Page Nineteen THE JEWISH POST Thursday, September 19, 1963 Thursday,, September 19, 1963 Page Eighteen THE JEWiSH POST

• ELEVEN YEARS WITH DR. SCHWEITZER same Anna Wildikann who wrote to me?' I was and it was always TRANSPORT .FROM . 'PARADISE'' amazed at his wonderful memory," she said. full, as p e 0 pIe "I'm so glad that I have finally come to Dr. Schweitzer suggested that she come to cam e from the this spa." ITTING on her Jerusalem balcony, Latvian­ Lambarene. The next day she told him that she different tribes "I have everything I want in Terezin; I feel S born Dr. Anna Wildikann, orthopaedic spe­ had decided to join him. She received her instruc­ for miles around. ' fine here." cialist working in Hadassah's Department of tions. She was to study dermatology and de'D­ Dr. Wildikann f described the life "Sardines again, Uncle Rahm?" the chil­ 1 School and Student Health, told me of her :first tistry at Strasbourg for four months. Dr. dren are taught to repeat in chorus. ' I meeting with Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer himself made the arrangements. of the staff of The scenario writer took these words from After receiving her M.D. at Jena University . After completing this additional training, she Lambarene as the Nazi document; they are said by inmates in Thuringen, she went to Heidelberg to specialize was presented with a big book on tropical diseases. "something like a of the ghetto, members of various European in orthopaedics and it was in this centre of learn­ Another :book on the life and work of Dr. Albert kibbutz." nations. ing that she first met the great man. ' "We all ate to­ The SS General is, of course, interested in "I heard him give an organ recital. We had gether as one big the preparations for another transport to the many. mutual friends at Heidelberg and we met family, of which East which is scheduled to take place. Really, at the home of, one of them," she recalled. Dr. Schweitzer everything seems to be in the best of shape Some time later, when she was still studying was the head. He until his eye lights on a leaflet with the words: at Heidelberg, a was a hit of a dic­ "Death to fascism! Frustrate the farce of "special moo d" tator," she said Dr. Schweitzer in 1963 overtook her. She with a smile. "He· picture-making which is intended to deceive was very strict on questions of discipline. For the world!" wrote to Dr. The story of the new Czech film "Transport" Schweitzer ask­ instance, from six in the morning to six in the continues. . ing if she could evening we had to wear tropical hats, and every come and work day we were obliged to take a dose of quinine The Nazis 'begin their investigation. They with him in the against malaria, I hated it, the taste was so are hunting for a wireless station, a secret African jungle. A .bitter - but I hever caught malaria." print shop, but most of all for the Ilien who few weeks later Both she and the three other European doc­ are trying to struggle under the horrible con­ she received a tors working at Lamba.rene were given complete ditions of the ghetto. They want to speed up gracious and wel­ freedom in their professional work, she said. They -the transport from Terezin. It is important come letter from toiled around the clock. TheY'Dad .to know every­ to them to obtain the agreement of the chair­ Mrs. Schweitzer 'thing, from treating the widespread leprosy to man of the so-called Jewish self-government inviting her to body, David Lowenbach. He, 'however, refuses taking out teeth-even to doctoring sick monkeys to sign the list' of names of those who are to come. and goats. But the '''spe­ "Our rooms were ·neat and ple'asantly fur­ be deported. He is imprisoned and death awaits Waiting outside Lamberene Hospital nished and we had nice crockery on the table. him. His deputy is named Ignac Marmulstaub, cial mood" had passed and, be­ Dr. Sch.weitzer used to say that in a difficult also a member of the Jewish self-government Schweitzer arrived from her mother in Riga, who tropical climate the appetite must be aroused." council. Soon, next to the signature of the sides, her mother strongly objected . felt confident that her spoiled daughter would She spoke with reverence of the great man's head of the camp, the Herr von Holler, appears not hold out under the difficult tropical conditions humanity and the unbounding faith which the that of Marmulstaub. The Young Dreamer to the idea. This LiberatIon of Terezin in May, 1945. was in 1933. But of the African jungle. Negroes placed in him. "He would give sermons .... - ...... ~'!"