AJR ^orma tio n Volume LV No. 5 May 2000 £3 (to non-members)

Don't m/ss... Irving - skinhead in The penitent pontiff scholar's robes Richard Grunberger P3 n Brecht's Galileo there is a scene which depicts reconciliation. He visited Auschwitz, set foot inside Deportations the ceremonial dressing of a Pope in his robes of a synagogue (a historical Papal first!), established from Cologne office. At the start of the scene the pontiff comes diplomatic relations with Israel, stigmatised anti­ Ralph Rlumenou p4 I on stage as an ordinary individual; when it ends he semitism as a 'sin against God', dubbed Judaism Soup of the evening stands before the audience as an institution. It is 'Christianity's elder brother' and asked God's pardon Matthew Engel p 16 from the split perspective of a man who is also an for the Church's century long 'sins against the Jews'. institution that we must view John Paul the Second's A truly inspiring record! However, it still leaves Way beyond pilgrimage to Jerusalem. the divergence between the Pope as a person and Karel Woytila was reared in the matrix of Polish as an institution unresolved. The Church's 'sins his Icen Catholicism where church and nation overlapped to­ against the Jews' in living memory include the ayoral tally and Jews were viewed as enemy aliens. In the Pellotine Brothers' operation of an escape route for candidate 1930s, while Germany was gearing up for war Nazi murderers to South America, French monas­ M Livingstone against his country. Cardinal Hlond preached an teries giving shelter to the fugitive war criminal not only feels an anti-Jewish boycott. An exemplary martyr figure of Touvier, and Central American bishops procuring obsessive need for the Polish Church, Maximilian Kolbe, who died to asylum for Baltic Fascists expelled from the USA. making ludicrously save another prisoner in a Nazi camp, had edited a The Church needs to unfrock the clerics involved, inept comparisons, Jew-baiting Catholic tabloid newspaper before the but above all it must acknowledge one fact: when but also shares war. Even during the postwar Kielce pogrom the lo­ Europe's Jewry underwent unprecedented suffering the late Alan cal bishop refused to intervene on the grounds that Pius XII, unlike the Good Samaritan, 'passed by on Clark's unhealthy Jews were agents of the Soviet takeover of the the other side'. His excuse for silence - namely that preoccupation country. a public protest would only have intensified Nazi ^ith Hider. This is the background from which the personal persecution - was sheer casuistry, since nothing He has described philosemitic outlook of the man who was Bishop of could have been worse than what the Nazis were Anglo-Irish history Cracow till 1978 stands out in stark relief. In that already doing D as a slowed year he assumed leadership of a universal church down version of many of whose national constituents - most notably the Holocaust, in Slovakia, Croatia and Lithuania, but also in France ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Compared Tony and Germany - were tainted by wartime collabora­ of the Blair's constitutional tion. ASSOCIATION OF plan for the And this was only part of the picture. He was heir London Mayoralty to a tradition stretching back two millennia to the JEWISH REFUGEES to Hitler's scheme Judeophobic gospel writers - a tradition which had will be held at the for "Vichy France, spawned such lethal myths as Jewish deicide, des­ Paul Balint AJR Day Centre, 15 Cleve Road, NW6 3RL and bracketed ecration of the host (Hostienschandung) and the at 3pm on SUNDAY 25 JUNE 2000 capitalism with blood libel. Nazism as a killer The Church had therefore entered the post-Holo­ AGENDA: of millions. While caust era under a pressing moral obligation to Annual report for 1999 Sach consecutive examine, and atone for, its past. Astonishingly - or Hon.Treasurer's Report Discussion statement plumbs not so astonishingly, seeing that the pontificate of Election of Committee greater depths of the culpably silent wartime Pope only ended in of Management illogicality than the 1958 - nothing happened for seventeen years. In last, all betray a 1962 John XXIII convened the Second "Vatican Coun­ Guest Speaker: Dr Elisabeth Maxwell Executive Chairman, Remembering For The Future 2000 blanket insensitivity cil (which absolved Jews of the charge of deicide) ^o how such but his pontificate was too short to advance the All questions for the Chair should be submitted by S June trivialisations may process much further. to the Head of Administration at strike Hitler"s chief John Paul II has over the last twenty years taken a I Hampstead Gate, I a Frognal, London NWS 6AL Victims D series of decisive steps towards Christian-Jewish AJR INFORMATION MA^ 2000

1981, the year in which she completed Profile her doctoral thesis. In the period inter­ vening between the completion of her thesis and its acceptance, she decided to Holocaust ambassador research her husband's family tree and orn in 1921 in provincial France, discovered the scale of the destruction of Elisabeth Maxwell is one of two his family by the Nazis. Bdaughters of a Protestant father of Sometimes accompanying her husband long-established Huguenot descent and a on his speaking engagements Dr Maxwell Catholic mother. Her relatively privileged found herself, on occasion, finishing his and protected family life ended after the speech for him when he broke down in economic crash in 1929, when her tears while referring to his family's fate in father's business went into liquidation. the Holocaust. The family moved to Lyon in 1932 and In 1988, her organisation, RpTF Elisabeth was sent to join her sister at a (Remembering for the Future), arranged convent school in Birmingham. In 1939 its first academic conference for Holo­ (her studies were interrupted by the caust historians in London. A second outbreak of war) she attended the conference, this time in Berlin, followed Sorbonne where she started studying law; in 1994. The third conference, now in concurrently she took a Cordon Bleu preparation, takes place in July this year Elisabeth Maxwell cookery course, a Red Cross first aid (see separate item). Dr Maxwell literally course and singing lessons. The ability to family, running a large family home with lives with RFTF2000, of which she is the combine a number of differing activities little help and regularly playing hostess to executive chairman. Her buzzing Belgravia became a characteristic of her way of life. her husband's many business contacts, flat is both her home and a busy office, It was in Paris in 1944 that she had her Elisabeth Maxwell graduated from Oxford where, assisted by a small team, E-mails> first encounter with Robert Maxwell University with a BA in French. Ten years faxes and telephone calls arrive from all whom she married in March 1945. It later, she gained a doctorate, again from over the world. proved to be a tempestuous marriage. the University of Oxford. Resident in London and in France, this Between 1946 and 1962, nine children Elisabeth made her first visit to energetic but unassuming lady travels ex­ were born to the Maxwells, seven of Auschwitz with her husband in 1959- She tensively in Europe and America, meeting whom have survived to adulthood and recalls that she felt very much an outsider with scholars and schoolchildren in her two of whom worked in their father's and attributes this to the fact that she had drive to ensure that the Holocaust wil publishing empire. yet to learn about the Holocaust. Her in­ not be forgotten. At the age of 50, bringing up a growing terest in the Holocaust dates back to n Marion Koebnet

ment OSHA's unique approach to our OSHA and Jewish Care special residents, the majority of whom Survivors' gathering arrived in this country as victims of Nazi roviding a unique opportunity t merger proposals persecution". international scholars to see merger between the Otto Schiff Malcolm Dagul, Chairman of Jewish Pguidance from Holocaust survivors, Housing Association (OSHA) and Care, commented: "I am looking forward the 'Remembering For the Future 200 A Jewish Care is under active con­ to using Jewish Care's professional exper­ conference will take place in London an sideration by the two organisations. tise to work with another caring Oxford between l6 and 23 July this ye^"- Following an agreement in principle, organisation in the planning and manag­ The conference opens with a gathering OSHA's Council and Jewish Care's Super­ ing of our community's future needs, thus the Imperial War Museum on Sunday visory Board are engaged in detailed reducing overheads and directing our July at which the organisers hope discussions aimed at bringing about a communal resources to where they bring together survivors, their desce merger of the two organisations in order belong. The development of lay leaders dants and scholars. Throughout to secure the continuing welfare of resi­ across both organisations will also be following week, there will be a v/arieta y o' don dents in OSHA homes. In the meanwhile, highly beneficial". cultural and educational events in Lon' Jewish Care has agreed to second staff to The Trustees of the AJR Charitable whilst, between 17 and 20 July, Oxfon at OSHA to assist with any transitional ar­ Trust, having been informed of these pro­ will be host to an academic conference fof rangements. posals, are fully supportive of them and which a limited number of places Ashley Mitchell, OSHA's Chairman, said: are looking forward to achieving close survivors has been reserved. "I am absolutely delighted at the prospect co-operation with the new management For further information or to regi^ ' of forging a strong partnership which will when it is established D contact Judy Trotter, RFTF2000, PO ^^. bring both organisations' professional 2308, London WIA 5GQ. Tel. 020 79:j^ expertise together for the good of our 7395. Email: [email protected] current and future residents. Jewish AJR Website address: http//www.rftf2000.org- Care's organisational talents will supple­ Tel: 020 7431 6161 ukD

»- 2 AJR INFORMATION MAy 2000

cipally in relation... to the treatment of Irving - skinhead in the Jews.' Deprived of his nimbus of a historical NEWTONS scholar's robes scholar Irving stands revealed (in the Leading Hampstead Solicitors n Kafka"s novella In the Penal Colony a judge's words) as 'an active Holocaust monstrous machine inscribes each denier, an antisemitic racist associated 22 Fitzjohn's Avenue, Iprisoner's crime on his skin. The with rightwing extremists who promote London NW3 SNB nightmare vision proved prophetic. neo-Nazism.' Within a few years of the publication of The importance of this judgment is not if All English legal work the stor)' the Nazis reversed the process: to be underestimated. It is part of an undertaken and German, skin scarred by the circumcision knife irreversible trend that has already led to Swiss & Austrian claims became automatic proof of a 'crime' countries like Germany and Switzerland ic German spoken carrying the death penalty. making Holocaust denial a criminal The few who escaped felt ever after offence. * Home visits arranged that they had been flayed and needed to This trend has, alas, not yet reached the Tel: 020 7435 5351 grow new skin. This was a slow process Arab world. In recent weeks neither the Fax: 020 7435 8881 'Unher held back by a series of traumatic Grand Mufti of Jerusalem nor the Damas­ shocks: the halfhearted pursuit of their cus-based daily Tishrin have scrupled tormentors, the courts' leniency towards about charging Israel with inflating the ^he latter, and, more recently, the bur­ number of Shoah victims for political pur­ geoning myth dubbed Holocaust denial. poses. PARTNER Holocaust denial is tantamount to In the same vein of obdurate denial of in long established English Solicitors •digging up the Shoah victims to drench the truth, Irving himself reacted to the (bi-lingual German) would be happy ^heir mortal remains in manure. For us it court's judgment rather like Goering had to assist clients with English, German ''leans having to live with the stench of done at Nuremberg. His totally unrepen­ and Austrian problems. Contact t^eo-Nazi manure in our nostrils forever. tant post-trial manner bespoke a With The Hon. Justice Gray's dismissal confidence that wealthy backers in Henry Ebner ^f David Irving's libel suit on 11 April, Germany (e.g. the publisher Gerhard Myers Ebner & Deaner ^he rag-taggle army of Holocaust deniers Frey) and the USA will meet all his legal lost the one historian' who conferred expenses. He also knows that the trial 103 Shepherds Bush Road °ogus respectability on their crazy fabri­ has given him an unprecedently high London W6 7LP cations. The judge ruled that Irving had profile. Even so he, and similar Holocaust Telephone 020 7602 463 I ^or his own ideological reasons persis­ deniers, are the ultimate losers in this ALL LEGAL WORK tently and deliberately misrepresented case, because henceforth no antisemite UNDERTAKEN ^•id manipulated historical evidence. For will be able to masquerade under the "le same reason he had portrayed Hider guise of disinterested scholarship. "1 an unwarrantedly favourable light prin- n Richard Grunberger

