AJ R Info r mation Volume UI No. 11 November 1997 ±3 Cto non-members)
Don't miss ... Profoundly painful Rejections on the belated emergence of wartime truths issue Anthony Grenvilie p7 Dutch courage - a new connotation The French Church in perspective Peter Romj/n pi 3 ruth is, according to an old adage, the first to capitulate to the external enemy (Hitler Germany) Goldhagen casualty of war. Alas, the advent of peace in - and to initiate a grim reckoning with the 'enemy T 1945 only saw a very patchy revival of truth: within', i.e. Republicans, Socialists and Jews. While corroborated? large parts of Europe's wartime hi.story remained Vichy officials despatched 78,000 Jews to Au.schwitz, he first shrouded in obfuscation, not to say downright lies. the entire Catholic episcopate - except the Bishop instalments This was notoriously exemplified by the desig of Toulouse - kept silent in the face of monstrous Tof the nation of Austria as Hitler's 'first victim'. Less evil. At the same time, though, a not insignificant superb BBC TV perverse - and influenced by mindboggling casualty number of Catholic priests and laymen gave succour series The Nazis- figures - was the general perception that Soviet to fugitive Jews. A Wanting from Russia had offered solid resistance to the Nazi Overarching these developments was the .struggle History featured onslaught. In fact, many Ukrainians had welcomed between de Gaulle and Petain for the soul of twenty German the Wehrmacht, and a million renegade Russians, France. De Gaulle's claim to speak for his over eye witnesses of led by General Vlassov, had fought alongside it. whelmingly resistant countrymen was a .self-serving whom two - a Even the Netherlands had equal numbers of myth accepted by the Allies for justified morale- former Communist resistants and collaborators: while .some Dutchmen boo.sting rea.sons in wartime. who tangled with hid Anne Frank, others denounced her to the In peace, however, truth mu.st be accorded the the SA, and an Gestapo. highest priority. After half a century's obfuscation ex-Wehrmacht The term resistants, of course, brings to mind exemplified by Mitterand's double-dealing, France is interpreter who France - the largest Nazi-occupied country and the at la.st 'coming clean'. President Chirac has given a sobbed on camera one whose wartime conduct has generated most laudable lead in this shamefully overdue process, - stood out. controversy. To understand 1940s France one needs and the recent Catholic ceremony of penitence' at The rest ranged to look at the way in which the thread of Catholi Drancy, the grim staging post of Jews en route to from still-ecstatic cism nms through her previous hi.story. Already in the gas chambers, is another - albeit purely sym Hitler idolaters the Middle Ages she' gloried in the epithet first bolic - step in the same direction D to complacent daughter of the Church' and was the only country beneficiaries of in Christendom who.se King - Louis IX - had had the regime. sainthood conferred on him. Only two out But French history rarely progressed in .straight of twenty probably lines. By l600 she was unique for the opposite reflects correctly reason that Protestants enjoyed the same right ol the proportion worship as Catholics. A century later Louis - lY'tal of Germans c'est moi - the Fourteenth had contrariwise expellcLJ who remained all Huguenots. In the next two reigns Catholic- non-Nazi. Does the Protestant strife was replaced by that between the existence of this ten Church and sceptics like Voltaire. Then came the percent challenge Revolution which suppre.s.sed the Church altogether or confirm the - but not for long. picture of the Nineteenth century France was increasingly split whole nation as between Catholic monarchists and .secular Republi 'Hitler's willing cans, until the outcome of the Dreyfus Trial finally executioners'? signalled the defeat of the officer corps and the It seems an Church. unanswerable All threads of French history came together in Hcclcsia and Synci^u^a drill.' hliiulftiUI ami hmkcn kince) al question D 1940. "What Marshal Petain did was simultaneou.sly Strasbourg Cathedral. AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER /997
to succeed as departmental head in 1979. Profile In addition to ail the social work Sylvia ran a home help service. A combination of professional and vol Sylvia Matus unteer experience made her the ideal ylvia Matus has served the AJR for candidate to manage AJR's new Day Cen more than twenty years, the last tre (which opened in 1987) once again in Seleven as manager of the out co-operation with her friend Renee. standingly successful Paul Balint AJR Day Sylvia set out to increase membership Centre in London's West Hampstead. and meet members' needs. "We don't Sylvia was born in London shortly be push paper in this place. We are here to fore the outbreak of World War II, make our members as happy and com sharing the family home in Greenford fortable as we can. I am delighted to say with her younger sister, grandfather and that they treat the centre like their own aunt, not to mention three uncles who home and that we are part of their made it their home when on leave from family." the services. Greenford's small Jewish Sylvia claims that she always remains community often held Friday night serv calm despite continual pressures. Unsur ices there. prisingly she ranks teamwork, "where Sylvia went from school in Harrow to Sylvia Mains everyone enjoys working together", secretarial college, and at 18 began work above all. "The atmosphere for the mem ing for a trading company established by Returning to Kingsbury in London in bers is created by the staff and a German Jewish refugee. Two years on 1967, they became very active members volunteers," she explains, and continues, she was in television research, then with of the synagogue and its youth club. "It would be hard to describe how I the Granada group. At the age of 22 she Fellow Kingsbury resident Renee Lee spend the day here. Hours turn into days, married and returned with her husband suggested that Sylvia might work for the days into weeks and weeks into years! to his home in Sale, Cheshire, continuing AJR; Sylvia joined in July 1976 as assistant May I have the strength to continue to to work for Granada as a senior PA with to the head of social work, Marion help our members as long as humanly four secretaries! Then along came their Casson, who soon recognised her com possible." And we all say Amen to that. two daughters. petence and compassion, and trained her n Ronald Channing
many other nationals, Romanians, Byelo Re-interpreting russians, Ukrainians, Slovaks and others. the Holocaust He took particular objection to Gold hagen's conclusion that Germans were rofessor Yehuda Bauer of Yad especially imbued with antisemitism, Vashem and the Hebrew University, recalling that Hitler had failed to gain a Pdelivered a comprehensive critique of majority in the 1933 elections; paradoxi interpretations of the Holocaust to an cally, he was offered the Chancellorship attentive gathering at the Wiener Library'. because he was no longer considered a In his view, most authors had dealt threat to other political factions. with the subject from the perspective of In Prof. Bauer's view, "the basis of the the perpetrators, posing and answering Holocaust was ideological and the the question 'Why did it happen?' In impulse came from the centre". A main those scenarios the Jews were just contributory factor to genocide was the victims, largely to be ignored. It was, recruitment of the intelligentsia (aca however, essential to explain anti demics, lawyers, teachers, bureaucrats, semitism "and the excessive participation religious leaders, the army) who were Prof. Yehuda Bauer. Chainiian i,j !hc JJi.-,u>iiitil^ of Jews in German society". Unfortu used to transmit dehumanisation and ha Research Institute at Yad Vashem and Chair oJ nately, most analyses made from a Jewish tred to the population at large. This Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University standpoint tended to be written in He model was common to all 20th century brew and Yiddish and consequently not genocide from the USSR to Rwanda, yet available to a wider readership. at clear variance to Goldhagen's analysis. BOUQUET Ranging over a number of authors. The Holocaust remained unique in I continue to enjoy AJR Information and Prof. Bauer supported valid, well- being total genocide, with no alternative marvel at the Editor's fount of researched arguments, but dismissed courses to salvation - such as recantation knowledge. It is the best of its kind, misguided and simplistic ones. He agreed or conversion - being on offer to its interesting, informative - so much so that with Daniel Goldhagen that after 1941 victims. "All questions about the Holo on strict family orders, we are keeping all the great majority of Germans actively caust are answerable," said Prof. Bauer, copies for posterity. supported genocide against the Jews, but "though we have yet to answer them". Asmuns P/c?ce Inge Silvertov/'^ pointed out that this also applied to D Ronald Channing London NWl I AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
