VOLume 15 NO.12 DECEMBER 2015 journal The Association of Jewish Refugees

Schisms on the left he surprise election of the left- as an increasingly ineffectual Prime winger Jeremy Corbyn as leader Minister until 1935. He was expelled from of the Labour Party threatens to the Labour Party. Texacerbate the disputes over ideology and But, for all these splits and controversies, political strategy that have long bedevilled the Labour Party in Britain has largely relations between the right and left wings held together, while the Communist of the party. These disagreements burst Party of Great Britain remained very into open conflict in the early 1980s, with small. That was not the case in European the foundation of the Social Democratic countries like Germany, where the split Party and the secession to it of 28 Labour between moderate and radical socialists MPs. Most commentators had assumed led to the creation of two large and that the reforming measures implemented bitterly hostile rival parties, the moderate since the disastrous general election defeat Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the of 1983 by successive leaders of the Labour Communist Party (KPD). This split was Party – Neil Kinnock, John Smith and deeply ideological and its roots lay back in Tony Blair – had so weakened the Labour the 1890s, when the political theorist and left that it could no longer mount a SPD politician Eduard Bernstein (1850- credible challenge to the dominance of 1932) began to publish work critical the right wing. of the orthodox Marxist doctrine that The Labour Party has been divided Eduard Bernstein, 1850-1932 underpinned German Social Democracy, into rival factions for much of its post- which then still saw itself as the party war history. In the 1950s, the bitter Heseltine – to achieve the feat of bringing of revolutionary socialism. Bernstein internal disputes between the Bevanites, the Ministry of Defence under effective had been closely associated with the followers of the firebrand left-wing orator and efficient control. Healey, who died in founding fathers of Marxism, Karl Marx Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan, and the moderate October 2015, had a dimension that most and Friedrich Engels, so his critique of supporters of party leader Hugh Gaitskell other politicians lack; his autobiography revolutionary Marxism from within the convulsed the party; the debate on nuclear The Time of My Life (1989) – probably party became known as ‘revisionism’ – disarmament, in particular, divided the the best British political memoir I have Bernstein was the original revisionist. He left, hostile to Britain’s foreign and defence ever read – demonstrates the breadth and argued that the aims of Marxism could be policy, from the pro-American stance depth of his musical and cultural interests, achieved by peaceful means, by political adopted after 1945 by Prime Minster as well as the organisational abilities that and legislative reform within the existing Clement Attlee and Foreign Secretary saw him act, aged 26, as Military Landing political system. Ernest Bevin. The ‘Bevanite wars’ were Officer (beach-master) for the British Bernstein disagreed with his orthodox only temporarily halted by the adroit assault brigade at the landings at Anzio in Marxist opponents’ belief in the necessity tactical manoeuvring of Prime Minister January 1944. of violent revolution; as a political theorist, Harold Wilson, whose principal concern Internal party conflicts have troubled he was the father of what came to be called after Labour returned to power in 1964 the Labour Party since its early days. Like reformist socialism. He also questioned often appeared to be to hold his schismatic most socialist parties, it was divided in Marx’s theory of immiseration, which party together. By the 1970s, with the 1914, with leading figures on the left, held that the workers must inevitably rise of the Bennite left, led by Anthony like the pacifist Ramsay MacDonald, become poorer under capitalism, as Wedgwood Benn – or Tony Benn as opposing the war. In 1931, at the time the capitalists grabbed an ever greater he liked to be known in his proletarian of the political crisis triggered by the share of wealth. In the latter argument, incarnation – the internal party divisions Great Depression, MacDonald, by then Bernstein was at one with the powerful became well-nigh unmanageable. Prime Minister, found himself on the German trade unions, who worked for the Today, it may seem incomprehensible other side of the left/right divide, when improvement of the pay and conditions that after its fateful electoral defeat in 1979 his policies for coping with the economic of their members on a day-to-day basis. Labour elected the left-winger Michael disaster that had struck the country split Bernstein’s reformist socialism thus had Foot as party leader in preference to Denis his party; MacDonald and the right-wing weighty support from within the labour Healey, one of the ablest politicians Britain minority who supported him joined with movement. It also had the facts on its side: has seen since 1945. Healey was one of only the Conservatives to form the National the improvement in the condition of the two ministers – the other being Michael Government, with MacDonald remaining continued on page 2  journal DECEMBER 2015 (USPD), which also contained Luxemburg, Schisms on the left continued  Liebknecht and others on the far left who had formed the Spartacus League German working class in the second half of KINDERTRANSPORT in late 1914. With Germany’s defeat CHANUKAH LUNCH the nineteenth century was huge, and plain in November 1918 and the revolution to see. After Bismarck’s anti-Socialist laws, that overthrew the imperial regime, the WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER 2015 outlawing the SPD, were allowed to lapse USPD joined the SPD in the coalition 12.30 PM AT ALYTH GARDENS in 1890, the party took to participating that governed the country, but resigned SYNAGOGUE in the political and electoral processes in in December 1918, in protest against the Please join us for our last meeting of Wilhelmine Germany, while maintaining 2015 to celebrate Chanukah with a government’s increasing reliance on the old delicious Chanukah-style Lunch and its revolutionary rhetoric and its belief in imperial bureaucracy and the armed forces. lighting of the Chanukah Candles class war. It achieved its greatest success This triggered the Spartacist Uprising of Booking essential in the Reichstag elections of 1912, when January 1919, an attempt by the far left, For details and booking, it won no less than 34.8 per cent of the now reconstituted as the Communist please contact Susan Harrod vote, over twice as many votes as any other Party, to launch a second change of regime, at AJR on 020 8385 3070 or at party, and 110 seats (of 397) in parliament. as the Bolsheviks had swept away the [email protected] The goal of a peaceful accession to power Kerensky government that had replaced We look forward to seeing you appeared ever closer. the Tsarist government in Russia. But the The SPD’s move towards moderate, government, led by Ebert of the SPD, reformist socialism aroused bitter called in right-wing forces, which bloodily opposition among its radical left-wingers, suppressed the uprising; Luxemburg and AJR GROUPS ANNUAL like the brilliant and charismatic Rosa Liebknecht were murdered. Luxemburg, who pressed for a strategy These events cemented the divide CHANUKAH PARTY Thursday 10 December 2015 based on the party’s traditional faith in between moderate and revolutionary class conflict, militancy and the proletarian at socialism in Germany. In 1920, the North West Reform Synagogue revolution. Between the two wings, majority of the USPD voted to affiliate to Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune balancing skilfully between reformist and the Communist International, and thereby London NW11 7EN revolutionary strategies, stood those at to join the KPD, which thus became the £8.00 per person payable on the door (places must be booked in advance) the head of the party hierarchy, its leader major rival to the SPD for the allegiance of and founding father August Bebel and its Starts at 11.30 am the German working class; the remainder Ends at 3.00 pm chief theoretician, Karl Kautsky. When of the USPD rejoined the SPD in July A welcome by AJR Chief Executive Bebel died in 1913, the leadership passed 1922, in the wake of the political crisis Michael Newman to an outright moderate, Friedrich Ebert, triggered by the assassination of Foreign Morning entertainment by Brian Goldrich but with a left-winger, Hugo Haase, as Minister Walther Rathenau. As Germany – Continental songs and poetry. This will be his co-chairman. In August 1914, the entered the Great Depression in the followed by a delicious lunch. party resolved, against the opposition After lunch we will have further crisis-torn early 1930s, the KPD, under entertainment by Bronwen Stephens, who of a left-wing minority, to support the instructions from Stalin, directed its will perform a selection of well-known opera war effort, by voting in favour of the war fire against the SPD, the principal party and songs from the theatre. credits in the Reichstag, in breach of the supporting the parliamentary democracy It is essential that we know exact numbers for SPD’s traditional opposition to militarism of the Weimar Republic against the Nazi catering. and war. Please call Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 threat. or email [email protected] However, the left-wingers did not Moscow’s imposition of the policy that remain bound by party discipline for designated the Social Democrats, termed long; in December 1914, Karl Liebknecht ‘Social Fascists’, as the principal enemy of was the first to vote against further war the revolutionary working class proved to credits in the Reichstag. Haase and other be an insuperable barrier to working-class opponents of the war, including both unity in the struggle against the Nazis. Bernstein and Kautsky, but predominantly When the Nazis came to power, they had from the party’s left, founded in 1917 secured less than 40 per cent of the vote the Independent Social Democratic Party in the general elections of 1932, less than the combined votes of the SPD and the AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman KPD, by November 1932 the two next Finance Director largest parties. But whereas at the time David Kaye of the Kapp Putsch in 1920, the working Heads of Department class had stood united in the general strike Karen Markham Human Resources & Administration Sue Kurlander Social Services that ensured the failure of Kapp’s short- Carol Hart Community & Volunteer Services lived right-wing regime, in 1932-33 it AJR Journal was bitterly divided. The radical strategy Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor of the KPD merely smoothed Hitler’s Karin Pereira Secretarial/Advertisements path to power, while the moderates of the Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not SPD had no effective answer to the Nazi necessarily those of the Association of Jewish electoral machine. Refugees and should not be regarded as such. Anthony Grenville

