VOLume 17 NO.1 JANUARY 2017 journal The Association of Jewish Refugees

Another Jewish for Literature? he awarding of the 2016 Nobel Prize Though they murdered six million for Literature to did not, In the ovens they fried it is fair to say, resound in the Jewish The Germans now, too Tworld in the same way as the awards made to Have God on their side. in 1978, in I am surely not alone in finding the 1976, and S.Y. (Shmuel Yosef) Agnon and phrasing here distasteful. Apart from the , who shared the prize in 1966. erroneous implication that the six million Dylan transformed popular music, almost perished in ovens, not gas chambers, the single-handedly raising the level of its lyrics crudity of the line ‘In the ovens they fried’ is from the cheerful banalities of 1950s pop jarringly inappropriate. Presumably, Dylan to that of serious culture. He did so by the settled on ‘fried’ because it rhymed with combination of his words and his music, ‘side’, though a more skilful and meticulous conveyed through his unique style of delivery poet would surely have found a superior Bob Dylan and performance. But a pure poet he is not, alternative. More serious, in my view, is the and the committee that awarded him the supposedly morally superior – US forces with crude instrumentalisation of Nobel Prize was arguably mistaken to treat characteristically pithy, powerfully rhythmic to undermine the moral legitimacy of NATO him as if he were. diction: and the Western, anti-Soviet alliance. Criticism Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen of the failure of the Western powers properly Zimmerman on 24 May 1941, to Jewish Oh, the history books tell it to indict German civil servants, industrialists, parents living in Duluth, Minnesota. But They tell it so well army officers and the like for their activities when he changed his name to Bob Dylan, The cavalries charged under Hitler is of course legitimate, as is in tribute to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, The Indians fell criticism of West German rearmament in and presumably because it fitted his new folk- The cavalries charged the early 1950s and of the hasty integration singing image better, he dropped much of the The Indians died of West Germany into the Western bloc in heritage of the Zimmermans, becoming the Oh, the country was young face of the Communist threat. But to exploit Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan of his 1963 album title. With God on its side. the Holocaust for crudely polemical purposes Jewish elements have not been prominent in The song repeats the lines ‘The cavalries seems to me to betray a loss of moral compass, Dylan’s lyrics, and his allegiance to Judaism charged/ The Indians fell’ with one small but even for lines written in 1964. has been at best patchy: he converted to arresting change, the substitution of the word ‘With God on Our Side’ is of course far Christianity in the late 1970s, though he ‘died’ for ‘fell’. We first view the ‘fallen’ Native from the best of Bob Dylan. But how good was also linked in later years to Chabad and Americans from a comfortable distance, as if is his best, when measured against other great attended the Bar Mitzvahs of his sons. It is their deaths were no more substantial than poets, for example Dylan Thomas, after whom hard to identify Dylan with any organised the staged antics of extras in a Western B he renamed himself? The opening lines of form of religion. movie, only to be confronted head-on with Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ (released 1965) Readers of this journal, for whom the years the bitter reality of their slaughter, its bitterness are among the most famous lyrics in modern of the Third Reich have a special significance, reinforced by the rhyme between ‘died’ and the popular music: may be interested in one direct reference to title phrase ‘God on our side’. Once upon a time you dressed so fine and the Holocaust in Dylan’s oeuvre, Dylan then runs through the American Threw the bums a dime in your prime, which occurs in the song ‘With God on Our Civil War, the Spanish-American War of 1898, didn't you? Side’, from the album The Times They Are and the two World Wars at a brisk pace. Of People call say 'beware doll, you're bound a-Changin’, released in 1964. The song is a World War I, we learn no more than that ‘it to fall' biting attack on the sanctimonious patriotic came and it went’, a piece of insubstantial filler, You thought they were all kidding you notion that the wars fought by the United and of World War II that ‘it came to an end’. You used to laugh about States of America were morally, indeed That seems a strangely brief treatment of the Everybody that was hanging out divinely, sanctioned, since the USA ‘has god one war in American history in which the USA Now you don't talk so loud on its side’. The song ranges across American might truly be said to have had god, or at least Now you don't seem so proud history from the campaigns against the Native good, on its side. Dylan continues with an About having to be scrounging your next Americans in the nineteenth century to the attack on American claims to the moral high meal First and Second World Wars and the threat ground in the Cold War with How does it feel, how does it feel? of a nuclear confrontation with the USSR. the godless atheists of the Kremlin, and in so To be without a home The song’s poetic strengths are immediately doing invokes the Holocaust: Like a complete unknown, like a rolling evident. It evokes the tragedy of the destruction We forgave the Germans stone. And then we were friends of the Native American tribes by the – continued on page 2  journal JANUARY 2017  Another Jewish Nobel Prize for Literature? continued HOLOCAUST Here is another justly famous passage: Hey, Mr. Tambourine man, play a song MEMORIAL DAY for me Tuesday 24 January 2017 I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm 2 pm going to at Belsize Square Synagogue, Hey, Mr. Tambourine man, play a song London NW3 4HX for me Please save the date and join us In the jingle jangle morning I'll come for our service to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. following you. Bob Dylan at the Western Wall Take me on a trip upon your magic We are honoured that His Excellency the German Ambassador, Dr Peter swirling ship How many roads must a man walk down Ammon, will be our guest speaker My senses have been stripped Before you call him a man? on Holocaust Memorial Day 2017. My hands can't feel to grip How many seas must a white dove sail His theme will be ‘How can life go My toes too numb to step Before she sleeps in the sand? on?’ Other speakers will include AJR Wait only for my boot heels to be member Eva Clarke and AJR intern Yes, and how many times must the cannon Merrit Jagusch. wandering balls fly I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for It is essential we know exact Before they're forever banned? numbers for catering – please call to fade The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the Karin Pereira on 020 8385 3070 or Into my own parade wind email [email protected] if you are Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise The answer is blowin' in the wind. planning to attend. to go under it. But stirring though it is, even this appears (‘Mr Tambourine Man’, released 1965) rough-hewn and declamatory beside the First

Much as I like the ‘jingle jangle morning’, I World War poet Wilfred Owen’s ‘Anthem for AJR FILM CLUB cannot see that this stands comparison with Doomed Youth’: Please join us at our next Film Club. Dylan Thomas at his majestic best: What passing-bells for these who die as And death shall have no dominion. cattle? Our film showing will be at Dead man naked they shall be one Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Sha’arei Tsedek North London Reform With the man in the wind and the west Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Synagogue, 120 Oakleigh Road North, moon; Can patter out their hasty orisons. Whetstone N20 9EZ The almost unbearable poignancy of on Monday 13 February 2017 When their bones are picked clean and at 12.30pm the clean bones gone, Owen’s sonnet derives in part from the They shall have stars at elbow and foot; juxtaposition of the terminology of religious A lunch of smoked salmon bagels, Danish pastries and tea or coffee will be Though they go mad they shall be sane, ceremonial – a passing bell is the church bell served first. Though they sink through the sea they rung to mark a death, while orisons are prayers A DOUBLE BILL OF VIEWING shall rise again; – with that of the mechanised slaughter of the Though lovers be lost love shall not; Western Front. And when Dylan evokes the CHURCHILL’S GERMAN ARMY And death shall have no dominion. biblical Abraham in ‘Highway 61 Revisited’, This is the unknown story of the Germans who (‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’, he weaves him into a surreal tapestry of images, fought for Britain. Now, after seventy years, a 1933) striking but lacking the full power of Owen’s handful of brave men and women have decided to break their silence. All volunteered to give This is that seizes at the heart, that use of the same figure, in his ‘Parable of the up their family names and fight the Nazis on engages the mind. This is poetry that has the Old Man and the Young’, to represent the ‘old the soil that was once their home against the aesthetic appeal of high poetic craftsmanship. men’ of 1914. For Owen’s patriarch-militarist people who were once their neighbours. They refuses to spare his son’s life, as his biblical were labelled suicide soldiers but they would Dylan’s songs are often referred to as the become Churchill's German Army. anthems of the youth and protest movements predecessor did; he ignores God’s entreaty, of the Sixties. Blowin’ in the Wind (released with heartrending results: ‘But the old man ALICE HERZ-SOMMER 1963), in particular, is rightly renowned as would not so, but slew his son, And half the Everything is a Present the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement seed of Europe, one by one.’ Until 106 Alice lived alone in her flat and Anthony Grenville practiced the piano for two and a half hours in the USA: every day. She tells her incredible story of survival and forgiveness in this uplifting AJR Chief Executive documentary. Michael Newman INSIDE THIS ISSUE £7.00 per person Finance Director News...... 3, 5 & 10 David Kaye BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL My story – Lela Black...... 4 Heads of Department Please call Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 Karen Markham Human Resources & Administration Letters...... 6 & 7 or email [email protected] Sue Kurlander Social Services Art Notes...... 8 Carol Hart Community & Volunteer Services Book reviews...... 8 & 9 AJR Journal Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor Short story – The Rain Came..... 11 On 30 January and 6 February Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor Inside the AJR...... 12 & 13 the German film Karin Pereira Secretarial/Advertisements Looking for…...... 14 ‘Langericht’ – a moving account of a family’s Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not Obituaries...... 15 experience during the Nazi regime – necessarily those of the Association of Jewish Letter from ...... 16 Refugees and should not be regarded as such. will be broadcast in two parts on ZDF.