sort had created for him - but in a less Grooming a future King lurid manner. Even so, the Prince of he Royal Family's decision (in line Wales' undergraduate shenanigans had NEWTONS with the modernisation of the prompted Prince Albert's journey to Ox Leading Hampstead Solicitors Tmonarchy) not to determine the ford which led to the latter's illness and 22 Fitzjohns Avenue, next .stage of Prince William's education early death. This tragedy undoubtedly London NW3 5NB without consulting him, will make the played its part in souring the relationship A^ All English legal work young prince's chrysalis years at Eton less between Queen Victoria and Edward for undertaken and German, strenuous than his father's were at the rest of her long life. Swiss & Austrian claims Gordonstoun. However, the royal oedipal conflict * German spoken It serves as a reminder of the difficul with the most disastrous long-term conse ties attendant on the grooming of a quences was that between Victoria's "^ Home visits arranged king-to-be, which in the past often took a grandson (the subsequent) Wilhelni II and "k Associated offices in Hamburg, form not totally dissimilar from that of his liberal-minded, ailing, father Friedrich, Los Angeles,Tel Aviv, Sydney, breaking in a young horse. and much-resented English mother Vicky. Zurich The most notorious instance of the lat The Kaiser's malignant youthful reaction Tel: 0171 435 5351 ter was an episode in the formative years against English Bevormiindung (tutelage) Fax: 0171 435 8881 of the subsequent Frederick the Great of was a stage on his journey towards chal Prussia. Sent to a cadet academy, the lenging Britain's naval and colonial young prince had found the regimen supremacy which precipitated the Great there so harsh that he - and a friend - n Richard Grunberger tried to run away. The attempt failed, PARTNER 3nd, as a punishment decreed by his roy in long established English Solicitors al father, Frederick was made to watch (bi-lingual German) would be happy the execution of his would-be fellow es Club 1943 to assist clients with English, German capee. he Club, now in the 54th year of and Austrian problems. Contact This traumatic experience of Prussian its existence, is probably the only Henry Ebner educational methods, alas, did not turn Tremaining cultural a.ssociation of its 'ts recipient in a direction unwelcome to kind. (The Stammtisch in New York still Myers Ebner & Deaner the father. As a king Frederick treated his meets regularly, but no longer has a 103 Shepherds Bush Road own .soldiers as absolute cannon fodder - formal programme). The German authori London W6 7LP 'Wolli ihr Kerle ewig leben ? (Do you fel ties certainly value the Club's cultural Telephone 0171 602 4631 lows want to live forever'?) - in several contribution and have honoured its Wars of Prussian aggrandisement. (In a Chairman with the Bimdesverdienstkretiz. ALLLEGALWORK bizarre footnote to his warlike existence During 1996/7 we maintained a stable UNDERTAKEN ne also had himself buried in the com membership, and noticeably increased pany of his favourite dogs - rather than attendances, due to our expanding mail alongside his wife). ing list. Our programme is designed to During Prussia's rise to military promi reflect the culture we were forced to nence England was ruled by three leave behind, whilst at the same time AUSTRIAN and GERMAN Hanoverian kings, each of whom had integrating with that into which we emi PENSIONS problems grooming his son for the suc grated. cession. The third of them notoriously We had speakers from the Research had the greatest problems. Readers famil- Centre for German and Austrian Exile PROPERTY RESTITUTION 'ar with Alan Bennett's The Madness of Studies including a report on its Oral CLAIMS George III will remember the Prince of History project. Jens Briining (Berlin) pre EAST GERMANY- BERLIN Wales as a fierce antagonist of his sented his video Letztes SchhipJJoch aus fath On Instructions our office will er's, and working against him in Europa: Marseilles, die F-Route und Lissa- cahoots with the dissolute opposition hon. Anthony Webster spoke on living assist to deal with your leader Charies James Fox. and teaching in the former GDR, Dr Tho applications and pursue the The father-son conflict kept dogging mas Otte on Sir Francis Oppenheimer's matter with the authorities. ••^yal families throughout the 19th cen- diplomatic career, and Dr Klaus Hinrich- son on The visual arts in internment. For further information and '^•7- In Austria Crown Prince Rudolph appointment please efied the sternly conservative Emperor Richard Grunberger gave a lecture on ranz Joseph in all manner of ways: as a the refugee authors Elias Canetti, Erich contact: enereally infected womaniser, as anony Fried, Jacov Lind, and Hilde Spiel. A most ICS CLAIMS mous contributor to liberal newspapers lively discussion ensued, and, having 146-154 Kilburn High Road •^tl. finally, as partner in a suicide pact always appreciated our association with London NW6 4JD With an extra-marital lover. the AJR, we look forward to 24 Novem In Britain, meanwhile, (the subsequent) ber when he will discuss Egon Erwin Tel: 0171-328 7251 (Ext. 107) Edward VII also fell drastically short of Kisch, Der rasende Reporter. Fax:0171-624 5002 ^ne role model his father the Prince Con D Hans Seelig AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
the Castle' offers a longer perspective on Reviews Jewish history and 'The Ultimate Sunrise' Barred from Bayreuth ends the book with her experiences on GottfriedWagner.WER NICHT MIT DEM WOLF the death march from Auschwitz. The HEULl Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1997 Voices from the sun, rising on her weakness as they fi nally crossed the River Elbe, was yet so t is well known that from the early maelstrom beautiful. twenties onwards, the Wagner dynasty These sixteen stories open windows on provided a badly needed image of OUT OFTHE DARK, Foreword by Alan Sillitoe, I the dark. I hope they will be widely read. cultural respectability for Hitler and his Holocaust Survivors'Centre, 1997, £25. U Jill Bamber henchmen. hese stories are intensely personal This autobiography highlights the fragments from the maelstrom - Wagner clan's vital part in grooming the Tfull of the voices of children, The authors of Out Of The Dark young Hitler before his ascent to power, bewildered, invariably frightened, having their intimate links with him during the been separated from their families and f you have the scribbling urge, you are Thousand Year Reich', and abiding loy the life they had known until then. Now driven to put pen to paper and share alty thereafter. Its author, Gottfried they are nearing old age, but it is not too I the result with others. It was therefore Wagner, was born in 1947, the son of late for them to make themselves heard. a godsend for some of us when, four Wolfgang - and nephew of Wieland - They had to learn a new language, and years ago, Andrew Herskovitz announced Wagner, the postwar directors of the Bay even now their mother-tongue glints his intention to start a writers' group at reuth Festival. At school in the US between the lines. the Holocaust Survivors Centre. occupation zone he received an image of Andrew Herskovits's 'Dr Roty', physi Hungarian-born Andrew survived a se Nazi reality totally at odds with what he cian and loving father, was skillfully lection at Auschwitz at thirteen by being heard at home - especially from his written and the ending beautifully fore tall, and was subsequently a slave la grandmother Winifred. (She did not shadowed as the story progressed. His bourer at the rocket factory in Dora. He bother to hide her abiding regard for USA moving 'Quo Vadis', has rather too many still towers over us physically. His abi - her secret code for UNSER SELIGER characters. An old woman, observed by ding interest is in literature of all kinds ADOLF, i.e. our late blessed Adolf). After her social workers nightly re-enacts her and he brings to the group both enthusi encountering gruff refusals from father husband and son's last walk. asm and strong views about what Wolfgang to answer any of his searching Rose Ellis writes about the Kinder- constitutes good writing. questions on the subject of Hitler's per transport. The difficulties of translation You could call us a mixed ability class. sonal relationship with the Wagner emerge when her host family treat her as Some have degrees in literature; others family, the inquisitive schoolboy set out a housemaid because she was placed may have written little more than a letter on clandestine investigations of his own. with them as a haustochter. I was im to a relative. What unites us is the desire He was shocked to discover corres pressed with Martha Blend's strength in to express ourselves, and under Andrew's pondence showing the entire family's 'English with Tears'. She fought off the tutelage many of us have discovered enthusiastic involvement with the Nazi bullies in the village school in Devon talents we never knew we had. top brass, as well as photographic and with an umbrella, though her foster- We don't always agree (we have had film material displaying Grandma Winnie, mother never understood why she took it long arguments about whether what we Uncle Wieland and his father Wolfgang to school even on fine days. are writing is 'true') and are free to incor either strutting about giving the Nazi sa Avram Schaufeld writes vividly of his porate criticism if we choose. However, lute or genuflecting before their 'Uncle life as a shepherd on a kibbutz evoking certain principles apply: no inconsisten Wolf. the smell of the sheep and his struggles cies or repetition, and emotion must Undeterred by beatings at the hands of to train the more intelligent to lead the come from the reader's understanding, his father, the teenage maverick under flock because he lacked a sheepdog. not from our attempt to tell him how he took his own investigations and Leah Goodman writes with the voice of a should feel ("Show us, don't tell us", is succeeded in penetrating the web of three-year-old hidden in a bleak Catholic Andrew's watchword). hypocri.sy .surrounding the Bayreuth hier convent in Belgium with her sister. In During the time we have been attend archy. 