VOLumeAJR JOURNAL 12 NO.4 apriapril 2012

An Oxford exhibition

n 15 January 2012, an exhibition He established himself as an internation- with whom he shared a scholarly interest on the distinguished classical ally respected authority in his field, and in Greek vases, strongly supported him. Oarchaeologist Professor Paul with single-minded devotion to his sub- As my article ‘Sebastian Flyte, meet Albert Jacobsthal, who came to Oxford University ject built up a large working archive of Einstein’ (AJR Journal, February and April in 1936 as a refugee from Hitler, opened photographs of prehistoric objects. 2004) showed, Christ Church, despite its at the gallery of Oxford’s town hall and But in 1935 Jacobsthal was dismissed association with aristocratic elites more museum, where it was shown until 10 from his post on racial grounds. He drawn to champagne than to scholarship, March. The opening ceremony was was forced to donate his photographic was among the Oxford colleges that conducted by the Lord Mayor of Oxford, collection to the university; his star welcomed refugee academics. Jacobsthal Elise Benjamin, the first Jew to hold that student, Alexander Langsdorff, joined found Oxford a congenial environment, office. The exhibition, ‘Persecution and the SS, rising to the position of cultural despite the differences in social and Survival: A Wartime Refugee’s Story’, academic culture between German and was created by Dr Sally Crawford and British universities. He and his wife were Dr Katharina Ulmschneider of the to settle in an imposing redbrick Victorian University’s Institute of Archaeology, house on Banbury Road in north Oxford, who have undertaken the challenging the type of abode favoured by so many task of cataloguing Jacobsthal’s papers Oxford dons, though the Jacobsthals and researching his life and work in occupied only one floor, renting out the Oxford. other two as separate flats. Jacobsthal Paul Ferdinand Jacobsthal exemplified refused to return to Marburg, took British the outstanding contribution that the citizenship and stayed in Oxford, dying Jewish refugees from Hitler made to there in 1957. British intellectual and cultural life. But before that, in July 1940, he Born in Berlin in 1880, he was one of was abruptly arrested and interned; as the many prominent Jewish scholars an ‘enemy alien’, he fell victim to the and intellectuals to emerge from the government’s ill-considered measure of matrix of assimilated, emancipated detaining all German nationals on security middle-class German Jewry. His mother, grounds during the panic that followed Ida Rosenstern, came from a Hamburg Paul Jacobsthal at his desk in Oxford the fall of France and the Low Countries. merchant family, his father was a doctor, His internment diary starkly conveys that and his younger brother Ernst became attaché in London under ambassador moment: ‘On Friday July 5th 1940 in the a professor of mathematics. The family Joachim von Ribbentrop, later executed morning when I was peacefully writing on was well integrated into German society: at Nuremberg. (The exhibition contains Celtic Geometric Ornament a knock came Jacobsthal was baptised a Protestant. a chilling image of Langsdorff lecturing at my door in Christ Church and a plain After studying at Berlin (where his on archaeological objects in SS uniform.) clothes Police Officer entered producing teachers included the legendary classi- With the assistance of the Society for a warrant of arrest.’ cist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf), the Protection of Science and Learning, Jacobsthal was held first at a disused Göttingen and Bonn, he held positions at founded in 1933 by William Beveridge and cotton mill, Warth Mill in Bury, Lancashire, Göttingen and Marburg, where he was Leo Szilard as the Academic Assistance before being transferred to Hutchinson appointed Professor of Classical Archae- Council to find posts for academics Camp on the Isle of Man, where he formed ology in 1912. At Marburg he established dismissed or discriminated against by part of the galaxy of scholarly talent the first Chair in Prehistory in Germany, the Nazis, Jacobsthal and his wife came that was such a feature of the wartime a pioneering step in the discipline of ar- to Oxford, where he was appointed internment of ‘aliens’. He was released in chaeology, and oversaw the erection of a Lecturer at Christ Church in 1936. He November 1940. new building, the Jubiläumsbau, to house subsequently became University Reader Back in Oxford, Jacobsthal devoted the Archaeology Department. Jacobsthal of Celtic Archaeology. himself to rewriting in English his magnum had a special interest in Celtic art and Jacobsthal was fortunate: he had opus Early Celtic Art, the German version culture, which took him back beyond the already spent a period as Visiting of which he had been unable to publish classical era of the Greeks and Romans Professor at Christ Church, and the under the Nazis. Published by Oxford into the realm of prehistoric archaeology. eminent archaeologist Sir John Beazley, continued overleaf

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An Oxford exhibition cont. from p1 dabbler in mysticism and the occult, controlled the Ahnenerbe from 1936. Yom HaShoah 2012 University Press in 1944, it remains, as Like Arthur Rosenberg’s Amt Rosenberg, n Wednesday 18 April, between Crawford and Ulmschneider state, ‘the the Ahnenerbe misused archaeology 8-10 pm, Holocaust survivors first port of call for anyone who wants and the excavation of materials from OZdenka Fantlova and Victor to learn about ancient Celtic art and archaeological sites to justify the conquest Greenberg will be the guest speakers ornament’, its two magisterial volumes of neighbouring European lands and to at the annual Pinner Synagogue representing ‘a tremendous and lasting support the Nazi view of Germans as the event. The UK Envoy for Post-Holocaust achievement of scholarship’. It was also motor force behind European civilisation, Issues, Sir Andrew Burns, will also give an address. a key contribution to a highly political invoking theories of cultural diffusion On the day of Yom HaShoah itself, debate, pitting the traditional scholarship that saw ideas and influences as passing Thursday 19 April, a brief ceremony of the liberal West against the debased, from more advanced, ‘creative’ peoples will take place at the AJR Paul Balint ideologically contaminated pseudo- to the less advanced. As a result of the Centre at Belsize Square Synagogue scholarship of the Nazis. propaganda value of archaeology to the at 12 noon. If you would like to stay The Celts had assumed a significant Nazis, prehistory, which had had only for lunch (£7 pp), please call 020 7431 role in the Nazi view of history, which one university chair in Germany in 1933 2744. was largely devoted to giving scientific (Jacobsthal’s at Marburg), boasted no Members are also invited to attend underpinning to the myth of the superiority fewer than nine by 1935. the annual national Yom HaShaoh of the Germanic master race. That alleged Oxford benefited greatly from the commemoration, which will take place superiority extended to the realm of exodus of classical scholars from Nazi on Sunday 22 April at the national memorial to the Holocaust at The Dell culture, where the Nazis were eager to Germany, like Felix Jacoby at Christ in Hyde Park, London. Depending on trace the origins of European civilisation, Church or the towering figure of Eduard demand, transport for members living in manifestations ranging from language Fraenkel at Corpus Christi College. in London will be provided. to ancient artefacts, to Germanic origins. Their heritage, unlike that of their Nazi The above event, organised by the The Nazis allocated the Celts, who lived rivals, lived on beyond them, among Forum for Yom HaShoah in conjunction across much of Europe from about the the younger generation of refugees with the Board of Deputies, will begin fifth century BCE, to the broader category as well as among the British. One at 11 am. There will be seating (and of the ‘Indo-Germanic’ (Indo-European) of Jacobsthal’s students was Brian a canopy) for 500 guests for the peoples, who had supposedly originated Shefton (Bruno Benjamin Scheftelowitz), service, which will last approximately in Central Europe and spread their culture who was born in Cologne in 1919, 90 minutes. Leading members of the outwards from its Germanic cradle across came to Britain in 1933, and studied Jewish community will address guests and give readings and Kaddish will the European land mass. at Oxford. Shefton became a highly be recited. To reserve your space and Jacobsthal’s book ran flatly counter acclaimed Professor of Archaeology for further details about the event to these theories of an ‘Aryan’ national at the University of Newcastle, where and Yom HaShaoh UK, of which the prehistory, since it proved that the Celts, he achieved widespread celebrity in AJR is a prominent member, please far from being the originators of proto- 2004 for reuniting the two halves of visit http://www.yomhashoah.org.uk/ Germanic culture, owed much to the the head of a terracotta lion, dating showevent/51 Greeks in their artistic development. from about 500 BCE, which had been We are very grateful to Robert Brody, In any case, Jacobsthal had no time separated for most of their existence. Michael Shocket and Dudley Cohen for for the projection of national divisions The reunited head, which would have arranging a performance of Renya: back into prehistory, where they were decorated a Greek temple, went on show The Cobbler’s Daughter, which will in reality unknown. In advancing such at the University’s Shefton Museum of be presented by the Lorenz Ensemble at 7:30 pm on Sunday 22 April at Kenton arguments, Jacobsthal was crossing the Greek Art and Archaeology (now part Synagogue. Tickets are available at £10 most dangerous of enemies, including of the Great North Museum), named each – please call 020 8907 8159. The the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler, after its founder. Shefton, who died in proceeds go to the AJR. who in 1939 assumed the office of January 2012 aged 92, represented a high Reichskommissar für die Festigung tradition of classical scholarship, whose des deutschen Volkstums (Reich lineage can be traced via Jacobsthal back to Wilamowitz himself. Commissioner for the Consolidation Another refugee who distinguished of Ethnic Germanness, to attempt a himself as a classicist was Thomas Braun AJR Directors translation), which aimed to implement a Michael Newman of Merton College, Oxford, who was born programme for the reordering of Eastern Carol Rossen in Berlin in 1935, came to Britain as a Europe on racial lines, with cataclysmic David Kaye small child, and studied with distinction consequences for its ‘unGermanic’ AJR Heads of Department at Balliol College, Oxford. When Braun Sue Kurlander Social Services inhabitants. was killed in a car accident in 2008, aged AJR Journal To provide intellectual support for Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor 73, his obituary recorded his prodigious his endeavours, Himmler could call on Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor knowledge of Herodotus and the frag- Andrea Goodmaker Secretarial/Advertisements the Ahnenerbe, originally Deutsches ments of Greek historians to be found in Ahnenerbe (German Ancestry), an Felix Jacoby’s Fragmente der griechischen organisation inspired by the notion of Historiker. Evidently, Britain has proved an ethnocentric German prehistory Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not fertile ground for the scholarship evicted that would prove the superiority of the necessarily those of the Association of Jewish from Germany after 1933. Refugees and should not be regarded as such. Germanic race. Himmler, an obsessive Anthony Grenville