2 JANUARY 2017 journal AJEX Parade SOUTHEND ver one thousand Jewish service Lord Dubs in memory of her father Sir REMEMBERS veterans, many of whom served Nicholas Winton. KRISTALLNACHT Oduring the Second World War, The parade marched past the braved a cold Sunday afternoon to reviewing officer impressively before n 9 November at Southend pay tribute to those who had fallen adjourning for a tea where Air Chief & Westcliff Hebrew in battle. Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford spoke OCongregation Otto The annual AJEX Commemoration warmly about the Jewish community’s Deutsch shared a vivid account of Remembrance and Parade also contribution to the defence of this of watching Kristallnacht unfold attracted members of the JLGB, friends country. He said: “This tradition in Vienna exactly 78 years earlier. and families, civic, synagogue and continues today as we’ve seen by all "I can recall it as if it happened school and youth groups who swelled those in uniform on parade today, still yesterday," he said, describing the numbers marching down Whitehall serving.” standing with the local to the Cenotaph, led by the Band of the The event closed with addresses by and watching scrolls being Coldstream Guards. AJEX President, Hon Vice Admiral the burned. An emotive service was conducted by Lord Sterling and National Chairman Otto’s own father had been the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Senior Brian Bloom. Both paid tribute to decorated by the Austrian Jewish Chaplain to HM Forces, Rabbi those veterans who had travelled from government for serving in the Reuben Livingstone and Rabbi Harry as far as Israel, Gibraltar and France trenches during WW1, alongside Jacobi, remembering the fallen of all to attend the parade as well as the his good friend and neighbour conflicts. serving personnel, JLGB and St John Kurt. Unbelievably this same Wreaths were laid commemorating Ambulance who helped with the event neighbour then informed the the centenary of the battles of Jutland, organisation. Gestapo about his Jewish Verdun and the neighbours and Otto's father was Somme by The taken to Dachau to do forced Jewish Brigade and labour to build Autobahns. representatives of Otto himself was sent to the Armed Forces, England on the Kindertransport, Cadet Forces, along with his cousin Alfred. SAAFA, and by the Here they were looked after by a JLGB and youth Christian family in Morpeth, Jim organisations. A & Nell Ferguson. He never saw very special addition his father or his mother Wilma or was a wreath laid by sister Adele again. But he always Barbara Winton and remembers his mother’s final words to him ‘Don’t forget your Yiddishkeit’. Otto’s parents and sister were shot and buried in Mali Trostinec, ike the AJR, UNICEF – the United many modern refugees are widely a suburb of Minsk in Belarus, Nations International Children's known. in May 1942, and subsequently LEmergency Fund – is celebrating In November UNICEF flew Harry exhumed and cremated. Otto a major anniversary this to Berlin to meet with made an emotional journey there year. The charity has a 12 year old Syrian in 2011 to say Kaddish. decided to highlight the boy, Ahmed, who also Otto’s extremely moving story topic of child refugees escaped twice from his was followed by a film on Sir as its main focus for the native oppressors – first Nicolas Winton, who helped year, and turned to the from Syria to Egypt, and to save the lives of 669 Jewish AJR for help. then on to Sweden in children in 1939 in Prague. We were delighted 2011. Larry Lisner to put them in touch UNICEF’s moving with 91 year old Rabbi presentation, which Harry Jacobi MBE, vice Rabbi Harry Jacobi travelled to juxtaposes Harry’s and president of Liberal Calais in May 2016 to meet child Ahmed’s experiences, refugees, ©UNICEF Judaism and one of was launched at the Britain’s most senior and respected United Nations in New York on 12 . In the 1930s Harry fled the Nazis December, as part of the charity’s twice, first from his native Germany to official 70th birthday activities. It is Holland, then from Holland to the UK. now available on the UNICEF website Through a high profile visit to Calais and for everyone to see. a protest at the House of Commons, “I hope many will see it and be moved Harry’s views on the pitiful plight of to help UNICEF,” said Rabbi Harry.

3 journal JANUARY 2017 My Story – Lela Black am Lela, but it’s not the name we befriended our neighbours – a Alexandria, then Cairo, was the most “ my parents gave me. It should wonderful Greek family. Katina magical time of my life. Egypt was I be Allegra, which my baby sister and Stathis and their two teenage seemingly unscathed by the ravages could not pronounce, so “Lela” I daughters, Themis and Merope, of war. I stayed in luxurious hotels became – even in my supported us through and enjoyed high-class cuisine (quite passport. thick and thin. They a dramatic change from Auschwitz). I was born on adored Marcelle and In addition to being shown the 15th January 1918 eagerly took care of Pyramids and taken on camel rides, in Salonica, a large her on many occasions. I was courted right, left and centre, bustling city in When the Nazis receiving no less than three marriage Northern Greece. I invaded Greece and proposals! I turned them all down, was the third of four the deportation of under the illusion that life in the UK sisters. My father began, Joseph, would be even better, with the streets was a coal merchant Marcelle and I were paved with gold. and my mother a forced into hiding, What a mistake! society dressmaker. moving from one place I arrived in a miserable, post-war We weren’t well-off, to another. Ironically, London of rationing and gloom. My but neither were we we were ultimately auntie lived in a huge, cold house poor. The only time betrayed to the Nazis in Shepherd’s Bush and my tales I felt disadvantaged by a Jew. From Haidari, of Auschwitz were greeted with was when collecting hand-me-downs a transit camp outside Athens, we incredulity, since I appeared to be from my wealthy cousins. As the were herded onto cattle trucks and far better off than my relatives in poor relations, we had to use the deported to Auschwitz London. It was only tradesmen’s entrance! in the summer of 1944. many years later, when My parents valued education I later found out my the true horror of the enormously. At home we spoke parents and sisters death camps was Spanish and French, as well as Greek. were deported with fully accepted by an My two older sisters attended the their families from appalled world, that my French Lycée in Salonica, whilst I Salonica in 1943 and cousins acknowledged was sent to the Italian school. The none survived. I will that I had been telling Sephardic Jewish community of not dwell here on the the truth. Salonica was very hierarchical, with living hell that was My relatives were status determined by wealth and Auschwitz-Birkenau. keen for me to move profession. Suffice to say my on with my life. And My childhood was a happy one Marcelle was gassed so I was introduced to and my teenage years even better; on arrival and Joseph a lovely widower, Jack. weekends were spent at the Jewish perished a few months He had two young club, playing tennis and partying. later. I am the only children, Joey and Rita. That’s how I met my husband Joseph. member of my family who survived I loved Jack very much, although Unfortunately, I was not considered the Holocaust. his family always treated me like an good enough for his wealthy and After liberation, I embarked on a outsider. We married in 1946 and important family. series of long train had a daughter in 1948. I was so Moreover, it was the journeys, my only overwhelmed with joy that I named tradition that men possession being her Marcelle after my first child who should not marry a small accordion. was so brutally murdered. before their sisters. Arriving back in For three years we lived happily Joseph, the only son, Athens, I was again in Acton. Sadly, our happiness was had four sisters. So looked after by short-lived; Jack died of cancer in we eloped to Athens! Katina and her family 1951, aged just 37. Against my will, After a shaky start, until it was time for my brothers-in-law took Joey and Rita all turned out well me to move on. I away, leaving very little money for and we returned had two choices: I Marcelle and myself. Luckily, we had to Salonica where, could either head to the house – all I needed was a job. I amazingly, I was Palestine with other secured a position in John Lewis as greeted with open refugees, or go to an interpreter (I spoke five languages arms by my in-laws. London where I had fluently). To ensure a great education Two years later, on an aunt and two for Marcelle I secured a discount at 1st January 1938, my cousins. I chose the the French Lycée in South Kensington. daughter Marcelle latter. My journey to When Marcelle was eight, I met was born. London would first a South African entrepreneur, Carl. We then moved back to Athens, involve a boat journey to Egypt, then He was an astute businessman where Joseph had business concerns. a plane direct to Northolt airport. My but unfortunately also a gambler. two-month stopover in Egypt, first in We lived in a small house, where continued on page 5 

4 JANUARY 2017 journal Righteous Among Nations Award Introducing Dorothea Weber, née Le Brocq 1911-1993 Barbara he Bailiff of Jersey led the Honigman honours on 20 November arbara Honigmann is Tfor Dorothea Weber, née Le Germany’s foremost Jewish Brocq, who helped save the life of a Bwriter and the recipient of Jewish woman during the German multiple awards. Author, journalist, Occupation, and has now been theatre director and artist, her work made 'Righteous Among Nations' explores the complexities associated by the State of Israel. with being a Jew in post-WW2 Dorothea is only the second Germany. Channel Islander to receive the Honigmann’s parents met and Righteous Among the Nations married as refugees in London, honour. She was awarded it before returning to Germany in posthumously for shielding her 1947 where her father - Georg best friend Hedwig Bercu, despite Honigmann – was chief editor of the Germans‘ warnings to islanders some tourist trade from the United the Berliner Zeitung. they would be "liable to punishment" if Kingdom during the summer months. Barbara will be speaking at they hid Hedwig. Indeed the Germans The arrival of German forces presented London’s JW3 on Wednesday even posted an appeal for Hedwig in everyday challenges which to us now 1 March as part of Jewish local newspapers. are almost impossible to understand. Book Week. Book online at Dorothea was shunned herself by That is why the extraordinary actions www.jewishbookweek.com or call her fellow islanders during the war of Dorothea are being recognised.” 020 7433 8988. for marrying an Austrian refugee who Immediately after the award was then conscripted into the German ceremony, held at the Tapestry army. Despite her own isolation, she Museum in St Helier, a special plaque risked her life to protect Hedwig. was unveiled at 7 West Park Avenue Speaking at the award ceremony – the home Dorothea shared in secret KT LUNCH the Bailiff said: “In 1939 Jersey was with her friend Hedwig for over two Wednesday 11 January 2017 a small agricultural community, with years. at Alyth Gardens Synagogue, 12.30 pm We are delighted to be joined by Rabbi Mark Goldsmith, who is the Rabbi of North Western  MY STORY – LELA BLACK continued Reform Synagogue. Rabbi Mark Goldsmith has been a rabbi at Alyth since Sometimes he would come home I never saw him again; he died in 2006. He gains great fulfilment from working with from casinos having made a fortune; 1975. To make ends meet, I rented people of all ages and levels of Jewish knowledge on others he would lose it all. He out our house and stayed in Athens and experience to help them to take new steps on adored Marcelle but was incapable with my friends. their Jewish journey. Mark’s speciality in Jewish study of providing financial stability. In Marcelle’s second year, I is business ethics on which he frequently speaks, Nonetheless, he made it possible for returned to London to embark teaches and writes. Marcelle and me to visit Greece every on another serious relationship, For details and booking, please contact summer to stay with our dear friends not with a man this time, but a Susan Harrod at AJR on 020 8385 3070 in Athens. department store – the most famous or email [email protected] By the time Marcelle started one in the world, Harrods! I lived in university, Carl was in so much debt rented accommodation in Kensington We look forward to seeing you that he decided to leave the country, because my own house was still to shield me from any repercussions. occupied. I was employed in the Export Bureau of quality time with Marcelle and my Harrods for fourteen two granddaughters, Jacqueline years. I loved all of and Danielle, and I always believed it; my colleagues, in looking forward and not dwelling the cosmopolitan on the past.” atmosphere, the Lela Black passed away in 2008 elegance and last after a series of strokes. Her story but not least, the was sent to the AJR Journal by discounts! Shortly daughter Marcelle, who has heaps after Marcelle’s of other material about her mother’s marriage, I moved life and is hoping to turn these into to a flat in St. John’s a book by January 2018, when Lela Wood. herself would have been 100. Any My retirement ghost or publisher interested brought peace, in helping Marcelle should contact contentment and her on [email protected]