2 DECEMBER 2015 journal Kristallnacht Memorial Service, November 2015 Photos: Michael J. Ezra ome 120 AJR members and their families, as well as Srepresentatives from the Austrian, German, Hungarian, Israeli and Slovak Embassies, attended this year’s AJR Memorial Service for Kristallnacht at the Belsize Square Synagogue on Wednesday 11 November. With Michael Newman, the AJR’s Chief Executive, having outlined the historical context of the memorial service, a candle-lighting ceremony was held. It was led by Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg of the New North London Synagogue, whose grandfather, Dr Georg Salzberger, was the Rabbi of the Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt- am-Main, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht. Noting that at the 1938 Evian conference European governments had been ‘found wanting’ in their reaction to Hitler’s anti-Semitism Hedi Orchudesch lights memorial candle with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg and William Kaczynski and reluctant to accept the looking on; Leslie Baruch Brent and Ruth Danson; Sir Peter Bazalgette immigration of Jews from Germany, Rabbi Wittenberg asked Holocaust Memorial Foundation National Holocaust Centre in Laxton, ‘Who will take today’s refugees?’ launched by the Prime Minister earlier and praised the work of the AJR. Professor Leslie Brent, who was on in the year, noted the international Speakers also paid tribute to Sir the first Kindertransport from Berlin reaction to Kristallnacht at the time: Nicholas Winton, who had died earlier on 2 December 1938, gave a brief, many words but little action. He in the year, and to the Holocaust deeply emotional, testimony of his reported on the recent activities of historian Professor David Cesarani, recollections of Kristallnacht. Born the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, who had died several weeks earlier in Köslin, Germany, on Kristallnacht recommended that as many people at the untimely age of 58. he had been at the Berlin-Pankow as possible visit the Journey Exhibition, Prayers were recited by Elkan Jewish Orphanage, where his parents with its Kindertransport element, at the Pressman. had taken him two years earlier. Kristallnacht was an ‘abrupt’ event, Professor Brent said: ‘Many Jews thought their situation would ‘A dream come true’: Holocaust Memorial Garden improve despite all the tribulations.’ opened at Waltham Abbey Cemetery The Kindertransport had come as ‘a n 12 October 2015 I attended like other Holocaust survivors, have no great act of mercy’, he added. the opening in the United grave to visit to grieve at.’ He hailed the Guest speaker Sir Peter Bazalgette, OSynagogue’s Waltham Abbey opening of the garden as ‘a dream come Chair of the United Kingdom Cemetery in Essex of a true.’ beautiful garden donated The garden was and dedicated by Kathrin officially opened by Chief and Joseph Szlezinger and Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, family to the memory of who said it was ‘a perfect the six million Jews who model which I would love were murdered by the to see replicated by Jewish In Need of a Friendly Voice? Nazis. communities around the Want to chat to someone who cares? Mr Szlezinger, who world.’ Call The Silver Line himself lost many members The 40 or so people The national helpline for older people of his family, including his present must have had their Any time, day or night father, in the Holocaust, own painful memories. It explained that the garden was a privilege to attend. From your landline: 0800 4 70 80 90 From your mobile: 0300 4 70 80 90 came about because ‘I, Susie Barnett

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MARGARETE STERN, A TEENAGE REFUGEE IN TRING argarete Stern was born in across the road, her father realised Fürth, near Nuremberg, on 28 that running to a shelter was out of MJune 1925. Her father, Gustav the question so he decided to move Hirsch, was deputy manager of the out of London. He could commute to Dresdner Bank in Nuremberg. the chocolate factory which he part- In 1933 the situation in Germany owned: Union Chocolates. The elder was no longer tenable for Jews and daughter remained in the London flat, so the family left for Yugoslavia, which was filled with lodgers during where they had relatives. They lived in the war, but for a short spell came to Maribor in Slovenia. Margarete went the Cow Roast Inn near Tring. to school there, learning Slovene and Initially they stayed with the Fileman Serbo-Croat. family in a farmhouse at Cow Roast, Having eventually to leave near Tring, which they found through Yugoslavia, the family decided to the German actor Frederick (Fritz) come to England. They arrived here Valk. They were taken in as fee-paying on 12 November 1938. Margarete guests. The Filemans were living in a remembers the journey clearly. As vast farmhouse with a pig in the yard they weren’t allowed to travel through and rabbits, as far as Margarete can France, they had a police escort (a remember, so they needed farm hands. single plainclothes policeman not They had taken in a middle-aged in the same compartment) from Margarete Stern looks at a Jewish lady teacher from Germany Ljubljana across the Yugoslav/Italian Tring photograph book shown who had brought several of her former frontier and then they took a train to her by Shelley Savage pupils along and recruited them to Trieste, then to Venice, then to Milan, school to accept only half the fees. do the work free of charge in return which they reached at midnight, and Margarete started there in January for their board and lodging. They on to Switzerland. From Zurich, they 1939. accommodated Margarete in the same flew to Croydon. At the beginning of September 1939, dormitory room as those girls, who Three uncles of Margarete’s mother just before the outbreak of war, the were a little older. Her parents slept in had settled in England before the school was evacuated to Oxford, where a separate room. They couldn’t stand First World War but only one agreed it merged with Oxford High School. the atmosphere there so after only one to sponsor the family. He was a rich Margarete was billeted in an English night they moved several doors away bachelor who had been persuaded to family, the Berkets, who took in far too before moving to Tring. work with Marks and Spencer, where many evacuees as they got paid for The family then moved into the he had made a significant contribution each one. The Berkets had to confirm Royal Hotel at Tring Station, where to the firm’s development. His name that they had some home help - which they remained for three years. While was Herman Loewi and he lived they did (a Swiss girl) – only to sack her in Tring, Margarete continued her at 81 Bryanston Court, George immediately afterwards to save money. schooling in Berkhamsted, at South Street, London W1. Bryanston Court It was literally an answer to Hampstead Girls School, which had comprised two buildings. In one of Margarete’s prayers that Mrs Berket been evacuated to that town. In the them (not the one Herman lived in) offered her mother free board and afternoon they used the premises of lived Mrs Simpson and he used to see lodging in exchange for her help in Berkhamsted Girls’ School, which the the as yet uncrowned king enter it on the household: she had implored her main school used in the morning. his way to see his mistress. parents not to abandon her. A week Margarete left at the age of 17 with On their arrival in England, the later her father returned to London a School Certificate and was 18 when Hirsch family first went to live at and her mother moved in with her. But she left Tring. the New Mansion Hotel in Lancaster living with the Berket family wasn’t Margarete remembers Tring High Gate, London W2, until just before pleasant (‘My floor is clean!’, Margarete Street, where they shopped for Christmas. Margarete attended a was told after she had refused to eat fresh fruit and clothes, went to the local school, St Mary’s. It was a a piece of bread and butter that had hairdresser, and sometimes paid a Catholic school but not one with fallen on the floor) and it got too cold visit to the cinema. That was where nuns. There were quite a number of in their unheated bedroom. So they the dentist and doctor had their Jewish children there and they didn’t moved to a local hotel and, not long surgeries. Aldbury was nearer and try to ram religion down one’s throat. afterwards, back to London. It wasn’t they sometimes took walks there at They even provided Margarete with a until the new term in January 1940 that weekends. There was a synagogue private tutor to teach her English. she started attending Henrietta Barnett in Tring, probably rudimentary. Miss Then just before Christmas they School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Moos, the Jewish religion teacher at moved to the West London Hotel, But not long after that the Blitz began. South Hampstead High School, used London W2, a more pleasant hotel in That is when the Hirschs moved to to conduct religious ‘services’ at the Kensington Gardens Square. A great- Hertfordshire. school, which she and her mother aunt persuaded Margarete’s mother The family – parents and two attended on the High Holidays. to send her to Kensington High School, daughters five and a half years apart Other Jewish families living in one which was extremely snobby with (Margarete is the younger) – were living of the houses between Tring Station archaic rules and an all-encompassing in a block of flats in Swiss Cottage, and Tring Town were the Wechslers costly school uniform, including where Margarete still lives. At the time, and the Schwabs. There Margarete knickers! School fees were very high her mother was disabled from severe attended her first Seder but had to and her great-aunt persuaded the sciatica and, when in 1940 a bomb fell continued on page 5 

4 DECEMBER 2015 journal CELEBRATION AND COMMEMORATION he event held at the British (Oxford) spoke on the expert and his Nobel Prize-winning work Academy on 10 November on labour law, Sir Otto Kahn- on the development of penicillin. T2015 proved to be a remarkable Freund. Professor Richard Gombrich Dr Anthony Grenville outlined the success. It was attended by well over (Oxford) then delighted the history of the Thank-Offering to 100 people, including AJR members, audience with memories of his Britain Fellowship and spoke in Fellows of the British Academy and father, the art historian Sir Ernst commemoration of those Jews from independent academics. To mark the Gombrich. Baroness Tanni Grey- Germany and Central Europe who fiftieth anniversary of the Thank- Thompson spoke about Sir Ludwig perished unknown in the Holocaust. Offering to Britain Fellowship, Guttmann, founder of the National The event concluded with a financed by donations from the Centre for Spinal Injuries at Stoke reception. Lord Stern, President Jewish refugees from Hitler, Mandeville Hospital, birthplace of of the British Academy, gave an presentations were given on four the Paralympic movement. Sir Ralph address, and our Chairman, Andrew distinguished refugee academics. Cohn recalled Sir Ernst Chain, whose Kaufman, responded on behalf of Professor Sandra Fredman post-doctoral fellow he had been, the AJR.