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German honour for former ’Kind’ n January 17 this year Dr Inge come to terms with their past, to recon- Lammel received the Bundes- nect with the new Germany and, in some NEWTONS OVerdienst-Kreuz at a festive cases, to regain their mother tongue. ceremony in the Betsaal of the former Inge Lammel came to England in 1939 SOLICITORS Jewish Boys’ Orphanage in Pankow-Berlin. on a Kindertransport and returned to This honour is bestowed by the German the DDR after the war, wishing to help Our experienced team government for rebuild a democratic will give you expert outstanding services Germany. She has since and personal advice to the community and lived in Pankow-Berlin. is always conferred by The award ceremony, 22 Fitzjohn’s Avenue the local mayor. which began with a London NW3 5NB Inge Lammel was film montage of the Tel: 020 7435 5351 honoured for the stal- first reunion in 2001 Fax: 020 7435 8881 wart work she has and was punctuated [email protected] carried out for many by a young cellist years researching and playing a Bach sonata, writing about the ­local was introduced by pre-war ­Jewish commu- Pankow Mayor Matthias Koehne pins Professor Albrecht, nity – she has published Bundes-Verdienst-Kreuz to dress of Dr the Director of the several books – and Inge Lammel Cajewitz Stiftung. spring grove for launching some Mayor Matthias Koehne RETIREMENT HOME 12 years ago the Verein der Freunde und spoke poignantly of Inge Lammel’s Förderer des ehemaligen Jüdisches Waisen- achievements before pinning the Kreuz 214 Finchley Road haus, Pankow. This association, which is on her dress and Leslie Baruch Brent London NW3 run by a committee of Jews and non-Jews, spoke on behalf of the former surviving London’s Most Luxurious has traced and remained in touch with pupils. men who lived in the orphanage before The occasion was enriched by remem-  Entertainment  Activities the war. Since 2001 the association, with brance of Christa Wolf, the celebrated East  Stress Free Living the help of the Cajewitz Stiftung, has German writer who died a few months  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine ­organised many reunions of former pupils ago and was a staunch supporter of the  Full En-Suite Facilities and their partners. These reunions have association from its inception. Call for more information or a personal tour done much to enable the former pupils to Leslie Baruch Brent 020 8446 2117 or 020 7794 4455 ‘Kinder’ from Innsbruck honoured at London ceremony [email protected] Three women who fled to the UK, HE Emil Brix, the from Nazi-occupied City of Innsbruck awarded Austria as children each of them its Cross of have been honoured by the Order of Merit. Innsbruck City Council. Innsbruck City Coun- Vera Adams, Vera cillor Gerti Mayr, who JACKMAN . Graubart and Dorli Neale, presented the awards, an AJR member, came to said: ‘Past injustice must SILVERMAN the UK by Kindertransport be faced head-on. There COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS over 70 years ago. can be no place in our In February, at a cere­ Seated from left: Vera Adams, Dorli global society for hate, mony at the Residence of Neale, Vera Graubart; standing: Gerti discrimination and perse- the Austrian Ambassador­ Mayr PHOTO: AUSTRIAN EMBASSY LONDON cution.’

Six Point Foundation: A new grant-giving charitable foundation Telephone: 020 7209 5532 ix Point Foundation was launched in ­savings to rely on. [email protected] early February this year to provide Six Point Foundation will have an agree- Sfinancial assistance to low-income Jewish ment in place with the AJR. If you already Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from receive financial assistance via one of the Nazism living in the UK. It was established to programmes supported by the Claims Confer- distribute funds raised from the disposal of ence, you should apply to the AJR for funding land and property assets owned by the Otto in the first instance. If your Claims Conference switch on electrics Schiff Housing Association in north London funds have reached the annual maximum Rewires and all household and will have a limited life span, remaining grant limits, Six Point Foundation could pro- electrical work operational for five-seven years or until all the vide funding. In these instances, your original PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 funds have been distributed. application to the AJR can be used. Mobile: 0795 614 8566 The Foundation will make small grants for If you believe that you may be eligible for specific purposes. These typically will be one-off funding, please visit www.sixpointfoundation. contributions and could include, for example, org.uk, where you or a member of your family medical costs such as dental care, travel costs, can download an application form to apply for Annely Juda specialist equipment such as beds and stair grant funding, or telephone 020 3372 8881. lifts, white goods such as fridges and washing Charitable organisations are also eligible Fine Art to apply for grants to fund specific projects, machines, heating costs or repairs to essential­ 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) household appliances.­ It is ­believed that these which can be an extension of an existing Tel: 020 7629 7578 one-off grants will make a substantial differ- project or a new proposal that will ultimately Fax: 020 7491 2139 ence to the recipients’ lives, particularly because benefit those for whom the Foundation was beneficiaries will be from households existing established. CONTEMPORARY PAINTING on minimal income and having few if any Susan Grant AND SCULPTURE

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Latvia: A personal march through history

Riga, 8 September 1940 soldier’. A soldier? Yes, a soldier who have a moment of revelation and that Dear Mum fought for his country, no doubt proudly, the stones will suddenly speak to me I’ve just found out that it’s possible and married Minna – Minna Bernstein and help me understand why. Why a to write letters to England from – and they had eight children and lived 19-year-old young man who was born here. As I haven’t heard from you by the sea in Libau and ran a furniture in Halle an der Saale, Germany, on 20 in such a long time, I’m writing this letter to you by airmail and hoping shop and worked hard and traded January 1922, one year before my father, for an answer by return of post. as commercial merchants and hoped a young man whose father David, a You might wonder why you’re their business would do well enough self-made man, a hard-working man, hearing from me from Riga. I’ve for their children to be educated. And an engineer who was born in Libau in been living here for two or three they helped my grandfather David go to Latvia on 29 November 1875, whose months now. My exact address is: Dresden University to study engineering. factory in Berlin was taken away from Paul Loewenberg (Kahns), Riga, Their eldest twin boys, Moishe and him in 1935 and had to put his sons Latvia, USSR, Marijas iela 33, Flat 10. Abraham, born shortly after they in an orphanage, who in early 1941 arijas iela 33, Flat 10. Do you married in 1867, left Latvia too. Moishe left his last address in Berlin, Altonaer ‘ know where it is, Aleksandrs? went to Paris and Abraham to Tehran. Strasse 16, to head a tool factory in MIs it this street?’ I point to Moscow and disappeared; whose Marijas iela on the free town map I was mother Marianne, an opera singer and given in my hotel. ‘No, the streets are violinist born in Leipzig in 1893 who, different from what they were before,‘ with the help of the Hinrichsens of the Aleksandrs replies, ‘It’s not far now.’ music publishing company CF Peters, Dutifully I follow him as the Baltic wind managed to get to England in April 1939 kicks leaves around our feet. but never sang again ... I can still see the fish market and the Why was he taken from his lodgings in golden sprats flapping their fins and Marijas iela to a ghetto? Who would do crying for the sea; the oldest wooden such a thing to a young man – still really house in town, standing defiantly a boy – homesick, lonely and scared? in the midst of a busy street and Who would do this? When they came dwarfed by Stalinesque administrative for him on 4 October 1941 at Flat 10 at buildings; the regal white opera house Marijas iela 33, when they knocked on and the less regal production of Don the door, what did Frau Kahns say? Did Giovanni with singers flirting in bikinis; her heart stop still as they knocked on the state archive with its classroom the door and Paul was told to leave the Paul Theodor Loewenberg, born 20 January seating which introduced me to my 1922 building with them? Did he put his beret Latvian family over the last few days; to one side as my father remembers him the amber sellers; the flower sellers; Their daughter, Tante Gertrud, married a always doing? Was he wearing thick the burlesque night clubs; the pastel- German lawyer by the name of Schindler socks, did he take anything with him coloured buildings; the cobbled streets; and lived in Switzerland. But their other or did he have to leave everything he the town hall and its impressive spire children, Joseph and his three other owned behind, in his small bedroom in with a view of the River Daugava and sisters, Zlato, Rivka and Judith, and his Flat 10, Marijas iela 33? Did he put on the House of the Blackheads (a group aunts, the Lazzers sisters Miriam and a brave face but secretly yearn to have of unmarried merchants). And then Deborah, stayed in Libau and lived in his mother wrap her arms around him? I think back to my discoveries in the Libau and had children in Libau and lived Who would do this to a boy? Did the men Latvian State Archives in Slokas Street by the sea and played in the dunes and who came for him speak in German or the day before: the names of my Latvian kicked the sand. Latvian? Even though my grandfather family. They are names in black ink Did Roland, the legendary knight, was Latvian, Paul and my father were on time-stained pages, in Russian, in patron of merchants and protector born in Germany: Paul wouldn’t have black, leather-bound books. I have ten of peace and merchants’ rights, who understood them if they had spoken piled up in front of me and a piece of proudly surveys all who pass him in St to him in Latvian. When they saw him, paper the archivist has kindly given me Peter’s Church, protect them? didn’t they see he was just like one of with the Russian spelling of the name I’m tired. My feet hurt but we can’t their sons, one of their nephews, one of Levenbergs. stop – it’s way past lunch time and most their cousins? Did he look so strange, so I search the names and scrutinise of the restaurants and cafés are no alien, so dangerous that they needed to every sweep of a pen. Over three days I longer serving latkes with sour cream. come for him and take him to a ghetto? find them. They come alive and wave to A hot coffee would be welcome to fight Did he perhaps tilt his eye in such a me from the pages. They open a window off the cold and I’m grateful I have two way that said sub-human or dangerous into a patriarchal world that nurtured pairs of thick socks on but we can’t Communist sympathiser? traditional roles, dates telling me when stop. Before I fly back to London tonight ‘This is Lacplesa Street,’ Aleksandrs they were born and married but not I have got to see the place where my calls out. Paul lived here too. ‘Yes, it was where they died ... ‘Your grandfather’s uncle lived before he was sent to the part of the ghetto.’ It’s a long street. father was called Lazzers Levenbergs. Riga ghetto. I’m hoping as I walk down We walk along it with traffic rushing He was an omem,’ the archivist says, ‘a the cobbled streets of old Riga that I’ll past. Maskavas Street, Vitebskas Street,

