VOLAJRume JOURNAL 11 NO.4 april 2011

Doreen Warriner, Trevor Chadwick and the ‘Winton children’

ver since his part in the rescue Germans were of the greatest benefit in Doreen of 669 mostly Jewish children Warriner, getting endangered people out of Czecho­ Efrom Czechoslovakia on Kinder­ 1904-72 slovakia to Britain, in face of the Home transport-style trains in 1939 was revealed Office’s marked lack of enthusiasm. on BBC TV’s That’s Life (February 1988), The key figure in the rescue of Sir Nicholas Winton has, belatedly, refugees from Czechoslovakia was ­received something of the recognition Doreen Warriner, a young academic that he deserves. A knighthood, a statue from University College London, who in Prague’s Wilson Station, a feature film arrived in Prague in October 1938, soon by the Slovak director Matej Minac (1999), after Munich, to provide assistance the Masaryk Medal of the Czech Republic for those who had fled there from the and, most recently, the Channel 5 pro­ German-occupied Sudetenland and, if gramme Britain’s Secret Schindler are but possible, to bring them to safety. Warriner a few of the distinctions that honour his was mainly concerned with political name. However, Sir Nicholas was, as he refugees, especially anti-Nazis from the freely acknowledges, one of a group of Sudetenland, mostly Social Democrats people, mostly British, who were involved under the leadership of Wenzel Jaksch; in the rescue; the others, long dead, have she did not focus on Jews, though many of been almost totally forgotten. the people she rescued were Jewish, and The story of the immediate threat to Trevor she did not focus on children, though in Chadwick, the Jews of Czechoslovakia begins with 1907-79 bringing out the families of anti-Nazis she the Munich Agreement of 30 September also saved children’s lives. 1938, when Britain and France agreed that probably that, for the first time, the British It was Warriner who underpinned Hitler should occupy the Sudetenland, government became directly involved the rescue organisation in Prague. She the areas of Czechoslovakia bordering financially in the organisation of the established and headed up the office on on Germany that were in part German- emigration of refugees from the Nazis. In Voršilská Street, where the other rescu­ speaking. Thousands of refugees, Jews the wake of its blatant sell-out of its Czech ers, including Winton, worked, and where and political opponents of the Nazis, fled ally to Hitler at Munich, the Chamberlain the trains that took refugees across the from the occupied areas into the rump government allocated £4 million to assist border to Poland were organised; and of the Czech state, itself now exposed to at least some of those under threat from she recommended Winton to the BCRC, pressure from the Germans under the the Nazis to flee the country. thus making it possible for him to create feeble regime of President Hacha. The The widespread feeling of guilt about his children’s section of the BCRC when refugees from the Sudetenland were Munich, combined with humanitarian he returned to London. Warriner stayed desperate to emigrate, as were their compassion for the Czechs, also led to in Prague until April 1939, when it became counterparts in rump Czechoslovakia. As the raising of funds by non-government too dangerous for her. She had been many Czech Jews and anti-Nazis feared, bodies, like the Lord Mayor of London’s smuggling anti-Nazis illegally across the it was only a matter of time before Hitler fund. Assisted by donations from these border into Poland, and the Gestapo were occupied the rest of the country, and on sources, the British Committee for Refu­ about to arrest her. The number of people 15 March 1939 he duly did so. gees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC), later Warriner saved ran into the thousands. It was in January 1939, in the interim the Czech Refugee Trust Fund, was set One of her most memorable exploits was, period between Munich and the German up, putting in place the apparatus to bring with two helpers, to guide two groups of occupation of Czechoslovakia, that emigrants to Britain. One advantage of endangered women and children from Nicholas Winton spent some three weeks the financial involvement of the govern­ Prague’s railway stations to safe accom­ in Prague and threw himself into the ment was that H. M. Treasury sent Robert modation in cheap hotels and hostels, and task of saving children. But others had Stopford to Prague in October 1938 as its this on the day after the German army been there well before him – and stayed representative. Stopford was one of the entered Prague, when the streets were well after, under the far more difficult unsung heroes of the story: his generous- filled with German military units. conditions of the German occupation. The minded sympathy for the refugees and, The ‘Winton children’ left Czecho­ reason that they were mainly British was after March 1939, his ability to manage the continued overleaf

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Warriner and Chadwick both died in ‘Winton children’ cont. from page 1 the 1970s. This article is intended to help to bring the role they played in the rescue ‘Restitution in slovakia legally, largely thanks to Sir of the children from Czechoslovakia Austria Today’ Nicholas’s tireless efforts in fulfilling all to public attention. It is certainly not Monday 4 April, 6.30 pm the bureaucratic requirements for their intended to detract in any way from the at the entry into Britain, in finding homes for achievements of Nicholas Winton, whose Austrian Ambassador’s Residence, them and in locating people who would name is now widely famous. Probably 18 Belgrave Square, London SW1 put up a guarantee of £50 for them, as the best source of information about AJR Director Michael Newman will demanded by the government. But Win­ him is the study Nicholas Winton and the take part in a panel discussion on ton left Prague on 21 January 1939 and Rescued Generation by Muriel Emanuel the subject ‘Restitution in Austria could play no part in the organisation of and Vera Gissing (1999). Winton’s work Today’. The panel will consider the refugee transports at the Czech end. was a humanitarian effort of the highest Austria’s efforts to return real estate Fortunately, a replacement was at hand, in order. He recognised that no one was and cultural objects looted in the the person of Trevor Chadwick, a teacher focusing specifically on the rescue of Holocaust and to pay compensation at a school in Swanage, Dorset, who had endangered, especially Jewish children for personal suffering and losses. Other panelists will be Anne come to Prague to bring two refugee from Czechoslovakia, and he set out to Webber, Co-Chair of the Commission boys to places at the school. In the event, fill the gap. During his relatively brief on Looted Art in Europe; Christoph stay in Prague, he compiled an invaluable they also took a third child – Chadwick’s Bazil from the Austrian Federal database consisting of case papers on mother provided the guarantee – and she Ministry for Education, Arts and became the poet Gerda Mayer, whose many hundreds of children, which he Culture; and Georg Graf of the lines grace, among other publications, the brought back with him to London. University of Salzburg. book that accompanied the AJR’s exhibi­ There he proceeded to set up the The event will be hosted by His tion Continental Britons (2002). children’s section of the BCRC, effectively Excellency Dr Emil Brix, the Austrian Chadwick delivered the three children, on his own authority and initiative, and, Ambassador. then returned to Prague to work for the after finishing his day’s work at the If you wish to attend, please rescue of further refugees. According Stock Exchange, to complete the various contact Beatrix Steinlechner to the recently published and very requirements necessary for the children on 020 7344 3272 or at informative book by his son, William to be admitted to Britain. He lobbied [email protected] Chadwick, The Rescue of the Prague the Home Office for permits, he found Refugees 1938/39 (Leicester: Matador, guarantors, he sent photos of children to 2010), he had thousands of refugees on people willing to act as their guardians and his lists, but to his abiding regret could dossiers to those willing to accommodate YOM HASHOAH ‘only’ save hundreds. Chadwick made the them, he raised money and he generated Sunday 1 May, 11.00 am organisational arrangements in Prague publicity, all under the intense pressure As a member of the Forum for the children whose entry to Britain caused by the urgency of the situation for Yom HaShoah, the AJR is had been secured by Winton in London. in Prague, the shortness of time and the encouraging our members to Working with Warriner, he was involved slowness of the British authorities. attend the Yom HaShoah 2011 in the selection of the children to emigrate What Winton did not do was personally National Commemoration. This and in the organisation of the trains that to spirit Jews away from under the noses will take place on Sunday 1 May took them to Britain; it was he who stood of the Germans and their collaborators. 2011 at 11am at the National on the platform at Wilson Station. Someone who did was the American Memorial to the Holocaust, The The division between Warriner’s work journalist Varian Fry, who was sent Dell, Hyde Park, London. to rescue adults and Chadwick’s to rescue to Marseille in August 1940 by the As well as organising events to commemorate Yom HaShoah, children was far from absolute. On 30 American Emergency Rescue Committee the Forum is raising awareness of March 1938, she noted: ‘Trevor Chadwick and set up a network that smuggled an Yom HaShoah across the Jewish and I spent a happy hour packing food estimated 2,000 endangered refugees, community. for seventy, and carried it to the Wilson mostly artists and intellectuals, across station.’ He was at the time preparing for the Pyrenees to Spain. If you wish to attend, please his second Kindertransport. Chadwick Anthony Grenville contact Rosemary Peters also arranged flights for children, though at [email protected] by AJR Directors 15 April. these have not received any of the publicity Gordon Greenfield accorded to the train transports. Doreen Michael Newman Warriner had assembled a number of Carol Rossen AJR Heads of Department children in the Prague YWCA, and on Susie Kaufman Organiser, AJR Centre 10 March 1938, as she puts it, ‘a special Sue Kurlander Social Services plane took my children from the YWCA to AJR Journal Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor The AJR England, through Winton’s organization, Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor by now in charge of Trevor Chadwick’. Andrea Goodmaker Secretarial/Advertisements wishes all its members Chadwick returned to Britain in June 1938, a Happy Pesach probably, as his son assumes, after seeing Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not off a train transport with 123 children on necessarily those of the Association of Jewish board on 2 June. Refugees and should not be regarded as such.

