AJR Information

Volume XLVII No. 12 December 1992

£3 (to non-members)

Don't miss . . . When to - and when not to - genuflect Questions of Justice p3 Name calling p7 Reconciliation: a stony path 1992 Concert report p8 mong the various protests over the Queen's the prosaic level of statistics the .^.S,000 firestorm visit to Dresden one stood out h)r sheer victims pale into insignificance beside the hecatombs Senile Astomach-turning impudence: the demand that of Warsaw's Shoah dead! rogues 7 she copy Willie Brandt's Warsaw ghetto gesture and Dresden had, of course, not been the only C?erman drop to her knees to ask the Dresdeners' forgiveness. town in the R.A.F's bomb sights. Hamburg and eff Rooker, MP, The protesters, with their vaunted disregard h)r the Cologne, which shared a similar fate, would have is continuing to truth, ignored the debt all Germans owe Britain h)r given Her Majesty a differrent reception. The Dres­ urge the her solitary courage in 1940 which alone made the arraignment of deners acted the way they did because h)r 45 years Jex-SS general overthrow of Nazi tyranny possible. D.D.R. Cold Warriors incited them to brood on the Mohnke for East Germans, in fact, owe Britain a twofold debt, memory of the raid by the potent device of leaving a murdering 90 because without Churchill's refusal to condone Soviet central part of their bomb-damaged city a heap of British PoWs after aggrandisement, vide his Iron Curtain speech of 1946, rubble. Dunkirk. The and subsequent U.K. actions the Berlin Wall might To this deliberate re-infection of old woimds is now Hamburg well still be standing to this day. added the incision of new wounds on old scar tissue, prosecutor has let In pursuing the justified end of victory over Hitler to wit the burning down of the Jewish barracks at the case go by Bomber Harris may have employed less-than-justifi- Sachsenhausen. At the time when Sachsenhausen and default, arguing able means, but even to mention this in the same Dachau were 'operational' Bruno Heilig wrote a Mohnke was 'over age'. breath as Nazi genocide — the trigger for Brandt's personal account of incarceration in that hell entitled genuflection at Warsaw - is a inindnumbing effront­ Men Crucified. Heilig's choice of title was both right Simultaneously Honecker and ery characteristic of the German ultra Right. In total and subtly wrong. It was wrong because the metaphor other Communist contrast to the Dresden raid the Nazi killing of Jews of Jews nailed to the cross used an image from the contemporaries of was not a means to an end, but an end in itself; even at founding myth of Christianity, the-Jewish-instigated Mohnke face trial — crucifixion of Jesus, and stood it on its head as it in Berlin. The fact WE WISH ALL OUR READERS were. that judicial Recent research (by Haim Landau, A. N. Wilson proceedings are and others) has torn gaping holes in the Ciospel sometimes held up writers' account of the historical Jesus, and the by the defendants' Catholic C;hurcb has officially repented of its previous ill-health has been demonisation of the Jews. Ihoiigh scholarship and eagerly seized on by opponents of 'political correctness' can effect shifts in public the British War consciousness — as seen by the debunking of Colum­ Crimes Bill. bus during the Quincentenary — when it comes to Age is a flexible cleansing Christianity of its antisemitic accretions one concept, however; step forward is usually followed by one step back. 'dotards' like A case in point is the Pope's visit to Arez/.o to re­ Deng, Mitterand consecrate the newly restored church with the famous and Nelson frescoes by Piero della Francesca. The painter illus­ Mandela currently trated episodes from the medieval Golden Legend guide the destinies purporting to tell of the vicissitudes of the 'true cross' of millions of used in the Oucifixion. One fresco in the cycle is people. Whether someone is fit to called The Torture of the Jew; it shows St Helena, stand trial surely mother of Emperor Constantine, half-drowning a depends on their Jerusalemite Jew to make him reveal the hiding place 'physiological' of the true cross. rather than Was it too much to expect the Pope to combine A HAPPY CHANUKAH numerical age. D continued on paf^e 2 coltiinn ! AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

New Vienna Synagogue Profile In October the Austrian Head of State opened a new Sephardi synagogue in the Tempelgasse, Leopoldstadt. Bundespriisi- Valuable asset only known queue-jumper is Prince dent Klestil said the house of prayer would Charles. He had only to wait one year.) serve that sizable part of the 5,000 Soviet Where Andrew Kaufman breaks with Jewish immigrants to Vienna who originate convention is in the depth of his feelings from Asiatic Russia. D about the refugee community, especially those who have faced difficulties, psycho­ logical and financial, in their lives. He feels Ambiguous Dietrich that innovations such as the Paul Balint AJR commemoration Day Centre, the meals-on-wheels service Berlin is currently compensating for the and the very existence of the AJR are rather shabby funeral it accorded its most extremely important. He also believes that famous daughter. It is staging a commemor­ the question of identity is paramount; ative exhibition, and a nostalgic 'Ufa Revue' 'Our children and our children's children entitled Bonihcnstinimung. The latter, a should know where they have come from'- slickly produced and hugely popular show, Mrs Kaufman, Susie, is well known to alas, smacks of a glorification of Nazi AJR members. She does great work at the culture. D Paul Balint AJR Day Centre where she is one of the two regular social workers and is Quote of the year .•\iidreii' Kattfiiiait. I'hoto: Newman. also responsible for overseeing the centre s catering facilities. nusually for the profile section of The recipient of this year's prestigious As a person Mr Kaufman is energetic and AJR Information, this month's sub­ Biichner Prize is Georg Tabori, the Hungar­ affable. His cheerful exterior does not hide, ject was born after the war and is ian-born, former U.S.-domiciled British U nor should it, the depth of his personality- not himself a refugee. Andrew Kaufman, passport holder currently enjoying a vogue Without his easygoing charm he would be a however, is from a refugee background and as playwright and director in Germany and formidable figure - with it he is very human. does a great deal of work on behalf of the Austria. Wolf Biermann ended his laudatio Andrew and his wife Susan live, with refugee community both as a Trustee of the at the award ceremony in Darmstadt by their two children, in Stanmore, Middlesex. AJR Charitable Trust and a member of the crediting Tabori with authorship of the He is a keen sportsman and a staunch Executive Committee of the AJR. In his slogan 'When I hear the word revolver I supporter of Watford EC. Again the facts, professional life he is a lawyer specialising reach for niv culture'. D on paper, paint a conventional picture. It isi in Anglo-German issues, including pension however, in meeting the man that one and restitution claims. comes to realise his true worth. Also unusual is the fact that Mr Kauf­ D M.N. man's father, who sought refuge in Britain in 193.3, was also born here. The family first came to the U.K. in 1907, the year Andrew's continued from front page father was born. During the first World War his father was interned h)r three years on the reflection with genuflection before a piece or Isle of Man. Upon being released in 1918 he religious art that perpetuates the age-old BELSIZE SQUARE SYNAGOGUE took his family back to Germany. When the stereotyping of Jews as inveterate enemies Nazis came to power he was eligible for a of Christianity? Could he not have followed 51 BELSIZE SQUARE, NW3 British passport which enabled him to the example of the Church of England who return to his birthplace. In 1942 he married through the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln We offer a traditional style of and in 1946 Andrew was born. Cathedral disavowed the ritual murder religious service with Cantor, On paper Mr Kaufman's achievements accusations brought against the local Jewish Choir and organ look fairly conventional. He graduated community in the case of little Hugh oi from Oxford in 1968 and took articles with Lincoln 800 years ago? D the legal firm of Pritchard Englefield Leader Further details can be obtained from Henderson. Twenty-one years later he is a our synagogue secretary managing partner with Pannone and HILARY'S AGENCY Partners, a firm of solicitors familiar to AJR Specialists in Long and Short-Term Live-in Care Telephone 071-794-3949 Informaticm readers as Pritchard Englefield RESPITE AND EiVlERGENCY CARE and Tobin. He is also a member of the CARE FOR THE ELDERLY British-German Jurists' Association, Vice- HOUSEKEEPERS Minister: Rabbi Rodney J. Mariner RECUPERATION CARE Cantor: Rev Lawrence H. Fine President of the Association of German MATERNITY NURSES Speaking Lawyers, a Special Member of the NANNIES AND MOTHER'S HELPS EMERGENCY MOTHERS Regular services: Friday evenings at 6.30 pm, Dcutscher Anivaltsverein (German Law­ Saturday mornings at 10 am Caring and Experienced Staff Available yers' Association) and a member of the We will be happy to discuss your Religion school: Sundays at 10 am to 1 pm Garrick Club. (It takes seven years on requirements PLEASE PHONE Space donated by Pafra Limited average from being named as a potential member to becoming fully accepted. The 081-559-1110 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