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Ebreju Street, Lauvas Street, Liela Kalna man. ‘He looks as if he’s laughing.’ ‘Yes.’ the same year, the Jewish community Street, Lazdonas Street, Kijevas Street, He’s not a German soldier. He looks drew attention to an increase in anti- Jekabpils Street, Lacplesa Street – the like an ordinary man, a man who buys Semitic attacks. In Riga on 16 March original boundaries of the Riga ghetto, furniture and sits and sleeps on it. 2011, at the heart of NATO and in an officially announced on 23 August 1941. ‘Here, this is Marijas iela 33.’ EU country, over 2,500 people paid On 25 October 1941 its gates were Aleksandrs points to a beautiful Art tribute to Latvians who fought on locked and 29,602 Jews were driven Deco building in a street that was once the side of Nazi Germany in Waffen together under strict custody behind a thriving hub for tailors. The street is SS detachments during the Second barbed wire in an area where about now called Aleksandra Caka iela. I would World War. Approximately 62,000 13,000 people had lived before. Among never have found it. Inside, a sweeping Jews, or 90 per cent of Latvia’s pre- them 5,652 children, 8,300 invalids, banister dominates the landing and on war Jewish population, were killed in 9,507 women, 6,143 men and my uncle. the wall is a list of businesses located in 1941-42 by German SS and Latvian ‘What day is it today?’, I ask Aleksandrs. the building. A company called Manol Arajs commandos, many of whom ‘Wednesday 26 October 2011.’ When is working in Flat 10 now. The walls later joined the 15th and 19th Divisions did the archivist solemnly hand me a around its office are neon yellow. We of the German SS. The brutal murder small rectangular book with Paul’s name knock on the door. There’s no one in of Latvian Jews was one of the worst in it, the black book that neatly listed but somewhere behind that yellow door atrocities of the Holocaust, yet the his address, Mariajas iela 33, his date Paul wrote the last words his mother Museum of the Occupation in Riga of birth and the word ‘geto’ beneath ever received from him: devotes only a couple of stands to their the date 4 October 1941? Yesterday, Please use the address soon – I’m deaths. 25 October 2011. Time stands still and waiting eagerly for an answer from On 20 January 2012, on my Uncle I freeze. you! I’m alright here. I’m working Paul’s birthday and 70 years to the ‘How many people were killed?’, I and earning a living. I’m expecting day after the Wannsee Conference, ask Aleksandrs.’ Paul was a workman, Dad to arrive soon. It’s my only I launched the petition ‘Stop the 16 comfort that Dad’s coming because he was 19, he was young, he might March marches in Riga and Latvians I won’t be so lonely any more. I’m have survived. Did he survive? Do you always thinking of you, dear Mum! revising history!’ (http://epetitions. think he survived?’ ‘Perhaps, I don’t How are you? I hope the address at direct.gov.uk/petitions/27795). In a little know.’ Dr Whelen at Horton hospital is still under two weeks the petition gathered Between 29 November and 8 Dec­ the right one. In case it’s not, I’m worldwide attention and over 900 em­ber 1941 the great ghetto was sending the letter to this address signatures. annihilated. Some 25,000 of its inhab- too. I beg you once again to answer If you too wish to research your itants were taken to Rumbula to the as soon as possible, by airmail! I’m Latvian families’ roots, information woods a few kilometres out of Riga. longing for an answer from you. is available from the Latvian State How is Ernst? Best wishes to him Over 1,000 Latvian Arajs commandos and tell him he’ll hear from me Historical Archives, Slokas Street 16, robbed them, went with them, guarded soon. Dear Mum, I’m so happy I can Riga LV-1048 Latvia; email Lasitava@ them before SS soldiers shot them and write to you at last. I’m very worried lvva.gov.lv; www.lvva-raduraksti.lv; and packed them in pits like sardines. because of the long separation. Can Aleksandrs Feigmanis at http://www. ‘This is the first Jewish secular school, I even hope to see you again? How balticgen.com/ Lacplesa Street 141, run by Rabbi Dr happy I would be if I could be with Monica Lowenberg Max Lilienthal. A German translation of you. In my thoughts I’m always the Torah made by the famous Jewish with you, dear Mum. When I get a reply from you I’ll give you more philosopher Moses Mendelssohn was details about me. Until then, this Mock Seder one of the main teaching aids used short greeting. All my love, your at this school. Up to the Holocaust, loving son, who is always thinking Lunch Riga was a thriving hub for artists and of you! Paul.’ musicians: the composer Oscar Strok, Tuesday 3 April 2012 ‘Who is always thinking of you!’ the violinist Sarah Rashin, even Wagner at the AJR Centre, These words rush through my mind. I worked here. Only one in ten Latvians Belsize Square Synagogue can’t let them go and I think of a photo survived – only one. This is a photo of a friend of mine sent me of a plaque the famous historian Professor Simon 11.30 am for a prompt inside the oldest ghetto in the world, Dubnow, whose last words in the ghetto 12 noon start the one in Venice. It was created in were ‘Write, Jews, write!’ 1516 and is the very place where the Rabbi Stuart Altshuler will be Aranka, David, Israel, Jossel, Mark, word ghetto originates. The plaque leading the service. Mordechay, Rebecka, Rivka, Fanny, reads ‘Perche le nostre memorie sono la Jenny, Lilia, Minna , Rafael, Rosa, Rachel, We are kosher for Pesach vostra unica tomba’ (For our memories Wiliam, Abram, Selig, Scheine, Sore, are your only graves). Did we see a Please book early Rosa, Paul. Albert, Benjamin, Eugenia, plaque in the former Riga ghetto? I to avoid disappointment Haim, Judith, Lia, Minna, Paul. Their don’t recall. Cost £7* names and plaques in the ghetto Tel 020 7431 2744 museum flash past me – all Lewenbergs,    all taken to the ghetto. I stare at them *An anonymous donor has kindly and they look back at me in black I visited Riga for the first time in made a sum of money available straight suits made of capital letters. October 2011, 70 years after the to the AJR so that we can offer Look at this photo. It’s the burning of formation of the Riga ghetto and when members outings and special events the synagogue: 300 people, 300 Jews Latvia officially commemorated 450 at a reduced price. were burnt alive in there. Look at this years of Jewish life in the country. In

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been settled. However, in early February I found to my horror that a sizeable amount of income tax had been deducted from my January pension. Since I saw no LETTERS chance of meeting the pension people’s deadline, I was convinced they would tax TO THE me retroactively from 1 January 2011, as they had threatened. EDITOR I am truly grateful to the AJR and the Austrian Embassy for all their efforts on our behalf. However, for me, the true heroine of this piece is a second- generation friend of mine who wishes SECOND GENERATION ‘OUTSIDERS’ (I’m assuming Shefer-Vanson is a Brit or to remain anonymous. Distressed by my Sir – Merilyn Moos writes a very emotional ex-Brit) and American Jews, or at least distress, after several failed attempts to article, ‘Tunnels of the past: Perceptions of most of those with whom I associate. My bring about a change of heart at the second generation “outsiders”’, in your combined sensibility as both intensely Pensionsversicherungsanstalt, she emailed March issue. However, as a member of that Jewish and aware of having been born in (at the suggestion of a mutual Viennese somewhat ill-defined second generation, Germany gives me not the slightest sense friend) Barbara Prammer, the President of I felt bewildered by some of the points of ‘otherness’ as an American; indeed, the Nationalrat, on 6 February. The reply raised. it emphasises how very American I am. came on 9 February. Apparently it was all She writes that ‘So many of us, the Perhaps that’s the unique and precious a mistake: the letter was never meant for children of the refugees from Nazism, feel quality of my adopted country (who victims of Nazi persecution; we would get overwhelmed by our parents’ experiences.’ adopted whom is difficult to ascertain). our money back plus sincere apologies. By Her conclusions are apparently based on Extending this metaphorically to Israel now, I have had both. interviewing 12 people who had refugee – judging Israel by ‘different standards’ Edith Argy, London W9 parents. I am not a statistician but I am – is a bit problematic, especially for a sure that with very little trouble I could people admonished to be ‘a light unto refugees in south wales find 12 left-handed people who like the nations’. Can’t have it both ways, alas. Sir – After I read about the exhibition on chicken soup. This proves neither that all Tom L. Freudenheim, New York, USA Jewish refugees in South Wales in the left-handed people like chicken soup nor latest issue of the Journal, I felt I must that chicken soup is liked only by people Sir – I was delighted to read Dorothea mention that my father (Sigmund K. Kohn- who are left-handed. To extrapolate from Shefer-Vanson’s perceptive review of stamm) built the first factory on the Trefor- a sample of 12 interviewees seems a little Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question est Trading Estate. It was a large Chrome strange – possibly even pointless. and her unhesitating appreciation of the Leather Factory. My father was trained in Apparently Ms Moos also ‘discovered author’s message of the Jew as perennial London at the leather works by cousins of that the second generation had never outsider – wherever he happens to be, he my grandfather (Karl Kohnstamm). He got been systematically studied in the UK.’ But is not at home. to London in 1935 and we joined him in the search term ‘UK second generation It is a seriously funny novel – but not May 1937. We straightaway moved into a Jewish refugees’, when input to Google Booker material, which demands a certain large house in Penarth, where my parents Scholar, generated over 16,000 results. universality. It is a niche book, as shown established the top floor as a flat. Every Surely some of this research must be by its relatively modest sales (by Booker three or four days a new family came and applicable or able to be extrapolated to standards), just as The Artist is not really my mother found them premises either in the UK environment! Oscar material but a niche film (at least Cardiff or nearby. We children were sent Although I accept that ‘second gen- three of the also-rans grossed more in the to a boarding school in the same road for eration’ refugees can suffer from the first week of their release than The Artist the rest of the summer term. A student ­emotional traumas described in the article, I will gross over its lifetime). came during the holidays and taught us am also concerned that sometimes it is too For an ever better take on the Jewish more English so that we were able to start easy to suggest an apparent cause. When predicament, I recommend The Yiddish in September in our age groups. I was younger I occasionally suffered from Policemen’s Union by Pulitzer Prize- While negotiating for the Chrome slight bouts of dandruff – it seemed naive winner Michael Chabon (published by Leather Works, my father became close to blame Hitler for this mild affliction and Harper Collins in 2007 and available from friends with the chief of police and he an insult to those who suffered directly at Amazon). Don’t be put off by the title: it helped all the people to get factories built the hands of the Nazis and their supporters. is a brilliant dystopian novel based on the etc etc. Arthur Oppenheimer, Hove, Sussex premise of the Jews having been denied When war broke out, we had to their state in Palestine in 1948 and being leave Penarth and, thanks to the police THE JEWISH PREDICAMENT given a barren strip of land in Alaska chief, a bus load of refugees went to Sir – I remain an avid fan of the AJR Journal instead. Hilarious and heartbreaking in Abergavenny! and am always amazed at how interesting turn, it also illustrates the vigour and The army took over the factory during you keep making it – most notably the impact of the American novel compared the war in 1943 and we moved to London. uniquely insightful Grenville essays. to its anaemic English shadow. My eldest sister joined the Army; I started However, I do want to comment on It may be significant that many of the a job at Sun Life to become an actuary, but the ‘Letter from Israel’ Dorothea Shefer- big beasts of contemporary American lit- was told after two years of exams that they Vanson recently wrote regarding Howard erature – Bellow, Mailer, Roth, Heller – are did not want to have women!!! My father Jacobson’s (in my opinion highly overrated) Jews, whereas there is today no signifi- started a clothing business …. novel The Finkler Question. She suggests cantly Jewish component of English fiction. Anne Marx (née Kohnstamm), that Jacobson ‘seems to be seeking to Victor Ross, London NW8 London N2 underline that sense of “otherness” that a Jew cannot avoid feeling, no matter where A TRUE HEROINE CLAIMING BENEFITS he or she happens to be living.’ Sir – At the time I wrote my letter ‘Has Sir – My mother, Ruth Motz, has been an For me, that comment really underlines Austria really changed?’, I fully believed AJR member for decades. She and my late the differences between Jews in the UK the matter of my Austrian pension had father, Robert (died May 2006), were for