5 journal JANUARY 2017

chambers. In the summer and autumn of 1944, the World Jewish Congress and the War Refugee Board forwarded requests to bomb Auschwitz to the US War Department. These requests were denied. The Assistant Secretary of War advised that “such an operation could be executed only by the diversion of considerable air support…now engaged The Editor reserves the right in decisive operations elsewhere and to shorten correspondence would in any case be of such doubtful submitted for publication efficacy that it would not warrant the use of our resources”. Yet within a week the US Air Force carried out a successful THE JEWISH BUBBLE communities in Zambia – Polish Catholics bombing raid of the I.G. Farben synthetic Sir – Why do so many ultra-religious and German Jews) on a website www. oil and rubber works – located less than Jews want to return to the life of the 19th peterfraenkel.co.uk. The short stories five miles from Auschwitz-Birkenau. century ? The Jews of today do are grouped under “Tales from the Imp”. In subsequent decades the Allies’ not need eruvs. They cause unnecessary Peter Fraenkel, London decision not to bomb the gas chambers friction with our non-Jewish neighbours. One of Peter Fraenkel’s short stories, or the rail lines leading to Auschwitz- If strictly orthodox Jews want an eruv it ‘The Rains Came’, appears on page 11. Birkenau has been the source of makes sense for them to live in Israel, sometimes bitter debate. Proponents of bombing continue to argue that such an thereby not requiring to replicate their THE BITTER TRUTH action, while it might have killed some shtetls in various districts of London and Sir – I felt quite moved after reading prisoners, could have slowed the killing the Home Counties. Rabbi Walter Rothschild's article ‘Stunde operations and perhaps ultimately saved Further, why do even the Modern Null: A New Start’ in your November lives. Orthodox want to live in a Jewish issue; he could not have expressed the It is of interest to note that during bubble? They all live close to each other, world's problems any better! How sadly the lecture Sir Martin informed us that send their children to cheder and to true it all is! Churchill was in favour of the bombing Jewish primary and secondary schools. Werner Conn, Lytham St. Annes It is very rare for them to mix with non- of Auschwitz-Birkenau in order to save Jews. When it is time for their children lives. HOW THE GAS CHAMBERS to leave home to go to university it is Betty Bloom, London NW3 SURVIVED all strange to them. They have had no Sir – One of the questions raised by Peter REFUGEE FROM NAZI education on being British and their Philips in your November issue, “Why PERSECUTION own country is foreign to them. Many was Auschwitz not bombed” reminded Sir – I wonder how many readers may are scared to leave the Jewish bubble. me of a lecture on this subject given have been misled by the paragraph in Surely they should not have been put some years ago by the late Sir Martin the recent AJR Journal with regard to into the bubble in the first place. Surely Gilbert to his students of the Holocaust, the story ‘Government confirms Child the bubble should be burst. which I was fortunate to be invited to Survivor Fund payments’. I downloaded Peter Phillips, Loudwater, Herts attend. the relevant form from the internet. During the lecture Sir Martin quoted Without going into too much detail, I A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE the following extract from a document found a number of criteria. I personally Sir – I have been reading the AJR at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum only fitted into one: ‘Did you flee to Journal for years but find the personal in Washington: escape Nazi persecution?’ experiences of emigration that you “During the spring of 1944, the Allies At the age of three and a half, after frequently publish very repetitive. A received more explicit information about spending some time in an orphanage in recent piece on Johannesburg, South the process of mass murder by gassing, Berlin, I was put on the Kindertransport. Africa, was different and made me carried out at Auschwitz-Birkenau. My father was in Dachau concentration more fully aware how very different In desperation, Jewish organisations camp and my mother was evicted from had been my own family’s experience made several proposals to halt the her home. She risked never seeing me of emigration. My father had left it very extermination process and called for again but was unable to cope with late (“They are not going to touch me. the bombing of the Auschwitz gas three little children (she had polio as a I have been a Frontkaempfer. I have an iron cross....!”) so we ended up in the country now called Zambia (then AJR CARD AND GAMES CLUB Northern Rhodesia). I have had a book on broadcasting Please join us at our new Card and Games Club in Zambia ”Wayaleshi” published by on Tuesday 31 January 2017 at 1pm at North Western Reform Synagogue, Weidenfeld and Nicolson and a memoir Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, London NW11 7EN “No fixed Abode” by I.B.Tauris (the latter Open to all levels Bridge players – come and join us reviewed by Leslie Brent in your Journal). Card games, Bridge, Backgammon, Scrabble – you decide. Since then I have been amusing Games are dependent on numbers being sufficient– the more the merrier! myself scribbling mainly short stories A sandwich lunch with tea, coffee and Danish pastries will be served on arrival. – notoriously difficult to get published – £7.00 per person so I have contented myself with placing Booking is essential – when you book please let us know your choice of game. some 30 (mainly about immigrant Please call Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or email [email protected]

6 JANUARY 2017 journal child and could barely walk). She fled Semitism flourishes, whether driven by My Voice voted hidden in a hay cart with us three and the natives or the recent non-European then put me in a home. I had to flee to settlers. There are exceptions – like Team of the Year save me from the same fate as my aunt those who install Stolpersteine – but and grandparents (all of whom were they are just that: exceptions who murdered in camps.) prove the rule. With a heavy heart I filled in the Frank Bright, required form. In order to answer the Martlesham Heath, Suffolk required questions I had to recount the trauma my parents went through. PRINCE MONOLULU OF THE An emotional rollercoaster. I have since FALASHAS he team behind the My Voice discovered that the ‘Fund’ does not Sir – A while ago you published a apply to the children who escaped the project has been named as letter regarding ‘Prince Monolulu of Volunteer Team of the Year in fate of so many left behind and are not the Falashas’, as he used to be known. T the sixth Jewish Telegraph and Jewish included in these criteria. I maintain I was intrigued to learn of the man’s because of Nazi persecution we had to Volunteering Network Manchester real identity (assuming it is correct) Jewish Community Awards. flee. We did not come willingly or on a as I too had heard that he was a holiday! We came because of anti-Jewish My Voice is a joint pilot project flamboyant bookie from Ethiopia but, developed by the Association of Jewish persecution. Our lives were in danger. By prior to learning anything about him, I the possibility of rejecting our claim of Refugees and The Fed – the leading social recall that my father had the following care charity for the Jewish Community ‘compensation’, I ask myself and you, encounter with him: the reader, does the German Government of North and South Manchester – to It could not have been that very record the life stories of Holocaust imply that we left our mother country long after our arrival in this country willingly or were indeed driven out? Survivors and refugees in Manchester, that my father came home one day focusing on each participant’s entire life, Ruth Schwiening, full of excitement about someone Market Bosworth, Warwickshire not just their experiences of the Shoah. who had approached him in London’s Accepting the award in front of a LEOPARDS AND SPOTS Underground. The man had looked packed audience at the Hilton Suite, Sir – Francis Deutsch (May) believes like an ‘Indianer’ (German for a Native Prestwich, project coordinator Hila Kaye the ‘offenders’ (why not call them American or Red Indian) with a head said: “What started as a small project murderers and thieves?) have passed on dress of feathers, and addressed him with five clients and five volunteers and that we should have stayed in the in : ‘Sie haben doch a Koppelke’ has now expanded into a My Voice EU. Personally I have never considered (Koppelke is derived from ‘Kop’ or community – with over 20 volunteers myself to be in exile: any remaining ‘Kopf’, German for ‘head’, meaning from a spectrum of the Manchester German-ness was knocked out of me in good brains). He had then proceeded Jewish community. We are all working the ghetto and at Auschwitz. to offer him a trip on a horse. My together to produce these treasured Unlike his colleagues, the German father was dumbfounded and even memories of a generation which is anatomist of the human brain, Professor more so when the ‘Red Indian’ told dwindling and may not be with us much Paul Glees, was repelled by Nazism, came him he was married to a Jewess from longer. Time is running out and it is to England, and went to Cambridge Germany – Frankfurt I think it was but crucial to acknowledge these stories.” under a scheme set up by Miriam I’m not sure. He was pro-Jewish and Hila particularly highlighted the work Rothschild. He moved to Oxford and anti-Nazi. of the volunteers for their generosity, was the only Aryan German not to be I’d be pleased to hear from anyone understanding, empathy, compassion, interned. In 1961 he accepted a chair at who can come up with some more facts patience and dedication – human traits Göttingen, a Nazi stronghold even before on this fascinating character. I do recall of the highest calibre. As Hila said, their 1933. There he discovered that, before hearing that ‘Prince Monolulu’ used to “…lives will forever be bound by these drawing his salary, he was required to wear a headdress with feathers. exceptional stories.” certify that he was not a Jew. This 3rd PS: Housing is found and built for Thanks to its incredible success, there Reich law, accepted without question by migrants, whilst the weather destroys are now plans to start rolling out My all the existing professors, was rescinded Britain’s homes and hopes! Voice in London and Leeds during 2017. only after Glees made a huge fuss. Margarete Stern, London NW3 Fast forward to April 2016. That very same Göttingen University does not extend its contract with Dr Samuel CHASING DREAMS AND FLIES; Salzborn, the most prominent academic A TRAGICOMEDY OF LIFE IN FRANCE expert in German antisemitism. They by Dorothea Shefer-Vanson don’t give a reason. I assume his lectures became uncomfortable – the truth often Sophie and John decide to retire in France. They find the is. Dr Salzborn has taught at this place house of their dreams, but a hostile neighbour and their of many skeletons in many cupboards own ignorance of the French language and culture serve since 2012, when it was thought that to as obstacles to the achievement of their objective. Various have him on board would enhance their characters, both expats and locals, try to help them fulfill reputation. However, there is only so their dream. The denouement comes when a neighbour much today’s anti-Semites – ‘offenders’ enters their house with murderous intent. – can take. I do not extend my hand of friendship Available as an ebook and in printed form to the leading, and all the other, players from Amazon, or from the author. in a Europe of few Jews where anti- [email protected]