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Holocaust Memorial Day, 2011 mong numerous Holocaust Memorial at Musselburgh Grammar School. David NEWTONS Day (HMD) events in which AJR also spoke to 200 pupils at Edinburgh SOLICITORS Amembers participated in the North Royal High School. of England, Scotland and South West Our experienced team England were: Manchester The Jewish Film Festival film Ingelore was will give you expert Darlington screened at the Cornerhouse. Arek Hersh and personal advice The event, organised by the Borough answered questions following a screening Council at the Arts Centre, included a of his Testimony film at Imperial War 22 Fitzjohn’s Avenue personal testimony by the AJR’s Walter Museum North. The Manchester Jewish London NW3 5NB Knoblauch, who was also interviewed Museum held an HMD event. by BBC Radio Tees. Local schools Tel: 020 7435 5351 participated. Merseyside Fax: 020 7435 8881 Merseyside Council of Christians and Jews [email protected] Durham organised a well attended ‘Names Not The principal HMD event was at Durham Numbers’ Dachau exhibition as well as Cathedral, where Deanna Van der a number of the ‘Portraits for Posterity’ Velde conducted two workshops with at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. schoolchildren on the theme ‘Stereotypes Liverpool AJR displayed their Memorial spring grove and the Holocaust’. The following day Book and showed the film Never Forget, RETIREMENT HOME Deanna worked in Clayport Library with commissioned by Liverpool City Council Year 6 pupils from St Hilds Primary and including testimonials from 12 214 Finchley Road School. Liverpool AJR members. Guido Alis London NW3 Deanna’s husband Clive and the Dean, London’s Most Luxurious Michael Sandgrove, closed the service Renfrewshire before some 300 children. Clive also read  Entertainment  Activities out the names associated with Deanna’s  Stress Free Living family and presented the Dean with a copy 24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine of the AJR book.   Full En-Suite Facilities East Renfrewshire Call for more information or a personal tour The focal point of the HMD event was Mark Smith’s story of Holocaust survivor 020 8446 2117 Hershl Sperling. AJR member Dorrith Sim, pictured above, or 020 7794 4455 was guest speaker at Castlehead High [email protected] School. Dorrith, author of the children’s book In My Pocket, talked about her life as a Kindertransportee to a crowded hall of pupils and AJR members. JACKMAN . Taunton My husband Max and I attended two SILVERMAN inspirational events in Taunton, Somerset. COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS AJR members at Liverpool Town Hall for Max spoke in a packed St John’s Church HMD Memorial Service and Libraries of his journey to England in the context of Event: Tom Reti, Hana Eardley, Helen and this year’s HMD theme ‘Untold stories’. Alan Scott, Kay Fyne The second event was the inaugural iverpool AJR members joined a Somerset Anne Frank Award, to be given Ldistinguished audience at Liverpool to a local teenager who has made a real Town Hall for an HMD service. Hana difference to their world, promoting racial harmony or caring for others in some way. Eardley recounted her journey with Telephone: 020 7209 5532 her twin brother to the UK on the last Overall winner Megan Hines, 13, received a beautiful glass panel modelled on the ‘Winton transport’ from Prague. [email protected] façade of the offices where Anne Frank Guido Alis and her family went into hiding. Edinburgh Jane C. Dickson A hundred children attended Unless indicated otherwise, information pro- Kindertransportee David Goldberg’s talk vided by Susanne Green and Agnes Isaacs. Annely Juda Fine Art 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) Tel: 020 7629 7578 Yom Hashoah: Remembering those who perished Fax: 020 7491 2139 and honouring survivors CONTEMPORARY PAINTING his year, Pinner Synagogue’s Memorial Following the 1942 Wannsee Conference, AND SCULPTURE TEvening will take place on Monday 2 deportations accelerated and Barbara spent May. The theme will be ‘Defying Hatred’ and a year in Auschwitz-Birkenau. She escaped key-note speakers will be Barbara Stimler during a ‘death march’ to Bergen-Belsen, planning to exterminate the ghetto, he and Ziggy Shipper. A number of dignitaries eventually falling into the hands of the was moved to Auschwitz, from which will attend as usual, including the Austrian Russians. She came to the UK in 1946. he fled on seeing the guards had left. He Ambassador, H. E. Dr Emil Brix. Ziggy Shipper was born in Lodz in was ultimately reunited with his mother Barbara Stimler was born in Poland. Her 1930. By 1940, the Lodz ghetto had been in England. hometown was invaded by the Germans created. Ziggy began work in a metal All are invited to attend this free when she was 12 years old, beginning a factory, 12 hours a day, six days a week, for Memorial Evening - prompt start sequence of desperate moves from town his rations. In July 1944, with the Russians 8.00 pm. to town, where she lived in various ghettos. approaching Lodz and the Germans Brian Eisenberg

 AJR JOURNAL april 2011

‘Kde domov muj?’: Where is my home?

de domov muj?’ – Where is my social circle were refugees like us and ‘ home? – is the question asked where German was the language Kin the first line of the Czech we spoke. Daily comparisons of life national anthem. Over the last 60 in England with that of the past ‘zu years it was a question I had often Hause’ – at home – were made. We asked myself. I had decided to visit the differed from our neighbours not Czech Republic and Teplitz-Schönau, only in nationality but also in that the country and town of my birth, we were Jews. We even differed from one last time, accompanied by my the local Jews because we didn’t wife, my friend and support of over stem from Eastern Europe and came 50 years, my two sons, their wives and from a less orthodox tradition and our three grandchildren. Nostalgia established emancipated Jewish perhaps, or to lay a few ghosts for me background. and to show my grandchildren a part Gradually I grew up in England. The author with his parents, London, of their heritage. September 1940 Along the way I made friends among We travelled the 60 miles north of Jews and Gentiles, some of whom were Prague to the town where I was born. were different. My early childhood was to become lifelong friends, and I was It had been cleaned up a little since its spent innocently, happy within my family privileged over the years to be involved neglected Communist days but it certainly and within the community. I always knew in their and their families’ lives and they was not the town of my childhood. The I was slightly different because my father with mine. I became a citizen of Britain, memories flooded back: my first school; was a Hungarian but it was of no apparent never an Englishman. We anglicised our walks to and playing in the ruined local consequence, unlike my uncles and other name; to all intents and purposes I had castle with friends, most of whom had relatives who were Czechoslovaks. I had integrated. perished in the Holocaust; the shops, a grandma who lived in Budapest whom My business often took me to the restaurants and Gasthäuser; and we visited regularly. However, in my mind Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Austria. the comfort of a large, warm and close as a child, home was where I lived and Although two of the countries were now family. The houses that once belonged to belonged. under Communist dictatorship, Austria my grandparents and great-grandparents Suddenly our lives – my life – changed still seemed to call me to a remembered still stood, now divided and sub-divided, in 1938. To escape the political change home, like a voice from the past. The food, neglected and shabby. My English family and consequent persecution, our family the language, which I spoke accent-free, could only look at the shabby streets and dispersed throughout the Czechoslovak the buildings and countryside brought the remaining landmarks where I had Republic. We moved to a strange back memories of my early home. My once lived. For them these invoked no flat in a large, unfamiliar city called frequent visits to Czechoslovakia and memories and prompted no vignettes of Prague. I sensed my parents’ worry and Hungary strengthened those early an incomprehensible past or of ancestors uncertainty and, for the first time, I memories of my former home, yet my far removed by time and culture from ­experienced discrimination. The school revulsion towards the people who had their own lives. at which my mother wanted to register betrayed and rejected us, their fellow On our return journey to Prague, we me told her in no uncertain terms citizens, confirmed that Central Europe stopped to pay our respects and say and in front of me that Jews from the could no longer be home. Kaddish at that evil, incomprehensible German-speaking northern part of the My wife is English, my children and place of hate and death, Terezin. Prague country were not wanted. My family, my their wives are English and my grand­ invoked some memories but, for the friends had gone. My parents remained. children are English. Yet one of my sons most part, I viewed that beautiful city I discovered I was not Czech but, like and his family are domiciled in Switzer- like any other tourist. The old Jewish my father, Hungarian – somewhat land and, like the proverbial wandering quarter was the exception, for this too confusing for a young boy. Jew, he and our grandchildren were was my children’s and grandchildren’s Many years later I understood that it ­destined to move on to another home heritage. How could they not be affected was thanks to our Hungarian passports and land and begin another integration. on finding the names of our relatives and nationality that our lives were saved. On our recent visit, I showed my fam- inscribed on the wall of the Pinchas We came to England as refugees on the ily part of their heritage and they saw Synagogue or the poignant exhibition way to America, a country so different ­evidence of the horrors and injustice of drawings and art of the children of from our Central European home. It done to our family. Now it is time to move Terezin? had a different language in which I on. The voices of the past will be with me Home is defined in the dictionary as couldn’t communicate, a different for the rest of my days but the answer to ‘a place of origin – one’s native country’. culture. England, however, was the the question ‘Where is my home?’ is for Mine was the spa town nestling at the country in which I eventually grew up me ‘Ubi bene ibi patria’ (Where it is best foot of the Giant and Ore Mountains of and in which I went to school and made is my home). And that is England – that northern Bohemia. Mother’s large Jewish friends whilst never forgetting my early decent, democratic, sometimes madden- family were strangers among the Germans childhood. Unlike my contemporaries, I ing land that accepted and protected and Slavs, yet after 200 years were so had no relatives, no grandparents, no me, educated me, gave me a new family integrated into the social and business aunts or uncles, no roots. I grew up with and, above all, gave me peace and the life of the town and area that they didn’t my parents. We lived in the ‘here and now confirmation of what I am. notice (or want to acknowledge) that they refugee world’, where my parents’ entire Bob Norton

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Stones of remembrance: Further information