6 AJR JOURNAL april 2012 many years in the photos used for AJR of the first vicar of the parish, who was assure him that the article was otherwise publicity. installed in 1871. It seems Florence’s accurate. Shortly after my father’s death I spotted intention had been that further entries Dr Susan Cohen, London NW11 an article in the AJR Journal pointing out would be added over the years and the that Attendance Allowance was not means book kept in the vestry safe. Regrettably, CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE tested. I applied for Attendance Allowance additional entries seem to have ceased Sir – I am almost beginning to think on her behalf, which was then awarded. in the 1950s and the journal is now in there is a conspiracy of silence about the I would like to say a belated thank you the Rowledge archive boxes at the Surrey Kitchener Camp. There was an excellent for that article, which has resulted in her History Centre. programme about it in January on the BBC getting several thousand pounds. Among many other aspects of village South East series ‘Inside Out’. No mention Since then I discovered that somebody life, Florence Parker gives a brief history in the AJR Journal. Most people know with mental health needs such as dementia and description of all the larger houses about the Kindertransport but very few can be exempt from Council Tax provided in the village, including Rowledge House. are aware of the Kitchener Camp, which they are also receiving Attendance Her original entry for Rowledge House saved the lives of thousands of people. It Allowance. This can be backdated and, as had the following information added to almost certainly saved my life and that of a result, she received a Council Tax refund it in another hand, presumably that of a my parents. of about £10,000. subsequent vicar or church warden: ‘Mr Stella Curzon, Ruislip, Middx I recently wrote an article about Schofield sold the house in 1942 to a benefits for our synagogue (North West Farnham Syndicate who let it to a Jewish CONTACTING ‘KINDER’ IN FLORIDA Surrey) newsletter. This has already Hostels Association for 32 evacuated Jew Sir – I am an avid reader of your journal resulted in another member putting in [sic] children.’ and was at the Kindertransport meet in a Council Tax refund for thousands of I’ve searched Google without much London some years ago. I came over on a pounds for a 98-year-old AJR member success other than a reference in the AJR Kindertransport in May 1939 and lived in with dementia for whom he is responsible. Information newsletter of February 1946, England and Scotland during the war. In Most other benefits are means tested which gives some addresses for ‘AJR in the 1950 I left for the US and soon was drafted and many people are put off by the Provinces’, including ‘Farnham. Sur. Dr. E. into the army during the Korean War. Later complexity involved. For example, about Dannenberg, Mount Dannen, Rowledge, I went to Mexico and, after graduation, 4 million people of retirement age are near Farnham’. spent many years in Latin America. entitled to Pension Credit yet about 1 Mount Dannen must be a play on Dr Recently we moved from Venezuela to in 3 are not claiming it. People of any Dannenberg’s surname, but I wonder the Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach area age may be entitled to Housing Benefit, whether it was a name he gave to in Florida. My reason for writing is to ask Council Tax Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Rowledge House while the 32 evacuated you to publish this note to find out if other Job Seekers Allowance …. The list goes on. children lived there. ‘Kinder’ live in this area so as to contact The complexity should not deter anybody An interesting additional question them. Gracias! who may need this: they can easily get remains whether the children were indeed Henry Herner, Pompano Beach, help. The starting point is the website evacuees or refugees. Florida, USA adviceguide.org.uk or any Citizen’s Advice I’d be grateful for any further infor- Bureau office. mation readers can provide about this HEART-BREAKING NEWS Martin Motz, London SW13 ­fascinating and important part of our Sir – I was interested in the review For full details of qualifying conditions, village’s history. Once I know more about (February) ‘Exploding a myth’ of a please contact Linda Kasmir, AJR Social it all, I would love to erect a plaque on book about Jewish soldiers fighting for Care Worker/Welfare Rights Adviser, on the end of the house (the old west wing), Germany during the First World War. 020 8385 3086 (Ed.). especially as this year will be the 70th anni- I remember that after 1933 the Jewish versary of the children’s arrival in Rowledge. Kulturbund Orchestra was founded, with JEWISH EVACUEES/REFUGEES IN Mark Westcott, Architect and Landscape branches in Berlin and Frankfurt. In Frank- ROWLEDGE, FARNHAM, 1942 Architect, Rowledge, Farnham furt William Steinberg, who had been head Sir – I grew up in the large family house, of the opera there, was its first conductor originally known as Rowledge House, GLOUCESTER ASSOCIATION FOR (he made later quite a career for himself which, I have only just learned, provided AIDING REFUGEES in the US). This orchestra travelled around accommodation to 32 evacuated Jewish Sir – I was pleased to read Nicholas Germany and in late 1934 came to Düssel- children during the war following its sale Burkitt’s overview of the Gloucester dorf. There they played a heiteres Konzert by a Mr Schofield to a Farnham syndicate. Association for Aiding Refugees (GAAR), (a concert of cheerful music) for the lo- The syndicate let it to the Jewish Hostels an archive I have used extensively in my cal Jüdische Frontkämpferbund (Jewish Association. research on refugee committees operating veterans’ society). I always thought this a I understand that a number of the in Britain before and during the Second heart-breaking piece of news. children who lived here attended the local World War. But what surprised me was Elisabeth Reinhuber-Adorno, primary school just across the road to his inaccuracy regarding the inception Frankfurt/Main which I too went in the 1950s. of the committee. It was the impetus Previously, I knew nothing of this from the local branch of the National THE STORY OF THE COLOGNE JAWNE fascinating aspect of the village or of the Council of Women (NCW) that lead to Sir – I was born in a village in North West house’s history even though I grew up here. the setting up of GAAR and it was their Rheinland not far from Düsseldorf. I came We moved into this house in 1956 members who formed the nucleus of to England on the Kindertransport in 1939 and I now live in the old stables (the the committee. Indeed, the NCW were and have been back to my birthplace single-storey wing and buildings beyond) responsible for a vast amount of refugee several times. During these visits my wife and work from a studio in the vegetable work in London and around the country. I and I made a number of friends. These garden. would be interested to know which other friends have been active in keeping alive Weeks ago I was carrying out research local initiatives, if any, feature in his thesis, the memory of the Jewish people from at the Surrey History Centre in Woking which I have been unable to access. the area who perished in the Holocaust. in connection with the origins of the On another note, I thank Professor I recently received from one of these village when I came across an extremely Wigan in Melbourne for pointing out my friends a brochure on an exhibition in Co- interesting hand-written journal started error in referring to Margaret Layton as logne entitled Die Kinder auf dem Schulhof in 1923 by Florence Parker, the daughter ‘sister’ and not ‘eldest daughter’ and can continued on page 16

7 AJR JOURNAL april 2012

often includes his personal symbolism – the bull in the field. Even in Guernica, his most powerful protest against the REVIEWs Nazi bombing of the Basque town of that A rt name, too delicate now to be moved and Making new lives presented here in a full-size black-and- ZWEI WEGE EIN ZIEL: white sketch, you can see that raging bull ZWEI FRAUENSCHICKSALE Notes ZWISCHEN WIEN UND JERUSALEM of his matador sexuality. Gloria Tessler (TWO PATHS, ONE OBJECTIVE: But if the distorted faces and yelling TWO WOMEN’S DESTINIES BETWEEN mouths depicted by Wyndham Lewis, VIENNA AND JERUSALEM) ­the founder of English Vorticism and by Gerda Hoffer and Judith Hübner Blast magazine in the 1930s, reflect Vienna: Theodor Kramer Gesellschaft, he wonder of Picasso is that he something of the Spanish master’s free 2011, 248 pp. paperback, never stops growing. There is Expressionism, it bears no comparison ISBN 3901602429 always something to admire, with the luminosity of the former’s lthough reading books in German T is normally a challenge for me, be moved or astonished by – reason genius. Picasso’s great influence on A I found the experience with this enough for Tate Britain to demonstrate Francis Bacon is more tangible and book well worthwhile. It actually consists his profound influence on other artists more honest: Bacon abandoned interior of two separate autobiographies linked throughout half a century. Picasso design for painting after seeing a Picasso by the fact that each writer was born in Vienna in 1921 and ended up in and Modern British Art (until 15 exhibition in the late 1920s. In his Jerusalem, where they met and became July) presents him in contrast with Three Studies for Figures at the Base of friends. Up to that time their lives had seven other painters: Francis Bacon, a Crucifixion he expands the scope of been entirely different, except of course that both were profoundly affected by Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, anguish through distortion. the Anschluss. Duncan Grant, Henry Moore’s Gerda’s father was an author and she Wyndham Reclining Figure grew up in an assimilated family with Lewis, Ben seems an left-wing ideals. She came under the influence of a Communist youth Nicholson and abstraction of organisation and as a teenager was David Hockney. Picasso’s biblical imprisoned by the pre-Anschluss Austrian If Picasso was figurative painting government. Despite her lack of a religious background, most of her friends were among the first to The Source. The Jewish and, as she became increasingly present another ­desire to catch aware of anti-Semitism, she identified dimension of the ­Picasso’s spon­ herself more closely as a Jew. There are interesting discussions about life in Vienna psyche through taneity is crudely­ in the 1930s with regard to both schools the dissection of exemplified by and the social scene. The events around the human form David Hockney the Anschluss are vividly described, with – that a head is in his grovelling Gerda’s father only just managing to escape the Gestapo by fleeing to Prague. still a head even if ­homage to A moving section covers her first romantic it sits somewhere the Master by attachment to a young man and, were outside the body depicting himself it not for firm action by her father, she would have stayed and shared his fate in – he was himself, nude before him. the Shoah. But, helped by Czech relatives, like every artist, Lucian Freud, Reflection 1947, Private Collection; In a much she and her mother also managed to reach Image: Lucian Freud Archive © influenced lauded show at the Prague and eventually England. They were greatly helped throughout by the Thomas by another. His much earlier Spanish National Portrait Gallery, one room after Mann Committee, which supported compatriot, Velasquez, for instance, or another of Lucian Freud’s awkwardly authors with progressive leanings. in his own time, Matisse, helped stretch contorted nudes in their flat colours was The arrival in England and the that amazing mind into many art forms just too much. Did Freud never learn that subsequent frequent moves arranged by ‘God’s Representative’ (i.e. a gentleman beyond Cubism. Inside one face you we are not all made of one colour? His from the Committee) are described with will see another: his guitars and violins thick application of green, pink, white wry humour, but no doubt experienced as take on human form and even at his and brown paint ends up with a molten problems at the time, especially by Gerda’s parents. Gerda soon settled down to life most geometric he is still wondrously mass of ugly flesh. Humanity? Sensitivity? in England and married a fellow refugee. curvilinear, his love of life represented Compassion? Empathy? Forget it. That’s She spent over 30 years in this country by the voluptuous female form. An just what Freud does not get. Man or and, although fond of it, seemed never to feel quite at home. Although she was artist of many parts, he also designed beast, with him it’s all cold meat. Freud’s for a long time reluctant to emigrate to imaginative costumes and sets for the earlier, and in some senses, more popular Israel, the feeling of fully belonging came Ballets Russes. work reflects the German Expressionism to her only after doing so. There she met Picasso is the most sensual of painters. Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) old friends and lived among people with similar backgrounds. Her successful career Explicit, cheeky, humorous and tragic movement, exemplified by Otto Dix, as a writer began when she came across by turn, his colours are luminous and he George Grosz and Christian Schad. letters sent from a concentration camp