'The Doll and the Teddy Bear' Renee ing the group, two of us, Trude Levi and There followed the unfolding of a Treitel remembers the past as she looks myself, have had books published by modern version of Schiller's Don Carlos, at her grandchildren - a healed and heal Vallentine Mitchell - Trade's A Cat Called with a ruthless father shedding all pater ing account. Adolf and my A Child Alone. Due to the nal feelings for a son with ideas of his Etta Lerner, whose history was perhaps spate of books on the Holocaust we have own. Gottfried's submLssion of a research the most harrowing, describes her intern had to do mo.st of our own marketing. thesis on Kurt Weil at the University of ment in Auschwitz as a young child in Trude is a Hungarian camp survivor and Vienna prompted a typical contretemps- 1944. Ester Friedman's long excerpt is the her book has been translated into Ger When his father asked him if he couldn't least well linked to the theme of Holo man. My book, which describes how it think of anything more worthwhile than caust, describing her struggle to make a felt to be a child in Nazi Austria and my this honky-tonk trash, he replied furi living in Israel as an estate agent. Well- schooldays in England during the war, ously: "For my part, I prefer the .song of written though it is, its relevance escapes has been particularly successful with Pirate Jenny a thousand times to the me and I felt that the space could have schools as well as adult readers. entire hypocritical Wagnerian middle- been better used; Trude Levi's 'Kashrut in D Martha Blend (continued on page 5) AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
class redemption rubbish". Ultimately history and culture of the Jews of the Wolfgang's powerful influence ensured area and their importance at the time. GERMAN that his son found it difficult, if not (Readers of AJR Information may recall a RESTITUTION CLAIMS impossible, to obtain long-term engage report on the Kittsee Project .some two ments as opera producer or assistant years ago). Among those concerned with Have your claims to recover properties anywhere in Europe. He has also been this book are Governor Proell of Lower in East Germany got stuck in legal banned from the Bayreuth Festival - a Austria who initiated the reconstruction and bureaucratic delays? banishment he should view as a rare of Jewish cemeteries, and the Head We, with our German Associates, shall mark of distinction. Mistress of the secondary school in be glad to give you a first assessment As a founder-member of the Post-Holo Kittsee. It is the descendants of those of what can be done free of charge. caust Dialogue Group, who has paid his expelled in 1938 who must decide Please contact Mr H H Marcus respects to the dead at Auschwitz, whether all this amounts to adequate Edmonds Bowen & Co., Solicitors Gottfried was, however, invited by Bay- reparation. 4 Old Park Lane, London WIY 3LJ reuth's Jewish community to attend their There is one silver lining to this tragic Tel: 0171 629 8000 High Holiday services as a guest of hon history. The expulsion of the Burgen- Fax: 0171 221 9334 our. lander Jews quite early in 1938, (by April DFW Rosner more than half of the total were already No pension claim enquiries please in Vienna) meant that they got on with emigrating rather earlier than those in the bigger towns. As a result, probably a 7 YEARS AND STILL NO Cut off continuity larger proportion of expellees from the PROGRESS ON YOUR Johannes Reiss,'AUS DEN SIEBEN GEMEINDEN', 'Seven Communities' survived the Holo caust, than was the case with other Oesterrjuedisches Museum, Eisenstadt, 1997. PROPERTY CLAIM Austrian victims of the Nazis. IN BERLIN & EAST his book seems intended to D Francis Steiner acquaint the current generation of GERMANY? TBnrgenldnder with a facet of their We are specialists In speeding up cases. province's history of which they might We buy and/or process claims. otherwise be unaware. Return to Silesia References of satisfied claimants with What strikes the reader is the small n Wroclaw (Breslau) we hired a car completed claims are available. number of Jews involved. Considering and went .straight to Bad Salzbrunn. NAGEL <& PARTNER the almost mythical reputation of these I What an experience! Although our seven small towns as the most prominent hearts were crying, we wouldn't have Contact our Representative Contact in Germany communities of centuries-old continuous wanted to miss it. It's impossible to inGB Phone 49 30 882 56 31 Jewish settlement in the whole of Central describe. Bad Salzbrunn is .so very beau Solicitor Hans H. Marcus Fax 49 30 881 39 16 Europe, it is staggering to read that in tiful and I remembered every house there Phone 0171-629 8000 Uhiandstrasse 156 1921 when the area joined rump Austria, and who had lived there. I at once Fax 0171-221 9334 10719 Berlin 'ts 3000 Jews amounted to only 1.2% of recogni.sed the Ledermann house. So we 4 Old Parl< Lane London WIY3LJ the local population. went in and to our great surpri.se the lady ^ Equally strange, the relations between living there spoke German quite well. these Jews and their gentile neighbours She invited us inside, prepared coffee for seem to have varied as between different us and when we told her that we wanted places. While in some of them the popu to stay for a few days, she invited us to 50 YEARS AGO lation seems to have been largely stay with her. We gladly accepted, but integrated, in others the relations appear told her that we were going to pay her BERLIN TODAY to have been purely professional and for it. We had a few really nice days with A car took me from the British Airport in Berlin to Commercial. In neither case does there her We bought her a lot of food and left the hotel on Kurfurstendamm. The streets were empty. A few jeeps and military lorries drove along. seem to have been any attempt to protect her a sum of money after our three-day A few people pushed their barrows. An unreal these neighbours from the Nazis; and the stay. stillness lay over the city. For the first time after c'ditor rightly criticises the fact that in the Waldenburg's Jewish cemetery is in eight years I looked again into the faces of Germans. I do not believe in the collective guilt of a ^hole of the Burgenland there is .so far very good condition, a man is cleaning people, but those whom I saw - were these the "o monument to the local victims of the all the time; we talked to him, he spoke innocents or the murderers?
Holocau.st. a little German, I found the graves of my I left the hotel and walked along streets among ^ut it is only fair to say that the current dear grandparents, but without the tomb which I had lived for a long while. I knew the generation does try to make amends. stones. The man told us that all the good houses from where Jews had been dragged and tomb.stones were .stolen after the war, for where the new masters had triumhantly moved in. I 'storic .synagogues are being carefully now passed those houses which formed a macabre •"ccon.stmcted, there is a major effort to buildings. As you can well imagine I lane of burned out ruins; trod over debris which ^" t'ar up and reconstruct Jewish cemeter- cursed all those who had done it. I found for two years now had been piled up on the l^s, and there is now a Jerusalem Platz' the grave of my uncle, who died long be pavements, through districts which were wiped out. I felt two conflicting sensations; sadness and deep '" Ei,sen.stadt. Last but by no means least, fore I was born. His tombstone was small satisfaction Q and very old. ^re are many 'projects' in various Herbert Freeden.AjR Information, November 1947 '•^^•hools to make the children study the • Gerda Neustadtl AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
