VOLUME 19 NO.7 JULY 2019 JOURNAL The Association of Jewish Refugees

Two sides of exile BIRTHDAY HONOURS When died the tributes poured out. “Her stories and We were delighted to see seven AJR members named in The Queen’s Birthday illustrations are ageless and timeless, and endlessly uplifting,” wrote Honours list. You’ll find details of these members on the back page. . As our Chief Executive Michael Newman said, “these richly deserved awards reflect their personal dedication and huge commitment to this critical subject”.

Also in this issue is a very interesting article about the refugee children who were housed in the Lake District during the war, and the first in our new series Remembering & Reflecting on the .

We hope you enjoy reading these and other articles as well as looking at the lovely photos from AJR’s recent trip to Nottinghamshire.

News...... 3 Judith Kerr with OBE for services to children’s literature and Holocaust education in 2012 New faces...... 4 Letter from ...... 5 Letters to the Editor...... 6 She was a national treasure. Not just scenes. This may seem a strange thing A song that resonates...... 7 because her books were hugely popular. to say but in some ways Judith Kerr is an Art Notes...... 8 Remembering: Wilfrid Israel...... 9 She wrote almost forty books and, recently, underrated writer. From Auschwitz to Ambleside...... 10-11 The Tiger Who Came to Tea sold its Reviews...... 12-13 millionth copy. Not many children’s writers Kerr was born in in 1923. She was Financial Destruction...... 14 Looking for / Lviv...... 15 are interviewed on Newsnight or by Alan the daughter of , the most Five days in May...... 16 Yentob on BBC1’s art programme, Imagine. famous theatre critic in Weimar Germany, Obituary...... 17 and his wife, Julia, a composer. He was Around the AJR...... 18 Adverts...... 19 But Judith Kerr was more than just a nicknamed the Kulturpapst (“Culture Events & exhibitions...... 20 popular children’s writer and illustrator. The Pope”). Their house in Grunewald was Guardian spoke of “the triumph of good cultured and assimilated. Einstein, Arthur over evil Judith Kerr’s life represented.” Her Schnitzler, HG Wells and Bernard Shaw AJR Team trilogy, Out of the Hitler Time, told of her were family friends. Chief Executive Michael Newman experiences as a child refugee, fleeing with Finance Director David Kaye her family from in 1933, four When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit tells the Heads of Department days after the Reichstag fire, and coming to story of how Judith’s family escaped from Community & Volunteer Services Carol Hart in 1935. Germany and spent the next two years in HR & Administration Karen Markham and before coming to Educational Grants & Projects Alex Maws Social Work Nicole Valens Many have paid tribute to these books but London in 1935. In 1933 her father left few have read them carefully or noticed for Prague after a tip-off from a friendly AJR Journal how complex they are. They don’t simply policeman warning him that his passport Editor Jo Briggs Editorial Assistant Lilian Levy tell a tale of “the triumph of good over was about to be confiscated. He and Contributing Editor David Herman evil”. The books become darker and his family got out just in time. Later that Secretarial/Advertisements Karin Pereira contain some extraordinarily moving Continued on page 2

1 AJR Journal | July 2019

Two sides of exile (cont.) secretary. Her struggles with learning to depression. All of this erupts during an cook and sew are painfully described: angry conversation with her children, now year his books were burned, his German in their thirties. She has moved to Berlin, nationality revoked and his property “Then suddenly Mama made a sound with taken an overdose and her children have confiscated. which by now they were all familiar. ‘My flown out to see her. For the first time in chicken!’ she cried and rushed off to the the trilogy, she speaks out: But exile was a double-edged experience kitchen.” for Alfred Kerr and his family. They escaped “You had all your lives to come. Whereas I but by the time they came to Britain, Alfred It was the children who adapted most … All those years I spent in dreary boarding Kerr was almost seventy. He had lost his easily. Judith was twelve when they houses worrying about money, I was audience and his language. The family were arrived in Britain, her brother Michael was getting older. It should have been the best to spend the next thirteen years in poverty. fourteen. Within four years he was studying time of my life…” law at Cambridge and went on to become What do these books tell us about being a distinguished judge, Sir QC. And then the children start to row. While a refugee? First, that like so many central Judith, of course, became a famous writer, her brother had swanned off to Cambridge European refugees, the Kerrs didn’t simply married to , one of the great and the law, Anna spent all those years escape from Germany to Britain. It was a TV dramatists of the 1950s and ‘60s worrying about her parents, their poverty, constant question of choices. First, he went (Quartermass, 1984). her father’s nightmares, her mother’s to Prague, then Switzerland and Paris, all depression. popular destinations for Jewish refugees in In the first two books, the saddest stories the mid-1930s. When he decided to leave are about others. Those like “Uncle Julius” We are a long way from the happy and Paris, he was torn between New York and who didn’t get away, and later commits very English families in The Tiger Who London but the offer of £1000 to write a suicide in Berlin taking an overdose and, Came to Tea or the 18 Mog books. Read film script for Alexander Korda tilted the above all, Uncle Victor. Perhaps the most carefully, Judith Kerr offers a dark and balance. His sister and her daughter, by powerful moment in the trilogy comes disturbing vision of the life of refugees. contrast, went to Palestine in 1937. He when Anna (the Judith figure in the books) This is perhaps her greatest lasting never saw them again. Interestingly, they “suddenly realised that there was someone achievement. barely feature in the trilogy. standing outside, staring in”: David Herman Second, how crucial the mother was, as “The figure at the door was old and quite in so many families, in keeping the family bald and there was a curious lopsided look together, supporting the children and going about the head which had a scar running out to work. Judith’s father was elderly, he down one side. It was dressed in a kind of KITCHENER CAMP couldn’t write English and couldn’t earn shift and as Anna looked at it, it moved The 80th anniversary of the much of a living. Judith describes her father one hand in a vague gesture of silence in a moving scene: or farewell. Like a ghost, thought Anna, Kitchener Camp for refugee but the eyes that stared back at her were men and boys is being “In her mind she saw him in his poky room human.” with his typewriter that kept going wrong commemorated in two ways and his writings that no one wanted to Victor’s wife, Aunt Dainty, tells Anna that this September. publish, in a country whose language he her husband had been in a concentration did not speak.” camp. This is his only appearance in the In 1939 nearly four thousand men book, though there is another desperately were given visas to travel to the camp Later, returning after his death to look sad scene later at his funeral. at Richborough near Sandwich, Kent, at the boarding-house in Putney which many of them following imprisonment had been his last home, she found it In the Jewish Restitution Successor Office in Nazi concentration camps. demolished: in Berlin met Herr Birnbaum who has lost fourteen relations, including his wife and Eighty years on, a mobile exhibition “The only thing that had been the same three children (“’My cousin Samuel,’ he about the camp has been developed was the bench at the end of the street said pointing…. ‘age 36. Last-known and will be launched at London’s where Papa had sometimes sat in the sun address Treblinka.’”). He’s the sole survivor Jewish Museum at a special event on with his pipe. He had eked out the tobacco of his family. Sunday 1 September. with dried leaves and rose petals and for lunch he had eaten bread toasted over These three men are desperately sad On Monday 2 September a plaque the gas ring and spread with exactly one figures. By contrast, the Kerrs seem almost will be unveiled at the Bell Hotel seventh of a jar of fish paste.” untouched. Increasingly, though, in the in Sandwich, which was a popular final book of the trilogy, it becomes clear meeting place for the refugees. In so many refugee families the father lost that exile has taken a terrible toll on them. his ability to earn and with that went his Alfred commits suicide with an overdose For more information about the camp authority within the family. Mothers were during a visit to Germany in 1948. His wife, and these events please visit often better at adapting. Judith’s mother Julia, it is revealed, attempts suicide several www.kitchenercamp.co.uk spoke good English and got a job as a times and has struggled hard against

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TAX EXEMPTIONS A DAY IN DULWICH

FOR KINDER Freddy Kosten, Ruth Barnett, AJR has secured tax and Dr Bea Lewkowicz on exemptions for Kinder stage at the receiving the 2,500 euros Dulwich Festival compensation paid by the German government through the Claims Conference.

In a letter sent to AJR Trustees on 7 June, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Rt Hon. Jesse Norman The director of AJR’s Refugee This was followed by an evening MP, confirmed that the awards will Voices Testimony Archive, Bea screening of the AJR’s short film not attract income tax or capital Continental Britons and a discussion with Lewkowicz, recently organised a gains tax. “I am pleased to confirm former Kinder Ruth Barnett and Freddy that the Government will be making very special day at the Dulwich Kosten. The audience included a number legislative changes necessary to Festival. of second generation Jewish refugees, ensure these payments are not some of whom had never heard their subject to Inheritance Tax,” he wrote. The afternoon began with a visit by AJR own parents speak of their experiences member Ruth Barnett to the Bell House during the Holocaust. AJR Trustee David Rothenberg said, educational centre, where she met local “On behalf of those of our members school children and the MP for Dulwich Refugee Voices is the AJR’s ground- whom this will affect I thank the and West , Helen Hayes. A key breaking collection of 250+ filmed Financial Secretary for this welcome theme was the importance of supporting interviews with Jewish survivors & confirmation, and also for his kind modern-day refugees as well as honouring refugees from Nazi Europe who rebuilt tribute to the work of the AJR. To date those who escaped Nazi persecution. their lives in Great Britain. over 300 Kinder have already received their reparation, and while no amount of money could ever compensate for what our members suffered, this modest gesture recognises their Going Sparko particular experience.”

