his two best-known It also tells the story of Harding’s own patients in interwar Berlin to famous Nazis. books: Hanns and Rudolf (2013), about family, affluent cosmopolitan German his great-uncle’s search for Rudolf Höss, Jews, who left Germany with next to But throughout these books there is a the Kommandant of Auschwitz; and The nothing and came to Britain where they strong sense of the experience of refugees. House by the Lake (2015), the story of his rebuilt their lives. It is a story of silence and For example, how much harder it was family’s summer house near Berlin. Sadly, family myths. The older members of his for the older generation to cope with we ran out of time before we could discuss family didn’t buy German cars or washing displacement, learning a new language, Legacy (2019), about the Jewish family machines, they never returned to Germany trying to find their bearings in a new behind Joe Lyons, a hugely popular British and never even spoke about Germany. “It culture, whereas the younger members institution for almost a century. was a closed chapter,” he writes. of the family learned English, joined the army, had a good war. How many families The first two of these books are about Stephen Poliakoff’s brilliant BBC drama, did not escape to the same place at the Harding’s family, German Jews who Perfect Strangers, describes the mysteries same time, but left Germany piecemeal, at managed to escape from Nazi Germany behind a Jewish family. One of the most different times and by different routes. in the 1930s. Hanns and Rudolf moves fascinating figures is Stephen, played by between the story of Hanns Alexander, Anton Lesser, who has become the family Even his name shows how complicated his who fled from Nazi Germany and joined historian. Many families have one person family story is, bound up with questions the British army when war broke out. who becomes the custodian of the family’s of identity. His branch of the family was Towards the end of the war Hanns became story. Thomas Harding became his family’s called Hirschowitz until they anglicised a war crimes investigator. “Rudolf” is historian. On his father’s side they were their name to Harding. Thomas and Rudolf Höss, a Nazi war criminal who German Jewish refugees, on his mother’s his cousin James, who used to edit The went into hiding towards the end of the side they helped found Joe Lyons, the Times and then became Director of BBC war. Harding talked about what had most epitome of modern Englishness. News, could hardly be more English, both disturbed him about the story of Höss, educated at public school and Cambridge. his encounter with the Kommandant’s Harding is a master of interweaving the But we also talked about how (and why) daughter who told him what a loving story of his Jewish refugee family with the Thomas “applied for the restoration of our [German] citizenship taken by the National Socialists in the 1930s.”

Legacy appears in paperback this month and a new version of The House By the Lake, adapted as a picture book for children, will come out in September. Meanwhile my interview with Thomas Harding is available to watch on AJR’s YouTube channel.

David Herman

4 AJR Journal | August 2020

LETTER FROM ISRAEL BY DOROTHEA SHEFER-VANSON

HANGING OUT and go more or less as and when they and as a couple, finding that they enjoyed chose. one another’s company and benefited WTH HUBBY from having time to relax, read, write, In my own case, blessed with a considerate garden, listen to music or watch TV and In Israel we were mate and a spacious house, this has not films together. Only one woman who lives just beginning to proved to be a hardship. But this has on her own complained that she found feel the easing not been the case for everyone. Families the period difficult and longed to resume of the strict with small children in cramped flats have attending concerts, lectures and other lockdown rules experienced great difficulties, and I don’t cultural events. I also miss concerts, but before they envy anyone in that situation. there’s no shortage of music on the radio, were tightened YouTube and TV. up again. At the recent very low- Single people have also had to come to key Independence Day celebrations grips with even greater isolation – and This is no scientific study, but it seems one of the individuals honoured with loneliness – than before. This was brought only natural that people who have lived lighting one of the twelve flames which home to me in a recent Zoom meeting of alongside one another for many years traditionally mark the opening of the the group of Jerusalem residents who meet will have settled into some kind of modus day’s events declared how much she once a fortnight to converse in German, vivendi, continuing to live in harmony missed being able to see, hug and kiss under the auspices of the association of and, even if circumstances change, will her grandchildren. That must have former residents of Central Europe. manage somehow to adapt and benefit. triggered something in the national psyche, as not long afterwards the The fact that most of these – mainly retired On a personal level, this quiet period has Prime Minister announced – as part – individuals could even contemplate a enabled me to concentrate on my various of the easing of restrictions – that Zoom meeting is no small achievement in writing projects, and so I have managed grandchildren will henceforth be able itself. It’s a sign of modern times that by to publish another novel (‘Friends, to visit their grandparents, though still now most people can cope with this aspect Neighbours, Traitors’) on Amazon. keeping a safe distance. I doubt that of technology. The meeting was initiated by Hubby has been similarly engaged and many national leaders have included one of the members (one of the few men), has completed another learned article that particular facet of family life in their but only after over a month of lockdown. By about the painter Caravaggio. Since his official announcements about relaxing contrast, the German language class I attend background is in the exact sciences it coronavirus restrictions. here in Mevasseret Zion started Zoom amazes me that he has made this switch meetings almost as soon as the lockdown to art history, becoming something of an But in the interim, most of the population began – largely due to our energetic young expert in this field. We’ve even got used has had to tread a long and lonely road, teacher, who will stop at nothing to continue to being without any offspring for Friday staying as far away as possible from teaching her mature pupils. night dinner. normal human contact. In other words, couples have been suddenly thrown In the Zoom meeting of the Jerusalem group Provided we remain in reasonably good back into one another’s company, each participant gave a brief account of how health, we will probably be able one day after having become accustomed to they had been spending the previous weeks. to look back at this period and see that it a life of activity, whether together or To my surprise, almost everyone had found had benefits as well as drawbacks. individually, and the freedom to come the period positive, on the individual level

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5 AJR Journal | August 2020 Letters to the Editor The Editor reserves the right to shorten correspondence submitted for publication and respectfully points out that the views expressed in the letters published are not necessarily the views of the AJR.

HUNGARY’S HORTHY IN WW2 that the first Auschwitz transport (which the quality of life and promote the Very recently the grandson of Horthy left Theresienstadt with 5,000 inmates physical, social and mental wellbeing of apologised for the Holocaust. The on 6 September 1943) was murdered refugees and asylum seekers who live, grandson had a close relationship with exactly six months after arrival; or if the work or study in the area. In particular his grandfather, as his father had died date was pre-planned? it provides online tuition in English and when he was two years old. According Maths to school-aged children to increase to him, Horthy did not know how to deal I explained that Birkenau ‘Family Camp’ their opportunity to succeed at school with Hitler and did not realise till very had been established to mislead the and to fully integrate into wider society. late what was happening to the Jews. Swiss Red Cross that transports were not being taken to Auschwitz merely to be I tutor three delightful children and it is a His apology is a sincere gesture; he says murdered. The Swiss Red Cross delegate most rewarding experience that brightens no reaction is expected by him. In that (Dr. Rossel) swallowed everything the up my day in these difficult times. But the he will be disappointed of course. As in SS told him, sending a glowing, but service urgently needs more volunteers – most countries, there is no shortage of completely false, report to the German please contact [email protected] if you Holocaust deniers and also of people Foreign Office. From then onwards, would like to help. who try to “reinterpret” history. there was no need to pretend. The 3,732 Janet Leifer, London N12 Janos Fisher, Bushey surviving Jews from the original 5,000, were all gassed on the night of 8-March 1944. It was just a coincidence that it LIVES DISRUPTED GOOD, CLEAN FUN was exactly six months since they’d I was supposed to go to Poland in The refugee clientele of the Cosmo arrived. September for the first time just after my restaurant in Swiss Cottage used to mock Frank Bright, Martlesham Heath, Suffolk 70th birthday, to see my friend Adrian, each other about the difference between aged 60 (a NHS staff nurse) compete in German “Ordnung” and Austrian the World Masters Judo Championships “Schlamperei” (sloppiness). Now AMADEUS STRING QUARTET in Krakow: this has been cancelled and Victor Ross (High Life, Low Life, June) In response to your article about the also our flights. has the chutzpah to contrast alleged Amadeus Quartet (June) Mary Brainin differences between “Continental” and Huttrer asked about people who We were going to visit Auschwitz where English attitudes to cleanliness. As I am attended a concert at the Wigmore Hall. my father Fiszel was imprisoned for constantly reminded by my English wife nearly two years. My hotel was near the (“PUT IT AWAY, PLEASE!”) I have not I remember going with, I believe, the railway station in Krakow which would rid myself of the Schlampigkeit (roughly sister of Norbert (or one of the others) to have made this trip even more poignant. translated as slovenliness) that I brought a concert in aid of a Jewish Charity. The to England from Austria 80+ years ago. two of us sat on high chairs in the Artists’ At the end of August I was going to My son, taught by his English mother, Room and looked through a gap in the repeat my Barmitzvah Haftarah in irons seven shirts every Sunday night, door to watch and listen to the Quartet the Southend & Westcliff Hebrew while his father is content with non- playing. After the concert the musicians Congregation Synagogue (where we iron shirts. My wife neatly folds her came into the Artists’ Room along with used to have our AJR meetings) and have underwear, while I dump mine into a the lady organising the concert, who a large kiddush to celebrate my 70th; It drawer in a heap, straight from the line shook my hand and said “You played has now been put on hold! or the dryer. very well”. Happy memories! Larry Lisner, Westcliff on Sea John Farago, Deal, Kent Gerald Hellman, London NW9