Balfour Declaration was not issued until November 1917. Professor Sir Martin Gilbert, in his pref ace to his History of the Jewish People in Maps, says:- "I was overwhelmed by the perpetual and irrational violence which pursued the Jews in every century and to almost every corner of the globe". Mr OUR RIGHTTOTHE LAND WAR'S AFTERMATH IN Freud's repetition of Nazi propaganda Sir - The measure of my concern at ACADEME does him no credit, and no service to the Avraham Shomroni's specious arguments Sir - So the yeshive bochers of Stanford Jewish people. is best shown by the fact that I am a University object to Norman Davies Manchester W Lachs carer, a 25-hour job with little time for (September issue), an authority on Slav anything else, but nevertheless felt im history, saying that "under Nazi occu pelled to write. pation the Poles could no more help the THE NEXT GENERATION Most certainly Holy Scripture is a title- Jews than the Jews could help them", deed - Israel being the only country in Sir - I read Katherine Klinger's article true though it is. Poles and Jews were with amazement!! (October issue). It the world with one such recognised by massacred in the German-occupied part both God and man at the UN. seems to me to be an 'attack' on the because both were 'inferior races'. Often survivors of the Holocaust - The First There has never been Arab or other they didn't even speak each other's Generation. sovereignty over the whole area, neither language and after centuries of Catholic We do not deserve such criticism by in modern nor ancient history. Which an indoctrination there was no point of the Second Generation. We suffered cient or Arab king ever exercised it? - but contact. Israel has many who did. enough and, with difficulty, have - However, Davies in his Europe does mosdy - rebuilt our shattered lives. If the The modern Jewish return began more deal at great length with the plight of the Second Generation needs finances, or than 100 years ago and, with it, the re Jews and describes how a Poli.sh courier, speakers and lecturers, they must get vival of an area stripped of its trees, a who gave an eye-witness account of the their own act together. rock-strewn sandbowl and no more than death camps, was accused by Chief Jus a halt for roaming Bedouin until Jewish I am a survivor, and only survived be tice Frankfurter of lying, and says that cause my mother thought more of her sweat, industry and money transformed it American Jews were no more spurred to sufficiently for considerable numbers of children than of her own life! action than anyone else. It strikes me that the Second Genera Arabs to enter to escape their hopeless What they also conveniently forget is poverty elsewhere. tion Is quite oblivious of our feelings, that with a strict quota system, which and it appears that only survivors can un Lindsay Drive Harry Needham kept European Jews out of the USA, derstand the trauma of the Holocaust. Kenton, Middx American Jews kept their heads very Cheadle Hulme Eva E Gillatt much below the parapet and did not Cheshire help their brethren either. Sir - I want to express my appreciation to Ipswich Frank Bright you for printing Avraham Shomroni's Suffolk article. Let me quote Martin Buber on the IT OCCURS TO ME... same topic: "Jews and Arabs must Sir - Ernest David (September Lssue) is develop the land together, without one VARIETIES OF ANTISEMITISM rightly pessimistic about long-term Israel- imposing his will on the other. There are Sir - In his letter about the American Arab peace prospects, partly because, in two claims which cannot be pitted one Jewish Lobby in World War I, Mr A W this case, the first condition for a again.st the other, and between which no Freud makes an accusation but offers no resolution - agreement on the basis of objective decision can be made as to evidence. the claim to land - is absent. which is ju.st or unju,st. We consider it our Who constituted this Lobby? Who were The right to live in peace, within .secure duty to understand and to honour the its leaders? Where were its headquarters? borders, is not negotiable on behalf of claim which is opposed to ours, and to The answer is that there is no evidence any nation state, but the fact that a gov endeavour to reconcile both claims". that such a body ever existed. ernment is properly elected must not llford Peter Prager There were two American Jews of great inhibit justifiable criticism directed at the Essex eminence at the time: Chief Justice Louis responsible electorate. Brandeis, and Henry Morgenthau. Morgen- Anything that undermines the moral thau was not a Zionist and Brandeis, basis of the nation must not go un Sir - Avraham Shomroni's letter (October although a Zionist, was by his office challenged, otherwise our stature and issue) has given me hope for the future bound to silence on this issue. American confidence, to which Mr David refers, are of Israel. Jewry was then in the process of disengag diminished and those within the nation The signpost is towards sanity and hu ing from its European history; it was who would choose another path lack our manity. There is no other choice than a largely isolationist and instinctively anti- support. Our duty is to them and it is 'common homeland'. Russian. clear. Mottingham Rene Semrock The United States, for its own reasons, Chalfont St Giles Alan S Kaye London SE9 entered the Great War in April 1917. The Buckinghamshire . • . * AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
death. Like the boy Frister, the victims Profoundly were repeatedly placed in situations where their ability to choose freely, in liid painful issue accordance with the moral dictates of recent article in the Austrian their hearts, was simply overridden by weekly Profil reviewed the Israeli the elemental will to survive, which the A journalist and Holocaust sursivor persecutors then turned to their own ad Roman Frister's autobiography. Die Miitze vantage. Human nature being what it is, HOwWuCH Oder Der Preis des Lebens. Frister one should not be surprised that a small confronts the sensitive areas of Jewish percentage - and it was only small - collaboration with the Nazis in the sought to save their skins by becoming DOES IT COST extermination camps and the darker side Kapos in the camps. of the inmates' behaviour. The Auschwitz It is always difficult to confront the re TO HAVE YOUR episode which gives the book its title ality behind a myth. Thus, after 1945 the encapsulates the second theme: an Jews of the Yishuv had to grapple with OWN PIECE inmate steals the young narrator's cap, an their perception that their coreligionists act akin to murder, for appearing capless in Europe had gone to their deaths, as at morning roll-call meant immediate the phrase went, like lambs to the OF ISRAEL? execution. In this desperate situation, the slaughter' (at most an oversimplified and boy responds to the imperative of self- partial truth); accordingly, they produced For a legacy as little as £1,800 preservation: he steals someone else's a version of events that highlighted the you can be associated for ever cap, and at the roll-call hears the shot heroism of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. which tells him that he has saved his life Later, when the passive' victims came to with the State of Israel and have at the price of another's. be accepted and their suffering invested a permanent personal memorial. The first point to be made here is that with an aura of martyrdom, it proved of ethical responsibility. Quite clearly, hard to acknowledge that some few had Supporters of JNF are all hlame for the unimaginable moral di compromised themselves by acting as identified in grateful perpetuity- a lemma in which the fifteen-year-old Kapos. Jewish leaders were deeply Frister found himself rests with those shocked and embarrassed when they en fitting and appropriate way of who erected the whole fiendish system countered cases of the beating and even remembering you, your family of moral degradation and physical exter lynching of former Kapos; it emerged that mination, not with the boy himself. For the son of a member of the Jewish and your generosity in a wide and the system's satanic ingeniousness con Agency Executive, later Israeli Minister of attractive range of projects. sisted not only in the efficiency with the Interior, had been a Kapo in which it consigned millions to their Auschwitz. Be remembered always ...for a deaths, but also in the calculated dehu- But such cases of collaboration and truly worthv/hile gesture. Israel will t^anisation of its victims, who were to be moral compromise should be seen for robbed of all human dignity and decency. what they were: a proportion of prison never forget you. !!••••••• As historians' studies of the role of the ers, predictable but small, who Send the coupon now for more Judenrdte in the Holocaust have shown, participated in the brutality of the .system, fhe machinery of genocide sought at or acts of self-preservation by inmates in details on how you can personally sach successive stage to reduce the vic situations that defied moral resolution. have your own small piece of Israel tims' freedom of choice, drawing them Primo Levi asserted in The Droumed and into the process of their own destruction the Saved that in the camps only the fit through a legacy. S X "Y facing them with impo.ssible decisions. test and the worst survived. But this ' '"'ould a town's Jewish Council have co bleak conclusion is disproved by Levi's To: Harvey Bratt, JNF Charitable Trust, 58-70 operated with the German authorities by own survival, and he was, in truth, one Edgware Way. Edgware, Middlesex HAS 8GQ. supplying lists of selected Jews or should of the be.st. So, despite Frister's grim tale, Tel: 0181 421 7601. Freephone 0800 901333. they have refused, risking the immediate were the mass of his fellows. Please send me further information on your range of projects in Israel. wholesale massacre of their charges? D Anthony Grenville Should individual Jews have resisted be Name(Mr/Mrs/Ms) fore they were loaded into the sealed Address ^^ggons or were they acting rationally Special Guided Tour y opting to spare their defenceless fami- Postcode. 'es the unequal battle against guns and HOUSE OF LORDS Telephone. ogs, in the hope of deferring the mo- Tuesday 25th November C4 •^*^nt of decision? at 10am Of course, that moment never came: by Limited number of places the time the victims reached the camps, Call Carol 0171-431 6161 e system ensured that they never had for immediate booking We're responsible for the state of Israel. e chance to behave otherwise than they JNF Charitable Trust Beg. No. 225910 '^. helpless on the conveyor belt to AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