Swiss Consul's story AUSTRIAN and GERMAN ANNUAL AJR VISIT TO wenty-five years after his death, a PENSIONS BETH SHALOM war-time Swiss consul has been Tremembered in an exhibition at the PROPERTY RESTITUTION HOLOCAUST Swiss Embassy. Since the mid-sixties, MEMORIAL CENTRE when he was named a Righteous Gentile CLAIMS and when a street in Haifa was named EAST GERMANY- BERLIN Laxton, Nottinghamshire after him, Carl Lutz disappeared from On instructions our office will on public consciousness despite his feat of Sunday 18 June 2000 saving more than 62,000 Hungarian Jews assist to deal with your - about one half of all those who applications and pursue the £18 per person including coach fare & survived the war - from deportation to matter with the authorities. vegetarian buffet lunch death camps. He also helped about (£8 for those using own transport) 10,000 Jews of other nationalities to reach For further information and appointment please ^oach leaves Finchley Road Underground Palestine. He acted independently and Station, behind Waitrose, 8.30am prompt without support from his own govern­ contact: and Stanmore Station, 8.45am prompt ment in issuing protective letters' which ICS CLAIMS were recognised by Nazi officials. Booking essential. 146-154 Kilburn High Road Please contact Joan Aitman, The travelling exhibition may dispel London NW6 4JD AJR, I Hampstead Gate, IA Frognal, generalisations made about Swiss atti­ London NW3 6AL tudes towards Jews during the Second Tel: 020 7328 7251 (Ext. 107) Telephone 020 7431 6161 World War. Fax: 020 7624 5002 UMK AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

Rtwiews

journey had been accomplished; and, in the support of Israel. Deportations from from the few survivors, what they had The names of hundreds of people asso­ experienced in the camps. Very haunting ciated with AJEX are scattered throughout Cologne also are the 142 portrait photographs this fascinating little volume. I found five which it was possible to assemble from members of staff from my past with Dieter Corbach, 6.00 UHRAB MESSE KOLN- friends or relatives of the deportees, Marks & Spencer - and one is simply DEUTZ,Scriba Verlag, Koln. taken during their years of well-being. It bound to meet friends here, even if it is Obtainable from Karen Hunt, Simmons Public requires an enormous and painful effort only the former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Relations, Britannic House, 18-20 Dunstable to imagine them in the degrading and Taylor, a veteran member of the New­ Road,Luton,Beds. LUI IDY.Tel:01582-459155. humiliating conditions of the Messe and castle Branch, or perhaps Major Joseph Price £29.50. + £3.50 postage. the trains, let alone in what awaited them Weber, First Worid War Honourable Artil­ in the camps. lery Company, later commissioned in the he late Dieter Corbach was a D Ralph Blumenau Army Cyclist Corps, severely wounded in Protestant pastor in Cologne. He France in 1918, and in the last war com­ Tand his wife Irene made it their mander of an East End company of the lives' task to document and memorialise Ralph Blumenau's A History of the Home Guard. the fate of the Jews of Cologne during Jetvs in Germany (serialised in AJR There are also some wonderful "little the Nazi period. This substantial book is Information in 1992 and 1993) now known facts", which you can use for your only a part of the work that they have appears in a revised edition. The 72 next Quiz: Where are Jewish War Graves done and that Irene is still doing. Its page booklet is available from The in London found? Answer: in Willesden production has been financed in large University of the Third Age, AA and East Ham Cemeteries. Which Jewish part by Rolf Schild, in honour of his Crowndale Road, London NWl ITR, Organisation has a Lodge at Freemasons parents who were among the victims. tel. 020 7383 0323, price £4.50 inc Hall? Answer: AJEX Lodge 8407. Where is A Cologne Nazi genealogist left behind, postage and packing D the AJEX Charity shop? Answer: in on his death in 1981, a card index Finchley Road. Where can you see an meticulously listing 6,335 names of de­ AJEX badge on Bar Kochba's helmet? portees (complete with the Nazi-imposed Answer: On the Giant Menorah in the I for Israel and S for Sarah) from the city. grounds of the K'nesset in Jerusalem, The list takes up 304 pages of this book. where AJEX sponsored the figures oi It includes dates and place of birth, Out of the shadows Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kochba to the tune maiden names, last addresses in Cologne, of ±500. profession, whether they had any kind of Henry Morris.THEAJEX CHRONICLES,A brief I only had two small criticisms of the property (Vermogen) before their depor­ history,pub.AjEX 1999 £10 + £l.50.p&p. book; Is it really necessary to mention so tation, and the first destination of the ntil I read the newly published many started projects which petered oft- transport that took them to the East. AJEX Chronicles, I had learnt very And why only little more than a pag^ That list is shattering enough. But the U little about AJEX in my 64 years in about "The Women of AJEX"? Surely they book contains much more material than this country - and that in spite of four deserve better. this, in some 200 pages of German text years in the RAF. I knew that AJEX held Unlike the AJR, AJEX seems to feel i' and an English translation in the second an annual Remembrance Parade, and that has no future because they have no sec­ part of the book. These describe the pro­ its members helped out in hospitals at ond generation. If they are right, then thi cedures preceding the departures of the Christmas to give the staff a break, but book is a fitting epitaph. trains; reproduce, among many other organising outings to the seaside for U Ken Ambrose documents, the 16-page long Vermogens- children and the under-privileged? Surely erkldrung (property declaration) which that was what London cabbies did; and deportees had to fill in beforehand; the helping with the rescue of victims of instructions about when and with what Nazism was a matter for the Jewish minimal possessions they were to report Refugees Committee. And now I learn the J-i JACKMAN • at the Messe (Trade Fair Building); the big role AJEX played in these activities requirement to hand in house keys in and many other charity and welfare **- SILVERMAM clearly labelled envelopes; descriptions of matters. COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS the scenes in the .Messe and the efforts of Similarly with Jewish Defence: the the Jewish organisations to make them a Board of Deputies was in charge of the little more bearable; reasonably optimistic Jewish Defence Committee, but AJEX was postcards which the deportees were right there too, as they were the practical allowed to send to their friends and security in Jewish buildings and syna­ relations while they were en route; gogues. A protest meeting in 1928 against 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA correspondence between the bureaucrats Arab anti-Jewish riots in Palestine fore­ Telephone: 020 7409 0771 Fax: 020 7493 801' who had to report on how the train shadows its later creditable performance AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