NO SUCH THING AS SOCIETY? BOY 30529 HELPING OTHERS Greg Lubinsky in his letter (July) tried Following D.H. Dobson’s letter (June) I In these difficult times it is easy to feel to make out that Mrs. Thatcher was too recommend reading Boy 30529 by isolated. But the online talks organised a woman who cared for the people. Felix Weinberg, FRS. It is the memory of by the AJR have been fantastic, very well Yet one of her first memorable acts in a real young Auschwitz prisoner – not organised and extremely interesting. I government was to stop free milk for the story of two imaginary boys. have thoroughly enjoyed the book talks children in schools. and other events. Weinberg & I met through the AJR In an interview published by The Journal (a good meeting place for those Another charity doing incredible work Spectator she criticised citizens who, with journeys in common) when Felix is Barnet Refugee Service, which works unable to cope with some of their wondered whether it was a coincidence with individuals and agencies to improve problems, were looking for help from

6 AJR Journal | August 2020

the government, e.g. “I am homeless. nor of the Jewish friend and the sister of join the Free French Air Force. Sadly, he The government must house me”. Well, my grandmother who met my train at disappeared on a reconnaissance flight how else should homeless people be the Hook of Holland and saw me onto from Corsica on 31 July 1944. housed? Help from charities has never the boat. The next thing I remember is Shulamit Spain, Scotland been sufficient. The government has a Liverpool St station. It was only when I responsibility for the peoples’ welfare. All visited Holland after the war that I was that Mrs. Thatcher did in that interview given the photo of this event! Shortly before WW2 two of my relatives, was replace the word ‘society’ by a Vera Schaufeld, Wembley wanted by the Gestapo, fled to France. In ‘living tapestry of people.’ She left the 1940 they managed to get to Marseilles poor and the homeless without hope. and were fortunate to be helped by Eric Sanders, London SW16 FLEEING FROM FRANCE Varian Fry. Joining the group of refugees, I was very interested to read your lead they crossed the Pyrenees to Spain and article (July), as my late mother, sister later found freedom in the USA. NO POLITICS HERE PLEASE and I were fortunate to flee from France I am a newly joined member of AJR and to England in February 1942, through My aunt, Käte Wolff, the artist and was very sorry to see modern day politics Spain and Portugal. children’s books illustrator, left Berlin with nothing to do with either Israel for Paris shortly after 1933. Wisely, she or Judaism appear in the AJR Journal, Although we were German refugees adopted the name Lalouve. As a non- specifically in the Letter from Israel (July) (so to speak “stateless”) my sister and practising Jew and fluent French speaker where Dorothea Shefer-Vanson criticised I were sheltered during the occupation she integrated easily into French society. Dominic Cummings’ decision to take a of France in the safe houses set up by The publisher Flammarion commissioned cross-country drive during lockdown, the Jewish French Scouts Movement her to make children’s books which she despite the fact that his reasons for doing which was very active at that period. did almost until the end of the war. To so had been clearly explained. I did not Their history is recorded in two books our surprise, when war ended, Käte left join AJR to read left wing trope. written by Alain Michel, one of which her beloved Paris for New York. It was Deborah Wrapson, Hull is Les Eclaireurs Israelites de France only while visiting us in London that we Note from Editor: The views expressed Pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. heard her account of living free under within the AJR Journal are not He describes the names of safe houses Nazi occupation. Witnessing the horrors necessarily those of the AJR. and conditions of the places to which and denunciations which cost the lives of I was evacuated. I have only heard of so many Jews who were living in hiding one other person who was evacuated made her vow never to return to France. REVISITING EMOTIONAL VISITS as a Jewish scout in one of the boys’ She died in New York in 1968. David Clark’s article (July) reminded houses, who fled through Spain and Walter Wolff, London NW2 me of my own visits to Berlin. During Portugal, as we did. one visit in 2000 I met Leonore Meyer, who was working in the not yet opened The record of saving Jewish souls by the Your article reminded me of the fate of Jewish Museum, and I agreed to donate French Jewish Scouts is quite remarkable. Ernst von der Porten and his wife, my some artefacts to the Museum. I returned Isa Brysh, Bournemouth cousin Frieda (Friedl) née Alexander. the following year, on 9 September 2001, and was in my old school when news Ernst, a Hamburg clinician, was a pioneer broke of what is now called 9/11 and Walter Benjamin was guided by the in the recognition of anaesthesia as an all public buildings were closed. Having “Fluchthelfer” Lisa Fittko across the independent speciality in Germany. brought a large, full suitcase I telephoned Pyrenees into Spain, near to Portbou. Leonore and she assured me that we One can find the most touching He and Frieda fled first to Switzerland could come in the next day. I gave her description of this escape in Fittko’s and then to Belgium. On the occupation my artefacts and she escorted us for a Book Mein Weg über die Pyrenäen. of France, Belgium and the Netherlands tour of the partially kitted-out Museum; On learning that, for lack of a valid they were deported to France. They both we thus became its first ever visitors. French exit visa (a recently imposed committed suicide in Perpignan on 13 Rudi Leavor BEM, Bradford requirement) he would be returned December 1940. to France the next day, he committed suicide. The ‘Ernst von der Porten Medal’ is REMEMBERING….OR NOT? now awarded annually to exceptional I was so interested to read Eve Kugler’s Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had left for the personalities by the alliance of German letter (July). My experience was similar: USA after being demobilised from the anaesthetists. I have no memory at all of my parents, French Air Force. He returned in 1944 to Anthony Portner, Chertsey

7 AJR Journal | August 2020

Althea McNish in 2018 with one of the many fabrics she ART NOTES: has designed by Gloria Tessler

During lockdown other things have begun to dominate our consciousness. The Black Lives Matter movement, for instance, and the Windrush scandal, in which hundreds of Caribbean immigrants were falsely accused of illegal status, some of them even being deported.