y request for further information in the following year. For children of are, of course, happy if AJR members in last month’s issue of the victims, we try to make the stones as wish to donate to our project. ­Journal has resulted in a soon as possible. M Considering Liesl’s huge task, she number of replies from Vienna-based 5 What is the price per stone? has to decide the relative order in time Dr Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler (Liesl), For each 10cm x 10cm stone we ask in which the stones are to be placed. given below in italics. The task Liesl 120. If there are many victims in the This takes into account the age of the set herself has grown from very small € family and the cost is too high, we seek person requesting the commemoration personal beginnings into an enormous to reduce it. We have never failed to set of their loved ones. As each case varies, project. Information is available in Eng- a stone because relatives were unable the time Liesl devotes to it must be lish on her website (see below), but no to afford it. As the cost is much higher tailored to the total project. In addition details can be reproduced in the space than the 120 we now ask relatives if to all the paperwork, phone calls available. Names and former addresses € they can afford to pay more. and interviews, each stone placing and a great deal of information are requires considerable preparation. available in German. 6 What is the final cost per stone? Liesl must obtain the permission of The cost to us is 650 for a 20cm x 20cm 1 How many stones are in existence? € the householders and of the district stone with four names on it. The City of There are now various associations in authorities concerned, and there is also Vienna determines that we work with Vienna. We are working in the following the interaction with the manufactures a street-construction firm to place the districts: 1,2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, of the plaques and the organisation stones in the ground. This is about 270 18, 19, 20. In the 6th district, there is € which places them in their locations. per place. a different project: ‘Erinnern für die The final cost of individual stones Zukunft’. In the 3rd and 8th districts, 7 How is the difference made up? greatly exceeds the charge levied. The we are responsible only for the technical Our finances are based on private spon- €15,000 awarded at the prize-giving part of the work. sorship and donations plus subventions (see January issue) was shared with her from the National Fund and Future Fund, helpers, leaving little to Liesl herself, all Path of Remembrance the districts, and the City of Vienna. of which she assigned to the cause. In the 2nd and 20th districts, we have The year after the first stone placing constructed a Path of Remembrance, i.e. One difficulty is that we don’t know how on the Volkertsplatz, I commemorated we seek to remember Jewish life and high the subventions from the various my family with five stones: four on culture. We place stones to remind us organisations will be for the next year. the Karmeliter Markt, the centre of of synagogues, schools, theatres, coffee If they are reduced, we cannot realise Jews in the Leopoldstadt and close to houses and various Jewish institutions. our plans and must tell relatives that my Realgymnasium, and one on the they have to wait. We had this problem Stones for murdered inhabitants gate of my burned-down Barmitzvah last year but then obtained a special set on the Path synagogue in the Tempelgasse, close to subvention from the City of Vienna and We usually place them in front of their my home. There are in this district 136 the Dr Renner Prize, so for this year we former houses. If it was a house with ‘stations’ to date. have no problems. ‘assembly flats’, we place a stone with On the day of a ceremony, attended the number of people deported from it 8 How many contacts resulted from by relatives and friends of the bearers at (up to 170 people from one house). Fred Stern’s original article the ‘station’, the unveiling of the stones (January 2011) and what comments is accompanied by prayers, appropriate Thus, to tell the number of existing would you make relating to them? music, and an unscripted speech by Liesl. stones, one must divide them into I haven’t counted the number of people A very emotional ceremony, it replaces those which give information (20cm with whom I have been in contact, but both burial and stone-setting. x 20cm) and those for the murdered every contact is personal and we try Information on Liesl’s website indi- inhabitants (10cm x 10cm). We always to find an individual solution. I have cates that at the end of last year over put four together and also place stones received numerous letters and emails 40 ‘stations’ were planned for Vienna for people in whose family nobody showing how precious our work is for this year, that there are some 500 finan- survived. the relatives. cial contributors from many countries, I presume that the information readers and that about 100 individuals as well 9 How can help be given from would like refers to stones for Jewish as numerous organisations, associa- this country? women, men and children who lived tions and groups maintain the stones I am delighted these articles are being there. Therefore the statistics include regularly. There are also numerous published in the AJR Journal and am only them. letters, speeches, meetings and much now sure that victims’ relatives will more. Of special interest is a letter 2 How many stones have been know of our project. People should also from Austrian President Heinz Fischer ordered? know that we have published a booklet to ‘General Secretary Dr Elisabeth Ben 3 In which districts are they placed about the 2nd district in English. With David-Hindler’ expressing gratitude and how many present and future the help of Frank Beck, who translated for her project in remembrance of the orders are there? our booklet for the 9th district into Holocaust. 4 What are approximately the English, we will also publish ‘Stations Further information may be found at shortest and longest times from of Remembrance in Alsergrund’. It www.steinedererinnerung.net and request to placing? would be helpful if the AJR orders more [email protected]. If you send the request in the first half booklets together and sells, or gives, of the year, we can usually set the stone them to their Viennese members. We Fred Stern

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I would be grateful for enlightenment. Tom Schrecker, Val d’Isère

DOMESTIC SERVICE Sir – I am most grateful to Anthony Grenville (‘Books of interest’, February) for drawing attention to the new book on the refugee domestic service scheme: Dienstmädchen- Emigration by Traude Bollauf. For anyone interested in migration studies, this will be essential reading, and it certainly deserves to be translated into English. My personal reason for appreciating GERMANS AND JEWISH REFUGEES fact, become their most treasured friend. this book is that, as an infant in 1939-40, Sir – Dr Grenville’s contributions to the Whenever we got together for a meal or I was cared for by a refugee domestic Journal are invariably fascinating to just a drink, he would always introduce named Hilde, who joined our family in read and inwardly digest, but his latest me to friends as ‘I knew this young man Sunningdale in Surrey. Unfortunately we observations on Germans and Jewish when he was just a little boy who spoke no have no record of her surname. refugees (March) brought back particular English. Look at him now – the education The organiser of the local refugee memories of Herbert Sulzbach. Shortly correspondent of The Daily Telegraph! committee was Mrs William Cecil Smyly. after my parents and I arrived in England, Would you believe it!’ I wonder if any reader recalls that we found a room in Belsize Park Gardens, John Izbicki, Horsmonden, Kent fondly remembered Hilde who came to the house also occupied by the Sulzbach Sunningdale under the domestic service family as well as two or three other Sir – I am of the first English-born generation scheme, or indeed Mrs Smyly? Jewish refugees from Germany. Sulzbach of my father’s family. I have come across Edward Timms, Centre for German- adored young people and he and I, then all the views expressed in your March Jewish Studies, University of Sussex aged nearly nine, got on famously and he leading article. My refugee parents seemed would often tell me exciting stories from to have had no issue with re-establishing REFUGEES AND SCOTS his native Frankfurt am Main. relationships with Germans, even though Sir – Like so many, my mother came to this One day I came home from school a silent question mark hung over those of country with a domestic permit and a job to find the house empty, except for my a certain age who crossed their paths. My to go to on the outskirts of Edinburgh. mother (dad was still at work). Everyone parents had many German relations who She found it very hard to cope with work had been taken away and transported to had lost their Jewish identities centuries she hadn’t been used to. Fortunately, she the Isle of Man. As Germans, they had earlier and lived through the war in Germany was in touch with the Refugee Committee been interned. Because my father had told and live there today. I know they covered all in Edinburgh, who gave an enormous the immigration officer at Harwich, where extremes of attitudes, actions and empathies amount of help to the refugees. we had arrived at dawn on 3 September during the Second World War. There were a number of women in 1939, that we were ‘staatenlos’, he was In my life I have found mainly, but ­similar situations to that of my mother. told ‘We don’t have that here. Where were not exclusively, Anglo-Jews to be the Somehow a house which offered a flat you born?’ My father said he was born in most virulent in their hatred of Germans, large enough for my whole family (parents, a part of Poland which had been annexed whether because of their ‘lost’ years having brother and me) became available. It also to Russia at the time. ‘Russia, eh! Then to fight against them or for some of the offered a facility for the women to meet that’s what you are!’ Within a couple of reasons expressed in your article. What on their days off on Sundays to have minutes we had become Russians – and strikes me most is the dehumanisation tea, and gave them an opportunity to were never interned. this causes and the unswerving prejudice exchange views, experiences and, above We had the Anderson shelter to our- this sort of thinking creates. We accuse the all, support. My mother was charged with selves and wept for the Sulzbachs, think- Nazis of dehumanising whole swathes of this role, for which she was very suitable. ing they must have been taken to a society in order to justify their programme Unfortunately, this arrangement lasted only ­concentration camp. But Herbert Sulzbach of extermination, yet we are quite happy until Edinburgh became an ‘alien protected joined the Pioneer Corps, the only section to accept similar concepts for ourselves. area’: both father and brother were of the British army open to ‘aliens’. He People are individuals. They may interned from there, and the women all had was quickly promoted to captain and, as belong to a race or nation: treating them to leave, most of them going to Glasgow to explained in Anthony Grenville’s article, collectively opens the door to racism and find both work and accommodation. became closely involved in the de-nazifica- prejudice. There were, and still are, those A big thank you is due to all the tion of prominent German POWs. who commit evil and, while it may taint Scottish people who did so much for the Many of the POWs were fully-fledged those who are present in such places, it refugees. Nazis but, thanks to Sulzbach’s superb does not make everyone evil. People exist Eva Frean (née Reichenfeld), Finchley handling, they were genuinely re-educated. and interact as individuals not as races What the article did not mention was that, and we must treat everyone as a person. WILTON PARK OR LATIMER HOUSE once the war ended and a new German We become like our enemies if we start Sir – Could anyone who worked at Wilton embassy was opened in London, Herbert to justify hatred against groups of people Park or Latimer House in 1943-45 please Sulzbach was appointed its cultural and deny them individuality and identity. contact historian Dr Helen Fry, who is attaché – to my knowledge the first and Geoffrey Marx, London W14 writing a book on this subject. Email only Jewish refugee to have landed such [email protected] or write to 38 an appointment. He remained in this Sir – Regarding Anthony Grenville’s article Temple Gardens, London NW11 0LL. position until well after what should have ‘Germans and Jewish refugees’, I have Helen Fry, London NW11 been his official retirement. often wondered whether any estimate has His funeral, at the age of (I think) 80, been made of the number of non-Jewish NO NOSTALGIA FOR THE BLITZ was attended by a large contingent of Germans imprisoned in Nazi concentration Sir – I don’t remember the Blitz ‘with some the POWs he had ‘de-nazified’. He had, in camps and the number who died in them. nostalgia’ (Edith Argy, February), but with