schen Ahnen (the Play of the German An­ Castle finds cestors). Election of Committee On the day of the Anschluss the nazi- of Management fication of the Burgtheater was instantly its portcullis carried out by actor Fred Hennings, The following members will be proposed whose duelling scars had long lent veri­ for election or re-election to the hen Viennese speak of 'the similitude to his portrayal of stage Committee at the AGM on Sunday 25th June 2000 castle' (die Burg) they don't villains. That night Nazi thugs tortured W mean Kafka's nightmare con­ and murdered the Jewish director of the Mr AC Kaufman, Chairman* struction, but their National Theatre. The Scala Theatre, Rudolf Beer. MrWD Rothenberg,Vice-Chairman & tradition-encrusted Burgtheater was held During the following days, Paula Hon.Treasurer* 'n such esteem in German-speaking lands Wessely issued a statement denouncing Mrs ES Angel, Secretary* that Burgtheaterdeutsch ranked as the Max Reinhardt to whom she owed her Mr P Dannenberg,Trustee equivalent of Oxford English. career, her actor colleague Egon Friedell Mr CW Dunston,Trustee In the manner of continental dynasties threw himself off the top of a tall buil­ Mrs J Field the Habsburgs lavished subsidies on the ding, the playwright Jura Soyfer was Mrs D Franklin theatre while entangling it in interference caught trying to cross to Switzerland, Mrs GR Glassman 3nd bureaucracy. Gustav Mahler's prob­ and the comic Fritz Griinbaum was Mr D Jedwab lems at the Court Opera were paralleled dragged off to Dachau. Mr A Spiro t>y those of his colleagues at the Burg­ Very soon Austria's non-Jewish intellec­ *Committee members retiring by rotation theater. tual elite was geographically dispersed, and being proposed for re-election. By the 1920s Vienna no longer shone with the physicist Erwin Schrodinger in ^s brightly on the theatrical firmament as Dublin, the painter Oskar Kokoschka in Retiring Committee Member: Mr M Durst Berlin - except for the fact that Max London, the writer Franz Theodor Anyone wishing to propose any other •^einhardt divided his time between the Czokor in Belgrade and the playwright member for election as Hon. Officer, two capitals. However, neither he nor Odon von Horvath in Paris. But a large Trustee, or Committee member must •directorial assistants Otto Preminger and number of others - exemplified by the submit to AJR's Head of Administration, ^•"nst Lothar ever stepped through the zoologist Konrad Lorenz, the composer such a proposal signed by ten members •tallowed portals of the Burgtheater. Anton Webern, the conductor Karl Bohm qualified to vote at the meeting and with But one didn't have to be Jewish to and the author Heimito von Doderer - the signed agreement of the person encounter problems with the Burgtheater not only stayed put, but positively wel­ being proposed no later than whose founder, incidentally, had been comed the new dispensation. Some Thursday 18th May 2000 'he converted Jew Josef von Sonnenfels, intellectual Nazi support continued to advisor to Emperor Josef II). Anton the bitter end. Feeling they could not '''''Idgans, the only playwright of distinc­ live in a world bereft of the Fuhrer, both tion ever to head the institution, the poet Josef Weinheber and the ^'^perienced such difficulties that the di- painter Carl Moll (Alma Mahler's step­ V' UJ "^ectorship almost certainly shortened his father) committed suicide in May 1945. ^ '•e. None of this significantly impaired Impoverished postwar Austrian culture BELSIZE he Austrians' esteem for their National received ample Jewish blood transfu­ theatre. In the mid-Thirties they even sion. Schnitzler was performed at the SQUARE ttiade a film entitled Burgtheater. This Burgtheater and Hofmannsthal in Salz­ ^hce of ripe ham featured Werner Kraus burg; Bernstein and Maazel conducted at SYNAGOGUE ^ho fifteen years earlier had reputedly the Staatsoper. For all that, the Nazi 51 Belsize Square, NW3 4HX s'Ven the fledgling rabble-rouser Hitler poison kept festering in the national We offer a traditional style 'Ocution lessons) and Paula Wessely, a consciousness. No-one saw this more of religious service with ^einhardt discovery whom the starstruck clearly than (the non-Jew) Thomas Cantor, Choir and organ lennese had elevated into a latterday Bernhard, who put a posthumous ban Ouse. on the performance of his plays in Further details can be obtained At the time cultural life was envenomed Austria. from the synagogue secretary y politics. After the Nazi takeover in It is a pity that Bernhard didn't live Telephone 020 7794 3949 erniany the conductor Clemens Krauss long enough to see the antibodies Minister: Rabbi Rodney J Mariner ^ a minor exodus from the Staatsoper created by the lingering Nazi poison at Cantor: Rev Lawrence H Fine "^ Berlin, and soon after Stefan Zweig work. In early February the Burgtheater tioved from Salzburg to London for hosted a rally at which contemporary Reguleir Services: ui'^metricall y opposite reasons. At the cultural icons - the actor Karl Maria Friday evenings at 6.45pm Saturday momings at 10am ttrgtheater the semi-resident playwright Brandauer, the playwright Elfride Jellinek, Religion School: Sundays at 10am to 1pm 3x Mell swung like a weathervane: the essayist Robert Menasse - mobilised Nursery School: 9.15am to 12.15pm ^^ing earlier on turned out edifying a new generadon of students and intel­ Belsize Under 3's: 9.30am to 11.30am ^tholic dramas with titles like Das lectuals to tame Brecht's 'bitch that's still ^Postelspiel (the Play of the Apostles), he on heat'. Space donated by Pafra Limited ^^ confected Das Spiel von den deut­ D Richard Grunberger AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

RG's YIDDISH ABC Sir - The examples given in the February issue made me think of Werner Wein­ 2^^l5^j£^^ <^. berg's Die Reste des Judisch-Deutscben (Volume 12 of Stadia Delitzschiana pub­ lished in 1969 by Kohlhammer) and no longer in print. However, those interested AUSCHWITZ DISPUTE continue to be so interesting, well written in the riches of the Hebrew-German Sir - When I visited Auschwitz last and stimulating. lexicon may find it in specialised libraries. Newtown, Connecticut Guy Bishop September the large cross was so hidden Weinberg's book is a study of the influ­ behind a tall wall that none of us would ence of Hebrew on colloquial German. have seen it had the guide not pointed it MAYORAL CONTEST The book showed me that many of the out. In fact it can only be seen when you Sir - Unless my memory plays tricks on words I took for German as a child were, stand away from the wall within a small me the selection of Mr Livingstone to be in reality, Hebrew assimilated into the area. As non-Jews were prisoners there I Brent East's Labour Party candidate was German mother tongue. Words like klafte, found it not to be out of place. far more of an unsavoury conspiracy than kowed, stuss, schmus and dafke were Bradford RO Leavor his failure to become his party's mayoral used even in my assimilated Jewish-Ger­ candidate. The then sitting MP who was man home; it took Weinberg's wonderful book to show me how potent Hebrew SWISS GUILT RELATIVE elbowed out was Jewish and at the time the active members of the constituency had been in leavening our spoken Ger­ Sir - I have read Ms Nakowska's man language. experiences at the Swiss frontier with were Catholic Irish. The charge brought bitter feelings. Just after the Anschluss the was that he was a Zionist, i.e. anti­ I hope that you will continue to spice up future issues with samples of this Swiss Government let some thousands of semitism in disguise. Why get excited wonderful and rich language. Jewish refugees enter the country, but about Haider in Vienna when one can Seattle Stephen F Adler once the German army controlled most of have a Mayor with such background in London? Europe they clamped down drastically, if only not to offend their Nazi clients. Ipswich Frank Bright BRICKBAT Sadly the record of the western democ­ Sir - In his piece 'Telegraph sends out racies was hardly better. Canada did not wrong signals' (February issue) Richard TRANSLATORS WANTED let in any Jewish refugees, while Au.stralia Grunberger seems to have been carried was very 'economical' in granting entry Sir - After the death of my mother, last away by his spleen and desire to score permits. The USA only admitted affidavit year, I discovered some twenty letters cheap points. sent from Germany to England via the holders and did not hesitate to turn away Ealing MrsARosnei USA in the period 1940-1942. They are all the refugee ship SS St. Louis. handwritten and contain me.ssages from Taking everything into consideration, my grandparents and other Holocaust maybe the Swiss don't appear quite so victims. Although I have had some assis­ RE-BRANDING: Continued debate bad after all. tance in briefly working out their Sir - In the spirit of transition and ne^ London NW2 A Dutch contents, I would like to have all the beginnings that currently surrounds us. letters translated into English, not just for the AJR too is contemplating a chang^' VALUE OFTHE EURO myself but for historical research. Can namely re-naming its journal which to Sir - .Mr Weinberg (April issue) is wrong any readers assist me in this matter? many decades has carried the title 4/^ in thinking that HM government has any 6 Priory View, Harry Hurst Information. Perhaps predictably, ho^' power to set the level of the pound. It is Bushey Heath, Herts WD2 3QZ ever, not everyone amongst its loy^ the speculators on the money markets TellFax 020 8950 1862 readership is so ready to enibrac who in their own interest, buy or sell change. To those diehard traditionalism currencies. Not only have they kept the out there, who throw up their hands ' pound high but also lowered the value of QUERY horror at the very idea, I would point oU the euro. This, of course, leads to an Sir - Regarding Mr Konrad's query (April the following: A change of name nee unbalancing of trade reladons. When the issue) I wonder whether he had con­ not mean an abandoning of everythn^e big crash comes we all will suffer for it. sidered applying for a Bank Card from that the publication has stood for and a'^ Croydon Ulrich Pick his Austrian bank, which would enable embracing of the values of today's me'di s him to make withdrawals at bank ter­ which, as we are continually being toJd , minals throughout Europe. Most banks is dumbing down. Rather, it would set* BOUQUET seem to operate the Maestro system. The to illustrate that the AJR, though oft^ Sir - As a member of RoK, I have just charge for withdrawals is in the region of concerned with the past, is not stuck ' received your January and February 2000 iy2%, which might work out more it, but is a forward looking organisatio issues. I am intrigued by the corres­ cheaply than what he is doing at present. with a progressive attitude. ,., pondence about the proposed name It has the added advantage that he avoids I doubt very much whether anyone ^ change of your publication. As an im­ the irritating queues at European banks actually cancel their subscription in P'^ mediate admirer, let me say you can when trying to encash Eurocheques. test at the change and, who knows, 1 'I name it anything you like, as long as you Ham, Richmond Richard BTait revamped journal with a new look an*^ AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000 new name may just attract a new reader­ returned to its Nazi past. The present ship. A modest concession to those who Austria from government coalition had resulted from a have grown up on glossier fare may democratic election and the policies of an prove a small price to pay for the contin­ the front row Austrian political party should not be ued success and growth of the AJR arl Pfeifer, former editor of Die confused with the beliefs of Austrian journal which is so treasured by tradition­ Gemeinde, the official newspaper people as a whole. In his view, the alists and non-traditionalists alike. K of the Viennese Jewish com­ harsh international reaction had been London NWl I Raphael Abraham munity, spoke at the Wiener Library on premature and had pre-empted any con­ antisemitism and racism in Austria against sultation with Austria's new government. Sir - In our opinion the letters AJR could the background of the rise in popularity Pfeifer suggested that this view repre­ t>e maintained; we are therefore submit­ of Jorg Haider's Freedom Party. sented an ideal, rather than the actual, ting the following three suggestions: (1) Pfeifer showed a brief extract from a situation. The "institutional racism", Apt Jewish Relevant Information (2) All televised press conference at which he which he believed to pervade the country Jewish Relevant Information (3) Active had challenged Haider to distance himself and society, was the root cause of Aus­ Jewish Relevant Information. from the view that Holocaust denial was tria's woes, and the ascendancy of Haider W///owdo/e, Ontario H & K Schafer a "marginal issue". Haider's response, that and his party were symptomatic of this Pfeifer should read his books and articles, fact. In conclusion, he reminded his audi­ Sir - In the thirties some German Jewish was one frequently used by right-wing ence that other European countries communities gave the name Concordia to politicians when challenged. Indeed, should be taking steps to counter racism their cultural clubs or societies. Chancellor Schiissel had adopted a simi­ within their own borders. In updating our name, might we not lar approach. As Schiissel's Conservative • Marion Koebner call the AJR Information Concordia? For Party had "made themselves dirty" by 'egal reasons you may well need to keep governing in coalition with the Freedom AJR, but please put it in small print! Very Party - a political party with avowedly tew of us think of ourselves as refugees racist policies - they too could no longer ANOTHER COUNTRY? these days. be trusted with Austria's democratic fu­ AUSTRIA FROM PAST BG ture, said Pfeifer. In contrast to Europe's failure to inter­ TO PRESENT Sir - I would like AJR Information to vene in 1938, current events in Austria ^tay. It is what it contains that attracts were of internal European concern. As an 11 June 2000 2 - 5.30 pm •"eaders, not what it is called. economic and a moral community, Eu­ Brunei Gallery, Thornhaugh London SWl 6 Ruth Leggett rope should not withdraw its opposition Street, London WC I to the present Austrian Government, but ^'r - If Jews, Refugees or Information had should avoid tarring all Austrians with the An afternoon seminar presented disappeared, then the name AJR Informa­ same brush. Whereas the majority of by tion could be altered - until then, why Austrians probably did not support anti- Association of Jewish Refugees change? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Haider demonstrations, young people Institute of Contemporary History '^ove Arthur Oppenheimer certainly did. In addition, the million who and Wiener Library voted for the Freedom Party believed that Second Generation Trust •^•r - I suggest that the journal be re- they were electing an opposition, not a With the support of the t^amed AJR .Mercury or Echo, this would government, and were demonstrating Austrian Cultural Institute Upgrade it for the Millennium. their dissatisfaction with a long-serving -•over, Kent JH Ullmann coalition. Following Austria's recent elections, this When responding to questions, Pfeifer seminar will examine the profound "" - Dot! t change a successful brand maintained that Austrian antisemitism was issues and challenges posed by the '^ame. Don t change a satisfactory format. deeply rooted and inseparable from post- success of Jbrg Haider's Freedom Party. ^t us readers just be grateful for the eru- 1945 Austrian politics, which had always The relationship of past and present in ^ttion, relevance and high style of the held that Austria was the first victim of Austrian political life will be examined house journal', and please do not alter Nazism. "When you put dirt under the along with questions of postwar identity, he style or wording of readers' letters: it carpet, there comes a time when it and national and wider European con­ '^akes for blandness. stinks", he said, but change would only texts will be explored. Congratulations on the good work, and be achieved by pressure from abroad. Speakers include the distinguished 8ood wishes. Austria still retained attitudes which historian Robert Knight; Karl Fallend, '•ondon W / Peter Zander dated back to Metternich's authoritarian lecturer in Psychology, Vienna; Glyn Ford, state and many Austrians lacked Zivil­ MEP. Further speakers to be announced. Sir _ Just call the publication AJR courage. %^gazine., An official of the Austrian Embassy sug­ Tickets from the Wiener Library, I ondon N21 Peter Sinclair gested that far from marginalizing the 4 Devonshire Street, London WIN 2BH. Holocaust, successive Austrian Govern­ Tel. 020 7636 7247 - £15 (£12 AJR "" - It is time to change the name. My ments had included Holocaust teaching members and Friends of the Wiener ^^ggestion is AJR Journal in the national curriculum. Holocaust de­ Library) '•Ondon NWS Gary Leon nial was marginal and Austria had not AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