And so I would like to dedicate this column the monochromatic post-war period. She might think, considering their links to slavery. to a dear friend, Althea McNish, acclaimed helped establish the Caribbean Artist’s But no such links intruded upon the upbeat as Britain’s first and most distinguished Movement, working with contemporary work of an artist who was as cheerful in her black textile designer. The Trinidad-born artists and poets. Unafraid of colour, McNish personality as she was in her art. Through member of the Windrush generation, who had a technical eye and experimented with Hull Traders her pop designs made her part died in April at the age of 95, brought all different materials. She had an eclectic view of the Swinging Sixties. She also designed the vibrancy of the Caribbean to her work. of her own work. A favourite saying was murals with pineapples and pomegranates She claimed to see everything through a ‘what will come will come’. for restaurants on the ship SS Oriana, and tropical eye, which is certainly reflected in a space age wallpaper, Zircon, in orange, the brilliance of her vermilions, cobalt blues, McNish’s canvases dramatically reflected mustard and yellow. Apart from her own lush greens – and her shapes – sometimes her past. She lures us into her vision with work, Althea judged design competitions floral abstracts, sometimes geometric – but panache – whether in fabrics or paintings – and was vice president and fellow of the always with an underlying hint of the West all of which reflect the kind of sunshine and Chartered Society of Designers. Indies. Here you find a tropical forest, there a light that contrasted with the life she entered salamander, a cat or a fish. when she arrived in 1951 with her mother, Althea married the Jewish jewellery to join her father. Persuaded by her tutor, designer John Weiss and they exhibited But the true magic of McNish’s work is that the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi at the Central internationally. Their home itself was a she introduced a sense of optimism into School of Art and Design, to focus on riot of colour, cats and Caribbean cooking textiles, she became the first black student to – John was the cook. She exhibited with Another Althea McNish fabric design gain a textile degree from the Royal College the Trinidad and Tobago Artists at the of Art. Commonwealth Institute, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, at Manchester’s Whitworth Her first major client was Liberty’s and her Art Gallery and, as recently as last year, at first furnishing fabric was Hibiscus, featuring Somerset House. In 2018 she appeared on the plant’s brilliant red flowers against a the BBC4 documentary Whoever Heard of a black background, and then the tropical Black Artist? Cebollas. Her work appeared in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and her dress fabrics You can view Althea’s work in the V&A, supplied French fashion houses such as Dior. the Museum of Domestic Design and Commissions followed from Jacqmar, Heal’s Architecture in London, the Philadelphia and Conran. Always retaining her West Museum of Art, and the Cooper-Hewitt Indies’ links, Althea’s fabrics formed part of Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. It Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe on her royal can also be widely found online. tour of the Caribbean in 1966. Annely Juda Fine Art One of her first designs to go into 23 Dering Street production, Golden Harvest in 1957, (off New Bond Street) was a screen print on cotton satin, later Tel: 020 7629 7578 manufactured by Hull Traders. It owed its Fax: 020 7491 2139 inspiration to the Essex wheatfields, which CONTEMPORARY she said reminded her of Trinidad’s sugar PAINTING AND SCULPTURE cane plantations – an odd memory, you

8 AJR Journal | August 2020 Human Rights – our legacy As the United Nations publicly spearheads efforts to address systemic racism against people of African descent, what does this mean for Jewish people? Mia Hasenson-Gross is the Executive Director of René Cassin, the Jewish The term Human Rights can mean many different things, depending on where you are voice for human rights, in the world which works to promote the principles of ‘crimes against humanity’ committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, and protect human rights and ‘genocide’. Cassin co-drafted the Universal Declaration drawing on Jewish values of Human Rights. Here was the first and Jewish experience. Some incredible ‘Jewish human rights expression of a global commitment to heroes’ emerged. First was Polish-born human rights – a set of minimum standards Hersch Lauterpacht, a British prosecutor, that would ensure “inherent dignity…. of To many the word ‘Holocaust’ evokes who played a vital role in defining ‘crimes all members of the human family” as the memories of loss and devastation, against humanity’. This concept was foundation of justice and peace, an ethical heroism, and resistance. It also carries ground-breaking in placing individual vision for a new world based on social the responsibility to teach others of the rights and responsibilities centre-stage, progress. dangers of inhumanity. In my eyes it is holding individual perpetrators to account, more than a lesson, it is a legacy. and recognising victims as individuals Cassin always maintained that “Human whose rights were denied. Amongst those rights are an integral part of the faith and Human rights are a set of norms, convicted of crimes against humanity were tradition of Judaism. The belief that man underpinned by values such as freedom, Hermann Goering and Hans Frank, who was created in the divine image, that the fairness, and justice. They are designed to was head of the General Government. human family is one, and that every person frame the relationship between the state Crimes against humanity have since been is obliged to deal justly with every other and the individual. prosecuted at international tribunals person are basic sources of the Jewish concerning Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra commitment to human rights.” The concept of individual rights – Leone and when charges of apartheid, rape constraining how rulers could treat their and sexual violence are heard. Though not legally binding, the Declaration subjects – developed slowly from Magna inspired many subsequent human rights Carta (1215) through the American Bill of The second key individual was Raphael documents, including various UN treaties, Rights and the French Revolution, towards Lemkin. Best known for coining the term the European Convention on Human 19th century laws designed to mitigate ‘genocide’, Lemkin advocated that the way Rights and the UK’s Human Rights Act. human suffering in wartime. to prevent mass killings was to protect the group to which individuals belong. Although The Holocaust will always be remembered But none of these developments could the concept of genocide was not used at as one of the lowest points of humanity. prevent the atrocities of the Holocaust. The Nuremberg trials, Lemkin subsequently led But it is also the point from which the Nazis gradually and systematically eroded the United Nations to adopt the Genocide universal lesson of ‘never again’ emerged, fundamental principles, a process that Convention in 1948. The Convention has and where Cassin, Lauterpacht and culminated in the torture and murder of six since been used to identify genocides in Lemkin helped establish the principles that million Jews. A classic pyramid of hate. Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and recently of the underpin the international community’s Rohingyas in Burma. shared commitment to freedom, justice, The enormity of the Holocaust acted as an equality and peace. ethical ’wake-up call’. The first response But it was French-Jewish Monsieur René was the Nuremberg Trials – international Cassin who helped formulate the language For many, the resulting human rights military tribunals prosecuting prominent of human rights we use today. With the framework defines who we are and how Nazis who planned and carried out the Nazis defeated, the world vowed that ‘never we live our lives. It is our responsibility Holocaust and other war crimes. Described again’ would the horrors of the Holocaust to remember this legacy to ensure that as “the most significant tribute power has be allowed. As a member of the newly the inequality and hate that led to the ever paid to reason”, the trials introduced established international human rights Holocaust is never repeated.

9 AJR Journal | August 2020 LIVES IN FOCUS Rabbi Harry Jacobi

This summer the AJR’s Refugee Voices team made a new ‘Lives in Focus’ short film on the late Rabbi Harry Jacobi MBE, one of the major figures in British Liberal Judaism. Dr Bea Lewkowicz, who directs the Refugee Voices project, shares some of the highlights here.