 AJR JOURNAL april 2011 horror and sadness. My father’s entire Argy’s story of the Blitz resonates with my BULGARIANS AND JEWS family were killed by a direct hit on our family experience. Bombed out of home Sir – Peter Block (February, Letters) house during the Blitz. and the family business in the Liverpool highlights the Bulgarian Jews saved from At the beginning of the war our family 20 December 1940 air raids, the family the Holocaust. had all been brought over from Germany dairy built up over 40 years was totally Strong national pride is not a distinctive through the energy of my father, Martin destroyed. trait of Bulgarians and this particularly Sulzbacher. Then he was interned, first And for me, it was a lost opportunity attractive characteristic seems to be one on the way to Canada on the ill-fated to continue to help my father, Borach, in of the principal reasons for Bulgaria’s Arandora Star, which was torpedoed. He running the dairy, often regarded as the protection of her Jews. survived but was then sent to Australia. My ‘pride of Jewish Liverpool’. Lack of race hatred was the cumulative mother and we four children were sent to Professor Eric Moonman OBE, London N7 result of Bulgarians living with other the Isle of Man. minorities under Turkish domination for However, my grandparents were too IMPORTANT ROLE OF AJR over five centuries. old, my uncle and aunt had already been Sir – I hope it will be of interest to readers The saving of the Jews was not naturalised as they had been in England if I point out the increasingly important complete. King Boris authorised the five years, and my other aunt was classified part the AJR plays in my life. deportation of Thracian and Macedonian C, so they all remained in London. But the I suffered a heart attack and had an Jews. Only 12 of the 11,343 sent to Blitz was so dangerous that my uncle had operation a few months ago. The MRI scan Auschwitz and Treblinka survived, whereas driven to Chesham outside London and also revealed that I had a slipped disc, Jews in Bulgaria proper were saved. booked rooms there. As it was getting which makes standing up very painful and The King acted only in national self- dark, he didn’t want to drive back in the walking practically impossible. interest, collaborating in March 1943 and Blackout so he returned to London by I used to attend the AJR Centre on opposing deportation only when he saw train hoping to bring the family there the Wednesdays only. Now, I am there the Allies gaining ground – and the chance next day. That night the whole family were every day it is open – if I can manage. of emerging from the Nazi period with killed and were buried in Enfield cemetery The importance of the AJR Centre as Bulgaria’s reputation enhanced. four in one row, and my aunt in the next a meeting place for the elderly – with In 1940 Bulgaria already introduced row as her body was not found in the similar background, experiences and most anti-Jewish laws. This legislation was met rubble until later. of them living on their own – cannot be with a howl of protest. My dear father did not hear of the overemphasised. Many are also terribly Having grown up among Armenians, disaster until Erev Yom Kippur in far- lonely. Cleve Road is run smoothly, the Greeks and Gypsies, the Bulgarian finds away Australia. Forty-one years later he staff are most helpful, the food is very no defect in the Jews that might justify himself passed away peacefully on Erev good, and the entertainment is pleasant. special measures against them. Yom Kippur, so that my brothers and I say I can make use of this only because Did Bulgarians possess exceptional Kaddish on that anniversary in memory of transport is provided by the AJR for at moral and political qualities? Bulgarians my father and of that tragedy in the Blitz least two of the days. Otherwise, it would do not hold themselves in particularly so many years ago. be financially prohibitive. high regard. Of course, they love their Max Sulzbacher, Jerusalem The benefits I receive from the AJR are land, but when it comes to making value very much appreciated and most helpful judgements, they are quick to maintain Sir – Edith Argy’s ‘Business as usual’ to meet essential expenditure. that those of other peoples are superior. article brought back memories. I kept a I am very grateful for the wonderful The 1934 coup d’état weakened the role diary during the Blitz and I quote some service provided and the work done by of Bulgaria’s traditional political parties as of the entries to show what normal lives AJR staff for the benefit of the members. well as that of the National Assembly. we led: Without the AJR, my life – and, I am After the 1939 elections the regime was 18.8.40: Two [air raid] warnings, sure, the lives of many other people authoritarian, but not fascist. then go swimming with [my friend] – would be made much more difficult. Bulgarian Jews numbered 48,400. Half Lisl. In the evening, dancing at the Keep it going. Thank you. of them lived in Sofia. They were mostly Czech Club. Henry Grant, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middx workers or artisans. Although Bulgaria had 26.8.40: Warnings in the afternoon. its anti-Semitic traditions, they were never Go to the pictures afterwards. See My DENMARK AND THE HOLOCAUST especially strong. Son, My Son and Teargas. 7 hours’ Sir – While I cannot comment on other Kurt Winter, London NW3 warning at night, hear bombs. countries, I would like to take issue 7.9.40: East End in flames. Warning with Rubin Katz (March, Letters) in RETURN TO FUERTH at night. respect of Denmark. Mr Rubin states that Sir – ‘Return to Fuerth’ reads the heading 11.9.40: Warnings day and night. 85 Denmark did not have any qualms about of an article by the Rev Bernd Koschland Jerries down. surrendering their foreign Jews who in your February issue. Of all places, Fürth, 20.9.40: Many warnings, fires and sought asylum there. my birthplace, which I left in 1933 and time bomb. Slept at Marble Arch Tube There was a considerable number of have never visited since! Fürth, how vividly Station 2 nights as it is deep down. Jewish refugees in Denmark - among I remember this sooty town with its tall We would walk home (I was 17) in the others, groups of young people who had factory chimneys and the nauseating smell Blackout and not see the person next to gone there on hachshara (preparation of hops at almost every street corner. Fürth us but were never afraid. for working in agriculture in Palestine). is where my mother was born, as was When my grandson did the Blitz at school In common with Danish Jews, these Jews her mother and my great-grandmother. I the teacher was delighted to have such a were also brought to safety when the think we’re probably some of the original factual account of what happened at the Danish resistance rescued us to neutral inhabitants of the town! time. Gisela Feldman, Manchester Sweden in October 1943. It was there that The Jews once played a prominent role I made friends with a youngster from Stet- there, with numerous institutions bearing Sir – Like so many events during the 1939- tin, Germany who had been on hachshara the names of their founders, the great 45 war, many personal lives were affected in Denmark. benefactors of the place. The very street immediately but also for a lifetime. Edith Walter Goddard, London SW7 continued on page 16

 AJR JOURNAL april 2011

Violence and war are depicted in Edward Burra’s Wake (1940) in gouache and ink wash. Clearly obsessed with the REVIEWs sensual body, he adds skeletal hands to portray horrific events. In Soldiers at An inspirational tale Rye his grinning, masked faces evoke a of survival military Walpurgisnacht. His Mexican THE WOMAN WITHOUT A NUMBER rom Arcadian landscapes to war Church carries a similarly bleak message: by Iby Knill scenes, the watercolour is eternally Christ’s face, darkened and dirtied, is Scratching Shed, 2010 popular. According to Tate Britain, F answered by an equally dark cadaverous (www.scratchingshedpublishing.co.uk), British artists such as John Frederick figure smirking back at us – his future. 288 pp. paperback Lewis, William Turner, William Blake The Holocaust is depicted in Eric Taylor’s nlike most concentration camp and John Nash have been among the Human Wreckage at Belsen Concentration memoirs, this one begins in the greatest exponents of the medium. And the Camp (1945). William Holman Hunt’s middle of the story. We follow the fluidity and portability of the medium made Dead Sea from Siloam is among several pre- U writer on a stealthy journey across the it cheap and handy enough to represent eye Raphaelites on show, apart from William Czech border, crawling on her hands and witness accounts of events before the days Blake, the water-colourist who excelled knees into Hungary. There she and her of photography. most at dark surrealism. Turner’s sketches guide get a sour welcome from her aunt. In its wide-ranging exhibition anticipate the full-blown, glowering sunsets While in Budapest she joins the Resistance Watercolour (until 21 August), the Tate which made him the father of English but is betrayed and sent to a women’s traces the medium back to medieval Impressionism. Thomas Girtin’s La Rue prison, ‘where vagrants, drunks and illuminated manuscripts. Well before the St Denis – a long, empty street – signifies prostitutes were held. There were huge so-called golden age of British watercolour introspection. Anish Kapoor mixes his dormitories with iron folding bedsteads. in the eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century, watercolours with earth and gouache, A long, narrow table and benches went artists like the sixteenth-century painter giving a murky, gravelly aspect. down the middle of the room, but there was not enough space for everyone to sit Nicholas Hilliard painted exquisite Ludwig Blum’s Jerusalem in the soft, there. Those who had been there longest early winter light is etiolated by had the choicest places.’ the sun behind the clouds. The Before long, Iby gets to help out in Czech artist, who emigrated to the infirmary. Next is a move to a camp Palestine in 1923, is featured for Jewish refugees, where a guard in The Land of Light and recognises her and offers her a sexual Promise: 50 Years Painting relationship, which she rejects. Released Jerusalem and Beyond at the on parole, she marries a young Hungarian. Ben Uri (until 24 April). Blum However, the flat in which she is staying immersed himself in Jerusalem, with relatives is raided and the Jewish delving into its light, architecture, occupants sent to a transit camp for religious symbols and people. His Auschwitz. Her protestations that she is style has been compared to that not Jewish – she was baptised – are ignored of John Singer Sargent. He is a and she is deported with the others. She teams up with a group of doctors pure nature artist, captivated by and nurses who walk defiantly past Dr the strong light and shadow of Mengele, who is making his ‘selections’. the Middle East, but no matter John Dunstall A Pollard Oak near West Hampnett Place, Having arrived in a prisoners’ hut, she Chichester c 1660 how verdant his cypress trees or describes the sleeping arrangements: how eloquent his imagination, ‘We slept in lines, but there were so many miniatures on vellum laid on thin paper. there is something in his work that remains women in the hut that the only way was The technique of painting miniatures forever Europe. to sleep like spoons with one’s head on on ivory began in Georgian times, until the hip of the person in the row above.’ artists such as John Hoskins and Samuel All in all, Iby gives the clearest account Cooper found vellum preferable. The AJR at Jewish Book Week I have yet read of day-to-day conditions The history of watercolour began with large and appreciative audience in Auschwitz. One day, the women are A at the Royal National Hotel given white blouses and proper skirts topography. The milky blend of sky, land in Bloomsbury heard Dr Anthony and water is beautifully rendered, for Grenville introduce his book Jewish and seated at benches, where a decent instance by the eighteenth-century painter Refugees from Germany and Austria meal is provided. This is for the benefit of in Britain, 1933-1970, as part of a visiting papal nuncio. Iby surprises him John Robert Cozens in his Lake of Albano Jewish Book Week 2011. The session, by telling him in Latin that what he sees and Castel Gandolfo. Considered one of chaired by Baroness Ruth Deech, is not the truth. the founders of the British watercolour also included Professor Bob Moore (University of Sheffield), introduce As the Russians are advancing, the school, his landscape, in which one tree his book on the rescue and survival prisoners are carted off to work in a leans away from the others in a nod to the of Jews in Europe. munitions factory in Lippstadt and then castle seen way into the distance, is both In the afternoon, the audience set off on a death march. By now the was treated to a showing by Dr Bea playful and majestic. Thomas Girtin’s Lewkowicz of the films Continental Americans are in the area and Iby is Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland has Britons and Moments and Memories, liberated. A spell in hospital, where she a similar magic: his focal point of a rock both funded by the AJR. The footage in is nursed by German nuns, restores her pointing upwards like a hand is a virtual the films deeply moved and enthralled to health and she starts work as an those present. set for Lord of the Rings. interpreter for the British army in Buren,