Annual Report 1999

Membership other compensation issues. Members' with audience participation, and a Kaffee t the end of the year (1999) total requests for help with a wide variety of Klatsch afternoon (taking the place of the membership of the AJR was 3,392, problems were sympathetically dealt Open Day) at which a full tea was served A the deaths of 100 members and with at bi-weekly 'drop-in surgeries' or­ and a wonderful atmosphere enhanced some 97 who allowed their membership ganised at the Day Centre and at Head by the violinist playing at the tables, to lapse, being partially offset by 148 new Office. while artwork from weekday classes was members joining. Among them were a Substantial assistance was required by on display. significant number who, having little or members completing application forms to For the first time the Centre celebrated no contact with Jewry in Britain, had no obtain benefit from the Holocaust Assets the 100'*' birthday of one of its members, previous knowledge of the AJR or of the Litigation Fund. More than 600 received in the presence of her younger sister and services it offered. Others were referred AJR's help, a huge task which could only brother from Vienna. The annual Bridge to the AJR by cooperating social service have been undertaken by the professional Evening, held in memory of Madeleine agencies for help and advice on pensions staff with the support of in-house-trained Brook, was enjoyed by all the players and matters of restitution, including volunteers. once again. In May and November the funds distributed by the British Govern­ Centre organised popular holiday weeks for members at the Normandie Hotel in ment. Computerisation Negotiations were successfully conclu­ Bournemouth, with none-too-strenuous he AJR installed a new computer ded with the Reunion of Kindertransport activities. system in Head Office incor­ who, having organised their last major porating 13 workstations, using reunion in London in 1999, recommended T Windows software and providing a new Catering and Meals-on-Wheels their members (not already AJR mem­ membership database, as well as an e- he Catering Department at the bers) to accept an invitation to join the mail facility enabling members to contact DayCentre continued to prepare AJR. The special identity and traditions of the AJR directly on [email protected]. high-quality meals and buffets foi" the Kinder were to be maintained by T Used increasingly by all departments. the members to enjoy, as well as catering forming a special interest group within Social Services anticipate building a com­ for special events. These included a tea the AJR which would continue the publi­ prehensive record of those members who for a meeting of ex-Breslauers, a second- cation of a Kindertransport newsletter. prefer the AJR to hold specific informa­ night Seder at Passover, a residents' tea, tion on their behalf. the volunteers' brunch, a tea for 30 Social Services partially-sighted members, appropriate menus to mark the Jewish festivals and a emands on the services of AJR's Paul Balint AJR Day Centre Social Work Department contin­ tea at the AGM. JR's Day Centre continued to offer ued to in-crease in relation to the On average, some 200 frozen meals-on- D a full programme of activities and average age of the membership. Many wheels leave our kitchen every week, entertainment, high-quality cater­ members are increasingly frail, dependent A and some 30 meals a week are taken ing and a meeting place for Jewish on others and yet often isolated in their away by members themselves. refugees from a European German-speak­ own homes; there are also the problems ing cultural background, although the brought by mental ill health, depression numbers availing themselves of these AJR Information and dementia. Following referral, AJR facilities have inevitably declined. he journal welcomed a number of social workers visit, assess and offer Musical entertainment was on the pro­ new contributors including Glori* members appropriate advice and assis­ gramme several times every week for the Tessler (author of an acclaime'' tance. T stimulation and enjoyment of the mem­ biography of Lady Jakobovits), who has The AJR set out to improve and enlarge bers. Monday's Kard & Games Klub brought zest to the Art Notes, and Profe^' its contacts with members living outside retained regular support, and keep fit sor Michael Spiro, who has pioneere the Greater London area in order to offer classes tailored to members'needs were Science Notebook. them personal and financial support. For held twice a week. The services of a Coverage of matters of special concert those living in outlying areas, with few if chiropodist were available and there was to association members was maintained' any contacts with other members of the a twice-yearly optical service. A minibus including restitution, welfare, HolocauS Jewish community, an annual visit from continued a weekly run carrying mem­ remembrance, world affairs, the Midd' an AJR social worker is much appreci­ bers to and from the Day Centre and a East, and AJR's diverse activities. Th ated. shopping trip was begun for residents of readership's continuing involvement ^t*^ the sheltered flats in Cleve Road. the journal was attested each month W Welfare Rights Advisory Service The monthly Luncheon Club entered its what, given our size, could be describ*^ he Social Services Department third successful year, each providing an as a bulging postbag. The flow of Lette - contin-ued its specialist advisory excellent three-course lunch followed by to the Editor was augmented by a ^e Tservice onUK welfare benefits, for­ an entertaining guest speaker. On the list bate on the possibility of renaming th eign pensions, restitution, grants and of other successes were the Tea Dance, journal. AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

Volunteers Events he continued dedication of volun­ he AJR's SI"" Annual Concert, this Treasurer's Report teers enabled the AJR to provide a year held in a new venue at Twide range of services and assis­ TImperial College, Kensington, fea­ his has been a year of significant tance to members. By the year's end they tured a chamber orchestra of the highest change to our financial position. numbered 175, including 41 recruited dur­ standard with internationally renowned We have received an exceptional ing 1999 of whom 32 provided direct help cellist Raphael Wallfisch as soloist. The T amount by way of legacies, so that in the to indi\'idual members. Befrienders' sup- event proved a great musical success and, short term our overall financial position is Port group meetings were arranged, and with an advertising brochure/programme, considerably improved over that for last induction and effective listening skills raised £5,000 for Self Aid. The serving of a year. On the other hand, we have taken training sessions were attended by volun­ full tea during an extended interval proved on a major new financial commitment to teers throughout the year. AJR's Volunteer most popular with the concert-goers. build new sheltered housing, .together Services Co-ordinator recruited university What has become AJR's annual outing with a new Community Centre and of­ student volunteers at fresher events in to Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in fices. These will replace our current London. Nottinghamshire was well supported with facilities in Cleve Road and Eleanor A volunteers' thank you brunch was a coach from London being joined by Rathbone House as well as the rented organised at the Day Centre, and Irene other members travelling independently. premises in Hampstead Gate. The costs ^hite organised a tea parry for members Director Stephen Smith and his family of acquiring and constructing suitable ^ho received AJR Information on cassette once again showed warm hospitality and premises will stretch our resources to the tape before she handed on this responsi­ led an informative discussion. full. Our vital welfare work is continuing bility to Rita Rosenbaum. to expand at the same time as we are Sheltered Accommodation continuing to fund the deficits on our Day Centre. Outreach Groups ollowing the decision of the Otto Schiff Housing Association to dis­ s reported regularly in AJR AJR Information,A]R's outreach groups F pose of Eleanor Rathbone House in in different parts of the country Highgate (co-owned by OSHA and AJR), e are now welcoming new A the AJR undertook responsibility for members from Rc^K. This was •^ad an active year with the support of a Part-time Co-ordinator from Head Office. rehousing AJR members in a new shel­ W made easier because during South London, Leeds Holocaust Survivors tered apartment block offering up-to-date the year we installed a much needed new 'friendship Association, Manchester and accommodation and communal facilities computer system not only to manage our •Birmingham flourished, ably managed by (to include a new Day Centre) to be built membership and accounting records, but 'Ong-serving organisers. AJR took over re­ on a site yet to be identified. Occupants also to track all our welfare activities. My sponsibility for the popular Sarid group of the eight sheltered flats at 15 Cleve thanks to Gordon Greenfield and all our "1 Brighton, while both Surrey and Road, West Hampstead, would also be staff for their enthusiastic co-operation in ^essex (Bournemouth) planned to meet provided with accommodation in the new the changes, which also took us past the tiiore regularly. A group was initiated in building. (Otto Schiff House, OSHA's problems of the notorious 'millennium 'Nottingham, and with the support of a sheltered housing complex in Netherhall bug' without a hitch. sufficient number of members, others will Gardens, Hampstead, is not affected by ^e planned for Scotland and Northern these developments). Our prime objec­ Day Centre England. tive over the coming months will be to his represents a core part of our find a suitable site so that this project can work, although sadly not as many begin to take shape. Tmembers are taking advantage of Self-Aid its facilities as previously. Financially we he Self Aid fund, together with Managerial Changes continue to subsidise the Centre together therelated support from the AJR's n July the AJR's professional manage­ with its kitchen and its Meals-on-Wheels TSocial Work Department, helped to ment was placed in the hands of three services so ably run by Susie Kaufman 'rnprove the quality of life for many of senior members of staff: Ronald and her team. The figures are exactly in I line with our projections at the beginning "^tJr members living on low incomes, Channing was appointed Head of Media, ^^gular monthly payments (which do Development and Community Affairs, of the year. We are delighted that the RoK ^ot affect state benefits) were made to Gordon Greenfield Head of Finance, and are now going to be using these facilities '7 members under the Self Aid um- Carol Rossen Head of Administration and for a monthly get together fella. Following sympathetic assessment Personnel. y our Social Work team, a report is On behalf of AJR members, the Chair­ SelfAid ^ade to the Trustees for decision. One- man and members of the Management he numbers whom we are helping off payments are also made in response Committee would like to express their continue to rise. No amount of to Unanticipated needs. A pilot care and appreciation for the dedication and pro­ money would help the growing ci T Waning service was introduced from fessionalism shown by members of staff numbers of our more unfortunate brothers t^ich 13 members benefited in the first during the past year, often in demanding and sisters who turn to us every week year. circumstances. without the dedicated work of all our staff Self Aid grants totalled ±197,000 in D Andrew Kaufman and volunteers. Our thanks to all of them. ^99, an increase of 22% over 1998. Chairman (Continued on page 10) AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