Hay-on-Wye Festival

This year’s Hay-on-Wye SPARKO event at JW3 International Book Festival included a forum: Several AJR members were Manager of Sparko – a special TV ‘Remembering and Reflecting’. recently introduced to a brand channel that allows people to connect new interactive TV service called easily with local activities, services, family The panel comprised Barbara Winton, and friends. It’s a completely free service Lord Dubs, Renate Collins and Josie Sparko over a lunch event kindly which can be added on to your usual Naughton. The very receptive hosted by JW3. TV channels and programmes, without audience all expressed hope that disrupting in any way the shows you love more refugees will find safety in AJR members first heard about our to watch. the UK after having to leave their general Computer Help Programme, homeland, just as we did eighty through which over 40 AJR members A member of the excellent Sparko team years ago. regularly receive volunteer help to will happily come to your home to use their devices and computers. We explain everything you need to know. Renate Collins then welcomed Sender Gross, Project Please contact them on 020 8012 8257.

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AT YOUR SERVICE: Meet the Team Several new members of staff have recently joined AJR and we are delighted to introduce them all to you here.

Lesley Black From left: Lesley Black, Caryn Bentley, Madeleine Blecher, Sebe Dlamini, Nicole Valens Lesley joined AJR’s Social Work team and Sharon Mail in April. Originally from , she moved to Australia in 2002. She with physical disabilities. Social Work and Safeguarding at a secure completed a Master’s Degree in Social psychiatric hospital in Somerset. She Work in Melbourne, working mainly with Madeleine has a close personal connection to also worked directly with women who families. She also worked for an Australian the Holocaust, having grandparents who fled have suffered trauma and abuse. She is a Jewish Charity which helps newly arrived from Eastern Europe to during 1930s qualified therapist in Dialectical Behaviour Sudanese refugees, and volunteered at the and 1940s. Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behaviour Asylum Seekers Resource Centre. [email protected] / 020 8385 3084 Therapy and also has an advanced Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling After 16 years in Australia, Lesley returned skills and is a clinical hypnotherapist. She to London last year to build a life with her Protasia (Sebe) Dlamini also worked as a Court of Protection long lost love whom she met at university Sebe joined AJR as a Social Worker in Visitor for the Office of the Public 23 years ago. She is delighted to be May. She qualified in South Africa in 2001, Guardian. working with AJR’s unique and amazing providing psychological and therapeutic client group. support for disabled children and their Nicole grew up in North East London and [email protected] / 020 8385 3097 families. moved to the West Country 12 years ago. As all her family still live in London, She came to the UK in 2002, working in and her children have now completed Caryn Bentley areas such as child protection, rehabilitation their education, she recently decided to Caryn joined AJR in June as Carer Support and mental health. Prior to joining AJR Sebe return to London and is very excited to Co-ordinator. This exciting new role will worked in complex care teams in Tower be managing the AJR’s wonderful social provide emotional and practical support to Hamlets. work team. unpaid family carers. [email protected] / 020 8385 3087 Sebe is passionate about charitable work. As She received her Honours degree in South a young child she helped support children Africa in 2004 and having also qualified as from underprivileged households. She Sharon Mail a teacher, she worked in Special Needs and has facilitated and led poverty alleviation Sharon is the My Story Project Scotland taught Psychology A levels. and women empowerment projects. She and Newcastle Coordinator. She was the has taken part in several charity sporting Jewish Telegraph Scotland Correspondent In 2014 she qualified as an Integrative challenges, including conquering Kilimanjaro for 13 years and also the Glasgow Jewish Counsellor, having always been passionate in aid of a South African HIV/AIDS Representative Council Web Manager. about working with individuals in a deeper Orphanage. and more meaningful way. She has been Now being rolled out throughout the UK, volunteering as a counsellor at the Jewish Sebe’s Christian values make her feel a strong My Story tells the life stories of Jewish Bereavement Counselling Service for the connection with the Jewish community. And refugees and Holocaust survivors through past seven years. having grown up under apartheid in South the production of high quality individual [email protected] / 020 8385 3070 Africa, she identifies closely with Holocaust life story books to be kept as treasured survivors. memories and tools for reminiscence. [email protected] / 07904 489 515 The process involves volunteers visiting Madeleine Blecher AJR clients, listening to their experiences, Madeleine joined AJR’s Social Work and capturing their messages for future team at the end of January. She qualified Nicole Valens generations. as a social worker in Sweden in 2011 Nicole became the AJR’s Head of Social Work before moving to Israel to focus on crisis at the end of May. She qualified as a social Sharon is very much looking forward and trauma management. worker in 2006, working in adoption and to getting to know the Scotland and fostering, hospital discharge and housing and Newcastle AJR members, volunteers and Madeleine moved to London in homelessness. staff and overseeing the production of 2016 where she has worked in re- some beautiful My Story books. ablement and social care for adults Prior to joining AJR Nicole was Head of [email protected] / 07951 796 308.

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LETTER FROM ISRAEL BY DOROTHEA SHEFER-VANSON

AN OPERA ABOUT supervisor in Auschwitz. Posmysz was and the moment when the tones of Bach’s imprisoned there as a young woman for the chaconne are played in defiance of the AUSCHWITZ? ‘crime’ of reading and distributing anti- commandant’s request for a schmaltzy Nazi leaflets. The idea was taken up by the waltz is unbearably moving. I was one of Polish-Jewish composer Weinberg, and the the brave souls libretto was written by Alexander Medvedev. Artistic licence notwithstanding, it seems who attended Weinberg had managed to reach Soviet odd that the presence of is barely a performance Russia before the Germans invaded , mentioned, and when it is (by the of the opera, but his entire family was murdered by them. woman from Salonika, who points to her The Passenger, yellow star as ‘the mark of death’) it is by Mieczyslaw The action of the opera is set in two misrepresented, as she sings in . The Weinberg. I did so mainly because a friend different places and two different points Jews of Salonika, who fled Spain in 1492, of ours was the revival director of the in time: on board an ocean liner in 1958 continued to speak their Judeo-Spanish production by the Israel Opera, and not and in Auschwitz in 1943. The first staged language, Ladino. because I’m a ‘glutton for punishment,’ performance took place in Bregenz in as I have been accused of being (due to 2010, directed by David Pountney, a British Weinberg’s music is not inaccessible to my inordinate consumption of Holocaust and Polish theatre and opera director. The the untrained ear, and in many instances literature). set, which shows both locations, involves it sounds as if it could have been written large sections of scenery which move to accompany a film, which is in fact what However, I’m not sorry I went. The subject together with the singers and constitutes a Weinberg did for a living in Russia. He was is undoubtedly difficult, if not well-nigh combination of imaginative reconstruction a friend of Shostakovich, and it is possible impossible, to convey in any meaningful and engineering ingenuity. The railway tracks to discern some similarities between the artistic way, yet the performance left me at the front of the stage serve as a constant music of the two. with a heightened sense of awareness of, reminder of Auschwitz. and identification with, the experience Over and beyond the dramatic impact of of life in a concentration camp. The The prisoners who form the focus of the the opera, the fact that it exists at all, and combined impact of Weinberg’s music, the opera are a mix of women from the various can – and hopefully will – continue to be text (based on a novel by a non-Jewish countries conquered by the Germans and performed for generations to come, plays Polish woman who was in Auschwitz each one performs in her own language. As an important role in the task of never herself) and the ingenious set, staging, we watch them move and sing, wearing the forgetting what happened or allowing costumes and scenery was greater than striped concentration-camp garb, their heads the Holocaust deniers to prevail. The the sum of the individual parts. The soloist shaven, we are exposed to their touching Passenger stands as an eternal reminder – a mix of imported and local talent – stories and relationships, to their individual of the depths to which mankind sank in acted and sang with feeling and skill. It humanity and the comfort they find in their order to perpetrate unspeakable horrors cannot have been easy for Israelis to evoke friendships. against other human beings, as well as the the experience of being prisoners in a heights which the human spirit can attain concentration camp or members of the SS. Some scenes also expose the mental in overcoming adversity. processes of the SS, managing to convey The author, Zofia Posmysz, wrote the their diabolical combination of brutality There is no happy end to this opera, which novel originally as a radio script after and efficiency – as well as stupidity in some concludes with a lone voice ringing out to having heard, while on a visit to Paris, cases. The impossible love between two assert that we must never forget or forgive. what she thought was the voice of the of the prisoners is shown in a way that is German woman who had been her touching without being unduly sentimental, Amen to that.