the Queens Bench Division of the High Questions of justice Court. Criminals brought to The trial lasted for five weeks. Witnesses Booker n July 1989, the Home Secretary's inde­ came from many countries to testify. On the pendent War Crimes Inquiry, headed by grounds that Leon Uris had overstated the I Sir Thomas Hetherington and Mr Wil­ number of surgical operations in which Dr t the time of the Lords' rejection of liam Chalmers, reported on its findings. On Dering had been involved — fewer than 200 the War Crimes Bill the 'antis' 10 May 1991, the War Crimes Act received rather than over 1000 - the verdict was in Astressed two points. Bewigged legal the Royal Assent, making it possible for the the plaintiff's favour. But the jury expressed luminaries challenged the feasibility of pre­ first time ever for a British subject to be tried its strong disapproval of those of his war­ senting clear-cut evidence of crimes by a British court for certain serious time activities which figured in this case by committed nearly half a century ago. Others offences allegedly committed at a time when awarding him contemptuous damages of were averse to having details of the Holo­ he or she owed national allegiance else­ one half-penny, the lowest coin of legal caust rehashed in the courts and the press. where. Thus far, no such prosecutions have tender at that time; and he was ordered to They argued likewise that too much time been brought. pay the legal costs of the defendant. had elapsed; since reopening war crimes But although, admittedly, no one has yet cases might stoke the Hres of xenophobia it been charged under the Act, is it in fact true Crimes of war was more politic to let sleeping dogs lie. that no British court has ever given its As a matter of interest the present gener­ In 1987, Scottish Television screened a opinion on a crime of war? Not so. There ation of English writers do not accept their docimientary entitled 'Crimes of War' in are at least two cases which leave no doubt elders' and betters' - the average age in the order 'to reveal the graphic and harrowing as to the court's opinion of the kind of crime House of Lords is 75 — prescription. Year in, evidence against alleged Nazi war criminals against humanity which the Act is designed year out, the Holocaust resurfaces as a living in this country'. Much of the pro­ to outlaw retrospectively. No criminal major theme in books on the shortlist for gramme was filmed in the Baltic and record has resulted from these proceedings, the Booker Prize (the most prestigious Western regions of the then Soviet Union, since both were heard by civil courts as literary award in the country). 1991 yielded where the 'campaigning journalist' respon­ claims of defamation. Each of the plaintiffs Time's Arroiv, Martin Amis' dubious sible for it carried out extensive research challenged statements made in public whose experiment in playing fashionably 'post­ over a period of six weeks. He discovered truth they vigorously disputed: hence their modernist' tricks with horror by telling the that the extermination policy was carried recourse to the law of libel. story of a death camp doctor back to front. out by some non-Germans with such enthu­ siasm that even senior SS-officers were Rewarding career scandalised; and he decided that if any of Sins of the fathers The first concerned a gynaecologist who the people who had perpetrated these Last year also saw Booker judge Nicholas came to this country at the end of the war as horrors actually lived in Great Britain they Mosley resign from the jury when his a member of the Polish Forces under the should be exposed. colleagues spurned Allan Massie's more command of General Anders. He practised It was alleged that one such person lived sensitive - if still somewhat manipulative - first at a hospital in London, then joined the in Edinburgh. By birth a Lithuanian, he, Holocaust novel The Sins of the Fathers. Colonial Service as a medical officer. He too, had come to Britain after serving briefly This year's shortlist included two more spent some time in Africa and was awarded with the Free Poles under Anders. But books with a Holocaust background. One the O.B.E. Upon his return to England he before that, so the argument ran, he had was Ian McEwan's Black Dogs whose key established himself as a general practitioner commanded a Lithuanian auxiliary police episode features two dogs trained to savage in Ealing. He might well have looked unit and as such had taken part in the mass Gestapo prisoners. The other was Serenity towards comfortable retirement as a res­ murder of civilians, mostly Jews. In 1992, House, named after a luxury retirement pected British citizen, able to look back with Anton Gecas, now aged 76, sued Scottish home where an ex-death camp doctor hides satisfaction on a rewarding professional Television for libel. The case was heard by out; its author, Christopher Hope, is a career, not overly disturbed by certain the Edinburgh Court of Session. Gecas South African long revolted by the iniquity aspects of a former life - such as the fact appeared before it in order to deny know­ of apartheid. A third book on the 1992 that he had been a prisoner at Auschwitz, ledge of any atrocities in 1941 and 1942. Booker shortlist, Michele Roberts' where he had succumbed to pressure and But the decision went against him and he Daughters of the House, harks back to the participated in the brutal sterilisation sur­ lost the case, condemned in terms by the Nazi occupation in France. gery to which numbers of inmates were presiding judge for crimes against 'innocent On this evidence issues which the noble subjected. His membership of the Polish Soviet citizens, including Jews'. Lords consider rather passe still haunt the army-in-exile notwithstanding, Dr Wladis- imagination of some of the most talented law Dering had been a wanted man in post­ And there the matter rests for the time being. Gecas may appeal. Or he may face representatives of the Republic of Letters. war Poland on charges of war crimes. The pen, as they say, is inightier than the However, requests for his extradition from indictment under the War Crimes Act. Or neither of these eventualities may happen. wig. this country had been shelved and then D R.G. refused. All seemed to go well for him until, But British courts have heard and judged on in 1959, a book was published in which Dr two occasions crimes of war and spoken out Dering was described as a collaborator with against the culpability of those who perpe­ GOLDMAN the Nazis in the horrendous medical experi­ trated them. In each case, the reverse had been the intention of the plaintiff. But then, Curtains made to measure. ments carried out at Auschwitz. He sued the Select material in your own home. author and the publisher of 'Exodus' for the sword of justice is indeed a two-edged Rail, blinds supplied and fitted. libel and Dering v Uris was heard in 1964 in weapon. Telephone: 081-205 9232 .„ D David Maier AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

Reviews

foreign news editor, Nick Davies, were Asking the wrong Mossad agents. Exhibitions Then there is the illumination thrown on question Israel's nuclear programme, begun in the he Burgkloster Museum in Liibeck is 1950's, though the Knesset was only presently showing the exhibition Yoel Cohen, NUCLEAR AMBIGUITY - THE informed of the existence of the Dimona Aspects of Jeivish Life which deals VANUNU AFFAIR, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992, T with the history of Liibeck's former Jewish, £10.99 reactor in 1960. Cohen concludes: 'Vanu­ nu's claim that crucial decisions about this mainly Ashkenasi, community and traces its programme were taken outside the parlia­ origin in the general re-immigration of Jews srael's worst kept secret - her nuclear mentary process and even without the full from Poland into Northern Germany. capability — was well known to every consent of the Cabinet, are well-founded'. From 1.3 December 1992 to .31 January I student of Middle Eastern affairs long He adds that the Israeli public are happy to 1993, this will be supplemented by an before October 1986, when Mordechai collude in this conspiracy of silence; over exhibition on the influence of Sephardic Vanunu gave Andrew Neil's Sunday Times half of them considered the authorities Jews on North German intellectual life. In its first major scoop. Whilst Vanunu's claim justified in suppressing news of Vanunu's a previous brief show in Rendsburg, that Israel possessed between 100-200 arrest. Schleswig-Holstein, this exhibition of docu­ nuclear warheads greatly exceeded previous ments and pictures on loan from many estimates, what really agitated experts most Solitary confinement German individuals and institutions was was whether his story was a monumental well attended and aroused wide interest. security lapse or a Mossad set-up. Whilst it may be natural for most Israelis to regard him as a traitor, it is difficult to Historical significance Six years on the answer to this question understand why Israeli officialdom have remains one of the few missing pieces of the Additional commentaries explain the kept Vanunu in solitary confinement since Vanunu jigsaw. Alas, Yoel Cohen's book circumstances, relationships and historical 1986. Countering the Government's claim fails to shed any new light on the point; it significance of the persons presented, who that if he were to mix with other prisoners does not even atteinpt to wrestle with the include Uriel da Costa, Spinoza and Heine he might give away secrets. Amnesty Inter­ question, choosing instead simply to accept as well as others deserving to be better national have argued that the prison au­ the 'official' view. known than they are. An illustrated cata­ thorities could easily assign a prison warden logue with the title Mein Vater ivar portu- Rather than scrutinise this juicy aspect of as minder. Calling his imprisonment 'cruel, giesischer Jude, printed by the Steidl Verlag, the Vanunu affair, the author tediously, if inhuman and degrading'. Amnesty have Gottingen, can be obtained at the Museum faithfully, reconstructs the entire Vanunu categorised the ill-treatinent as one level or from Sabine Kruse, Musterbahn 5b, D- episode down to its very minutiae. below torture. 2400 Liibeck, price 26 Mark plus postage. D Peter Grunberger The Jewish Museum in Frankfurt/Main is Blew the whistle showing a special exhibition Miktce - Thus the reader is given a blow-by-blow history and architecture of Jewish ritual account of how Vanunu lost faith in the baths in Germany until 15 November 1992. Israeli system, travelled abroad to find Israel's More than 400 of these, from early medie­ himself and discovered Christianity, val to the most modern times have been reached the decision to blow the whistle on Very finest Wines preserved or re-built or newly built m Israel's nuclear 'secret', made contact with Germany. A catalogue, price 38 Mark, 'S the Sunday Times, was debriefed, and so SHIPPED BY obtainable at the Museum. (See ZElT- forth. Magazin, No. 38, 11 September 1992.) • Though one might overlook simple errors of citation - such as attributing a Parlia­ HOUSE OF mentary question to the South African refugee Donald Woods instead of the HALLGARTEN RESTITUTION - COMPENSATION Labour MP Donald Anderson - the reader We would like to rennind readers that balks at having to wade through a potted the last date for registering claims for history of the Sunday Times and the circula­ YARDEN and GAMLA Restitution of and/or Compensation for tion war in the British tabloid press. (We are Property in the Eastern part of even treated to a short biography of Robert AVAILABLE NOW Germany (including East Berlin) will be Maxwell replete with epitaph 'If suicide was the 31st of December 1992. We shall the cause of death, the collapse of his empire Please write or phone for be pleased to assist in preparing and submitting claims. was the trigger'.) full information However, a reader patient enough to sift Please contact Mr H. H. Marcus or DALLOW ROAD through the mass of proffered material, will Dr Karsten Kuehne at Pannone & LUTON BEDS stumble across several nuggets of infor­ Partners (incorporating Pritchard LU1 1UR mation. For instance, Cohen gives a spirited Englefield & Tobin) 14 New Street, and convincing rebuttal to Seymour Hersb's 0582 22538 London EC2WI 4TR. allegations, in The Samson Option, that Tel. 071 972 9720, Fax 071 972 9723. Mirror proprietor Robert Maxwell and his AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