7 journal JANUARY 2017

the composers François Poulenc, Fauré, Igor Stravinksy, and his seaside caricatures of glamorous models and stars. Caricature was his first childish foray REVIEWS into portraiture, but a room devoted to his ART wife, Ukrainian ballerina Olga Kokhlovsky, The world’s first scientific whom he met in 1917, depicts a virtual superstar NOTES calendar of their marriage, from her elegant EINSTEIN: HIS SPACE AND TIMES portrait enrobed in brown resembling an (JEWISH LIVES) GLORIA TESSLER Ingrēs painting, to the breakdown of her by Steven Gimbel Yale University Press 2015, features and large brooding eyes, reflecting 208 pp. hardback, £14.99, their actual marital breakdown. No painting ISBN 978-0-300-19671-9 here is little question that Picasso describes this better than Woman in a Hat, lbert Einstein was a late developer. is the supreme reductionist of the 1935. Olga is reduced to a series of triangles His early scholastic progress was 20th Century. and oblongs, the flourish of a pink feather, Ahalting but he rose to become TIn the 80 Picasso Portraits exhibition at one of the greatest scientists who ever the sad eyes and tiny mouth. It is as though the National Portrait Gallery his distortion she is playing Pierrot to his Columbine. lived. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics of features eloquently presents the whole There is even a rough home movie showing although his theory of relativity was person in truncated form. Via various the couples’ jagged movements as they play branded ‘Jewish science’ by the Nazis. art movements he dallied with in Paris in with their children and their dogs. There Born in 1879 in Swabia, south-west the early 20th Century, from Surrealism, Germany, Einstein had a multicultural are portraits of other wives, Dora Maar, background. In Munich he was the to Symbolism and Art Nouveau, Picasso Françoise Gilot, Jacqueline Picasso, also the only Jewish boy at a Catholic school, an fearlessly presented the sexuality of his photojournalist Lee Miller. outsider who would later embrace the subjects. He could tear women apart as the In an early self portrait a pallid 25 year Einspänner – lone horse – role. master of the jig-saw, but a jig-saw which old with huge, dark eyes holds his palette; a When the family electronics business instantly pieced itself together. reference to his mute sorrow on the death failed, his parents moved to Italy of his idol, Cezanne, but Einstein continued his education who left him with the in Switzerland, renouncing German weight of a powerful nationality at 16 in protest against artistic legacy. In militarism. He focused on professional science but, unable to secure an another he resembles academic position, became a patent an 18th century dandy clerk. in a powdered wig. As Finally he gained his PhD in 1905 for France fell to the Nazis work on molecular dimensions. This in the Second World was an annus mirabilis – the year he War, his paintings published ground-breaking papers on become darker, the space, time, mass and energy. His career women sadder. then flourished, with posts in Bonn, Other women Prague and Zurich before becoming a came into his life – key part of the top physics community Woman in a Hat (Olga) by at the Prussian Academy of Science and Pablo Picasso, 1935; Musée models, lovers, wives. the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin. national d’art moderne Centre Portrait of Olga Picasso by Pablo The first he lived with His revolutionary work found Pompidou, Paris. Picasso, 1923; Private Collection was Fernande Oliver, © Succession Picasso/DACS © Succession Picasso/DACS widespread acceptance and in 1922 he London, 2016 London, 2016 shown in a black was awarded a Nobel Prize for services mantilla emerging to theoretical physics, particularly the His paintings dance, they sing, they from a vaporous background.The surprise photoelectric effect. He became the sparkle with the music of his genius, and of the show, for me, was an almost Etruscan- world’s first scientific superstar. understand them or not, they are perfectly like bronze portrait head. Its primitivism is Einstein was assembled. Sometimes you can almost hear an apt metaphor for Picassor’s art. never afraid of a metallic clangor in his works: in others, Until 26 February 2017. controversy like the painting of his little daughter with his dress Paloma, the curved cheeks of childhood are and unruly hair in surrealist preserved with little distortion. A realistic The Ben Uri‘ Out of Chaos’ tour fashion. He portrait of his promoter Gustav Coquillot of 50 works from its Centenary became a is full of badinage, bawdy, red-lipped and exhibition opens at Laing Art Gallery, political figure provocative. In contrast Picasso’s German Newcastle until 5 February 2017 after the First art dealer and protagonist Daniel Henry World War, Kahnweiler is portrayed as a structured joining the cubist mass; you perceive his eyes, his hands German Democratic Party, and was his face – within an apparent wall in dull Annely Juda Fine Art an ardent supporter of the Weimar verdant colours. 23 Dering Street government; both were tarred by This work is considered one of Cubism’s conservatives as ‘Jewish’. As a Zionist, most outstanding examples, proving how (off New Bond Street) he toured the USA, combining lectures Tel: 020 7629 7578 with promoting the cause, reinforcing Picasso played with the elements in his this racial identity. life that worked his art; his friendship Fax: 020 7491 2139 As the political situation in Germany with Diaghialev, Jean Cocteau, the Ballet CONTEMPORARY deteriorated he came under increasing Russe, for which he was a designer, and attack from the scientific community. there are line portraits and caricatures of PAINTING AND SCULPTURE In winter he lectured in California and,