 AJR JOURNAL april 2011 where she meets Bert, a recently widowed British army captain, who proposes The AJR and the Separated Child Foundation marriage. Meanwhile she gets news that ince Mitzvah Day last year, the AJR slippers or flip-flops, and socks. Much her mother has survived, but decides not has been involved with the Separated needed too are toiletries such as wash to go home to Czechoslovakia. SChild Foundation, an organisation bags, soap, deodorant, toothbrush/paste, She describes the confusing atmos- that helps children and young people who shampoo and brush. As well as a pen and a phere of post-war Germany, where former come to Britain seeking asylum. notepad, non-perishable food is very much enemies are obliged to work together. These children have fled their home- appreciated. lands due to war, terror or persecution. Newly bought items don’t need to be There are lighter moments as, for instance, They are separated from their culture and top quality: supermarket and chain store when the German cook provokes the Hun- natural environment as well as from their own-brands are fine. garians to demand paprika, not sauerkraut, family and friends. The size of the clothes should be with their stews. The Separated Child Foundation offers suitable for teenagers, especially those in Having decided to marry in Germany, emotional, social, financial and physical the 15-17 age group. Iby is obliged to undertake a complicated support to separated children and young In addition, a card or personal message ceremony of conversion from Catholicism people in Britain up to the age of 21. It of good wishes will help the children to Protestantism in order to share the also engages in educational activities that to feel welcomed in a new and foreign religion of her husband-to-be. After missed raise awareness of their needs. country. train connections and other adventures, AJR members are helping these children If you would like to help these children by collecting items for ‘arrival packs’. These to settle in, please collect as many of the she arrives in England with an elaborate are distributed to the children when they above-mentioned items as possible and trousseau donated by her mother to meet arrive at the end of an often dangerous bring them to the next meeting of your Bert, who has gone there ahead of her. journey and make a simple but important regional group or to the AJR Centre. There the story ends but for a flashback difference to their everyday life. For further information, please contact giving an account of her background The arrival pack consists of a bag, light Lena Mangold at the AJR office on – a prosperous Jewish extended family top, warm top, towel, umbrella, underpants, 020 8385 3081 or at [email protected] wealthy enough to own a car (which is pictured on the front cover of her book). Iby admits to having suppressed her Jewish and concentration camp history Our Love, from Vienna, 1938 so, in a sense, this book may be a kind by Charlotte Peploe For my mother Anneliese Lindsay and her parents, of ‘outing’. She recently featured on the who were sent to Auschwitz BBC1 television series My Story. Iby is pictured in later life in an academic they came on the wheels of the train her parents should be coming gown having received an honorary degree pounding along the continent, but something had re-routed them from the University of Leeds. For her walking the waves, grinning with onto a different set of tracks. amazing courage and resilience, I am sure ignorance and she deserves it. Martha Blend welcomed by some coastal resort. now, many years on and I move around the very and her parents will arrive soon. same trees. they all know that. I carry inside a seed Where Was the World? which has grown as a seed should. by Jo Manger arms, those arms, wrapped about when I yield it up After a visit to Auschwitz porridge and kippers which sent and give it the chance of life A place of silence, their air we breathe, the scent wheeling past her nostrils. I shall wonder The world stood still, beyond belief. she sighed the goodness of England whereabouts my Oma lies. Where was help? Millions let down, and smiled with the frozen air. in its eyes Within their tears the whole world parents, chattels, will come about in its fears could drown. now – in its past. Shoes, bags, toys and all ‘gulls, bring Oma in your beak.’ Snatched away, standing grossly tall, but the bird shrieked to ignore. and the train slid through. Glass display beyond glass display, ARTS AND EVENTS DIARY Possessions and life taken away. these hundreds of children april Could we ever feel an inch of their pain? swaddled in worsted In our fortunate lives will we dare to bore wide black eyes Mon 4 Jim Betts, ‘The Quakers in Britain’ complain? which saw heaven as a Club 43 These people were beaten, broken and torn, single marshmallow. her parents were shortly to come. Thurs 7 ‘Ashes in the Wind: The Destruction Gassed, starved, worn and drawn. of Dutch Jewry’ by Jacob Presser. Their barracks were cold, heartless and plain, they all knew that. A Re-evaluation by Philo Bregstein At Again I ask, had the world gone insane? Wiener Library, 7 pm. Admission free but steadily, stealthily, time fell, never to spaces limited - telephone 020 7636 7247 Men, women and children too, recover itself, Innocent people, they did not care who. leaves rose up juicing their greens Mon 11 Ken Baldry, ‘Tchaikovsky: Lawyer This open space, this awful place, because trees stand up to war. into Composer’ Club 43 The anger, the tragedy, pure disgrace. Change the past, if only I could her mother/father photograph Wed 13 B’nai B’rith Jerusalem Lodge. Any way, any how, any human would. her violin David Wass, ‘Shoplifting – How It’s Done and How It’s Prevented’ At home of Tom We must all remember a face, a name, her new leather shoes breathing beneath a pillow Heinemann, 2.30 pm. Tel 020 8904 3568 We must not forget this place where they were used to placate other Club 43 Meetings at Belsize Square came. weeping girls Synagogue, 7.45 pm. Tel Ernst Flesch on Do tell of their story, do tell of their sorrow, while she wept on. 020 7624 7740 or Helene Ehrenberg on So this hideous crime won’t repeat tomorrow. 020 7286 9698

 AJR JOURNAL april 2011

The Journey: A ‘life-changing’ exhibition about the Holocaust for young children

ot all journeys are nice. Some he has managed has to be said.’ ‘ people have to make journeys to secure a place Throughout the exhibition, children can Nthey don’t want to, to places for Leo on the pick up, and interact with, artefacts and they don’t know, and to futures that are ‘Kindertransport’. replica objects from the period. Within uncertain.’ So begins The Journey, the On board the each space too, touch-screen kiosks offer award-winning permanent exhibition at train, as the country­ access to survivor testimony relating to the the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre. Made side flashes past, experiences that Leo is facing at that point. possible only thanks to generous support Leo wonders what The Centre educator accompanying the from benefactors, including the AJR, its life will hold for him schoolchildren can use these to prioritise ground-breaking intention was to intro- alone without his the story of the survivor or refugee that duce learning about, and learning from, parents in a foreign the children will meet. the Holocaust to school children as young country, and wor- Now entering its third year of operation, as eight or nine years old – yet without ries about Hannah, The Journey has been visited by thousands patronising an older audience. the baby sister he of schoolchildren and is in high demand The brainchild of Centre co-founder has to leave be- among primary schools across the Stephen Smith, the exhibition contains hind. Visitors also learn that most Jewish Midlands. The response of Sarah, a pupil minimal text and photography but takes children in Nazi-occupied Europe had to at Langwith Bassett Primary School in its young visitors through an experiential make journeys to ghettos and concentra- Derbyshire, is typical: ‘I didn’t really care set of spaces in the company of Leo Stein, tion camps, where very few survived. In that much about the war but, when they a fictional ten-year-old Jewish boy living the last room, Leo has arrived in England, took us to the Holocaust Centre, it just with his parents and baby sister in Nazi and it is here that the schoolchildren come wowed me.’ Germany in November 1938. face to face with a child survivor or refugee Teachers too express their admiration. Leo is keeping a diary, and in each from the Holocaust. Julie Harrison, Head Teacher at Chad Varah space he relates a new entry telling us ‘I think The Journey is brilliant Primary School, described their November what’s going on in his life and how the because the kids are taken through in an 2010 visit as a ‘life-changing experience’ rising anti-Semitism and discrimination are atmosphere that replicates the situation for her pupils. ‘The experience was fully affecting him. We move through his home as it really was,’ says Steve Mendelsson, brought to life by your approach to the and classroom before reaching his street who escaped Nazi Germany with the children and the way they were led to un- on Kristallnacht. In the ruins of his father’s Kindertransport and regularly speaks at derstanding the prejudice which allowed shop, we realise the family faces a tough the Centre. ‘They are in a position to see, it all to happen,’ she says. With a busy set of choices: go into hiding, try to flee, smell, hear, touch the thing, and I think calendar for 2011, The Journey promises or stay and hope for the best. A concealed that is terribly important for creating an to touch many more young lives in the entrance within the shop (which visiting everlasting memory of their experiences at years to come. children have to find for themselves) Beth Shalom ... I certainly enjoy meeting Helen Whitney leads to a family hiding place, created the kids and looking into their eyes to see Director, Beth Shalom by Leo’s father, in which we learn that their enthusiasm and their interest in what Holocaust Centre

An unexpected tribute to Anna Essinger and her school in Kent he Kent Messenger is a substantial to a remarkable and strong-minded children. In 1940 she was given a week’s weekly paper published in Maidstone. woman, who recognised the evil of the notice to move her school out of the TThanks to the energy and devotion Nazi ideology long before most German military zone of the North Downs, and of the Managing Editor, Lesley Bellew Jews woke up to it, Mrs Bellew describes she found suitable premises in Shropshire. (Kent Feature Journalist of the Year), how this was done surreptitiously without When the war ended, this intrepid woman, the 4 February issue included a 20- raising the ire of the German authorities. by now virtually blind, returned the school page supplement entitled Blitz Spirit, Bunce Court proved to be a happy choice to Kent. Its main task having been fulfilled, in which aspects of Kent’s ‘home front’ for it provided the children not only with a it closed in 1948. are described and commemorated 70 new home but also with some woodland, Much of the article consists of rather years on. The illustrated articles cover vegetable gardens, outbuildings and a touching quotations from former pupils, a range of topics, from the land girls playing field, all embedded in the beautiful who felt that their lives had been greatly (Kent contributed as many as 4,000) and Kentish countryside. The emphasis was enriched by the ethos of the school. the Home Guard to the Observer Corps, not only on academic subjects but also Among them is the celebrated painter which carried out vital duties by giving on practical work, which contributed to Frank Auerbach, who said: ‘Bunce Court advance warning of German aircraft the school’s upkeep. The relationship was my home. I was happy there and approaching the Kentish coast, using the between teachers and pupils – the school consider myself very fortunate to have newly developed radar. was residential and co-educational – was been one of the children in that unique Embedded in this supplement is a informal and relaxed, most teachers being community.’ two-page spread telling the story of called by their first names or by nicknames. The Blitz Spirit supplement is available Anna Essinger and her refugee school, Anna Essinger was generally known as for £1 from the KM Group office, 6/7 which she transferred with astonishing Tante Anna. Middle Row, Maidstone ME14 1TG, or by foresight in 1933 from Ulm in southern Late in 1938 the first of the contacting Linda Evans on 01622 794604 Germany to Bunce Court, a mansion on Kindertransports arrived in England and or at [email protected]. the North Downs. In this warm tribute Anna Essinger took in a further 50-60 Leslie Baruch Brent