Gallows humour Herstory The German Frontier

Christopher Hope, SERENITY HOUSE, Anna Lambert. DU KANNST VOR NICHTS at Basel: 1942-199! Macmillan, 1992, £14.99 DAVONLAUFEN, Picus Verlag, Wien, 1992 Just four miles to go and the frontier ahead, health warning: this book is desper­ here is a school of modern literary A few miles ahead and the weather good. ate, but not serious. At its centre is a criticism which says that authors A soft hanging haze over wooded bizarre old man who goes under the don't write books, but books write A T landscape. name of Max Montfalcon. Calling himself authors. Anna Lambert is such an author- Trees on the turn yet the air warm and 'English, like the Royal family', he triggers as-medium. dry. the discerning observer's first doubts; after Her book is autobiographical without Peacefully at mid-day golden stretches all, the Royal family are only so-so British. being a proper 'life'. There are large gaps in Of flat new-mown fields lie open, benign. Max is in the early stages of Alzheimer's - it. As a child in pre-1914 Krems on the A grateful breeze sweeps the grassy slopes. or should one say Waldheimer's (?) - Danube, Anna didn't know how her father Early autumn: Tabernacles, Harvest disease. earned a living, and she still - and with her Festival. Anyway, his own family do a King Lear the reader - does not. She knew, though, on him. Once he has made his considerable that he was an aberrant Jewish type: a wife- Disaster could not strike on a day wealth over to his daughter and her MP beater, child abuser and womaniser. Such as this. One's papers, after all. Were in perfect order. One's directions husband, they shuffle him off to London's The mother died young. Anna married a Clear. One's plan foolproof. Some food premier eventide refuge. Max believes he non-Jew and moved to Baden near Vienna. Stowed away, sufficient cash, no knows what it is: a new-age 'camp' from She had two sons, the second born soon which no one escapes alive. Mind you, he after the Anschluss. A year later she left for impedimenta has similar delusions about theme parks England, with the boys - but without the Or dependents. Just oneself with a small, and any establishment where obedient husband who balked at smuggling himself A really modest sized suitcase. Stop groups of people are shifted about by ever- over the frontier. worrying. ruder attendants. In England the boys were fostered and she You tell yourself. You're one of the lucky His worries about the old age home are became a nurse/midwife. Halfway through ones. not totally unjustified, for, situated in the the war she secured a position enabling her Only the tell-tale burn in the stomach, midst of fairest Highgate, it is run by the to have her sons with her. Peace brought the The deliberate effort to relax tense oddest collection of carers: The director is news that the husband had another woman muscles. negotiating with similar German eventide and wanted nothing to do with them. She Short of breath. No energy. Much thirst. places to establish Continent-wide facilities; had a breakdown. The narrative practically At the border at last, one did, one didn't the resident doctor is an enthusiast for ends with Anna's decision to stay in Expect the difficulties. One was, one 'assisted death' to help sufferers and prevent England. wasn't over-population, and the night matron It resumes briefly with her later marriage Prepared for the arrest. One did, one bears the nickname Rudolpha Hess. to an elderly widower. We finally encounter didn't When war crimes investigations get under her as an arthritic octogenarian, living in Anticipate the arrangements: the crowded way the MP, warned that his in-law is a sheltererd housing. trains. prime suspect, tries to ferret out old Max's The gaps in Anna's narrative are sketchily The stench, the sweat, the gas, the horror. secrets, as does police superintendent Slack. filled in, as a postscript, by an Austrian Today as then, only reversing the But then grand-daughter Innocenta, a postwar historian who came across her in direction. charmer who is 'into' every fringe idiocy, the course of a large-scale study of the Jews The harvest is in, the fields are silent. takes a hand. Loving her grandpa, she helps of Krems. Just four miles to go and the frontier him escape to the U.S.A. Despite all one's Du kannst von nichts davonlaufen tells ahead. misgivings one cannot help siding with the an absoring story, despite all its gaps and An invisible line, an unguarded signpost. old crackpot. omissions. Anna Lambert is obviously a Yet fear grips my gut, and anguish and Author Hope sometimes loses himself in resilient character. She may not be an anger: the very complexity of his plot and fails to accomplished writer, but the very artless- The black-clad figures, the brutal voices. clarify which of his many targets he is really ness of her style makes this an engrossing The crowded cattle-trucks, the sickening aiming at; even so the breathless reader will document of the life of marginal Jews in stench. not be aware of this, or be in the least provincial Austria. The sweat, the mire, the gas, the horror. disappointed. D R.G. D Hilda Schiff D John Rossall

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Joys' which put the V2 on a par with bombing raids on Germany. Being a survi- vior the article annoyed me and I started to compose a reply, but I couldn't think of a 7J^^^0mSi^^ good ending. I then re-read your leader and plagiarized the last paragraph (I remem­ bered seeing Flying Fortresses over the BROUGHT TO BOOK BITTERSWEET RETURN ghetto of Theresienstadt in late '4.3. What a Sir — I find many articles in your journal Sir — The visit to Aachen this spring was boost it had been to morale after the very absorbing. However, having joined experienced by most people as a kind of depressing earlier military events which had AJR only three years ago, I must have communal healing. Pain and danger are made an Allied victory, on which our missed out on a lot of interesting material always there, only buried deep down. survival depended, a remote possibility!) printed earlier. It distresses me that one Jew accuses My/your letter was published in full. 1 The same may apply to other new another of not appreciating the terrible fate thought you might like to know, and members. I would, therefore, suggest that of our people. If I did not would I have kept apologises for not asking you first. you consider publishing a selection of away from Aachen for 54 years, save for a Warren Lane, Frank Bright, nee Brichta 'gems' that have appeared in the journal visit to the cemetery? Martlesham Heath over the years. Produced in paperback this It cannot be wrong that I treasure the Ipswich would make a reasonably priced 'good memories of a happy childhood and youth read' and a permanent record for many, spent in a large circle of family and friends including perhaps older members, who as part of that ancient city. Sir - Mr Fred Dunston appears to suggest would like to re-read the items they enjoyed I have no such sentimental attachment to that the majority of Austrians were not the first time round. another city, Niirnberg, where part of my Nazis and antisemetic, saying there is no Beconsfield Road Max Denver school years were spent. Antisemitism was evidence for it. High Wycomb endemic there, and school classes segre­ I submit that strong evidence is available, gated by religious adherence. Already in the and that, sadly, attitudes have not changed Other members ivho feel that this tvould be twenties, on my daily walk to school, I had to this day - as proved by the election of a ivorthivhile undertaking could send their the gruelling experience of seeing Der Kurt Waldheim as President after his Nazi vieius on the matter to 'Letters to the Stiirmer in its special showcase. connections were publicised. Editor.' So much for being blind to our history. The Neo-Nazis in Germany also indicate Meadowcroft Lane Irmgard Treuherz continuing popular support, with the Rochdale government unwilling to do much about it. BACK(S) TO THE WALL Canons Drive E. H. Ring Edgware Sir - Economists are agreed that the Sterling 1492 AND ALL THAT crisis and the subsequent devaluation are Sir — Speculations about Columbus's puta­ largely the result of high interest rates in tive Jewish descent may refer to the exis­ THE BALKANS QUAGMIRE Germany. These are due to the far higher tence in his native Italy of a Jewish family Sir - Calling Nietzsche maligned, rather costs of German unification than originally named Colon, some of whose members than malign would have been more correct. estimated. were highly regarded literary, medical and Dr Oscar Levy, Editor of the authorized I suppose that anybody can make calcu­ rabbinical experts. Complete Edition of Nietzsche's Works (18 lating errors. What matters is that mistakes, No proof exists of any direct relationship volumes, Edinburgh and London, 1913) when they occur, should be remedied as between Columbus and them, but his pointed out the sheer absurdity of throwing quickly as possible. I have a serious and reported acquaintance with comtemporary him and Treitschke into the same pot. Your entirely constructive suggestion to make: Jewish learning and traditions may well leading article does so on the shaky ground We'll have to re-build that WALL - fast! have arisen from social contacts. of the similarity oitzsch and tschk, ignorant I am convinced that there must be whole Jewish learning in the contemporary of the fact that the philosopher had no armies of women and men of goodwill, like sciences and literature may have had an - as Polish ancestry, although he wished he had myself, who are only too ready and eager to yet insufficiently explored — influence on the in his hatred of things German. In contrast lend a hand to restore that important development of humanism in Europe as a to Treitschke, Nietzsche's anti-nationalism, edifice, preferably overnight. counterweight to growing Catholic (and anti-teutonism and ANTI-antisemitism, '^ later also Protestant) fundamentalism. For The current 40% unemployment will evident to all who have read his works (and instance King Henry VIII consulted, simply evaporate within days. To keep the are familiar with the exposure of forgeries)- through his Italian agent, a member of the re-born East Germans and their neo-Nazis Be/size Park Gardens AIbi Rosenthal, M.A. Colon family about the permissibility of his proud and happy, the United Nations will divorce from Catherine of Aragon accord­ London NW3 immediately fly in plane-loads of anabolic ing to Jewish tradition. steroids, thereby ensuring that muscle- Alleyn Road L. Meyer bound East German participants will once Sir - 1 always understood that Schiller s again walk away with all future Olympic London SE21 'Ode to Joy' was originally an Ode to medals. Freedoin, and that Frciheit was replaced by Titchfield Road, Henry Stanhope APPORTIONING GUILT Freude for political reasons, Metternich not St. Johns Wood Sir - In October the Institution of Civil being partial to such sentiments. London NWS Engineers carried an article headed 'Kill As the work is currently performed, '^ mam

AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

says, in effect, that everyone will be happy We found that, unfortunately, the walls when everyone is happy. I cannot believe had been stripped, and the names of Holo­ Name calling that the author of Die Rdubcr and Don caust victims expunged. Carlos would have written that, nor that the A small fragment shows what they used he U.S. elections were enlivened by composer of The Eroica and Fidelio would to look like. It is planned to replace them in some insouciant punning on candi­ have taken it at face value and set it to great due course. Tdates' names. 'Dan quails at TV music. Emmer Green Mrs L Klein encounter with Gore' read one headline, I am not a German scholar and may be Reading, Berks and dark-horse candidate Perot was de­ wrong about it all. Perhaps one of your scribed as 'the yellow Ross of Texas'. learned readers, of whom there are clearly WEISSENSEE FUND 'Twas ever thus in politics. One recalls many, could put me right on the matter. Sir - After 4 years' work for the Weissensee Goering being pronounced gering (scanty) White Ledges Dan Gold Cemetery in Berlin, begun well before die and Goebbels gehell (barking); Cardinal London WI3 Wende, monies collected originally for Innitzer, pro-Anschluss head of the Aus­ cleaning now not needed because other trian C^atholic Church, was known as Unser LEEDS THANKYOU agencies have done it, have been used to Innitzer (our useless one) in Jewish circles. erect new indicator signs in one eighth of the Some politicians' names speak for them­ Sir — As a former resident of Stainbeck Lane Cemetery. Further funds are needed to selves. Hitler's trade union boss was Doktor Hostel for Refugee Boys in Leeds, I recently finance more for the other parts; then to Ley. Stalin's police chief was Lavrenti Beria. returned there for a 'nostalgia trip'. modernise (computerise?) the records ('We'll bury you' was Khrushchev's con­ Among the friends from the past I was where the original ones going back to the stant refrain to the West. Ironically he able to visit, was a former teacher, three of 1870's are still being used. Donations can almost got it right: Bundesbank-decreed the 'Boys' and one of the 'Girls' from the be sent to me at Box 315, Bradford BD9 high interest rates which scuppered several Harrogate Hostel for Refugee Girls. They 5QF. There has been a turn-over of about Western currencies stem from the mess the were both operated by the same committee £20,000 so far. Soviets made of the DDR.) Dr Schlesinger's under the chairmanship of Mark Labovitch. Rudi Leavor more acceptable predecessor at the Bundes­ I would like to contact the former resi­ bank was Herr Pohl (St Pohl?). The man dents of these hostels, who are now scat­ HOLE IN THE HEART who created the postwar Bundesbank was tered all over the world, in order to produce Sir - You rightly call the exchange of the Nazi Reichsbank veteran Karl Blessing - a a publication to give thanks to the Leeds West and East German currencies a 'huge blessing in disguise, if ever there was one! area community for saving us from the fate vote-catching blunder'. However, the Had Blessing stood trial at Nuremberg he of the 6 million. exchange rate was not one-to-one, because would have faced Labour Attorney General Any of your readers who have knowledge in actual fact two East Mark had to be paid Sir Hartley Shawcross, dubbed Sir Shortly of former residents, committee members or for one West Mark. The real value at that Floorcross on account of his rightwing their families, should contact me. time was nearer to five Mark for every West leanings. 4 Kingswood Drive Kelly Bernard Mark. The head of the Catholic Church in the Orangeburg, (formerly Bernhard Keller) For East Germans the value of their Philippines is Cardinal Sin. In Rhodesia the New York 10962 USA savings thereby increased by 150 per cent. (subsequently marginalised) Black con­ On the other hand, the price of all DDR tender for power was Joshua Nkomo - YESTERDAY'S PRAGUE products was also immediately increased by nekomah means vengeance in Hebrew. The Sir - In June a group from the Northwood 150 percent, making them impossible to victor, Robert Mugabe, made the Rev and Pinner Synagogue and friends visited sell. This caused the collapse of the econ­ Canaan Banana head of state of Zimbabwe. the Pinkas Synagogue. omy and enormous unemployment; other All very appropriate. reasons, like obsolete machinery, contri­ Looking at South Africa, though, we find buted to the debacle. that the leading Black politician bears a less Timperley Walter Goldstern than apposite name. Given the extra-mari­ OLD AGE PENSIONS Cheshire tal shenanigans of his wife Winnie, the GERMANY ANC's grand old man should be called Hamilton rather than Nelson Mandela. Consultation and advice in D Richard Grunberger connection with the Rentenreformgesetz 1992. John Denham ZAHNARZT/DENTAL SURGEON On instructions our Office will assist Dr H. Alan Shields. MB ChB, BDS. LDS RCS(Eng) you in pursuing your Pension claim * Gallery 46 Brampton Grove, HENDON, London NW4 4AQ with the Authorities. ALL TYPES OF DENTAL CARE For further information please 50 Mill Lane. West Hampstead contact: London NW6 1NJ 071-794 2635 Home visits for the disabled Dentures and cosmetic dentistry Emergencies ICS - Claims I wish to purchase paintings 146-154 Kilburn High Road and drawings by German, TOP QUALITY DENTAL TREATMENT London NW6 4JD Austrian or Britisti Artists, pre-war or earlier, also AT PRICES YOU CAN AFFORD Tel: 071-328 7251 (ExL 107) paintings of Jewisti interest. Phone: 081-203-0405 for appointment Fax: 071-624 5002 Deutsch wird auch gesprochen CARING AND PERSONAL SERVICE AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

second piece, Mendelssohn's Allegro, was also rendered with vigour. It was the Debussey Petite Suite, however, which revealed the full range of both players and earned them great praise from the audience. Schubert's Fantasie in F minor, op. 103, was played with inspiring quality and timing and was projected with a clarity that heavily emphasised the capacity of the piano as a solo instrument. This rendering demonstrated the wide range of Schubert's musical inspiration. The duo, using two pianos, side by side, opened the second half of the recital with Rachmaninov's Suite No. 2, op. 17, whose final Tarantella is a highly demanding virtuoso movement.

Golden girls at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Photo: Neii'man. World Premiere At this stage Barrington Pheloung prefaced the World Premiere of his short compo­ n the 45 years since the first Annual share sad memories generates a warm sition Mir-ah - Chashafti — Lechachsir with C;harity (Concert this yearly get-together feeling; you don't have to keep constantly in a few remarks on the need for a return to I has become the single biggest event on touch to be close. 'Tonality' (which Longman's Dictionary the refugee calendar. It has consistently This year, as in every other year, the sense defines as 'The organisation of all the notes offered an opportunity to catch up with the of a whole community coming together was and chords of a piece of music in relation to gossip in what was, once, a less-than-secure almost tangible. But, sadly, the absence of a key note'). His composition clearly re­ community. many familiar faces cast a slight pall over flected the influence of writing for radio and the event. But everyone present appeared to television and needs re-hearing for full Well assimilated be enjoying themselves. appreciation. D M.N. As the years have passed most of the refugee The recital was concluded with Ravel's community has become well assimilated. Its Rapsodic cspagnole - Prelude a la Nuit. members have made new lives but never Who does not know Ravel, whose Bolero forgotten their beginnings. Consequently, John and Kathryn Lenehan - has travelled the world? The piece was the atmosphere at the concerts is bitter­ Piano Duo ;, ; i : performed with style and zest, bringing the sweet: this happy reunion of people who recital to a rousing completion for an eginning together on one piano the enthusiastic audience which, sadly, was not Leneban duo demonstrated their sufficient to fill all the seats in the Queen COUNCIL TAX Btechnical mastery with a vivid perfor­ Elizabeth Hall. mance of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances. The n Arthur Cain rom I April 199,^ the present Poll Tax will be replaced by a C^ouncil Tax and Feach dwelling will get one bill based on nnDDnnnnnnnnnnDC] its value. HELP! ° TEA DANCE ° Any time now you may receive a Council 1. Hungarian speaker needed to visit r-i Sunday 20 December 3-6 p.m. Q Tax Enquiry Form from your local auth­ member in Nightingale House, ority which you are required to complete Nightingale Road SWl2. [-] at the Paul Balint AJR Day • and return to them within a given period. Q Centre, 15 Cleve Road NW6 • This will probably be a very simple form 2. A car owner is needed to assist tenants of Otto Schiff House, 14 Netherhall D 0 and you should have no problem in filling it rj Entrance £4 - by ticket only • in. However, be sure that you answer the Gardens NW3 with shopping. question about the number of adults aged D • 18 or over who are living in your property Further Information from Q Contact Bobbi Spencer on • Laura Howe, AJR Volunteers Q Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays p as this may result in you receiving a discount Co-ordinator, 071 483 2536, on your Council Tax bill. If you have any Tuesday-Thursdays 9.30 a.m.-S.OO p.m. m between 2.30 and 7.00 p.m. on • queries please telephone the AJR Social Friday 9.30 a.m.-l.00 p.m. • 071-328 0208 • Services for advice. D nnnnnnDDnnnnnnDD AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

Bournemouth outing caring over the whole weekend went a long way towards making it a great success, even for 'first timers'. Our thanks go to them, and MEALS ON WHEELS n a fine Friday morning in October here's looking forward to the next time. WE ARE NOW ABLE TO OFFER over 50 members of the Paul Balint D With thanks to Stephanie Steiner A LIMITED DELIVERY OF OAJR Day Centre assembled to MEALS ON TUESDAYS AND begin a weekend trip to Bournemouth. We FRIDAYS TO MEMBERS LIVING were all looking forward to a lovely time, Combatting xenophobia IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: and, as it turned out, we weren't disap­ Cricklewood pointed. Throughout the two and a half n October a group of 25 teachers of West Hampstead/Finchley Road hour coach trip Sylvia Matus and Renee Lee English from Potsdam and Brandenburg, Hampstead spoiled us all with sandwiches, sweets and over here on a short study tour, visited Golders Green drinks (non-alcoholic, I hasten to add). By I Hannah Karminski House. They heard the Finchley the time we arrived at the Cumberland Editor of AJR Information talk on diverse Edgware Hotel everyone was in great spirits. aspects of integration of German-Jewish Stanmore Harrow refugees into British society. Superb service An important point made in the course of The cost for a kosher 3 course meal is The food and service at the hotel remained the subsequent discussion was the deleteri­ £2.00. Delivery charge 50p. Payment superb throughout the weekend. In the ous effect of the exclusion of religion from for meals to be made to the Driver. evenings entertainment and dancing the DDR school curriculum on the minds of ensured that our leisure time was amicably pupils: ignorance of the Jewish roots of Meals can still be collected from and enjoyably spent. One of the highlights Christianity made young East Germans 15 Cleve Road on weekdays (Mondays - Thursdays) for £2.00 of the tour came with an outing to Buckler's who had never encounted a Jewish person per meal. Hard in the New Forest, where we visited in the flesh more susceptible to the appeal of the maritime museum. On the day of our the antisemitic xenophobia. Members who feel they may departure for London we also visited a Thanking Mr Grunberger at the end of qualify for delivery because of picturesque garden centre. The only fly in the discourse the spokesman h)r the mobility problems, or other the ointment was provided by the weather, teachers revealed that they had, as a group, reasons, should contact Mrs Ruth which didn't, however, dampen our spirits. helped organise the 6,000-strong protest Finestone for further details and Sylvia and Renee's untiring efforts demonstration after the Neo-Nazi act of an assessment interview on: 071 328 0208 ensured that the journey home was just as arson at the Jewish barracks on the site of smooth as our outward trip. Their energetic Sachsenhausen concentration camp. D