AJR — Income and Expenditure Account •~^17^S-^ Year ended 31st December 1999 Income: 1999 1998 -Membership/Donations AJR Keports and Legacies 255,710 208,278 Grant from Self Aid 5,000 items and music before being rescued by 260,710 213,278 NEWS FROMTHE GROUPS their chosen hero. There was nostalgia Less: South London and stimulation as the audience was Overhead Expenses Salary Costs 103,964 85,935 fter a short autobiographical treated to a wide variety of music from AJR Information 35,879 31,432 introduction, Dr Anthony Grenville opera and jazz to Welsh male voice .administration/ of the Research Centre for German choral music D Depreciation 54,558 52,848 A and Austrian Exile Studies, spoke on the 194,401 170,215 The next meeting of Pinner AJR will be on Thurs­ early years of the AJR as reflected in the Surplus: 66,309 43,063 day 4 May. Ann Ebner will speak on 'Historical first issues of AJR Information, tracing the Jewish London.' Summary of Balance Sheet story of German-speaking Jewish refu­ at 31st December 1999 1999 1998 gees from pre-war emigration to a loyal Fixed Assets Leeds (less depreciation) 38,221 7,403 and prosperous community. Although the Current Assets 271,887 242,560 refugees were not always made welcome he group's Secretaiy, John Chillag Less: Current Liabilities 00,911) (37,075) by the existing Anglo-Jewish population, - a concentration camp survivor - 279,197 212,888 many experienced warmth and magna­ Tspoke on 'How to find docu­ Represented by: nimity. The AJR provided a great deal of mentation of the Holocaust and Nazi Era', General Fund 212,888 169,825 a topic of obvious interest given the size Net surplus for year 66,309 43,063 support n of the audience. John shared his 279,197 212,888 The next meeting of the SLAJR will be on Thurs­ expertise, gained from years of his own Dowd Rothenberg, Hon. Treasurer 12 April 2000 day 11 May at South London Liberal Synagogue, research, on how to go about establishing Streatham. Subject: Nightingale House. the fate of family and friends who AJR CHARITABLE TRUST became victims of Nazi persecution and PAUL BALINT AJR DAY CENTRE Brighton and Hove murder. The key was the existence of Summary figure for the year ended detailed records kept by the Nazis, both 31st December 1999 he Rothschilds - a musical unfami­ in civic institutions and in camps, much liar to those present - was the Income: 1999 1998 of it now accessible to the families of Takings - Day Centre T subject of a talk by SLAJR member victims. Many records contain not only and meals-on-wheels 89,197 80,360 Walter Woyda, who gave a fascinating addresses but also photographs. Donations received 375 1,708 insight into life in the Lew Grade 89,572 82,068 entertainment empire. Hearing excerpts The audience included a Makor Youth Less outgoings: from the production score, many agreed Group which assisted members in the Premi.ses there was a strong resemblance to completion of their Page of Testimony fo"" expenditure (net) 2,204 1,940 the Yad Vashem Remembrance project. Salaries 121,192 114,147 'Fiddler on the Roof, written by the same Catering costs 185,985 186,651 duo. The musical traces the lives of the D Max Kingslei Sundry expenses 60,327 61,266 famous family from the Frankfurt ghetto At the next meeting of Leeds HFSA on 7 M^l' 369,708 364,004 Bernice Shooman will speak on 'The Holocaust Deficit Funded from to international banking. Why it ran for Charitable Trust 280,136 281,936 some 600 performances in New York but Education Forum.' Rabbi Ian Morris will speak ot^ never crossed the Atlantic was the subject 'The Wisdom of War Crimes Trials' on 25 J""^ AJR CHARITABLE TRUST - of discussion, the consensus being that fnot on 7 Aloy as previously advertised). Summary Income and another musical with a Jewish theme Expenditure Accounts (based on final draft figures) would not have been commercially viable. Year ended 31st December 1999 East Midlands Rudi Simmonds thanked the speaker for 1999 1998 The next meeting of East Midlands AJR will tak^ an interesting and entertaining morning. Income: place on Sunday 7 May at 3pm at Nottinghc"'^ Covenants/donations*• • 74,838 111,179 n F Goldberg Progressive Synagogue, Lloyd St, Sherwood, N°^' Investment income The next meeting of Sarid will be on Monday 15 tingham when Michael Jaecket will talk aPo^ (including portfolio the Anschluss and his experiences as a Kind^'' gains) 407,258 375,793 May, 10.45 a.m. at Ralli Hall, Denmark Villas, Sheltered housing 35,556 33,622 Hove. Cyril Jacobs will speak on 'The Life and transportee. The talk will be followed by 'Kaff^^' 517,652 520,594 Legacy of Mina Willis.' Contact Fausta Shelton Kuchen and Klatsch' U Legacies 2,172,487 418,324 for further information. 2,690,139 938,918 AUSTRIAN BANK Less outgoings: Pinner Day Centre 280,136 281,936 HOLOCAUST LITIGATION Self Aid 197,557 155,409 arry Hurst competently hosted a AJR has been informed that the Other organisations 18,900 18,900 Desert Island Discs of Swiss Cot­ closing date for submission of claims tage, inviting Martha Macdonnell, Depreciation 331,618 316,242 H for the above is 31 May 2000. £828,211 £772,487 Alf Keiles, Heidi Orchedusch, Ilse Rosen- Claim forms are obtainable frofO duft and Paul Samet to nominate their AJR Head Office - Tel 020 7431 6l6l •Includes contribution from World Jewish Relief towards selection of books, films, pictures, luxury welfare payments

10 AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

• • • Viewpcint • • • The age revolution f the latest bout of number crunching ducing spare body parts, or the use of Season/ by the Government's demographers is stem cells and genetic engineering, will AJR LUNCHEON CLUB I worthy of credibility, those of us who slow, halt, or even reverse the hitherto are - or soon will be - of pensionable anticipated decline in physical and onWednesday 17 May 2000 age stand on the threshold of a new gol­ mental capacities that are traditionally at l5CleveRoad,NW6 3RL den era in which the elderly will reassert regarded as the penalties of surviving I 1.45 for 12.1 Spm their primacy. By the year 2008 the num­ into old age'. ber of pensioners will actually exceed the How long will it take before the Guest speaker: number of children under the age of l6! authorities stop treating mature people Laszio Ekstein-Easton For the entire postwar period, the as political eunuchs whose opinions 'The fascination experience, wisdom and accumulated and concerns are all too readily dis­ of collecting antiques' knowledge of older and more mature counted? As an increasing component employees has continually been devalued of the adult population, their political Reservations £7.50 for everyone! in the face of a culture of youth - young clout, ambition and need outweigh from Sylvia, Renee and Susie ideas being preferred to old, new life­ those of younger and less well deser­ Tel: 020 7328 0208 styles muscling aside the aspirational ving groups in society. middle class values of the 1930s. Voices need to be raised to ensure that Nowadays, people are living much pensioners not only secure a TV licence, longer and remaining active and capable free entry to museums and galleries, of enjoying life decades later than their and a travel pass, but also the dignity AJR'Drop in'Advice Centre parents' and grandparents' generations. and security of a guaranteed income at the Indeed, the government is already float­ placed not below, but well above the Paul Balint AJR Day Centre ing the idea that the official retirement poverty level, as of right. Instead ot a age should be extended to 70. Only limping 75p increase in the basic state 15 Cleve Road. London NW6 3RL those in dull, boring or physically debili­ pension to £-66.75 per week in line with between lOam and 12 noon on ttie tating employment should be entitled to inflation, with many erstwhile retirees following dates: enjoy early retirement free of such toil, remaining in employment, the pension Thursday 4 May while the rest of us continue to contrib­ should be brought back into line with Tuesday 9 May ute to the wealth-creating economy. general earnings, a link deliberately Thursday 18 May Television programmes by the dozen broken some two decades ago. Wednesday 24 May explain how current advances in repro­ D Ronald Channing Tuesday 30 May Wednesday 7 June and every Thursday from I Oam to 12 noon at: PAUL BALINT AJR DAY CENTRE AJR, I Hampstead Gate, I a Frognal, 15 Cleve Road, West Hampstead, NW6 London NW3 6AL Mon. & Weds. 9.30am-3.30pm.Tues. & Thurs. 9.30am-5.30pm. Suns. 2pm-6.30pm No appointment is necessary, but please bring MAY/JUNE 2000 along all relevant documents, such as Benefit Afternoon entertainment programme - Sheila Games, piano Books, letters, bills, etc. Mon 1 DAY CENTRE CLOSED -BANK Wed 17 LUNCHEON CLUB HOLIDAY Thur 18 Sue Kennett, soprano, accompanied Tue 2 Susan Travers & June Lewis by Gordon Weaver, piano accompanied by Michael Heaton, Sun 21 DAY CENTRE OPEN - NO piano ENTERTAINMENT Accept our invitation to a Wed 3 Nicola Smedley accompanied by Mon 22 KARD & GAMES KLUB Jan Cunningham, piano Tue 23 Jack Davidoff Thurs 4 Jack & Rita Davis Wed 24 Katinka Seiner & Laszio Easton, Sun 7 DAY CENTRE OPEN - NO violin, accompanied by Peter ENTERTAINMENT Gellhorn, piano with musical entertainment, Mon 8 KARD & GAMES KLUB Thur 25 Dorothy Sayers, piano & accordion tea, coffee and pastries Tue 9 Judy Magnus & Gillian Sonin, Sun 28 DAY CENTRE OPEN - NO piano duo ENTERTAINMENT on Sunday 2 July 2000 Wed 10 Mark Rosen accompanied by Mon 29 DAY CENTRE CLOSED - BANK from 2.30-5pm Daphne Lewis HOLIDAY at the Paul Balint AJR Day Centre Thur 11 The Geoffrey Whirworth Duo with Tue 30 Susan Wilde, soprano, with piano Deborah Fink, soprano accompaniment 15 Cleve Road, NW6 Sun 14 DAY CENTRE OPEN - NO Wed 31 Wendy Stiles & Helen Collyer, Entrance by ticket only £6 ENTERTAINMENT voice & piano Mon 15 KARD & GAMES KLUB Thur 1 Helen Blake, voice & piano Please book with Sylvia, Renee & Susie Tue 16 Caroline Salmon Trutz, soprano & Sun 4 DAY CENTRE OPEN - NO Tel: 020 7328 0208 David Rose accompanied by ENTERTAINMENT

II AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

FAMILY Lily Freeman TORRINGTON HOMES FORTHCOMING EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENTS invites all her friends to the Mrs Pringsheim, S.R.N. MAY 2000 Birthday opening of her exhibition MATRON For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent Marx. The AJR would like to 'MAT>T>Y T>AINTfN6$' Thur 4 Lunchtime recital: (Ucensed by Borough of Barnet) Stephen Hadley (baritone) extend their very best wishes to at Hampstead Museum • Single and Double Rooms. and Paul Bateman (piano). • H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. former Chairman, Theo Marx, on Burgh House, New End Square, NW3 Sternberg Centre. 1.15pm, • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. the occasion of his SO"" birthday. i2. on Thursday 4 May • Nurse on duty 24 hours. Sun 7 Yom Ha'atzmaut 52: Deaths 6.30-8.30pm • Long and short term, including Brent Town Hall, Forty trial period if required. Francken. Hans Francken (born Exhibition continuing 5-21 May Lane, Wembley. 12-8pm. From £300 per week Aachen) died peacefully on 31 Wed-Sun inclusive l2-5pm Lectures, films, MP panel 020 8445 1171 Office hours debate and more. £.5/±3 March aged 91. Beloved father 020 8455 1335 other times (advance & concessions). and grandfather, admired by all NORTH FINCHLEY Zionist Federation who knew him. His loving fami­ SWITCH ON ELECTRICS 020 8343 9756 ly, children Barbara and John, The Knowledge: Rewires and all household Screenplay by Jack daughter-in-law Dee and grand­ electrical work. BELSIZE SQUARE Rosenthal, starring Nigel children James and Julia. APARTMENTS Hawthorne. 3pm, Jewish PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 Museum, Finchley. ±3 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, NWS Keiler. Karolina Keiler born (includes admission to Leipzig 2 November 1902, died Tel: 020 7794 4307 or Museum prior to film peacefully in London on 25 ALL ANTIQUES, 020 7435 2557 showing). They were not March 2000 at the age of 97. Silent: The US Jewish FURNITURE, MODERN SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY Labour Movement & the Widow of Lothar Keiler, sister of ROOMS, RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER BRIC A BRAC MODERATETERMS Holocaust. Lecture by Dr the late Irmgard Smurka and NEAR SWISS COTTAGE STATION G Malmgreen, New York cousin of the Kiwi family in the required for export. University. 7.30 pm, Jewish USA. Sadly missed by all who Please contact Mr Martin Woolman Museum, Finchley. £-2.50. Ralph Blumenau: knew and cared for her, partic­ Tel: 020 8906 9661 Mon 8 for an honest valuation Residential Home Psychology and History. ularly the Fuller family. Club 43, 7.30 pm. Clara Nehab House Wed 10 Yom Ha'atzmaut 52: Gala Salinger. Hilde Salinger died (Leo Baecl< Housing Associaton Ltd.) Show, Logan Hall, 20 peacefully in Birmingham, 8 13-19 Leeside Crescent NWl 1 Bedford Way, London March aged 94. Sadly missed by SHELTERED FLAT All rooms with ShowerW.C.and WCl. 8-lOpm. Tickets from relatives and friends. H/C Basins en-suite £6. Zionist Federation 020 AVAILABLE Spacious Garden - Lounge & 8343 9756 Schaefer. Nora Schaefer (widow at Cleve Road, Dining Room - Lift Sun 14 Textiles in Jewish Life: of Dr Ernst Schaefer of United West Hampstead, Near Shops and PublicTransport Lecture by Judith Weil. 24 Hour Care - Physiotherapy Restitution Office, died London above the Paul Balint AJR Day Centre Jewish Museum, Camden. Long & short Term - Respite Care • 1968) passed away on 10 April, 11am, ,i6 (or £7.50 with Large bright bedsitting room, fully Trial Periods bagel lunch). aged 96. Deeply regretted by equipped kitchen, bathroom/WC, lift. Enquiries: Josephine Woolf Mon 15 Mail from the Refugees children Katya Sheppard, Gina Rent £365 per month Inc. c.h./h.w. otto Schiff Housing Association of World War II (with MacKenzie , Andrew Sheppard, The Bishops Avenue N2 OBG slides): William Kaczynski. Phone: 020 8209 0022 family and friends. Apply to Carol Rossen, Club 43, 7.30pm. AJR Head Office, Tue 16 'Martin Buber and the CLASSIFIED I Hampstead Gate, Question of Community': Dr David Groiser, University For Sale: Signed lithograph of la Frognal, NW3 6AL ALTERATIONS of Sus.sex, 5.15pm (To be dancer (framed) by Jehuda OF ANY KIND TO repeated at a northwest Bacon, gobelin tablecloth edged LADIES' FASHIONS London venue in June). with hand crocheted lace. Price Are you keen to play I also design and make .Sun 21 Aftermath of the to be agreed on viewing. children's clothes Holocaust': Professor SCRABBLE, RUMMICUB, West Hampstead area Mankovitch on rethinking Telephone 020 7586 0232 or the role of survivors in ll""^ Fax 020 7813 0689. DOMIIVOES OR KALOOKI? 020 7328 6571 aftermath of the Holocaust- Do you live near Oicklewood? Spiro Institute. Reception For Sale: 6-month-old wheel­ 7.15 pm, lecture 8pm. chair made by Beard Bros. Do you have one afternoon AJR GROUP CONTACTS Mon 22 Vladimir Putin: How Pneumatic tyres. Cost £700, now a week free? Russia makes its Leeds HSFA: Trude Silman £.300 o.n.o. Tel: 020 8952 5411. If so, please contact Amanda presidents. Club at AJR Head Office 0113 225 1628 43, 7.30pm. Miscellaneous Services West Midlands: Edgar Glaser Thur/Fri 'Freud: Dreaming, Tel: 020 7431 6161 Creativity and Therapy'- Manicure & Pedicure in the (Birmingham) 0121 777 6537 25/26 to find out more University of London comfort of your own home. North: Werner Lachs Union, Malet Street, WCl- Telephone 020 8343 0976. (Manchester) Ol6l 773 4091 Information from Sussex Day Centre ADVERTISEMENT RATES East Midlands Bob Norton University Centre for (Nottingham) 01159 212 494 German-Jewish Studies. Shirley Lever at the Paul FAMILY EVENTS Dreyfus: Jean-Claude First 15 words free of charge, Pinner: 25 May Balint AJR Day Centre. New Vera Gellman Grumberg (translated by £2.00 per 5 words thereafter (HA Postal District) 020 8866 4833 - 1 July Jack Rosenthal). Tricycle clothes for sale, dresses, under­ CLASSIFIED, SEARCH S. London: Ken Ambrose theatre. 020 7328 1000. wear, cardigans etc. Tuesday 2 NOTICES - £2.00 per five words. 'SS in Britain': 020 8852 0262 Sun 28 and Wednesday 31 May 9-45- BOX NUMBERS - £3.00 extra. Documentary film by Surrey: Ernest Simon 11.45am. DISPLAY ADVERTS Julian Hendy. Harkness 01737 643 900 Hall, Birkbeck College, Societies per single column Inch Brighton & Hove Fausta Shelton London WCl. 2-4.30 P"''- Association of Jewish Ex- 65 mm (3 column page) £12.00 £4 (£2 Friends) Tickets (Sussex Region) 01273 688 226 Berliners and Ex-Breslauers. 48mm (4 column page) £10.00 from administrative COPYDATE 5 weeks prior to Wessex: Ralph Dale secretary, Wiener Library- Please contact Peter Sinclair 020 publication (Bournemouth) 01202 762 270 8882 1638 for information.

