VOLume 12 NO.11 november 2012

The Association of Jewish Refugees/ British Academy Appeal

nclosed with this month’s issue, recipient institution. the classicist Maurice Bowra, the art his- readers will find a funding appeal The British Academy, which received torian Kenneth Clark, the archaeologist Eissued jointly in the names of the its Royal Charter from King Edward VII ­Mortimer Wheeler and the historians Association of Jewish Refugees and the in 1902, is the most prestigious British Alan Bullock, A. J. P. Taylor and Max Be- British Academy. It is now nearly 50 years institution that supports and promotes the loff, among a host of other famous names. since the two organisations were first humanities and social sciences. One of the Current fellows include George Steiner, formally associated, through the Thank- great national learned societies, it occupies the literary scholar, the historian David You Britain Fund, which the AJR set up a place in those fields comparable to that Cannadine, the classicist Mary Beard, in 1963 and which was so successful that of the august Royal Society in the sciences. the political scientist Vernon Bogdanor it raised the sum of £96,000, principally The Academy is one of the leading bodies (David Cameron’s tutor at Oxford), the from the refugees from Nazism who had that funds research in the arts and social archaeologist Barry Cunliffe, the philo­ fled to Britain. sciences in Britain, across a wide range sopher Roger Scruton, the professor of A cheque for this amount, worth almost of academic disciplines from history, linguistics David Crystal, and the political £1 million in today’s money, was philosopher Quentin Skinner. formally handed to the British With the agreement of the AJR, Academy at a ceremony in the the Academy used the money raised Saddlers’ Hall in the City of London by the Thank-You Britain Fund to on 8 November 1965. (The date was establish a research fellowship, presumably chosen to fall as close the Thank-Offering to Britain as possible to the anniversary of the Fellowship. This was intended, as its Kristallnacht pogrom of November founding statutes stated, to promote 1938.) Photos of Sir Hans Krebs, research into ‘human studies widely the Nobel Prize-winning scientist, interpreted and their bearing on the who handed over the cheque well-being of the inhabitants of the on behalf of the AJR, and Lord United Kingdom’. The Fellowship is Lionel Robbins, the distinguished now awarded alongside the highly economist, who accepted it in his respected Leverhulme Trust Senior capacity as President of the British Research Fellowships, which are Academy, are on the reverse side Lord Lionel Robbins (left) and Sir Hans Krebs awarded annually to established of the leaflet. scholars in mid-career, to enable The story of the Thank-You Britain philosophy, literature and languages to them to take a year’s leave to carry out Fund as seen from the viewpoint of the law, politics, psychology and economics. a major piece of research. Competition AJR and its members was told in our issue As its website states, ‘Our purpose is to for these awards is extremely fierce, and of May 2005. This article concentrates inspire, recognise and support excellence only scholars of genuinely high distinction instead on the British Academy, while in the humanities and social sciences, (and considerable productivity) are also explaining the reasons behind the throughout the UK and internationally, considered in the awards process. So the new funding appeal. The Fund originated and to champion their role and value.’ Fellowship, originally funded by an appeal in 1963 out of a proposal that the Jewish The Academy also functions as an to the refugees from Hitler, has taken refugees from Central Europe should ­independent fellowship that represents its place at the highest level of British make a public gesture of thanks to their the humanities and social sciences and academic and intellectual life. adopted homeland, to be paid for by their consists of some 1,000 distinguished Recipients of the Thank-Offering to donations; accordingly, an appeal was scholars. The list of its past fellows reads Britain Fellowship have included such launched. The AJR, which was responsible like a role call of the greatest names in outstanding scholars as Hew Strachan, for the administration of the Fund, its subject areas: the economists J. M. the historian of the First World War, and resolved that the money raised should be Keynes, William Beveridge and Friedrich Stefan Collini, the authority on English devoted to scholarly research that would Hayek, the philosophers A. J. Ayer, Karl literature and intellectual history. Since benefit British society. It decided that Popper and Isaiah Berlin, the writer- 2008, when the Academy re-established the British Academy was the appropriate scholars C. S. Lewis and Henry Moore, continued overleaf  AJR JOURNAL november 2012

AJR/British Academy Appeal cont. from page 1  Kristallnacht a closer relationship with the AJR, this readers to consider making a ­donation, 74th Anniversary journal has reported annually on the however small. One of the most impress­ Memorial Service recipients of the Thank-Offering to Britain ive documents that I discovered when Belsize Square Synagogue Fellowships, Dr Patricia Clavin (Jesus researching the original Thank-You Wednesday 7 November 2012 College, Oxford), Dr Alexander Lingas ­Britain Fund was the list of donors from at 2 pm (City University, London) and Dr Eugene the 1960s, some 3,000 names long, most Guest Speaker: Trudy Gold, Rogan (St Antony’s College, Oxford); of them ‘ordinary’ refugees who could not Executive Director, London these are scholars of outstanding ability afford more than relatively small amounts, Jewish Cultural Centre working in subject areas broadly related but who were determined to contribute to Please join us for a service to com­ to the concerns of the Jews who fled from a project that reflected the values of their memorate the 74th anniversary­ Hitler to Britain. community and was of benefit to British of Kristallnacht at Belsize Square The fact that money raised by the society. The Fellowships have also created ­Synagogue on Wednesday 7 ­November 2012 at 2 pm. refugees from Hitler has funded research a lasting memorial to the Jewish refugees of such prestigious quality over nearly half from Hitler who settled in Britain. Now Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg will lead the service and light refresh­ a century should be a matter of great pride that the generation of the refugees them- ments will be served at its conclusion. to the refugee community, and especially selves is disappearing, the Fellowship’s We are arranging free transport to AJR members. The original decision function as a memorial to our community to and from the Synagogue with to dedicate the Thank-You Britain Fund takes on ever greater significance. collections in Stanmore, Golders to academic scholarship reflected the The Thank-You Britain Fund brought Green and at Finchley Road Station. high tradition of respect for education the AJR into contact with the cream Please contact Karin Pereira at and learning widespread in German and of British intellectual life. The Fund’s AJR Head Office on 020 8385 Austrian Jewry, which had a reverence patrons, including representatives of 3070 or at [email protected] if you for Bildung unusual even among Jews, the British Academy and the refugees would like to travel on the coach. the ‘People of the Book’. That tradition from Hitler, could scarcely have been remains one of the outstanding features more eminent. They were Lord Robbins, of our community today, and it is one that President of the British Academy and Lord Robbins, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, this journal strives to maintain. author of the Robbins Report of 1963 on Sir Isaiah Berlin, the historian Sir Denis However, the capital sum from which higher education; Sir Isaiah Berlin, one of Brogan, the anthropologist Sir Raymond the Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship the great intellectual figures of his day; the Firth, H. L. A. Hart, Professor of Jurispru- is funded has been gradually eroded, scientists Sir Ernest Chain and Sir Hans dence at Oxford, the Nobel Prize-winning so that the Fellowship can no longer be Krebs, the two refugees from Nazism who economist Sir John Hicks, and Professor awarded every year. This is threatening had won Nobel Prizes by 1964; and Sir Arnaldo Momigliano, a former refugee what is arguably the greatest single Ludwig Guttmann, director of the Stoke from Mussolini’s Italy. Through the cur- contribution that the Jewish refugees Mandeville Spinal Injuries Centre (see our rent appeal, it is hoped to continue the collectively have made to British public September 2012 issue). The committee AJR’s participation in this high tradition of life. To preserve that contribution, the AJR responsible for administering the Fund scholarship. Readers will be kept informed and the British Academy are launching an included Alfred Dresel, then chairman of the progress of the appeal. appeal intended to replenish the fund on of the AJR, and Werner Rosenstock, its Anthony Grenville which the British Academy can draw. The general secretary, and its co-chairmen Academy wishes to use the money raised were AJR vice-chairman Werner Behr to overhaul and modernise the awards. and Victor Ross, who, as readers know, The Association of It intends to establish annual research still wields an active pen. Jewish Refugees grants of £10,000, which will be awarded The calibre of the members of the to younger scholars, to enable them committee appointed within the British in Great Britain to conduct the first pieces of research Academy to oversee the Fellowship re- Benevolent Society so vital to their career development; flected the importance that the Academy and to create an updated version of the attached to the refugees’ gift to Britain: The Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship Special General Meeting to consider the proposed better suited to academic research in the AJR Chief Executive twenty-first century. (It is envisaged that Michael Newman reorganisation of the Society both types of award will carry the AJR’s Directors will be held on name, making clear their connection to Carol Rossen Thursday 15 November 2012 David Kaye at 3:00 pm the Jewish refugees.) Head of Department The funding campaign is being Sue Kurlander Social Services at the AJR Paul Balint Centre, launched in the AJR Journal as a mark of AJR Journal Belsize Square Synagogue, respect to the AJR and its members, who Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor London NW3 4HX. Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor played the leading part in the successful­ Andrea Goodmaker Secretarial/Advertisements Members are referred to the appeal of the 1960s. Speaking as an aca- enclosed letter from the demic who appreciates the high quality Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not Chairman. of the scholarship that the Fellowship has necessarily those of the Association of Jewish Refugees and should not be regarded as such. produced over the years, I would urge