 Margarete Stern, a teenage refugee in Tring continued leave long before the end because of to 20,000. appear before a tribunal to determine the curfew on ‘aliens’. On their return to London in 1943, whether she was a ‘friendly’ or an As for Mrs Valk, Frederick’s mother, the family first had to live in a boarding ‘enemy’ alien and be sent to the Isle she too came to the Royal Hotel a house as there were lodgers in the flat. of Man! Her account of this occasion short time later. One evening she got When Margarete gained her School is as follows: too close to the small electric heater Certificate her parents wanted her to do The tribunal was held in Cambridge, in her bedroom and her nightshirt a secretarial course. She took this at a which, we were told, was the nearest caught fire. She managed to put the top secretarial school and subsequently place to Tring. We drove there by car. fire out herself by laboriously filling landed a job with the Yugoslav The tribunal took place at the local her washbasin with water from her Government-in-Exile in London and, court of law. It was a very frightening jug, putting it on the floor and sitting after the war, at the Yugoslav Embassy. experience. I was sitting with my in it. But by that time, a large part of In 1946 Margarete met her future parents in the corridor awaiting my her skin was burnt. She was taken to husband and they married in 1948. turn. After a while we saw a young hospital, where she died ten days later, Margarete came from a very assimilated girl emerging from one of the rooms, aged 78. Tring had been thought safe German-Jewish background but sobbing inconsolably, leaving the from the bombs in London but fate became an observant Jewess, which building between her father and had decreed otherwise. is why she met her husband … but mother. It was obvious how she had There were actors living in the hotel that’s another story! They had four been classified – not very encouraging at the time. Margarete remembers children. At the time of writing, she for me. Lily Kahn. Born Lilli Hertha Kann has 28 grandchildren and 35 great- Thereupon I was ushered into the in Berlin, she acted in British films grandchildren. same room, a proper courtroom such in the 1940s-50s, the parts she Margarete Stern’s English is excellent, as are associated with criminal cases. It played ranging from charwomen to with only a slight accent. Besides German, was empty apart from the few people aristocrats. Lily was best known for her she speaks Serbo-Croat, as mentioned in the front, who, I admit, were looking roles in Cat Girl (1957), The Clouded above, and understands Russian. Her at me in quite a friendly way. ‘Mustn’t Yellow (1950), and Betrayed (1954). French is fluent because her mother spoil the impression’ I kept thinking, She died in 1978 in Sussex. She had was a French teacher. She has learned but my command of English seemed an illegitimate daughter – pretty, slim, Italian, some informal Spanish and basic to evaporate as I was bombarded blonde, agile – by an Italian actor. Japanese and is trying hard to improve with questions, e.g. what had been There was also Walter Rilla, who her modern Hebrew and Inuktitut (the my father’s occupation in Maribor? appeared in over 130 films between language of the Inuit). I could think of the word in Slovene 1922 and 1977. Born in Neunkirchen Margarete sums up the family’s stay (druzabnik), in German (Teilhaber or in 1894, he died in Rosenheim in 1980. in Tring as interesting and good: it was Kompagnon), but in English? Then it He appeared in Sixty Glorious Years a rather primitive place but ‘heaven’ (1938), directed by Herbert Wilcox. A compared with what befell so many of somehow did come to me as I seem to strikingly handsome man, Walter was their fellow Jews at the time! recall: a ‘partner’ in a chocolate factory. a non-Jew whose wife was Jewish. Mrs Stern doesn’t possess any They were very friendly and classified Their son was called Wolf. photographs of her stay in Tring: as me as a ‘friendly alien’. Another well-known actor who ‘aliens’ they weren’t allowed to keep Shelley Savage sometimes visited the hotel, but cameras for the duration of the war. But lived nearby, was Norman Shelley. He she has a page of small pictures taken This is a condensed version of an article wasn’t, says Margarete, a show-off like in John Barnes (now Waitrose) in May which appeared in the July 2015 issue most others but ‘quite normal’. 1941 in Finchley Road, London, i.e. at a of The Tring and District Local History Margarete remembers seeing time when they were still living in Tring. & Museum Society Newsletter. Shelley Winston Churchill arriving at Tring She needed them as she was about to Savage would be delighted to make Station. It was said that during the turn 16 and was required to carry an contact with anyone else who was war years the population of Tring rose identity card. Moreover, she had to evacuated to Tring during the war.

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terrorist activities. I ask myself: will these poor migrants become disillusioned, unhappy, angry at the lack of housing and jobs and resort to violence and terrorist activity in five or ten years’ time? The omens are not too good judging by the killings in France, Belgium and Denmark, where the Jews were specifically targeted. I think the Prime Minister’s reaction The Editor reserves the right to the crisis has been spot-on. Should to shorten correspondence it be the survival of the fittest or the submitted for publication survival of the needy and weakest? Marcel Ladenheim, Surbiton, Surrey Sir – Peter Briess (November) rightly REFUGEE CRISIS points out the dangers as a large Sir – Kindertransport-AJR Chairman Sir the end of 1938. In December that year number of mostly economic and not Erich Reich deserves congratulations Nicholas Winton was shown one of their political refugees arrive in Europe. No for his letter to the Prime Minister makeshift camps. The refugees were question that they will include some (October issue), particularly for his fleeing to Prague and it was the sight of extremists (the Germans are investigating emphasis on children. Among Syrians, these people which prompted him to ask ten people presently, suspecting them of 51 per cent of those fleeing (overall) Britain to help their children. The parents being terrorists). are children but of particular concern were anti-fascists, not necessarily Jews. Most of the migrants are men. They must be those youngsters who are, Their lives were in danger. Sir Nicholas saw will marry in their adopted countries but do not always start out as being, the humanitarian need and dealt with it. or eventually bring the families they unaccompanied. In the last calendar By chance, I recently met with fellow left behind and increase the alien year, the OECD reported 24,000 Jewish refugees. I didn’t know them and populations. Multiculturalism is a failure unaccompanied children arriving in mentioned the possibility of sending and it only produces problems. As Peter Europe as asylum seekers, the majority blankets, warm clothing, cooking pots etc Briess rightly points out, some of these from Syria and Afghanistan. (Germany directly to asylum seekers camping out people mean us harm. This should accepted 10,400 of them.) in Calais (via Islington Town Hall, tel 020 moderate the enthusiastic welcome for In case there are people so lacking 7527 2000). A deathly silence until one of the migrants. in imagination or knowledge of the these people informed me that I shouldn’t Janos Fisher, Bushey Heath circumstances in the Middle East be under the illusion that we had it so easy See article by WJR‘s Richard Verber that they actually believe the Home when we came to England! on page 11 (Ed.). Secretary’s ‘pull factor’ argument for I failed to see the connection entirely. not helping those seeking asylum in Something wrong with my thinking Europe, the case for giving shelter to here? Whatever is in store for these HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY PLEA youngsters is unanswerable. First, many people – stay in Europe, return to their Sir – When Hitler invaded Poland on 1 will have had no say in where they are homeland or go to another place – it is September 1939 many Polish Jews left being taken; second, humanity as well as now that they need help. Shame on us their homes trying to outrun advancing international law demands that priority for even using such language. I am glad German armies by moving east. Only 17 be given to the weak and innocent. Nicholas Winton is no longer around days later the Russians occupied eastern The Government knows it is on weak to hear it! Poland by agreement with Hitler and moral ground. When the Prime Minister Susanne Medas, a 'Winton child', most refugees found themselves on Soviet announced the pitiful token of 20,000 London W10 territory. In the summer of 1940 they Syrians from Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey were deported to gulags in Siberia to over the next five years there was a spate Sir – I note the compassion of some of work as slave labourers in extreme cold, of weasel words about ‘preparations’ your readers regarding the treatment on starvation rations without adequate and ‘being ready’ to proactively justify of the many recent migrants from the clothing or medicines. Countless numbers any amount of foot-dragging. However, Middle East. died. And many survivors of the gulags following public pressure, Mr Cameron I too was a refugee/migrant, having later lost their lives in Central Asia due to is suddenly ready for the first 1,000 by survived the Holocaust as a hidden child epidemics and hunger. Christmas. A wonderful demonstration in Paris, coming to England legally in One and a half million people were of the power of public opinion! 1948. Therefore I too am overwhelmed thus affected but their fate remains largely Can we therefore hope to see the AJR with pity and horror to witness children unknown, even to victims who themselves associating with the Refugees Welcome trekking through the mud and rain, and suffered persecution and spent the war in Here alliance of civil societies or at least soon the freezing cold, to seek sanctuary hiding or in concentration camps. lending its name if its resources do not in northern Europe. For me, there is a In January on National Holocaust Day reach further? And might I invite/ask/ sense of déjà vu. we will again be commemorating the plead with your readers to put pen I have a few qualms, however. To dead. I am writing to plead that those who to paper to ask their MPs to urge the compare these migrants with those of lie buried in Siberian permafrost or the Government to be generous and open the late 1930s-early 1940s is erroneous. sands of Central Asia be included in these the gate to at least some lone kids? We were fleeing murderous Nazis commemorations this year and every year. Francis Deutsch, Saffron Walden and certain death if we remained in mainland Europe. Most importantly, This would bring great solace to survivors Sir – In the film The Power of Good however, our people had no history and their children. we are shown the plight of homeless of attacking our hosts. I know of no Berta Klipstein, Leeds refugees – men, women and children instance of our people leaving bombs PAINFUL GHOSTS OF THE PAST – fleeing from Sudetenland towards on trains or buses or engaging in other Sir – I think that most persons who