I conducted the interview with from family, friends and colleagues, yet bake as a confectionery baker. So I went can still turn our hearts to each other and to the ORT school every morning at eight Rabbi Harry Jacobi (born Heinz learn from one another. o’clock. Martin Hirschberg 1925 in Berlin) In this excerpt Rabbi Jacobi recounts his Can you describe the orphanage four years ago. I remember it very Kindertransport journey. in Amsterdam? Well it’s a very old building now which clearly, as Rabbi Jacobi’s humility Please tell us about leaving is now the Museum of the History of Berlin. Amsterdam. It’s quite well known. We and wisdom made a great Well I only took very necessary things, slept in dormitories, separate from the impression on me. you know, with me. The German children girls on another floor. The food was were only allowed to take 10 Marks out, very scarce, but we had outings to the and a little bit of refreshments for the swimming pool and to the synagogue. I was privileged to listen to his life journey. All I knew was that I was going The nicest outings I had, as one of story and learn about his childhood in to Holland but I had no idea where. And the older children there, were with Berlin and Auerbach, his Barmitzvah leaving my mother was traumatic because the husband of Truus Wijsmuller. Her in October 1938, his escape to she cried a lot, of course. She probably husband was a banker in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, and his adventurous knew we may not see each other again. did quite well. And he took us on many journey to Britain on the SS Bodegraven We said goodye at Bahnhof Zoo. excursions, he also took us to their home in May 1940. I learnt about the Dutch for tea. The Wijsmullers did have children, woman called Truus Wijsmuller, whose The journey itself was uneventful. We so they were close to the children in incredible efforts made it possible for were surprised when we landed in a the orphanage. Every weekend I could the last Kindertransport from Europe camp just at the harbour of Rotterdam. go and see my grandparents and uncle to board this ship and leave Holland It felt like a camp because there was and aunt and cousin. The last Sunday just before the Dutch government Stacheldraht [barbed wire] there. We saw in Amsterdam it was ‘Moederdag’, surrendered (Wijsmuller was made a ships go by and I remember a great deal Mother’s Day, and the last thing I did, ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Yad of uncertainty. We didn’t get much to eat in May 1940, just after the invasion, Vashem in 1966). and, and we were there, I think, at least as a banketbakker, I made a cake and two weeks. inscribed ‘voor Moeder’ (for mother) During our interview Rabbi Jacobi which I was able to send to aunt Eva and spoke about his life as a child refugee The Amsterdam refugee committee was my grandparents. So that’s the last gift of in a hostel in Manchester, about joining able to find accommodation for us in the remembrance my family in Amsterdam the Jewish Brigade, and settling in old orphanage in the Kalverstraat, the had of me until after the war. Amsterdam after the war. He also told main shopping street in Amsterdam. It me about his rabbinical journey, set in was no longer needed as an orphanage. Please tell us what happened to motion by meeting Leo Baeck and Lily And then my uncle, together with the you after the German invasion Montagu in Holland. He beautifully leaders from the refugee committee, of Holland. What are your ended the interview by urging families enrolled me as a pupil in the ORT recollections? to be close to each other, citing from Vakschool [vocational school], as it Well I left to go to the ORT school in the the prophets ‘Elijah will come and was called. The ORT schools were morning and the streets were empty and turn the hearts of the parents to the organisation for rehabilitation and I was told, ‘the Germans have invaded their children, and the hearts of the training. So in the summer of 1939 I us’. Amsterdam was lucky, Rotterdam children to their parents’. It’s a message was enrolled in the ORT school. Among was completely destroyed. Amsterdam that seems particularly poignant this many trades offered in ORT, was had just two bombs. So I went back to summer, as we are physically separated banketbakker, which is to learn how to the orphanage. After five days we were

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Harry (right) with his cousin Werner, both aged about eight. Werner was deported Harry Jacobi in the Jewish Brigade in Rabbi Harry Jacobi with one of his old family to Riga during the war and died. 1945 photos waiting to find out what was going to machine gun fire, fortunately. Now the The police asked me ‘do you speak happen to us. We were very anxious to journey was traumatic because we did English?’. We had a very friendly hear reports of the German invasion. not know what was going to happen and welcome and the people of Wigan where we were going. The Dutch crew were very hospitable. They invited We heard that the Dutch were completely was willing to give us some food but all us for tea, let us go to the cinema. I unprepared. So the Germans invaded the orthodox people on the boat said, don’t remember who organised it all. quickly and on 15 May we were told, ‘no, it is not kosher’. So from leaving The Manchester refugee committee ‘Take your pyjamas and your best Holland until landing in Liverpool we had must have been informed soon after clothes, we need to leave now’. On the only dog biscuits and water. we landed, that weekend. So they Lijnbaansgracht in Amsterdam there were quickly bought some accommodation. three buses ready and we boarded them. Another famous side story was about the A girls’ hostel and a boys’ hostel in And Truus Wijsmuller was there to see family Goutstikker. Apparently this man Manchester and accommodated us. us and took us to the port of Ljmuiden Jacques Goutstikker was a very famous I was just fifteen, and the school on the North Sea. And she persuaded art collector, with a big art collection in leaving age was fourteen. If I had the captain of a cargo boat called the SS Herengracht in Amsterdam. I didn’t know been a year older I would have been Bodegraven to take us. anything about him. Except we saw an interned. We were given the title American Lincoln car arriving. He and of ‘friendly enemy alien’. But I got Some children remember that Truus left his wife stepped out and went on board. permission to work and got a job as her handbag on board [to make the And then we were told later on that, an errand boy, in a shop. Not knowing children feel safer] but then went back. because the passengers were in the cargo very much English but willing to Although she had an opportunity to go down there, it was very hot and you work. Then I got myself a job as a car to England with us, she refused to leave open the door thinking you get fresh air. mechanic in a garage. And they put [she wanted to carry on her rescue work Instead he fell down the bottom of the me in charge of the store, as it was in Holland]. boat and broke his neck. And a sailor fell also an ammunition factory, part of it down with him but he was saved. When was taken over so that was regarded My last impressions of leaving are of we landed in Falmouth the following as a ‘reserved occupation’ which British soldiers landing to fight the morning they had to arrange a burial. stopped me from being taken to the Germans and the smoking harbour of So his coffin was taken from the boat to army. As soon as I was eighteen I Amsterdam. The Dutch Shell company Falmouth, was buried there. In Falmouth volunteered to join the Royal Air Force had big oil tanks there which the Dutch we waited three days. And finally the and passed the examination. The War set on fire, because they did not want British government must have given Office refused to take me as they the oil to go into the German hands. So permission for us to land, we had no fuel heard my parents were still in Berlin. the smoke of these big oil refineries saw and no food when we finally landed at So after I was refused I volunteered us off as we left. Soon after we left the Liverpool. for the Jewish Brigade. harbour, some German fighter planes came over. Luckily they had no bombs What were your first Watch the entire short film left. They would have gladly bombed impressions landing in about Rabbi Jacobi at us and sunk the ship. So I dived on the Liverpool? www.ajrrefugeevoices.org.uk/ rescue boats and I wasn’t hit by the The sense of freedom and friendliness. lives-in-focus

11 AJR Journal | August 2020 Making connections

“…Even though the war did not start because of the Jewish people, the story is true and it happened to a lot of Jewish families. With all our love, your Oma & Opa, March 1996”. This note is written to me and my brother on the inside cover of a copy of A Candle in the Dark by Adèle Geras.