8 AJR JOURNAL april 2012 to Switzerland by her favourite aunt. for the first come from various sources. These described the terrible conditions in Exhibition Some are from the ULK archives (the the camp and Gerda felt they should be magazine is defunct), where Dodo donated published as a memorial to her aunt. Later Portrait of a period them; some are from private collections. she became the author of many books, the Others are still in circulation and appear last being A House in Jerusalem (2003). DODO (1907- in salerooms. They are certainly collectible. Judith Hübner had a very different early 1998) – EIN This exhibition makes a huge visual background, as she grew up in a very LEBEN IN impact. What is particularly remarkable formal and religious family. She describes BILDERN is that someone so young was able family life in pre-war Vienna and there are (A LIFE IN to capture the Zeitgeist so exactly. To many interesting and amusing anecdotes ­peruse these pictures is to understand about members of her extended family. PICTURES) the somewhat gilded, joyous, wilful Up to the Anschluss, she had a happy Kunstbibliothek society and world, before it all fell childhood, although she had become Kulturforum apart. Yet saying this, there is nothing aware of anti-Semitism in school even Staatliche superficial about this demonstration. before then. When she was nine years old, Museen zu Underlying it all is acute social observa- her greatest wish was answered: a baby tion – one of the later black-and-white Berlin sister was born. Dodo, In der Loge, 1929 illustrations depicts a Jew looking in In March 1938, their lives were changed three directions. This ­exhibition is in no for ever: first her father was sent to a erlin has done one of its ­émigrés way escapist: it is a portrait of a period. concentration camp, then they were proud in staging this major ­exhibition­ Anja Amsel thrown out of their flat and Judith out B(to 28 May 2012). Dodo Burgner, my For those not able to view this exhibition of her school. Among her bitterest mother, left Berlin in 1936, when Nazi in Berlin, the major part of it will be dis- memories was how erstwhile friends anti-Jewish measures were taking effect, played at the Ben Uri Gallery in London turned against them. Desperate attempts to make a new life in London with her from 22 June to 9 September this year. It were made by her mother and herself to family. This is the first public display of would be greatly appreciated if readers get the family out of Vienna but right up around 125 pictures, covering the late who have any recollections of Dodo, who to the beginning of the war they were 1920s-early 1930s. lived in north London in 1936-98, would unsuccessful. In November 1939 Judith The artworks are arranged thematically telephone the Ben Uri Gallery on 020 was miraculously able to leave with a and cover most of Dodo’s range: fashion 7604 3991 or contact the curator, Rachel student visa for Palestine. Her departure and theatre design, scenes of Berlin Dickson, on 07919 221 788 or at rsilman@ was at only a few hours’ notice and middle-class urbanite life and leisure aol.com (Ed.). became particularly poignant: neither activities, Jungian psychoanalysis and her parents nor her little sister survived portraiture. It is excellently curated, so that the Shoah. the development and vagaries of Dodo’s In contrast to Gerda, Judith had always private life relate to the pictures. Music wanted to go to Palestine and had been a Dodo herself, born of and married into member of a Zionist youth movement in comfortable, middle-class Berlin Jewish A remarkable conference Vienna. Her early days in Palestine were not secular society, managed to escape any INTERNATIONAL TEREZIN MUSIC easy as she was practically penniless, but boundaries that such a background might CONFERENCE with perseverance she was able to settle have imposed. Leeds College of Music, down. She entered the Hebrew University, She trained at the prestigious Reimann Postgraduate Studies and Research where she was a good student and this Schule at an early age. Her first freelance led to a successful career in the Israeli civil illustrations date from this period. She Centre, 26-27 February 2012 service. She reached a high position in the then worked for the satirical magazine n a much appreciated gesture, a Interior Ministry and recounts many of ULK. The magazine epitomised the Neue number of Holocaust survivors were the social problems she had to deal with Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) style, Iinvited as guests to this remarkable relating to new immigrants, in particular characterised by the use of intense colour. conference, which was well attended by the question ‘Who is a Jew?’ Later she During this period (1927-29) Dodo pro- academics and students alike. There was became Israeli ambassador to Norway and duced a series of gouaches which depict a good mix of academic papers, con- Iceland, which provided new challenges, quite graphically the decadent life of the cert performances and film. The 100th especially when a new Norwegian prime Weimar Republic (this is the world of Chris- anniversary of Lisa Kleinova’s birthday minister, critical of Israel, came to power. topher Isherwood, Emil Jannings, Kurt was celebrated and Zdenka Fantlova Her writing casts interesting insight into Jooss). And these scenes of nightclub life spoke about her time in Terezin and the human side of life in the diplomatic illustrate the shallowness of cosmopolitan her participation in some of the music. corps. Returning to Israel, she became life and often have some intimations of The conference opened with a closely involved with Emunah, the women’s menace. Women shown there are invari- remarkable performance of a new work by section of the National Religious Party. ably sinuously elegant, the accompanying the British composer Martin Ellerby, who This led to her election to the Jerusalem men louche, voyeuristic and weighty in introduced the piece, which comprises City Council, culminating in her becoming equal measure. She knew the notorious nine musical pictures of life in the camp. a Deputy Mayor and Honorary Citizen of dancer Josephine Baker, drew her and was Towards the end of the conference Jakob the city. fascinated by black bodies. Fichert performed a piano recital including These biographies show how two very The section devoted to the Jungian a sonata by Gideon Klein and works that different Viennese women, whose lives ­period­ – Dodo left Berlin for several would have been forbidden in the camp. appeared shattered by the events of 1938, months and went to Zurich with her lover There was much discussion during the were able by their courage and resilience Gerhard Adler to be psychoanalysed by conference of the significance of pieces to make new and worthwhile lives for Toni Wolff (Jung’s lover) – are darker that were played. Were they chosen by themselves and to contribute so much to altogether. They show dream imagery chance or was there a deeper meaning? their new homeland. and ‘unconscious’ drawings and conflict Also debated was whether music became This publication is supported by the and can be seen to symbolise her own a therapy or had the opposite effect, Austrian National Fund for Victims of irresolution. They demonstrate an amounting to torture. National Socialism, the City of Vienna alienation and unhappiness which could Prominent musicians were sent to Tere- and the Federal Ministry for Education, relate to developments in the wider world zin, notably Rafael Schächter, who, despite Art and Culture. at this time. the terrible conditions, directed repeated George Vulkan The artworks gathered together here continued on page 10

9 AJR JOURNAL april 2012

‘I am with Gerhard’ – some family history rediscovered am with Gerhard,’ it said on the Gedenkstätte at Dachau, from which we A search in the Yad Vashem Database postcard Frau Auerbach received in received a copy of the admissions and revealed that in 2001 ­Gerhard’s sister had I‘ early November 1938 from her husband releases lists providing details of Lothar submitted ‘Pages of Testimony’ for both her Lothar, in prison in Klagenfurt on his way Auerbach’s arrival and departure – and of parents and her brother. Checking in the to Dachau following Kristallnacht. It was Gerhard! His surname was Gadiel; occu­ Theresienstadt Memorial Book, we were the first sign of life from him for a week. pation: Praktikant; address: Schassbach; able to confirm that her parents had been He was now in ‘protective custody’. But born in Breslau in 1914. Now we suddenly deported from Breslau to Theresienstadt who was Gerhard? For years we asked knew more than we had hoped for. We on 2 April 1943 and from there in October ourselves this question. We didn’t know also remembered that the Auerbachs had 1944 to Auschwitz. But no mention of Gerhard’s surname or anything else about young agricultural workers (Praktikanten Gerhard! Perhaps he had survived after all? him. He was, as far as we knew, not a or Eleven) on their farm in Silesia. Maybe Following our approach to her, Gerhard’s­ relative: maybe he was a neighbour or they already knew Gerhard from Breslau? sister wrote what a ‘mitzva’ our interest in an acquaintance. But he must have been her brother was for her. She told us that, as a important for Lothar Auerbach to mention young man, Gerhard had joined HeChalutz, him on this postcard. the Jewish Pioneer Youth Movement, with Looking through old family correspond- the intention of emigrating to Palestine ence, we later discovered a faded letter and had therefore joined that organisa- dated 29 December 1938 and addressed to tion in Breslau. She also remembered that ‘Geehrte Familie Auerbach’. In this letter a her brother had come to one of the few Herr Moser wrote that he had ‘heard from Jewish farmers in the area for agricultural Gerhard’ that Herr Auerbach had ‘returned training and that, from time to time, he from the journey’. The ‘journey’ was, of Gerhard Gadiel at right; other two young had brought freshly-baked cake with him course, Lothar’s arrest by the Gestapo men unknown for his family. The significance of this did and imprisonment in Dachau. Gerhard, My next port of call was the Internat­ not become clear to us until later. She he wrote, was again working for the time ional Tracing Service in Bad Arolsen. The herself had emigrated to Palestine in being on the farm but didn’t like it because form we were sent was a serious hurdle: 1936 and lost contact with her brother. he felt ‘almost a stranger’. Herr Moser also we were neither related to him nor did we Among our treasured family documents mentioned that he was sending his neigh- know of any relatives who might give us are a couple of small photo albums from bours some pork and two chickens. By this permission to search for him. Seeking to Germany and Austria containing photos time, Frau Auerbach, having been expelled make the best case possible, we stressed of family, guests, animals and the farm, from their farm in Schassbach, had arrived that Gerhard’s fate was important to us reflecting a happy and busy family life. in Berlin with her three young children and as he had been part of the Auerbachs’ Among these there are photos of several was trying desperately to obtain a visa to household in Austria. To our great surprise young men who were obviously working leave Germany. Herr Moser, we soon found it took only a few weeks for an answer to on the farm. One shows three young men out, was the owner of the neighbouring arrive. Bad Arolsen had traced two relatives­ smiling into the camera. I mentioned this farm. Sending a Jewish family a friendly of Gerhard, one of them his sister, who was to Gerhard’s sister and told her I would letter as well as food was clearly not now living in Israel, and both had agreed send them to her. Perhaps, just perhaps, without risk. It was an act of neighbourly to our search for him and to our getting in she would be able to identify her brother. kindness for which we are grateful even touch with them. What a discovery! From what she had told us it seemed pos- today. How lucky this letter has survived! We wrote to them both immediately. sible that Gerhard had already been on Now we knew that Gerhard had They were delighted we were taking an the Auerbach farm in Silesia. There were, worked on Hölzl and was released from interest in their relative but admitted they after all, not many Jewish farmers around Dachau towards the end of December knew nothing of his fate – they had always Breslau. ‘Of course I would recognise my 1938. To find out more, we wrote to the assumed he had died in the Holocaust. brother,’ she wrote back. Minutes later, thanks to email, came her reviews continued from page 9 reply: ‘The young man with the braces is not – most of the censorship came from my brother. He would now be 96 years old.’ performances of Verdi’s Requiem. Pieces the Council of Elders, who feared Nazi What a stroke of luck! Now Gerhard were also composed for children, like the intervention in these activities. A commit- had a face. A name, an old photo, a faded newly discovered Purimspiel and, of course, tee organised not only concerts but also letter, a card from prison, fragments of Brundibar. Many references were made to dance and debates. Apparently as long as family history, and an elderly lady from the composer Viktor Ullmann and the pian­ Jews performed their tasks their leisure Israel had all come together. And the cake? ists Gideon Klein and Edith Steiner-Kraus. time was their own. One Jewish woman That would have come from the kitchen Rafael Schächter brought two scores described ‘stepping over bodies’ to get of Frau Auerbach! with him into Terezin – that of Verdi’s to the choir rehearsals. At first, the music This, we thought, must surely be all ­Requiem and The Bartered Bride. These was performed in the attics but, as people we could find out about Gerhard .… pieces were played most often in the became more confident, makeshift stages It was an archivist at the United States camp. The Requiem was compared with and performing areas were erected. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who had the prayers in the Yom Kippur service and Murry Sidlin, a well-known conductor seen my message on the genealogical was seen as a plea to the Nazis with the in the USA, showed an early preview website JewishGen, who told me that the words in Latin ‘Free Me’. Singers were con- from his feature-length documentary National Archive in Wroclaw might have tinually being deported so that rehearsals Voices of Defiance, to be released in information on the Gadiel family. The were severely hindered, yet performances 2012. This powerful portrayal of music in documents I eventually received contained continued and the Requiem was played for Terezin should, when completed, be an the last chapter of the story: the final the Red Cross visit in June 1944. Singing extremely useful way of telling the story bureaucratic acts before deportation, to the Nazis was a way of communicat- of the famous musicians who would have the very last traces of a young man who ing things the prisoners couldn’t put into attained international acclaim had they had wanted to live and work in Palestine words. Alice Herz-Sommer, who survived not been murdered in the Holocaust. but, when it was too late, had decided to Terezin, has recalled playing on a piano Joanna Millan join his parents in his home town to find without legs and played all Chopin études Joanna Millan is Chair of the Child Survivors’ protection. What did the Nazis do to this consecutively without printed music. Association of Great Britain-AJR and a Terezin young lad with the engaging smile? Was the music censored? Apparently survivor. Jurgen Schwiening