8 JANUARY 2017 journal when Hitler came to power in January At points, she uses the technique of significant contextualisation and tries 1933, he decided not to return. His imagining what her relatives would say to overcome the consequent slight lakeside home in Caputh, Potsdam, or feel: her striving for reconstruction fragmentation by presenting each was ransacked and his German bank benefits from such a fictional approach. person as a separate story. This study is account seized. Even some of the primary sources, as much autobiography as biography: Later he wrote to President Roosevelt such as photos, have to be interpreted. about how Nazism impacted on ordinary warning of the dangers of nuclear The marriage photo is not what it seems. lives and how this leaks into the life of weapons in German hands, which led to It appears as a moment of joy but what the following generation. the US developing the atom bomb. As it reveals to Weiner, among other things, Merilyn Moos his fame snowballed, he also helped a is how important being integrated number of Jewish refugees flee Europe. into British society had become to her He was even offered the presidency parents and their families. She comes A tale of women workers of Israel after its first leader Chaim to realise how important it was to them SNOW FLOWERS: HUNGARIAN Weizmann died in November 1952. In to conceal that they were not married JEWISH WOMEN IN AN AIRPLANE 1955 Einstein himself died an American and that their daughter, the author, was FACTORY, MARKKLEEBERG, citizen and global celebrity. therefore illegitimate. GERMANY Steven’s Gimbel’s book is an When Weiner finds relatives there is by Zahava Szász Stessel illuminating and interesting summary. no magic moment of togetherness. The Publisher: Rosemont Publishing & He explains Einstein’s theories simply degree of Jewish identification separates Printing Corp., Cranbury, New Jersey and is enlightening when describing different branches of her family, as do (2009). prevalent scientific views and chronicling the widely diverse locations, class and his book was written in English, but the great physicist’s relationship with his experiences. The dead stand between this review is based on a German contemporaries. the living. There’s no going back. Ttranslation prepared by students It would be good to know more Weiner highlights the importance and staff at a secondary school in about Einstein’s personal life and family, of her Jewish roots through her Markkleeberg – a leafy town of 25,000 particularly his children. Sadly, apart grandmother, murdered in Auschwitz. inhabitants, 4 miles south of Leipzig, from the cover and frontispiece, there Weiner’s own mother never spoke where a forced labour camp for women are no illustrations but I really became of her, and knew little about her. was established in 1944. fascinated by Einstein’s life and work Weiner wants to breathe life back To start, the author describes the whilst reading the book. It certainly into her grandmother’s life and so camp and the women’s background. whets the appetite to know more! commemorate her. She writes in some In Markkleeberg ‘work’ included 12 Janet Weston historical detail of Brody, where her shifts with dangerous machinery in the grandmother’s family came from, and Junkers aircraft parts factory, or outside of its earlier Jewish community and work in the quarry. Many women were A narrative of exile imagines their daily experience. She only teenagers. Keeping clean was TALES OF LOVING AND LEAVING writes similarly about her mother, the a struggle, shoes were a problem, by Gaby Weiner third major life in her book, and her privacy another. There were, of course, AuthorHouse, 2016, 208 pp., mother’s trajectory, framed by her life in numerous health problems. There was ISBN: 9781524635084 Vienna, with its own chequered political some resistance but the almost total his book is about the fragmentation history during the 1930s and 1940s. absence of contact with the outside and subsequent reconstruction of Weiner’s father was more political world was stifling. the author’s family, torn apart – than her mother. In the early twentieth The book looks at the involvement T of the Dresdner and Deutsche Banks in sometimes too literally – by Nazism. It is century in Poland, he was involved also about her own journey of discovery, in many of the political and social the war effort, how American aircraft a journey beset with difficulties. movements of the time and was experts were attracted to Germany, Weiner describes some of these therefore always ready to flee, a allowing Junkers to benefit from their problems: she started off by knowing pattern which came to dominate – and experience and research, how the very little about her parents and their damage – his personal life, including banks were involved in the theft of families; she had difficulties in tracing with his daughter. It was only when Jewish property used to finance the relatives (especially over 50 years she was in her twenties that Wiener concentration camps, and the overall after the end of Nazism); various started to discover some of her father’s exploitation of its forced labourers. bureaucracies failed to co-operate many secrets, although some secrets A whole chapter is dedicated to the in releasing files (MI5 was especially continued to elude her. camp commandant and his underlings. difficult, maybe even more so than the Weiner’s parents met as exiles in Of particular interest is the recruitment Austrian and Polish bureaucracies); and London in 1942, her father having and behaviour of female wardens, there was a feeling that on occasions been expelled from Belgium for being sexual relationships included. one’s Jewishness was not in one’s a Jew and a Communist. They moved The women tried to keep sane favour. She is seeking to reveal the in together and had a daughter through cultural activities. One managed narrative of her family’s exile but such (the author). The family’s post-war to publish a book as early as 1946 based a memoir, involving displacement and experiences constitute about the last on notes hidden in a cupboard next to dispossession, is inevitably fragmentary. third of the book. The British state ‘her’ machine. Songs were composed Then there’s the question of how to did not gladly yield naturalisation to and learned by heart because of lack write such a memoir. Weiner tells us Weiner’s mother, and athough mother of paper. that the book is about her family and and daughter were close, Weiner’s One girl had a candle which was lit on their experiences and not about her, relationship with both parents was Friday evenings but quickly extinguished but she finds herself – I suspect more deeply marked by their histories. The after the blessings. Inmates were than she wanted – writing in the ‘I’ as effects of exile and persecution continue relieved when the rebbetzen told them she is the unifying factor in this book. on to the next generation. to eat their regular lunch of soup And, unsurprisingly, she interprets her Writing such an auto/biography on , under these extreme parents’ lives in part through her own is inevitably fraught with difficulty, conditions. experience of them. She eschews a which Weiner largely transcends. She German civilians occupied various more academic format – she wants the is hoping to introduce readers who posts such as engineer and technician. dead to speak for themselves, yet she may know very little about the political Some dared to leave some food for the inevitably has to act as the translator. circumstances. She therefore provides continued on page 10 

9 journal JANUARY 2017

Jewish Designers Commemorated By The V&A AJR GROUPS EVENT hirty Jewish émigré designers, profile campaigns for clients including many of whom Schweppes contrasts MONDAY 27th FEBRUARY 2017 Tescaped the Nazi with more personal Victoria & Albert Museum Archives regime in the 1930s or projects, such as his Jewish Emigre designers' archives survived the persecution unrealised illustrated of the Second World War, book The Life and Death project at the V&A have been chosen as the of the Warsaw Ghetto.” focus for a special project Other, lesser known by the V&A’s archive designers, such as the department. textile designer Trude The project by V&A’s Neu, whose archive Archive of Art and Design includes personal (AAD), the UK’s leading recollections of her arrival collection of archives of in Britain in addition to applied art and design, her bold and colourful will raise the visibility, design work, will be through cataloguing, brought into the public digitisation and public eye for the first time. engagement, of the ‘Address your letters plainly’, The V&A is delighted e have been invited by the archives of thirty Jewish poster, Hans Schleger, 1942. to be able increase the V&A Archives to help them AAD/2008/11/2/41. ©Victoria improve the visibility of the émigré designers in its and Albert Museum, London. online presence and W care. Bringing with them accessibility of these archives of 30 Jewish émigré designers a modernist outlook, these designers’ archives, and those of their fellow held by the V&A’s Archive of Art and work for large and established institutions émigrés, thanks to the generosity of the Design – see article to the left of this such as the General Post Office, London David Berg Foundation, New York, who advert. Transport, and British Overseas Air funded this work. The visit will take place at the Corporation (BOAC) On 27 February the V&A’s building in West Kensington, reached huge V&A will host a visit for Blythe House, which is where the audiences and helped members of the AJR to collections of the Archive of Art and to shape British design its Blythe House Archive Design are stored. The visit will last in the mid – and late – & Library Study Room approximately 2 hours, followed by 20th century. in February 2017. This refreshments. Staff from the Archives According to will be a great chance will talk about the project itself, and Archivist/Project to hear more about how they are delivering catalogues, Manager Alexia Kirk: the life and work of images and articles online. “The personalities of designers included in We will arrange travel by minibus, these men and women, Design for colouring book, Trude the project, including arriving at 10.30am and leaving by who all made their Neu, Hans Schleger, ca. 1930s. Hans Schleger, George 12.30pm. We will then have lunch homes in Britain in AAD/2000/7/53. ©Victoria and Him, Jacqueline Groag in a local restaurant before returning the 1940s, come alive Albert Museum, London. and Gaby Schreiber, home. through their working and personal and to see a selection of their designs, papers. Included in the project are the photographs and papers. See advert Places are limited due to archives of well-known designers such as for full details and please contact space. For details and booking George Him, an illustrator, graphic and Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or please contact Susan Harrod on exhibition designer, whose work on high [email protected] to reserve a space. [email protected] or 020 8385 3070

 Reviews continued from pg 9 Jewish machine operators. There were escorted by guards and had to wear described in detail: the effect of air also prisoners of war, volunteers and coats over their work clothing, to attacks by allied planes, the execution forced labourers from all over Europe. provide a measure of ‘normality’. Most of ill and handicapped women, how A group of French political prisoners of the inhabitants ignored the women. the French women (mal)treated the refused to support the German war After the war few would admit that Hungarian Jewesses, the effect of the industry. Their sabotage had a national they had known or heard about forced rain, the continuous and demoralising and psychological value. They worked labourers. feeling of hunger, the reaction of the outside the camp boundaries, on roads When there was an air raid the German population Only 685 women or in fields where they could ‘acquire’ Jewesses were not permitted to use the were still alive by the time they reached a few onions or carrots. These could shelter but had to remain in the street. Theresienstadt 16 days later. be bartered for margarine or a slice of But the Soviet and American armies Those who had remained in the bread. They picked the small leaves of were getting ever closer and on Sunday Markkleeberg camp were liberated by dandelions and ate them as salad. ‘We 8 April 1945 the guards did not appear. American soldiers on 18 April. all shared the same conditions, but The next day no work was done and and Finally, the author deals with her there was a difference: they (the French) within a few days some of the barbed return to Hungary and life after the war, would eventually return home while our wire surrounding the camp had been followed by 50 pages of reproduced return was depressingly uncertain.’ cut. But although it was now possible to documents containing the names of the As the air raids on Markkleeberg leave the camp, many chose to remain Markkleeberg women forced labourers, became more frequent, smaller factories together. those who made it to Theresienstadt, were adapted for the production of On 15 April 1,200 Hungarian and the songs composed. It is a lasting Junkers’ engines. One had been a Jewesses and 250 French female political testimony to all these women, but it is chocolate factory, a 20 minutes’ walk prisoners were sent on a ‘death march’ not pleasant reading. through town. The inmates were to Theresienstadt. Their journey is Henri Obstfeld