12 AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

but Richard Strauss' Salome was suc­ cessfully performed and Elektra will be staged this season at the Roman amphi­ theatre in Cesarea. Boycott of Austria. The Israel Philhar­ monic Orchestra has cancelled its planned ie National Gallery's current exhi­ concert tour; Elie Wiesel will not attend bition. Seeing Salvation: The the commemoration of the liberation of TImage of Christ, (until May 7) Mauthausen; Gerard Mortier, the Salzburg reflects the dual nature of the Christian Festival supremo, is leaving before expiry saviour, from inspirational leader to man of his contract; pianist Andras Schiff has of sorrows. Slave Ship, Turner 1775-1851, cuirently at the Tate. cancelled his concert at the "Washington The exhibits, from the 15* century Austrian embassy, George Tabori will no onwards, range from the tragic lumines­ longer work at Austrian theatres and play­ cence of Holbein's dead Jesus through ating his skill, not his statement, at a time wright Elfriede Jellinek has banned further Murillo's family values' Christ to Hier- when Britain had passed legislation to productions of her works in Austria. * onymus Bosch's goblins. The most Jewish ban the slave trade. Robert Stolz, the operetta composer, is painting - Murillo's Circumcision - a The champion of Millais, Holman Hunt, being honoured in a special matinee at tremendous play of light, shadow and Rosetti and Burne-Jones, Ruskin was the the Vienna State Opera arranged by lustre, presents the baby Jesus in upright son of a strict evangelical protestant Marcel Prawy. The proceeds will go to pose with clenched fists yet calm, mother, but his attraction to the free ex­ the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. unchildlike submission. In strong contrast pressionism of the pre-Raphaelites may Munich. The travelling exhibition Sag' to the downcast eyes of the High Priest have stemmed from his fear that the beim Abschied devoted to thirties' stars of and the others suggesting worldly accept­ Church was being seduced by Catholic stage and screen has generated great in­ ance, his are wide open, hinting at ritualism of the Oxford Movement. His terest. It focuses on 'yesterday's greats', Worldly knowledge. own self-portraits betray a darkness be­ such as Bergner, Kortner, Roda Roda, The more contemporary desire to bring neath their delicacy. Rejected by the Katscher, Farkas, Bressart and Franziska Christ home is reflected in Stanley Spen­ parents of the girl he loved - she later Gaal, every one of whom was uniformly der's attempt to resurrect him in his local died - his own life eventually disinte­ reviled in the Nazi press D parish church at Cookham, amid pastoral grated into morbidity and depression. Tony and bucolic wonder. Salvador Chardin at The Royal Academy (till Dali's Christ looking down on the world May 29) is full of studied significance; Soho scene from his cross does the opposite. In dis­ featuring the fruits of the hunt. In a typi­ he Soho Theatre, which has tancing Jesus from the humanity which so cal still-life, a dead hare or rabbit is replaced the former Dean Street tonured him, it brings a sense of spiritual depicted beside a casserole and an or­ TSynagogue, has been totally rebuilt passion and grandeur and is regarded as ange. Often the hare appears in rigor and is now an impressive 200 seat an evocation of Hiroshima. But for me mortis, legs upright; a powder flask be­ modern theatre. It is to be the permanent ^he subtlety and depth of Rembrandt's side him, but the real subject is the home of the Soho Theatre Company, painting of Simeon holding the baby absent hunter. Chardin perceives objects specialising in new plays. Christ, remains the ultimate image of be­ through the innocence of children; his lit­ The opening production was Station, a ginning and endings. eralism is on the knife-edge of horror. one-act play by Jonathan Lichtenstein, set This month's opening of Tate Modern Analogies with Proust have been drawn in Beriin in 1938 and 1989. It deals with •^t Bankside sees the Tate Gallery at in the intensity of observation. In fact the difference in attitude of a young Eng­ '*^illbank reclaim its original role as the Chardin was ahead of his time, for in the lish Jew and his grandmother who home of British art. Thematic galleries in physicality of the fruit is the tenderness survived the war in Germany. "With much ^he Tate under the collective title, Re- and the crudeness of life and death be­ reluctance, she tells him of her traumatic ^esenting Britain, go back to the 15* side a cooking pot - especially if you experiences. A very moving play. ^^ntury and the major exhibition is happen to be a rabbit. Often the split For those readers who venture South of ^Uskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphael- fruit evokes the spilt blood of the animal, the Thames, the Warehouse Theatre in **^ (till May 29) marking the centenary a recurring theme in his work. East Croydon also specialises in new plays '^f John Ruskins death. The great art D Gloria Tessler and very recently produced a play on the '''"'tic's influence on the pre-Raphaelite life history of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya. 'Movement is demonstrated by his sup­ A mixture of biography and his music to­ port for Turner's raw naturalism, in which SB's Column gether with excellent casting made for a ^^ saw a return to certain artistic truths pera in Israel. After several very enjoyable evening. U Edward Levy achieved through colour, detail and clar- unsuccessful attempts to establish '^y- Ruskin's aim was to throw off the Oa permanent base, the New Israeli 'gidity of academic correctness he per- Opera moved into its new home in Tel Annely Juda Fine Art 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) "^^ived in art after Raphael. Aviv in 1994. It is currently operating a Tel: 020 7629 7578 Fax: 020 7491 2139 •'et in Turner's painting of slaves stagione system in conjunction with CONTEMPORARY PAINTING hfown off a slave ship, Ruskin ignored opera houses in Hamburg, Frankfurt and AND SCULPTURE th ^ artists humanistic message, evalu- St Petersburg. "Wagner is still 'off limits',

13 AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

KtNDERTRJUNSPORT NEWS SPRING Invitation to KT-AJR's first get-together at AJR Day Centre GROVE l^\^ 214 Finchley Road, London NW3 AJR's Kindertransport special interest group is pleased to invite members to its first Ij London's Most Luxurious 'Luncheon and Get-together", to be held on Monday 22"'' May. reception at 12 noon, RETIREMENT HOME at the Paul BalmtAJR Day Centre, IS Cleve Road, West Hampstead, NW6. * Entertainment-Activities ollowing arrival and welcome, at 12.30pm members will be invited to enjoy a * Stress Free Living delicious three-course kosher luncheon prepared and cooked by the Centre's * 24 Hour Staffing * Excellent Cuisine Fown specialist catering team. After lunch, members of AJR's senior staff, including * Full En-Suite Facilities the managers of the Day Centre, will be introduced and you may take this opportunity Call for more information to let them know how frequendy you would want to meet and what kind of entertain­ or a personal tour ment, speakers, hobbies or outings you would prefer. Above all, it will be a social 020 8446 2117 occasion which will allow us the opportunity to meet other Kinder and renew old or 020 7794 4455 acquaintances. At long last the Kinder have a central meeting place - with the full support of the AJR - and you are urged to make good use of our new home. This first get-together will be a milestone in the nature and scope of Kindertransport activities. After last /^ ^ year's reunion, many people expected us to fold our tents and simply disappear. But Companions we have much unfinished work to do: to bring into our ranks all Kinder who have not yet joined our community and to offer them a framework within which they can de­ of London velop their memories and even reclaim lost identities. Together we shall build a Incorporating platform on which we can all express our feelings and come to terms with our experi­ ^ Hampstead Home Care:^ ences, develop a group whose members share a common history and within which A long established company each one of us can feel at home.' providing care in your home It is essential to telephone Sylvia, Susie or Renee on 020 7328 0208 to con­ firm your booking for 22"*' May so please do so as soon as possible to secure * Assistance with personal care your place. * General household duties AJR's Day Centre in Cleve Road is a short walk from West Hampstead Underground * Respite care Station. Alternatively, bus 328 from Golders Green Station via West End Lane, stops at * Medical appointment service the top of Cleve Road, and bus Cll from Finchley Road Underground Station stops right outside the Day Centre. Looking foi^ward to welcoming you. U David Jedwab OUR CARE IS YOUR CARE' 020 7483 0212/0213

Science Notebook Simon P. Rhodes M.Ch.S. STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST pois ultimately triumphed. Surgeries at; 'Units are friends' Liquid measures also differed: the beer 67 Kllburn High Road, NW6 (opp M&S) rom the beginning of this year it gallon held 280 cubic inches and the Telephone 020 7624 1576 became illegal in Britain to sell food wine gallon 231 cubic inches. The latter 3 Queens Close (off Green Lane) F and other loose goods in pounds was abolished in the UK in 1824 but Edgware, Middx HAS 7PU instead of in kilograms - a further remained the only legal gallon in USA Telephone 020 8905 3264 decisive shift from imperial to metric (that's why you need more gallons to fill Visiting chiropody service available measurements. What are the origins of up your car in America). Eventually, by these two systems? Acts of Parliament in 1824, 1855 and The English units of weights and 1878, British units (called imperial) be­ spread around the world because of '^^ measures came mainly from the Romans came standardised throughout the simplicity, all its units being interrelate*' and Anglo-Saxons and were largely re­ country. by powers of ten. For example, 1 metr''- tained after the Norman conquest. The In other European countries, too, tonne = 1000 kg whereas 1 imperial ton " smallest Anglo-Saxon measure of length weights and measures used to be in a 2240 lb. was the barleycorn, and three of these chaotic state. After the French revolution, "Units are friends" I always told my stU' placed end-to-end defined the inch. The the French Academy of Sciences decided dents in stressing the importance of using Roman pound (libra, hence lb) weighed to introduce an all-embracing decimal the right units. Failure to do this was dra' the same as 240 English silver pennies system. The basic length unit was called matically illustrated in October 199" so the latter were also called a (mon­ the metre (metron in Greek means meas­ when the $125 million Mars climate etary) pound. (Its symbol ± derives from ure): it was taken as one ten-millionth of Orbiter spacecraft was lost because th Libra.) But, confusingly, by the Middle the meridian arc from the North Pole to force for the final thrusters' fittings ^^* Ages at least four types of pound were the equator. Its exact value was later calculated by Lockhead in Colorado ''' in use: troy, tower, avoirdupois, and fixed by a platinum bar and subsequently imperial units and transmitted to the cof^' mercantile. For centuries the units of by the wavelength of light emitted by trolling NASA laboratory in California trade depended on the goods involved certain atoms. The kilogram, the basic who assumed the figures were in mctn'- and also varied from region to region, mass unit, was defined as the weight of units. A deplorable and expensive blnf despite attempts by monarchs to impose one cubic decimetre (1 litre) of distilled der! uniform standards. The pound avoirdu­ water at 4°C. The metric system gradually D Prof Michael Spi^