6 DECEMBER 2015 journal would attend the Memorial Service at up living with individual families, some in on her arrival in London as a Kind on 25 Belsize Square Synagogue in connection London, others across Britain. August 1939 aged nine. I recently learned with Kristallnacht would have personal Twenty of these children were housed from a letter that she was in the vicinity (‘in experience of that dreadful night, so what in a small flat in Kentish Town in north der Nähe’) of her first cousin, Walter Marx, is the point of hearing others speak and London above a Lyons teashop. This home who was then in a boarding house at 26 so conjuring up the painful ghosts of the became known to its young residents as Highbury New Park, London N5. past? The Haven. Does anyone know of any hostels If the three people scheduled to speak The Haven was set up by the Salmon and to which Kinder were sent in this area? at Belsize Square Synagogue did so in, say, Gluckstein families, who were concerned I would also be very grateful for any Cologne or Berlin to non-Jewish audiences, about the plight of these children. The suggestions of publications or other I feel some good might be achieved – for it Salmons and Glucksteins were the owners sources to which I could turn for further is they who need to be told what occurred of Britain’s largest catering company, information. on 9-10 November 1938. J. Lyons & Co. Gina Burgess Winning E. G. Kolman, Greenford, Middx The children at The Haven were clothed [email protected] and fed and each provided with a small NOT ONLY NICHOLAS WINTON bear. They were taken to see a dentist at JEWS IN THE MERCHANT NAVY IN Sir – Your October issue again has articles the Lyons headquarters in Hammersmith WW2 on Sir Nicholas Winton, who undoubtedly and enrolled in school. It took some time Sir – I am researching a book on this deserves every credit for how he helped for them to master the language of their subject. Do your readers know any 669 children to escape from Nazi-occupied new home. members who served in the UK or Prague. I am fortunate to have spoken to one Commonwealth Merchant Navies in WW2, Every time this comes up I feel that just of The Haven children, who now lives in including in Israel (Mandate period)? I as much mention should be made of the Milan, Italy, but am very keen to talk to would appreciate any photos of the men other significant organisers who did the others. I would also greatly appreciate in uniform and any anecdotes/stories same for the 9,331 or so children – such seeing any photographs, letters, diaries, they told – and meeting any willing to be as myself from Berlin – whose lives were or recorded interviews about The Haven. interviewed. saved by means of the Kindertransport If you can help, please do get in touch Please contact me at martin.sugarman@ but whose names and achievements are c/o [email protected] yahoo.co.uk or telephone 07806 656756 not usually given alongside those of Sir Thomas Harding, author of Hanns and or 020 8986 4868. Nicholas. Rudolf: The German Jew and the Hunt for Martin Sugarman, AJEX Archivist This, I feel, is a very unfair way of the Kommandant of Auschwitz (2013) presenting the facts. Can we hope that and The House by the Lake (2015) SUPERB AJR LUNCH the Editor will give wider publicity in the Sir – This year’s AJR Lunch was absolutely Journal and elsewhere to those wonderful superb and I must congratulate everyone people, to whom 15 times as many MEMORY OF THE KINDERTRANSPORT Sir – My PhD research focuses on the who organised it, in particular Carol children owe their lives in the first place memory of the Kindertransport in national Rossen and Lorna Moss. As usual, it was as those 669 from Prague? and international perspectives. A key part a pleasure to meet up again with friends Werner Conn, Lytham St Annes of this project will involve interviews not and AJR staff and with plenty of time for everyone to schmooze together. A HAUNTING QUESTION only with Kindertransportees but also This year in particular the meal was Sir – Several recent letters have probed the second and even third generations, excellent. In fact, I thought it was better the German-Nazi relationship. Each has to discover how the memory of the than at previous Lunches and this certainly reopened a question which has troubled Kindertransport has been passed down to seems to be the general consensus. In me for years. the next generation(s) but also how it has addition, I and many others appreciated I grew up in pre-war Vienna in a developed over the years. These interviews all those lovely touches like each table youthful orgy of boy-scouting, lake- will be used to compare how Kinder from having a fabulous platter of fresh fruit swimming, mountain-climbing and the various host nations such as America, following the meal. campfire-singing. After the Anschluss my Australia, Britain and New Zealand were Also, I was chosen for a little twirl schoolmates joyfully transferred to the treated on arrival and how they adapted during the musical entertainment … Hitler Youth, which offered even better to life in these new lands. Moreover, a almost praying that I wouldn’t fall flat on sport and esprit de corps, while my family comparison of the interviews may reveal my face in front of everyone! and I lost everything and escaped with that memory of the Kindertransport is not Please convey my thanks and our bare lives. uniform but shaped by national factors. appreciation to all involved. I am, however, constantly facing this However, this project will hope to draw Ms Doona Labi, London NW3 question: Supposing Hitler had not been out common themes within the interviews an anti-Semite – quite possible after his as Holocaust memory also operates within earlier life in Vienna? Would I not, like my a transnational, even global network. ISRAEL RIGHT OR WRONG? chums, have followed the same advance I hope to start interviewing Kinder Sir – Jenny Manson (November) displays from Hitler Youth to Nazi Party to SS to and their families from this November a curious myopia. No one doubts that Waffen SS to wartime service and then, onwards, starting with those who live in there are individual cases of injustice perhaps, even the horrible Stasi? Would Britain and travelling to the other three against Palestinians in Israel – just as there I during the wars in Poland and Russia, host nations next year. It would be great are individual cases of injustice in every Yugoslavia and Greece have behaved to hear from Kinder and their families country in the world, including the UK. any better than other ‘good Germans’ willing to be interviewed by myself for my Nor should there be any doubt that it is when given orders from above? Are other research. Please feel free to contact me at proper for Israeli organisations such as the readers haunted by the same question? [email protected] ones she cites to make representations (Dr) Hans L. Eirew, Manchester Amy Williams, Nottingham Trent to the Israeli Government about alleged University injustices. THE HAVEN However, so far as Jews in this country Sir – In December 1938 the first KINDER HOSTELS are concerned, the overwhelming picture Kindertransport children arrived in London Sir – I am trying to identify to which hostel of Israel conveyed by our news media, in from Germany and Austria. Many ended my mother, Lore Freudenthal, was sent continued on page 16 

7 journal DECEMBER 2015

through a more spectral prism. Its shape and movement also reference Constable. Auerbach came to Britain with the REVIEWS Kindertransport and was orphaned. A dynamic and richly ART Art historian Catherine Lampert, who textured silence curated the exhibition, was one of his BREAKING THE SILENCE: VOICES OF NOTES models for 37 years. According to her, THE BRITISH CHILDREN OF REFUGEES he does not dwell on the past: everything GLORIA TESSLER FROM NAZISM he sees is newly born in the present by Merilyn Moos despite his tendency to repeat the same London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, e is known as the painter of scenes. Inevitably despair and loss will 334 pp. paperback, £24.95, Primrose Hill, rising at dawn to seep through the heavy impasto that he ISBN 9781783482962 capture new imagery in places constantly reworks. This is most clearly erilyn Moos’s book Breaking the Silence is a study of heH has known virtually since he escaped defined in his haunting 1958 charcoal ‘those whose grown-up Nazi Germany in 1939. Now 84, Frank self-portrait. Yet life, energy, joy, speed all M parents escaped and … enter[ed] Auerbach doesn’t rest on his laurels. He flow through his work with real warmth the UK before the outbreak of war’. doesn’t rest at all. Camden Town and and spontaneity. This, according to Moos, is one of Mornington Crescent are relentlessly Another artist who looks for essence four subcategories of the British daubed on and scratched out in canvass rather than likeness is the Swiss-born Alberto ‘second generation’. Such precision until he is sure Giacometti. lies at the heart of her book: ‘My they reflect his His exhibition, position is that the experience of a child of refugees from Nazism has to P u r e vision. be distinguished from a child of any Tate Presence, at Holocaust survivor’. These comments Britain’s new the National begin to suggest the complexity of exhibition of Portrait the field and what further work might Auerbach’s Gallery (until be done to explore the full range of work (until 13 10 January refugee experiences. March 2016) 2016), is includes seven aptly named. Frank Auerbach Head of J.Y.M ll 1984-85 Considered paintings Oil on canvas 660 x 610 shown for the a giant of first time. They depict the artist’s Camden Modernism, Giacometti is known for locale. The House 111 (2011), Hampstead his pin-headed, lean sculptures. At art Road, High Summer (2010) and In the school he had difficulty in capturing the Merilyn Moos Studio were painted in the part of north likeness of his models because one pose In Section I, Moos teases out some London that has become the artist’s world. could not give him the whole person. of the nuances of Holocaust history. The show also includes two early nudes A solid intensity comes through both She briefly surveys the countries that haven’t been seen since they were his paintings and his sculpture of family of origin of Britain’s wartime and painted some 57 years ago and are now members – his mother Isabel, his wife post-war refugees, exploring the in private collections. Annette, his brother Diego and sister historical contexts of immigration This urban landscape painter uses Ottilia, and the philanthropist Lord from each. She then examines the colour and oblong shapes to vibrant and Sainsbury and the young woman Caroline. British context into which the refugees immediate effect. A person walking in The son of a famous Impressionist came. The resonance with current events is hard to overlook. Recent painter, Giacometti tried to disguise his the street appears to be made of the same Daily Mail headlines about asylum fabric as the buildings in Mornington developing post-Impressionist influences, seekers, and recent revelations of Crescent or the land or the sky. His which finally led to Abstraction and immigrants’ abuse and exploitation as portrait heads have the same blurred Expressionism, again suggestive of Francis domestic servants, find strong echoes effect in which the artist sketches the Bacon. here. When considering the present human dynamic rather than feature situation, we could do worse than detail. The movement and feeling suggest reflect on Louise London’s estimate, quoted by Moos on page 22, that ‘ten Francis Bacon, Leon Kossoff and Lucian Annely Juda Fine Art times as many people sought refuge Freud, all painters who define the world 23 Dering Street in Britain as succeeded in getting in’, differently. in the years before the Second World Auerbach’s work encourages us not to (off New Bond Street) War. Many, in fact, were sent back be lazy but to use our eyes. For instance, Tel: 020 7629 7578 from British ports as late as 1939 – the iridescent Primrose Hill, 1971, with Fax: 020 7491 2139 their fates, in Moos’s words, ‘part trees and houses in the background against of Britain’s forgotten history’. In the final, methodological part of this a rather febrile blue sky, allows you to CONTEMPORARY section, Moos identifies the different see the hill as a natural phenomenon PAINTING AND SCULPTURE historical stages of the Holocaust and