It was from this moment that I felt compelled to find out what had Melitta (left) and Lisl. both as a teenager and as a 7 year old Kindertransportee (inset) happened to my ancestors. Where did they end up? What happened? How did this happen? Now, twenty-four years directed me to World Jewish Relief who and to my surprise her name and her later, I am just putting together the pieces assisted me by sending some documents husband’s name came up on an electoral of the puzzle of my Viennese, State over of a little girl with this name – who register. I decided to try my luck with Opera ballet dancing grandmother. looked similar to one photo I have, a quick Facebook search and found stored away in that special and sacred someone living at this same address. I Although my grandparents have now family album – confirming the dates she explained who I was and who I had been sadly passed away, it really is my came over. I must admit I wasn’t hopeful looking for. Oma’s doing that I have felt some sort especially as, in my experience, photos of of connection with Vienna since this people from the past all look the same. Within a couple of minutes, I got this time, visiting as a child and adult with How could I even be sure I was searching reply: “Lisl was my mum”. At this point family and friends. Perhaps this is where for the correct person?! I nearly fell off my chair. Since then, my interest for learning the language we have met – virtually of course – and developed, finding out about the culture My search continued and the AJR have discovered other relatives from the and wanting to be able to converse with directed me to an online database. So, Maiman family that we both somehow my grandparents in German (not only my detective skills came in handy, who knew (as well as other ‘new’ Maiman English!) knew?! I think I could be the next James descendants, but I’ll save that for another Bond! I trawled through hundreds of time). We had just never known of each At the start of lockdown I found myself, entries on the Kindertransport survey other for over 80 years! once again, in the world of ancestry (compiled some 10 years ago) of who research, going back and forth through came over to the UK… and Bingo! Entry The only shame is that Melitta née different websites and looking through 300 and something….. place of birth: Maiman (my grandmother) and Lisl old photos. Time to stop searching and Vienna – match…. D.O.B – match…. Evelyne née Lichtenstein never met. send some emails. So, I contacted the Birmingham – match… There was an age gap of more than Wiener Holocaust Library and this is how 10 years but they lived parallel lives in my lockdown started and the reason I “I’m sorry to tell you that Lisl passed Austria and it seems we did too here in won’t ever forget it. away in 2014. But she was married, London. For all we know we could have perhaps this might help you continue brushed past each other in the street. “I’m searching for a relative of my your search”. If I’m honest, I felt a grandmother, who came over on the sinking feeling. Defeat, how could I try The most amazing part is that we had Kindertransport. Can you help?” I wrote. and do my part in putting all of those each contacted the same organisations “Time is of the essence as I would have atrocities from the past right? Make days apart during lockdown – incredible! thought Lisl Evelyne would now be quite amends, make sure that my Viennese There is so much more to tell and will elderly, if she would even still be alive… ancestors are not forgotten, how? I’m be even more once we get to all meet All we know is her name and that she pleased to say, I got over this quite in person! But for now, this is where the lived in Birmingham.” quickly and carried on. story begins…

The Wiener Holocaust Library kindly A new search under Lisl’s married name Joel Hockman

12 AJR Journal | August 2020 Writing The Young Survivors

Debra Barnes, the AJR’s My Story Project Lead Co-ordinator, has just had her debut novel published. The story was inspired by her own mother’s experiences in the Holocaust. Here she writes about her own experience of writing the novel.

It wasn’t that my mother Paulette never Denise Holstein (far right) at the orphanage in Louveciennes with her charges shortly spoke about her early years, she simply before they were deported. In the middle of the back row are Annette (2nd from left) didn’t remember. Growing up I was told and Paulette to her right of her twin sister Annette who had died at Auschwitz, along with their brother Nathan. I knew I only had one set of online, but it was a time-consuming process; research but now focusing more widely grandparents because the other had died one search could lead to hours lost on the on what happened in Nazi-occupied in the Holocaust. There was little else to internet, often not even connected to what I France. Thankfully it was less painful to tell. Mum was born in 1938, so had been a was looking for but always fascinating. I felt write about fictional characters rather young child throughout the war. Her only frustrated as there were never enough hours than my own family; if I hadn’t done so I memory was of taking Holy Communion to get the answers I was looking for. probably would have been in tears much with the nuns who gave her refuge. of the time. Mum died after a short illness in 2010. In As a family we rarely spoke about the 2013 I was offered redundancy and took I was meticulous with my research Holocaust – I suppose it was easier some time for my research. I travelled to and therefore delighted to receive an for everyone that way. It was an the south of France and met with Denise. I endorsement from Dr Toby Simpson of uncomfortable subject which was avoided. was reassured when she told me how the The Wiener Holocaust Library who said, children in the orphanage had happily spent “Throughout the book, readers are offered Then, in 2006, Mum was reunited with their days, unaware of what was going on rich and detailed insights into the grave Denise Holstein. At the age of 16, Denise around them. I connected with the Jewish peril and struggle for survival that Jews was put in charge of the youngest children community in Louveciennes who invited me faced in Vichy and Nazi-occupied France, at a Jewish orphanage in Louveciennes, to visit the orphanage. I went to the Shoah which is still not a widely-understood Paris. Just weeks before the allies arrived Memorial in Paris and to Metz where my aspect of the Holocaust.” into the capital, the SS emptied all Jewish mother was born. children’s homes. Most of the children When I look back, I am amazed at how were transported to Auschwitz. Denise I blogged about my research and was my life has changed in the past decade. accompanied her group of charges, contacted by others with similar family From someone almost afraid to learn about including Annette and Nathan. The children stories. One man who had more than likely the Holocaust I have now written a novel were sent directly to the gas chambers played with my mother when they were on the subject and since 2017 I work for while Denise was selected for work. two years old. A woman whose mother had AJR running the My Story project, helping Miraculously, Mum was not taken. She was been in the same orphanage but managed Holocaust refugees and survivors to write in hospital with measles. By the time the to escape. Another whose father had been their own life stories. Gestapo went to arrest her, she was hidden the director of the orphanage until he in a convent, where she stayed safely until was ousted by the Nazis. We all seemed To have a book published has always been the end of the war. to benefit from meeting and sharing our a dream of mine but to have written about experiences. such an important subject which I hope will At their reunion, Denise was able to tell help educate others and leave a legacy, is Mum about life in the orphanage. It piqued Inspired by what I learnt but frustrated at something which makes me very proud. my curiosity and I wanted to find out more. still having so many unanswered questions I now felt I had permission to do so, as and blanks in the story, I decided to write a The Young Survivors by Debra Barnes, was if the meeting with Denise had opened fictional novel, called The Young Survivors, published on 23 July 2020 by Duckworth a door which had been locked for many following the fate of a French Jewish family Books and is available from all good book years. There was information available during the Holocaust. I continued with my shops.

13 AJR Journal | August 2020 Leaving himself till last

On Tuesday 12 May an AJR At 11am on 30 August 1939, after going commemorative plaque was to the British Embassy as usual, he was told that it was immediately shutting unveiled at the British Embassy down as Britain was about to declare in Berlin in memory of consular war on Germany. He phoned my mother and told her to meet him immediately officials who helped Jews escape at the main Bahnhof Zoo railway station Nazi Germany. This spurred to board a 3pm train. A suitcase was packed with some nappies (I was just Tommy Schweiger to tell his one year old) and we left for the station. father’s story. He had secured a one month visa for England, en route to Palestine.

My father, Dr Eric Schweiger, was born One of the reasons we emigrated so in Berlin on 17 July 1899. After earning late in the day, just before war broke a doctorate from Heidelberg University, out, was because of his unwavering he worked as a Volkswirtschaftslehrer commitment to use his contacts with the Dr Eric Schweiger at his desk in for the German cartels. This roughly authorities to help others escape. Neukölln, Berlin translates as an expert in ‘people’s commerce’, encompassing general My old grandparents were unfortunately economics and various social issues. left behind. This was the last time my an economic advisor in the first post- The unions used him to help analyse parents would see them. They died in war German Adenauer government. But economic trends. As a well-connected Theresienstadt. it was a matter of principle to him: he man in the Jewish community and wider would never serve a country in which Berlin, he negotiated with the authorities Our train travelled west through the the blood of his family ran through the for the passage of many Jews out of night, with many checkpoints at which streets. Germany prior to WW2. authorities would board the carriages and demand to see our papers. At some My father was one of the many The visas could only be granted by stops, my father told me, he decided it courageous people who devoted their the British Embassy if affidavits were was better to hide rather than risk being efforts to persuading officials to issue authorised ultimately by Adolf Eichmann thrown off for some minor legal violation. visas in order to help Jews escape Nazi and his office. Once an affidavit had Germany. been granted the British Embassy was Eventually the train arrived at Hook then allowed to issue a visa for entry van Holland in the Netherlands. From into Britain. there we boarded a ship to Harwich in England. WHY NOT CONVERT My father had weekly meetings with YOUR OLD CINE Eichmann, who was then head of the War was declared on 3 September 1939 FILMS department responsible for Jewish which forced the British authorities to AND PUT THEM affairs, especially for emigration, which allow us to stay longer than four weeks. ON DVDS the Nazis encouraged through violence My father was however deemed an FREE OF CHARGE? and economic pressure. After war broke enemy alien and taken to the detention Contact Alf Buechler at [email protected] out their Jewish policy changed from centre on the Isle of Man; he was there or tel 020 8554 5635 or 07488 774 414 emigration to extermination. for three years.