- The investigation continues. Finally the The following April Anna arrived at Lam­ on brotherly love but, during the war when white Gestapo succeeds in hunting down a member in November off meet face to face. The new Czechoslovak film will be the following year, in London, fate caught up barene. She remained there - with two brief men' were indulging in mass murder, he did not, HEY are making a film at Terezin. A of •the illegal resistance, a worker from the as a white man himself, have the courage group of workers from Czechoslovak State called "Transport," and is based on the book "Night with her again and her association with Dr. leave breaks - for eleven years. to T forge-shop. He is wounded while fleeing. There "It was the richest and most interesting period tell the Negroes how to live." Film are holding a lively discussion on the and Hope" by Arnost Lustig; the scenario is the work 18 ,no refuge for, him in Terezin. The camp Albert Schweitzer really began. of Arnost Lustig and Zdenek Brynych who is also ~ "It was just after I arrived that I was invited of my life and, despite the hardships, I would do Work took up a great deal of our time. "Our edge of the town parks. They have come here commander orders a roll call for which all life was so full that we rarely missed the world to erect a wooden fence which will divide the directing the film. ' , to the some of some friends to meet him. The it all again," she said. inhabitants of the camp must turn out includ­ The, hospital there could take 400 patients (Continued on page 21~ park and adjoining buildings from the rest of One of the incidents is based on a real occurrence: ing those who are ill. The injured w~rker is :first question he asked me was: 'Are you the the town, just the way it was when Teerzin SS General Knecht arrives with his entourage to recognized and imprisoned. Those who helped was a Nazi Jewish ghetto. decide whether a commission of the International Red him in his underground activity are also liqui- The film-makers are taking measurements ' Cross should be allowed to visit the -Terezin ghetto. dated. ,. studyin~ plans and ~rawings and comparing He has reason to be 'satisfied. Everything seems to The transport is ready to leave, death awaits REDEEMED CHILDREN" them' WIth reproductIons of drawings by the be w~ under control. Indeed, some parts of the town courageous David Lowenbach, who has not lost "THE "ghett9 painters" Fritta, Kien and Fleisch­ look like Hollywood; the Nazis are making a motion faith in the victory of humanity. A group of MOVING account of the rescue and re- a group of farmers from Poland and Czecho­ mann. The fence must'be exactly 185 em. high, picture of the "carefree" life of the ghetto's residents . (Continued on page 31) . made of raw planed ,slats, in short it must A habilitation of more than 1,100 young slovakia. Rescue projects continued even dur­ resemble exactly the fence which during the Jewish war victims by the War Orphans' Pro- ing the war. In addition, Jews interned in Can­ Hitler 9ccupation, formed·:, the b~undary be­ ject of the canadian Jewish Congress has ada eventually gained their release· following tween the ghetto and the !'Aryan" section of been published by the University 'of Toronto . OJC representations to the Canadian govern­ the fortress town of Terezin. For the film Press. The study, "The Redeemed Children" ment. which wil! be made here will show the' real by Ben Lappin, was made possible by a grant Immediately after World War II the United from the Conference on Je'Wish Material Claims Jewish Relief Agencies of the Canadian Jewish face of Terezin, the Janus face: an assembly Against Germany. Congress was directly responsible for the re- > ground for transports to the East to the' exter­ mination camps of the Nazis - ~s an histori­ The inception of the rescue project took habilitation of thousands of displaced persons ca.l fact in contrast to the camouflage which .place in 1942, according to Lappin, "when word in Canada through a'vanety of projects. CJC came from the Joint Distribution Committee gained government approval for the admission HItler's henchmen 'carried out in this "recrea­ I tion spot," this ''Gettoparadise'' Terezin that 1,000 youngsters had, 'by devious means, of the DP's, provided housing, welfare and . l .been smuggled out of occupied Europe and were social service assistance, and helped to find ., The ~azis filmed this fakery in T~rezin ~., several tImes. After the failure of a 300 "now awaiting rescue in Southern France." The jobs for more than 10,000 needle-trade work­ metre documentary filni about the Dutch book describes how, despite war-time condi- ers and others. "transferees," Hans Gunther, head of the "Zen­ tions, JDC assembled the ship.s to transport the Be~ides Congress' work on behalf of refu­ trfllamt zur Regelung der' Judenirage im Pro­ youngsters, but then the movement of the gees in. Canada,. Canadian Jewry undertook tektorat Bohmen und Mahren~ and the com­ Wehrmacht into Southern France sealed the various tasks. of reconstruction and rehabili­ mander of the Terezin camp, Karl Rahm had a youngsters off from the free world. tation in Europe. Beginning early in 1945 Con-- ne,! film in 1944, a staged docum'entary It was not until 1947 that the :first group of gress assisted JDC's overseas,welfare programs m~e Jewish war-orphans was finally received by not only through financial contriibutions, but WhICh was mtended to assure public opinion Safe are these Jewish war-orphans shown on their arrival that reports on the extermination of Jews were Canadian Jewry. HoweV'er, the major emphasis through the shipment of clothing, books, drugs of "The Redeemed Children"· is on the sub- and medical supplies, food and religious items. in Canada from Europe in 1947. More than 1,100 of these I, complete inventions, that the Jews in Terezin young vtetims of Nazi persecutioin were brought to Canada were living a rich cultural and spiritual life sequent history of the youngsters, and how These goods were shipped to JDC's offices and by the War Orphans' Project of the Canadian Jewish Congress that their welfare was looked after by then: they have adjusted themselves to their new Jewish communities. in Poland, France, Bel­ The story of their later experiences has been described ~ homela~d... gium, England, Palestine-Israel, Yugoslavia, m0vi.Dg detail. in '''!he Redeemed Children" by Ben Lappin, own self - government, with which the camp • published earlier this year by the University of Toronto Press. command did not interfere. In the snmmer of The CanadIan JeWISh Congress has been Italy, Greece, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary 1944 thorough and expensive preparations were providing assistance. to refugees and newcom- Rumania, Austria, Holland, • Czechoslovakia' made for picture-taking in Terezin. Everything ers since 1936. Since 1940 CJC has raised more Portugal and Sweden. . ' The. case-studies in ''The Redeemed Children" was deception and fraud; the goods with which . than $22,OOO,OOQ" Ilnd more than $9,500,000- The executive vice-president of the Cana- emphaSIze the psychological difficulties which many of the ghetto shop 'windows were packed the has been turned over to JDC'for its aid to needy dian Jewish Congress, Saul Hayes, cites in his the 1,116 Jewish ,!ar orphans have had to face. "To cJrlldren's theatricals, the sports events f~ery Jews in Europe, North Africa, and the Near foreward to "The Redeemed Children" the Tal­ the demands of adJUstment the adolescent immigrants East, including Israel, alth?ugh the bulk~ Q'{ mudic saying that "who'rears an orphan is brought conflicting emotions which ran deep and tore I m!sleading C?f publi~ opini?n, camouflaging of i, JDC's funds have been prOVIded by the Umted deemed as though he had begotten him." He at their p.eace of.m!nd,:' Lappin notes. Though many i' CrImes, earned out m NaZI death factories - ~, : This Nazi fraud, the so-called "beaunfca­ . Jewish Appeal. declares that "what et)1erges from this story have achIeved dIstinction and financial success for , CJC efforts to rescue Jewish victims of is proof of the resilience' and the flexibility most of them their experiences under Na2ism 'have j tion campaign," will be the central theme of i the new film for which preparations are now Nazism began in 1989, with the evacuation of of mankind." (Contin~ed on page 23) being made in Terezin. Deception and reality :::- r ...... " ... • p r. -- - - ," . One of the first shots from the new Czechoslovak mm "Transport." -. - -- - - ~~.: --