8 DECEMBER 2015 journal reminds us of the groups targeted here is not absolute but something no mention of the trauma this must for systematic extermination: ‘Roma, dynamic and richly textured. Moos have caused the family. John failed Sinti, gays and black Germans, along mentions in her conclusion ‘the in his attempt to enter a university with the Jews’. She also highlights manifold differences in types of as his family’s background proved the fact that psychoanalytic literature silence’. There is the silence of absence a handicap during the Communist on intergenerational or transferred – grandparents untalked about and era. The best option was a technical trauma has concentrated on children unknown. There is a powerless silence: college. Besides his studies at the of death camp survivors in Israel and ‘the second generation did not even college, he took up English lessons, an the United States. How valuable, she know what there was to know.’ inspired decision it later turned out. asks, is this research to understanding There is sometimes the silence of On graduation, John’s first job a British context, lacking as it does Jewishness kept secret from the involved hard physical work, which those countries’ ‘vocabulary that second generation; and the silence again was to his advantage in later celebrates ethnicity or diversity’? of that generation in not voicing their life. Soon he obtained a supervisory The interview transcripts that experiences until later in life. In the job with Hungarian railways. form Section II present second- absence of words and explanation, Like most Jews in Hungary, he took generation refugees in dialogue writes Moos, ‘another form of no active part in the 1956 Revolution. with the author. It includes her own discourse developed among the When the Russians suppressed the interview, which contains echoes of silences’ – one which, this book shows, ill-equipped revolutionaries, John, her engaging autobiographical novel often weighed heavily, emotionally his mother and his best friend Peter The Language of Silence. A number of and psychologically. In Breaking managed to escape to Austria, a quite interviewees, already displaced, and the Silence, Moos has produced a hazardous journey. In Vienna, they living with traumatised or frightened tightly focused, worthwhile piece of chose England as their destination. parents, were subjected to bullying scholarship, of relevance to those A short spell in a refugee camp and for their ‘difference’. Henry describes with personal or academic interests work as an interpreter near Guildford bullying by pupils and teachers which in this area. followed. compounded his situation, and his Marita Grimwood With some help from the Jewish serious problems with the ‘free- Refugee Committee, John and his floating anxieties’ that have persisted mother settled in London. She throughout a successful academic Unsentimental record of a did various menial jobs while he career: ‘I think what was really successful life studied at Hendon Technical College, transmitted through the Holocaust LIFE IN TWO COUNTRIES supplementing his finances by experience was not death itself but by John Hajdu working at the Grosvenor House the fears that went with it. […] I feel Self-publication, 2015, 118 pp. Hotel. After graduating, his ascent the anxieties are so deep ground, it’s paperback in the hotel industry was very fast almost as if it was inherited.’ (Henry’s his autobiography begins with (helped, I guess, by his good looks). story, p.121) a brief overview of the Jews A high flier, he managed to land a Throughout, Moos remains alert to Tin Hungary from the year 906 number of interesting jobs in the her position in relation to her material, – a story of almost continuous hotel industry, enabling him to travel neither claiming ultimate authority persecution. In John Hajdu’s time, the world, often with the family. His nor immersing herself with dubious many Jews were in the professions mother became a bookkeeper and empathy. and the arts; they were prominent and settled in Golders Green. Gender differences in the refugee generally well off, which in turn bred In 1972, by then holding the experience emerge as one of the anti-Semitism and violence. post of chairman of the Hotel project’s most interesting themes. The At some unspecified time the Hajdu Industry Marketing Group, he interviewees tend to be more reluctant family changed their married Maureen. Two to talk about their mothers than their name to a Hungarian children, Georgina and fathers, and what they say about them one and settled in Nicholas, followed; is more complex and ambivalent. a ‘Jewish area’ of both are married by Moos contends that the refugee Budapest. now. experience, with its ‘discontinuity of In January 1945, In time, John also family and professional structures’, following liberation, the became, among other impacted women more than men. We situation in the capital things, a magistrate, hear, for example, of highly educated became exceptionally vice president of the women – two of whom were going difficult, with little University of the Third to become academics – who not only food available. John Age, and chairman of suffered the trauma of displacement and his father moved the very active Muswell but found their roles confined to to Nagyvarad in Hill and Fortis Green John Hajdu ‘Kinder und Küche’ once in Britain. Transylvania (now part Association. As a The tensions this situation produced of Romania but mostly still Hungarian- ‘sideline’, he took part in various became part of the texture of their speaking). Here he entered a Hungarian pursuits – car rallying, tennis and table children’s experiences. school, obtaining excellent results. tennis – winning many cups. Section III synthesises much John’s mother ended up in The book is lavishly illustrated with of what is discussed in Section II, Mauthausen concentration camp photos of the family, train tickets, drawing out and interpreting key and the family concluded she had school certificates, etc. I marvel how themes such as loss of grandparents, perished. Fortunately, she survived he was able to save all these photos. troubled relationships with parents, and returned to Budapest but found This is an unsentimental record of a and difficulties in expressing anger. her husband living with somebody full and successful life. But the key theme is silence. Silence else. John's parents divorced; there’s Janos Fisher

9 journal DECEMBER 2015

ARTS AND EVENTS DECEMBER DIARY

‘The Diplomats & Spies Who Saved Tues 8 Dec Prof Moshe Zimmerman: memory of Jewish composers forbidden Jews from the Nazis: 70 Years ‘Germany and Israel – a Historical by the Nazis, including music composed On: Reflections on the Holocaust, Asymmetry’ At New North London in Terezin. At home of Mignonette Aarons Liberation and Aftermath’ A course by Synagogue, 80 East End Road, London in Kingsbury. Tickets £15 including Dr Helen Fry. Week 2: Wed 2 Dec – Thomas N3 2SY, 7:45-9:00 pm. Organised by refreshments. Proceeds to AJR and B’nai Kendrick & Vienna’s Jews; Week 3: Wed Centre for German-Jewish Studies, B’rith shoes. Tel 020 8204 8778 9 Dec – Oskar Schindler; Week 4: Wed University of Sussex, in conjunction with 20 Jan to 27 Feb 2016 Mona Golabek 16 Dec – Raoul Wallenberg & Hungarian New North London Synagogue. Contact in ‘The Pianist of Willesden Lane’ At St. Jews. At JW3, tel 020 7433 8988 Diana Franklin James Theatre, 12 Palace Street, London [email protected] T +44 (0)1273 678771 (University) SW1E 5JA, tel 0844 264 2140. Based on Thur 3 Dec Book Launch: Thomas T/F +44 (0)20 8455 4785 (London) the book The Children of Willesden Lane: Harding’s ‘The House by the Lake’ E [email protected] Beyond the Kindertransport: A Memoir 6.30-8 pm. Admission free, booking of Music, Love, and Survival by Mona recommended. At Weiner Library. Tel Sun 20 Dec (evening) Piano recital by Golabek and Lee Cohen (reviewed in AJR 020 7636 7247 Mignonette Aarons dedicated to the Journal in October this year)

‘Levi Koenig: A THE STORY OF Contemporary King Lear’ 20TH-CENTURY GERMANY he novel explores relations he speaker at our October between three grown-up Kindertransport Lunch Tsisters, their attitude to their TMeeting, Thomas Harding, aged father, and the way each author of the acclaimed Hanns one strives to and Rudolf: The German Jew and juggle home, the Hunt for the Kommandant of family, work, Auschwitz (2013), told us about WHY NOT CONVERT YOUR and love life his latest book, The House by the Lake. This is the story of his OLD CINE FILMS while tending AND PUT THEM to their father’s family’s weekend home on the needs. shores of Lake Wannsee – and the ON DVDS story of 20th-century Germany. Available as Lived in and lost by five different FREE OF CHARGE? paperback and families, this house will now be ebook from set up as a place of remembrance Contact Alf Buechler at Amazon and at and reconciliation. [email protected] www.shefer-vanson.com David Lang or tel 020 8554 5635