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Rudi Leavor No going back hen we emigrated we were the cruise ship Deutschland and rested mine who had recently become a lucky to be able to do so in a while in the cabin to recover from ‘Friend’ of the Bradford Synagogue, Wcomfort. On a Sunday in mid- the previous few days. I have to relate had just become Senior Rabbi at West 1937 we were at my grandmother’s that my father and I often played a London Synagogue. Her ancestors and her sisters’ flat for afternoon coffee piano piece for four hands entitled originated from Germany but, as she when my father bent down to me and Dornröschens Brautfahrt (Sleeping was born in the UK, she has no trace of whispered into my ear ‘We are going Beauty’s Bridal Journey) by Max Rhode. an accent. So, where Josef was turned to England.’ Still exhausted, we went in to the din- down and came to Bradford, Julia was I knew that my parents had often ing room. At the exact moment of our accepted by West London. Truly a case been to England in order to ascertain entry, the small band started to play of the wheel having come full circle … how they could emigrate there, but this piece. After our nerve-wracking over a period of 139 years! this was the first time I had been made experiences of the last few days, when aware that it really was at hand. My we had been physically and mentally first thought was that we were going at our nadir, this music sounded as if spring grove by train and ship and that this would be it came from paradise and lifted our RETIREMENT HOME a great adventure; my second thought spirits a thousandfold. The conductor was that we were going to leave could never have dreamt how great 214 Finchley Road Germany and find safety in England; my a pleasure it was for us to hear these London NW3 third thought was that we had to leave strains. The sheets of music we had used London’s Most Luxurious our relatives in Germany. However, all to play the piece are now in the Jewish three thoughts came together within a Museum in Berlin.  Entertainment  Activities few seconds. I can follow all this up with a little  Stress Free Living In November the farewells from our anecdote. My father had, of course,  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine mainly elderly relatives took place in paid up to the end of November for  Full En-Suite Facilities their flat in order to prevent trauma at the flat in which we had lived. On Call for more information or a personal tour the station. Uncle Arthur Blumenthal, a the morning of our 24-hour journey 020 8446 2117 fairly well-off businessman, said ‘So, you from Bremerhaven to Southampton, or 020 7794 4455 really want to emigrate!’ He refused to he gathered us together at the stern [email protected] face up to the danger signs and he, his of the ship and ceremoniously threw daughter Evi, son-in-law Werner Simon the keys to the flat into the sea as if and four-year-old grandson Daniel were to say ‘With this gesture we break murdered at Auschwitz. our links with Germany – there’s no At the Lehrter Station there were going back!’ JACKMAN . about 50 friends to see us off. My father had bought second-class tickets – a SILVERMAN great exception to the norm but it was Full circle COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS an exceptional occasion! The four of us, n 1873 Rabbi Josef Strauss of Ham- my parents, my sister Winnie and I, went burg applied to the West London two each into adjacent compartments ISynagogue to become their (possibly so as to have room to look out of the senior) rabbi. Having been provisionally window and wave. As the train moved accepted by letter, he presented himself off, 50 white handkerchiefs fluttered in for interview. However, his strong Ger- the air, except for the Radziewski family, man accent was not acceptable to the Telephone: 020 7209 5532 elite of that synagogue and he applied who stood at the end of the platform [email protected] so that they would be the last ones we to the Bradford Reform Synagogue, would see. recently founded mainly by ex-German We stayed overnight in Hamburg wool merchants to whom his accent was and the next day took the boat train very familiar. Indeed, the interview prob- to Bremen and Bremerhaven. A man ably took place in German. At any rate, switch on electrics in civilian clothes inspected our papers he was accepted, settled in Bradford, Rewires and all household and asked my father to accompany married a local girl and founded what electrical work him to another compartment. The was to become a large family which PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 train stopped at a station and started became a household name. Mobile: 0795 614 8566 again before my father had returned. I Recently I was privileged to officiate asked my mother ‘Where is Vati?’ I had at the stone-setting of Roy Stroud, visions of him having been taken off grandson of Josef and the last of that the train – it would have been a tragedy generation. The entire family attended, Annely Juda to have come so far and be prevented numbering some 40 people. I told them Fine Art from reaching safety when so near. My what they already knew – though not 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) mother was equally anxious but said in these terms – that had Josef been Tel: 020 7629 7578 soothingly that she thought he was on accepted by West London in 1873, none Fax: 020 7491 2139 the train, which he was: he had been of them would have been here today. CONTEMPORARY PAINTING searched for contraband. By a quirk of fate, Rabbi Baroness AND SCULPTURE In Bremerhaven we embarked on Julia Neuberger, a distant relative of

3 AJR JOURNAL november 2012 eric's story

picture which recently came was, I think, the last service to be held in Nuremberg trials Nazi leaders (at least into my possession shows part our synagogue – things were beginning those who had been caught and hadn’t A of a synagogue in the house to get difficult. Sometimes I would go yet committed suicide) were hanged in in which my grandparents, parents, to Hamelin or Hannover and I remember that very same prison. sister and I lived. The house, large Chanukah parties there. In the middle of the night we were and detached, was in the village of But back to my little shul in bussed to a police barracks in Hannover. Salzhemmendorf, some 30 km from Salzhemmendorf – ‘salt village’, so Many Jewish men were there already. Hamelin. Salzhemmendorf had a named because there was a salt water The next day we were taken to the population of some 1,000 inhabitants spring there. Later a small spa was railway station and made to stand on and one school, which my sister and I established with a hotel and hot salt one platform packed close together. attended. There was one other Jewish water bath by the city of Hannover. Pictures were taken by the press; young family in the village but they had no Schoolchildren in the village were boys were pushed to the back and children. There were several Jewish allowed six baths a week during the fat men had to stand in the front. A families in the surrounding villages. summer holidays! We were allowed an passenger train came and we had to The house was built in the 1700s as hour in the tub, then a big lounge to get on with no idea of our destination. both a schoolhouse and a synagogue rest for an hour while we had cocoa Of course, several of the adults had – at that time, a fair number of Jews and biscuits! some idea. I don’t remember how long apparently lived in the area. the journey took, but it was In the 1860s the school was probably the next day when attended by 15 or 16 children. we arrived in Erfurt. From the The entire right-hand side of station we were bussed to the house was the synagogue. Buchenwald. By this time we There were three rooms on knew where we were being the left-hand side and six taken because of the area in large rooms on the first floor Saxony. On arrival, God help which served as classrooms. those who weren’t fast enough Presumably some of these – heavy sticks were flailing rooms were used by someone around their heads. who lived there, maybe a rabbi We were separated from or teacher. long-term inmates. These On a hill outside the village were Socialists, Communists, was a Jewish cemetery which Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses contained graves of people I etc who only had to renounce didn’t know, with five excep- their own particular beliefs Eric Davidson (Erich Davidsohn), mother Elfrida Davidsohn (née tions: a single grave – that of Guttmann), father Robert, Eric’s cousin Julianne (adopted; he usually to be released, but did my father’s brother, who had referred to her as his half-sister) not. There were others, in died in France on service with particular dangerous criminals the German army; a double grave – that The house we lived in didn’t belong who became Kapos – as bad as the of the parents of the other family on his to my family, but to the Hannover Syna- Nazis themselves. We were separated side; and a ­second double grave – that gogue Authority. My parents built on it from these in our own compound, of my ­father’s parents. extensively in the late 1920s-early 1930s. which consisted of five huge huts each My father and his four brothers were In the early morning of 9-10 accommodating 2,000 men. born in that house, my father in 1884. November 1938 about four men in In the huts there was a shelving My grandfather was a butcher and SA uniforms plus the local policeman system for use as beds, into which we cattle dealer, as was my father. They entered the synagogue. The SA men crawled and in which we couldn’t sit traded from a shop converted from the smashed the benches and threw the up. Our first food, brought the next left-hand front room of the house. At books about – but didn’t touch the Ark morning, consisted of one army loaf for the back of the house was a large yard, or the curtain in front of it. The SA men between six to eight of us and one cup a slaughter house, stable and barns. weren’t local. Nothing else in the house of ‘coffee’. At lunchtime we were given The cellar was converted into a cold was touched – this, my parents thought, some sort of broth, made from fish or store with ice cut from the local river in was due to the policeman’s influence. meat. The very frum were told by the winter, keeping the meat fresh until the About midday the policeman came rabbis to eat whatever was given. following winter. again with a man in civvies and told The first Sunday no food arrived. I was born in 1922 in Hannover. For my father and me that we were to be When it was realised that no food would as long as I can remember as a child, taken to Hamelin prison. My father’s come on Sundays, those who had taken services were held in the synagogue protests that he was a war veteran charge in each hut cut down the daily on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. with the Iron Cross, that his brothers ration of bread. During the day we had Somebody came from Hannover to hold had also fought in the First World War to leave the huts and stand in line or sit the services and the five or six Jewish and that two of them had been killed all day cross-legged. There were daily families from neighbouring villages were to no avail. We saw that many beatings whenever the guards felt like it. came along with relatives staying with Jewish men were there already, four Many men, the older ones in particular, them for the yom tov – so there was or five to a cell. The only consolation I died under these conditions. There were always a minyan. still have from spending that day in the quite a few doctors and they did what My bar mitzvah, in February 1935, prison is the knowledge that after the they could.