PAUL BALINT AJR Monday 7 A journey around Europe Monday 21 WIZO Ladies Choir at - Stephen Norbert (piano) Chanukah conducted by DAY CENTRE and Eugen Kurti (violin) Lotte Frazer Tuesday S Viennese Cocktail - Tuesday 22 Chanukah Concert - Hans 15 Cleve Road, Landon NW6 .3RL Emmanuel Emetic (violin) Freund Tel. 071 328 0208 and Jason Brooks (piano) Wednesday 23 Connaught Opera - mu.sic Wednesday 9 Continental Cocktails - for you - Maria Arakie Open Tuesday and Thursday 9.30 a.m.- Helen Mignano (soprano), Glenn Wilson 7 p.m., Monday and Wednesday 9.30 a.m.- (soprano) and Sylvia (baritone) and Carol Wells 2.30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Cohen (piano) (piano) Thursday 10 Me - my music - and you. Thursday 24 CLOSED AFTER LUNCH Linda Roth with piano Monday 28 CLOSED Morning Activities - Bridge, kalookie, accompaniment Tuesday 29 Songs from my album - scrabble, chess, etc., keep fit, discussion Sunday 13 LONDON SUZUKI - Cantor Michael Rothstein group, choir (Mondays), art class (Tuesdays directed by Elizabeth and Sheila Games (piano) and Thursdays). Waterhouse Wednesday 30 End of year concert - Monday 14 The Great Lorenzo Doris Samuels and Marion Afternoon entertainment - presents The Magnificent Hartman Seven Thursday 31 CLOSED AFTER LUNCH DECEMBER Tuesday 15 An afternoon of happy Tuesday I DUO KINNOR - a pot music. Pauline Palmer pourri of music. (piano) JANUARY Madeleine Whirelaw and Wednesday 16 Music that you love. Sunday 3 STAJEX PLAYERS David Richmond Sylvia Dorf (.soprano) and Monday 4 A taste of Ireland - Wednesday 2 Take a quick-step back in Mabel Witztum (piano) Barbara O'Neill (mezzo), time with Geoffrey Strum Thursday 17 Pre-Chanukah Concert - Gerarda McCann and Johnny Walton operetta followed by (dancer), Grahame Thursday 3 Concert by students of Chanukah songs - Cantor Dinnage (piano) and Trinity College of Music Marshall Stone Sjiobhan Fox (violin) Sunday 6 ROYTE KLEZMORES - Sunday 20 TEA DANCE - with live Tuesday 5 A New Year has begun - Dena Attar (violin), Julia music by Jack Davidov piano duo and solos - Bard (accordian) and (violin) and Jules Rubin Sheila Games and Daphne Caria Bloom (clarinet) (piano) Lewis AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

FAMILY EVENTS Meinrath Utti Meinrath, our dear­ and outings, holidays abroad, going Birthday est mother, passed away on I Dutch, by attractive, petite divorcee ADVERTISEMENT Black Trudi - Tuta Black, November after a short illness. 50"s, financially secure in business. RATES formerly of Glasgow, Munich and Sadly missed by all who loved her. Box No. 1226 FAMILY EVENTS Dusseldorf, will celebrate her HOth Reis Gretl Reis, need Kronheimer, First 15 words free of charge, birthday on 13 December, together born in Fiirth, Bavaria in 190.3, died Compan Ion/carers £2.00 per 5 words thereafter. with her family and friends. 48 2.-? September, 1992, in Haifa. She Gentle, caring person needed to CLASSIFIED Shepherds Hill, Highgate, London will be greatly missed and remem­ provide friendship and companion­ E2.00 per five words. ship to lonely widow in her 70's, in N6 5RR. bered with affection by her family BOX NUMBERS and friends. exchange for accommodation in £3.00 extra. Deaths small, comfortable house in Willes­ DISPLAY, INCLUDING SEARCH Behrcndt Magarete Behrendt, den. Interests: Music, theatre, NOTICES retired schoolteacher of Leeds, born Seeking friendship per single column inch travel. Box No. 1233. 16 ems (3 columns per page) £8.00 in Pasewalk, Pomerania, died peace­ Lady seeks new gentlemen or lady Live in carer wanted for elderly 12 ems (4 columns per page) £7.00 fully on November 11, 1992, aged friends. Many varied interests. Box lady. Own rooin in small comfort­ 88 years. The funeral has taken No. 12.32. able kosher Hat. No cleaning. Box place. Cultured lady seeks friendship with No. 1231. Hammcrschlag Suzanne Ham- lively, intelligent gLMitleman or lady W. MERROW merschlag died on 16 November at Miscellaneous 69-77, n/s, diverse interests. Box wishes to buy expressionist home, peacefully. Widow of Kurt No. 1224. Flat wanted. IWo bedroom Hat in paintings for his own Hammerschlag and sister of Char­ Male partner wanted for concerts N.W. London required for young lotte I.ewin. fatnily price circa £6.5,000. Box No. collection. Competitive 1 1229. prices. Offers to: The AJR does not accept JEWISH BOOKS Electrician City and Guilds quali­ Mr W. Merrow, responsibility for the BOUGHT & SOLD fied. All domestic work undertaken Y. Steinreich. Tel: 0H1-4.S.<; ,';262. 13 Hermitage Gardens, standard of service Best Prices Paid Manicure and pedicure in the com­ London SEI 9 3PQ. rendered by advertisers. OPEN MON-FRI & SUNDAY A.M. fort of your own home. Telephone: Tel: 081-653 2627 J. T. BOOKS 081-4,';.'; 75H2. Ladies alteration work. For quick, SEEKING FRIENDSHIP 13 SENTINEL SQ, BRENT ST NW4 Tel 081-203-6350 accurate, reliable service phone: Are you looking for congenial ()81-4.';,<; ()I6S. (German spoken) Sheltered flats at company in your area, or a Otto Schiff House new penfriend with shared The conversion of the former interests? Why not advertise residential home in Netherall In AJR Information? ANTHONY J. NEWTON Gardens NWS into 23 self- Phone: 071-483 2536 and &C0 contained, one-bedroom flats has ask for the advertising now been completed. New department. SOLICITORS tenants began moving in from 1 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, Hampstead, NW3 5NB November. A warden is in regular attendance. Only two flats remaining. ALTERATIONS ALL LEGAL WORK UNDERTAKEN Details from: Mrs K Gould, OF ANY KIND TO AJR, on 071-483 2536 Tuesday LADIES' FASHIONS Telephone: 071 435 5351/071 794 9696 and Thursday mornings. I also design and make Viewing by appointment only. children's clothes SHELTERED FLAT West Hampstead area to let at Eleanor Rathbone 071-328 6571 BELSIZE SQUARE APARTMENTS House, Highgate, comprising SWITCH ON bed-sitting room, kitchenette, 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, N.W.3 bathroom and entrance hall. ELECTRICS FOR FAST EFFICIENT FRIDGE Tel: 071-794 4307 or 071-435 2557 Resident warden. Rewires and all household & FREEZER REPAIRS Enquiries to:- electrical work. 7-day service AJR PHONE PAUL: 081-200 3518 All parts guaranteed MODERN SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY ROOMS, RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER HANNAH KARMINSKI HOUSE MODERATE TERMS 9 ADAMSON ROAD, J. B. Services NEAR SWISS COTTAGE STATION Tel. 081-202 4248 LONDON NW3 3HX SATELLITE INSTALLATION until 9 pm 071-483 2536/7/8/9 SALES & REPAIRS Television - Videos - Aerials - Radios - Stereos - Electrical Appliances NEW & SECONDHAND TV's/VIDEOS MAPESBURY LODGE TORRINGTON HOMES FOR SALE (Licensed by the Borough ol Brenl) AUDLEY MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N., Tel: 081 -909 3169 Answerphone for the elderly, convalescent and partly REST HOME incapacitated. MATRON Lift to all floors. For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent (Hendon) AVIS TV SERVICE Luxurious double and single (Licensed by Borougti of Barnet) for Elderly Retired Gentlefolk A. EISENBERG ^ rooms. Colour TV, h/c, central heating, • Single and Double Rooms. private telephones, etc., in all rooms. Single and Double Rooms with wash Excellent kosher cuisine. Colour TV ' H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. basins and central heating. TV lounge lounge. Open visiting. Cultivated and dining-room overlooking lovely C. H. WILSON Gardens. * Nurse on duty 24 hours. garden. Carpenter Full 24.hour nursing care • Long and stiort term, including trial period if required. 24-hour care—long and short term. Painter and Decorator Please telephone From E250 per week French Polisher Licensed by the Borough of Barnet slster-ln-charge, 081-450 4972 081-445 1244 Office hours Antique Furniture Repaired Enquiries 081-202 2773/8967 17 Mapesbury Road, N.W.2 081-455 1335 other times Tel: 081-452 8324 39 Torrington Park, N.12 Car: 0831 103707