Out of Chaos: Ben Uri – 100 Years in London Presented in association with the Cultural Institute at King’s College London 2 July-13 December 2015 Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing, WC2R 2LS FREE ENTRY Access: from the central door of the East Wing from the Somerset House courtyard or from the King’s Quad via the King’s College Strand entrance Gallery Open: Mon-Sun 11 am-6 pm and Thursday: 11 am-8.30 pm

www.benuri.org.uk

10 DECEMBER 2015 journal KINDERTRANSPORT SCULPTOR FRANK MEISLER CELEBRATES 90TH BIRTHDAY rchitect and sculptor Frank bronze statues of a group of Meisler is celebrating his children with luggage. A90th birthday this month. Frank also designed the Born into a Jewish family in interior of the Holocaust Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), Memorial Museum in Moscow Frank was evacuated from and a number of sculptures for Germany on the Kindertransport Russia’s National War Memorial. in August 1939. He travelled In 2011 his memorial to the with 14 other Jewish children death march of Jewish prisoners via Berlin to Holland and then and subsequent murders at on to Liverpool Street Station Palmnicken (now Yantarny) was in London. Three days after he erected in Kaliningrad (formerly left Germany his parents were Königsberg). arrested, held in the Warsaw In 1996 Frank published his Ghetto, and subsequently autobiography: On the Vistula murdered at Auschwitz. Facing East (André Deutsch). In London Frank was raised In 1999 he was awarded by a grandmother. He went the Franz Kafka Gold Medal to school in Harrow and did for Artistic Achievement by the national service in the RAF. He studied Kindertransport’, erected in Hope Czech Academy of Arts; in 2002 he architecture at Manchester University Square at Liverpool Street Station was made an Honorary Academician and worked on the construction of in 2006 (he was also awarded the by both Russian and Ukrainian Heathrow Airport with Sir Frederick Freedom of the City of London); Academies of Arts; in 2012 he was Gibberd. ‘Trains to Life, Trains to Death’, awarded the Federal Republic of In 1960 he moved to Israel, where Friedrichstrasse Station, Berlin, 2008; Germany’s Officer’s Cross of the he has a workshop in the Artist’s ‘The Departure’, Gdansk Glowny Order of Merit 1st Class in recognition Quarter of the Old City of Jaffa. Station, 2009; ‘Channel Crossing of his services to German-Jewish Frank Meisler’s public works to Life’, Hook of Holland, 2011; and German-Israel relations; and include a series of Kindertransport and ‘The Final Parting’, Dammtor in 2014 he was made an Honorary memorials, several of them erected Station, Hamburg, May 2015. Each Ambassador of the Hanseatic City of with AJR support: ‘Children of the Kindertransport sculpture includes Danzig (Gdansk).

Standing up and being counted: the refugee crisis and British Jews uring the evening of 2 September expended and the prospect of conflict As the Jewish community’s response this year, pictures of Aylan Kurdi resolution at home in Syria non- to international disasters, World Dstarted to circulate round the existent, some refugees decided that Jewish Relief launched an emergency world. His image would grace the the only option of a better future was appeal, providing education facilities front cover of nearly every British a move westwards into Europe. and winter emergency packages to newspaper the next day. Three years Once refugees starting entering the Syrian refugee children. Although old, from Syria, Aylan died as nearly EU – and arriving at Calais in particular our television screens have shown 3,000 people have done this year – – the refugee crisis became a domestic thousands of refugees on the trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. issue for Britain as well as a foreign move across Europe, the greatest The world suddenly seemed to policy one. vulnerability among the largest wake up. The timing was strange: British Jews felt a moral imperative number of refugees still remains in the Syrian civil war has been burning – perhaps even a religious duty – to and around Syria itself. for well over four years. Two hundred act. Whatever our family backgrounds, The community is responding and fifty thousand people have we don’t have to go too far back in positively. The Board of Deputies brought died. Nearly eight million Syrians are our history to find relatives who were together organisations like AJR, JCORE displaced within their own country. also refugees. and JSAF for a roundtable meeting, out Another four million people have For many people it is the story of which came a community website fled to neighbouring states – mostly of the Second World War and the offering ways to get involved – www. to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Many Kindertransport. Tens of thousands of supportrefugees.org.uk – and over have been there for years. children and adults were saved thanks 200 people came to JW3 to learn more But it took the tragic death of one to the Jewish community here and about the crisis and how to help by little boy – Aylan – to galvanise the British because Britain eventually opened its volunteering and campaigning. public and get the government to act. doors just a little. This crisis will get worse before it The British-Jewish community knew it I am alive today only because my gets better. We must all do what we too had to stand up and be counted. grandma, aged eight, somehow can to make a difference. This was a grim reality we knew all made it to a boat from Germany, Richard Verber too well. World Jewish Relief has been arriving in Southampton as part of [email protected] working with Syrian refugees since the Kindertransport just two months 2013, when we set up programmes before war broke out. Her parents Richard Verber is Campaigns Manager, in Jordan. died in Auschwitz, as did her sister World Jewish Relief, and Senior Vice With rations cut, resources and cousins. President, Board of Deputies.

11 journal DECEMBER 2015 law was Nathan Mayer Rothschild! – everything from racism to foreign Larry Lisner children needing English coaching in British schools to … baking! All ST JOHN’S WOOD ‘Suitcase 39’ washed down with Barbara’s legendary Jane Merkin, the producer of ‘Suitcase afternoon teas. 39’, a play written to commemorate the Wendy Bott 75st anniversary of the Kindertransport, INSIDE told us how the idea for the production BRIGHTON AND HOVE ‘SARID’ The the originated and about the process of Life of Judith Montefiore putting it on. Jane explained that her David Barnett spoke about Judith AJR mother was a Kind and that she and Montefiore, who, among many other her sister had felt a responsibility to tell things, was fluent in several languages, PINNER The Life and Work of Abram the story. published the first Jewish cookbook and, Games Kathryn Prevezer with her husband Moses Montefiore, a Naomi Games told us that her father rich broker, visited the Holy Land. Judith CAMBRIDGE Jewish Lyricists Abram, the illustrious graphic designer, generously supported Jewish and non- Members were treated to a fascinating had worked for London Transport, Shell Jewish charities. talk by Mike Levy about Jewish lyricists, and the Post Office before becoming a Ceska Abrahams including the Gershwins, Oscar freelance and winning major awards. Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill He designed posters and stamps both A Day to Remember: An Outing and the British-born Lionel Bart. Mike at home and abroad. His stark, simple to Emirates Air Line Cable Car read some of the lyrics to us and we designs, well ahead of their time, Happily the weather was fine for our could hear the skill, humour and poetry created maximum impact: among the trip, ensuring our little group had of the words. He also played us some most memorable are those for the a superb view of London’s many tracks. Second World War recruitment posters, magnificent new buildings – the Kathryn Prevezer the Olympic Games, the Festival of Shard as always dominating the Britain, and the Financial Times. skyline but also numerous other Walter Weg Interesting Day Out to wonderful buildings reaching into Chatsworth House the sky. In the distance a glimpse of SHEFFIELD CF ‘The Power of Good’ An interesting day out was Greenwich Park and, of course, the We met in the synagogue to see the arranged by Esther and Kathryn to Thames below us sparkling in the film ‘The Power of Good’, which tells Chatsworth House, home of the sunshine. An outstanding experience. the story of Sir Nicholas Winton’s work. Duke of Devonshire. Members from After a short walk to the O2, we Sue Pearson, one of ‘Nicky’s children’, enjoyed a two-course lunch, giving us brought along a copy of his now famous the opportunity to greet old friends scrapbook and answered questions as well as meet other AJR members from the audience. Another member – always a pleasure. told us her mother and aunt had been We were then taken on a 45-minute saved by Sir Nicholas. A most interesting boat ride to the Embankment, passing and heartfelt afternoon. many famous sights. With the sun Wendy Bott shimmering on the water and the blue sky above, our excursion came HGS The First Jewish Prize-fighter (from left) Beulah Worth, Bob and Gerry to a wonderful conclusion. David Barnett told us about the life of Norton, Lia and Philip Lesser, Kathryn Our thanks to the AJR, in particular Daniel Mendoza, 1764-1836, the first Williams Kathryn and Esther, who ably guided Jewish prize-fighter, who was only Birmingham and Nottingham were us around all day. just over 5 foot tall and weighed 160 taken round on a personal guided Meta Roseneil pounds. An interesting talk. tour and shown the various art and Hortense Gordon furnishing treasures. An excellent lunch was enjoyed in the restaurant HULL CF ‘Woman in Gold’ GLASGOW The Queen’s Jewels before returning home. Our sincere Our host was Rose Abrahamson and it Edward Green’s talk about the Queen’s thanks to Esther and Kathryn for was in her lovely home that we watched Jewels was very interesting and amusing. arranging it and in the East Midlands ‘Woman in Gold’. Everyone enjoyed the It was also lovely to meet everyone and we look forward to seeing them both film and thought it was extremely well to be made to feel so welcome. I’m at a meeting in Spring 2016. made. looking forward to the next meeting Bob Norton Wendy Bott that I’m able to attend. Charlotte Alexander EDGWARE Imperial War Museum IMPERIAL CAFÉ A Lively Gathering The Imperial War Museum’s Suzanne A lively gathering with many topics Bardgett spoke about the Holocaust ESSEX (WESTCLIFF) The Life and discussed, mainly the Home Office’s exhibition, research conducted by PhD Times of Judith Montefiore inability to look sympathetically on war students, and a recent exhibition about David Barnett showed us pictures veterans and the driving tests that many Indian soldiers in Brighton during WWI. of Judith Montefiore, a fine-looking never took owing to it’s being war time - Kathryn Prevezer woman born in 1784 and married to but they can all drive a tractor and HGV! Moses Chaim Montefiore. The couple Esther Rinkoff LIVERPOOL An Extraordinary Man travelled extensively around Europe Liverpool members came out in force staying in expensive hotels and visited LEEDS CF Animated Afternoon – a crowd of 25 members attended the Holy Land in 1827. Her brother-in- A most animated afternoon of discussion a screening of the film ‘The Power of