10 AJR JOURNAL april 2011

My two families French Railways during the war: y late father, Willi Reissner, was Coalition for Holocaust Rail Justice born in Seelow, a small town in Mthe east of Germany, near the launches website Polish border. My late mother, Susi Reissner he Coalition for Holocaust Rail Justice to enter the high-speed rail market in the (née Cohn), was born in Dortmund in the has launched a website providing United States. If granted these lucrative west of Germany. information about the actions of contracts, the SNCF would receive billions Last year, my husband, David, wrote T the Société Nationale des Chemins de of American tax dollars, some of which in the AJR Journal about our visit to my Fer Français (SNCF) and its role in the would come from the American Recovery father’s birthplace in July 2009. He wrote deportation of 76,000 Jews from France and Reinvestment Act. It is a terrible irony about how, by chance, we contacted to death camps between March 1942 and that a percentage of these tax dollars the Seelow Town Hall to enquire about August 1944. would come from the very victims the SNCF travelling there by train and how this The Coalition comprises victims and their deported to concentration camps.’ simple request brought forth family family members, historians, community In addition to details of US legislation birth, marriage and death certificates leaders and volunteers committed to calling on the SNCF to address its past, and even a few photos from 1920 of my holding the SNCF accountable, to the full the website contains links to survivors’ grandfather, Louis Reissner, in the Seelow disclosure of its wartime role, and to the testimonies and opinions and written Schuetzengilde (Shooting Guild). Louis payment of reparations to its victims and submissions by historians, legislators and and my grandmother, Martha, perished their families. community leaders. in the Holocaust. I recently found out According to the Coalition’s website, The website also includes articles that their daughter, Ruth, my father’s ‘In the 65 years since the end of the published in recent months about the sister, had been a teacher at the Jewish Second World War, the SNCF has refused history of the campaign against the SNCF. orphanage in Pankow and perished to acknowledge adequately its role in the The Coalition’s website can be visited at in Riga with the children – but that’s Holocaust, has avoided taking any financial www.holocaustrailvictims.org another story. My father and his late responsibility for its role, and now wishes Michael Newman brother, Joachim, managed to escape to England. married Elli Stern in Seelow on 26 October. Or put another way, Louis was a witness at I had a sudden brainwave. The next the wedding of the man whose sister his minute, an email was winging its way to son would marry six years later in another Thomas Drewing, our contact at Seelow country. Town Hall, asking if he could possibly trace Thomas has since discovered that Heinz the marriage certificate for Heinz and Elli. had lived in a place called Gut Winkel in Half an hour later, Thomas replied: ‘I have Spreenhagen (60 km from Seelow) on it and will send it to you within the next hachshara – ‘a camp for young Jewish half-hour.’ people who were learning about farming, Half an hour passed and David and I in preparation for emigrating to Palestine’. checked our emails. Thomas’s reply had However, Thomas was unable to explain Willi, Ruth, Louis, Joachim and Martha arrived and we eagerly opened it to find why Heinz was in Seelow. Apparently Reissner the scanned certificate of Heinz’s and Heinz, Elli and Mathel had also lived in Elli’s marriage. Thomas had also been Hasenfelde (30 km from Seelow), a village Before the war, my mother lived with kind enough to include a translation between Seelow and Spreenhagen, where her parents, Max and Ida Cohn, and of the certificate into modern German, Heinz had worked as a slave labourer in her brother, Heinz. My mother had told a forest camp. Thomas wrote: ‘I hope the me that, during the war, Heinz had, small informations decipher the mysterium coincidentally, also lived in Seelow, my a little.’ father’s hometown. She had also told me My mother, Susi Cohn, did not meet that Heinz had been married to Elli and my father, Willi Reissner, until after the that they had had a baby girl. That was all war and they married in London in 1947. I knew. My mother never wanted to speak But, unbeknown to either of my parents, about her family. my paternal grandfather had already met After my mother died in 2005, I my mother’s brother and sister-in-law. discovered, from various searches, that A family relationship had already been Heinz and Elli’s baby was called Mathel created before my parents cemented and that she was born in December 1942. their own relationship under a chuppah All three were transported from Berlin to in London. But they never knew about it. Ida, Max, Susi and Heinz Cohn Auschwitz on 19 April 1943 (Erev Pesach), Neither did Heinz nor Elli, who went into where they perished. followed by one in English. As we were Hitler’s gas chambers never guessing that In October 2010, I arranged to go on a scrolling through it, I noticed my paternal a witness at their wedding would, had one-day trip to Auschwitz. The day before grandfather’s name, Louis Reissner, on they all survived, have been a part of their the visit, I decided to look through what the page. extended family. And had I not been going little information I had about my mother’s ‘Thomas has made a mistake – he’s got to Auschwitz this would never have come family so that Heinz, Elli and Mathel would the wrong side of the family,’ I said. ‘He’s to light. Coincidence or what? be at the forefront of my thoughts during sent me something about my father’s By the way, Thomas Drewing has been the visit. family, instead of my mother’s family.’ in touch again recently. He is arranging As I read the Red Cross letters in my Then sudden realisation. Thomas for Stolpersteine to be installed in October file, I came across a reply on the back of hadn’t made any mistakes – quite the outside my paternal grandparents’ house one that my mother had written to Heinz contrary. The amazing fact was that my as well as outside the place where Heinz’s in 1941. I didn’t remember noticing this father’s father, Louis Reissner, had been a and Elli’s wedding took place. before but Heinz had written that he’d witness at my mother’s brother’s wedding. Vivien Harris

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Pinner A broadcaster and writer’s tale Birmingham Town Hall for a concert by the The insight Eve Pollard gave into her Orchestra of the Swan and spent a thrilling fascinating life was a delight to a large afternoon listening to Tchaikovsky’s audience. Her spell as editor of the Sunday Rococo Variations and Mozart’s Symphony Mirror and other well-known newspapers No 40 under the baton of David Curtis. brought her into contact with the great Fred Austin and the good in politics as well as the Next meeting: 5 April, 2.30pm. DVD of larger-than-life Robert Maxwell. ‘Rescue in Albania’ Hull ‘Untold stories’ Walter Weg Next meeting: 7 April. Rabbi Alan Plancey, Bradford CF HMD feedback It’s always good to meet and recount We began with feedback on Holocaust our memories of past events. There are ‘Is Being a Rabbi a Good Job for a Jewish Boy?’ Memorial Day, in which we had either still many ‘untold stories’, the theme for participated or simply attended. We this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day. But it Bromley CF South America stories continued our discussion on the HMD wasn’t a gloomy meeting – we were told a We met at the home of the ever hospitable theme of ‘Untold stories’, not all of which story based on Leo Rosten’s definition of Eva Byk. Somehow South America loomed were sad – there were stories of rescue and the word ‘mitzvah’ in his book The Joys of large in our conversations. One of those hope too. Thea Hurst Yiddish. Our hostess did us proud. present had lived in Uruguay and Hazel Next meeting: 4 April Rose Abrahamson mentioned her forthcoming riding holiday Next meeting: 8 May there, having previously climbed the HGS A talented young lady Natasha Solomons spoke about the genesis of Ealing Jazz greats Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador on horseback. Robert Shaw said he and his family had her first book, Mr Rosenblum’s List, and of her Though Alf Keiles was unable to be with done this magnificent mountain more forthcoming second book, The Novel in the us to present his ‘Jewish Personalities leisurely by car in 1999. Viola. All of us at this well attended meeting in Jazz’, his music was. A delightful wished further success to this very nice and afternoon spent listening to greats such talented young lady. Laszlo Roman as Danny Kaye and Judy Garland, among VISIT TO LUTON HOO Next meeting: 11 April. Alfred Simms, many others. Thursday 19 May 2011 ‘Gluckel Manein – Housewife from Esther Rinkoff Invitation to a Special Event Hamburg, 1646-1724’ Next meeting: 5 April. Gerald Curzon, ‘Jews A unique opportunity to visit the original on the Golden Road to Samarkand’ home of Sir Julius Wernher and Alice Edgware ‘The History of Berlin’ Manklewicz, both of Jewish German Many of the audience were ex-Berliners Ilford ‘Jewish Trades in Regency and Polish descent. The exquisite décor and the topic was ‘The History of Berlin’, London’ has been tastefully furnished in the style presented by Alfred Simms. Those less David Barnett’s talk was excellently of The Ritz. A feast for your eyes as well familiar with the topic found it most researched and we were amazed to learn as your palate! interesting. Alfred mentioned several that there was apparently no anti-Semitism This special afternoon event will historical dates and showed us photos around 1800, the people’s rancour being include transport to Luton Hoo; a talk depicting parts of Berlin. Then came the directed at the Irish Catholics instead. It by Mrs Dickenson, a long-standing year 1933 – of which each of us has his was particularly interesting to note that employee of the Wernher family; a full or her history. there were quite a few Jewish publicans! afternoon sandwiches and cream tea; a Felix Winkler A very worthwhile talk much enjoyed. tour of the grounds (walking or driven); No meeting in April due to Pesach Meta Roseneil and an opportunity to learn about the Next meeting: 6 April. Jane Rosenberg, Largest Café Imperial get-together ‘Jewish Musical Journeys’ history and see the magnificent art works. The largest get-together in my experience A coach will pick members up from and a most enjoyable one, not least Harrogate birthday boy the North London area, returning at the because we mostly know each other well. end of the day. I was most impressed by Mr Rosenblum’s List, by Natasha Solomons, who was £30 pp including entrance, guided present. It is based on her grandfather’s tour, full afternoon tea and transport life in Berlin and emigration to the UK (as For further details please call I understood it). Henry Myer Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 Oxford In search of ‘Jewish genes’ Essex (Westcliff) Southend as it was Professor Curzon enlightened us on the Evening Echo former editor Jim Worsdale search for ‘Jewish genes’, the influence of reminisced about Southend, which at Sigmund Freud, the objectivity of Jewish its peak had 10 cinemas, including the thinkers and ‘being outsiders most Jews Odeon, which held 2,500 people. He question everything’. Many thoughtful interviewed the Beatles there when they questions followed this interesting talk. (from left) Inge Little, Ken Little, came to perform in 1963. Larry Lisner Anne Selinger Eugene Black, Marc Schatzberger, No meeting in April due to Pesach Next meeting: 12 April. Ladislaus Löb, Rosl Schatzberger ‘Rezso Kasztner: A “Jewish Shindler”’ Welwyn Garden City We heard reports of events on Memories of the Fifties Radlett ‘My Father’s Roses’ Holocaust Memorial Day and other A large audience listened enthralled to Most of the older generation of Bridget recent happenings and were informed Myra and Peter Sampson reviving old McGing’s family had escaped from the of what is on the AJR calendar for memories. Myra recalled life in the Fifties: Sudetenland to the UK. They brought with the foreseeable future. Most of the Coronation, Festival of Britain, cinema, them a treasure trove of family photographs remaining time was spent telling each music, make-up, holidays, Wimpeys. It was and letters, based on which Bridget’s other about our experiences soon after all there! Alfred Simms mother, Nancy Kohner, wrote the book ‘My our immigration. We ended with a little Next meeting: 7 April. Howard Lanning, Father’s Roses’. Bridget spoke movingly party for Eugene Black on his 83rd ‘80 Years in the Film Industry’ about the people involved. Fritz Starer birthday. A most enjoyable day. No meeting in April due to Pesach Inge Little Birmingham (West Midlands) Next meeting: 13 April A thrilling concert A pleasant afternoon in Wembley A select group of us visited the refurbished We enjoyed a pleasant, spring-like after-