10 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

Alice Schwab exhibition of his work at the National Portrait Gallery runs until 17 January 199.^. A breath of history The first major British exhibition for many years of the great Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944), will be in the National Gallery until 7 February 1993. It will include the series 'The Frieze of Life' conceived in 1893, as well as 'The Scream', which he considered his greatest achievement. Peter Lanyon (1918-64) was a Cornish artist, born in St Ives where he spent most of his life in the flourishing local art com­ munity. His Air, Land and Sea is a New Touring Exhibition showing at the Camden Arts Centre (until 3 January 1993). Patrick Caulfield (born 1936) studied at the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art alongside Hockney, Kitaj and Allen Jones. An exhibition of his l>! W.i::. I'hoto: Newman. paintings 1963-1982 is at the Serpentiine Gallery (until 17 January 1993). ince baritone Hans Freund's monthly Dora Holzhandler who has travelled visit to Heinrich Stahl House in extensively and had many exhibitions, is SOctober fell between Rosh Hashanah showing Glimpses from a Jetvish Life at the and Yom Kippur, he chose a programme of Manor House Society (until 16 December). Synagogue Music, in particular melodies for To celebrate the centenary of the birth of the High Holydays. Allan Ramsay the younger: self portrait. Jacob Kramer the Boundary Gallery is Asher Clayton gave a beautiful rendering Circa 1737-9. of the Kol Nidrei Prayer after which Werner Collection: National Portrait Callery. joining the Leeds City Art Gallery and University to inount an exhibition of his Rosenstock, for many years AJR General JK llan Ramsay (17L'5-84) was in his works mostly on paper. The exhibition in Secretary and editor of this journal, now a M% day the leading English portrait Leeds continues until 18 December. resident of the House, spoke about the ^^« painter, renowned for his design, And finally, just a reminder that the meaning and significance of the Kol Nidrei. colour and refinement. As court painter to delightful The Swagger Portrait exhibition He recalled that the last time he had heard George IH, he produced a series of magnifi­ at the Tate Gallery continues until 10 the prayer in Germany was in October cent yet intimate portraits. The present January 1993 and should not be missed. D 1938, at the imposing Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue in Berlin. Oberkantor Leo Gol- lanin had intoned it in the presence of Heinrich Stahl, President of the Berlin of her beautiful mother, is taking tentative Jewish Community. Dr Rosenstock had left SB's Column steps towards a film career. Germany soon afterwards, while Mr Stahl Heinz Riihmann, 92, was awarded stayed behind, to meet a tragic end in Theresienstadt. resden. Is there a nationalist revival honorary citizenship of the German town of in Saxony? Not if the Dresden Koepenick which he put on the map by his The audience were moved to have such a Schauspielhaus repertoire is any­ unique scurrilous portrayal of the title part direct link to the past, and to learn that a D fellow resident personally knew the man thing to go by: this season's plays include in the Zuckmayer play Hauptmann von Gardner's / am not Rappaport, George Koepenick. Riihmann brought an inimi­ after whom their Home is named. D Tabori's Goldberg variations and works by table combination of wit, satire and school- Brecht, Canetti and Neil Simon. boyish slyness to a role castigating Prussian Three generations (or four?) Burg­ red rape and excessive discipline. CLUB 1943 theater stalwart Rosa Albach-Retty, Birthday. Eszther Rethy, Hungarian- Anglo-German Cultural Forum reached the great age of 105, dying in 1980. born operetta soprano, widow of the con­ Meetings on Mondays at 8 p.m. While she was known in Austria only, her ductor Anton Paulik, is 80. For many years at the Communal Hall son Wolf Albach-Retty and his wife Magda she sang all the main Kalman and Lehar Belsize Square Synagogue Schneider, a romantic screen couple in the roles at Vienna's Volksopcr. 51 Belsize Square Thirties and Forties, were popular with film Obituary. Alexander Trojan, member of London NW3 goers in all German-speaking countries. the Vienna Burgtheatcr for over 50 years, Dec. 7th. No Lecture. Their daughter Roiny Schneider was an has died at 78. After a rather unusual start Dec. 14th. P. E. N. Lesebiihnc Tamara international star whose early soinewhat (he played child parts under the name of Wyss. mysterious death saddened audiences every­ Rosal Takacs) he joined the enseinble as a Shows a Video film made recently in Berlin: where. Now, it appears that Romy's young man and played more than 200 roles 'Searching for Mr Moses' (Moses Mendelssohn). daughter Sarah, 15, and reputedly an image at the saine theatre until early this year. D

II AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

A HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN THE GERMAN-SPEAKING LANDS his persecution of the Huguenots by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and many thousands of these economically use­ Part 6: The Age of Mercantilism ful citizens sought refuge in other countries. The Jews of Alsace could look to no relief hroughout history rulers have been the religions of the mercantile classes of from their oppressed status under the interested in increasing the wealth of Holland and England were strongly tinged former German rulers, or from the bigotry their states. The mercantile classes with Calvinism. It is also significant that of their Christian neighbours. They were to T remain ghettoized, unassimilated, and were strongly represented in the govern­ Calvinism had a very high regard for the ment of the Italian city states during the Old Testament, which lays such stress on Yiddish-speaking until the time of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and trade the Jews being God's Chosen People. And French Revolution. had therefore always been taken very ser­ although Calvinism could be extremely iously in Italy. But in Northern and Western intolerant (in Geneva and New England, for The Jews of Hamburg Europe, where the ruling classes did not example), in the Netherlands and in Eng­ If the French did not learn from the themselves engage in trade, mercantile con­ land it tended (with exceptions) to stand for experience of the Dutch and the English that siderations did not rank high: whilst the religious toleration. there might be a connection between coin- aristocrats loved spending money, they In England and Holland, therefore, the mercial success and toleration for the Jews, often looked down on the sordid business of Jews came to be accepted into the commer­ several of the German-speaking states, more making it. Prestige attached to the posses­ cial community as a people whose past and consistently committed to mercantilism, sion of, and income from, land; commercial whose talents had linked them strongly with did. In 1612 the Senate of the free city of wealth, though of course useful, enjoyed trade; and in Holland especially they Hamburg allowed the New Christian much lower status. The pursuit of military quickly made a contribution, vastly out of community there, against an annual contri­ glory or of religious orthodoxy stood much proportion to their numbers, to the wealth bution of 1,000 marks, to avow their higher in the value system of the ruling which, for a while, made that little country a Judaism and yet to remain in the city. It, classes. formidable power in Europe. Initially the too, soon attracted Jews from elsewhere In the second half of the 17th century, Jewish community in Holland was largely and became for a while one of the most however, this began to change and the Sephardic, consisting of Jews who, for fear important centres of Judaism '" perception developed that the generation of of expulsion from the Spanish Empire, had Germany - until in 1697 the burghers of national wealth through trade ought to be converted to C^hristianity (the 'New Chris­ Hamburg pressured the Senate to force up one of the primary concerns of state-craft. tians') but who, in this now tolerant cli­ the annual contribution to astronomical This will eventually have a bearing on the mate, could revert openly to the Judaism heights. As a result, many of the communtty history of the Jews in Gerinany; but to see they had cherished secretly in their hearts. thereupon emigrated to Amsterdam. The how this came about, we need first to look Soon Holland became a magnet for the still damage to Hamburg was such that in 1710 at its effect on the Jews in Holland and in oppressed Jews of Gerinany. By 1700, the annual contribution of the remaining England. Amsterdam, with some 10,000 Jews, had community was cancelled altogether. the biggest Jewish community in Western D Ralph Blumenau Europe, and two thirds of them were To be continued in the January issue. Mercantilism in Holland and England Ashkenazi. England, too, though to a lesser Holland and England were the first coun­ extent, attracted Jews from the German- tries to whole-heartedly embrace the doc­ speaking lands, especially after the trine of Mercantilism. The Dutch had just accession of the Hanoverian George I broken free from the aristocratic govern­ strengthened the connection with Germany. ment of Spain. In England the mercantile COMPANIONS classes had played a vital part on the The Jews of Alsace winning side of the English Civil War and France also acquired a large Ashkenazi OF LONDON became firmly established in the power population in the 17th century, though in a structure after the Revolution of 1688. very different manner. In 1680/1 Louis XIV A specialist home care service Mercantilism demanded an open recog­ gained the sovereignty of Alsace (hitherto to assist the elderly, people nition, unhampered by theological con­ part of the Holy Roman Empire), and with with disabilities, help during straints, of money being a commodity like it the first openly Jewish population since and after illness, childcare any other, and that making money inultiply the last expulsion of the Jews from France in and household needs. was not morally inferior to making cattle 1394. The 1394 decree was not repealed, For a service tailored to your individual needs multiply. It required an open acceptance of but it was not enforced either - possibly by Companions who care - Please call the credit system, and therefore of the inoral because Louis XIV's minister Colbert was a legitimacy of interest as the price of credit. It mercantilist deeply impressed by Dutch 071-483 0212 stimulated the development of banking, of success in trade, who perhaps thought that 071-483 0213 the raising of capital, and therefore of this very large coinmunity of Jews could 110 Gloucester Avenue, mechanisms for investment like stock make a contribution to French commercial Primrose Hill, exchanges. activity. But this did not happen. Colbert London NWl 8JA Official Roman Catholicism was still died in 1684; he had often despaired at the (Emp Agy) hostile to these developments, but Cal­ lack of interest his master had shown in vinism legitimised the honest use of such mercantilism. In 1685 Louis XIV, ignoring techniques and so it is not surprising that all commercial considerations, stepped up