12 DECEMBER 2015 journal Good’, the story of the late Sir Nicholas OXFORD WWI Battlefields NORTH WEST LONDON The Jewish Winton. By the end of the film there Meeting at the home of Suzie and John Pam Ayres was hardly a dry eye and we all left Bates, I talked about my April trip to the Michelle Wolff – the Jewish Pam Ayres – with even more respect for a man who WWI battlefields in France and Belgium, read some of her own poems, including never once considered what he did to showing photos of the cemeteries and ‘About Age’ (growing old isn’t a crime!) be extraordinary. monuments I had seen. We discussed and ‘Paved with Gold’ (a light-hearted Wendy Bott the bizarre fact that many members had look at Golders Green). Being a poet is relatives who had fought for Germany a condition, not a profession, Michelle KENT The Life and Career of Herbert in WWI and had been honoured for insisted. Morrison bravery, yet had faced the horrors of David Lang Lesley Urbach spoke about the life WWII 20 years later. and career of the eminent Labour Kathryn Prevezer GLASGOW CF A Most Enjoyable politician Herbert Morrison, particularly Event his attitude towards Jewish refugees Once again, on behalf of the group, I have WELWYN GC A Well Established both before and after the war. There to extend thanks to the AJR for a most Group was a lively debate about internment, enjoyable event: a Soup and Sandwich Kind hospitality from Monica in the of which members shared personal Lunch followed by a game of Kalooki, warmth of her home, giving me experiences. making an extremely pleasant afternoon. the chance to get to know this well Janet Weston Ruth Ramsay established group. EDINBURGH Firm Friends Esther Rinkoff NORTH-WEST LONDON A Pleasant Members warmly welcomed Susie Kelpie Lunch and Good Company to her first AJR meeting. By the end CHESHIRE Varied Discussion This group meets once a month at of the meeting we were firm friends Meeting at the home of Ernie Hunter, Alyth Gardens Synagogue. It’s always a and looking forward to our next get- topics for discussion included the pleasant lunch and such good company. together. various forms of group rescue that This time, we had a very light poetry Agnes Isaacs brought people into Britain; how a reading, which we all enjoyed. RADLETT Strange Form of longstanding ban on Stolpersteine Margarete Weiss Entertainment (‘stumbling stones’) outside the homes WEST MIDLANDS (BIRMINGHAM) Frances Long described the introduction of Holocaust victims in Munich may be From Birmingham to Broadway of Italian opera into London society in the on the verge of being overturned; and Glamorous 83-year-old Jean Bayliss 18th century. Especially fascinating was what members of the gathering would regaled us with tales of her illustrious her analysis of the social changes taking do if they were to become PM of Britain. career spanning 70 years. She had met place among the English upper classes Tomi Komoly and counted as friends Audrey Hepburn, at that time, which made this strange Anthony Newley and Millicent Martin, as form of entertainment acceptable. The SURREY/KINGSTON Old and New well as encountering Elvis Presley, Richard talk was witty, informative and wide- Friends Burton, Mae West and Danny Kaye. Jean ranging and stimulated a great deal of We met for coffee at the home of starred as Maria in the original Rodgers discussion. Edmee Barta. It was lovely as always to and Hammerstein production of The Fritz Starer catch up with old friends and meet new Sound of Music in London. A real trouper! ones. Edmee’s hospitality was much Esther Rinkoff appreciated by all. CONTACTS Susan Harrod continued on page 14  Wendy Bott Northern Groups Co-ordinator DECEMBER GROUP eventS 07908 156 365 [email protected] Ealing/Wembley 1 Dec Chanukah Quiz and Refreshments Susan Harrod Groups’ Administrator Leeds CF 1 Dec Visit to Marks & Spencer Archives 020 8385 3070 [email protected] Ilford 2 Dec Savoy End Chapel Players Agnes Isaacs Pinner 3 Dec Chanukah Party Scotland and Newcastle Groups Wessex 3 Dec Chanukah Party Co-ordinator Birmingham 7 Dec Chanukah Concert 07908 156 361 [email protected] Essex (Westcliff) 8 Dec Chanukah Quiz Kathryn Prevezer Liverpool 8 Dec Chanukah Lunch Southern Groups Co-ordinator 07966 969 951 [email protected] Leeds CF 9 Dec Chanukah Lunch Manchester 13 Dec Chanukah Lunch Esther Rinkoff Kent 15 Dec Fish & Chip Lunch Southern Groups Co-ordinator 07966 631 778 [email protected] Book Club 16 Dec Social Discussion Glasgow 16 Dec Early New Year Party KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Susan Harrod Cambridge 17 Dec Jonathan King: ‘Buffalo Bill and 020 8385 3070 [email protected] the Wild West’ Child Survivors’ Association-AJR Edinburgh 17 Dec Social Get-together Henri Obstfeld Imperial Café 17 Dec Lunch 020 8954 5298 [email protected] Brighton 21 Dec Chanukah Quiz and Refreshments

13 journal DECEMBER 2015

INSIDE THE AJR cont. from WHY NOT TRY AJR’S  p.13 MEALS ON WHEELS PRESTWICH/WHITEFIELD ‘What SERVICE? Makes You Smile?’ The AJR offers a kosher Meals on Wheels In a world full of bad news stories it was service delivered to your door once a week. lovely to think about the things that make The meals are freshly cooked every week by us smile – from grandchildren and great- Kosher to Go. They are then frozen prior to delivery. Are you, or is someone you grandchildren to a good game of golf The cost is £7.00 for a three-course meal know, a Jewish Holocaust to listening to music to hearing a good (soup, main course, desert) plus a £1 survivor in financial difficulty? joke. A big thank you to Louise for being delivery fee. our host. Our aim is to bring good food to your door Six Point Foundation gives grants to help with Wendy Bott without the worry of shopping or cooking. all kinds of one-off expenses such as home For further details, please call adaptations, medical bills, travel costs and AJR Head Office on 020 8385 3070. NORTH LONDON Secrets of the City temporary care. We knew some snippets of information We help UK-resident Jewish Holocaust about the City – its Roman origins, etc survivors/refugees with less than £10k p.a. – but learned so much more from our CLASSIFIED in income (excluding pensions/social security) excellent speaker, Elaine Wein. Only a JOSEPH PEREIRA few of us knew of Pye Corner, where and less than £32k in assets (excluding primary (ex-AJR caretaker over 22 years) is residence/car). the Fire of London finally stopped, and now available for DIY repairs and probably fewer had heard of Postman’s general maintenance. For information please contact The Association Park, where there are memorial tablets No job too small, of Jewish Refugees on 020 8385 3070. commemorating ordinary citizens who very reasonable rates. died whilst saving the lives of others. Please telephone 07966 887 485. [email protected] Hanne R. Freedman www.sixpointfoundation.org.uk WEMBLEY Jewish Developers in the City of London JACKMAN . Colin Davey’s fascinating talk included many well-known buildings such as The SILVERMAN spring grove Gherkin (architect Norman Foster), Lloyd’s London’s Most Luxurious (Richard Rogers), Alban Gate (Terry Farrell) RETIREMENT HOME and the Natwest Tower (Richard Seifert). COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS 214 Finchley Road This was followed by a Q&A session and London NW3 a delicious tea and conversation! Thank you, Colin and Kathryn.  Entertainment Ruth Pearson Telephone: 020 7209 5532  Activities [email protected]  Stress Free Living  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine Books Bought  Full En-Suite Facilities Modern and Old Call for more information or a personal tour switch on electrics Eric Levene 020 8446 2117 Rewires and all household 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 or 020 7794 4455 electrical work [email protected] [email protected] PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 I also purchase ephemera Mobile: 0795 614 8566

www.fishburnbooks.com LEO BAECK HOUSING ASSOCIATION CLARA NEHAB HOUSE PillarCare Jonathan Fishburn Quality support and care at home RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME buys and sells Small caring residential home Jewish and Hebrew books,  Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours with large attractive gardens ephemera and items of close to local shops and public transport  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care Jewish interest. 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities.  Convalescent and Personal Health Care He is a member of the 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care  Compassionate and Affordable Service Antiquarian Booksellers Entertainment & Activities provided.  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff Association. Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room  Registered with the CQC and UKHCA • Lift access to all floors. Contact Jonathan on For further information please contact: Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 020 8455 9139 The Manager, Clara Nehab House, PILLARCARE 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB or 07813 803 889 Telephone: 020 8455 2286 PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 www.pillarcare.co.uk for more information