My father told me that Eichmann My mother and I were allowed to stay insisted on a weekly Saturday morning in London for a year, until we moved Write Your Life Story meeting, purposely to interrupt Shabbat. to Lancaster. From there we went to Record a Family History Manchester where my father finally Whether you have begun writing, My father already had visas for our joined us and we were at last able to researched your ancestors, or family and consequently was in a settle happily as a family. never put pen to paper, we offer position to emigrate quickly if needed. a personalised service to help However that was never enough for My father continued his Zionist work by you preserve your precious him, so he used his connections within becoming a paid official for the JNF for memories for future generations. the Embassy to get regular updates and many years. www.wordsbydesign.co.uk to arrange visas for fellow members of [email protected] the Jewish community. After the war he was offered a post as 01869 327548

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Germany, Peter Simpson is interested to make contact with his son, Peter Roland. LOOKING know if anyone has knowledge of similar [email protected] work undertaken by British Embassy staff in Vienna. [email protected] OLD BAILEY TRIAL OF SAWONIUK FOR? Michael Anderson is researching pre-war and wartime events in Domachevo, a LISA & HILDE FLEISSIG of Bamberg Jewish town 50km from Brest-Livotsk, The AJR regularly receives Lena Söder is researching the biographies near the River Bug, to support a book messages from our members and of Lisa Fleissig (born 25 April 1917) and project about the only successful UK Hilde Fleissig (born 6 August 1918), prosecution of a Nazi, Andrei Sawoniuk, others looking for people or for former students at the Eichendorff- at The Old Bailey in 1999. He would like help in particular subjects. Here Gymnasium in Bamberg. Both emigrated to talk with anyone who has memories to London in 1937. Lisa married Ernesto or materials on this town or nearby are some of the most recent Steinberg and emigrated to Argentina, communities, or of Sawoniuk himself. requests – please get in touch Hilde married Ernst Fein and emigrated to [email protected] New York. directly with the person concerned [email protected] if you can help. HANNA & MICHEL BUCHWALD Does anyone remember this brother and PETER ROLAND / ALFRED ROSENFELD sister who were on a Kindertransport from BRITISH EMBASSY IN VIENNA German journalist Iris Voellnagel is writing Berlin in March, 1939? Hanna was 12, Having recently learned of unofficial about Alfred Rosenfeld, who headed Michel 11. Michel’s daughter, Cathy, would assistance given to Jews by British the Bombay Jewish Relief Association like to hear from anyone who knew them. Embassy staff in Berlin and elsewhere in in 1933-1945. She would dearly like to [email protected] THANKING ALL VOLUNTEERS Traditionally AJR’s annual ‘Celebration of Volunteers’ has Just a few of our wonderful been held at such auspicious volunteers venues as the Jewish Museum (including our Chairman and Manchester and the House of at least one Lords. But this year’s guests Trustee) who didn’t even need to leave their took part in our annual own kitchen or dining tables. thank you event Despite the lack of a posh venue, over 90 guests joined in to hear Lord Eric Pickles and Robert (‘Judge’) Rinder voice their AJR’s volunteers in the north of the UK, Finally AJR’s Chairman, Andrew Kaufman, support for the AJR and our team of read out a poem she had written about thanked the volunteers, saying: “This wonderful volunteers. the value that a volunteer’s phone call year my thank you is even more heartfelt can bring to an AJR member’s day. As she than usual, as I am acutely aware of Lord Pickles spoke about the challenges read her poem, the title of which was The the additional support and care you he has faced managing his roles whilst in view from my window, volunteers could have been giving our members during lockdown while Rob Rinder suggested send in photos of their own lockdown these challenging times. You have, quite that AJR might consider changing its view. literally, enabled us to maintain a critical name to ‘FJR’ or ‘MJR’ – ‘Family’ or lifeline with our members,” before ‘Mishpocha’ of Jewish Refugees – as the Michael Newman compered an offering a virtual l’chaim to thank them care and support our members receive is interactive quiz with questions based for their support. akin to what they might expect from their on the AJR and volunteering. We were own families. amazed to discover that three of our Here’s hoping that at next year’s guests had a combined experience of AJR celebration of volunteers the drinks will Fran Horwich, who co-ordinates the volunteering of almost 100 years. be available for everyone in person!

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women’s suffrage; the Jewish League THE REMARKABLE JOURNEY OF MR REVIEWS for Woman Suffrage was founded in PRINS 1912. Aletta Stevens CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH WOMEN Brown Dog Books and The Self- IN BRITAIN, 1880-1940: LIVING Summers shows how Anglo-Jewish Publishing Partnership WITH DIFFERENCE women like Lily Montagu, daughter by Anne Summers of Samuel Montagu (the banker and People say the greatest journeys Palgrave Macmillan founder of the orthodox Federation are escapes and this book tells of a of Synagogues), who became a great Dutch refugee who daringly fled in a This book is a treat, even for benefactor of the refugees from Nazi fishing boat under cover of darkness. those whose interests do not lie in Germany, combined a commitment to He settled in Bath where he later denominational or women’s history. gender equality with that to religious spearheaded a link to help hungry Though it is an academic study, reform. Though she came from a citizens in his native Alkmaar. based on thorough archival research devoutly orthodox background, and a deep scholarly mastery of Montagu championed the cause of Eli Prins’ family had lived in the famous its subject, it is a pleasure to read. progressive Judaism; the support that cheese market town for generations Above all, it opens up an entirely she gave to the refugees’ principal where he was based as a poet, new perspective on the Jewish and religious foundation, the New Liberal playwright and theatre producer. He Christian women who collaborated in Jewish Congregation (now Belsize used this work as a cover to travel to the field of voluntary, charitable and Square Synagogue), was frequently Germany and Austria to bring Jews and philanthropic work between 1880 acknowledged in AJR Information. anti-Nazis to safety in the Netherlands. and 1940. This covert voluntary mission made him Central to Summers’s book are the a prime target for the Nazis. Once they That period includes the remarkable friendships that developed invaded Holland he knew he was no organisational efforts to bring Jews across the religious divide, and longer safe. With enormous difficulty from the Third Reich to safety in sometimes across the political divide, he and others joined Alfred Goudsmit Britain. The first study of those rescue between Jewish and Christian women: – head of the famous de Bijenkorf efforts that I read was entitled Men Lily Montagu and Margaret Gladstone, department store – who chartered a of Vision, by Amy Zahl Gottlieb. But, who was to marry James Ramsay small trawler to take them to safety in as Anne Summers points out, whereas MacDonald of the radical Independent England. men predominated among the Labour Party; Netta Franklin, Lily’s members of the national committees sister, and the educationalist Charlotte Desperately overcrowded and narrowly concerned with rescue efforts, the Mason; or Rebecca Sieff of the escaping mines and overhead aircraft, local committees, where most of the toweringly wealthy Marks family they eventually landed in Lowestoft to work was done, were manned, as it and Jennie Lee, wife of the left-wing a warm reception on 16 May 1940, just were, by women. She consistently firebrand Aneurin Bevan. six days after the Dutch occupation. demonstrates the remarkable Before the war Eli’s sister Rose had contribution made by women to the Summers demonstrates convincingly married an Englishman, Herbert Tobin, task of rescue, noting for example that in Britain pressure from the host and had settled in London. Soon they that saving the child victims of Nazi community, whether in the form of were evacuated to Bath where Eli joined persecution was first suggested as outright antisemitism or of subtler them. The city’s population was swollen early as autumn 1933 by Helen demands to conform to British by evacuees, including large numbers of Bentwich, who usually figures as the standards, was not the only form of children plus employees of Government wife of an eminent man, Sir Norman social control to which Jewish women departments, although unfortunately Bentwich. were subject; the patriarchy operating Bath itself was devastatingly blitzed and in their community heavily influenced this is graphically described. Summers traces the interfaith the course of their everyday lives. cooperation between Jewish and Accordingly, Summers advances a more The book also highlights Eli’s many Christian women, mostly from nuanced view of relations between talents. He was involved in valuable the higher social classes and of the Jews and the native British than war work, was a good linguist and progressive convictions, back to do those who treat those relations familiar with the literary scene. A the 1880s, when there appeared a as almost exclusively determined by highlight was being invited to tea with Jewish women’s organisation that British antisemitism. Of the rescue the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina in exile sought to safeguard immigrant efforts in the 1930s, she writes that here. Paramount was keeping in regular women from Eastern Europe against they may have been disorganised, but touch with family in Holland for whom sexual exploitation. With growing that in Britain, ‘the only country where life deteriorated rapidly. Rosette, Eli’s confidence, Jewish women became non-Jews organised support locally for mother, was no longer allowed to involved in the 1890s in the campaign refugees’, refugees did not starve or work in the public library and his elder to free Captain Alfred Dreyfus, end up on the streets. brother Aron was forced to close his law then in the openly political cause of Anthony Grenville practice. Discrimination escalated and