10 AJR members around the country commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day

olocaust Memorial Day (HMD) Holocaust Memorial Book events in which AJR members presented to ‘We Remember’ anthology Hand staff participated were held Museum of Liverpool launched by Child up and down the country (see AJR Survivors service at Belsize Square Synagogue in March issue of the Journal). Among other events, Kindertransport Chair Sir Erich Reich spoke at the London Borough of Barnet’s annual service and AJR Co-Director Michael Newman gave a reading at the London Jewish Cultural Centre’s event. The AJR was also represented at events at Sussex University, which the AJR supported, and at the Holocaust Centre in (From left) Guido Alis, Julia Bryan (Senior Nottingham, London City Hall and the Learning Officer, Museum of Liverpool), Holocaust Memorial Day Trust’s National Eric Cohen (From left) Henri Obstfeld and Joanna Commemoration. Millan (CSAGB-AJR Secretary and Chair The new Museum of Liverpool accepts into respectively), Ben Barkow, Director, Wiener Elsewhere, AJR members were guest its archives a copy of the Liverpool AJR Library speakers at HMD events in Derbyshire, Group’s Holocaust Memorial Book Preston, Leeds, Kirklees, Calderdale, speaker, as was Fumiko Ishioka, Director he Child Survivors’ Association of Hull, Bradford, Darlington and Barnsley, of the Holocaust Education Resource TGreat Britain-AJR has launched ‘We as well as at York University, Manchester Centre in Tokyo, who read from the Remember’, an anthology of memoirs Jewish Museum and Manchester Town children’s book Hana’s Suitcase. containing 30 chapters, each chapter Hall, and at the Millennium Gallery and The 12th University of Glasgow written by a different child survivor. University in Sheffield. Annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture CSAGB-AJR Chair Joanna Millan In Scotland, AJR members attended was attended by many AJR first- and introduced the event, which took all major HMD events. A group of 20 second-generation members, who place at the Wiener Library in members travelled to the national heard Professor Nicholas Stargardt February. She described the book’s event in Dundee, where they joined the speak on the subject ‘Hidden Children: development from individual memoirs 400-strong audience, which included Surviving the Holocaust’. intended solely for the family of a child AJR members from Edinburgh, Dundee East Renfrewshire Council events survivor to a commercial publication and St Andrews. The group had the were held at the Eastwood Theatre, containing the experiences of 30 child opportunity to view the Anne Frank where an audience of nearly 300 survivors. exhibition, which featured the AJR’s witnessed a fitting memorial. Many Award-winning journalist Tanya Scotland Memorial Book and which the AJR members too attended the event, Gold stressed the importance of 2,000 schoolchildren who attended the at which schoolchildren performed a preserving these memoirs, while event also had the opportunity to see. short play based on the poem ‘First They Toby Simpson, the Wiener Library’s Rabbi Melchior of Denmark was a guest Came’ by Pastor Martin Niemöller. Learning and Engagement Manager, spoke of the wealth of historical documentation and personal Interview with material the Library held, as well as Otto Deutsch the importance of that material’s accessibility. r Anthony Grenville conducted Da face-to-face interview with Kindertransportee and AJR member Otto Deutsch at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London. A packed audience was moved and impressed by the straightforward dignity with which Otto described his childhood in Vienna, his The AJR experiences of Austrian anti-Semitism, his lonely journey to England, his foster wishes family in Morpeth, Northumberland, and his subsequent life in London and all its members Southend-on-Sea. The event also served a Happy Pesach as a memorial to Otto’s parents and sister and to the thousands of other Viennese Jews murdered by the Nazis Memorial to Jewish victims at Maly Trostinec at Maly Trostinec, near Minsk. PHOTO: KURT MARX

11 AJR JOURNAL april 2012

Kingston upon Thames CF Good Conversation and Tea YOM HA’ATZMAUT A small but select group enjoyed good PARTY conversation and tea and watched a DVD of the latest developments at Nightingale TO CELEBRATE THE 64TH INSIDE House. Susan Zisman BIRTHDAY OF ISRAEL’S Next meeting: 16 April. Social get-together INDEPENDENCE at home of Susan Zisman THURSDAY 26 APRIL 2012 the AJR Sheffield CF Tracing Families Israeli Food An interesting meeting at which the three generations shared experiences of tracing families. Some members expressed disappointment at not being included in Holocaust Memorial Day in Sheffield. As  Harrogate and York CF ‘Feeling British’ always, everyone enjoyed a chat over tea Meeting at Inge Little’s, we welcomed and lovely cakes. Judith Gordon new member Edith Jayne, who spent For further details of this party, Next meeting: 13 May. Speaker: Prof Bob to be held in London, please her early life as a refugee in the USA. Moore We discussed differences between being contact Susan Harrod on a refugee in the USA and UK, leading 020 8385 3070 to interesting observations on ‘feeling or at [email protected] British’, as well as HMD activities in York, including an exhibition of pictures about the Kindertransport. music played by Georgina Baum and a Marc Schatzberger good time was had by all. Linda Fisher No April meeting due to Pesach Next meeting: 8 May. At the Schatzbergers THE ZEMEL CHOIR Welwyn Garden City Torah Scrolls Ilford Great Speaker INTERNATIONAL JEWISH from Bohemia and Moravia During the Regency period, David Barnett CHORAL FESTIVAL Evelyn Friedlander told us about the over told us, London was apparently the largest Sunday 17 June 2012 city in terms of population and a draw 1,500 Torah scrolls from synagogues in 7.30 pm to travellers from all over the world. An Bohemia and Moravia brought to the UK at West London Synagogue inspiring morning as always with this after the war. Many have been donated to 33 Seymour Place great speaker. synagogues around the world. London W1H 5Au Meta Roseneil Fritz Starer Tickets £15.00 per person No April meeting due to Pesach Next meeting: 4 April. Eli Benson, ‘Magen David Adom’ The Zemel Choir is hosting an International Radlett Jewish Trades in Jewish Choral Festival culminating in this Regency London Pinner Medicines from Plants Gala Concert for all participating choirs. Dr Henry Oakeley spoke amusingly on The choirs expected to attend are the David Barnett is evidently a very good substances derived from a wide range of Wiener Jüdischer Chor and the Coro Ha- historian as well as a born story-teller. With plants that have been used as medicines, Kol Choir from Rome. The Festival has any luck he will soon return to enlighten many from ancient times. A thoroughly been accepted by the London Organising and entertain us again. Fritz Starer Next meeting: 18 April. Rabbi Jonathan enjoyable meeting. Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games to be branded with the Inspired Wittenberg, ‘The Story of the Masorti Walter Weg Movement’ Next meeting: 12 April, 2.00 pm, at LOGO as part of the Cultural Olympiad. Northwood and Pinner Synagogue. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity St John’s Wood Sharon Barron, ‘The Work of the Turgu to hear these three choirs and their wide A Fruitful Tu B’Shevat Seder Mures Trust’ (supporting impoverished Holocaust survivors in Romania) repertoire, embracing Ashkenazi, Sephardi, We had a most ‘fruitful’ Tu B’Shevat Seder Yiddish and Israeli cultures. led by Myrna. Having said the brachot, we drank 4 cups of grape juice, representing To book tickets, please contact Susan OXFORD RIVERBOAT CRUISE the 4 seasons, and ate at least 15 kinds of Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or at BOAT CRUISE AND [email protected] fruit. David Lang PICNIC LUNCH ONBOARD No April meeting due to Pesach WEDNESDAY 2 MAY 2012 Ealing An Enthralling Tu B’Shevat Seder Liverpool Life of an Immigrant Myrna Glass led an enthralling Tu B’Shevat A larger-than-usual audience heard Seder at which 20 of us enjoyed 15 types Emeritus Professor of Applied Math- of fruit and 4 types of wine. A truly ematics Fritz Ursell speak of his life as delightful afternoon. Leslie Sommer an immigrant. After­ graduating from Next meeting: 3 April. Mark Davies, ‘The Cambridge, he joined the Admiralty, A unique opportunity to cruise the Lewis Carroll Society’ where he worked on wave forecast- waterways of Oxford with expert guide ing in preparation for the invasion of and Lewis Carroll Society member Mark HGS A Relaxing Morning ­Japan. His findings are still used today. Davies.Find out how these beautiful Anne Holve spoke to us about Cognitive Be- Guido Alis rivers inspired Lewis Carroll to write the havioural Hypnotherapy. We were encour- Next meeting: 24 April classic book Alice in Wonderland. aged to practise the correct deep breathing Transport will be provided from a relaxation technique and to experience Cambridge Improvements in pick-up point in North West London. The self-hypnosis. A most relaxing morning! Hearing Aids cruise will last 2 hours and will include a Laszlo Roman We really appreciated a talk by eminent picnic sandwich lunch. Return transport No April meeting due to Pesach Cambridge audiologist Chris Carr, who back to North West London. explained the complexity of our hearing For further details, please contact Essex (Westcliff) Birthdays Celebrated function and improvements in hearing Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 or at We celebrated our 10th birthday, and one aids. Keith Lawson [email protected] member, Valerie Kutner, celebrated her Next meeting: 19 April. David Merron, ‘The 80th birthday. We sang and danced to Kibbutz Crisis and the Future’