10 JANUARY 2017 journal he driver shook his head. “Dangerous. SHORT STORY kitchen table. In the near-darkness we Too dangerous. You drown!” became drowsy early. They served us T We were facing a raging torrent. fried potatoes flavoured with bits of sun- It would have been foolhardy to try to The Rains Came dried meat. It was not appetising but we ford it. by Peter Fraenkel were hungry. Mrs Strauss said the boys The start of the rainy season had not had better be put to bed early. They led been expected quite so early. Mrs Strauss Afrikaners – perhaps a corruption of the us to a room which their daughter had might have postponed our trip but she word “Boers”. Was he suggesting we ask vacated for us. knew that we two youngsters – her son a nearby Afrikaner for shelter? There were two beds and a hurricane and I – would have been very disappointed. It started to drizzle. lamp. Young Strauss, they said, would For our vacations we had been promised “I’ve met this Afrikaner farmer”, said have to share a bed with his mother. a holiday in the ‘real Africa’ – lions and Mrs Strauss. “He came to our farm once to Fortunately their older daughter was pythons and all. We were on our way to borrow salt. Very poor people. Van Tonder spending the night with friends. I soon the remote farm near Nega Nega which is the name, I think.” fell asleep despite a periodic “ping” which her husband was managing. The driver nodded. “Van Tonder.” puzzled me. Later I awoke to see the little Mail trains did not stop at minor Then a chuckle overcame him: “You like girl sneak in and removed a bucket. It sidings like Nega Nega so we travelled by nsima?” had been placed to catch drips leaking goods train. The last wagon had one small The little herd boy laughed out aloud. from the roof. She emptied it outside coupé which could seat three passengers Mrs Strauss looked puzzled but her son and brought it back reporting that the – white passengers, of course. That is and I understood: many Africans thought rain had now stopped. I noticed that what our corner of the British Empire was it hilarious that there were whites so poor her English was very much better than like in 1944. that they ate maize meal porridge, just as that of her parents. She must have been Just before we reached our siding the they, the Africans, did. This lost the whites attending an English-language school. engine driver gave three short hoots. the status of belonging to the master race. Next morning she came again bringing We picked up our suitcases and climbed The driver called instructions to the a jug of water and a basin. She showed down to the bare soil of Africa. The engine herd boy and a little later we turned off us a drain in the concrete floor into which gave one last short farewell hoot and on a side track. Eventually we reached a we could empty our water. She pulled departed for the south, abandoning us farmstead. Dogs barked furiously and a out a coil of wire which had blocked the in the bush. There was not a soul around. tall bearded man emerged, carrying a rifle. drain hole. The station was nothing but an open- He greeted us in heavily accented English. “Put it back firmly. It stops snakes from sided corrugated iron shed. Farmers had Mrs Strauss explained our predicament. getting in. My dad killed one here … right left large churns of cream in it. The first “Come in,” he said “Come and dry here”. She pointed to bullet damage on goods train going north would be picking yourself.” the floor near my bed. them up. He and his wife placed chairs for us Had she told us the evening before I Mrs Strauss had been nervous: would near a warm cast iron kitchen range. A suspect I would not have slept so well. her husband have remembered to send daughter, aged perhaps ten, prepared I was sitting on the edge of my bed transport? The transport arrived a little sweet coffee for us, using bottled liquid putting on my shoes when there was a later. It consisted of a two-wheeled ox cart coffee. “If you’re lucky the stream will rumbling sound and suddenly part of drawn by four oxen. The driver greeted us. be down by tomorrow morning,” said wall of our room collapsed. Fortunately Mrs Strauss addressed him as Kumbilwa. Mr van Tonder “but if there is more rain it fell outwards. From my seat I could With him came a herd boy – a lad of eight during the night I don’t know. Anyway, look up to the morning sky and the rising or nine. neighbours, you’re welcome to stay as sun. All three van Tonders rushed in to “Plenty rain!” said Kumbilwa. “Too long as you like. “ make sure we were not hurt. She turned plenty!” “Neighbours?” she queried, “Our farm on her husband berating him in rapid “But you got across the river?” she is eight miles from yours!” Afrikaans that I had difficulty in following. asked. “To an Afrikaner you’re neighbours. I gathered she had long been warning him “This morning – early.” Yes, we like the wide open veld. If we see that the outer wall was not stable. I had For almost an hour we jolted along the smoke of a neighbour’s chimney we not observed, the previous evening, that a rough earth road. The little herd boy trek on. Too crowded! Or we used to do the house was not built of burnt brick but walked at the head, guiding the oxen. in the good old days. Besides – the people of adobe – a material more suited to the The driver called encouragement to the of the are always welcome.” Then, dry climate of the Sahel than to the sharp beasts and from time to time flicked his after a hesitation, he added “but you’d seasonal rains of subtropical Africa. whip at them. be welcome even if you were English!” They rushed us to the kitchen and Then we had reached this raging “You don’t have much love for them?” served us a breakfast of maize meal torrent. “No. Nor would you if your mother porridge – just as Kumbilwa the driver had “You can get us across?” she had had died in one of their concentration warned. I found it more palatable than I asked. camps. My father always said the English had expected. He shook his head. “I promised Bwana put ground glass into her food. I myself, We found Kumbilwa waiting outside. I Strauss to get you to him safely.” I don’t know. I grew up in the same camp never discovered where he had spent the We considered going back to Nega and I only got – pardon my language – I night. He said he had already been out Nega station. only got the shits.” to check on the stream. It was fordable “When is the next train back?” The Boer War, almost half a century now provided we came before the next I suspect Kumbilwa had no idea but earlier, was still very much alive for them: downpour. was reluctant to admit it. “Tomorrow,” “We lost our farm. We lost our cattle. We climbed into our cart. The oxen he said vaguely. They burnt our house. We lost everything. were already inspanned. The idea of a night in that open-sided When my old man came back from We repeated our thanks to van Tonder. shack sitting on cream churns did not fighting those Rooineks he found ruins, He waved off our little speech.“No appeal. I had noticed there was not even only ruins, so we gave up on the old Afrikaner ever refused hospitality to a a bench. Transvaal and trekked north.” traveller.” “Maboonu?” suggested Kumbilwa. As it got dark they lit a small paraffin So far as I knew this was true – provided, It was the term that Africans used for lamp which barely illuminated half the of course, the traveller was white.

11 journal JANUARY 2017 CARDS & GAMES CLUB Monthly was the subject for the November Meets meeting. The group all agreed that the Great lunch meeting in November with, book – which is based in the old city of as ever, a good choice of games to play. Barcelona, the ‘cemetery of lost books’ Look out for future dates. – is a complex but highly enjoyable and INSIDE David Lang worthwhile read. Agnes Isaacs EALING The Spy Who Loved Us ILFORD The Name Behind TV the Acclaimed author Alex Gertis talked Lesley Urbach spoke about Sir Isaac about his espionage thrillers set in the Schoenberg, who was knighted for AJR Second World War, giving a fascinating his service in helping to invent the insight into life within Nazi Europe. television, alongside the more famous Leslie Sommer Baird. Meta Roseneil AVIATION HERITAGE MUSEUM OUTING Spitfire Flight EDINBURGH Customs & Traditions KINDERTRANSPORT LUNCH Paul Lang led a very interesting outing Eva Baer hosted a lovely afternoon Deputies Views to the Heritage Museum in Maidenhead. focusing on customs and traditions, Over 50 members had the pleasure of The group particularly enjoyed operating prompting stories from long ago. hearing Jonathan Arkush, President the Spitfire Simulator, giving all of the Everyone enjoyed the superb spread and of the Board of Deputies of British thrill with none of the risk! We also had was in absolutely no rush to go home! Jews, talk about their work to combat a lovely lunch in the museum restaurant. Agnes Isaacs antisemitism, and also respond to Anthony & Helene Joseph questions on inter-faith marriages, faith EDGWARE Lox And Schmaltz schools and the Labour Party. BIRMINGHAM Lucky Escapes The group watched a very charming Susan Harrod Fred Austin shared excerpts from his film about a Jewish immigrant family memoire Czech and Mate, including his arriving penniless in New York in the LEEDS Make It A Match? escapes from Ostrova, from a near plane early 19th century. From selling herrings Retired lawyer and Judge Ian Vellins crash, and from his dear wife Margaret from a barrel on the roadside they went gave an overview on how the musical when he accepted a Headmastership in on to open a high quality smoked fish and film “Fiddler on the Roof” was Lancashire! Esther Rinkoff shop, now run by the fourth generation adopted from Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye of the Russ family. stories. The audience was fascinated BOOK CLUB Dual Citizenship? Susan & David Jacobs to hear how the stage musical and the There was a large turnout at Joseph’s award winning film didn’t always match Book Store where, as well as discussing FILM CLUB Double Bill Next up to the original stories. Wendy Bott books, conversation turned animatedly We watched The Woman in Gold, a to whether it would be right to apply moving portrayal of Maria Altman’s LIVERPOOL for German or Austrian dual citizenship reclamation of her family’s Klimt Northern Kristallnacht Service following Brexit. Most people felt that painting. Next up on 6 Feb will be it may be an asset for their children Churchill’s German Army and Eva and grandchildren. The next book will Sommer-Hertz. Esther Rinkoff be George Orwell’s Down and Out in London and Paris. Eva Stellman GLASGOW BRADFORD Sweet Memories If It Is Not Impossible Robert Winterflood led the group arbara Winton – daughter of through the world’s cocoa plantations the late Sir Nicholas Winton – during a fun presentation on how the Battracted a packed audience at Edwina Curry speaking at the event bean becomes chocolate. The jury is still Giffnock Synogogue at a joint AJR © Karen Hermann Wright out as to which is the ‘best’ chocolate and Scottish Jewish Archives Centre auren Klyne shared a moving in the world, with fond memories for event. Barbara, who has published account of her grandmother Ruth some of Ackermann’s. a biography on her father, gave a LEdwards’ tales of Kristallnacht in Stephen Tendlow detailed and emotional recollection Vienna, which changed her life and of his life. that of her family forever. Other BRIGHTON & HOVE 250 Years Old speakers included AJR finance Esther Rinkoff read a newspaper article director David Kaye, and former MP GLASGOW Chanukah Came Early about German Jews having their Edwina Currie, who recalled a story One of the highlights of the Glasgow German citizenship restored. The large told to her by a female resident at AJR group’s 2016 calendar was their group all agreed it was wrong to do so, Nightingale House London who very early Chanukah lunch, when many considering the circumstances which was living in Berlin at the time of families – including several ‘second brought us to the UK. We also discussed Kristallnacht. Susanne Green the 250th anniversary of Brighton’s generations’ – enjoyed a delicious lunch Jewish community. Ceska Abrahams accompanied by a wonderful strings trio, including Eric Levin on the violin. NEWCASTLE Chanukah Lunch BROMLEY Lively Debate Agnes Isaacs The crowd particularly enjoyed the Klein A full house for the last meeting of Klezmer Band, who came all the way 2016 when the group discussed the GLASGOW BOOK CLUB Shadows Of from Edinburgh, and Brenda’s lunch controversial topic of applying for an The Wind was superb. We were delighted to have EU passport. Many different opinions Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s classic book, which our Newcastle Volunteers present at the emerged! Esther Rinkoff has been translated into 45 languages, event. Agnes Isaacs