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Alkmaar’s Jewish residents were ordered contributions of many refugees to the the Holocaust itself and, at the same en bloc to settle in Amsterdam. So county during WW2 and throughout time, capture its contradictions—and Eli’s parents left the house where they the post-war era. sometimes its absurdity. had lived for 28 years, never to return. They had to make do with a succession This is a finely written book which is an As one reviewer, Henry Woolf, wrote: of cramped quarters in constant fear important contribution, not just to our “Angela Morgan Cutler has brilliantly of deportation. Tragically they were knowledge of the past but also to our infiltrated the borders of this transported to Sobibor where Aron soon understanding of the present. landscape of desolation. Somehow followed. Kathy Cohen she has found a voice that reflects the enormity of the horrors perpetuated Holland suffered a gruelling “Hunger there without being stifled by them. Winter” just as hostilities ended, with AUSCHWITZ Unsentimental and richly worked… great shortages of food and fuel. By Angela Morgan Cutler the words are more than mere An ARP warden there pre-war, Eli Galileo Publishing 2018 messengers of thoughts and feelings continued in the role in Bath where – they glow with a life of their own… he told head warden and Rotarian I recently came across this book, first the whole package quite inimitable: Jimmie Wills about his home town’s published in 2008, which focuses on the rarest quality in literature.” plight. Jimmie had the idea of adopting visitors to Auschwitz (regular readers Jo Briggs it as a sister city. Clothing and large may recall my own article questioning sums of money were despatched to Auschwitz tourism in our January issue). It help Alkmaar, with the first tranche is a book that questions our need to look: of children arriving for an extended what is there to uncover, other than the switch on electrics visit later in 1945. So the twinning difficulty of peering into such a place and Rewires and all household association was born which thrives to into a subject that has been obsessively electrical work this day. documented, yet can never really be understood? How to write about PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 Author Aletta Stevens was raised in Auschwitz in the twenty-first century, Mobile: 0795 614 8566 Holland and her knowledge of the when the last generation of survivors is country shines through in the book. She soon to be lost? also brings to it a vibrant enthusiasm for the twinning association where she has It is also a book that searches for a www.fishburnbooks.com served as a committee member and re- personal story. It opens on a local Jonathan Fishburn discovered the history of the Link. bus that takes its author Angela, her buys and sells Jewish and Hebrew books, ephemera and items of Jewish interest. Janet Weston husband En (whose mother survived the Holocaust where most of her family did He is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association. not) and their two sons to Auschwitz A COUNTY OF REFUGE: REFUGEES IN sixty years after the Holocaust, and Contact Jonathan on 020 8455 9139 or 07813 803 889 CUMBRIA 1933-1941 ends in a pine forest outside Minsk for more information Rob David where En’s grandparents were shot in Cumberland and Westmorland May 1942. The backbone of Auschwitz Antiquarian and Archaeological Society is a series of emails between the author and acclaimed Franco-American writer JOSEPH PEREIRA This is a beautifully illustrated book Raymond Federman. At the age of 14, (ex-AJR caretaker over 22 years) which examines Cumbria’s response to Federman was hastily thrust into the is now available for DIY repairs the refugee crisis of the 1930s and early small upstairs cupboard of their Paris and general maintenance. 1940s. A wealth of archival material apartment by his mother just before No job too small, and oral testimony demonstrate that at she, his father and two sisters were very reasonable rates. that time many Cumbrians welcomed taken to Auschwitz, where they were Please telephone 07966 887 485. refugee groups. killed.

Much was achieved with the support Federman has spent a lifetime trying of voluntary organisations, and to find a language appropriate for the women were in the forefront of the enormity of the Holocaust and his humanitarian work, meeting the needs part in its legacy, ultimately espousing Books Bought of refugees. Readers are introduced to laughterature – laughter as a means Modern and Old a number of refugees and the stories of survival. This beautiful, powerful behind their arrival in Britain. There is and innovative work experiments with Eric Levene an interesting analysis of the Enemy different forms – correspondence, 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 Alien Tribunal held at Whitehaven reflections, dreams, a travelogue – [email protected] in 1939 as well as of the significant that mirror the fragmentary legacy of

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OBITUARIES

RALPH (RUDOLPH) Ralph and Barbara had a happy marriage MANFRED DURST BAER over 59 years, each practising their own faith (Barbara being a lifelong Anglican). After Born: 11 November 1924, Munich Born: 17 May 1929, Frankfurt the move to Amersham Ralph attended Died: 7 June 2020, London Died: 21 June 2020, Chorleywood, services at Northwood and Pinner Liberal Herts Synagogue, but felt it would be good to have something more local. He and Fourteen-year old Manfred Barbara opened their home for the initial arrived in England via a Ralph’s mother, Gertrude, was gathering of what eventually became the Kindertransport in January a kindergarten teacher, and South Bucks Jewish Community (SBJC); 40 people attended that first meeting. 1939, with a 10/ – note, a his father Ernest Baer a bank Ralph took on responsibilities for Rites and bicycle and a watch that had employee. They were not Practices, organised the mitzvot rota, and represented the congregation at meetings just stopped. After leaving observant Jews but the family and conferences. He remained involved as a Dovercourt he stayed at a member of SBJC until his health determined began following Jewish customs boys’ hostel near Portobello otherwise. at home after Ralph transferred Road, while attending Salamon to a Jewish primary school from Ralph joined the Labour Party in his teens Wolfson School, which was and remained a member for the rest of his his first school, where he had evacuated to Wiltshire during life. He loved political debate. He canvassed experienced antisemitic bullying. during election campaigns and stood as a the war. party candidate in local elections though, as a At the age of nine Ralph came to the socialist in Amersham, he was aware that the At sixteen he was offered a choice of UK as a refugee. He left school at 16 to odds were stacked against him! Ralph was a apprenticeships and chose the jewellery train as a medical laboratory technician, man of high principles and strong views. He trade, believing from the price he had eventually qualifying as a fellow of was eloquent at stating the latter, but, more been quoted to get his watch repaired the Institute of Medical Laboratory impressively, he lived by the former. that there was money to be made. He Sciences. He spent most of his career served a five-year apprenticeship at a in the National Health Service – an Ralph loved classical music, had a lifelong Hatton Garden diamond mounters and institution he passionately supported. love of learning, current affairs, political had additional training at the Central biographies and, in retirement, took courses School of Arts and Crafts. Midway In his mid-twenties, Ralph’s love of at the U3A. He volunteered for Meals on through the war the factory changed travel led him to Kenya to set up a lab Wheels and repaired microscopes to be sent production from jewellery to making for a group of doctors in Nakuru. He to medical labs in developing countries. He bomb sights. Manfred wanted to join made good friends there, especially was optimistic by nature, laughed easily, and the RAF but his employer enforced his among the expat Jewish community. accepted without complaint the physical and apprenticeship. A second tour took him to Kampala in mental limitations that affected the final part Uganda, where he met Barbara, who of his life. After the war he set up his own was working as a nursing sister in the jewellery business in partnership with same government hospital. They were Ralph was predeceased by his oldest son, his great friend, John Najmann. The married in Wales in 1961 and moved Richard, earlier this year, and is survived by two of them had met in the hostel back to the UK permanently, eventually his loving wife, Barbara, his children and and been apprenticed together. The settling with their four children in their partners Alison and Michael, David name, Fred Manshaw Ltd, was a Amersham, Buckinghamshire, where and Rachel, James and Henry and his combination of a reversal of his own Ralph oversaw the pathology lab at six grandchildren, Matthew, Clare, Kate, name and that of his favourite writer, Amersham General Hospital until his Helena, Andrew and Hannah. George Bernard Shaw. They opened a retirement in 1990. Alison, David and James Baer small workshop off Hatton Garden and