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After the first week names were who looked after us. We complained at the time, my parents were accepted called and releases started. On the about the treatment of the other boys into the scheme and left for Argentina, morning of 6 December my name was and got to see the man in charge, a taking with them agricultural tools called. You had to rush to the gate or colonel. After that the lot of the boys and implements. They were given 100 miss being released. A quick farewell to improved somewhat. hectares of virgin land, in the middle my father and I was away. One high spot of my stay there of which was a bungalow. They also No food was given but – worst of all is that during the annual ploughing received one horse, one cow and a well – we couldn’t go to the toilet. We were competition I won the prize for the best- with a windmill to pump the water. given money for the rail fare and bussed kept horse, then I won the ploughing The main crop was alfalfa, a clover-like to the station. Several of us got on the competition with a prize of 5 shillings. cattle feed, and possibly some grain and train direct to Hannover and arrived in I was rich! A Milky Way cost 1d in those maize. Living conditions were harsh but the middle of the night. The other peo- days and a Mars Bar 2d. I loved them! I think most of those who went over ple on the train kept well away from us. Until war broke out we all received there eventually made a go of it. All this, In the middle of the night I made letters from home. As my parents were however, was not a gift: everything had for my aunt and uncle’s place, which in Argentina by then, letters occasionally to be repaid and that money was used wasn’t too far from the station. Luckily came from there, though many letters to buy more land for the scheme. they were still there, as were my mother never arrived. In the mid-fifties things again and sister. My mother had gone to the During the war I worked on farms became difficult, with the rise of the Gestapo every day pleading for my from Yorkshire to Buckinghamshire and Peron government, who aroused the father’s and my release. in Sunbury-on-Thames in 1945-46. Here peons (natives), the ‘sleeveless ones’, Next day we had to report to the I met my wife Della. promising them land, in particular land Gestapo and my mother and I had to As I mentioned, the house with the immigrants had made fertile. Never sign that I was hale and hearty. A doctor the synagogue we had lived in in mind that there was plenty of untilled found nothing wrong with me. My Salzhemmendorf had belonged to land still available – but of course it was father was released on 12 December. the Hannover Jewish community. The hard work to make it arable. Many Jewish men who had got wind Germans took it over and after the war At that time too, many of the Jewish of what was going on got up to various my mother was instrumental in having settlers were getting older and starting dodges to escape capture. I heard of them thrown out and reclaiming it for to receive reparations and pensions some going to public toilets or riding the Jewish community. from Germany. Many, including my on trains or trams in Berlin. Eventually, my parents went to parents, sold out and settled in villages After my father came home we didn’t Argentina in June 1939 to work as like Moises Ville. I think most of them return to the village but found a flat in ranchers, as did so many other Jewish had a reasonable retirement and old a house owned by Jewish people. We families. They had their Jewish religious age. had furniture and clothing brought objects packed into crates and shipped Eric Davidson to us. Whilst I had been away my there. A synagogue was established in This article is part of a book-length mother had put my name down for the a village called Moises Ville, where my document the author was writing shortly Kindertransport. My parents had been sister still lives and where services are before he passed away in 1998 (Ed.). trying to go to Argentina since 1935 but still held. My father died in 1964 so I it hadn’t worked out. never saw him again. My mother came On 7 February 1939, just before to England in 1965 for six weeks. ARTS AND EVENTS my 17th birthday, I came to England Argentina has a large Jewish november DIARY with the Kindertransport. We landed population. As I mentioned, my parents at Harwich and were taken to Warners had been trying to emigrate there since Wed 14 Professor Jacqueline Rose, Holiday Camp in Dovercourt. We were 1935 but the Argentine government had ‘Absolute Fiction: Hannah Arendt and the End of Mental Freedom’ Centre treated very well and stayed there six made it difficult to get visas. The reason for German-Jewish Studies, University of to eight weeks. Then 50 of the older for taking up farming in Argentina Sussex, Fulton A, 5 pm. Tel 01273 606 boys were moved to the Kitchener (apart from wanting to get away from 755 or email [email protected] Camp at Richborough. Only one hut Germany) was that a system created for Wed 14 B’nai B’rith Jerusalem Lodge. had been made suitable for habitation Jewish people for this purpose suited us, Rosalind Zeffertt, ‘My Experiences as a and we moved in. More huts were made who had spent all our lives in rural areas London 2012 Olympics Volunteer’ At habitable and Jewish men came from and semi-farming pursuits. home of Sue Raingold, 2.30 pm. Tel 020 8907 4553 Germany until the camp held 3,000. It all began in 1880, when a Baron Many well-known people, including Hirsch in Paris donated a large sum of Fri 16 Dr Jenny Carson, ‘Quaker Service: The Friends Relief Service in Post- the Chief Rabbi, Dr Joseph Hertz, came money to buy virgin lands in the centre war Europe’ At Wiener Library, 1. 00 to visit us. With the camp filling up, we of Argentina for the purpose of getting pm. Admission free. Tel 020 7636 7247 boys were moved again. This time, a Jews out of Russia. This had fallen into Mon 19 ‘”The Strongest Possible Terms”: Christian association offered to take us disuse after the First World War, but was The Evolving Role of Parliamentary for training in farming at a large estate restarted around 1934-35 for German Condemnations of Atrocities Past and called Turners Court near Wallingford, Jews. It wasn’t easy to get accepted into Present’ At Senate House, Room 261, Oxfordshire. There were four large the scheme – you had to be a sizeable Malet Street, London WC1, 6.30 pm. Admission free. To book a place please houses for boys who came to the notice family and have some knowledge of email [email protected] of this society through the police and farming. I went to a large farm in Silesia Thur 22 Dr Lars Fischer, ‘Introducing social services – they were orphans and to be tested. The boys and girls there Gertrud Mayer-Jaspers’ Centre for were treated very badly. We were kept were preparing for Hachshara. About German-Jewish Studies, University of apart from them. At first we lived in 20 of us were tested for three months Sussex, Arts A108, 4 pm. Tel 01273 606 large marquees, then wooden huts were on our ability to work. 755 or email [email protected] built for us. We had our own people Although I was no longer in Germany

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owe them all a debt of gratitude. Hana Kleiner, Edgware, Middx BBC FILM ABOUT BRADFORD HOSTEL BOYS Sir – It may be of interest to some AJR members that the BBC made a film about the 24 Bradford Hostel Boys on the The Editor reserves the right occasion of their 50th anniversary in 1989. to shorten correspondence This can be seen on the internet: google submitted for publication ‘Bradford Kinder Transport’. Albert A. Waxman, Shipley, West Yorks

A VERY KIND AND THOSE WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE – other from Carlsbad, and both had been THOUGHTFUL PERSON A TRIBUTE TO REFUGEE DOCTORS found accommodation. Sir – It is with much sadness that I have to Sir – The recent Paralympic Games and My sister, Sonja, and I had been able to report that Henry Schragenheim, a family their connection with the remarkable Dr leave occupied Czechoslovakia thanks to friend of long standing (our mothers were Ludwig Guttmann prompt me to add that the efforts of a group of farsighted people, school colleagues) passed away in May at there were probably many highly qualified among them Nicholas Winton, who had the age of 87 and I shall certainly miss the refugee doctors in this country who come to Prague to enable endangered many indignant and irate letters he sent made unsung contributions to medical children to leave. Once the operation to to the Journal on a regular basis. science and, in the process, never left their arrange transports of children to come to He was steeped in Frankfurt am Main humanity behind. It made me recall how Britain had begun, Winton had returned to Avodah Judaism and bravely fought his much I owe to one in particular. London to find homes and guarantors for corner continuously. I am sorry that in In 1941 at the age of 16 I was struggling the children before the British authorities future I will no longer see his name in to make a living in Oxford as a seamstress. would issue permits for them to come. your columns. Perhaps other readers Through no fault of my own I was Hedley Mobbs had responded with an will feel likewise. He was a very kind and involved in a road traffic accident and offer to help. thoughtful person. admitted with minor head injuries to the At the end of August Sonja and I, (Mrs) Meta Roseneil, Radcliffe Infirmary. There I was seen by a together with another young Czech Buckhurst Hill, Essex neurologist, Dr Wertheimer. I don’t know refugee, George Rosenstein (now Roden), if he came from Germany or Austria, but arrived at Boston station, where Hedley AJR PROPOSED REORGANISATION he spoke with a marked foreign accent. Mobbs had come to meet us with his Sir – Enclosed with the October issue of the He not only treated my injuries but saw 16-year-old daughter Dorothy. George AJR Journal, members will have received a pale, young and rather emaciated girl was to stay with the Mobbs family; my a letter from Andrew Kaufman outlining and took the trouble to find out more sister and I were given a home by another proposed structural changes to the AJR about me. member of the Committee, Florence Elsey, Friendly Society and AJR Charitable Trust. I have to thank him for his guidance until a house rented by the Committee Many of these changes are sensible in letting me leave the sweatshop and was furnished with donated goods, but there is one pernicious suggestion. directing me into the path of my future including even a piano, to accommodate The transfer of membership to the new career. I never saw him again nor was I all the refugees. At the time, there were organisation also involves the removal able to thank him. So I am writing this plans to receive more Czech children but, from members of their voting rights. little tribute to all those surviving doctors as we learned later, the train scheduled Future Boards will essentially be self- who made a difference. to leave Prague in September was not electing and self-perpetuating. We know Ursula Rosenfeld, Manchester allowed to leave due to the outbreak that people who live in established of war. democracies often don’t bother to use GUARDIAN COMMITTEE FOR The majority of those 230 children their vote, but this is not a good reason REFUGEES, BOSTON perished. All through the war the Guardian to remove their franchise any more than Sir – The historic town of Boston in Committee took good care of us all, it makes sense to throw away a fire Lincolnshire, with around 25,000 solving any problems which arose. Sonja extinguisher simply because it has never inhabitants, would not have been expected and I were fortunate in being given a place been used. to show interest in 1939 in helping Jewish in the High School; George joined a tailor I am sure the present Board is beyond refugees. Yet a local architect, Hedley in the town until he volunteered in 1941 reproach. But times and Boards change and Mobbs, who had become aware of the to join the RAF and then served in the should some future Board conduct itself in persecution and dangers threatening Czech Squadron. an unsatisfactory manner, members would Jewish people in Austria, Germany and Most of the other members of the have very limited powers to restore good Czechoslovakia, decided to take action. Committee remained unknown to us, but governance. In this context, the removal A devout Methodist himself, he the Mobbs family and Florence Elsey took of voting rights appears an altogether approached other Christian denominations, a close personal interest in our welfare, retrograde and unnecessary measure. business people and associations in the treating us all as ‘family’. May I urge members to write to Andrew town in order to set up a committee to When Sonja, George and I received the Kaufman and other Board members, and/ help refugees. news that our families had perished, they or to attend the AGM on 15 November, to Before my sister and I, aged 13-and- were there to give us solace and support. ensure our voting rights are maintained in a-half and 12, had arrived in London on After leaving Boston we kept in touch the new organisation. 2 August 1939, on what was later to be and visited them until the end of their Arthur Oppenheimer, Hove, Sussex called a ‘Winton Train’, the Guardian lives. Dorothy remained a close friend but Please refer to the enclosed letter from Committee for Refugees in Boston had sadly died in July this year, the last link with AJR Chairman Andrew Kaufman and already helped two older couples to come those who showed us such warm interest the revised proposed rule changes that to Boston. One had come from Vienna, the and affection when we needed it most. We accompany this month’s Journal (Ed.).