12 JANUARY 2017 journal

JANUARY GROUP eventS CONTACTS Pinner 5 January Keith Simmons – Prison Chaplain – A view Susan Harrod behind bars Lead Outreach & Events Co-ordinator Essex (Westcliff) 10 January Social get-together and New Year catch up 020 8385 3070 [email protected]

Ilford 11 January Social get-together Wendy Bott Northern Outreach Co-ordinator Glasgow Book Club 12 January Social 07908 156 365 [email protected] Brighton 16 January Social get-together and New Year catch up Agnes Isaacs Edgware 17 January ’Major Ginsburg – tales of a post-war Northern Outreach Co-ordinator 07908 156 361 [email protected] Jewish Army Chaplain’ – Dr Rob Ginsburg Kathryn Prevezer Radlett 18 January Social get-together and New Year catch up Southern Outreach Co-ordinator Harrogate/York 25 January Social 07966 969 951 [email protected] Prestwich/Whitefield 30 January Social Esther Rinkoff Southern Outreach Co-ordinator North West London 30 January Social get-together and New Year catch up 07966 631 778 [email protected] Leeds CF 31 January Social Eva Stellman Southern Outreach Co-ordinator Book Club 1 February Discussion and Tea 07904 489 515 [email protected]

Ilford 1 February Harvey Bratt of UJIA KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Susan Harrod Pinner 2 February Dr John Matline – American Jewish 020 8385 3070 [email protected] Gangsters Child Survivors’ Association-AJR Henri Obstfeld NORTH LONDON Historic Buildings and discussing current affairs. All 020 8954 5298 [email protected] David Tomback of Historic England members of the group confirmed their (formerly English Heritage) took us on commitment to keeping the group a whistlestop tour of Jewish buildings running and the next meeting will be fascinating afternoon was topped with throughout history, from desert tents in March 2017. Kathryn Prevezer delicious carrot and cheesecake made by through to ornate shuls and Israeli sky shul president Frada Wilenski. scrapers. Kathryn Prevezer PINNER Agatha Uncovered Wendy Bott Geoff Bowden delivered a fascinating insight into the life and disguises of NORTH WEST LONDON 1066 And All WEMBLEY Tower Of Babel? That Agatha Christie, who wrote poetry alongside , many of which have Wembley members enjoyed a lively catch Nick Dobson spoke about the 950th up during their last meeting of 2016. anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, been turned into films and plays. Henri Obstfeld Current affairs led to talking about which began at 9am on 14 October foreign languages and we discovered 1066, with a break for lunch, and ended that some of our members are fluent in PRESTWICH Lunch was Trumped at 6.30pm after Harold had perished. three or four languages and had careers Not surprisingly, the US elections William was crowned in the new as translators and interpreters. A very topped the agenda for the delicious 14 Westminster Abbey on 25 December clever group indeed. We look forward November lunch hosted by Ruth and 1066 and our monarchy has been to meeting up in 2017. Werner Lachs. Wendy Bott evolving ever since. David Lang Kathryn Prevezer

NORWICH A Thousand Years Of RADLETT A Good Giggle History One of our members, who has a large A fascinating meeting looking at the record library, hosted us at his flat and spring grove Jews of Norwich, from their arrival in shared some light and entertaining London’s Most Luxurious 1066 right through to the building of pieces of music, finishing with some RETIREMENT HOME the present day synagogue in 1948. outrageously funny performances. 214 Finchley Road The talk covered the Jewish massacre in Fritz Starer / Esther Rinkoff London NW3 1190 – the same year as in York, riots in  Entertainment Lincoln and the Edict of Expulsion – and SHEFFIELD What a Load of Junk  Activities their readmittance by Cromwell in 1656, Members were treated to a talk given  Stress Free Living as well as the destruction of the 1840 by Edward Patnick on his life in the  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine synagogue by German bombers in 1942. ‘junk’ business. Edward’s most unusual  Full En-Suite Facilities Frank Bright finds over the years include a soap box containing a pair of false teeth and Call for more information or a personal tour OXFORD Great Social another box containing rare coins and 020 8446 2117 A lovely meeting in Abingdon a gold bangle which incorporated a slim or 020 7794 4455 catching up with each other’s news gold pen to mark a ‘dance card’. The [email protected]

13 journal JANUARY 2017 Liselotte’s last known address was 17 LOOKING FOR: Wessex Gardens London NW11 92S. CLASSIFIED [email protected] Joseph Pereira (ex-AJR he AJR regularly receives messages Peter Paul Kronthal caretaker over 22 years) is now from our members and other Sandra Schmidt is looking for info on available for DIY repairs and T people looking for help in her great uncle, who came to London general maintenance. particular subjects. Here are some from Berlin in September 1937 and No job too small, of the most recent requests – please lived in Finchley. He worked as an art very reasonable rates. get in touch directly with the person dealer until his death in 1967. concerned if you think you can help. Please telephone [email protected] 07966 887 485 Yiddish speaker Deciphering old German script Roger Voss is looking for some help Mr T Cohen has family letters and in translating some old family letters postcards dating back to 1899 which from the 1930’s that are written in he needs help with translating. PillarCare Yiddish script. He would love to know [email protected] Quality support and care at home what they are saying. [email protected]  Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours If you would like to place a search in  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care a future issue of the AJR Journal then Rosa Koch  Convalescent and Personal Health Care please email [email protected], Freya Leinemann is a student in Leipzig  Compassionate and Affordable Service who is writing a dissertation about a including the words SEARCH REQUEST  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff publisher during the Third Reich. She in the title of your email.  is particularly interested in receiving Registered with the CQC and UKHCA information about Rosa Koch, who Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 witnessed the wedding in Hampstead PILLARCARE www.fishburnbooks.com THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB in 1943 between Otto Heinrich Scholz PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 Jonathan Fishburn and Meta Recha Muller. buys and sells www.pillarcare.co.uk [email protected] Jewish and Hebrew books, ephemera and items of Victor E Roth Jewish interest. LEO BAECK HOUSING ASSOCIATION Terry Roth is hoping to find more He is a member of the Antiquarian information about his father Victor, Booksellers Association. CLARA NEHAB HOUSE who was on the kinderstransport from Contact Jonathan on RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME Vienna to London in mid 1939. After 020 8455 9139 Small caring residential home staying with a sponsor family Victor or 07813 803 889 was interred and sent to Montreal in for more information with large attractive gardens Canada. close to local shops and public transport [email protected] 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities. 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care Milenka Jackson Entertainment & Activities provided. Nurit Grossman is visiting London Books Bought Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room • Lift access to all floors. from Israel this month to research Modern and Old his thesis on unknown rescuers of For further information please contact: the Czech Kindertransport. He is The Manager, Clara Nehab House, 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA interested in all information on this Telephone: 020 8455 2286 subject and is especially keen to contact Milenka Jackson in response Eric Levene to a letter published in this journal 020 8364 3554 / 07855387574 in 2008. switch on electrics [email protected] [email protected] I also purchase ephemera Rewires and all household Austrian or Yiddish Translation electrical work Anthony Mair is helping to translate PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 a collection of letters written by a Mobile: 0795 614 8566 Jewish couple who fled from Vienna to Antwerp in 1939. There are a few JACKMAN . expressions in the letter he needs help SILVERMAN with, as they are either in Austrian WHY NOT dialect or Yiddish. COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS CONVERT [email protected] YOUR OLD CINE FILMS Dr H E Cohn and Liselotte Duschinsky, AND PUT THEM nee Nathan ON DVDS Dr Cohn was born Attendorm in FREE OF CHARGE? Germany. He left before the war and Telephone: 020 7209 5532 lived at 23 Highfield Gardens, London Contact Alf Buechler at NW11. He had a brother called Arthur. [email protected] [email protected] or tel 020 8554 5635