Archives Online Thanks to a technology partnership with Yad hopes this new technology will enable them An archive containing Vashem, the organisation previously known to reach out to a larger audience and inform as the International Tracing Service has been more people about the consequences of millions of documents able to make its 13 million documents readily antisemitism, discrimination and racism. from concentration camps, available to the public via a sophisticated featuring information on over online database. The collection can be viewed at www.collections.arolsen-archives.org 2.2 million people persecuted The director of the organisation, now called and an in-depth article about the history by the Nazis, has now been the Arolsen Archives - International Center and work of the Arolsen Archives will shortly made available online. on Nazi Persecution, is Floriane Azoulay. He appear in the AJR Journal.

5 AJR Journal | July 2019 Letters to the Editor The Editor reserves the right to shorten correspondence submitted for publication and respectfully points out that the views expressed in the letters published are not necessarily the views of the AJR.

BELSIZE ARCHITECT of Friends” (the Quakers’ preferred title) Kinder who have died (and I write as the Belsize Square Synagogue was the never seeks publicity for the work it does. descendant of two) to organisations such first largish contract that my company When we attempted to get information as Safe Passage, who are working to rescue undertook under the direction of the from “Friends House” many years ago, we child refugees and to help them build better architect H J Reiffenberg; Heinrich Stahl were told that in 1940 they had destroyed and safer lives in Britain and elsewhere. House and the United Restitution Offices in the files naming refugees, in order to Nick Sigler, London N22 Finchley Road soon followed. prevent compromising their safety in case of an invasion. Reiffenberg was a typical, old-school Walter Wolff, London NW2 THANK YOU AJR German architect and although plagued I was one of the favoured 300 who by Parkinson’s disease had an eagle eye received a charming telephone call for any shortcomings in the reconstruction RABBI HARRY JACOBI from your team before Pesach. It was of the building. One of the columns I was sad to learn of Rabbi Harry Jacobi’s a wonderful idea (although I did not supporting the roof had a very minor twist passing (Obituary, June). He was a pupil of subsequently receive the Red Cross parcel in it. He ordered it struck and re-cast as my mother at the Theodor Herzl Schule in of chicken soup I had requested!). My he would not tolerate any imperfections Berlin, and was then the Rabbi at Wembley sincere thanks to you and to the lovely lady in his building. After the monthly site Liberal Synagogue when my parents and I on whose list I was fortunate to land. meeting with the various contractors, all were members. Dr Hans Eirew, Manchester the principals would go to the Cosmo Anthony Portner, Chertsey for coffee and cakes. He would insist on paying, saying that he would not let any I would like to express my gratitude to the mistake go through because paying for S.S.WARSZAWA AJR (especially to Rosemary Peters and the afternoon snack might be construed as On the 80th anniversary of the arrival of Florina Harapcea) for helping me to claim bribery. the ‘Warszawa’, bringing Polish Kinder compensation from the Claims Conference. from Gdynia to Britain, readers may be For many years I tried to get this on He also had the quaint habit of ringing me interested in the following books on the behalf of my mother, who was very ill, but any time of day or night when he had an subject: unfortunately never succeeded. idea about the building which he wanted to explore. Since these conversations usually “Flucht übers Meer von Troja bis In the May 2018 issue of the AJR Journal took place late at night, it rather marred my Lampedusa” (Flight across the Sea from I read about support with applications and courting with the young lady soon to be Troy to Lampedusa). phoned the AJR office. Florina came to visit my wife. By Erik Lindner me and set in motion with Rosemary the ISBN 978-3-8132-0987-7 process of applying for compensation, even There were many stories about H J, mostly though I was pretty sure that I would never complimentary and one could only say “Gerettet” (Saved) get any (despite being in a concentration about him that “they don’t make them like by Prof. Eva-Maria Thuene. camp with my whole family for five years). that anymore”. ISBN 978-3-955565-280-7 Frank Goldberg, Arundel, West Sussex Herbert Haberberg, Barnet After the AJR had helped me to complete the forms the Claims Conference did acknowledge all I had suffered during the THE ROLE OF THE QUAKERS SAFE PASSAGE war and the Nazi persecution and I finally I was very interested to read David I very much welcome Sir Erich Reich’s got my compensation. This was really a Herman’s excellent article “The gift that initiative (Letters, June ) in suggesting that surprise to me and I am very grateful to the keeps on giving” (June). During my life the £2000 that the German government AJR for making it possible. in Science I had the opportunity to work recently decided to ‘donate’ to surviving Mary Green, Stanmore for two refugee scientists and met several Kindertransportees should, in turn, be others. One became a good friend and his donated – by those that can afford to – to son is also a scientist. All of them made support the work of Safe Passage. But I My enormous thanks and great major and important contributions in their think we should go further. There are only appreciation to Susan Harrod and the scientific fields. a few hundred surviving Kinder from the team – Karen, Ros et al - for all your efforts thousands that were originally saved. I for, and on, the AJR trip to Nottingham. Regarding other refugee aspects worth believe the AJR, and others, should lobby I certainly did have a splendid few days, covering, I would like to suggest an article the German government to donate the meeting interesting people – and the visits on the role that the Quakers played in money it has saved by not offering the were delightful. Thank you all so much. helping so many refugees. The “Society £2000 donation to the descendants of Joann Lipsey, Glasgow

6 AJR Journal | July 2019 A song that resonates

The Song of Bernadette was my mother’s favourite book. She identified with its author, Franz Werfel, in his fight for survival. I have recently re-read the book and thought AJR Journal readers might be interested in both my mother and the author.

As was common for teachers in Czechoslovakia, my mother trained at a Catholic College. The family couldn’t afford to pay but the college had a small number of scholarships available for non-Catholics. This was an advantage to her when war broke out, as she knew a different world from the close Jewish community in which Franz Werfel’s original book The Song of Bernadette was a popular she grew up. Just like Franz Werfel, she was film starring Jennifer Jones protected from deportation by some kind Catholics, years older than Werfel he fell in love with miracle of Bernadette Soubirous, a 14- My mother told me of one night when she her and they married when he was 39 and year old girl who, in the 19th century, had walked from one village to another with she 50. It was a very controversial marriage frequent visions of the Virgin Mary. In one only the moon over her head. When she but she proved to be the driving force such vision Bernadette was told to wash heard a voice telling her to go back she behind his creativity and his survival. herself in the spring water and to drink actually prayed rosary! She heard this voice from it. Not seeing any water she dug into three times but in retrospect it is clear that They travelled widely and whilst in the ground and water did, indeed, appear. she was hallucinating because of fear. Damascus met survivors of the Turkish Several unexplained ‘healings’ occurred genocide of Armenian Christians. In 1932 thereafter. She knocked on the door of a simple cottage he published a fictionalised account of and asked for shelter. The family let her in the siege which ended in massacre. Musa Franz Werfel, distressed and at his wits’ because she carried a rosary. The cottage Dagh means Mount Moses in Armenian end, also drank from the spring and vowed floor was only solid soil and all the family and Werfel symbolically compared the to ‘sing the most beautiful song about the slept in one bed. They told her that it was a 40 days’ siege to the 40 years the Jews miracle, even though I am not a Catholic good thing she had turned back as a storm wandered through the wilderness to reach but a Jew’ if only he could escape the Nazis. had washed away the bridge, meaning she the Promised Land. In fact, this was poetic A miracle happened again! The Werfels would have been unable to cross the river if licence as the Armenian siege actually lasted managed to leave Lourdes for Marseilles she had carried on, and they helped her find 53 days. and, together with others, crossed the a different route to safety. Pyrenees on foot to Spain. Franz was This was the first time the world learned exhausted but Alma, who was physically Franz Werfel was born in 1890 into a of the persecution of Armenian Christians and mentally stronger, led the group and Jewish family in Prague. Like my mother and the novel became a bestseller; it was was able to bring everyone to safety. From he was sent to a school run by Piarists, a banned in Germany, and publicly burned Madrid they went to where they Catholic educational order of priests. They in Turkey. Nonetheless, it became an were able to board a boat to New York and did not attempt to convert him but he was international success and was turned into a freedom. undoubtedly influenced by them. film in 1982. True to his word, Werfel wrote The Song He became something of a socialite who The Werfels lived in until 1938 but of Bernadette in 1941. It was made into a moved in literary circles in the cafés of fled after the Anschluss, wandering from film in 1943 and it became the most well- Prague, publishing his first book of poems one country to another and finally settling known of his works. He died in Los Angeles in 1911; in 1918 he was introduced to in occupied ; whilst waiting for in 1945 and was reburied in in Alma Mahler, a patron of the arts and an permission to travel to Marseilles they lived 1975. antisemite, whose first husband was the in hiding in a Catholic sanctuary in Lourdes composer Gustav Mahler. Though eleven and it was there that Werfel heard of the Dr. Elena Rowland.