14 DECEMBER 2015 journal ObituarIES Edith Helene Kaufmann (née Popper), born Tetschen, Bohemia 12 December 1903, died London 7 October 2015 much admired amateur photographer, (a district the delighted flower-decked balcony with its backdrop talented potter and active resident in Paul described as a little of mature trees. A great joy was the visit Hammerson House, my cousin Edith piece of Vienna in north from Australia in the summer of 2014 KaufmannA died on 7 October. Her many London). Paul’s mother of the daughter of a friend of Edith friends here and abroad mourn the passing Wilma escaped the Nazi who had died relatively young with her of a handsome, artistic woman with an alert advance, to rejoin her teenage daughter Imogen, an aspiring mind and an indomitable spirit, a warm, son and daughter-in-law. ballet dancer. Imogen performed some loyal and courteous friend, always welcoming Hermine Popper was not ballet steps for her. Edith’s eyes danced and receptive. so lucky. Nor were 16 of when she recalled this. Edith was born the only child of Edith’s 24 cousins. A longstanding friend of Edith, Ann Hermine and Louis Popper, in Tetschen, Childlessness was Bone, wrote: ‘I found her remarkable Bohemia, (now Decin in the Czech another source of grief for for her frankness and directness, her Republic). When Louis died in 1909 Edith. But it was a full life in other ways, complete lack of sentimentality, for the mother and daughter moved to Vienna; with many trips abroad, immortalised in things that tickled her sense of humour – I coming from a German-speaking part their photography, many friendships and their often came away chuckling, with a story to of Bohemia, they did not need to learn membership of the Hampstead Photographic relate – and for her intellect. On top of that, a new language. As a child, Edith had a Society. Edith worked in an administrative she made me a present of a beautiful pottery camera and so began her lifelong passion capacity for the Central Council for District jug she had made in her nineties; even after for photography. She studied History of Nursing and subsequently for Paul’s import/ she had spent so long in this country, it Art at the university in Vienna and at the export firm. Paul died after a short illness in carried all the hallmarks of early Viennese Sorbonne, gaining her doctorate in Vienna, 1980. Sustained by her friends and her wide- modernism: its boldness and again – even where she worked as a guide in a number ranging interests, Edith remained in the flat, though it was decorated with flowers – its of galleries, including the prestigious climbing the stairs to the top floor, until 2001, clarity and lack of sentimentality.’ Kunsthistorisches Museum. when the building was developed, and she The theme for Edith’s funeral was taken Edith met her future husband Paul on moved into Hammerson House. Here, she from the closing lines of Shakespeare’s King a skiing trip – he complimented the ever- threw herself into the home’s many activities, Lear, applicable to so many refugees and chic Edith on her new haircut – and they especially crafts, gardening and keep-fit. On survivors: married in 1931. Leaving Vienna in 1938, her 109th birthday, Edith gave a slide show to ‘The oldest hath borne most; you that are they came to London by a circuitous route residents, with her own commentary. young in 1939. They settled in a flat in South Sadly but inevitably, her faculties declined Will never see so much, nor live so long.’ Hill Park, overlooking Hampstead Heath over the last few years but she enjoyed her Vera Lustig

David Cesarani, born London 13 November 1956, died London 25 October 2015 CORRECTION avid Cesarani, who has died at and Anglo-Jewry, 1841-1991 (1994). the age of 58 following surgery to He advised the All-Party Parliamentary In the obituary of Eva Weill remove a tumour on his spine, was War Crimes Group looking into Nazi war in our November issue, her Dthe son of Henry Cesarani, a hairdresser criminals and collaborators who had come date of birth should have been of Italian-Jewish descent, and Sylvia née to Britain after the war; this led to the 1991 given as 24 December 1914. Packman. War Crimes Act. He also advised Prime We apologise to her family and An only child, he won a scholarship to Ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron friends for this error. Latymer Upper School in west London and, on Holocaust education, which resulted in after spending time on an Israeli kibbutz his being awarded the OBE in 2005, and during his gap year, won a scholarship to advised the Imperial War Museum on their Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he permanent exhibition on the Holocaust. gained a first in history. He went on to receive His Eichmann: His Life and Crimes an MA in history from Columbia University (2005) was published in the USA under the At the time of his death he had just in New York and was subsequently awarded a title Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, completed work on two further books: DPhil from Oxford, studying Anglo-Jewish Crimes, and Trial of a ‘Desk Murderer’. Disraeli: The Novel Politician and an account inter-war history at St Antony’s College. Cesarani held positions at the University of the events leading up to the Holocaust, In the 1980s and early 1990s he was one of Leeds, Queen Mary University of London, which is due to be published shortly under of a number of historians who re-examined and the Wiener Library, where he was Director the title Final Solution: The Fate of the Jews Anglo-Jewish history for two periods in the 1933-1949. of the 19th-early 20th 1990s. He was Professor Cesarani also became known as a centuries, challenging a of Modern Jewish History broadcaster and journalist, regularly speaking view which had tended at the University of and writing on the Holocaust, Israel and anti- to smooth out the darker Southampton from 2000 Semitism. In addition, he advised on many side of immigration and to 2004 and Research programmes, including the award-winning assimilation. He edited Professor in History documentary feature film Into the Arms of The Making of Modern at Royal Holloway, Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000). Anglo-Jewry (1990) and University of London, He is survived by his wife Dawn and wrote The Jewish Chronicle from 2004 until his death. children Daniel and Hannah.

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their own instead of destroying everything in sight and launching murderous attacks on their neighbours? It might Dorothea Shefer-Vanson be worth recalling that in 1929, long before Israel’s establishment, the Muslim residents of Hebron rioted and killed Jews Life goes on indiscriminately, completely annihilating t always looks worse from the outside It would seem that those who suffer the the Jewish population of the town. than the actual situation on the most are the shopkeepers and stallholders Yes, they have succeeded in creating an ground. Of course, wherever and of the Old City as few Israelis are prepared atmosphere of enmity and possibly even Iwhenever violent attacks occur there is to venture there today and tourists are less fear, but that too shall pass. Israel has mayhem, often with tragic consequences, inclined to frequent the narrow alleys and experienced similar outbreaks of hostility but life in Israel goes on pretty much as streets. There are enough attractions and from time to time and eventually these normal everywhere else, though there is ancient sites in modern Jerusalem to keep have abated, whether as a result of harshly a noticeably greater police and military any tourist busy for days on end. repressive measures or through an effort presence. What has been achieved, however, is a to engage in dialogue with the other side. Walking through the centre of reinforcement of intransigence on the part While Israel’s Messianic Zionists are modern Jerusalem the other day the of Israelis who might previously have been doing their utmost to arouse feelings only remarkable feature was the lack of inclined to cede parts of Jerusalem and the of anger among Muslims by organising anything remarkable. People were sitting Territories to Palestinian control. What demonstrative outings to the Temple in outdoor cafes enjoying the sunshine hope is there for peaceful coexistence if Mount there are pinpricks of light here and the delicacies on offer. Tourists were murderous violence is apt to erupt whenever and there where Palestinians and Israelis enjoying ice creams as they strolled along one Palestinian agency or another decides stand side by side and refuse to be drawn the pedestrian mall, trying to decide to incite its youngsters to take up knives into the senseless cycle of aggression and which souvenirs to buy. Shops seemed and stab Jews whenever and wherever they enmity. to be doing good business and it wasn’t can? The sad fact remains, however, that always easy to find an attendant to take It’s no use telling us that ‘they just want the forces of reason – those segments one’s money. their own country,’ as I heard when I was of Israel’s Jewish population who once The question is who gains from stirring in London a few years ago. Is that why they thought that coexistence alongside up these attacks? The perpetrators are did their utmost to destroy Israel in 1948, a Palestinian state was possible – are almost invariably shot and killed. The 1967 and 1973? Is that why rockets have diminishing daily as they are confronted physical damage they inflict is not been fired at Israel from Gaza ever since by the all-pervasive intransigence. Given always as lethal as they had hoped and Israeli troops pulled out of the Strip and the current atmosphere on both sides, the resulting security clampdown and handed it over, lock stock and barrel, to the there does not seem to be much light at destruction of family homes are scarcely Palestinians? Why did they not seize the the end of the tunnel. But then again, life beneficial to their community. opportunity to create a flourishing state of goes on and is sometimes full of surprises.

 letters to the editor cont. from p.7 particular the BBC, is that Israel is guilty of the delegitimisation of Israel, such as Jews grandfather (cousin-in-law to Berta), the most horrendous institutional crimes for Justice for the Palestinians (and even J having left Berlin, worked in the boarding against the Palestinians, that she is a Street), crosses that line. house doing small jobs until he and my pariah state, and that she fully deserves Lionel Blumenthal, London NW11 grandmother emigrated to the USA in the BDS campaign to ostracise and weaken 1940. her. The picture is one of hatred against a In the late 1950s my father also worked small country trying to defend itself. THE GHOST OF ADAMSON ROAD for them during the weekends to make Virtually the entire Middle East is Sir – Further to George Vulkan’s letter ends meet, and in around 1957-60 I aflame with rival hatreds yet all eyes are about Adamson Road (October), I believe too used to go at weekends to help in focused on the alleged crimes of Israel. I can add some facts. the kitchen. I remember very clearly the I would ask Jenny Manson to say in My grandmother was the cousin of afternoon bridge parties when I would which Middle Eastern country apart from Mrs Berta Pick, who was a partner with serve coffee and cakes. The two chefs, Israel she would be able to practise her Mrs Sachs from around 1933 to 1965 (I Heinz and Gisela, were excellent. They religion in peace and security if she were believe this was the date when she died). certainly instilled in me a love of cooking, a Muslim. And I would invite her to agree They owned 2, 4, 5 and 7 Adamson Road which I still have today. that while criticism of Israel’s actions is and a further house up the road for staff. If anyone else remembers these times, always proper, there is a red line beyond Berta and Dr Pick arrived around 1933 I would love to hear from them. which criticism should not go and that from Germany, where they had been (Mrs) Irene Goodman (née Segal), membership of organisations devoted to running a sanatorium. In 1939-40 my London W9

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