14 AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

Jewish music - it's official Glorious Gershwin 50 YEARS AGO se\enteen-year dream has come he life, times and incomparable to fruition with the launch of the melodies of George Gershwin were HELP BEYOND THE CHANNEL AJewish Music Institute (JMI). With Tput under the spotlight by his The Jewish Relief Unit from Great Britain its academic base at London University's biographer, music guru and radio and recently terminated its activities in Germany. School of Oriental and African Studies television concert producer, Rodney Trained in this country at a time when the end (SOAS), the Institute will promote the of the war was not yet in sight, Jewish Greenberg, during Jewish Book Week. volunteers left for the Continent and study and performance of all aspects of With good humour, using audio-visual established Relief Centres in the Western Jewish music from traditional Yiddish folk aids (unreliable) and playing electronic Zone of Occupation and in Berlin after the end of hostilities. music to contemporary Israeli composi­ piano, Greenberg recalled Gershwin, tions. As the Institute's Joint President, born in 1898 Brooklyn to Russian immi­ The staff, which at the peak time in 1946 Lady Solti takes the place of the late and grant parents, at 15 already a talented consisted of 100 volunteers, included a very great Sir Yehudi Menuhin. high proportion of Jews from Germany and piano-playing song-plugger on Tin Pan Austria, who considered It their duty to help The audience at SOAS was treated to a Alley, with brother Ira, who wrote the those who had not had the good fortune of flavour of the JMI's future work in the words to George's music, and their leaving the Continent in time. form of a Klezmer duet (with consum­ young sister Frankie. D A]R Information, May 1950 mate clarinet playing by one of Klezmer's "He couldn't help writing marvellous foremost proponents, Gregori Schechter), tunes," said Greenberg, who regarded the nostalgia of a Yiddish folksong Gershwin as one of the twentieth cen­ AjR ^ « Performed by youthful octogenarian folk- tury's greatest composers. Progressing invites you to the singer Majer Bogdanski, a Sephardi song through piano rolls, prohibition parties, for soprano and harp and - undoubtedly orchestrated jazz, Broadway musicals, the highlight - a performance of Mendel­ Hollywood films to concert scores and Ifladel^ine Brooh ssohn's Octet, opus 20 on Stradivari opera, he composed such eternal tunes Bridge Evening instruments loaned by the Royal Acad­ as The Man I Love, Someone Who 'll Watch emy of Music. Amongst the speakers Over Me, Embraceable You, Strike Up the on Tuesday 23 May 2000 Welcoming the new arrival were com­ Band, not to mention Rhapsody in Blue at the Day Centre poser, Reith lecturer and Cambridge 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL and Porgy and Bess. Our Love is Here to Emeritus Professor Alexander Goehr and Stay, written not long before George's life Supper 6.30pm - 7.30pm Sir Tim Lankester, Director of SOAS. was ended tragically in 1937 by a tumour Rubber Bridge 7.30pm - 10.30pm The JMI has a full programme of Jewish when he had not yet reached his 39th Tickets to be purchased in advance Tiusic to be played throughout the year, birthday, was immortalised by Gene Kelly Donation £ 18 (no appeal) including the London International Jewish in the evergreen film An American in Please telephone Sylvia, Renee or Susie '^usic Festival, between 11 June and 13 Paris. on 020 7328 0208 Jtily, and a Jewish Culture Day at the Rodney Greenberg believed that South Bank on 26 November. The birth of Gershwin was never a happy man, but ^he JMI puts Jewish music on the map he certainly left us a legacy of happiness 3nd acknowledges a contribution to the in his compositions which unquestion­ GERMAN and ^orld of music which extended from ably owed much to the Yiddish songs Biblical times to the present day. his and other Russian-Jewish families El^GLISH BOOKS Further information about the JMI and packed in their luggage when leaving BOUGHT "•s activities can be obtained from: JMI Tel: for the New Wodd. 020 8909 2445 and from wivwJmi.org.uk Antiquarian, secondhand and U Marion Koebner n Ronald Channing modern books of quality always wanted. WITH APPRECIATION We're long-standing advertisers VVe would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for the legacies received in 1999 by die here and leading buyers of books AJR and the AJR Charitable Trust from the estates of the following: from AJR members. Gerda Andrew Senta Friedlander Edith Loewy-Kiewe Arnold Rosenstrauch Immediate response to your letter Mrs E Baer Fritzi Gampell Minna Margulies Edith Rudinger or phone call. Mrs R Barnes Karl Goitein Mrs S Metzger Adolph Schallamach We pay good prices and Elise Benedict Eugen Green Thea Moss Mr I Singer come to collect. Leonard Berger Margaret Hacker Frieda Muller Greta Sobel Hugo Breiner Eva Marie Hirst Paul Philipp Hans Strauss Please contact: Hildegarde Danziger Alice Jacobi Zigmund Pick Fanny Urbach Robert Hornung MA(Oxon) Helene Falik Mrs F Kahane Mathilde Pickardt Gusti Walsh 2 Mount View, Ealing, Dr Heinz Feldheim Ursula Knight Eva Gabriele Reichmann London W5 IPR Olga Field Ruth Knoller Jacob Robinsohn Telephone 020 8998 0546 Irene Friedenfeld Margot Kogut Liesel Alice Rollman (Spm to 9pm is best)

15 AJR INFORMATION MAY 2000

NEWSROUND cold), Moscow (too much dill), Chicago Soup of the evening, (too much carrot) and San Francisco Compensation fund agreement (Shenson's slogan: Only a shnook would The likelihood of payments from the beautiful soup cook - turned out to be closed on Mon­ German Government's DM10 billion slave here have been two recent news days). I have succeeded triumphantly in labour compensation fund being made items about chicken, so contra­ Antwerp (Hoffy's in the Diamond Quar­ before the end of this year has increased Tdictory that, given the public's ter). In London, Bloom's in Golders following an agreement between claimant impressionable nature, it is quite possible Green and Harry Morgan in St John's groups. 'Slave workers' will be entitled to that the people rushing into the shops in Wood are the best I've found, though the up to DM15,000 each, while the remaining response actually collided with those Nosherie near Farringdon Station used to funds will be used to settle Jewish rushing out. be Antwerp-class (complete with Jewish property claims and to support cultural In a scholarly article, two Israeli doctors grandmas to serve you) until a terrible programmes and Holocaust research. argued that the World Health Organis­ decline set in a few years back. Justice delayed? ation's List of Essential Drugs should To be safe, it should be served at Former Nazi doctor Heinrich Gross, henceforth be enhanced by the addition of home. Boil the chicken - not too fast - in whose conviction for manslaughter had chicken soup. Inclusion on the list de­ a giant saucepan of water. Then skim off been set aside on appeal in 1951, was pends on proving that a drug is as relevant the froth (with a wet tablespoon, I'm deemed unfit to plead to new charges of now as it was 20 years ago. A blink of the told) and throw in carrots, an onion or murder. Following a television interview eyelid. We are talking millennia here. two and celery. My sister-in-law Liz, who in which he claimed there was a lack of Lacey and Danziger, in their recent is pretty ace, insists on a tomato and a evidence against him, the trial judge best-seller The Year 1000, say that touch of parsley. Season well. Simmer it brought forward an investigation into his 'incapacity'. chicken soup was well-known then for imperceptibly for three or four hours at its soothing and restorative powers. But least. You must leave it overnight in the Out of tune Abraham Ohry and Jenni Tsafir, writing fridge, so next day you can skim the fat Israel Symphony Orchestra's inclusion of in the December issue of the Canadian off; my mum was most insistent on that. Wagner's Siegfried Idyll in this year's Medical Association Journal, take it back Then chuck out the chicken and the repertoire faced considerable opposition. even further, to Talmudic times, when it vegetables; it's a soup not a jungle. Serve Israel's Simon Wiesenthal Centre objected was known that broth of fowl could cure with vermicelli or kreplach, a sort of ra­ on the grounds that Holocaust survivors constipation, haemorrhoids, leprosy and violi, or - best of all - kneidlach, the contributed to the orchestra's support the black humours. dumplings otherwise known as matzo through public funding. Anyway, it certainly dates back to my balls. (When Marilyn Monroe dined with Antisemitism in Switzerland grandmother, who made the best chicken her future in-laws, Arthur Miller's parents, Two separate surveys of Swiss attitudes to soup in North London. (Don't argue, she three Friday nights running, she eventu­ Jews (reports the Jewish Chronicle) re­ did.) My mother, bless her, was a very ally asked: "Isn't there any other part oi vealed continuing antisemitism and close rival. My wife does extremely well, the matzo you can eat?"). The end result ignorance about the Holocaust. However, considering - the major problem being should be a translucent, far more gold there was also support for restitution and that chicken soup, proper chicken soup, than brown: the kneidlach should gleani evidence of greater tolerance among the should only be made with a boiling like Carrara marble lit by the noonday young. fowl, i.e. a hen which has lived long sun. My grandmother always added a gar­ Holocaust denier jailed enough to acquire a bit of flavour, as nish of peas. In my view, the experience Armand Amaudruz, 79, editor and opposed to one of the tiny innocents should not be spoiled by having to worry publisher of a racist publication, was the massacred in their millions by modern about leaving room for the next course. first to be convicted in Switzerland under mass-agribusiness. These now appear to Some would say that for true Jewish aU' a five-year-old law against racism. He be unobtainable in Britain except from thenticity, one should be nagged gently was prosecuted for publishing articles the handful of big-city kosher butchers. through the meal. But believe me, it '* declaring the Holocaust to be a myth, an The rabbis, obsessed by how animals the soup not the nagging that banishes accusation he repeated in court. die, don't seem bothered how they actu­ black humours. As for leprosy, all I caO Remembering Hugo Gryn ally live. The rabbis, however, are right in say is that a lifetime of this medicine ha* Known and admired for his contribution believing that God did not intend us to kept me entirely leprosy-free. And flu to religious understanding, Rabbi Hugo be vegetarian. Why else was this benison bugs don't stand a chance. Gryn will be memorialised in an annual conferred on humankind? And I need to The NHS should be distnbuting chickeH Fellowship in Religious Tolerance at the be blessed with it at very regular inter­ soup in doctors' waiting rooms. It woul'' Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations in vals. The urge hits me hardest when save the country a fortune. Cambridge. travelling. I go down mean streets trying D Matthew Eng^' Controversial art web site to score a bowl of chicken soup the way The names of over 2,000 looted pain­ other men hunt out kinky sex. It is easy tings, many of which were to hang in enough in New York, though Wolfs, just BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE Hitler's art gallery in Linz, have been south of Central Park, has closed, as has 51 Belsize Square, London N.W.3 published on a German Government its neighbour, the New York Deli, where Our communal hall is available for website. The list is alleged to include they would throw an entire hen into the cultural and social functions. paintings whose provenance can in fact bowl if you wanted. But I have been dis­ Tel: 020 7794 3949 be substantiated. • f^j^ appointed in Tel Aviv (the soup was

Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain. I Hampstead Gate. IA Frognal. London NW3 6AL Tel; 020 7431 5161 Fax: 020 7431 8454 Printed in Great Britain by Freedman Brothers (Printers) Ltd. London NWl I 7QB. Tel: 020 8458 3220 Fax: 020 8455 6860