12 AJR JOURNAL april 2011 noon discussing various topics. Concerns Cambridge Basque and over the treatment of elderly people in Kindertransport evacuees Paul Balint AJR Centre hospital led to mention of ‘medical’ soaps We were given a vivid account by Natalie 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 on TV and programmes enjoyed. As usual, Benjamin of the evacuation in 1937 of Tel: 020 7328 0208 the cakes etc went down well. 4,000 Basque children to the UK resulting Myrna Glass from the Spanish Civil War. Those of us Next meeting: 13 April. Social get-together who came here by Kindertransport a year KT-AJR or two later could relate to many of their Kindertransport experiences. Keith Lawson special interest group Leeds birthday boy Next meeting: 14 April. Renée Tyack, ‘They Called Her Cassandra’ Monday 4 April 2011

‘Growing old’ in Liverpool Michael Newman We had a very good attendance for the ‘The Work of the AJR’ meeting, held at Susanne’s home. After a KINDLY NOTE THAT LUNCH very pleasant bagel lunch, Professor Julian WILL BE SERVED AT 12.30 PM ON MONDAYS Verbov reminded us that his paternal grandparents and four of their children Reservations required were murdered by the Nazis in Lithuania. Please telephone 020 7328 0208 The subject of his talk, ‘Growing Old’, turned out to be quite amusing and was Monday, Wednesday & Thursday greatly enjoyed by all present. 9.30 am – 3.30 pm (from left) Bertha Klipstein, Suzanne Guido Alis Please note that the Centre is Next meeting: 6 April Rappaport Ripton, Edith Goldberg, closed on Tuesdays Heinz Skyte, Barbara Cammerman, Helga Segelman OUTING TO WESTCLIFF AJR GROUP April Entertainment Susanne led a lively afternoon of stories Tuesday 10 May 2011 Mon 4 KT LUNCH – Kards & Games Klub and anecdotes relating to ‘Untold We are pleased to announce an outing Tue 5 CLOSED stories’. As the meeting was held on to visit the AJR Essex Group, which Wed 6 William Smith Valentine’s Day we also recalled meeting meets in Westcliff on Sea. Thur 7 Simon Gilbert spouses many years ago and laughed The cost of £20 pp includes refreshments Mon 11 Kards & Games Klub at the funny side of relationships and on arrival, a buffet lunch, a tour of Tue 12 CLOSED meetings which form future lives. We Westcliff, and return coach journey. Wed 13 Paul Coleman Thur 14 MOdel SEDER LUNCH celebrated member Heinz Skyte’s 91st For further details please call Susan Mon 18 Kards & Games Klub birthday too. Barbara Cammerman Harrod on 020 8385 3070. – Monday Movie Matinee Temple Fortune Argentina – Tue 19 CLOSED Wed 20 CLOSED – PESACH a place of refuge AJR GROUP CONTACTS Thur 21 Mike Marandi The Wiener Library’s Howard Falksohn Mon 25 CLOSED – EASTER MONDAY Bradford Continental Friends spoke about Argentina as a place of refuge Tue 26 CLOSED Lilly and Albert Waxman 01274 581189 for Nazis, Jews and Germans alike. He also Brighton & Hove (Sussex Region) Wed 27 ANNIE’S QUIZ Fausta Shelton 01273 734 648 mentioned that the Wiener Library would Thur 28 Michael Heaton Bristol/Bath close at the end of March and re-open in Kitty Balint-Kurti 0117 973 1150 early September at 29 Russell Square. Cambridge a fascinating talk on the history of shops Hazel Beiny 020 8385 3070 David Lang Cardiff and shopping by David Barnett. We heard Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Weald of Kent When we were a about an age before supermarkets and Cleve Road, AJR Centre nation of shopkeepers department stores and when a pineapple Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Members were taken back to a time when for a duchess cost three guineas! Dundee we were a nation of shopkeepers and Agnes Isaacs 0755 1968 593 Janet Weston East Midlands (Nottingham) Oxford Street was called Tyburn Way by Bob Norton 01159 212 494 Surrey coffee morning Edgware Norfolk (Norwich) Once again we extend our thanks to Hazel Beiny 020 8385 3077 Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Edmée for her generous hospitality, Edinburgh North London Françoise Robertson 0131 337 3406 Ruth Jacobs 020 8445 3366 which, with help from Edith, allowed us to Essex (Westcliff) Oxford continued on page 15 Larry Lisner 01702 300812 Susie Bates 01235 526 702 Glasgow Pinner (HA Postal District) Claire Singerman 0141 649 4620 Vera Gellman 020 8866 4833 Hazel Beiny, Southern Groups Co-ordinator Harrogate Radlett Inge Little 01423 886254 Esther Rinkoff 020 8385 3077 020 8385 3070 Hendon Sheffield Myrna Glass, London South and Midlands Hazel Beiny 020 8385 3070 Steve Mendelsson 0114 2630666 Groups Co-ordinator Hertfordshire South London 020 8385 3077 Hazel Beiny 020 8385 3070 Lore Robinson 020 8670 7926 Susanne Green, Northern Groups Co-ordinator HGS South West Midlands (Worcester area) 0151 291 5734 Gerda Torrence 020 8883 9425 Myrna Glass 020 8385 3070 Susan Harrod, Groups’ Administrator Hull Surrey 020 8385 3070 Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Edmée Barta 01372 727 412 Ilford Temple Fortune Agnes Isaacs, Scotland and Newcastle Meta Rosenell 020 8505 0063 Esther Rinkoff 020 8385 3077 Co-ordinator 0755 1968 593 Leeds HSFA Weald of Kent Trude Silman 0113 2251628 Janet Weston 01959 564 520 Esther Rinkoff, Southern Region Co-ordinator Liverpool Wembley 020 8385 3077 Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Laura Levy 020 8904 5527 KT-AJR (Kindertransport) Manchester Wessex (Bournemouth) Andrea Goodmaker 020 8385 3070 Werner Lachs 0161 773 4091 Mark Goldfinger 01202 552 434 Child Survivors Association–AJR Newcastle West Midlands (Birmingham) Henri Obstfeld 020 8954 5298 Walter Knoblauch 0191 2855339 Fred Austin 01384 252310

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family announcements Holiday for BOURNEMOUTH Birth Northern Members HOLIDAY Congratulations to Susie and Andrew Sunday 8 May to Sunday 26 June Kaufman on the birth of their new Sunday 15 May 2011 to Sunday 3 July 2011 grandson Benjamin Freddie. This year we are returning to the At the Inn on the Prom Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth. 11/17 South Promenade, St Annes Deaths The cost will be £500 plus Hacker (née Eick), Lilli Passed away Tel 01253 726 726 £50 single room supplement on 10 February 2011 in London following Cost, including Dinner, (sea view rooms an additional an illness. She will be very greatly missed Bed and Breakfast £10.00 per person per night). by Sam, Richard and Sarah, her much £632.50 per person Price includes transport to and from adored granddaughter Rebecca, and her For booking, please contact Bournemouth from Cleve Road, brother Heinz. Ruth Finestone a sandwich lunch on journey to Bournemouth, dinner, bed and breakfast, on direct line 020 8385 3082 Passed outing, cards and entertainment. Wolfisz (née Schwarz), Ursel or mobile 07966 886535 away on 28 January 2011 aged 85. Deeply As always, places are limited so please book early. mourned by sons Richard and Steven, daughters-in-law Pamela and Rita, Please contact Carol Rossen or Lorna Moss on 0208 385 3070 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. MODEL SEDER for a booking form. Wolfisz (née Schwarz), Ursel Passed away on 28 January 2011. Sadly missed LUNCH by sister and brother-in-law Vera and Thursday 14 April 2011 Michael Price, nieces Julia van der Wens at the and Nicole Diamond, and their families. Paul Balint AJR Centre 11.30 am for a prompt switch on 12 noon start electrics classified Rabbi Katz will be leading Rewires and all household Garden help I have a small garden the service electrical work requiring TLC, which I can no longer offer. Please book early to avoid Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead. Will suit retired disappointment PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 person. Please call 020 7435 0231 Wheelchair places are limited Mobile: 0795 614 8566

Robert Schon ‘THE JOURNEY’ A TRIP TO BETH SHALOM Home Care Tax Solicitor Sunday 12 June 2011 ColvinCare through quality and Member of Solicitors professionalism for the Elderly An opportunity to see ‘The Journey’, the latest addition Celebrating our 25th Anniversary 25 years of experience in providing the I specialise in: to the Centre highest standards of care in the comfort Estate Planning Leaving Stanmore at 8.30 am, of your own home Powers of Attorney and returning at approximately 6.00 pm Deputyship applications (Parking available at Stanmore) Living wills £25.00 per person, including travel, Tax and non domicile issues including buffet lunch, afternoon tea helping to bring undeclared offshore For further details, please contact funds to the attention of HMRC Lorna Moss or Carol Rossen 1 hour to 24 hours care Registered through the National Care Standard Commission Tel 020 7267 5010 on 020 8385 3070 Email: [email protected] Call our 24 hour tel 020 7794 9323 West Hill House, 6 Swains Lane, www.colvin-nursing.co.uk London N6 6QS PillarCare Quality support and care at home LEO BAECK HOUSING wanted to buy ASSOCIATION  Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours CLARA NEHAB HOUSE German and RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care Small caring residential home with large  Convalescent and Personal Health Care English Books attractive gardens close to local shops and public transport  Compassionate and Affordable Service Bookdealer, AJR member, 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities welcomes invitations to view  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care and purchase valuable books. Entertainment & Activities provided Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room  Registered with the CQC and UKHCA Lift access to all floors. Robert Hornung 10 Mount View, Ealing, For further information please contact: Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 The Manager, Clara Nehab House PILLARCARE London W5 1PR 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB Email: [email protected] PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 Telephone: 020 8455 2286 www.pillarcare.co.uk Tel: 020 8998 0546