7 AJR Journal | July 2019 ART NOTES: by Gloria Tessler

Birds, animals, a woman clutching her baby with all the protective strength she can muster: the work of German Expressionist Yankel Adler is searing, anguished and beautiful. The Ben Uri’s new exhibition, Yankel Adler: A “Degenerate” Artist in Britain, 1940-49 shows the changes which affected his work after escaping the Nazis and arriving in .

Annemarie Heibel, author of Yankel Adler and pain is palpable. A 1895-1949, describes his work from the Cubist style composition British period as particularly impressive of grim grey and white and expressive. She told the Ben Uri figures, it has an almost opening night: “Resulting from the terrible robotic and fateful experiences that Adler had to go through, inevitability; ravens, a his works have changed a lot compared death-symbol and a to those from the ‘German’ period. They scorched tree, contrasts have a different, deeper quality.” with the positive power Jankel Adler, Bird and Cage, 1948 of resilience. Adler expresses many moods and styles. Influenced in Paris by the work of Picasso As a Symbolist, Adler’s work which, if not “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Munich and Paul Klee, he blends the figurative narrative, is as codified as a Florentine and Berlin. Adler had already fled to with the abstract, an innate cubism lends painter’s. There is humour, too, and a Paris in 1933 where he met Picasso and the work that slightly regimental angularity certain Jewish irony. Adler had been Klee, and where he was regarded as an - but also its gentle, curvilinear expression. interested in still lifes from the 1920s; important modernist. Vibrant with colour or introspective in Composition with Fish evoked his Friday monochrome, as in Beginning the Revolt, night dinners in his Chassidic home in In early 1940 he joined the Polish Free believed to be a response to the Poland, a tradition he continued by Army, and arrived in Scotland, penniless, Ghetto uprising in spring 1943, the passion entertaining his artist friends when he meeting contemporary artists, Benno arrived in Glasgow after fleeing Paris. Schotz and Josef Herman. He came to Some of his drawings consist of a few London in 1943, where Kurt Schwitters, lines. His profile of a Jew in a peaked cap Martin Bloch, Marek Szwarc and David would have been caricature, had it not Bomberg formed part of his changing been for its wry tenderness; another is a creative milieu and where he developed a poignant glimpse of a woman talking to a more cosmopolitan style. man, barely sketched – almost ghost-like – beside her. Female Head (The Jewess) He influenced the course of post-1945 art seems another secret glance: a dramatic in Britain and today he is recognised as a portrait of a sad-eyed young woman, key participant in 20th century European who seems almost in hiding. In modern and avant-garde art. of Nazi persecution Adler experienced one senses within his work a quest for the essential humanity; a synthesis of Annely Juda Fine Art his intensely Jewish consciousness and a 23 Dering Street questioning of what is a man. (off New Bond Street) Tel: 020 7629 7578 Born in Lodz, Poland in 1895, the son Fax: 020 7491 2139 of Chassidic Jews, the emerging Nazi CONTEMPORARY movement denounced him as a cultural PAINTING AND SCULPTURE Jankel Adler, Mother and Child 1941 Bolshevik and his work formed part of a

8 AJR Journal | July 2019 REMEMBERING & RETHINKING WILFRID ISRAEL

The Kindertransport is group before the outbreak of war - leaving only when warned of his impending arrest. commemorated as a humanitarian Karminski, like other Jewish leaders given gesture by the British government, British visas, remained to help others, and as a response to appeals from the perished. Anglo Jewish community. The The idea of the Kindertransport originated pivotal role played by Wilfrid Israel, not with Britain or even the Anglo Jewish community, but with the German Jewish recounted here by his biographer leadership, as did the preparation - Naomi Shepherd as the first in our under appalling circumstances - for the children’s departure. It was financed Remembering & Rethinking the and administered in Britain by voluntary Kindertransport series, shows a far groups and individuals. The government’s ultimate acceptance of the plan was clearly more complex story. made as compensation for the Colonial Office’s refusal of a similar request, by the From 1937 onwards Israel had reported German Zionist organisation, for 10,000 on persecution of the Jews and proposed visas for unaccompanied children to schemes of rescue to British diplomats in Palestine. Wilfrid Israel and the Quakers Berlin and politicians in London. He was proved that the Jewish parents were uniquely suited to this role, because of his prepared to part with their children. dual nationality, his range of influential Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. The contacts, and his experience from 1937 response was non-committal. In the US there was no equivalent to onwards as head (Vorsitzender) of the British Kindertransport. Only 433 the Hilfsverein - the German Jewish No British Jew was prepared to risk a visit unaccompanied children, many before emigration office. to Germany at that time, but the Quakers Kristallnacht, reached the US pre-war sent a group of five to Berlin, headed under various voluntary schemes. But on The Hilfsverein, with fifteen branches by Ben Greene, to meet Wilfrid Israel. Wilfrid Israel’s wartime mission to Portugal across Germany, processed applicants, Greene first argued that help should be and Spain, to distribute visas for Palestine, obtained visas and permits, and chartered provided on the spot - the usual Quaker he planned the rescue of children from ships; Wilfrid Israel extended eligibility activity. Israel convinced him of the urgent Vichy France. for its help to ‘non-Aryans’, Jewish need to get the children to Britain. He converts to Christianity, and their children. directed the Quakers to addresses all over Wilfrid Israel remained long unknown Equally important to the success of the Germany where members of the Jüdische as - unlike Schindler or Winton - he Kindertransport was Wilfrid Israel’s long Frauenbund, the Jewish women’s welfare himself was in constant danger, repeatedly connection with the British Quakers and its organisation headed by Hannah Karminski arrested and followed everywhere by post WWI relief work in Germany. and Cora Berliner, were preparing the the . He collaborated with Frank families. On his return, Greene and his Foley, the passport officer at the British Just before Kristallnacht, on 7 November, colleagues gave their evidence during a Embassy in Berlin, who was an MI6 agent. Wilfrid Israel called on the British embassy second deputation, this time to the Home The many whom he ransomed from the in Berlin to warn of impending violence Office, which was successful. camps never learned his name, nor did against the Jewish community. In the wake the children of the Kindertransport; the of the pogrom, he cabled the Council for The Hilfsverein office, like that of the information he provided to the wartime German Jewry, requesting they lobby the Frauenbund, was closed down by the British government was known only British government for the immediate Nazis after Kristallnacht. Most of the to the Foreign Office and its Refugee admission of unaccompanied children Jewish leadership was under arrest, as Department. He himself wanted his fellow under 17 to the UK. The Council was also well as many of the children’s fathers. German Jews remembered ‘not only for asked for a ‘non-Jewish Englishman’ to Wilfrid and Karminski continued the work what they suffered, but for what they be sent to Berlin to monitor the situation from their own homes. By December, an dared and did’. and support the appeal. On 15 November Anglo Jewish publisher, Dennis Cohen, Lord Samuel (former Home Secretary, visited Berlin and helped him organise the Naomi Shepherd’s biography ‘Wilfrid High Commissioner in Palestine and head first transport. Though Israel officially left Israel: German Jewry’s Secret of the Council for German Jewry) and Germany in May, he returned in August to Ambassador’ first published in 1984, is led a deputation to help Karminski process the last transport now available as an e-book.