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TWO JEWS, THREE VIEWS every family prepared to offer strangers Nazi brutality­ was inevitable, but no valid Sir – I always look forward to the AJR hospitality and, if need be, help. Besa reason for condemning a whole society. Journal and consume every article and resulted in Albanians of various religions, Our family lost everything, but in our de- letter with enthusiasm – the same applies often at risk to their own lives, saving over spair we also received much sympathy and to the JC. 3,000 Jewish refugees before and during support from decent Austrian non-Jews. What I look forward to most of all the war, a fact still not widely known. (Dr) Hans L. Eirew, Manchester are the controversies and differences of If besa were accepted elsewhere, opinion. To use a cliché: two Jews, three the world would be a much better and GIVE IN TO TEMPTATION! opinions (at least!). safer place. Albania is the only country in Sir – Ronald Leaton suggests (September) I learnt this at first hand when I was which an Association of Friends of Israel that readers avoid Austria. This is captain of Leytonstone Maccabi soccer is headed by a Muslim whose grandfather understandable if you remember what team about 56 years ago. There can be was an imam and it also has numerous happened to Jews there. However, if you nothing worse than being ‘captain’ of a Muslim members. A number of Albanians grew up in Austria and Germany, you can Jewish soccer team because there are 11 are already part of the Righteous among still appreciate the early-20th century art captains all barking orders at the same the Nations at Yad Vashem. of these two countries. If you do, you can time! Lovely! On 22 November at 6.30 pm the enjoy it at the Neue Galerie in Manhattan. In your September issue, Rudi Leavor ­Wiener Library, together with the Albanian­ In a lovely building on Museum Mile in writes: ‘I was offered orange with cran­ ­Embassy, will be holding an evening New York, Ronald Lauder established this berry juice – an odd choice as many of those celebrating Jewish-Albanian solidarity terrific gallery. present may well have been on statins, for against the Holocaust. The meeting, held Lauder had a good friend by the name whom cranberry juice is a no-no drink.’ at the Library and entitled ‘The Culture of Serge Sabarsky, with a gallery special- This is news to me. It is, however, well of Rescue’, will discuss Albania’s unique ising in art of this period. Their intention known that grapefruit juice should not be interfaith relations in order to encour­age was to open a place displaying early- drunk if one is on statins and I’m wondering the adoption of such relations in the rest 20th century art only from Austria and if Mr Leavor is mixing these two drinks up? of the world. I do hope readers will be Germany. But, before they could open, I’ve just read the packing slip with able to attend. Sabarsky passed away and it was left to my simvastatin tablets again and only Dr T. Scarlett Epstein OBE, Lauder to carry out the plan. This he did in grapefruit juice is mentioned. Hove, Sussex style. He proceeded to buy a large collec- This will concern many of your readers tion of Schiele, Kirchner, Klimt and others, who, like me, are on statins. JOINT SUPPORT FOR REFUGEES jewellery and furniture. The most notable (Dr) Dennis Dell, Aylesbury Sir – I was touched to read Dr Scarlett painting – and a visit to the gallery would Epstein’s letter in the May AJR Journal be justified just to view it – is a Klimt, the CUNARD SERVICES, STATINS about the JOINT’s support of refugees. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer. For that he AND SENIOR MOMENTS Her warm words of praise for our efforts paid a rumoured $135,000, the highest Sir – Concerning Ernie Goldman’s letter were especially profound as the JOINT price paid for a painting at the time. about an Erev Shabbat service on a cruise is still helping needy Jews today. We’re However, there are two further attrac- liner (October): on all three Cunard Queen providing critical food and healthcare to tions in the gallery. On the ground floor liners a simple request at once reserves a the world’s poorest Jews in countries like you will find a lovely bookshop as well as room for Erev Shabbat services with plenty Ukraine with our partner WJR; increasing the authentically Viennese Café Sabarsky. of wine, challah and siddurim. I have held employment opportunities for people in If you can get a table, maybe you could services, including short sermons, every the north of Israel with our partner UJIA; try the goulash soup and finish with one time I have been on a cruise with Cunard and investing in young Jewish leadership of the cakes, which are like works of art with good attendances. and rebuilding Jewish communities from and might make spending on dinner un- Fritz Starer (October, ‘No-No Drink’) Vilnius to Budapest. We’re also supporting necessary. The pastry won’t make you is right about warfarin (not statins) not victims of natural disasters in Haiti and resemble the very slim Adele Bloch-Bauer, being compatible with cranberry juice. But Japan through robust development and but I suggest you give in to temptation – I made another mistake in renaming my rebuilding projects. just this once. old school (in your previous issue) Alfred- As we approach our 100th anniversary, Janos Fisher, Bushey Heath Kerr-Schule. I should have said Judith-Kerr- our commitment to the principle that Kol Schule. Senior moments! Yisrael Areivim Zeh Lazeh – all Jews are pride in the jewish heritage Rudi Leavor, Bradford responsible for one another – remains Sir – Peter Phillips’s disapproval of those strong, determined and undiminished. If who fail to assimilate to his liking has A THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE any of your readers would like more infor- become rather tedious. He berates AFTERNOON mation about our work in 70 + countries, ‘frummers’, Zionists like me, and elected Sir – We would like to say how very much please look at our website, www.jdc.org, Israeli leaders. He approves only of the we enjoyed the AJR Celebration Lunch at or write to me at [email protected]. long-deceased Ben-Gurion, a crusty old the Hilton Hotel in Watford. Solly Kaplinski, Executive Director, Labourite who ordered the Palmach to The meal was good, the entertainment Overseas Joint Ventures, JDC Jerusalem fire on a shipload of Holocaust survivors excellent and AJR staff as hard-working bringing in vital arms to the fledgling and friendly as always. ONE BRUSH FOR ALL? state, sending it to the bottom. If only he Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable Sir – A serious reading of pre-Anschluss knew that B-G was the first PM to vote afternoon. We both enjoyed it immensely history will persuade Messrs Farago (Oct­ ‘frummers’ the largesse that irks him so! and look forward to next year. ober) and Tait (July) that while Austria had I was a teenager when I landed here, so, Susie and David Barnett, Billericay, Essex masses of underground Nazis, there were unlike him, I don’t boast pukka ­English: my also powerful opposing political parties accent is tinged with traces of Polish, Yid- THE CULTURE OF RESCUE and a strong anti-German public opinion. dish, Yorkshire, Tyneside and East ­Midlands Sir – Readers of this journal will be aware Forced military occupation was therefore – all places I have passed through. This from my previous letters of the unique the only way to achieve the takeover. mishmash can be useful: if someone up interfaith relations that are part of besa, That this brought the mob into the north asks where I come from, I say ‘down the Albanian code of honour which makes streets and led them to engage in familiar continued on page 15 

7 AJR JOURNAL november 2012

broken sword is plunged into a tree, symbolising his dying physical body, watched by a shadowy, bleak figure – REVIEWs perhaps the other disputant in a duel. John Everett Millais’s A Huguenot, A rt on St. Bartholomew’s Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing Brave young people Notes the Roman Catholic Badge is depicted BERLIN GHETTO: HERBERT BAUM with his forlorn lover. He wears purple; AND THE ANTI-FASCIST RESISTANCE Gloria Tessler her black garb foretells tragedy. by Eric Brothers William Holman Hunt’s The Shadow Stroud, Gloucestershire: of Death portrays an athletic young man, Spellmount/The History Press, 2012, whose upheld hands clutch at something 224 pp. hardcover, £18.99, unseen. His mother, opening a chest, ho or what were the Pre- sees his shadow on the wall, which ISBN 978 0 7524 7686 5 Raphaelites? Tate Britain’s prefigures his crucifixion. n the days before the Berlin Wall Wfirst major showing for 40 years And yet these hopeless romantics came down, the East Berlin Museum leaves the question in the air. Pre- without portfolio moved art forward – Iof German History on Unter den Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde despite their love of historical narrative Linden displayed several anti-Nazi (until 13 January 2013) indicates that these – in the direction of the Symbolists, the leaflets printed and distributed by the artists, in direct contrast to their French Vorticists, the Surrealists – even Picasso Herbert Baum group during the Nazi Impressionist contemporaries, had no himself, in terms of the distortion of the era. What the exhibit did not spell out specific manifesto and were anything but body into disparate forms. They loved was that this group was predominantly avant-garde. Shakespeare and Tennyson and used – though not entirely – Jewish. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood their heroines as their subject matter, sprang onto the art scene in September e.g. Holman Hunt’s The Lady of Shalott The reviewed book focuses on this 1848 in an emotional and spiritual group of brave young people. Most rejection of the machine age were Berlin members of the Young Com- and radical Victoriana. With the munist League of Germany, the youth birth of the Chartist movement, association of the Communist Party. they caused ruptures in the Some, however, came from the Social new industrial society, rejected Democrats and others from the left- modernity, and even dressed in wing Zionist Hashomer Hatzair. Some the flowing, romantic garb of a emphasised their Zionism and studied long-gone era. Hebrew, but the majority opted for anti- Sectarian divisions, scientific religious Marxism and wanted to carry enquiry and social unrest, which on the fight in their German fatherland. began to erode the power of the In the early years the group confined established church, were grist to their artistic mill. But these artists themselves to ‘ideological schooling’, looked backwards, not forwards: reading and debating as well as hiking they were revisionists seeking to and camping – activities unlikely to rock re-create the mediaevalism that the Nazi regime. Later they printed and preceded the High Renaissance tried to distribute anti-Nazi leaflets, of Raphael, Leonardo and da some of which simply said ‘Hear the Vinci. voice of truth. Tune in to Radio Moscow.’ Or were they? Their luminary Leafleting was dangerous. Bundles were was the English writer John thrown by riders from speeding bicycles. Ruskin, who reminisced about The Berlin public showed little sympathy the liberation of the mediaeval and was likely to denounce them. The age, when truth was valued above group then decided to pack leaflets into beauty: ‘The mediaeval principles Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Beloved (‘The Bride’) 1855- buckets or into flower boxes with a small led up to Raphael,’ he wrote ‘and 56, oil on canvas the modern principles lead down explosive charge and a timing device – from him.’ But from our 21st-century and Millais’s Ophelia, dead in the water they could then be far away when the perspective, the Pre-Raphaelites’ often under a green arbour, still clutching her leaflets were scattered. bleak and narrative paintings had little flowers. Most distributions were in working- to do with his vision. Their precise As in William Blake’s Jerusalem, these class districts but one of the leaflet observation of life, love and nature was artists brought the Bible home. William showers descended on an audience not literal but dramatic – a truth mitigated Dyce’s The Man of Sorrows shows Christ being addressed by Goebbels himself. by metaphor. not in the Judean desert but in some When the explosive went off he had The Tate illustrates this with the rocky Scottish firth. Holman Hunt’s The to duck under a desk. Later they were sumptuous beauty of Dante Gabriel Scapegoat truly evokes human suffering, considering more active resistance but Rossetti’s women – those familiar full while his The Hireling Shepherd attacks the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact paralysed lips and flowing auburn locks imitated by negligent Anglican clergy. and perplexed them. The German 1960s hippies. But the Pre-Raphaelites were criticised invasion of the Soviet Union relieved Artists like William Shakespeare by Victorian society for their romantic them of their ideological quandary: Burton often used literary sources or liberalism, and their salvation from imaginary historical episodes like his artistic isolation came – ironically – from they could now go in for more active Wounded Cavalier in the arms of a Puritan Northern English-Jewish industrialist resistance. In 1942 the Nazis organised woman set in the English Civil War. His buyers. a photographic exhibition, ‘Soviet