14 AJR JOURNAL april 2011 Obituary

Eric Hugo Strach, 21 October 1914 – 10 January 2011

ric Strach was born in Brno, Eric wrote an article for the Liverpool Czechoslovakia, into a close-knit Progressive Synagogue’s magazine E Jewish family. He had one sister, on his experience of returning to his Ilse, 1½ years older than he. homeland. This came to the notice of Eric studied medicine at Prague the Nottingham Synagogue, which University and graduated in1938, after had been given guardianship of the which he spent the summer in France Torah scroll which originated from with friends. As the situation in Europe the synagogue in Slavkov (Austerlitz), deteriorated, his parents dissuaded him where Eric’s grandparents had lived. from returning to Czechoslovakia. He It had been one of many stolen by the tried desperately to arrange a visa for Nazis when they pillaged synagogues his sister and her children but failed. He and which were retrieved after the war. always said he thought he could have Finally, at a special Shabbat in memory done more to save them. of the victims of Slavkov, Eric carried the Answering his call-up, Eric sailed Torah his own grandfather had carried with the Czech army to Liverpool. years before. Eventually he was able to resume his children with spina bifida. Eric set about having a memorial stone medical career, becoming Senior House Eric was a keen amateur astronomer erected in the Slavkov Jewish cemetery Surgeon at Wigan Infirmary. He married and shared this interest with another and renovating the synagogue there. In Margaret Forshaw on 27 January 1945. It orthopaedic surgeon who was Egyptian. May 1998 an inaugural ceremony was is a fitting coincidence that this day has The two completely disregarded the held, attended by the Israeli ambassador since taken on a greater significance as East-West divide despite the high tension and many other dignitaries. At last Eric Holocaust Memorial Day. between Israel and Egypt at the time they had been able to pay homage to his lost After the war Eric returned to Czecho­ got to know each other. Believing that family who had been denied rites of slovakia to help with the typhus epidemic racial and cultural differences should not passage. It was a bonus to his life that in Terezin. He discovered his beloved divide human beings, they forged a long he had not anticipated. He believed that Ilse, her two children and his parents had and valuable friendship. the horrors of the Shoah should never be perished in concentration camps. Dev­ Until 1989, Eric never revisited forgotten and that Holocaust education astated, he decided to settle in England, Czechoslovakia. He was deemed to was a necessity. He was a frequent visitor where he progressed to the position of owe money for the upkeep of the to, and supporter of, the Holocaust Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at St house the Nazis, then the Communists, Centre at Beth Shalom. Helens and Whiston hospitals. He and had confiscated and could have been Eric always lived life to the full and Margaret had three children. imprisoned! Sadly, he never recovered gave back in equal measure. He is He had a strong belief in the value of ownership of the house. Once the Iron survived by his wife, three children and life, however limited by disability, and Curtain fell, he was able to return to what six grandchildren. went on to specialise in the treatment of was now the Czech Republic. Angela Strach

inside the ajr continued from page 13 continue chatting well into the afternoon. presentation on the fast-moving events groups to the Big Band sounds in the USA, Our meeting was tinged with sadness in the Middle East. David Lang something can still be heard of the haunt- as we remembered Harry Stadler, his No meeting in April due to Pesach ing original. Hanne R. Freedman passing being all the more poignant as No meeting in April due to Bank Holidays it happened just before the broadcast on Book Club: Talking about many things C5’s Holocaust Memorial Day programme Meeting at Costa, we talked about many Hendon An uplifting, special afternoon on which he appeared. June Wertheim things, though not very much about the On a dark, gloomy, wet afternoon, our book we had been asked to read. Our next spirits were lifted by the music played Brighton and Hove Sarid The meeting will be on 13 April, when we will by Jane Rosenberg. We were taken on a importance of documentation discuss the book The Hare with Amber journey from the shtetls of Poland to the Wiener Library archivist Howard Falksohn Eyes by Edmund de Waal. If you have a big bands of America in the forties and stressed the importance of collecting and free afternoon, do come and join us – you ended in Israel. With Jane’s voice singing in preserving documents pertaining to the will enjoy it! Margarete Weiss parts beautifully, we ended the afternoon Holocaust in memory of the people and doing ‘Hava Nagila’. A very uplifting events of this horrific era. Ceska Abrahams North London Simple tunes from afternoon. Hazel Beiny Next meeting: 11 (not 18) April. Mark the shtetl No meeting in April due to Pesach Perry-Nash, ‘In the Footsteps of the Jane Rosenberg gave a most interesting Legions: Exploring the Romans’ talk, illustrated with music and her beau- ALSO MEETING IN APRIL tiful voice, showing how simple tunes Cardiff 4 April. Lunch and speaker: Cleve Road Mid East update from the shtetl, mostly played on port- David Lawson, ‘The Jews of Ostrava’ Speaking to a capacity crowd, the largest able instruments like the fiddle, clarinet Bath/Bristol 7 April. Lunch and ever for our group, the Israeli Embassy’s and accordion, evolved as they travelled speaker David Barnett, ‘Jewish Trades Daniel Bacall gave us a Powerpoint west. Despite the transition from klezmer in Regency London’

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Letter from countries. Israeli Arabs have better health Israel indicators than white Americans, and far better indicators than American minorities. The incomes of Israeli Arabs are closer to those of Israeli Jews than are the incomes of African Americans to those of white Israel and the charge of ‘apartheid’ Americans. Israel provides instruction he term ‘apartheid’ is being bandied and currently 12 of the 120 Knesset in Arabic to its minority, and there is about with increasing frequency members are Arabs representing several no problem of Muslim women dressing T with regard to Israel. Arab parties. The Arab citizens of Israel according to their religious tradition. The crime of apartheid is defined by have full and equal democratic rights Compare those freedoms to the experience the 2002 Rome Statute of the International though, apart from certain groups of the Kurds in Turkey, or Muslim women Criminal Court as ‘inhumane acts of a (Beduin, Druse), they are not called in France. Israeli courts act against the character similar to other crimes against up to serve in the IDF. Israeli Arabs political activities of Arab citizens (or humanity committed in the context of have full and equal access to education Members of Knesset) only in extreme an institutionalized regime of systematic at every level. Because many Muslim cases when there are charges of incitement oppression and domination by one racial women wear a distinguishing form of to violence, or aiding the enemy against the group over any other racial group or headdress they can be easily identified background of armed conflict.’ groups and committed with the intention on university campuses, shopping malls, When it comes to Arabs living in the of maintaining that regime.’ public transport, hospitals and clinics, and areas conquered by Israel during the Six In other words, it is the systematic in any and every public place. As Arab Day War – i.e. Palestinians – the situation discrimination of one racial group by men are not immediately identifiable by is different. Initially, no restrictions were another, on the basis of a system of their dress it is not so easy to spot them placed on the movement of either Jews repressive laws. in public, but they are often to be found or Arabs and the two populations mixed Israel’s Declaration of Independence accompanying their womenfolk. Thus, freely. In Jerusalem this is still the case. states, inter alia, ‘we call upon the sons discrimination in those spheres of public However, as a result of Jewish settlement of the Arab people dwelling in Israel to life cannot be said to exist. across the Green Line and acts of terrorism keep the peace and to play their part in Never in Israel’s history have facilities on the part of Palestinian groups, the free building the State on the basis of full and been labelled ‘Jews only’ or ‘Arabs only’, as movement of population between them has equal citizenship and due representation was the case in the darkest days of South been restricted, primarily in order to prevent in all its institutions, provisional and Africa’s apartheid regime and, even until death and injury being inflicted upon permanent.’ not that long ago, in some southern states innocent civilians by would-be terrorists. This would seem to indicate that the of the USA. As far as I can understand, that does basic premise underlying Israel’s laws is As my friend and colleague Ira not constitute apartheid. But, as every that of equality and representation for the Sharkansky has pointed out, ‘Claims of politician knows, if you sling enough mud, country’s Arab citizens. discrimination against Israeli Arabs pale some of it will stick. Israel is a parliamentary democracy, in comparison to what occurs in other Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

letters to the editor continued from page 7 where I was born and bred was named she claims. He taught her to write her Jews, were the order of the day. after one of them: Königswarterstrasse, numbers neatly. He had already, as a Laura Selo, London NW11 later – after we had moved from there young man, held a job as a Hebrew teacher – to be changed to Adolf Hitler Strasse, in my mother’s school! Sir – The Jews gave the world the Ten but changed back to its original name As for Frank and Beri Harris, I too am Commandments. The Jews gave the world after the war. a recipient of his annual newsletter. He is Jesus Christ. The Jews have never been Germany’s first railway, the Ludwigsbahn a very active man despite his age and has forgiven! (not Ludwigseisenbahn as stated in the done a lot of good work. Hans Hammerschmidt, Oxford article), named after the king of Bavaria, (Mrs) Margarete Stern, London NW3 was still in service when my sister was a HUNGARIAN JEWS WHO CHANGED little girl, but had been replaced by an FIXATION WITH JEWS THE WORLD electric Strassenbahn (tram) by the time Sir – Regarding the article ‘The fixation with Sir – A propos ‘Hungarian Jews who I was born. Jews’ (March): listening to BBC Radio 4 a changed the world’ (March, Letters), it is I sometimes wonder how much Fürth few weeks ago, I heard crucifixion of Jews perhaps not generally known that they may have changed since my early childhood was established practice during the rule all came from Mars. They did not want and if I’d still find my way around. of the Greeks and Romans. In fact, further to admit this, so they called themselves Henry Kissinger’s father was my sister’s refinements in the art of this cruelty to Hungarians. maths teacher - the best she’d ever had, prolong the agony, especially reserved for Professor Ernst Sondheimer, London N6

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