9 AJR Journal | July 2019 From Auschwitz to Ambleside

Earlier this year we received a and in the words of Jack Aizenberg, and necessities of the war swayed the doubters so many others amongst them, “We came and naysayers. letter from AJR member Johanna from Hell to Paradise”. But where does my Howard, who had responded to story begin? The skilled workers were to work on the aircraft itself but also had a role to play in a request in the Journal from a Almost fifteen years ago I had been the training of about half the total factory commissioned to produce an exhibition to workforce, who had to become skilled school in the Lake District which commemorate the seventieth anniversary of flying boat builders in next to no time. was attempting to collect six the end of WW2. As I had some knowledge of the wartime operations of the mighty This “other half” of the workforce million buttons for a Holocaust Short Sunderland flying boat, gathered numbered around 800 workers and came from my time living near Invergordon in the from the young men and women of the commemoration project. Thanks Highlands of Scotland, I decided to create local Lakes community of shepherds, to Johanna, we are now in an exhibition about the somewhat surreal stable hands, dry stone wall builders, farm story of the flying boat factory that stood labourers, shop assistants, car mechanics, touch with the chairman of the on the shores of Windermere in the 1940s. painters and decorators, servants from the country estates, and all kinds of Lake Lake District Holocaust Project, Perhaps the largest aircraft of its time, District folks from far and wide, all of whom Trevor Avery, who has written being built in arguably the largest single were keen and eager to “get in on this span building in Europe at the time (which thing that seemed like a spaceship arriving, this very interesting article for us just happened to have been constructed it just seemed so exciting”. about the Lake District’s role in in eighteen months in the Lake District of Wordsworth and Ruskin) seemed in itself The factory successfully produced flying housing Jewish refugees. to be an incredible enough story to tell. boats for the war effort, and subsequently Yet nothing prepared me for what was to repaired battle damaged and fatigued ones “Of course, you know, this was where emerge from this exhibition in what is a that were brought to the Lakes for repair. the children from Auschwitz came…..” small market town in the north of England, The workers were often faced with the grim namely Kendal. I will come back to Kendal realities of war when a Sunderland returned I could never have foreseen how a later…. from active service with the “clearest of comment, delivered by a quietly self- indications” of modern warfare in the effacing Cumbrian gentleman in 2005, I installed the exhibition with the help of damaged gun turrets and fuselage. This could have such far reaching effects historian Allan King, who was the expert was the moment when, for many of the on me personally or on those currently in everything to do with the Windermere workers, the war came to the Lake District. involved in the Lake District Holocaust flying boat factory. All the attention of the Project. That such a project would take local community (many of whom were The factory ceased production and repairs root in such dramatic effect was simply former workers at the factory) was on the at the end of the war, and the single and not on the horizon at the time. Life can exhibition; they focused on the production unattached workers, who had stayed on indeed turn 180 degrees in a sudden of the Sunderland flying boat, and Calgarth Estate without families, returned moment and the comment “Of course, especially the impact that the factory had to their homes across Britain. This meant you know, this was where the children on this, the heart of the idyllic Lake District. that six hostels, which could accommodate from Auschwitz came….” was just such a three hundred people in individual moment. However, until this time, little attention dormitory rooms, were vacant and available had been given to Calgarth Estate, the for anyone who might need emergency The story of how the Jewish children housing scheme built at nearby Troutbeck homes. arrived in the Lake District in 1945, having Bridge that had been specially built to been flown from Prague and the horrors house the workers at the factory. Many of These hostels were to welcome the most of the camps and ghettos, is beginning the skilled employees at the factory had to incredible group of residents imaginable: to be known more widely but the full be brought from Rochester (the original residents who would be placed at the heart circumstances of their journey, and the home of the Short Sunderland factory, of a thriving community housing scheme unique nature of the community that which was bombed early in the war) and where over two hundred wartime families welcomed them, is still little known or many other workers also had to be drawn still lived. understood. from industrial cities throughout the UK. Fair to say that neither the factory nor the On 14 August 1945, Leonard Montefiore The Jewish children themselves were in housing scheme was welcomed by many and the Central British Fund facilitated no doubt about their time in the Lakes in the Lake District at the time, but the the movement of three hundred child

10 AJR Journal | July 2019

From Auschwitz to Ambleside Some of the children enjoying a boat trip in the Lake District

Holocaust Survivors, only recently liberated from the most horrific camps and ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe. He arranged for them to be flown with the RAF from Prague, in the Czech Republic, to Crosby- on-Eden airfield in Carlisle. They were then placed on buses and trucks that would take them through the heart of the Lakes before arriving to stay on Calgarth Estate near Windermere.

There had been concerns expressed by Montefiore, and the team of psychiatrists and carers who were brought to Calgarth Estate to look after the Jewish children, that there might be difficulties placing a large group of clearly damaged and traumatised children into the centre of a unique, working class British community, and at such close quarters at that.

No-one, least of all the carers, knew just how they would care for children who A group of the child survivors had survived the concentration camps, nor watching a film in one of the what to expect. The circumstances were rooms at the Calgarth Estate unprecedented.

We have much evidence of the positive seen above ground, for sure. We are determined, and owe it to all relief felt by those involved in the Central our children and grandchildren, that the British Fund efforts: the relationships We are planning an archaeological survey story of the Windermere Boys and Girls is between the Jewish children and the local and excavation at the former site of never forgotten, and the story of Calgarth community “went very well indeed”, Calgarth Estate this summer, and to expand Estate is a key part of that determination. according to Montefiore himself. the permanent exhibition in Windermere library to tell not only the story of the For further details on the archaeology This was the local community that would Windermere Boys, and the community project titled “From Troutbeck Bridge to be spoken of so very highly by him and by that welcomed them, but also to show the Treblinka” please visit the children’s front line carers. results of the archaeology. The plan is to http://troutbecktotreblinka.com/ excavate the remains of one of the hostels treblinka/ One of Montefiore’s team, led by the where the Jewish children stayed. renowned psychiatrist Oscar Friedman, said that she had to explain to a group of And finally, back to Kendal. confused Jewish children that “these were Northern Regional not Jewish people being friendly towards One of the Windermere Boys famously Lunch Meeting them but ordinary English people”. One changed his surname to “Kendall” when Wednesday 17 July 2019 child responded by saying “These are good he moved to London after leaving Calgarth people, and this is a good country”. Estate. Kopel Kendall’s time in the Lake Holocaust Learning and Education District lived with him for the rest of his life, Centre, Huddersfield University Today the factory site at White Cross and its legacy lives on through his family. With key speakers: bay is a holiday chalet park and Calgarth With plans to develop a much-enlarged Lilian Black, Chair of HSFA Estate is the location of a school and much exhibition and museum about the Jewish Professor Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice Chancellor pastoral grazing land. Those with a keen children and the remarkable community of Huddersfield University eye will still be able to spot the slipway, that welcomed them, and a memorial made Michael Newman CEO of AJR Transport provided from all major areas the guards house at the factory site, and from millions of donated buttons, we would in the North of England. the remains of the coal storage building hope the archaeology will add to that Wendy Bott on 07908 156 365 at Calgarth Estate. Not much else can be legacy for years to come. or at [email protected]

11 AJR Journal | July 2019 REVIEWS

ASYLUM showed sympathy for the Scheyers’ plight, Françoise Frenkel – a Jewish woman from By Moriz Scheyer (translated by P.N. and his mother found a refuge for them Poland - studies at the Sorbonne and Singer) in the nearby convent, ‘Asile de Labarde,’ helps out in a book shop in Paris before Little, Brown and Company, 2016 an isolated building on a hilltop where the realising there was a gap in the German ISBN-13: 9780316272872 nuns looked after mentally and physically market. So she opens the first shop selling disabled women. French-language books in Berlin in 1921 Written at the time of the actual events, which quickly becomes very popular, this powerful book starts by describing For the next two years the trio were able attracting artists, diplomats, celebrities and the atmosphere in Vienna before the to live there in relative safety. Scheyer poets. Anschluss, followed by the author’s describes the selflessness and piety of the flight, together with his wife and non- nuns and the unexpected kindness of the In 1935 serious complications arise, Jewish housekeeper, who insisted on Rispals. Life in the convent was spartan starting with currency red tape followed remaining with them throughout their but the Scheyers were able to breathe by the Nuremburg race laws and her ordeal. more easily. A smuggled radio enabled personal circumstances become very them to hear news from the outside precarious. The horrors of Kristallnacht The Scheyers moved to Paris, surviving world and even to listen to music again, are described although as a foreigner there until the Germans overran France. reminding Scheyer of concerts he had her property wasn’t vandalised. Life When the country was divided into attended in Vienna. however is soon untenable. Fleeing on two zones, thousands of Parisians the eve of war she arrives penniless in abandoned the city, and Scheyer Scheyer writes: “If Einstein were here, he Paris where nobody believes hostilities are describes the ‘Exodus’ in vivid terms, would be a hunted animal…and the same approaching. All too soon events close as well as the indifference displayed by would apply to a , a Franz in and she makes for sleepy Avignon. most French people to the suffering of Werfel, even the great Gustav Mahler if Against advice she heads for Vichy to join their Jewish compatriots. he were still alive.” He mourns the fate of family but is forced to flee back again by the millions of Jews who were ‘eliminated train with great difficulty. Eventually she Forced to return to Paris, the trio lived as pests’ by the Germans. settles in Nice, living in hotels. in a state of constant anxiety until Moriz was arrested and taken, together After the war the Scheyers settled in But in August 1942 she narrowly avoids with several hundred other men, to Belvès. When Moriz died in 1949 the being rounded up with other Jewish the concentration camp of Beaune-la- typescript of his memoirs was destroyed residents thanks to a fellow guest’s Rolande in the Loiret region. Conditions by his stepson, who considered it too frantic gestures as she returns from in the camp were atrocious, with suffused with hatred of the Germans. shopping. Thus begins a dangerous life starvation rations, constant humiliation Some years later, however, his step in hiding in the face of increasing food and the senseless brutality of their grandson came across the carbon copy shortages, rations, clamp downs on French and German guards, described in and translated it. He has added an papers, deportation fears and tragedies. harrowing detail. The only consolation introduction, epilogue, biography and After staying with hairdressers – the was the sense of comradeship with the index. We owe him a debt of gratitude for Mariuses – who were to remain her other denizens of the hut. providing us with this account of events link “underground” – and a narrow as they occurred, conveying the soul- escape from police she goes to a series Just before everyone was sent to destroying experience of living through of addresses. Always on the move this Auschwitz, Scheyer was released that terrible time. includes staying in the mountains and because he was over fifty-five, and was Dorothea Schefer-Vanson some rather dubious homes with owners able to return to Paris. But the hunt charging exorbitantly. for Jews throughout Paris caused the little group to try to get to Switzerland. NO PLACE TO LAY ONE’S HEAD A failed attempt to cross the Swiss border The vicissitudes of that attempt are by Françoise Frenkel sees her in a cold prison fearful of the described in disturbing detail, specifying Pushkin Press outcome, although soon released and the amounts paid to passeurs and ISBN 9978-1-78227-400-1 recuperating in a convent. A second sundry officials who were supposed to A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and attempt never really comes off but the extend help, the fraudulent assurances a Telegraph and Spectator Book of the third time she is free! of assistance and several close escapes. Year This attempt failed, too, and they ended Françoise’s memoir was first published up in the small town of Belvès in the This moving eyewitness account tells in Geneva in 1945 and rediscovered in Dordogne. the fascinating story of a bookseller who a flea market in 2010. It was recently opened a prestigious store in pre-war translated from French for the first time One of Moriz’s acquaintances there, Berlin selling French literature and her later and published in paperback this year. a young man named Jacques Rispal, miraculous escape from France. Her writing is thoughtful yet light and