12 AJR JOURNAL april 2012

Helen’s Boys and Girls Meals-on-Wheels Author Helen Fry gave a party on the occasion of Colin Anson’s To order Meals-on-Wheels please 90th birthday for ‘Her Boys and Girls’ – those on whose telephone 020 8385 3075. This number is manned on Wednesdays only. wartime careers she has written The AJR Paul Balint Centre at Belsize Square Synagogue 51 Belsize Square, London NW3 4HX Tel 020 7431 2744

AJR LUNCHEON CLUB (From left) Geoffrey Perry (T Force), Harry Rossney (Pioneer Corps), Bill Howard (Royal Navy), Thursday 19 April 2012 Willy Field (8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars), Helen Fry, Alice Anson (WAAF), Colin Anson (Commandos), Susan Lustig (Intelligence Corps), Fritz Lustig (Intelligence Corps) Keith Simons Prison Chaplain Brighton and Hove Sarid The ‘Boys’ Leeds CF A New Experience PLEASE NOTE THAT SPEAKERS Shirley Huberman, widow of Alfred, one of We discussed HMD events in West START AT 12 NOON the ‘Boys’ brought from Theresienstadt to Yorkshire, many of them supported Please be aware that members should not England in 1945, showed a well attended by CF members. It being Tu B’Shevat, automatically assume that they are on the Luncheon Club list. It is now necessary, on receipt of your meeting the emotional film based on the Susanne Green conducted a seder for us copy of the AJR Journal, to phone the Centre on book by Sir Martin Gilbert. – a new experience for all of us and very 020 7431 2744 to book your place. Ceska Abrahams enjoyable. Barbara Cammerman Next meeting: 16 April. Andrew Holder, Next meeting: 23 April april entertainment ‘The Agency for the Bank of England’ Tue 3 MOCK SEDER LUNCH North London Thur 5 Roy Blass Bromley CF Memories Shared and Recruiting the Third Generation Tue 10 Elizabeth Winton the Company of Friends Michael Newman gave us a comprehen- Liane Segal again offered us her home and sive account of the work of the AJR. We Thur 12 Chris Ryan generous hospitality and 16 members, inc­ are fortunate to belong to an organisa- Tue 17 Margaret Opdhal luding 4 second-generation guests, enjoyed tion that does so much to cater for our Thur 19 LUNCHEON CLUB a lively discussion led by Hazel Beiny. Mem- interests. The Journal itself is a testament Tue 24 Linda Styan ories shared and the company of friends to just how much is on offer as well as a Thur 26 Top Hat Entertainer made this a really successful meeting. tribute to the contributions of so many Dorothea Lipton members. Hanne R. Freedman Next meeting: 26 April. Yom Ha’Atzmaut Café Imperial A Morning of Reflection Party (with other groups) Operatic Afternoon A morning of reflection. Peter Wayne Surrey meeting rescheduled brought along a card given to all ‘enemy Meeting rescheduled from 18 March will and Cream Tea aliens’ on arrival in England, mainly telling take place on Sunday 29 April at 11.00 am refugees to keep their voices down and at the home of Edmée Barta not to break furniture! Freddie Edwards brought along a bank note he obtained Temple Fortune A Second Life in France. Hazel Beiny Evelyn Friedlander spoke about the Sunday 10 June 2012 Next meeting: Social get-together 1564 Czech Memorial Scrolls, which 2.45-5.15 pm miraculously survived the war and were at The Grim’s Dyke Hotel Edgware Jews in Movies brought to England in 1964. Many were Mansion House, Old Redding, Film critic Joel Finler showed us photos of given a second life in communities here famous film stars, many of them our co- and abroad. David Lang Harrow, Middx HA3 6SH religionists, and answered many questions Next meeting: 24 April. Dennis Hart, ‘My Private tour of hotel and gardens from a highly knowledgeable audience. Life as a Fleet Street Journalist’ Home-made cream tea Felix Winkler A selection of songs from Next meeting: 17 April. Angela Schluter, Book Club Definitely Not an ‘Jewish Mother, Nazi Father’ Enjoyable Read Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe The Company She Keeps was definitely not £29.50 per person Weald of Kent an enjoyable read, it was felt, but its struc- A Most Enjoyable Meeting ture was good, as was the size of the print. Transport will be available 12 of us met for a get-together over a Our next book is Hotel on the Corner of Bit- at an additional cost delicious lunch arranged by Esther and ter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. An extremely Tickets must be booked and paid Janet. We thank them very much. A most entertaining afternoon. Hazel Beiny for by beginning of April 2012 enjoyable meeting. Inge Ball Next meeting: 25 April. Social and Discussion Next meeting: 17 April. Evelyn Friedlander, For further details, please contact ‘The Genezah Collection of Rescued Scrolls’ Hendon Jews in the Film Industry Susan Harrod on 020 8385 3070 Joel Finler began his presentation in the or at [email protected] Wembley CF A Good Time with 1930s, focusing on familiar names and Plenty of Mingling faces of actors, cameramen, directors, art 14 of us enjoyed a very pleasant social directors, film designers and composers ‘DROP IN’ ADVICE SERVICE afternoon, with plenty of mingling. Myrna up to Harold Pinter, Michael Winner and Members requiring benefit advice please telephone as usual laid on delicious refreshments. Roman Polanski. Shirley Rodwell Linda Kasmir on 020 8385 3070 to make an Ingrid Morland Next meeting. 30 April. Warren Ashton, appointment at AJR, Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, 25 April. Social get-together ‘Famous Phrases and Their Origin’ Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL

13 AJR JOURNAL april 2012

family announcements Deaths Robert Schon Dorffmann, Leo Died suddenly Tax Solicitor 7 December 2011. Deeply missed by his Member of Solicitors daughters, Jacky and Shelley, family and for the Elderly friends. (020) 8958 7400 07939 554 738 I specialise in: Magnus, Margot (Lewinnek) Died Fully Qualified and Insured Estate Planning 5 January 2012. Sadly missed by her Engineers Powers of Attorney and daughter Ruth. Deputyship applications Prager, Peter Died 15 February 2012 Special Offers Living wills after a long illness aged 88. Darling Peter, Tax and non domicile issues including helping to bring we love you for ever – Sylvia and Alison. We are offering to supply and fit undeclared offshore funds to Carbon Monoxide Detectors at a very Rothschild, Trude Rosa Born competitive price!! the attention of HMRC 2 February 1924, died peacefully at Clara Tel 020 7267 5010 Nehab House 25 February 2012. She will Carbon Monoxide Detector Email: [email protected] be sadly missed by her sister, cousins (Supplied & fitted) £25 West Hill House, 6 Swains Lane, and friends. London N6 6QS Simon, Irmgard (b. Weitzenkorn) Born Combined Smoke & Carbon 12 July 1915 in Gissen, Germany. Beloved Monoxide Detector wife of Kurt (deceased). Sadly missed by (Supplied & fitted) £35 her friends. Home Care classified Offers exclude 10% discount for ColvinCare through quality and first time customers professionalism AJR PAUL BALINT CENTRE Celebrating our 25th Anniversary The chiropodist will be at the Centre on While Stocks Last! 25 years of experience in providing the 24 April. Please book an appointment on highest standards of care in the comfort 020 7431 2744. of your own home 535707 Dr Anthony Grenville’s book Jewish Refugees from Germany and Austria in Britain, JOHN BULL 1933-1970 has been 1 hour to 24 hours care reprinted. For copies ANTIQUES LTD Registered through the National Care Standard Commission Established since 1953 (paperback), write to Anthony Grenville at the AJR, • Do you have anything you would like to sell in Gold, Silver, Jewellery or objects of Call our 24 hour tel 020 7794 9323 enclosing cheque for £22.50 (incl. virtue? www.colvin-nursing.co.uk postage and packing) made out to the • We would be delighted to give you a author. valuation or make an offer on any of the above items. wanted to buy • Our buyer would be happy to visit you in CUMBERLAND HOTEL your home, or you are welcome to visit German and BOURNEMOUTH our London showroom. English Books • Please call 020 7629 1251 if you would Sunday 20 May to Friday 25 May 2012 like to make an appointment or require Bookdealer, AJR member, further information. Come and join us for 5 days welcomes invitations to view • Email: [email protected] Make new friends and meet up with and purchase valuable books. old friends Robert Hornung Price £400 plus £30 single room 10 Mount View, Ealing, supplement. Sea View rooms an London W5 1PR additional £10.00 per person per night PillarCare Email: [email protected] Quality support and care at home Tel: 020 8998 0546 Price includes transport to and from Bournemouth from Jubilee  House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours LEO BAECK HOUSING Middx; sandwich lunch on journey  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care ASSOCIATION to Bournemouth; dinner, bed and  Convalescent and Personal Health Care CLARA NEHAB HOUSE breakfast; outing, cards RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME and entertainment  Compassionate and Affordable Service Small caring residential home with large attractive gardens close to local shops and public transport  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities We already have a lot of interest so 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care please book early  Registered with the CQC and UKHCA Entertainment & Activities provided Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room For further details, please contact Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 Lift access to all floors. PILLARCARE For further information please contact: Carol Rossen or Lorna Moss on THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB The Manager, Clara Nehab House 020 8385 3070 PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA www.pillarcare.co.uk Telephone: 020 8455 2286