SOUTH LONDON AJR Dr Schapira, who came to England as a Kindertransportee in 1939, followed a Holocaust Exhibition report most distinguished medical career as a ames Taylor of the Imperial War consultant and university lecturer in .Museum, who is responsible for acqui Newcastle, serving as President of the sitions from Germany and Austria for psychiatry section of the Royal Society of Enjoy Jthe Holocaust Exhibition which is open Medicine. His other claim to fame is as * Excellent food ing in time for the millennium, gave an father of the Day Centre's own Susie * Stimulating talk enthusiastic account of his work to Kaufman D * Enlivening discussion members of SLAJR. * Meeting new friends Holocaust studies are now part of A\R LUNCHEON CLUB schools' GCSE curriculum, and awareness Hove too onWednesday 19th November 1997 of the Holocaust has been enhanced by embers of the Paul Balint AJR at l5CleveRoad,NW6 3RL recent films, television series and the Day Centre cho.se a day of clear 11.45 for 12.15pm testimony of survivors prepared to under blue skies and sunshine for a M Guest speaker: Geoffrey Perry take this demanding task. visit to the seaside at Hove, one of the Many documents and artifacts for the South coast's more sophisticated resorts. How 'Germany Calling' Stopped new exhibition were acquired in Berlin, Following a pleasant, if traffic-delayed, Reservations (£7) James Taylor revealed. In Berlin's Jewish journey came an excellent fish or from Sylvia, Renee and Susie Museum and Wannseehaus (and Austria's vegetarian hotel lunch. Afterwards, what Tel: 0171 328 0208 Mauthausen camp) there are records of could be better than a sunbathe in the e.scapes and escapees. James also makes warm sunshine and an afternoon stroll regular visits to camps such as Belsen along the sea front. No one wanted to Paul Balint AJR Day Centre and Sachsenhausen, finding items from leave, but by departure time everybody the macabre to the mundane left by reluctantly had to climb aboard. Sylvia, Tea i)ance those who were murdered. Films and who organised and led the day trippers, video recordings made by survivors and received not one complaint! It must have ^ Singalong refugees provided additional material. been a perfect day. D RDC Holocaust museums such as Yad Vashem with in Israel, Washington, Terezin and Krakow, Shelley Weldon are another rich .source. Dealers too pro Sunday 14th December vide film records and photographs, but 3 to 6pm particular care had to be taken tlrat they Entrance £5 including tea were entirely genuine. D Ruth Leggett (by ticket only) /J« Contact Sylvia, Renee or Susie AJR LUNCHEON CLUB
Opera buffed AJR 'Drop in' Advice Centre r Kurt Schapira, first guest speaker at the of AJR Luncheon Club's new Enjoying Hore's warm aiul iivlcomiiifi sea breezes. Paul Balint AJR Day Centre season, informed and entertained D 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 3RL members with his operatic anecdotes, NORTHERN GROUP between 10am and 12 noon on the warm personality and a selection of ex following dates: ceptional recorded performances. A well-attended meeting of AJR's North Tuesday 3 November No doubt the influence of his native ern Group heard an informative talk on Wednesday 11 November city, Vienna, helped to encourage a life the activities of Amnesty International Thursday 20 November long love of opera, and regular visits to given by Edward Levy, a Trustee of the Thursday 26 November see the greatest opera singers of our time AJR Charitable Trust and Member of AJR's Monday I December performing in Europe's finest opera Committee of Management. and every Thursday from houses. He recalled hearing Maria Callas Though Amnesty was subject to criti 10am to 12 noon at: in Paris at the height of her powers in the cism, he gave an assurance that the AJR, I Hampstead Gate, la mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor organisation maintained a non-political Frognal, London NW3 6AL and, among other recordings, played stance. Edward Levy also outlined the No oppointment is necessary, but please bring Schwarzkopf and Gedda singing the .se activities of the AJR Charitable Trust and along all relevant documents, such as Benefit duction duet from Die Fledermaus, and the tasks it performs in the service of the Books, letters, bills, etc. Rossini's Barber of Seville. members. D WL AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997
It occurs to me... PAUL BALINT AJR DAY CENTRE Monday 17 A PARTY AFTERNOON hilst I realise that I may be - Dorothy Sayers adding fuel to the flames, I Tel. 0171 328 0208 (Piano & Accordion) should like to consider aspects Tuesday 18 EUROPEAN MEDLEY - W Open Monday and Wednesday 9.30am-3.,30pm, of people's behaviour following the un Tuesday 9.30am-5pm, Thursday 9-30am-6.30pm, Claude May (Baritone) timely death of the Princess of Wales. Sunday 2pm-6.30pm. accompanied by Piano Standing back and looking back, is it Wednesday 19 DAY CENTRE OPEN - not amazing how one person's death Morning Activities D Bridge, kalookie, scrabble, LUNCHEON CLUB generated so much emotion in a mass chess, etc., keep fit, discussion group, choir Thursday 20 I FEEL PRETTY - hysteria, when other deaths, even those (Mondays), art class (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Simone Broso in the same accident, and equally as sad, (Soprano) accompanied warranted just a few casual lines? by Margaret Marinkovic Afternoon entertainment - In previous years we saw mass hysteria (Piano) when crowds went on the rampage and NOVEMBER 1997 Sunday 23 SHOWTIME AT THE carried out pogroms against Jews. In AJR - Amanda Palmer America, in Puritan days, women were Monday 24 CONCERT - CABARET condemned as witches because they did Sunday 2 THE KENTERTAINERS - Primrose Powell Monday 3 MARY-JANE'S DEBUT - not conform. In the modern world. Hitler accompanied by Mary-Jane de Havas and Goebbels were masters at whipping Andrew Wells (Piano) (Soprano) accompanied TALK& up mass hysteria while later, in America, Tuesday 25 by Geoffrey Whitworth DEMONSTRATION ON McCarthyism's witchhunt also fed on the (Piano) AROMATHERAPY & need to conform. Tuesday 4 A CONCERT BY THE REFLEXOLOGY - Imre What is so frightening is first, that mass TRINITY COLLEGE OF Pozsonyi hysteria has in the past usually been a MUSIC Wednesday26 "WINTERTIME - force for evil and second, how the effects Wednesday 5 VOCAL FIREWORKS - Deborah Fink cif propaganda can be multiplied by the Jean Aird (Soprano) & (Soprano) accompanied new techniques available. David Rose (Baritone) by Emily Green- It is true that in the case of the mass accompanied by Armitage (Piano) hysteria generated by the media after the Margaret Gibbs (Piano) Thursday 27 CLASSICAL ROMANCE Princess' death, there was neither an evil Thursday 6 THE VALERIE HEWITT - Maria Dolores Campos 'ntent nor an evil outcome, but modern SHOW - Valerie Hewitt (Soprano) accompanied niedia manipulation spread the message (Soprano - Guitar & by Margaret Marinkovic Wodd-wide. Even New York, for whom Piano) accompanied by (Piano) oritain is a small dot on the map, joined Anne Berryman (Piano) Sunday 30 THE THREE BACH 'n mourning with a crowd of 14,000 Sunday 9 MY SONG OF LOVE - VIOLIN CONCERTOS - grieving in Central Park. Katinka Seiner Leslie Town.send FAMILY Massage & Aromatherapy. ANNOUNCEMENTS ITEC qualified practitioner, Comfortable Flat SHELTERED FLATS home visits available. Work in residential care home Deaths shops also given to groups. in North London TO LET Antonowitz. Martha Anton- For appointment Tel: Margot near Kenwood Attractive warden-controlled owitz (nee Waldner), born Muller 0181 459 2919- Vienna, 5 June 1909. Died Lounge, Double Bedroom flats are available Ealing, Ashley Lodge Nursing Electrician. City & Guilds &Bath from time to time Home, 8 September 1997. A qualified. All domestic work Full care provided at brave and gentle lady, much undertaken. Y. Steinreich. Tel: Including meals Eleanor Rathbone House missed by Angela, Christopher 0181 455 5262. Highgate N6 and Nicholas. 'Seelige Erin Tel: Farita Franklin on 0181 Manicure & Pedicure in the nerungen'. 