12 AJR Journal | July 2019

airy, elegant with a contemporary feel who live in ‘Chicago’ rather than Sheffield Jacob. She falls in love with Shechem, capturing the atmosphere well. Yet she where they actually lived. She also prince of the Hivite tribe, and he with never dwells on anything for long so one suggested that Ernst obtain copies of Der her, marries him and bears him a child. is taken easily from page to page with Neue Tag to read about developments. Shechem, who together with other very evocative descriptions of the beauty Marie uses many nicknames for not only members of his tribe has undergone and scenery of the south of France. people but also groups. These are put in circumcision, is accused of having the footnotes of the book to help readers. violated Dina and duly killed by Dina’s Originally Françoise ran the shop with her brothers. The baby is delivered to an husband, Simon Raichenstein, until he left A major part of the letters is Marie’s angel. Berlin for Paris in 1933. Tragically he was longing to join Ernst in Greece but due later deported and died in Auschwitz in to the severe restriction in their freedom The libretto is both pithy and poetic and August 1942 but strangely he is absent of movement, this was impossible. On the music compellingly appropriate with from this account. Book discussion several occasions she refers to a proxy its Jewish undertones. It is a work one group questions are included in the back marriage which might have helped would like to hear again, so as to take including if Françoise were alive today strengthen her application for an entry in all its ramifications and finer points. what would be the one question readers permit to Greece, which is the only way Does it have relevance to our present would like to ask and surely it has to be she might have obtained an exit permit time? Of course it does, and in her why he was omitted? from the Protectorate. Foreword Diane Samuels writes “How Janet Weston do we get over our shame, blame and Although Marie and Ernst did not survive judgement? How can we live in peace?” the Holocaust, I believe that this book LIFE AND LOVE IN NAZI PRAGUE: brings their story to a wider audience than I see no reason why this opera, which Letters from an occupied city their family members. I also think that the was given concert performances, should By Marie Bader letters are a very important contribution not take its place alongside the great Bloomsbury to witness accounts of the Holocaust in a Greek tragedies as fully staged in the ISBN 978-1788312561 time where they are so vital to educating opera house. the next generation. This is not only a captivating but also Elysia Polin Having been to several Jewish cultural heart-breaking account of the lives of events lately I have been struck by Marie and her friends and relatives living the fact that women tend to dress up, in Nazi-occupied Prague and elsewhere. SONG OF DINA whereas men dress down: at least one Opera man turned up in shorts and T-shirt - Marie, who is a widow, is writing to Ernst Libretto by Diane Samuels, music by and in a synagogue, to boot! Löwy, who is her second cousin and also a Maurice Chernick Leslie Baruch Brent widower. Through her letters we can sense their intense love affair, even though they This exciting new work was performed are separated by hundreds of miles. He three times - the first two in St. James’ has fled to Thessaloniki in Greece where Church, Paddington, and the last on June ERRATA there were similarly restricted conditions. 2 in New North London Synagogue. My The article about Bruno Kreisky in our Their relationship was frowned upon by wife and I attended the latter, which was June issue had half a sentence missing other family members, but through these packed to the rafters and where this major towards the end. The start of the final letters, it was able to not only develop but new work, almost three hours in duration, paragraph should have read: That also thrive. was given an enthusiastic reception. It after the Shoah a Jewish socialist could involved 11 soloists – all excellent – and be elected as Chancellor of Austria The 154 letters were written during the main part of Dina, who was on stage is certainly due to Kreisky’s political 1940-1942 when Prague was locked in a throughout and whose part was daunting, ability but also to the fact that Austria reign of terror under Reinhard Heydrich. was sung beautifully by Katrina Damigos. by that time had transitioned into a We see, through the writing, the Jewish The Myriad Choir and a dozen or so truly democratic state. community experiencing increasing levels musicians were likewise outstanding. of persecution and their lives changing We also apologise to AJR members forever. Because of the German censors Diane Samuels is, of course, well- in the North of England and Scotland reading her letters, it is clear that Maria known and admired for her play for muddling up the details of their avoided discussing issues that are going “Kindertransport”, but the composer, respective regional meetings. The on around her, so we must read between who also conducted, was unknown to me. Northern Regional meeting is on the lines of her writing. One example is Well, who was Dina? In her Foreword, 17 July in Huddersfield, while the her references to her daughters Grete and Diane Samuels explained that she was the Scotland meeting took place last Edith, who became nameless ‘friends’ only daughter of Rachel and the patriarch month, on 18 June.

13 AJR Journal | July 2019 Financial Destruction Confiscatory Taxation of Jewish Property and Income

Germany’s Jewish population share in had to be paid into a blocked account at the 1933 was less than 1%. Nevertheless, Reichsbank, Germany’s central bank at the The Nazis vastly over estimated the time. Only a fraction would be converted Nazi propaganda believed in the wealth of Germany’s Jewish population into foreign exchange. The proportion of existence of fabulous Jewish riches, wealth retained by the Germans was high with some estimates rising as high as and rose further, from a total of roughly RM in wild confiscations of Jewish property 20% of national wealth. This article, 60% in 1934 to an estimated 92% in 1937, before 1938 that avoided the taxman. written by Albrecht Ritschl, a professor when expropriation of anyone still managing Internal guesstimates of Germany’s Statistical at the London School of Economics, to emigrate became near-total. On average, Office in 1936 put Jewish wealth anywhere nearly 80% of all emigrés’ assets were between 2.2 and 8 bn RM, with a midpoint uses taxation data collected for the confiscated in this fashion to 1937. Jews estimate of 4-4.5 bn RM. Later studies have Allied military governments after applying to emigrate were automatically ventured guesses of 8-16 bn RM. 1945 to revisit these claims. It shows suspected of attempted tax avoidance, that, under plausible assumptions, creating the strongest incentives not to How much is much? A contemporary the Jewish-owned share of Germany’s understate declared asset values. This also estimate put taxable wealth in Germany at meant that assets sold to non-Jews under 100bn RM for 1928. Calculating the above private real capital stock broadly duress at below-market prices were still asset totals into that, one would easily matched the population share, with an assessed at book values for the purpose of arrive at Jewish wealth shares of 7-8%, or upper-bound estimate of 1.6%. calculating the migration tax. perhaps even 16% if 16bn RM guess is to be believed. However, the taxable wealth The Nazis took power in 1933 with the The second form of confiscatory taxation estimate must be seriously underestimated. stated goal of destroying the livelihood of was a capital levy on Jewish wealth imposed Later academic work has estimated German Jewry. Nazi officials believed that in 1938 after the annexation of Austria. Germany’s privately, real capital stock in Germany’s Jewish minority – some 500,000 Earlier that year, all Jewish assets had to be 1937 at around 280-310 bn RM. About in 1933, or 0.77% of the population – registered with the tax authorities. As with 54% of registered Jewish wealth in 1938 owned up to 20% of total wealth at the the migration tax, assessment was at book was real capital, like real estate or shares in time. Such beliefs seem to have informed values according to the tax code to prevent businesses. Calculating this into the above policy decisions by the Nazi regime in 1936 undervaluation. The capital levy was first set range of Jewish wealth estimates and the to stop encouraging Jewish emigration at 20% and later increased retroactively to aggregate capital stock data, one arrives and instead embark on a strategy of 25%, as the original revenue target was not at Jewish wealth share of 0.8-1.6% of the expropriation, hoping to use the spoils to met. total. This is well in line with the Jewish help finance war preparation. Similar beliefs population share, and far below the wild have induced later scholars to interpret the A third form of confiscatory taxation guesses the Nazis salivated about in the early Holocaust as being economically motivated. consisted in two further levies. The first 1930s. Germany’s Jews in the 1930s were went hand in hand with the foreclosure of better educated than the average German all remaining Jewish businesses, imposed but not massively richer. Three forms of taxation after the Kristallnacht pogroms of November Confiscatory taxation of Jewish property 1938. The second was the transfer of all Further reading took mainly three forms. The first was a remaining cash holdings and bank accounts Ritschl, A, “Fiscal Destruction: Confiscatory 25% wealth tax on all transfers out of assets to the tax office in November 1941. Taxation of Jewish Property and Income in Germany. Introduced after the financial crisis Nazi Germany”, in: Kreutzmüller, C and J of 1931 to stem capital flight, its thresholds Estimating Jewish wealth Zatlin (eds.), were lowered in 1933 to hit the emigrating The asset values implied in these tax Dispossession: Plundering German Jewry, middle class. On top of this tax, large parts revenues sum up to 5.5bn RM. The 1947 1933-1945, University of Michigan Press, of a migrant’s remaining domestic assets document source adds a rough guess of 1bn forthcoming.