8 AJR JOURNAL november 2012

Paradise’, to show the poverty and Tripping up the conscience hearts were; the expulsion from their misery of life in the USSR. STOLPERSTEINE/STUMBLING STONES: homes must inevitably have been The group’s charismatic leader, ZUR ERINNERUNG AN MENSCHEN a key moment of suffering in their Herbert Baum, decided on sabotage AUS DÜSSELDORF, ERKRATH, long agony of persecution. Re-uniting even though some members thought LANGENFELD, METTMANN, people posthumously with the places this too risky and feared reprisals with MONHEIM UND RATINGEN where they lived and, it is to be hoped, respect to the Jewish community. (Stolpersteine/Stumbling Stones: knew some happiness, is a great act of They borrowed a manual from the Remembering People from Düsseldorf …) humanity, apology and reconciliation. city library to learn how to make an edited by Hildegard Jakobs, Angela As so often, it is the photographs incendiary device. Things went wrong Genger and Andrea Kramp, translated that are most poignant. One in parti- immediately. One of the briefcases in by Marion Koebner, Düsseldorf: Droste ­cular caught my eye. Dagobert ­David which they carried their device started Verlag, 2012, 232 pp. hardcover, 29.80 (Tiergarten­strasse 3, Düsseldorf ­Düsseltal) to burn prematurely. They quickly euros, ISBN 978-3-7700-1476-7 was extremely dapper and probably of discarded their explosive material – he need to acknowledge, remember short stature. The photo shows him leaving incriminating evidence in the and provide for continuing proudly and happily strolling in the hands of the Gestapo. A few visitors to Tengagement with the history of the countryside in his three-piece suit, the exhibition sustained minor burns. Holocaust has produced a lively culture pocket square, well-polished shoes and Goebbels recorded the sabotage in his of memorials, especially in the USA elegant cane. His wife and children are diary but a few days later could report and Germany. The quality of these has, arranged in the photo next to his – neat, the arrest of ‘five Jews, three half-Jews naturally, varied. Some of the largest clean, prosperous and unsuspecting. and four Aryans’. and most prominent – the bare carcass Dagobert perished in the Ulmen- strasse remand prison in 1937, accused Almost the entire group had been of Daniel Liebeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin and Peter Eisenmann’s Memorial of currency offences (he was in ­banking). rounded up. One of them had ‘sung’ to the Murdered Jews of Europe (also in His family ultimately moved to Britain and given away his comrades. A few Berlin) – are marked by a high degree of after the war but his son, Felix, who survivors believe him to have been a spy. abstraction and symbolism. They steer had been sent to England in 1936, Others think he collaborated only to try well clear of the flesh-and-blood human returned to Germany after becoming ill to save his wife. Virtually all the group reality of the victims. and was taught in Berlin at the Jewish were executed, including the suspected Stolpersteine – stumbling stones – Kaliski School (where my great-aunt traitor. When an Allied bombing raid are different. Conceived by the artist Hilde Rosenthal-Lauphardt was among damaged the only available guillotine Gunter Demnig, they bring memorial his teachers) before eventually reaching the rest were hanged. Ten were executed culture down to street level. They are safety once more in the UK (Hilde was in a mere 37 minutes! personal, local, a little bit awkward, murdered in Auschwitz). The activities of the group were liable to cause embarrassment. They are What immediately captured my certainly amateurish but one has to about who used to live in your house attention about Dagobert was his respect their courage. Some of their or flat and the inconvenient truth that physical resemblance to a dear friend. actions appear doubtful. They undertook these people were murdered. They are Arbitrary as this is, it turned out that ‘expropriations’ against wealthy Jews also about neighbours and raise the there was a deeper connection between – ‘capitalists’. They pretended to be awkward question of what kind of us – through the Kaliski School. And this Gestapo officers and confiscated neighbour you yourself might have been highlights something about the tragedy paintings, cameras and carpets, which under other circumstances. of the Holocaust and the wonder of they sold to finance their activities. No In Germany Stolpersteine are a pheno- the Stolpersteine: the unlooked-for doubt they thought that if they did not menon. They are to be found in over connectedness of us all, friends and grab these assets, the Nazis would. 500 localities as well as in several other strangers, Jews and Gentiles alike. Eric Brothers describes their activities countries, including Austria. In form, Thanks to Demnig, traces of these in great detail. Some of this material is they are small, brass plaques set into destroyed webs of connection are based on his interviews with a handful the pavement and they record the rendered visible once more and the who survived, but most is retold from residence, date of deportation and sheer bloody madness of the Nazi the astonishingly large number of place where the commemorated person enterprise – to excise one section of previously published accounts – East perished. They are like gold-coloured society as though it were entirely free- cobblestones, catching the eye and standing and unconnected to the rest German, West German and in the tripping up the conscience. – is brought sharply to mind. Yearbooks of the Leo Baeck Institute. The city of Düsseldorf has embraced This is not a book you read cover When the author tries to set the culture of Stolpersteine and the to cover. It is a coffee-table book for events into their wider context he errs supporters of the memorial and picking up and browsing. But, like the repeatedly. A few examples: The Baum commemorative sites of the city Stolpersteine themselves, the book will family came from Posen/Poznan, which commissioned this book. It records the trip you up if you are expecting coffee- Brothers describes as ‘handed over project and reminds us that behind the table blandness. As you turn the pages to Poland as part of war reparations’. bare facts incised on each stone lie a real you will inevitably be gripped by the Not true. Both the founders of the person and a real life lived. The editors astonishing immediacy of this simple German Communist Party are described and the translator (it is a dual-language way of remembering. as Jewish. Rosa Luxemburg was; Karl book) have done their work well. Next spring I will place a Stolperstein Liebknecht was not. Even the title of Stolpersteine/Stumbling Stones is a outside great-aunt Hilde’s flat in leafy the book is misleading: the Nazis never fine volume, beautiful to look at and Dahlem in Berlin, where she and her established a formal ghetto in Berlin. profoundly moving in its catalogue husband Fritz last knew what it was to One might have hoped for better editing of biographies. The genius of Demnig have a home. It is partly thanks to this from the History Press. is his vision of literally bringing the book that I’ll do so. Ben Barkow Peter Fraenkel victims home. Home is where their Reviews continued overleaf 

9 AJR JOURNAL november 2012 My big brother n front of me is a slim booklet entitled publishing firm, to support a wife and, started a business in the basement of the J’ai 100 ans et je me souviens … (I Am two years later, a child. At 15 I was proud building where they lived in a rented flat, I100 Years Old and I Remember …). aunt to beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed Susi. with Sari and a friend his only assistants. Shortly after his 100th birthday a friend of After the Anschluss Leo lost his job and, By the time he took early retirement in his his youngest granddaughter interviewed following two unsuccessful attempts at late fifties, his firm employed 35 people. my brother, Leo Tintner, over a few days escape, he finally arrived in Paris toward He was undoubtedly a successful and he told her what he remembered of the end of 1938. From there he made his businessman but all he ever really wanted his life. way to Nice, where, he was told, it would was to play bridge. After he and Sari He was well into his 10th year when be easier to get a provisional visa. With retired to Cannes – Susi was married by I was born and – incredibly these days – the help of the local refugees’ committee, then – he joined a bridge club, where he my arrival came as a total surprise but, it Sari and Susi were eventually able to join played every single afternoon. seems, a pleasant one, which he proudly him. They all lived in a furnished room and Leo had become Léon and Tintner proclaimed to his playmates in Vienna’s their main income came from bridge. Leo was pronounced with the stress on the Arenbergpark. was already an excellent player and nearly last syllable. He successfully took part Although he was four at the start of always won. in international competitions and won the First World War and almost nine when At the outbreak of war Leo was countless medals for his adopted country. it ended, there is no mention of it in his interned in Les Milles as an ‘enemy alien’. Cannes made him an honorary citizen and memoir nor did he ever talk to me about it. Later he served in the French army in North he was interviewed on local television. As Tragedy struck when our mother, Africa but, possibly in 1941, he managed he grew older, French bridge columnists whom he adored, died in 1924 at the to get back to Nice, which was still zone nicknamed him ‘le vieux lion’ (the old lion) age of 39. He felt, rightly or wrongly, that libre (unoccupied). But from July 1942 when reviewing his exploits. Papa had eyes only for me and left home onwards Jews were deported from all He and Sari suffered a terrible loss while still in his teens. We saw little of over France. The family moved to a hotel when Susi died of cancer at 44. She left each other for some years and for much in Monte Carlo, where they mistakenly five children. of my childhood I felt like an only child. I believed themselves to be safe. An Italian I saw my brother for the last time in June do remember, though, that at a very early bridge friend of Leo’s saved them from last year, shortly after he had moved into age I threatened children who annoyed deportation and helped them to escape to a nursing home. ‘So you are his little sis- me by invoking my ‘big brother’. Switzerland. There, they were immediately ter!’ said the nurses. They had recognised I can only guess at his lonely life in separated, Leo and Sari in different camps; me from the photo on his bedside table. furnished rooms, but at the age of 20 Susi, by then seven years old, was taken in Alas, I no longer have a big brother. He he discovered bridge, which was to by a Jewish family. died in his sleep on 26 January this year, become his life-long passion, and at 23 In 1944 the family was able to move exactly two months before his 102nd he married Sari, a Hungarian five years back to Nice, where both Leo and Sari birthday. He left five grandchildren and his senior. By that time he already earned found jobs with the American army. six great-grandchildren. enough money, as a junior executive in a Eventually they settled in Paris, where Leo Edith Argy reviews cont. from page 9 A wonderfully adventurous life After seven years the idyll was over with his American wife, Lois. A EUROPEAN LIFE for Eric although the school’s philosophy The Inner London Education Authority remained with him. He reluctantly left to by Eric Bourne beckoned in 1968 when he became an learn about farming as his contribution to Inspector of Further Education and was Bank House Books (www. the war effort and to avoid being interned promoted to Staff Inspector. Helped bankhousebooks.com) 2012, 135 pp., as an ‘enemy alien’. by a team of talented colleagues, he £12 plus £2 p&p or from Amazon, ISBN How one sympathises with his tribula- worked tirelessly to better the lives of 9781904408970 tions: hand-milking cows, operating a disadvantaged young people. ducationist Eric Bourne has collected horse plough, and having a boss who, I found Eric’s early life more interest- some fascinating memories in this although Jewish, was ‘crude, rude and a ing than his educational career but was Ebook. Eric was born in Berlin in bully’. Life was made bearable by learning intrigued by the return to his birthplace in 1924, the son of Social Democratic activist to drive a tractor and woodland walks with Berlin, where he went several times after Robert Breuer. Robert’s background made a local girl, Julia. retirement. On his first visit in 1987, he him a prime Nazi target so, within days In 1943 Eric joined the British army. surveyed the then divided city from the of Hitler coming to power, he escaped Soon he sailed to more exotic shores, in top of the viewing platform and he gives via Czechoslovakia­ to Paris. Soon Eric India and Burma. He returned to Liverpool a stark illustration of the wall and death and his mother (originally from a wealthy in July 1946 and was demobilised with the strip – the barren and heavily mined area family whose money was lost in the 1923 rank of second lieutenant. shutting off East Berlin. Some things had hyperinflation)­ left their comfortable flat Back in civvy street, he studied at changed, but the appearance of others, in Rudolstaedter Strasse and joined him in Queen Mary College, becoming president such as the ornate Hohenzollerndamm the French capital. of the student union and chairman of the Station and his old school, remained The nine-year-old boy took with him National Association of Labour Student the same. His childhood flat seemed far happy memories, including of holidays on Organisations. smaller than he remembered it. the Baltic coast and Switzerland, and, on Eric’s background inspired him and By Eric’s own admission, his story is arrival in the UK, was hastily despatched his first wife Margaret to take up residen- not a continuous narrative but a series to Bunce Court School, near Faversham. tial youth work in Essex and at the new of stand-alone essays, so there are some Here, like many other refugees, he enjoyed Pestalozzi Children’s Village near Hastings repetitions and overlap and the privacy of a carefree childhood under the care of the under the Trust’s chairman, Dr Henry Alex- his close relatives is maintained. Eric has humanitarian educator Anna Essinger, ander, himself a German Jew. clearly made the most of whatever life who had moved her boarding school from As County Youth Officer for Derbyshire, has thrown at him during his wonderfully southern Germany to Kent in October Eric fell in love with the glorious local adventurous life. His book is a good read. 1933. countryside, where he eventually retired Janet Weston