12 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

Wagner's work on the German-speaking Austria shortly after being ordained priest. Some of my best stage. Otto Weininger's father annually For well over 50 years he has lived in enemies... attended the Bayreuth Festival en famille. America and not only keeps up links with Even today the Jewish Wagner cult has an his native country but, at 86, is still active in ny U.K. resident who cares about influential high priest- Bernard Levin — and ecumenical matters. He also runs an aca­ theatre knows of London's many adherents. If truth be told, I half- demic institute devoted to Christian-Jewish ABarbican, Edinburgh's Traverse and belong to the latter myself. p. „ _ cooperation and reconciliation. And the one Dublin's Abbey theatres - but who has 'cradle catholic' Kindertransportec to heard of Cardiff's Sherman? The obscurity become a priest, is also unusual for another of this fine and well-equipped building is Genuine 'Jews for reason. Father Francis Wahle's father sur­ due to Wales's lack of a rich theatrical vived the war in Vienna and after 1945 rose tradition. Jesus' to the position of Federal Chief Justice. His In view of the Principality's dearth of sister went back to postwar Austria while he great playwrights pride of place is being he recent death in Vienna, in his 80th stayed to work in England. accorded to the controversial figure of year, of Monsignore Leopold Ungar, The most outstanding of all these men Saunders Lewis, Welsh secessionist and Tpresident of the Austrian 'Caritas' was Prdlst Ungar. He had qualified as a language revivalist. Lewis, who died in and one of the three most important men in lawyer while simultaneously studying liter­ 1985, is a controversial choice not only postwar Catholicism in that country has ature under Karl Kraus and drama at the because of the reputed mediocrity of his almost brought to an end a line of dis­ Rcinhardt Seminar. Embarking on theo­ writing but because he was a Nazi sympath­ tinguished Christian clergy of Jewish des­ logy, he tied Nazi Austria for France where iser. ('My enemy's enemy is my friend.') He cent in Central Europe. Almost, but not he was ordained, and then managed to was also an antisemite parroting Goebbels' quite; a Polish iinmigrant into France, who escape to England. Among his jobs here was slogans about a Jewish-capitalist world became a Catholic at 14, has become to act as chaplain to German prisoners of conspiracy. Archbishop of Paris, (Cardinal Lustiger), war. One wonders what Lewis would have and two refugees from Hitler's Austria are Recalled to Vienna in 1947 to help with made of the fact that his play Blodeuivedd is still working as Catholic priests in England relief, Ungar built up Caritas from a virtual being staged at the Sherman Theatre, pro­ and America respectively. soup kitchen to a respected international duct of the munificence of the Jewish But if we are unlikely to sec many more relief body. Ar the same time he was one of capitalists Abraham and Harry Sherman? from that source, this may not be true of the the reformers wht) rebuilt the 'new' Catho­ Probably not much more than the French Church of England. Jews tend to assimilate lic church in the new republic, weaned it antisemitic writer, sponger off wornen and into the culture of the local majority; so it is from its prewar political partisanship and wartime Nazi collaborator Drieu le not surprising that the Anglican church healed the old feud with the social democrat Rochelle made of his marriage to the boasts entrants from Anglo-Jewry, such as half of the country. His secular work comfortably-off Jewess Colette Jeramec. the ex-Bishop of Birmingham, Dr Hugh involved broadcasting and TV debating, his But let us look at the feeding-the-hand- Montefiore, and from among former Ger­ social work brought him the highest civilian that-bites-you syndrome from the opposite man Jewish refugees. Canon Paul Oes- award from the 'red' Vienna municipality. angle. What induced that fine teller of treicher (from Berlin) who very nearly Withal he never forgot that he was primar­ Prague Ghetto tales Leo Perutz, who had became Bishop in New Zealand recently, ily a man of prayer with a mystic bent. His found refuge in Palestine, to travel to the springs to mind, and so does the Reverend learning and his wide ranging activities Austrian Salzkammergut every postwar Werner Langford who died early in would have made him an unusual priest summer to seek the company of the Nazi October. Born Werner Lampel, son of a anyway; that he was a convert made him Blut-und-Boden scribbler Bruno Brehm? Leipzig Cantor, he served as a naval rating even more so. Perhaps the very breadth of What made the French-Jewish philosopher during the war and later had a distinguished his learning and activities recalled an earlier Jaques Derrida enter a contentious defence parochial and academic career in Westmin­ intellectual climate, that of the pre-1914 of the Belgian antisemite Paul de Man, who ster and Durham. Austria into which he had been born. died in the odour of Harvard respectability However, given the amount of assimila­ n Francis Steiner shortly before the news of his wartime tion in Habsburg lands over 150 years, it is collaboration broke? What possessed not surprising that most of these conver­ Noam Chomsky to defend the Holocaust sions took place into the Catholic church STERNBERG CENTRE denial of Professor Faurisson on the spuri­ and in the old Imperial territories. It is not FOR JUDAISM ous grounds of freedom of speech? quite true that Archbishop Kohn of Olmiitz December highlights Is this a species of Jewish perversity? One (Olomouc) started the trend. C^harming is reminded of the Wagner worship to stories about the Emperor asking diffidently Sunday 6th. 8 00 p.m. - 'From Longjohns which many of our co-religionists were - whether the appointee had at least been to Lace' Janet Reger talks about her life and and still are - prone. Hermann Levi in a baptised, are, alas, myths. Kohn was the son career. (Manor House Society) much-quoted letter absolved Wagner of all of gentile peasants, adopted by a Jewish Thursday 17th. 7.45 p.m. - Plus U petty antisemitism (kleinlichcs Risches). family whose name he took. But in any case Network's 'Speaker of the Month': Pamela Joseph Rubinstein committed suicide after he was not the first. My great-great uncle, Wagman, Producer of 'Watchdog'. his sadistic sometime 'employer's' death. Dr Philipp Steiner, ordained Priest in 1857, Details from: From the 1870 premiere of Die Meisters- was bishop of the ancient coronation city of The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, inger in Vienna onwards Jewish Hofoper Stuhlweissenburg (Szekesfehervar) from The Manor House, habitues were Wagnerites alinost to a man. 1890 to 1990. The 1930's saw the conver­ 80 East End Road, London N3 2SY. Angelo Neumann spent his life promoting sion of Johannes Oesterreicher, who fled Tel: 081-346 2288

13 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

THIS ISRAEL ^ERSE AND WORSE Cookery Corner MAJOR V MINER As readers will be aivare we are serialising Says foppish, woppish Heseltine No. 9 HADDOCK AND CHEESE PIE Ralph Blumenau's 'History of Cerman- 'Is a not yours, it is a mine', A toothsome fishy dish which, as usual for speaking Jeivs' in response to replies to the And shouts of 'Scargill is the pits' this column, is almost too easy to make. April Questionnaire. Since ive also had Draw echoes: Wear the cap that fits requests for more news about Israel we are INGREDIENTS (Gauge amounts to fit the KNESSET '92 initiating an occasional series entitled 'This number you wish to serve): The country woke as from a trance Israel'. Potatoes And caged its purblind hawks Haddock fillets (Their only tune guerre a outrance. Cheddar cheese (matured preferably, but Riches which don't provoke Played with bloodcurdling squawks) it's not important) rlshes Fly clerics with a fraudulent lease Butter Jerusalem Report has produced a league On God for evermore Breadcrumbs table of the richest Israelis from which we May, hopefully, now have to cease Parmesan cheese extract the first five: Attrition's endless war Milk 1. German-born Shaul Eisenberg, global Cornflower Jews hovering round Muscovy, entrepreneur, Apprehensive of the dole METHOD 2. Greek-born Raphael Rccanati, founder, In Israel, might now feel free Boil and then cream the potatoes (mashing Israel Discount Bank, To feed both mouth and soul 3. German-born Yekutiel Federmann, with a little milk and butter is fine). Line a owner of the Dan Hotel chain, But what of these, without whose yeah dish with the mash, moulding it into a pretty 4. Family Moses, owner of the mass circu­ No peace accord can stand, shape hollowed out in the middle. (Those lation Ychediot Achronot, The cannon fodder of the fray with time can pipe the potatoes around the 5. Belgian-born Reuven Hecht, grain mer­ That split the holy land? edges.) chant and patron of the arts. Simmer the haddock in a little milk, with ARABY a knob of butter in it, for up to five minutes. Inchoate, from colonial night When lightly cooked through remove the Righting an ancient wrong New states reared up in red-hued light fish from the milk and place it in the American and Israeli archeologists excavat­ Whose liberators with scant art potatoes. ing near Ashkelon have unearthed evidence Had stones implanted in their heart. . . Keep the milk on the heat, as it comes - pottery, inasonry, loom weights - which Today in mosques and the bazaar near to the boil add a couple of teaspoons of suggests that the Philistines had achieved a Fellahin yearn for Islam's star cornflower mixed with a tablespoon or significantly higher level of civilisation than To rise again and set them free - water. Stir until the sauce thickens. When they are popularly credited with. Their morrows portend misery sufficiently thickened add as much cheese as For one truth holds from first to last: you like (the more the merrier). As the No path leads forward through the past! Matters of Faith cheese melts add a generous dollop oi French grain mustard. When the sauce is The good news: Cardinal Canestri of creamy throughout pour it over the fish. Genoa, heading a group of 450 pilgrims, Sprinkle breadcrumbs generously over called the encouragement of Catholic pil­ GERMAN BOOKS the whole thing. Sprinkle grated parmesao grimage part of a new policy of closer BOUGHT generously over the breadcrumbs. Put tn relations between the Vatican and Israel. dish in the oven until it looks a bit brown on The bad news: Education Minister Shula- top (about 20-25 min). A. W. MYTZE mit Aloni, who aims to curb religious Serve with your preferred salad selection- teachings in schools in favour of a more 1 The Ridifig, London NWl 1. (Try adding some mixed nuts to your sala rounded curriculum, has been put under for extra texture.) armed guard for her own protection. D Tel: 071-586 7546 Alternative recipe: If you feel this may be little too rich, simply dispense with tn sauce. Mash a little cheese in with tn LANDAU, BAKER & CO potatoes instead. ,., Chartered Accountants Registered Auditors Albany House, 324/326 Regent Street, London W1R 5AA Company Audits, Individuals and Partnership Accounts and Taxation Annely Juda Fine Art Wages; Acquisitions Systems 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) and other specialist work Tel: 071-629 7578, Fax: 071-491 2139 Initial free consultation. Competitive Fees. CONTEMPORARY PAINTING AND SCULPTUPE Telephone: 071 636 2727 Fax: 071 436 0727