209 0022 for Information Details from: comfort of your own home. Mrs. K.Gould, AJR, on Boyden. Rudolph (Rudy) Telephone 0181 455 7582. Boyden died on 12 September 0171-431 6161 DIN DELIS HOUSE Tuesday and Thursday 1997, aged 86. Beloved hus Societies Residential Care Home band of Philippa, dear father Association of Jewish Ex- mornings. for Senior Citizens of Alfred and Michael, much Berliners. Please contact Viewing by appointment only loved father-in-law of Valerie Peter Sinclair 0181 1638 for Religion highly honoured and Sara, loving grandfather of information. Pleasant relaxed atmosphere Tanya and Miles, and of Jon All single rooms with TV athan killed four years ago in & telephone BELSIZE SQUARE Southern Lebanon. May they BOOKS PURCHASED For information contact: APARTMENTS both rest in peace. Pre-1950 Children's & Mrs HR Fearon Pennant 24 BELSIZE SQUARE, NW3 Hahn. Elizabeth (Lissy) Hahn Illustrated Books Phone 0181 903 7592 Tel: 0171-794 4307 or (nee Rosenthal), born Dre.sden Published in Germany, Russia, Fax 0181 903 4195 0171-435 2557 29 December 1909. Died Poland, Czechoslovakia, peacefully in her sleep on 18 Hungary MODERN SELF-CATERING HOLIDAY September 1997. Will be sadly ROOMS, RESIDENT HOUSEKEEPER Brian Mills: Books ALTERATIONS MODERATETERMS mis.sed by her children, grand 18 North Road, Glossop, OF ANY KIND TO NEAR SWISS COTTAGE STATION children, relatives and friends. Derbys.SKI3 9AS LADIES' FASHIONS WUder. Elfriede (Elfie) Wilder, Tel/Fax 01457-85 6878 I also design and make children's clothes born 1915 in Wiener Neustadt, TORRINGTON HOMES West Hampstead area Austria, died New York, July MRS. PRINGSHEIM, S.R.N. 0171-328 6571 1997. Deeply mourned by her MATRON DrH Alan Shields For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent cousins Sylvia Gordon, New (Licensed by Borough ol Barnet) York, Manfred Landau, Mall MB ChB BDS LDS RCS C.H.WILSON • Single and Double Rooms. • H/C Basins and CH in all rooms. wyd, Wales and John Gilbert, Carpenter • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. DENTAL SURGEON Painter and Decorator Huston, Texas. • Nurse on duty 24 hours. French Polisher Full Dental Service Antique Furniture Repaired • Long and short term, including CLASSIFIED trial period if required. Miscellaneous Tel: 0181-452 8324 Home visits, Emergencies Car: 0831 103707 From £275 per week Companion wanted for oc- 0181-445 1171 Office hours casicjnal visits to Ravenswood 46 BRAMPTON GROVE 0181 -455 1335 other times (Berks) from Golders Green. HENDON, NW4 SWITCH ON NORTH FINCHLEY Please contact Mrs T Fry, 97 Colindeep Lane, London NW9 Tel: 0181 203 0405 ELECTRICS 6DJ. Tel: 0181 205 7690. Rewires and all household Residential Home electrical work. Das Aegyptische Traumbuch. Clara Nehab House PHONE PAUL: 0181-200 3518 (Lao Baeck Housing Aasociaton Ltd.) Is there still a copy of it about? 13-19 Laaalda Creacant NWII I will buy or possibly exchange Optician All rooms v^ith Shower W.C. and for some other copy German Dr Howard Solomons ADVERTISEMENT RATES H/C Basins en-suite book. Please write to Box No. Spacious Garden - Lounge & BSc FBCO FAMILY EVENTS 1239. & First 15 words free of cfiarge, Dining Room - Lift £2.00 per 5 wordstfiereafter. Near Shops and Public Transport Refugees in Switzerland dur Chiropodist ing World World n. Researcher CLASSIFIED 24 Hour Care - Physiotherapy Trevor Goldman SRC £2.00 per five words. Long & short Term - Respite Care for book and TV documentary BOX NUMBERS -Trial Periods wishes to speak to internees in by appointment at £3.00 extra. camps such as Campo di The Paul Balint DISPLAY, SEARCH NOTICES Enquiries: Josephine Woolf per single column incfi Otto Schiff Housing Association Lavoro (near Locarno), Schau AJR Day Centre 65 mm (3 column page) £12.00 The Bishops Avenue N2 OBG enburg (near Basel), Basscourt, 15 Cleve Road, 48mm (4 column page) £10.00 Phone: 0181-209 0022 Champery or Diettisberg, and West Hampstead, NW6 COPYDATE 5 weeks prior to publication others living in Switzerland dur Please make appointments with ing the war. Please contact The AJR does not accept Sylvia Matus Simon Reeve, 'Vision', 20 Queen responsibility for the standard of Anne Street, London WIM OAY. Tel: on I 328 0208 service rendered by advertisers Tel/Fax: 0171 323 9757. 10 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997 ler Wing from November 13, the exhibi Obituary. Elisabeth Hongen who tion also includes luxury books and their died, aged 90, was one of the leading original watercolours by the great illus- Mezzos of her time. A member of the "Vi enna State Opera ensemble for 27 years, she sang in some 950 performances, her favourite roles being Carmen, Amneris and the nurse in Frau ohne Schatten. She ans Feibusch at 99. at the appeared at Covent Garden in 1947 and Collyer-Bristow Gallery until 1959, singing the Straussian parts of H November 13, is an admirable Herodias and Klythemnestra D tribute to this distinguished Frankfurt- born artist. The exhibition features recent Works on the theme of the Holocaust and the Bible, as well as earlier still lifes, Annely Juda Fine Art mythological paintings, studies for murals 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) and sculptures. Feibusch is still painting, Tel: 0171-629 7578 Fax: 0171-491 2139 his creative powers remarkably un CONTEMPORARY PAINTING impaired. To view ring Harriet McGinlay AND SCULPTURE 0171-242 7363. British Watercolours from the Oppe Collection celebrates the acquisition by the Tate Gallery last year of the famous GERMAN BOOKS collection formed by Paul Oppe. 100 Works are shown, including examples by WHY MOT CONTACT US artists such as Turner, Constable and FOR A VALUATIOI^? Hogarth. A rewarding exhibition, reflect- We are always seeking pre-1 950 German mg the extraordinary flowering of the books In ALL subject areas, especially British watercolour school from 1750- Exile/Internment literature and Judaica. Verona, Piazza dell'Erhe, Richard Parkes Boning- 1850. Until November 30. ton. 1826-7. Tate Gallery. We also buy interesting Autographs, In sharp contrast with the Royal Acad Original Manuscripts, Etchings and emy's much criticised Sensation is trators Arthur Rackham and Edmund Drawings and Art Photographs. Victorian Fairy Painting which ex Dulac. Eric Brueck plores the passion for fairies and the Paintings and graphics by five Jew Antiquariat Metropolis craze for the supernatural which took ish artists from Hungary, Latvia and hold of artists and writers from the early Poland, prize-winners in the B'nai B'rith Leerbachstr. 85, D-60322 Frankfurt a/M nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Arts 2000 competition, are on view at Tel: 0049 69745919 First World War. Even painters such as the Polish Cultural Institute from Members of tfie PBFA burner and Landseer succumbed to fairy November 24-27 inclusive. REGULAR VISITS TO LONDON themes. On view in the Academy's Sack- D Barry Fealdman throughout the year. GER]IIA]\ and SB's Column Honoured. George Tabori, author and producer, who calls himself 'principally a ENGLISH BOOKS foreigner' and whose plays have had BOUGHT heatre of the year. In an official variable successes on German-speaking Antiquarian, secondhand and survey of German-speaking stages, was made an honorary member of modern hooks of quality Ttheatres in 1996, Schauspielhaus the Vienna Burgtheater on the occasion always wanted. Hamburg, the Neumarkt Theater in of his 83rd birthday. We're long-standing advertisers 'Zurich and Schauspielhaus Stuttgart A woman of no importance? For here and leading buyers of books "htained top scores. many years nothing had been heard of from AJR members. Berlin. Hard on the heels of the Czech film actress Lida Baarova, for Immediate response to your letter '"^chillertheater closure the Schaubuhne merly the wife of Gustav Frohlich, and or phone call. ""w has problems. Maintaining an en- notorious in Nazi days because of her We pay good prices and semble without a .state subsidy seems no affair with Josef Goebbels, who obtained come to collect. "nger viable, and a changeover to film roles for her. She has been found ining the theatre on commercial lines living in Salzburg, an invalid aged 82. Please contact: Robert Hornung MA(Oxon) '•'^ being considered. Eventually, actors Birthday. German film actress Kris- tine Soderbaum is 85. Her reputation as 2 Mount View, Haling, 1 have to be engaged for one produc- London W? IPR a fine actress was tarnished by her par t'on only (as they do in Britain) which Telephone 0181-998 0546 ^'" mean a radical change for a public ticipation in such cla.ssics of Nazi cinema (Spin to 9pin is best) • ^^ regular subscribed performances as Jiul Siiss. AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997 However, after the fall of the Berlin ceremony held at the German Embassy in See what the boys in Wall she had a change of heart and told London. relatives she wanted to be buried near Hans was born in Mannheim in 1930 the backwoods will her mother in Berlin. When her corpse and came to England (with his parents) was flown home three years later she at the age of eight. After studying Ger have was given a virtual state funeral. But man and French at Oxford University, he uring World War Two a lot of even in death controversy dogged the became a grammar school teacher and wishful thinking focused on the immortal Marlene. When Schoneberg Dis later a lecturer at Hendon Polytechnic. 