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14 AJR Journal | July 2019

LOOKING A visit FOR? to Lviv SCHROTTER/SCHROETTER/ One of our regular STEVENS correspondents, Janos Fisher, Harriet Stevens is researching recently paid a short visit to Lviv her family’s history, including grandparents Siegfried and Hedwig, in the Ukraine. These are his and father Erich/Eric. The Schrotter impressions. family came to the UK in August 1939, guaranteed by Mr. Philip Boyle The centre of town is pleasant; of Wetherby, brother of the then buildings are in the Austro-Hungarian Mayor of Leeds, C. H. Boyle, and style, reminiscent of Vienna and Harriet would love to learn more Budapest. Many of them have been details. beautifully restored but even on those [email protected] left grey, notable features are visible. The town is busy, but we did not see a single cigarette butt or chewing gum on FAMILY PREISS the pavements. People waited patiently The descendants of Lila (Lilly) at crossings, cars stopped when they Honey (née Preiss), Eric Preiss and were supposed to in order to let Gertrude Fox (née Preiss) are being pedestrians through (maybe there is a sought in connection with the fine for not doing so?). There are many inheritance of a parcel of land in cars, the centre is nearly gridlocked. One of two Holocaust memorials that we Žilina, Slovakia. visited [email protected] Our guide had been recommended by the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter. She led us on a three hour walking tour entitled idea why). In the hotel, the young girls at KINDERTRANSPORT GIRL the Jewish Interest Tour. Admittedly, reception were champions. WITH PLAITS she mixed in some non-Jewish facts and after three hours we asked her to There were Illegal taxi drivers everywhere. set us free. We just could not take any We used them twice; one overcharged more information. She showed us two by about 10% but was overwhelmingly Holocaust Memorials, both of them helpful. An official taxi driver we used was spotless - no graffiti. preparing to join his family in a few days’ time in Neasden (I wondered whether Most people do not speak English, he was earning money in the Ukraine, to but in spite of that, if asked, went support his family in London?). out of their way to be of help. In the beautiful opera house we saw a lavish Lastly, because I do like to eat, some of production for next to nothing. The the restaurants are beautiful, the food is woman looking after the cloakroom excellent, portions are large, but presented left her post and ran to help me back nicely (in one instance, spectacularly), and to the auditorium when I found the of course cost a fraction what they would This photograph, which appeared door leading to the stalls locked (no here. in Picture Post (December 1938), taken by the Viennese immigrée photographer Gerti Deutsch, is in an exhibition entitled REFUGEES, NEWCOMERS, CITIZENS at the Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck College. Amanda Hopkinson, daughter of Gerti Deutsch, would be grateful for any information about the girl in the The fortified synagogue in the small town The site of the oldest synagogue, the Golden photo. of Zhovka, near Lviv Rose. It was destroyed by the Nazis [email protected]

15 AJR Journal | July 2019

Five days in May Nottingham - AJR members, staff and volunteers arriving at the National Holocaust Centre

In the middle of May the country AJR members admire basked in five consecutive the impressive days of glorious sunshine. By proportions of Southwell Minster amazing coincidence, those were the same five days that the AJR Outreach team had chosen for its annual trip. Our Southern Outreach Co-ordinator, Ros Hart, takes up the story.

A coach load of AJR members and staff Tuesday was our much anticipated designed Wedgwood china. left Edgware early one morning and had visit to the National Holocaust Centre, a smooth journey to the Holiday Inn in opened in 1991 by the Smiths, a Christian Thursday came round so quickly, and Nottingham where we all settled into family who, after visiting Yad Vashem, after checking out of our hotel, we our comfortable rooms in anticipation felt that Holocaust education in this journeyed to the quaint market village of our busy few days ahead. country could be improved. They have of Southwell and were taken on a tour built an incredible, inspirational site of of the imposing Southwell Minster. After a talk about the local Jewish learning and remembering, including two history by an AJR Nottingham member, permanent exhibitions, a memorial and Lunch in the local pub brought our we freshened up ready for the evening. reflective space and beautiful landscaped incredible five days to a sad close, gardens. We were privileged to meet and we said our fond farewells to the We dined at the magnificent Langar Marina Smith, matriarch of the institution Northerners, before travelling back to Hall, a 19th century charming country formerly known as Beth Shalom, of which London, looking forward to a good house, enjoying exquisite fayre and the AJR has been a leading benefactor night’s sleep. delightful harp music to add to the for many years. She was charming and ambience of the evening. thrilled to meet us. We were equally thrilled to meet her. Monday morning we drove to the beautiful Chatsworth House in Wednesday we set off to Wedgwood Derbyshire. We toured the splendid and enjoyed a very interesting tour of stately home, ate lunch in the sunshine, the museum and factory. As always, and then had a tour of the enchanting food was a big feature of the day, and The AJR team meeting Marina Smith gardens. We all agreed it had been a we relished our delicious lunch, and stunning day. afternoon tea served on beautifully

AJR members admire the impressive proportions of Southwell Minster

Some of the AJR group with the Cream tea at Wedgwood Enjoying the World of Wedgwood statue of Josiah Wedgwood

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OBITUARY

HORTENSE MARIANNE PAULINE GORDON (née HEIDENFELD) Born: 21 September 1920, Kanth, Germany (now Katy Wroclawskie, Poland) Died: 8 May 2019, London Hortense and her younger sister Beata, who was born in 1924, were brought up by strict nanny Annie. Hortense’s GP father was a medical officer in the German Army during WW1, gaining the Iron Cross. He played the violin and painted; her mother kept kennels.

The family home had 20 rooms plus a smallholding with chickens, goats and an orchard. The family parrot chirped the phrase daily “Guten Morgen Herr Doktor, Wie geht es ihnen?” Hortense as a young nurse Hortense recalled the boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933 - Nazis standing outside the house and several years later discovering they had late Monica (d. 1990). Her decision not allowing patients in. That year her perished in Auschwitz. to return to work after Yvonne was best friend Dorchen said they couldn’t born was frowned upon by many, but remain friends because Hortense was Hortense never forgot letting the she wrote in 1959 “I could now give Jewish, for which reason she also Aga cooker go out on Xmas day and mothers the benefit of my personal couldn’t attend grammar school. On described cooking a veal and ham pie experience while my family gained Kristallnacht her father was arrested using noodles, because pastry with a wife/mother who came home and taken to Buchenwald, later meat was unknown in Germany. She stimulated by her job.” imprisoned in Kanth town hall’s tower made wafer-thin cucumber sandwiches before being released. for tennis parties and three huge meals After retiring she volunteered at daily, plus cleaning the whole house. ORT and became chairman of the She offered to get work abroad to Fifteen years ago her employer’s Hendon League of Jewish Women help her family, saying: “My parents grandson discovered a letter from branch. She was on the B’nai Brith met someone who knew a UK family Hortense’s father and contacted her, welfare committee, volunteered at wanting domestic help so I applied remaining in touch till her demise; this Clara Nehab house and was an AJR for a visa as a ‘cook-general’. My meant the world to her. volunteer at the Sobell Centre; also a parents/sister hoped this would mean telephone-befriender. She enjoyed the they could follow.” Interviewed for a forthcoming book on book club and U3A. Jewish refugee nurses she said “I didn’t Her father thought she should learn want to be a cook-general all my life so In 2018 Hortense was interviewed by bridge while her mother bought I applied to train as a nurse in 1941.” the IWM for their Holocaust Galleries her a sky-blue evening dress and She chose children’s nursing because opening 2022. She had a positive a 24-person white-damask table- ‘enemy aliens’ could only work in attitude instilled by her father’s cloth. Hortense regretted not saying children’s, mental or infectious diseases philosophy “There is nothing one goodbye to her father in the rush to hospitals. cannot overcome”. And despite her board the train in Berlin, arriving in challenges she retained her humour, Southampton June 1, 1939. Hortense gained a Gold Medal in 1947 determination and her lovely smile. – top of 1000 London nurses - and was She was a good friend to many and She was shelling peas in her accepted on London University’s first will be sorely missed, not least by me employer’s country house in Surrey Health Visiting course, working in paid her loving daughter. when war was declared. She realised employment until aged 77. She married she would not see her family again, Rupert in 1950 and had Yvonne and the Yvonne Gordon