10 AJR JOURNAL november 2012 A very special occasion

A brief report of the awarding of the Knigge-Tesche to join us from Eurostar. Margaret’s friends Peter Ruback and Order of Merit to Ruth David (née She had a really early start, getting up François Brutsch arrived, having only Oppenheimer) at the German Ambas- at two, a tram journey to Mainz station, had to walk through SW1, their home sador’s residence in London appeared and from there to Cologne, Brussels and territory. The Starcks from Krefeld, Ger- in last month’s issue of the Journal (Ed.). London. She arrived looking cheerful many, Helmut and Renate, had come and we were all glad to see her. earlier and the Embassy, warned that hursday 13 September was to We waited a while over refreshments Helmut was frail, had allowed them the be my special day at the German at St Pancras before leaving for Belgrave use of a small flat in the Embassy to rest T Embassy in London to receive the Square. I was conscious that London before the proceedings. Verdienstkreuz, the Order of Merit. I was was increasingly overcrowded, there I never discovered how many we slightly nervous, feeling that this occas­ were skyscrapers in Bloomsbury I’d were but we were a good and motley ion was quite daunting, no doubt with never noticed before, and taxis were crowd – French, German, English, dignified formality and diplomatic eti- clearly not the speediest form of Christians and Jews. I distinguished quette to the fore. I was being awarded transport. Simon had thoughtfully myself early by going up to Helmut and, the Order of Merit because the relevant booked us a room in a superior pub, in my effort to embrace him, caused German authority assumed I had done him to spill his cranberry juice on the a good job in the schools, had taught The Ambassador shattered my highly polished parquet. My instinct their history without bitterness appar- composure by pointing out that he was to duck down and clean it with a ently, and was ‘committed to furthering had read my book (how many tissue but I was slow and witless and, good relations among nations’. would have taken the trouble in a before I could do anything sensible, the I was glad to know that my family similar situation?). Ambassador was down on his hands was coming: from France, siblings He even quoted relevant passages and knees mopping up the spillage. The Michael and Feo and Marc Madar, Feo’s and stressed words which, in context, action seemed typical of him. son; from England, my children Margaret had considerable significance: After about 20 minutes, the and Simon with Rob and Liza and a ‘appreciation, horror, reconciliation’. Ambassador asked us to be ready for the number of good friends, including three ceremony. He shattered my composure former pupils who have all remained the Pantechnicon, five minutes’ walk by pointing out that he had read my faithful; and, from Germany, Renate from the Embassy. There we had a bite book (how many would have taken Knigge-Tesche, who had probably of lunch and more talk. the trouble in a similar situation?). He activated the authorities to grant me Outside the Embassy, on a stone even quoted relevant passages and this award. Renate was responsible for decoration, sat someone who smiled stressed words which, in context, had all the visits I had made to the many sweetly at me: Greteli Morton, whom considerable significance: ‘appreciation, schools in Germany and in over 16 years I’d first met in Leicester in 1960 when horror, reconciliation’. I couldn’t have we had got to know each other well. she was ten! Now she’s a grandmother! hoped for anything better and was very Also present were my oldest friends I was delighted she’d come from a far- moved, as was everyone present. I found in Germany, Renate and Helmut Starck, flung corner of Wales, probably further it difficult to read my own words after through whom I had started my trips than anyone else. And I recognised other that and Renate Knigge-Tesche, used to Germany 30 years ago. Barbara friends drifting towards the Embassy, to reading bits of text on our visits to Linnen­brügger, whom I had got to know a grand Georgian building. We were schools that I found tear-jerking, read through my old Fränkisch-Crumbach expected and brought up marble (?) the end of my German piece for me. I friends, came too. She has taken on such stairs, the kind one sees in Hollywood had prepared an English translation and a lot since meeting me and other mem- films, and ushered into a lounge with was asked to read that too. I thought I bers of the family; her life has changed so much space I thought roller skates could manage easily but choked before to the extent that she is ­doing research would have been appropriate footwear. the end. What did the dear man do? on the Oppenheimers, in particular Staff appeared. Butlers? Doormen? He gave me a hug. Later his wife did writing a biography of our mother, Mar- Waiters? Flunkeys? All amiable and un- the same. I was dumbfounded. I didn’t garete Oppenheimer-­Kraemer. From the obtrusive, offering drinks, fruit juices and think ambassadors practised that kind same part of Germany, the Odenwald, wine and the most elegant morceaux of frivolity. I must repeat: he was a dear, came Brigitte Diersch and her husband to eat (‘bits’ sounds too common in this good man and I a grateful guest. We Klaus, whom I have known only a context). There were large windows and left light-heartedly. Perhaps I shouldn’t relatively short time but who have also doors, a splendid moulded, patterned speak for my companions, but I had a become very good friends. I met Brigitte ceiling and massive floral decorations. great sense of relief and happiness too. through her research, and later book, The Ambassador, Georg Boom- We returned to the Pantechnicon, this on Doris Katz, our older sister Hannah’s gaarden, and his wife quickly appeared time to its lofty attic, where in a smaller best friend in pre-war Germany. and welcomed us with friendly hand- area we were closer together and every­ My trip from the Midlands to London’s shakes and kind words. The Ambassador one seemed to enjoy the occasion, the St Pancras Station was a good start: on was far from formal – kind, friendly and food and the presence of friends. We arrival I was met by Margaret and Rob, so very welcoming – his wife too was chatted happily and probably over- who had made sure they would be there sweet and unpretentious – speaking stayed our welcome. It was clear to all in time, having arrived at Euston earlier to as many people as they could. More of us that the occasion had been very from Birmingham. Not only these two, guests appeared. I was thrilled to see special and had reminded us of values but the entire French contingent was three ex-pupils, from Wisconsin (US), that were important to all our lives. present and we all waited for Renate south London and Newbury, Berks. Ruth David

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Leeds CF Recollections of gave us a little something of the terrifying experience of being a rear gunner in a Coming to Live in Leeds B17 on an American bombing raid over In connection with the Leeds Heritage Germany. And, to round it off, a cream Project, members recalled how they tea in the Museum restaurant! Thanks came to be living in Leeds. One member again, AJR. INSIDE described how she began her life as an David Barnett internee in Holloway Prison. Another member was declared a danger as her Essex (Westcliff) Memories of a interpreter at the police station spoke School Teacher the AJR only Yiddish and said she couldn’t be Our guest speaker, our own member Susie Jewish. Barnett, told us about her memories of Barbara Cammerman being a school teacher, including some Pinner Model for ‘Big Society’? funny times. We had a very good turnout Our charismatic speaker, Olympic Badge- of members and guests but some sad Sheffield ‘Memories of First Days at wearing Leonie Lewis, Director of Jewish news about losing two members. Another School in Nazi Europe as Compared Volunteering Network, gave us a deeper good meeting. with the UK’ understanding of the needs and social Linda Fisher Steve Mendelsohn began the discussion responsibilities of a wide range of with memories of his childhood in voluntary work. We learned Hebrew words Glasgow Book Group Enthralling Read Breslau and of coming to England on basic to the Jewish ideal of volunteering, We discussed Betty Mahmoody’s auto- the Kindertransport. His early schooldays which may even be the model for the ‘Big biographical Not Without My Daughter, were pleasant but, when the Nazis came Society’. about her and her little girl’s detention to power, his non-Jewish school friends Walter Weg by her husband in Iran and perilous no longer talked or played with him. By escape to the USA. An enthralling read. contrast, school in England meant very Glasgow A Very Moving Film Halina Moss hard work and an unfamiliar language, We watched intently the acclaimed but at least he was not persecuted. Most documentary Watermarks, a very moving Kingston upon Thames CF of those present at the discussion had also film for all present, particularly those A Unanimous Gold Medal had difficult childhoods and even today who were from Vienna and could recall In true Olympic spirit we took part in memories are still raw. swimming in the same pool all those our own event: eating! Enthusiastic Peter Maitlis years ago. cheers could be heard for Susan Zisman, Agnes Isaacs our culinary participant, who used her Bromley CF Companionship, Lively considerable skills for the preparation of Discussion and Relaxation HGS Life in the Old Police Force salmon, salads and cakes for 15 people. Liane Segal opened her home and garden David Wass, who served over 30 years The decision to award her a Gold Medal to us for our meeting, organised by Hazel in the Metropolitan Police, entertained was unanimous. Beiny. Thirteen of us, including three us with his recollections of daily life Jackie Cronheim second-generation members, enjoyed (and death) in the old police ‘force’ – as a sumptuous lunch and an afternoon opposed to the current police ‘service’. East Midlands (Nottingham) of companionship, lively discussion and Laszlo Roman Mingling and Socialising relaxation on a delightfully sunny day. There were 21 members for lunch and Dorothea Lipton the usual mingling and socialising. Unfortunately over the years a few Ealing Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and members have found it more difficult Palate Project to come. Some sadly have passed away A stimulating account of 25 years of the and we miss them. Ruth David couldn’t Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and Palate Project, attend – she was receiving the Order of highlighting treatment, teaching, research Merit at the German Embassy (see page and the development of self-sustaining 11); we are all proud of her. As always, teams, was presented by Dr Michael Mars, we were delighted to see Esther, a spark who founded and has directed this project of sunshine, who brings us news of the since 1984. great metropolis. Helen Mars Bob Norton