'other Germany', i.e. the allegedly trict Council proposed to name a square Throughout his life Hans has sought to D near her birthplace in her honour, local promote the German-Jewish contribution non-Nazi mass of the population. Such people certainly existed, but they were residents besieged council offices with to European culture, both to generations few in number, and their effectiveness angry letters and phone calls. of students and to his fellow Jewish refu virtually nil. Symbolically, while battle- Counteracting this grass roots opposi gees. hardened generals represented Free tion, an elite group of German and URDC France and Poland, and hereditary mon American film makers have now mooted archs Norway, Holland and Greece in the plans to erect a Dietrich Memorial oppo eyes of the world, the voices of the site the yet-to-be-built US Embassy near 'other Germany' were a highbrow nov the Brandenburg Gate. (By coincidence Congratulations elist and a blonde film diva: Thomas the two initiators of this project, film di Dr Stephen Spiro, Clinical Director of Mann and Marlene Dietrich. rector Billy Wilder and film producer Medicine at University College London In the late 1940s Thomas Mann, keen Artur Brauner, are both Jews). Hospitals for the past three years and son to return to Europe from the USA, found URG of Ludwig Spiro, former Hon. Treasurer the atmosphere in postwar Germany so of the AJR, has been appointed Professor uncongenial that he settled in Switzerland of Respiratory Medicine and Head of the (where he died in 1955). In 1960 Marlene Department of Respiratory Medicine at Dietrich undertook a concert tour of her Hans Seelig honoured UCLH. native country, but was reviled - by ans Seelig, well-respected chair Professor Vicky Caron (USA) and Dr some - as a traitor for having entertained man of Club '43, the half Nicholas Doumanis (Au.stralia) have been American troops throughout the war. In H century-old forum for the appre awarded the Fraenkel Prize in Contempo consequence she severed all contacts ciation of German-Jewish culture, was rary History for 1997. (Prof. Caron is to with Germany and eventually lived as a awarded the Order of Merit of the give a lecture at the Wiener Library on recluse in Paris. Federal Republic of Germany at a 27th November) D SEARCH NOTICES Karl Heinz Hoffman & Barthold from? What were their occupations over Dr Rudolph Munster and Dr Pines, Strauss. Classmates of Gunter (George) the generations? Please spare the time to German lawyers dealing with restitution Lazarus at the Israelitische Volksschule, contact Susan Foot, 22 Rowan Way, Exeter. claims, formerly practising in England. Last Grosse Rosen Strasse, Kassel, 1935-1939. Devon EX4 2DR. known addresses: 356/360 Grays Inn Please contact me at 249a West End Lane, Road, London WCl (1970); 10 Woburn London NW6 IXN.Tel:OI7l 431 2500. Czechoslovak refugees or relatives Court, 53/55 Bernard Street, London whose property, business and/or pos WCl (1979); Rosenstrasse Ma, Dijssel- Martigny-les-Bains, Neufchatel, Cliss- sessions were forcibly taken before, during dorf, GermanyThey or their heirs, and the on, Septfonds, Miranda, Madrid. or after the Holocaust, are being sought to whereabouts of their case papers, are ur Would anyone who has been there with provide information for an article in the gently being sought in connection with me between 1939 and 1943 please con Sunday Times. Particular interest in people claims by two former clients. Anyone in tact me: Peter Hart (formerly Herz), 26 who attempted to regain property/ possession of relevant information, please Harman Drive, London NW2 2ED. I am possessions whether successful or not. contact Mr Helmut Rothenberg, Blick researching the second edition of my war Please contact Cathy Scott-Clark or Adrian Rothenberg (Chartered Accountants) 12 time story Journey into Freedom. Levy on 0181 740 6709 or 0831 614 366. York Gate, Regent's Park, London NWl 4QS.Tel:OI7l 486 0111. Former residents of Herleshausen Geschwister Joachim and Inge or Nesselroden in Hessen (born Edith Weiss, born in Vienna, arrived Eng Danielsohn, born 1920-23. Lived Rath between 1909 and 1915) or their de land 1938, lived with Solomon family in enau, Berlin. Believed to have come to scendants, are being sought by niece of Golders Green. Staff Sergeant In ATS. Mar Britain (Scotland?) 1938-39. Sought by Egon Hans & Elly Wald who moved to ried Arthur Weiss 1945. Last known Kornblum, Scheinstr. 32, 45359 Essen, Herleshausen in April l938:Sitti Brumhof address 1947: Rue Jean Leclaire, Paris. Any Deutschland.Tel:00 49 20l 68 48 10. (nee Fisch), Lotte Dixon (nee Katz), Karl one with information please contact Katz and Ruth Robinson (nee Katz- Daphne Benjamin (Mrs), 7 Nicholas Way, Mannheim Jewry. Former resident enstein). Please contact Ingrid Numa, 67 Northwood, Middx. HA6 2TR.Tel: 01923 wishes to research history of Mannheim Farleigh Road, London NI6 7DTTel:OI7l 82 1350. Jewry. When did families settle? Where 254 1606 0 12 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMB^ 1997 easier, via the Zentralstelle f^r J^dische reversed social norms, which had gov Dutch courage - a new Auswanderung in Amsterdam which ar erned the relationship between Dutch connotation ranged transport to transit camps inside society and the Jews. Society, Dr Romjin the Netherlands and then on to the death said, was unable to respond adequately The following are extracts from the camps. But it cannot be said that the and in a timely way to what was happen 1997 Alexander Altmann memorial lecture Jews let themselves be taken to the tran ing and neither individual acts of (at University College, London) by Dr Peter sit and death camps like lambs to compassion and solidarity nor spontane Pomjin of the Dutch Institute for War slaughter. Many refused to report to the ous and symbolic protest could offer any Documentation. authorities when commanded, resulting effective collective counter strategy D feel a sense of inadequacy in describing in large-scale raids to catch such Jews. the suffering and loss of an immense Around 25,000 went into hiding for I multitude of individual lives and works. which there was organised assistance Wiener Library The persecution of the Jews in the only from mid 1943, and 16,000 of these Prof. Viciti Caron, winner of the Netherlands took place with incredible survived the war. Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History speed. From early 1941 until late 1943, The Dutch people themselves were 1997, will speak on Uneasy Asylum: France & the Jewish Refugee Crisis the Nazis and their collaborators arrested playing a waiting game during the war, 1933-1942 over 140,000 Jews. The majority of these hoping for signs the Germans would Thursday 27 November at 6.30pm ~ 107,000 - were deported to con leave the Netherlands in relative peace, Wiener Library, 4 Devonshire Street,WI centration and death camps in Germany which to some extent explained their Admission by application & SAE and Poland. Only 5,200 of those de- complaisant attitude towards the occupa £2 for non-members Ported survived. 20,000 Jews escaped tion forces. There was no kind of Tel: 0171 636 7247 tleportation by fleeing or going into collective resistance, although there are hiding. Around 5,000 Jews were exemp examples of isolated individual protest ted from deportation and remained among Dutch government employees legally in Holland, along with 10,500 and the February Strike of 1941 which double bill who were married to gentiles. While it was an expression of spontaneous protest THE JEWISH WIFE took from 1933 to enforce such a policy against the anti-Jewish measures. Never '1 Germany, it took a mere year and a theless, such protests were the exception by Bertolt Brecht half to do so in the Netherlands. The fact rather than the aile. and that Dutch Jews were so well integrated By the time deportation of Jews began, THE JEWISH PAUfiHTER Tiade it all the more astonishing that they large parts of Dutch society had, then, by Sonja Linden ^'ould be isolated and removed from simply let their Jewish population be society so quickly. taken away, neither consenting to it nor November 16 - December 15 Sundays & Mondays only The efficiency of the persecution of the preventing it. But there were some signs New End Theatre, Hampstead Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland is unde- of indignation over what was happening. BOX OFFICE: 0171 794 0022 t^atable. Di.scu.ssion till now has centred A group of students protested at the in on the question of how it could happen troduction of the yellow .star by wearing Brecht's play explores the dilemma of a at all. Painful questions have been posed stars indicating their own religion. German doctor with a Jewish wife. about the complicity of Dutch society, fo- Christian churches delivered a joint mes Sonja Linden's sequel is set in 1997 Britain ^'using in particular on the compliance of sage from the pulpit dencwncing the the Dutch civil service and the police. persecution and murder of our Jewish Ongoing debate has also discussed the compatriots, and individual clergymen •"ole of the Jewish leadership. The German were involved in assisting those in hid approach was initially a gradual one, the ing. But in general, Dutch society had occupying authorities dealing with the great difficulty to maintain contact with Dutch civil servants who had no alterna- the Jewish part