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PINNER ILFORD David Barnett gave us an interesting and nostalgic David Morris displayed his beautiful Around history of Joe Lyons and his Tea Shops and Corner handmade boxes in all kinds of Houses. They were such a part of our lives and wood veneers and finishes. He it is sad they are now all gone. He reminded us painstakingly puts the pieces the AJR of salad bowls, carveries and also Ivy Benson and together to produce works of art. These are just two of the many recent AJR her Orchestra. What memories were conjured up! We were all most impressed. events around the country. Robert Gellman Meta Roseneil JULY GROUP EVENTS CONTACTS

All AJR members are welcome at any of these events; you do not have to be affiliated Susan Harrod to that particular group. Please contact the relevant regional contact for full details. Events and Outreach Manager 020 8385 3070 [email protected] GROUP Co-Ordinator JULY Wendy Bott Bath/Bristol Ros 1 July Remembering David Hackell, Northern Outreach Co-ordinator Bettina Cohn and Hella Hewison 07908 156 365 Hull Wendy 2 July East Park [email protected] Ealing Ros 2 July Claude Vecht Wolfe – Agnes Isaacs The Story of the Beatles Northern Outreach Co-ordinator Ilford Karen 3 July David Barnett – 07908 156 361 ‘Herbert Samuel: Statesman, Philosopher [email protected] and First Jewish Cabinet Minister’ Ros Hart Pinner Karen 4 July Peter Kurer – ‘What the Quakers did for Southern Outreach Co-ordinator the Jews of Nazi Europe 07966 969 951 Newcastle Agnes 9 July Outing to Laings Art Gallery – Prince [email protected] Albert & the Victorian Art World Karen Diamond Sheffield Wendy 14 July Tea in private gardens Southern Outreach Co-ordinator Film Club Ros 15 July The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel 07966 631 778 Pie Society (see ad on page 19) [email protected] Prestwich Wendy 15 July Social get-together KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Edgware Ros 16 July Summer tea party Susan Harrod Hertfordshire – PLEASE NOTE NEW NAME FOR RADLETT AND SURROUNDING AREAS 020 8385 3070 Karen 17 July Herbie Goldberg – [email protected] ‘The Life and Music of Jewish American Child Survivors’ Association-AJR Composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk’ Henri Obstfeld Glasgow Agnes 17 July Annual BBQ Garden Party 020 8954 5298 [email protected] Agnes 18 July Outing to the Jazz Festival – King Louis & The Primas Didsbury Wendy 23 July Social get-together Book Club Karen 24 July Meeting North West London Harrogate/York Wendy 24 July Harlow Carr Gardens Lunch & Talk Muswell Hill Ros 25 July Simon Watson – Tai Chi tutor Tuesday 27 August 2019 North London Ros 25 July Peter Maxton – Alyth Gardens Synagogue Recollections of a tour manager 12:00pm Glasgow Book Club Agnes 25 July Meeting We are delighted to welcome back Norfolk Karen 30 July Guided tour and lunch at Cathedral DAVID BARNETT Speaking about the History of Joe Lyons, Glasgow 2G Group Agnes 31 July Outing to Dumfries House famous tea shops and corner houses

CARD AND GAMES CLUB Monday 12 August 2019 at 1.00pm

at North Western Reform Synagogue, Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, London NW11 7EN £8.00 per person to include a delicious deli lunch. Offering Bridge & other card games, Backgammon, Scrabble & Rumikub, depending on numbers. Booking is essential. A light lunch will be served before playing commences Ros Hart on 07966 969 951 BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL An entrance fee of £8 would be appreciated or email [email protected]

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JOIN US FOR A DAY TRIP TO THE SEASIDE FILM CLUB SAVE THE DATE

THE GUERNSEY SUNDAY 22 September 2019 LITERARY AND POTATO at 2pm PEEL PIE SOCIETY AJR’S ANNUAL TEA on MONDAY 15 July 2019 at 12.30pm AND CONCERT Sha’arei Tsedek North London Reform At the brand new rebuilt premises of Synagogue, 120 Oakleigh Road North, Tuesday 13 August 2019 South Hampstead Synagogue Whetstone, N20 9EZ Coach Leaving Robert Habermann will perform £8.00 donation per person, Finchley Road and Edgware. includes a deli lunch THE GREAT JEWISH AMERICAN Join us for a delicious Fish and Chip SONGBOOK lunch and sessert on Southend sea front Watch out for full information in Then the opportunity to wander along your August and September Journal the front, take in the sea air, and relax and please bring your children and amongst friends. grandchildren

Contact Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or [email protected] spring grove London’s Most Luxurious Based on the best-selling novel, Lily Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again RETIREMENT HOME James ( , Kindertransport Cinderella, Baby Driver) plays free-spirited 214 Finchley Road A special interest group of London NW3 writer Juliet Ashton, who forms a life- The Association of Jewish Refugees changing bond with the members of the  Entertainment eccentric Guernsey Literary and Potato LUNCH  Activities Peel Pie Society when she decides to write  Stress Free Living about the book club they formed during on Wednesday 10 July 2019  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine the occupation of Guernsey during WWII. at 12.30pm  Full En-Suite Facilities at Alyth Gardens Synagogue BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL Call for more information or a personal tour Dr Sheila Gewolb DL 020 8446 2117 Call Ros Hart on 07966 969 951 The Board of Deputies or 020 7794 4455 or email [email protected] [email protected] Dr Sheila Gewolb DL was born in Cardiff has been the Deputy for Cardiff since 2009. In 2015 she was elected Vice President of the Board, and in 2018 elected as Senior Vice www.fishburnbooks.com President. Jonathan Fishburn Outstanding live-in and hourly care in During her first term of office, she chaired the buys and sells Jewish and Hebrew books, your home at flexible, affordable rates. Community and Education division, and now ephemera and items of chairs the International division, which works to support Jewish religious and cultural practices in Jewish interest. the Diaspora and advocacy for Israel. He is a member of the Antiquarian Sheila achieved her PhD in Language and Booksellers Association. Communication Research in 2015 and was made a Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London Contact Jonathan on in 2016. She has three daughters who live 020 8455 9139 in Miami, Gibraltar and Cumbria, and four or 07813 803 889 grandsons. Her stepdaughter lives in Paris, so for more information there is always plenty of travel on the agenda! 020 7482 2188 pillarcare.co.uk She is married to Roger, who is the Deputy for St John’s Wood Synagogue. In her spare time, (when she manages to get any!), Sheila loves knitting, jigsaws and Lego. Books Bought switch on electrics £7.00 per person Modern and Old Rewires and all household BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL electrical work Eric Levene PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 Contact Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 Mobile: 0795 614 8566 or email [email protected] [email protected]

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Events and Exhibitions JULY 2019 WARSZAWA REUNION ENOSH – MUSIC FOR MANKIND VOSS AT AGM AJR is planning a special event to AJR member Rudi Leavor has At the AGM of the Second Generation mark the 80th anniversary of the 29 written a cantata for soprano, Network, the Lord-Lieutenant of August 1939 arrival of the packet chorus & orchestra, based on music Hertfordshire, Robert Voss CBE, will talk steamer S.S. Warszawa from Gdynia, of the synagogue and reflections about his fascinating work as the Queen’s bringing several hundred Polish upon the Holocaust and its representative as well as his experiences Kinder. We would be delighted consequences. It will be performed of growing up as a member of the Second to hear from family members twice in July. Generation and the impact and consequences of Kinder who travelled on the 6 July, Bradford Grammar School of taking part in the BBC documentary British Warszawa, and who are interested 9 July, St George’s Church, Leeds Jews, German Passports. in commemorating this special www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ 2.45pm, Sunday 21 July anniversary. enosh-music-for-mankind- The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, NW8 [email protected] tickets-53526472119 [email protected]

MAZELTOV! Seven AJR members – Ernest AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman said, Simon, George Vulkan, Bob and “It is pleasing to see the incredible work of Holocaust survivors and refugees being Ann Kirk, Gabrielle Keenaghan, recognised in this way.” Walter Kammerling and Ruzena

Levy – were included in The Mazeltov also to AJR member Anthony Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Newton, who was recently presented with a Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Republic These inspirational people have of Austria in recognition of over 13 years Michael Zimmermann, Austrian dedicated their lives to Holocaust of service to the London embassy. Several Ambassador to the UK, presenting remembrance, sharing their stories Austrian dignitaries and members of Anthony’s Anthony Newton (right) with his with thousands of schoolchildren and family attended the private ceremony and award others. lunch at the Ambassador’s residence.

Soup walk 50 walkers took part in the joint Manna and AJR Soup Walk event in London, marking 80 years of the Kindertransport, raising over £6,500 which will go directly to assist Holocaust survivors living in poverty in Israel.

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

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