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Obituary Lieselotte Fanny Bier (née Bock), 21 September 1919 – 11 February 2012 y mother, Lieselotte Bier, was Service, proba- it was nearly always interesting born in Frankfurt am Main and bly for the SOE, and the atmosphere in the Orderly was the youngest child of a well- but was rejected Room was excellent. Sadly one of our M frequent jobs was to send details of established middle-class family that was an after she told the equipment and property of the the interviewer integral part of the orthodox Israelitische flight crews who had been shot down Religions-Gesellschaft (synagogue and that her brother or lost to the RAF Depository, before community), whose primary school she was a PoW in this was despatched. attended. Germany (he In December 1944 Lieselotte was The family moved to Berlin when she was captured posted to Brussels and then to Paris to an was eight and she went to a Zionist primary with the South Air Force Police unit which dealt mainly school and later to a state Gymnasium. African Army with war crimes. Her mother died when she was 13. She in Tobruk and Lieselotte Bier, Air Force, 1945 Lieselotte married Herbert Bier in 1946 was on course to take the Abitur but had survived having and both were naturalised later that year. to leave the school due to the Nuremberg kept his Jewish identity secret for most of Herbert, a fellow Frankfurter, was an art Laws. the time). dealer who could see she would make a She subsequently wrote for a Lieselotte belonged to a Zionist youth wonderful companion and equal him in researcher: movement which prepared German Jews her love of art. She gave up her ambitions for aliyah to Israel. The Landschulheim The job at RAF Coningsby was very to be a doctor and from then on acted as interesting since the Orderly Room school in the hills above Florence seemed his secretary until he died in 1981. to offer training for Israel. In fact – apart was the administrative centre of one of the most important bases in Bomber By hard work they built up a good art from climbing trees – there was no such Command, and our assignments as dealing business from virtually nothing training! However, she spent a wonderful secretaries (about half a dozen) could based on Herbert’s excellent eye and year at the school with excellent teachers at times be fascinating. I worked for a Lieselotte’s sound business acumen. They – all academics expelled by Hitler and well while for Group Captain Guy Gibson loved travelling together, both to innumer- known in their fields. When the Italians (of the ‘Dam Busters’ raid). He asked able museums in many countries and to closed the school she returned to Berlin me to speak German to him, which the Swiss Alps for walking holidays. They and took the English School Certificate. apparently he had not heard before. extended their warmth and hospitality He wanted to know what they spoke In 1938, at the age of 19, she emigrated to family and friends from all over the to London, where she had to choose one ‘down there’. I also worked for the chief world. Professionally, they were both well of the occupations available to refugee Pathfinder Wing Commander of the respected by the art world and managed girls: nursing, nursery nurse or ­domestic Base, who used me to type flight to make their mark within what was a servant. She did not want to become orders for briefing Pathfinder crews very English establishment at the time. As a nurse – she felt they were doing the for the evening’s raid, despite my many in the art world have subsequently doctor’s dirty work … (her ambition had not being naturalised, as I was very commented, they were among a group of originally been to be a doctor herself). So accurate. European art connoisseurs who contrib- she undertook nursery nurse training and My nationality (or lack thereof) uted enormously to the British art world. was only questioned once (during joined a local authority nursery in Lisson When Herbert became ill, Lieselotte nearly 18 months!) when I took Grove, where she stayed for three years. dictation from the Base Commander looked after him with devotion for ten The nursery was in a deprived area and the and mixed up ‘soldiering’ with years, until he died when she was just 62. children were in a bad state. The ­extent ‘soldering’. He was highly incensed She carried on dealing in art and remained of lice, gonorrhoea and other diseases­ and appalled that a German was much respected in her own right. came as a shock. Luckily Lieselotte was employed and wanted to throw me With her strong character and not interned: the very strict matron said out there and then. I was however determination, and her immense sense they could not possibly remove one of saved by the Station Commander and of adventure, she enjoyed a wide circle of her nurses. the Flight Sergeant in charge of the friends and was loved by all. Orderly Room. They both vouched After a three months’ intensive short- Lieselotte is survived by her daughter, for my loyalty and promised the Base hand/typing course, she volunteered for Commander that he never need set Marion Davies, and her three grandchil- the WAAFs and in June 1943 was posted eyes upon me again. In the end he dren, who were her greatest joy and to to Bomber Command at RAF Coningsby. was actually quite friendly. whom she was a devoted grandmother. In July 1944 she volunteered for Overseas We worked for long hours but Marion Davies

ARTS AND EVENTS DIARY for april

Mon 2 Dr Anthony Grenville ‘The Wed 18 B’nai B’rith Jerusalem Lodge. live music of the story of Kindertransport Jewish Refugees from Germany and Judge Edward Cohen, ‘The Life of a refugee and poet Karen Gershon. At York Austria in Britain after 1933 and District Judge’ 2.30 pm at the Harts. Tel Theatre Royal Studio 020 8954 6502 the Association of Jewish Refugees’, Mon 30 April to Wed 2 May ‘Truth Halberstam Memorial Lecture, Joseph’s Tue-Wed 17-18 ‘Karen’s Way: A and Witness: Workshop on Holocaust Bookstore, 1,257 Finchley Rd., Temple Kindertransport Life’ A new play by Testimonies’ At Wiener Library. Contact Fortune, NW11, 8 pm Vanessa Rosenthal. A dramatisation with Jade Miles-Harrison on 020 7636 7247.

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to mark the 70th anniversary of the Letter from Israel establishment of the Theresienstadt ghetto/concentration camp. Speeches – mercifully brief – were made by various worthies, including the minister of education. The main event, however, Only in Israel – again was the highly professional performance by a group of talented young artists of f one lives in Israel long enough one at Beit Shean as well as to some other songs and skits written in German and cannot escape being brushed by the places of interest in the area. As we Czech, some of them also in Hebrew Iwings of history. One week in my life neared the Dead Sea one of the ladies translation, that had been performed recently took me – metaphorically – across asked our guide if she could say a few in Theresienstadt itself. Some of the continents and eras. words into the microphone, to which he music was composed last summer in the A few days ago I joined a group of of course assented. Our colleague told us framework of the Theresienstadt Museum friends for a guided tour of the home of that before the establishment of the state project ‘History, Music and Memory’. The Shai Agnon, Israel’s only Nobel Prize her parents had been pioneers, living and auditorium of Tel Aviv’s Palmach Museum laureate for literature. The house is working in the mining camp of the Dead was full to bursting with survivors of the situated in the Talpiot neighbourhood Sea region, and that was where she had camp, many of them still quite sprightly, of Jerusalem, now a fairly prosperous been born. In May 1948, as the armies others assisted by relatives or relying suburb but in the 1920s, when Agnon of the Arab countries which opposed the on walking sticks or other devices. The commissioned its construction, a fairly establishment of a Jewish state launched audience also consisted of members of the remote spot. After the customary tour and their offensive, all the Jews of the region second, third and even fourth generations explanations, one of the members of our were evacuated by air and taken to an – all of us defined as ‘survivors’ by one group stood up and said ‘I have a personal army base. On reaching the base, the of the speakers. The pieces that were connection with Agnon.’ She proceeded refugees, who had been obliged to leave performed, reflecting the lives, hopes to tell us about the close relationship all their possessions behind, refused to and concerns of the inmates, aroused between her late grandfather, who was go to the new accommodation that had bitter-sweet emotions in the listening a rabbi in Leipzig, and Agnon during the been prepared for them and insisted audience, but also filled me once more latter’s sojourn in that city. The two men on continuing with the bus to the site with admiration for the strength of spirit studied the Talmud regularly together in Tel Aviv where the Declaration of and indomitable creativity of the people and my friend’s father reputedly sat on Independence was about to be signed incarcerated in that camp. Agnon’s knee when he was two years old. so they could sing Hatikvah along with After that I was finally able to go to the The following day, together with a everyone else there. Our colleague, who Dead Sea for a few days of rest, hoping busload of worthy ladies (and one or two refused to divulge her age, claimed to to regain some peace of mind while gents) who, like myself, volunteer at the have a very clear recollection of that contemplating the serenity of nature and Israel Museum, I was taken to the north momentous event. the events of the week. of Israel to view the extensive excavations A day later I attended an evening Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

letters to the editor continued from page 7 nebenan: Zur Geschichte der Jawne 1919- refugees even while the country was from Yugoslavia. 1942 (The Children from the Schoolyard occupied by the Nazis. ‘Look at that stamp!’, she told my boss, Next Door: The Story of the Jawne, 1919- Dr T. Scarlett Epstein OBE, Hove, Sussex ‘It’s got Hermann Göring on it!’ 1942). ‘Kinder’ from the Cologne area may Anthony Grenville: To the best of my know- Captain Vujovic, head of the Military find this interesting. Further details are ledge, Albania was not mentioned at the Mission and a staunch Communist, took available at www.jawne.de. Conference. a look at the envelope, its stamp depicting Gerald Leyens, London NW11 an arrogant-looking fat face and broad ‘STAMP COLLECTING FOR GROWN-UPS’ chest covered in medals. ‘That’s not ALBANIANS AND THE HOLOCAUST Sir – Anthony Grenville’s interesting article Göring!’, he said calmly with a smile, Sir – I was very interested to read Anthony on stamp collecting for adults brought ‘That’s Marshal Tito!’ Grenville’s account of an international to mind the following incident. While I Incidentally, I have in my possession conference on the Holocaust at the was working as a part-time secretary at two original first-issue stamps from Imperial War Museum. However, I was the Yugoslav Military Mission in London Austria dated 1973, with a picture of disappointed that it made no reference to towards the end of the war, I found it was my maternal grandmother’s first cousin, Albania’s extraordinary interfaith relations not uncommon for Jewish individuals with Professor Otto Loewi. He was born in that caused Muslims to save the lives of relatives in Yugoslavia to wish to search Frankfurt but was for many decades many Jewish refugees before and during the records of the Yugoslav Government- resident in Graz, where he lectured at the the last war. The AJR knows about this: in-Exile for survivors of the Holocaust. One university and was awarded the Nobel the Board sent a letter to the director of day, an elderly Austrian-Jewish lady arrived Prize for Physiology and Medicine jointly the Tirana Museum thanking Albanians at the office distraught and branding, with Sir Henry Dale in 1936. for their courageous sheltering of Jewish almost accusingly, a long-awaited letter (Mrs) Margarete Stern, London NW3

Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain, Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL Telephone 020 8385 3070 Fax 020 8385 3080 e-mail [email protected] For the latest AJR news, including details of forthcoming events and information about our services, visit www.ajr.org.uk Printed by FBprinters LLP, 26 St Albans Lane, London NW11 7QB Tel: 020 8458 3220 Email: [email protected]

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