Café Imperial A Few Good Men Newcastle A Major, two Sergeants and two Royal The Jewish Community of Penang Engineers made up the company this Newcastle members had the opportunity morning. Welcome to new recruit Stefan to learn about the little-known Jewish Simon. We discussed corruption in the Front Henry Grunfeld, Ruth Lachs Back community of Penang. Brian Milne came Werner Lachs, Professor Robert Moore army days, exchanging cigarettes for across the Jewish cemetery while out for a diamonds and US soldiers for nylon Professor Moore gave an interesting walk in Georgetown when on honeymoon stockings! and enlightening talk to the Manchester and shared his findings with us. There group on ‘Jewish Self-help and Rescue in Esther Rinkoff Nazi-occupied Western Europe’ was once a Yahudi Street and a Jewish community there. All that’s left now Wessex are the cemetery and the names on the Privileged to Watch Watermarks Visit to RAF Museum headstones. Brian’s research is ongoing; We were delighted to see George and Fascinating Experience he can be contacted at brian.rosedas@ Susan Ettinger after a long absence. Everyone found it fascinating to see close gmail.com Following an excellent lunch prepared by up the aircraft which dominated our Agnes Isaacs Myrna and local ladies, we were privileged younger days: the Spitfire, Hurricane, to watch a DVD of Watermarks, about the Halifax and Lancaster, Mosquito, the St John’s Wood A Unique Story women swimmers of the pre-war Vienna American Mustang and Flying Fortress It being almost Rosh Hashanah, Hazel Hakoah club. – even the evil-looking Messerschmitt. supplied some delicious honey cake Harry Grenville There was also a 4D film show which continued on page 16 

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november GROUP MEETINGS Meals-on-Wheels To order Meals-on-Wheels Norfolk 1 Nov Lunchtime Social Get-together please telephone 020 8385 3075 Pinner 1 Nov Story-telling by Members (this number is manned on Hull CF 4 Nov At home of Olive Rosner Wednesdays only) or 020 8385 3070 Café Imperial 6 Nov Social Get-together Ealing 6 Nov Anthony Grenville, AJR Journal Consultant Editor Northern Kristallnacht THE AJR PAUL BALINT CENTRE Commemoration 6 Nov At IWMN – LUNCHES FRESHLY PREPARED Please note that lunches at the Ilford 8 Nov AJR Paul Balint Centre have been freshly Norfolk 8 Nov prepared on the premises by our in-house HGS 12 Nov Ros Nagler, ‘Light-hearted Poetry’ chef Cassie since January 2012 Essex (Westcliff) 13 Nov Social Get-together Welwyn GC 13 Nov Social Get-together Bradford CF 14 Nov Lorle Michaelis’s 99th Birthday The AJR Paul Balint Centre St John’s Wood 14 Nov Joyce Sheard, WheelPower Brighton-Sarid (Sussex) 19 Nov Angela Schluter, ‘Jewish Mother, Nazi Father’ at Belsize Square Synagogue Edgware 20 Nov David Barnett, ‘A Jewish Boy Made Good: 51 Belsize Square, London NW3 4HX The Story of Joseph Nathan and GlaxoSmithKline’ Telephone 020 7431 2744 Didsbury 21 Nov Childhood Memories of Holidays Radlett 21 Nov Discussion of an Item of Sentimentality Open Tuesdays and Thursdays Hendon 26 Nov Chris Carr, Hearing Aid Specialist 9.30 am to 3.30 pm Temple Fortune 27 Nov Quiz and Early Chanukah Party Wembley 28 Nov Social Get-together North London 29 Nov Angela Gluck, Separated Child Foundation LUNCHEON CLUB Thursday 15 November 2012 contacts Hazel Beiny, Southern Groups Co-ordinator Agnes Isaacs, Scotland and Newcastle Andrea Cameron 020 8385 3070 Co-ordinator ‘Livery of the Stationers’ 0755 1968 593 Myrna Glass, London South and Midlands Groups Co-ordinator Esther Rinkoff, Southern Region Co-ordinator Reservations required – please 020 8385 3077 020 8385 3077 telephone 020 7431 2744 Susanne Green, Northern Groups Co-ordinator KT-AJR (Kindertransport) 0151 291 5734 Andrea Goodmaker 020 8385 3070 KT-AJR Susan Harrod, Groups’ Administrator Child Survivors Association–AJR Kindertransport special 020 8385 3070 Henri Obstfeld 020 8954 5298 interest group Tuesday 6 November 2012 Gaby Glassman Ros and the Centre AJR Paul Balint Centre ‘Your Legacy’ please NOTE THAT LUNCH launching WILL BE SERVED AT 12.30 PM Reservations required ‘POMKNITS’ Please telephone 020 7431 2744 Tuesday 13 November at 12 pm november activities Come and hear how you can help every tuesday and THURSDAY I would like to introduce myself to all of needy elderly Jews in Ukraine by 10 am to you. I’m Ros Collin, the relatively new 12 noon Coffee/Chat/Board Games/ knitting squares which will be made Knitting Circle manager of the AJR Paul Balint Centre. up into blankets for them. 11 am Seated Exercises My background in brief: Before the THURSDAY 1 children were born, I was a merchandiser Then join our Knitting Circle 1.45 pm Margaret Opdahl (singer) at M&S. Then for ten years I was a every Tuesday and Thursday – TUESDAY 6 volunteer Soviet Jewry campaigner. I and/or continue this important 10 am to 12 noon One-to-One Computer Lessons ­followed this by 16 years as director project at home 12.30 pm KT Lunch, with speaker of the Jewish AIDS Trust (supporting THURSDAY 8 Jewish people with HIV and providing launching 10 am French Conversation educational programmes for Jewish 11 am ‘Let’s Read and Discuss’ 1.45 pm Kinnor Trio (classical music) youth in schools, youth clubs, etc). TUESDAY 13 Deciding to work part-time, I then ‘LET’S READ AND DISCUSS’ (a short story or poems) 10 am to ran a community centre in Mill Hill 12 pm One-to-One Computer Lessons before arriving at the AJR. A varied and every second Thursday at 11 am 12 noon Introduction to ‘Pomknits’, with speaker interesting career! No homework – just come along, 1.45 pm Will Smith, Musical Entertainer THURSDAY 15 I sincerely hope I will be meeting those listen, share, read the article if you 12 noon Luncheon Club, with Speaker of you who live in and around London wish and discuss the content of the 12.45 Lunch very soon. Why not pop into the Centre short piece being presented to you TUESDAY 20 on a Tuesday or Thursday? Stay all day 10 am to or just for lunch – it’s really up to you. If For further information, please 12 noon One to-One Computer Lessons 1.45 pm Ronnie Goldberg, singer with guitar transport is an issue, please get in touch call the Centre on 020 7431 2744 THURSDAY 22 and we’ll see what we can do to help. 10 am French Conversation In addition to our regular programmes 11 am ‘Let’s Read and Discuss’ this month, we are introducing ‘Let’s and see if you like it. 1.45 pm Roy Blass, Keyboard Vocalist Read and Discuss’ (a poem or article), a And don’t forget the AJR Chanukah Party TUESDAY 27 10 am to Knitting Circle, and, hopefully in the very on Thursday 13 December! 12 noon One-to-One Computer Lessons near future, a current affairs’ discussion Looking forward to seeing you very soon. 1.45 pm Mick Ryan, Musical Entertainer group. Be our guest as a first-time visitor All good wishes THURSDAY 29 Ros 1.45 pm Paul Coleman, Musical Entertainer

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 family anouncements OUTING TO THE BANK Death OF ENGLAND Schwab, Peter Born Chemnitz 9 August THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2012 1922, died London 19 September 2012. Threadneedle Street, Husband to Mia, father of Susan, Irene London EC2R 8AH and Stephen, grandfather of Rebecca, Tour of the Bank of England Museum Daniel, Samuel, Alexei, Katie and Ruth, Our outing will consist of a visit to the displays explain the Bank’s present-day great-grandfather of Charlotte, Elijah and Bank of England Museum, which tells role. William. Sadly missed. the story of the Bank from its foundation After the Tour of the Museum, Tim Pike, in 1694 to its role today as the United Agent for the Bank of England in Southern Kingdom’s central bank. The historical England, will talk to our group and Second Generation displays include material drawn from answer any questions. the Bank’s own collections of books, Network documents, silver, prints, paintings, We will finish the afternoon with tea at a nearby hotel. Cost: £25.00 pp to include Tue 6 November Talk by banknotes, coins and photographs. There is a display of gold, including Roman and transport by coach. Martin Davidson: ‘Being Second modern gold bars, alongside pikes and For further details, please contact Generation: The Grandson of an muskets once used to defend the Bank. Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 SS Officer Gives His Perspective’ Computer technology and audio-visual or at [email protected] Tue 13 November Discussion Group: Topic tbc PLEASE JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL EVENT TO All events at the Wiener Library, CELEBRATE THE LONDON OLYMPICS AND 29 Russell Square, London WC1, 6.30 for 6.45 pm. Tel 020 PARALYMPIC GAMES 7636 7247 or email info@ MONDAY 3 DECEMBER 2012 secondgeneration.org.uk. All 11 am to 3 pm Second Generation welcome. AT STOKE MANDEVILLE – THE BIRTH PLACE OF THE PARALYMPICS The day will include a tour of the Stadium and a talk by Wheelpower, the registered charity of the Paralympics. 75th Anniversary of Transport will be available to all members. Refreshments and lunch will be provided. For full details and an application form, please contact Susan Harrod the Kindertransport on 020 8385 3070 or at [email protected] Special Reunion Sunday 23 June 2013 Home Care at JFS, PillarCare Colvin Quality support and care at home Care through quality and North West London professionalism Calling all Kinder! The AJR Celebrating our 25th Anniversary  Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours Kindertransport Committee is 25 years of experience in providing the delighted to announce a Special  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care highest standards of care in the comfort of your own home Reunion to commemorate the 75th  Convalescent and Personal Health Care anniversary of the Kindertransport, which will take place on Sunday  Compassionate and Affordable Service 23 June 2013 at JFS in North West  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff London.  Registered with the CQC and UKHCA The Reunion, which will include 1 hour to 24 hours care contributions from Kinder, JFS Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 Registered through the National Care Standard Commission PILLARCARE pupils and guest speakers, will be THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB Call our 24 hour tel 020 7794 9323 a unique opportunity for Kinder PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 www.pillarcare.co.uk www.colvin-nursing.co.uk and their families to reconnect and socialise and pay tribute to the British Government for offering LEO BAECK HOUSING ADVERTISEMENT RATES them a safe haven. ASSOCIATION CLARA NEHAB HOUSE FAMILY EVENTS In the coming months, we will be RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME First 15 words free of charge, £2.00 per 5 words thereafter publishing further details about the Small caring residential home with large attractive gardens close to local shops and public transport CLASSIFIED Reunion, and other special events 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care £2.00 per 5 words which we will be organising to Entertainment & Activities provided Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room BOX NUMBERS £3.00 extra mark the 75th anniversary, in the Lift access to all floors. DISPLAY ADVERTS AJR Journal, the KT Newsletter and For further information please contact: Per single column inch 65mm £12.00 The Manager, Clara Nehab House on the AJR website. 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA COPY DATE 5 weeks prior to publication Telephone: 020 8455 2286