14 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

the German psyche that makes a right-wing Obituary Academic questions challenge to democracy infinitely more potent than a left-wing (either of the Rudi Alfred Joachim Fischer s attacks on asylum-seekers go on Dutschke or Baader-Meinhof variety) one. with sickening regularity in Ger­ In the Third World, by contrast, the The death of Alfred Joachim Fischer, at 83 many, democrats both inside and overlap of universities with political crime is in Berlin, further weakens the chain linking A outside the country grow increasingly des­ a virtual left-wing monopoly. The Khmer surviving German Jews to their past. Born pondent. Those of a morbid disposition Rouge drew its inspiration from a PhD in Wilhelminian Posen (now Poznan) he even detect a whiff of Weimar in the air. thesis Pol Pot's deputy Khieu Samphan had early experience of xenophobia, being Such Cassandra-style pronouncements submitted at the Sorbonne. The dissertation attacked as a German by Poles, and as a Jew do not - as yet - carry much conviction. envisaging a money-free economy (which by Germans. There is, after all, a crucial difference was duly approved) became Cambodia's Domiciled in 1920s Berlin, he became a between today's disaffected young Germans gory nightmare when the Khmer Rouge journalist on the Vossische Zeitung. In and their predecessors of 60 years ago. The depopulated the cities and pushed the entire 1933 he fled to Prague, and thence, via Rostock firebombers are skinhead thugs or economy back into subsistence farming and Poland, to London. Postwar he resumed unemployed, while the gravediggers of barter. An even closer personal link work for German papers, returning perma­ Weimar were often students. (Circa 1930 between academe and the charnel house nently to Berlin in 1959. Nazi support at the universities was twice as was provided by Abimael Guzman, philos­ His contacts and command of German great as in the country as a whole.) ophy professor at Peru's Ayacucho univer­ and English enabled him to conduct inter­ For all the current rents in its fabric sity. He turned hundreds of students into views with an array of world leaders: democratic Germany will survive for as Shining Path guerrillas who, true to his Adenauer, Willy Brandt, Ben-Gurion, long as the products of its Higher Education dictum 'A million deaths are needed to Nehru, the Shah. Fischer's autobiography system uphold the postwar academic ethos; liberate Peru' inflicted unbelievable cruelties In der Nahe der Ereignissc gives an account however, should they - the Bundesrepub- on anyone - from policemen to peons — who of a life filled with journalistic work and lik's opinion moulders - fail to face down stood in their way. When the tally of victims travel. Despite the globetrotting, and the the street thugs and scapegoat seekers, the approached 25,000 Professor Guzman was return to postwar Berlin, he remained a Cassandras may well be proved right. There captured, bur his 'philosophy' goes march­ conscious Jew and supporter of Israel to the is a strain of thinking deeply embedded in ing on. D R.G. end. A. J. Fischer is survived by Eva, his wife and helpmeet for 50 years. D Search Notices Simon P. Rhodes M.Ch.S. Peter Wijrfl, born 11 January 1931 and STATE REGISTERED CHIROPODIST Joclien Wiirfl, born 15 June 1932, from D S W BYE DangastA/arel, East Germany. Father died Surgery hours: Sachsenhausen 1943. Grandparents GENERAL BUILDING, 8.30 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday Ferdinand Baruch and Lina Baruch-Cohen. REFURBISHMENT Peter and Jochen should contact: Emile E. 8.30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday AND DECORATING Edelmann at Revittam AG, Kufurstendamm Visiting chiropody service available 14, D-1000 Berlin 15. Germany, where they All aspects of building & decorating will be given details of a property to which they carried out to the highest standards. 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 (opp. M&S) may be heirs. References supplied. Zdenka Guth (married name unknown) from Telephone 071-624 1576 Rokycany, Czechoslovakia, moved to Prague Telephone: 081-366 1028 when she married. Her two daughters were sent to England in 1939. One married and returned to Rokycany to seek compensation INSTITUTE OF for the family's small lock and key factory. FOR THOSE YOU CARE MOST ABOUT Susan Cammer Gerstein of 329 Waban CONTEMPORARY HISTORY Avenue, Newton, MA 02168, USA seeks AND WIENER LIBRARY information about the two daughters' whereabouts. Early-evening talks - Autumn 1992 Springdene

Great Reputations A modern nursing home with 26 yrs ol excellence in health A series of early-evening talks at the care to the community. Wiener Library examining the 'great Licensed by Barnet area health JACKMAN• men' of the twentieth century in the authority and recognised by light of contemporary history BUPA & PPP. SILVERMAN HYDROTHERAPY & C;OMMER<.:i.'\l. PIUiPliRTY (.XW.SULTANTS 3 December Dr Harry Shukman - PHYSIOTHERAPY Stalin provided by lull time chartered cares physiotherapists tor inpatients 10 December Professor Douglas Johnson - and outpatients. De Gaulle SPRINGDENE 55 Oakleigh Park North, Whetstone, All talks will take place at the Wiener Library, London N.20 4 Devonshire Street, London WIN 2BH, on 081-446 2117 Thursdays at 6.30 p.m. SPRINGVIEW 6-10 Crescent Road, Enlield. Our completely new purpose built hotel style retirennent Admission free to Friends of the Wiener Library. Non-Friends: £2.00 home. All rooms with bathroom en-suite Irom £305 per week. 081-446 2117. Due to limited space, it may be necessary to use an 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA overflow room Telcrhone: 071 409 0771 Fax: 071 493 8017 AJR INFORMATION DECEMBER 1992

reunion a more informal character. This more abruptly than elsewhere; this enabled Woche der Begegnung enabled the organisers to deal with visitors' the exhibitors to show the sequence of in Baden-Baden individual requirements with exemplary events in a more concentrated form than efficiency. Significantly, four hire-car and would have been possible otherwise. bus firms had, free of charge, placed vehicles hough most reunions arranged by They did not attempt to gloss over at the disposal of the guests. German towns for their former Jew­ anything. Exhibits relentlessly demon­ ish citizens follow a broadly similar Last but not least: the 'spirit' underlying strated the perverted sadism of the rulers by T the event. There was no attempt at cover- reproducing published decrees, official and pattern, the encounter in Baden-Baden last September differed from the norm in several up. The candour of the speakers (with the private communications, letters of denun­ respects. Lord Mayor in the forefront), who empha­ ciation, and numerous photographs. The sised the difficulties and tensions inevitably focussing on the fate of a few individual First of all in its fortuitous, albeit uninten­ facing both organisers and guests, removed families gave the exhibition maximum tional, timing. It became abundantly clear much of the stress from the outset. impact. during the meeting that the present wave of Neo-Nazism had, so far at any rate, left the Its designer, Angelika Schindler, a curator great majority of the German population Successful ruse at the Suedwestdeutsche Rundfunk, has set quite untouched. One might have expected The centre piece of the event was an down the details in a book entitled Der some of the official speeches to contain exhibition called Jetvs in Baden-Baden. To verbrannte Traum ('Dreams reduced to predictably adverse comments on this phe­ appreciate it fully one has to know that, ashes', Verlagshaus Elster, Buehl-Moos). It nomenon. In the event it received scant initially, Baden-Baden had been singled out is a model of its kind. mention, and such was the prevailing by the Nazi regime as a showcase to The idea, mooted at the conclusion of the atmosphere that no-one seemed to mind it. demonstrate to the outside world the nor­ encounter, to preserve the exhibition per­ Secondly, of Baden-Baden's Jewish citi­ mality of conditions in Germany, thereby manently will hopefully come to fruition. It zens, in 19.3.3 having numbered only 230, attracting foreign visitors and currency. The would be an effective method of exposing only about 75 participated, which gave the ruse was successful: There was an increase Neo-Nazi lies about the Holocaust. in the number of guests from abroad; in D Carl F. Flesch 1936 it was the highest since 1923 and 40 Years Ago incidentally included the Lord Mayor of London. More important, it even deceived a this Month numberof German Jews. Between 1933 and GERMAN BOOKS 1936,78 Jews emigrated, but 192 moved in, We are always buying: CHAIM WEIZMANN mistakenly believing that this international Books, Autographs, Judaica Iherc are few leaders of revolutionising spa would offer them greater protection Please contact niovcinents who have the good fortune of against persecution. It was only in 1937 that living to sec the fulHIincnt of their ideas and the pretence was dropped with a vengeance Antiquarlat Metropolis dreams. Chaiin Weizniann was one of them, Leerbachstr. 85 and his life was crowned hy the highest - there was a lot of catching-up to do. W-6000 Frankfurt a/M reward statesmanship may achieve. Hence, attitudes in Baden-Baden changed Tel: 0104969559451 Together with other Jews all over the world, we mourn the death of a man who, as REGULAR VISITS TO LONDON first President of the State of Israel, has a unique place in Jewish history. As Jews who are now citizens of Great Britain, we realise that Britain's assistance to building up the East-Germany Retirement by the sea Jewish homeland was, to a large extent, due to Chaim Weizmann's spadework; it is Come to sunny Hove significant that the Prime Minister, Mr and Berlin Are you finding it hard to cope Winston C^hurchill, at his first public speech alone . . .1 For a happy and secure after the President's death went out of his We give immediate attention. way to pay tribute to him. As Jews from We process and buy properties/claims. retirement start a new life at Marigold Ciermany we shall always gratefully remem­ House, a small, friendly kosher home ber that, immediately after the Nazis came close to the sea, synagogue and shops. to power, he initiated constructive measures for the resettlement of (ierman Jews in We pay cash. Palestine. His influence on (Jerman Jewish Happy atmosphere in homely life before 19.3,3, however, also left its mark We have proven track records and furnisli surroundings, 24 hour personal care, documentation. inside and outside the Zionist movement in good kosher food, special diets, level Cjermany. He paid several visits to Ciermany ground, bus stop outside, one hour from to address public meetings and to establish Write to: central London. personal contacts. It was, last not least, the Nagel & Partner result of his efforts that so tnany leading Kurfurstendamm 182 • Berlin 15 non-Zionist German Jews supported the Phone:030-882 56 31 Long-term, convalescence, holiday stays cause of Palestine and joined the Jewish Fax:030-881 39 16 from £200 per week. Agency when, in 1929, it was extended to non-Zionists. Marigold House Residential Care Representatives of the AJR have called at the Israeli Embassy to express their Home, 72 New Church Road, Hove, sympathy. East Sussex. Tel: Mrs Jacqui Clewed 0273 778759-771957 A/R lr]formation December 1952. iU ,vX

Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Hannah Karminski House, 9 Adamson Road, London NW3 3HX, Telephone 071-483 2536/7/8/9 Fax: 071-722 4652 Printed in Great Britain by Black Bear Press Limited, Cambridge ^^vm mstsia^^mam m&msisam^