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Edith pictured with her AJR social worker Dean Lloyd-Graham at her 100th birthday party in 2018. started to make faceted wedding rings. They found EDITH POULSEN great demand for their work among mail order (formerly Maw) née Levai companies, cigarette coupon companies, as well as wholesalers and small retailers, and soon employed Born: 10 April 1918, Vienna many jewellers and trainees, with their first two Died: 4 April 2020, London employees being survivors of Bergen Belsen. As Manfred used to say during his talks to schools, “Even then I realised that if you give a piece of Edith Poulsen, who died six days before her 102nd fish to a person they have a meal, but if you teach birthday, was an ardent socialist who made significant them to fish, they have a meal for life.” contributions to public life, particularly in Waltham Forest. Manfred travelled widely throughout the US She was indomitable in her work on the social care scrutiny and Europe, learning about modern production committee and was mayoress and deputy mayoress on a techniques. By 1951 the company had stopped retail sales, only supplying wholesalers, and was number of occasions. using latest technology and processes to mass produce items that found a ready market within After the 1938 Anschluss Edith’s father was arrested as a Jew and a the rapidly emerging multiple jewellery retailers socialist, and sent to Dachau. Edith, aged just 20, went to the American like Argos, Ratners and H. Samuel, although they embassy to find addresses of American citizens who shared her mother’s were careful not to supply any one customer more maiden name (Baruch). She wrote to them all, asking for an affidavit for than 15% of their output. In 1988 they decided the USA for her parents – and received one positive reply! Having the to sell Fred Manshaw Ltd to a public company and affidavit secured her father’s release from Dachau. retire. Recognised for his commitment to standards as well as innovation, Manfred had already been Edith came to England on a domestic permit and, at an AJR event in Swiss made a Freeman of the City of London and Cottage, she met Robert, a dentist, who was in the process of divorcing became President of the British Jewellery and his wife. Robert could arrange for Edith, her younger sister Lizzie and Giftware Federation and Chairman of the British Aunt Margit to go to Southampton harbour to see her parents on the Jewellery Association, and also served the British boat on their way to America. This was the last time Edith saw her father, Hallmarking Council for 15 years. who died after the war in Seattle (thanks to Edith, not in a concentration camp). After retirement Manfred devoted a great deal of time to Jewish causes and other former refugees, Robert took over a dental surgery in Birmingham and, after his divorce providing both advice and financial assistance. in 1941 they married, six weeks before their daughter Sylvia was born. In Israel he endowed the Shabtai Levy Children’s Robert died in 1943 and Edith moved back to London with Sylvia to join Home at Haifa while in Britain he furthered the Margit and Lizzie with baby son Michael. Lizzie’s husband, Harry Warren work of the JIA and chaired the Leo Baeck Home (formerly Heinz Weininger) was away in the British army. House Committee. He maintained close links with the AJR and was guest lecturer at our 1990 Edith met Charlie Poulsen, her second husband, at an amateur theatre Annual General Meeting. He also found time to company. They had a small registry office marriage and Charlie adopted enjoy his hobbies of golf, skiing, walking and Sylvia. Once Sylvia was grown up, Edith studied at the LSE for a bridge. B.Sc. degree in medieval economic history and later became Head of Economics at a private school. Manfred’s wife Marion, who was also from Munich, passed away in July 2019. Manfred Edith met the trials and tribulations which life threw at her with cool and is now survived by son Michael, wife Ilana, wise stoicism. On finally reaching 100 she remarked “How that will annoy granddaughters Carly and Lisa and great Hitler!” Her birthday party was held at Walthamstow Town Hall, attended granddaughter Ariana. by 60 family, friends and local dignitaries. Edith was much loved and Michael Durst respected and those who knew her will guard her memory in their hearts.

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AJR MEETINGS IN AUGUST VIA ZOOM Here are details of the Zoom meetings we are holding for members around the country in place of our normal Outreach Groups. They are open to all AJR members – please email Susan Harrod on [email protected] for joining details.

Wednesday 5 August Claude Vecht Wolf – The Beatles 2.00pm

Thursday 6 August Rabbi Mark L. Solomon – Music and conversation 2.00pm

Monday 10 August Professor Clare Ungerson, author of Four thousand Jewish Lives Saved, 2.00pm about the 1939 Kitchener Camp

Wednesday 12 August Dan Fox – Jews fighting in Europe 2.00pm

Thursday 13 August David Barnett – Tea Shops and Corner Houses: the Story of Joe Lyons 2.00pm

Wednesday 19 August Deborah Cohen and Ingrid Sellman – The history and significance of 2.00pm Willesden Jewish Cemetery

The AJR YouTube Channel

The AJR now has its own We have dedicated YouTube channel, received full of video content that much positive feedback about we think will be particularly the channel. relevant to our members. Ruth Ramsay, a second Recently loaded films include generation member in Glasgow, wrote: continue: it is much appreciated.” Simon Parkin talking about The “It is absolutely wonderful to view in Island of Extraordinary Captives, one’s own time and also provides the To find the AJR channel simply go to and a lively Q&A about The opportunity to be far more involved and www.YouTube.com and search for Ballad of the Cosmo Café, both of aware, as a lot of these events take place the Association of Jewish Refugees which formed part of our online in London and we would not see them or type www.youtube.com/c/ programming to mark Refugee otherwise. Despite the circumstances and TheAssociationofJewishRefugees into Week 2020. many changes, I hope this format can your browser.

JEWISH RESISTANCE TO THE HOLOCAUST

The Wiener Holocaust Library, which resisted the Nazis and their collaborators. has recently reopened for research appointments following lockdown, hopes At the time of going to press, exact details to open its brand new exhibition to the of public access to the exhibition had not public sometime this month. yet been confirmed. However at 7.00pm on 5 August the distinguished Professor Jewish Lithuanian Partisans, July 1944 Jewish Resistance to the Holocaust tells of History Samuel Kassow will speak at an the story of the Jewish men and women event to celebrate the exhibition, along exhibition’s curator, Dr Barbara Warnock. who, as the Holocaust unfolded around with Director of The Wiener Holocaust You can register for this event for free via them and at great risk to themselves, Library, Dr Toby Simpson, and the www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

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

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