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‘A very special reception’ SEARCH NOTICES Bauer, Elizabeth Therese, born 1/1/1921, have a photo of a child on a KT train departing came to England via Kindertransport in 1939. from an identifiable station (preferably in If you have any information, please contact Berlin)? The photo should show the name of Matt Knight at [email protected] the station and will be used in conjunction Boas, Kurt Ferdinand MD, son of Ismar Boas with a brochure to be produced for a and Sophie Asch, born Berlin 13/2/1890. Was commemorative train journey in 2013. Pls dermatologist at Crimmitschau/Sachsen until contact [email protected] 1935, then deported to KZ Sachsenburg. Any Krausz Gertrud/Prochownik and Krausz, info pls to Harro Jenss, MD at [email protected] George Researcher seeks info for book about Brighton home for Jewish refugee boys Berlin Jewish families persecuted by the Nazis. About 50 boys and choirmaster from Cologne Contact [email protected] were housed near Seven Dials. Any info please Lemmé, Maria (née Schwarzkopf), artist, to Jackie Mills at [email protected] died Theresienstadt 1943. Researcher seeks Deutsch, Emmanuel, born around 1880, information about relatives of hers who came married Lea/Laura Lauber and lived in Vienna, to Britain. Please contact Margrit Timme at where they ran a fruit and vegetable stall in [email protected] the Naschmarkt. Any info on the family pls to Lichtenberg, Samuel Family Tree Ltd, based [email protected] in Budapest, are doing research for purpose Tribute was paid to Carol Hart Dormitzer, Else survived Theresienstadt and of locating heirs to an estate. Researching (pictured), current Chair of the lived in London after the war. She had two Samuel’s family led us to the UK and the children: Elisabeth Rosenfelder, who also 300 Jewish children who found refuge in Jewish Teacher Training Partnership lived in the UK, and Hildegard Haas, who Windermere. Pls contact Marija Stojanovska and the AJR’s Head of Volunteer lived in Holland (Hilversum). I am an Assistant Rupcic at [email protected] Services, along with Naomi Green- Professor of German in the USA and my Rosenfeld, Lotte Born 8/8/22 in Aaachen, wood and Lira Winston, for their research focuses on German-language poetry Rhineland, emigrated to England in 1938-39, ‘significant contributions to Jewish­ from Theresienstadt. Any info pls to Dr Sandra possibly on Kindertransport. Any info pls to Alfers at [email protected] Education and Teacher Training Stefan Kahlen at [email protected] over many years’. A ‘very special My aunts Freudenstein, Greta and Seelig, Annemarie lived in Teddington, Rosenberg, Hannah, both from Frankfurt am Middlesex and was relative or friend of Georg reception’ took place at the Wohl Main, were possibly on the Kindertransport. Campus for Jewish Education­ in Manasse, ex-director of Schocken department Any info pls contact Steven Wimpfheimer at store in Zwickau, Saxony, whose biography I am London in the presence­ of Chief [email protected] writing. He emigrated in 1935 to Sweden. Pls Rabbi Lord Sacks. Kindertransport photo sought. Does anyone contact Jürgen Nitsche at [email protected]

 LETTERS cont. from p.7 south’ and vice versa! Not unlike Haim may not have been religiously observant in the form we know it today. Ginsberg, who anglicised his name twice – but they were inspired by the writings of Israel exists. The clock cannot simply be first to Henry Gainsborough, then to Jones the Prophets who had once trodden the turned back. But the adoption of a better – having got fed up with being asked what same ground. Past glories and struggles perspective is the essential requirement of his previous name was! for freedom against tyranny fired their moves towards a civilised solution. Integration is desirable but Mr Phillips’s imagination and led to modern Zionism My own view is that nationalism, idea of assimilation, devoid of any Jewish and the eventual rebirth of the state. anywhere, is the curse of, and a burden input, would lead to Jews in the Diaspora Rubin Katz, London NW11 on, the modern world. Pete Seeger was becoming an extinct species. He has clearly right: ‘Yankee, Russian, white or tan, Lord, forgotten that fully integrated German NATIONALISM – CURSE OF THE a man is just a man, We’re all brothers and Jews were sold out by their Landsleute. MODERN WORLD we’re only passing through.’ Ashamed Jews tend to distance Sir – Dorothea Shefer-Vanson (‘Letter from Alan S. Kaye, Marlow, Bucks themselves from their heritage, yet there is Israel’, October) misunderstands certain much to be proud of: their success in exile historical events and their implications. SPEECHLESS FOR ONCE is despite all the odds against them; they ‘Legitimate’ is defined as ‘in accordance Sir – Being consistently exhorted to recycle also turned that meagre strip of land called with law or conforming to established everything and to economise wherever Israel into a great success – a leader in the standards of behaviour’. Neither basis possible – and maybe as I am naturally scientific, high-tech and medical fields of existed then (or exists now). inclined that way – I have become quite important benefit to mankind. And yet, The Balfour Declaration expressed adept at it, I think. Israel is widely demonised, with marginal only the political view of the then British I had quite a shock recently on being Jews playing a part in this defamation – government and did not purport to go further. charged some £5 in postage for just three they remind me of the Judenräte. The UN Partition Resolution expressed letters abroad. One birthday card alone to It was the Torah that sustained the the opinion only of a majority of a granddaughter in Israel cost almost £2 in Jews throughout their long exile. Their its members then voting – and not postage – quite out of proportion to the struggles and suffering centred round unanimously – and the organisation is now £1 for three I normally pay for birthday their religious beliefs. Herzl, in an effort at least three times as large as it was then. cards at my cut-price shop. And what with to save the Jews of Europe, was prepared Does Dorothea Shefer-Vanson believe that 28 grandchildren (G-d bless them all), this to settle for Uganda but was overruled. a similar resolution would pass today? all adds up! Nor would Argentina do, which Jewish Herzl’s views, not accepted ‘Buy smaller cards in future,’ the lady barons were willing to fund and colonise unqualifiedly, should surely be seen as behind the PO counter advised me, ‘and as a safe haven. Finally, it was the teeming of their time, when European empire- don’t recycle as it’s those labels you stick masses of the Pale, yearning for Zion, that building was reaching its peak and the on and the selotape which is making them prevailed. And it was their hardy sons and movement of peoples, not just individuals, so heavy, and buy thinner notepaper.’ daughters who went out to till the soil into lands occupied by others seemed It left me speechless – a rare thing! and settle the land. These young Zionists natural. The USA was not then complete, (Mrs) Margarete Stern, London NW3

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obstacles that had to be overcome in order to perform the music in the concentration camp made a deep impression on me. Dorothea Shefer-Vanson It never occurred to me that it could be dramatised. My own grandmother was deported to Theresienstadt from Hamburg, and perished there in early 1943 Defiant Requiem (before the performance of the Requiem). ny performance of Verdi’s head wreathed in cigarette smoke, as he I have translated the letters she sent from Requiem anywhere in the world attended to his accounts or typed letters there, as well as the diary kept by Martha A is a memorable event. I have on behalf of the various organisations Glass, who was also from Hamburg. heard it played several times and am for which he worked in his spare time In the performance devised by Murry invariably stirred, moved, uplifted and to earn a few extra pennies. He had Sidlin, Israeli actors gave some readings invigorated by the music, regardless arranged for a loudspeaker system to be in Hebrew, Sidlin himself gave others in of the standard of the performance. built from our front room so that records English, and an upright piano was used to Hearing it played in Jerusalem under the played on our radiogram, which was his accompany some of the music instead of title ‘Defiant Requiem’, commemorating pride and joy, could be heard in both the full orchestra, reminding the audience the performance of the music in the rooms simultaneously. It was my task to of the conditions under which the music Theresienstadt concentration camp under attend to the four 33 rpm records which was performed at Theresienstadt. At those the baton of inmate Rafael Schächter, formed the boxed set of the Requiem moments the stage was darkened and, was something quite extraordinary for and had to be turned over or changed when the full orchestra resumed, the stage all those who heard it. But I felt that for every 20 minutes. Each time I hear the was lit, serving to underline the contrast me it had a special significance. The Requiem now I recollect exactly at which between then and now. At the end of the performance, which was given in the point each record ended, requiring my performance the audience was requested framework of the Israel Festival last intercession so that the music could not to applaud but to stand for a minute summer, was the project of American continue. Unfortunately, I don’t remember of silent contemplation. While we were conductor Murry Sidlin. In a bold move, who the artists were, and those records standing, the soloists, the members of the the music was interspersed with readings have since gone the way of all flesh. orchestra and the choir quietly walked off describing the performance of the work The book by Josef Bor describing the semi-darkened stage. in Theresienstadt and filmed accounts by the agonising events surrounding It was a truly moving performance of a camp survivors who had participated in the performance of the Requiem in remarkable piece of music, an event which the performance or attended it. Theresienstadt, The Terezin Requiem, few of those present will forget – least of During my teenage years in London translated by Edith Pargeter and published all me, who felt that by some remarkable I heard the Requiem played on LP in 1963, was on my parents’ bookshelf coincidence several strands of my life had records almost every Sunday. That was when I was still living at home, and I been brought together. But I couldn’t help the day on which my late father would must have read it almost as soon as they wondering what my father would have sit at his desk in our back room, his bought it. The moving account of all the made of it.

inside the ajr continued from page 13 Dr Anthony before introducing Helen Fry. Helen horrors of Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, Grenville’s book told us the unique story of Howard to contentment in Israel. David translated Jewish Refugees Triest, the subject of her latest book Eva’s newly published autobiography from Germany Inside Nuremberg Prison. Howard was Escape Story. and Austria in born in Munich but served with the US Marianne Linford ­Britain, 1933- forces during the war, becoming the 1970 has been only German-Jewish refugee translator Ilford Film Family reprinted. to the psychiatrists in the Nuremberg Howard Lanning spoke about his fam- For ­copies prison cells when the top Nazis were ily’s involvement in the film business. (­paperback), His ­father, a director of silent films, held there. write to David Lang was ­followed by his sons and now his grandsons are becoming known in this ­Anthony Welwyn GC Enthralling Story sphere. It was fascinating to see clips of Grenville at the AJR, ­enclosing cheque David Lawson had us enthralled as he former productions and made for a very for £22.50 (incl. postage and packing) retold Eva Erben’s story from her idyllic interesting­ morning. made out to the author. childhood in the Sudetenland, through the Meta Roseneil

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] For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters LLP, 26 St Albans Lane, London NW11 7QB Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected]

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