14 JANUARY 2017 journal ObituarIES Sir Ralph Kohn, born 9 December 1927 in Leipzig; died 11 November 2016 in London arallel careers in the twin fields of science diction when singing German Lieder; his father therapy and Kohn realised the need for high and music were the life-long passions of shared his love of both opera and Chazzanut, quality independent drug testing services. In Sir Ralph Kohn, who died just short of on occasion hosting the renowned 1969 he set up his own company, Phis 89th birthday. A baritone who sang with Yossele Rosenblatt on his Leipzig Advisory Services (later Harley leading orchestras and accompanists, he was a visits. Street Holdings Ltd), focusing Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal The rise of Hitler forced the on this. Its international success Academy of Music, received several honorary Kohns to move twice, first to won Kohn the Queen’s Award degrees, and in 2010 was knighted for services Holland in 1933, then in 1940 for Export Achievement in 1990. to science, music and charity. Throughout his to England. In Amsterdam Ralph In 1991 the Kohn Foundation life he retained a vital devotion to his Jewish Kohn attended a Jewish school, was launched, generously heritage, in his family life with his beloved learned Dutch and attended supporting a variety of projects wife Zahava (nee Kanarek), a Belsen survivor concerts by the Concertgebouw including the Osteoporosis whom he married in 1963, his pursuit of Orchestra. He also studied violin Photo: Martin Shaw Foundation, the Hadassah and Jewish learning, with regular Talmudic study, with Sam Tromp, who then survived Sha’are Tzedek hospitals in and his support for Israel. Terezin: the pair reconnected after the war. Israel, the Jewish Music Institute and the His golden wedding anniversary in 2013 Ralph’s violin was left behind in Amsterdam Royal Society. It also contributed to many epitomized his broad multifaceted identity: when the Kohn family escaped on 14 May, international projects relating to Bach. In 2013 Klezmer performed by Shir, Bach played by 1940, the day Holland capitulated to Germany. Kohn received the Medal of Honour of Bach’s a string ensemble of the Royal Academy of On board the SS Bodegraven along with the home city of Leipzig. This, plus his 2015 Cross Music, with an eloquent toast by its Principal, last group of Kindertransportees, they sailed of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic moving speeches by three generations of the hours before the Nazis reached Amsterdam. of Germany, represented a poignant and family, and words of Talmudic wisdom and Arriving at Liverpool with only his father’s symbolic closure of the circle of the journey wit in Ralph’s inimitable style. tallit and tefillin, they settled in Manchester. he had taken as a Jewish refugee. Kohn was born in Leipzig, the youngest of Ralph excelled at Salford Grammar School, From the 1990s Ralph sang in recitals and five siblings. His father Markus Kohn was a gaining a scholarship to study pharmacology recordings, and forged a close partnership self-made textile merchant, from a small town at Manchester University. His research on with the famous accompanist Graham Kalusz, in Galicia, and his mother Lena (nee histamine led to a prestigious award to study at Johnson. They recorded several CDs featuring Aschheim) was born in Berlin. Ralph was born the Instituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome with Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mahler, soon after the tragic death from pneumonia two Nobel prize winners, the pharmacologist and jointly appeared in many interviews and of their middle son, Shimon. On the advice Daniel Bovet and the pioneer of penicillin, book launches, including Kohn’s final public of the famous Chortkover Rebbe in Vienna, Sir Ernst Chain FRS. Chain was also an appearance at JW3 in September when he of whom his father Markus was a follower, accomplished pianist and years later Kohn and discussed his autobiography Recital of a the baby was named Raphael, meaning ‘God Chain would frequently perform together in Lifetime. will heal’: in hindsight it was a prophecy of inspiring charity recitals. He is survived by Zahava, daughters Kohn’s subsequent contributions in the fields In 1958 Kohn left academia to join the Hephzibah, Michelle and Maxine, their of medicine and music. pharmaceutical industry, initially in London husbands and five grandchildren. From his mother Lena he imbibed a as Head of Pharmacology for Smith, Kline and (A fuller version of this obituary originally fluency in Hochdeutsch (high German) French, and then as MD of the Swiss Robapharm. appeared in the JC on 25 November 2016.) and , evident in his clear The 1960s saw dramatic developments in drug Malcolm Miller

Eugene Black, born Munkacs 9 February 1928, died Leeds 26 September 2016 ugene Black was born Jeno Schwarcz and was made to work long hours in the he travelled in 1949 to England and married in what was then the Czechoslavakian underground rocket factory tunnels carrying Annie, whom he had met in Germany whilst town of Munkacs. His parents were stone and debris with little food and no also working for the army. They raised four BelaE Bence and Leni and sanitation. By November children – two boys and two girls – and he he recalled growing up in 1944 he became seriously ill gradually worked his way up in Marks and a prosperous family and and, following treatment by Spencer from a porter in Manchester to a senior helping his father in his a German doctor, who in all management role across the north of England. tailoring business. His likelihood saved his life, was Those were arguably his happiest days, with a main interest was football, sent to a smaller camp nearby happy family life and a burgeoning career in although this was indelibly called Harzungen, where he what was becoming the prime retailer in the linked to the day in May remained a slave labourer but UK. His love of football remained, and he 1944 when, returning home on so-called ‘light duties’. He would happily talk about the historic victory from a game, he and his parents and two remembered long marches to places of work of the Hungarian national side over England of his sisters, Paula and Jolan, were arrested walking through villages and being spat at and at Wembley in the 1950s. and transported in cattle wagons, along abused by the local civilian population. Life however is seldom straightforward. with thousands of other Hungarian Jews, to Finally in March 1945 he was again In the 1990s he, like many of his generation, Auschwitz-Birkenau. The journey took three transported in a cattle wagon with fellow faced up to the challenge of confronting his days. On arrival he was separated from his prisoners over many days with no food or water experience. After giving his testimony for family; he never saw them again. to northern Germany and then on a forced the first time to the Shoah Foundation, he Eugene was selected for slave labour and march to the infamous Bergen-Belsen camp. became an active member of the Leeds-based sent first to the ‘Little Camp’ in Buchenwald Liberation by the British army occurred on 15 Holocaust Society Friendship Association and Concentration Camp. After a short stay he April. Had it been even a little later he would undertook regular and sometimes taxing visits was taken with 1,000 Hungarian Jews to the in all probability not have survived. to schools, colleges, rotary clubs and twice to concentration camp of Dora Mittelbau. Here Yet survive he did and, after a short period events organised by the Northern Ireland Police he endured terrible inhumane conditions working as an interpreter for the British army, continued on page 16 

15 journal JANUARY 2017

is also a member of the staff at the school) played to a level of excellence comparable to anything attained by professional artists. To Dorothea Shefer-Vanson see and hear these young people attacking the music with maturity and enthusiasm was enough to restore my faith in the future A Glimmer of Light of humanity. n these dark days of doom and gloom This year the music was provided by The head told us that a number of the my spirits were unexpectedly raised pupils of the School for Music pupils, including some originally from when I attended an evening event in and Arts, also known as Hassadna (the Ethiopia, have served in the IDF in the JerusalemI with music provided by young Workshop). The school was established framework of the outstanding musicians people. The group of well-intentioned (and in 1973 to provide musical instruction to unit, for which there is enormous mostly well-off, though I don’t consider children in Jerusalem regardless of their competition and entry to which requires myself in that category) ladies to which financial and social conditions. The idea an extremely high level of proficiency. The I belong holds a musical evening once a behind the establishment of the school was young woman who played the cello for us year, though our monthly meetings are that all children are endowed with musical is in the course of applying to participate held in the daytime. We usually meet in ability, and that this can be developed in in that programme, and it seems to me that one another’s homes, hear a lecture on the appropriate framework. The school is she is bound to be a shoe-in. an interesting subject and then tuck into currently housed in an elementary school The school also conducts an outreach refreshments provided by the hosts. in Jerusalem’s German Colony, but plans programme, going into first – and second- are currently afoot for the construction year classes at elementary schools all over of a building of their own. The school is Jerusalem to identify children with musical Eugene Black Obituary funded largely by private donations but is ability, providing them with free tuition  continued from pg 15 also supported by the Jerusalem Foundation, in the musical instrument of their choice. which provides scholarships for gifted students Some of these children, now in their teens, Service, to describe his experience and to from disadvantaged families, including some were among those who entertained us. The entreat his audiences to fight intolerance and from the Ethiopian community. pinnacle of the evening came when two of oppression. He inspired thousands of young And so, as we sat in comfortable armchairs their number, accompanied on the piano people at home and abroad. in the elegant home of one of our members, by one of their teachers, played a jazz duet He also made visits back to Germany and a group of youngsters, mainly teenagers, on clarinet and saxophone. Though jazz Poland, including in 2007 when, accompanied is not my favourite form of music, it was by his eldest daughter Lilian, to the German trooped in, laughing and chattering, bringing Nazi archives in Bad Arolsen, where to his a spirit of youthful enthusiasm into our rather delightful to watch the two boys (aged 13 shock he discovered the fate of his two sisters. staid gathering. When the music began, and 15), from very different backgrounds, They had not as he assumed perished at introduced by the energetic and very young- playing the music so well and with such Auschwitz but had themselves been selected looking head of the school, our jaws dropped. harmonious coordination, seeming to be for slave labour and sent to a sub-camp of Each one of the youngsters, whether Sabras or both physically and mentally engrossed Buchenwald at Gelsenkirchen. They worked from Ethiopian families (who could also be in the music. at an oil refinery carrying materials from the Sabras) played classical music (a movement To see and hear these young people canal banks to the factory. In September from Schumann’s cello concerto, a movement tackling the music with maturity and 1944, along with 150 other Hungarian-Jewish from a Mozart violin concerto, a piece for enthusiasm was enough to restore my faith women, they were killed in an RAF bombing clarinet and piano by an Israeli composer who in the future of humankind. raid having been denied access by the SS to the air raid shelters. Eugene never returned to Munkacs, which is now in but Lilian did some years THEATRE OUTING ago and even found the original family home. ‘Half A Sixpence’ Eugene died peacefully with his surviving Wednesday 18 January 2017 at 2.30 pm children close by but, sadly, both his dear wife Noel Coward Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2 4AU Annie and youngest child Gloria pre-deceased ‘Half A Sixpence’ is the iconic British musical adaptation of H. G. Wells’s him. He loved life and his family, including disguised autobiographical Kipps: The Story of a Simple Soul, based a large extended group of in-laws who had on the author’s unhappy apprenticeship as a draper at Hyde’s Drapery welcomed him when he first came to England. Emporium in Southsea. This new stage version of the novel is a completely fresh He treasured his memories of spending time adaptation by Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning screenwriter and creator of Downton Abbey. in Northumberland with them as a refugee, Arthur Kipps, an orphan, is an overworked draper’s assistant at Shalford’s Bazaar, Folkestone, at the turn of the 20th century. He is a charming but ordinary young man who, along with his an experience he would recall when sadly the fellow apprentices, dreams of a better and more fulfilling world, but he likes his fun just like rhetoric of recent times about the refugee any other – except not quite. When he unexpectedly inherits a fortune that propels him into ‘problem’ has at times dominated the media. high society, it confuses everything he thought he knew about life. He will be greatly missed by so many who Tickets £45 per person – Royal Circle with easy access loved his spirit, humour and sheer love of life – a true survivor. Flash bang wallop – don’t miss the chance to see this amazing production! Frank Griffiths For details, please contact Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or at [email protected]

Published by The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), a company limited by guarantee. Registered office: Winston House, 2 Dollis Park, Finchley, London N3 1HF Registered in England and Wales with charity number: 1149882 and company number: 8220991 Telephone 020 8385 3070 e-mail [email protected] For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters LLP, 26 St Albans Lane, London NW11 7QB Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected]

16