of the population. It is of ive but to accommodate them. Antisemitic crucial importance to see that keeping acts were initially the work of a small, silent while awaiting the authorities' in radical minority. Shortly after the occupa- structions, and then obeying them, was 'on, however, other citizens also began the safest po.ssible option for non-Jews. Israel's Finest Wines takmg the mental leap of accepting dis- By the time deportations started the Jew from the t'rimination. As both street violence and ish community was, by and large, on its • ate violence increased, many people own. Altogether, the attitude of non-Jews Golan Heights elieved that being extremely accom- varied considerably, from that of the "lodating was the only sensible strategy. Mayor of Apeldoorn who continued open Yarden, Golan & Gamla As time went on, the Nazis rigorously ly associating with his Jewish friends until Write, pfione or fax ^'ut all ties between the Jews and the rest he was sacked, to the Mayor of Velsen for full Information who led a team of National Socialist po ot Dutch society. The freedom of choice House of Hallgarten licemen in tracking down Jews in hiding. o integrate into the rest of Dutch society Dallow Road, Luton LUI 1UR nich Jews had long enjoyed was thus The case of the Nazis' effectiveness in Tel: 01582 22538 short in the most drastic way imagin- dealing with the Jews of the Netherlands Fax: 01582 23240 ^- Deportation was therefore made lay in the way they .swiftly disrupted and 13 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997 Cooking with Gretel Beer RoK Reunion News /P =^ Companions REUNION BOOK 1999 of London n association with the Reunion of Incorporating Hampstead Home Care Kinder taking place in London in June r^ 1999, the organising committee are I A long established company inviting all Kinder to place their own providing care in your home personal histories in a unique and comp rehensive book which will serve to * Assistance with personal care perpetuate our achievements and contri * General household duties butions in our adopted communities. The •k Respite care research, compilation and editing neces * Medical appointment service sary to produce this extensive publication OUR CARE IS YOUR CARE' in time for the reunion has already 0171 483 0212/0213 Walnut Roulade commenced. warm kitchen is the best place on The Reunion Book is to contain im a chilly day and baking with yeast portant archival material, articles and A is better still, because the tem photographs reflecting our progress since SPRING perature has to be kept on an even keel arriving in our country of adoption, and whilst the yeast is proving. I prefer using will chronicle our achievements and GROVE fresh yeast to dried and it is quite easy to those of our children too. The Reunion 4 Finchley Road get - most bakers and health food shops Book will also commemorate members' London NW3 I sell it. parents, brothers, sisters and grandpar London's Most Luxurious ents who died in the Holocaust. It will For the roulade: RETIREMENT HOME include the names of the Kinder who 2 tablespoons milk 170g (6oz) butter * Entertainment-Activities subsequently passed away and those of 25g (loz) fresh yeast * Stress Free Living their loved ones. 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten * 24 Hour Staffing 1 teaspoon sugar With your active co-operation we are * Excellent Cuisine i butter and flour for the baking sheet endeavouring to reach every single one of * Full En-Suite Facilities 170g (6oz) .strong flour the Kinder worldwide to be included in Call for more information this definitive publication. Consequently, or a personal tour For the filling: every Kind known to us is being mailed a 0181-446 2117 170g (6oz) shelled walnuts special questionnaire requesting the rel or 0171-794 4455 3 egg-whites evant information. [Please photocopy your 170g (6oz) icing sugar questionnaire to pass on to another Kind 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or Kinder known to you]. Heat the milk to lukewarm. Cream the Inclusion in the Reunion Book is your Hilary's Care Agency yeast with the sugar in a cup, add the right and therefore free of any charge. If lukewarm milk and stir. Sprinkle a tea you are able, however, to contribute to HIGH QUALITY HOMECARE spoon of the flour over the top and set it the considerable compilation and publi FORTHE ELDERLY AND DISABLED to 'prove' in a warm place. cation costs, your contribution will be ^CARERS * COMPANIONS Meanwhile, sift the flour into a bowl, greatly appreciated. ir HOUSEKEEPERS cut the butter into the flour and then D Bertha Leverton ^DOMESTICS i crumble it with your fingers until the Flexible service tailored to your needs mixture has the consistency of bread Daily & Uve-in - 1-24 hours - 7 days a week crumbs. When the yeast starts to bubble, smooth, then fold in the ground walnuts. COVER/NG NORTH & NORTH WEST LONDON, add it to the flour, together with the Spread the mixture over the pastry to EAST LONDON 14 AJR INFORMATION NOVEMBER 1997 MAUERBACH FORTHCOMING EVENTS piano. Sternberg Centre, 1.15pm, ,£2. AUCTION FUNDS -NOVEMBER 1997 Sun 23 Schidlof Quartet with Anthony Pleeth, cello: Beethoven & Kultusgemeinde President Sun 2 Leeds HSFA: Journey to Schubert Masterworks. Sternberg Lithuania, Joyce & Sidney Frazer. Centre, 7.30pm, £5-itl0 incl, Paul Grosz's replies to Ernest Queenshill Day Centre, 2.30pm refreshments. David's open letter (a precis) Mon 3 Drjonathan Katz: Sophocles & Mon 24 Richard Grunberger, Editor of Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Club AJR Information: Egon Erwin n the ten months since the Mauerbach 43, 8pm. KLsch, 'Der ra.sende Reporter' (in Benefit Sale, the Federation of Jewish Tue 4 Germany, Britain & Europe: English). Club 43, 8pm. I Communities in Austria, in conjunction Die Zeit journalist Jurgen Kronig. Tue 25 Dr John Marks MD, former with other representative organisations, JACS, 2pm. Chairman of the British Medical Association The NHS - has sought to e.stablish a viable frame Tue 4 Jewish Refugees from Hitler in Great Britain: Anthony beginning, middle & end. JACS, work for the distribution of its proceeds Grenville, University of London 2pm. which are to be directed to needy Jewish Centre for German & Austrian Tue 25 A Confiscation of Porcelain: survivors of the Holocaust in and of Aus Exile Studies. Sussex University, Barbara Loftus. Sussex University, tria. 5pm. 5pm. Wed 26 The Art of Jacob Epstein: Dr Firstly, in accordance with legal obli Thur 6 Lunchtime Recital: Hannah Lang, flute, & Peter Hewitt, Evelyn Silber, Leeds Museum & gations. The Association of Austrian piano, play Schubert & Bartok. Art Gallery. Inst, of Jewish Concentration Camp Survivors and Resis Sternberg Centre, 1.15pm, LI. Studies, University College, 6 for tance Fighters has received 12% of the Sun 9 'Brief Encounters of a Legal 6.30pm, free admission. net proceeds (15 Million ATS) to aid non- Kind': panel discussion Thur 27 France & the Jewish Refugee Jewish survivors. launching Aubrey Rose's new Crisis 1933-42: Prof VIcki book. Sternberg Centre, 8pm, £4 Caron, Winner of 1997 Fraenkel Thereafter, in preference to centralising incl. refreshments. Prize. Wiener Library, 6.30pm, £2 the distribution of the entire balance from Mon 10 Sweden & Its People: G Holm. (send SAE). Vienna, it was decided that this would be Club 43, Hpm, December: •undertaken by four regional organisations Tue 11 Debate on current affairs: Tue 2 Any Questions? Michael representing Israel, the USA, Austria and JACS, 2pm. Sherwood chairs a celebrity Tue 11 'Beyond the Graven Image': the rest of the world, each being allo panel. JACS, 2pm. Book launch by Dr Lionel cated 25% of the (net) funds (29.5 Million Tue 2 Lyotard's Reading of Freud: Kochan, Warwick University. Celine Surprenant, Sussex ATS). In.stitute of Jewish Studies, University, Spm. University College London, 6 for Funds have already been transferred Wed 3 Jungian Psychology & 6.30pm, free admi.ssion. h)r distribution in Israel and in Austria, Judaism: Rabbi Dr Levi Meier, Tue 11 Thomas Bemhard & the Un- Los Angeles. In.st. of Jewish where the Federation is paying a once- historical Non-novel: Daniel only benefit of 12,000 ATS to those Studies, University College, 6 for Steurer, Su.sscx llni\ersity, Spni. 6.30pm, free admi.ssion. currently with an income of less than Wed 12 Jewish Toys & Children's Thur 4 Limchtime Recital: Ian Stiding, Books from the Past: Jewish '-'S$ 16,000 per annum. piano, plays Beethoven & Museum Camden Town (until 1 At the present time, the Federation is Stirling. Sternberg Centre, March) £3 this year. Former Jewish citizens of the NEWSROUND Presov Synagogue town and their descendants had come from all corners of the globe to celebrate NewYork Holocaust Museum restored the beautiful restoration of the old The Museum of Jewish Heritage - a synagogue, financed by the Los Angeles he town of Presov in Eastern Living Memorial to the Holocaust, has daughter of Holocaust victims as a Slovakia, once home to a thriving opened its doors in downtown Man permanent memorial to her parents and Jewish community of which only hattan overlooking the Hudson River. T others murdered by the Nazis. Their five families remain today, was host to a The three-storey hexagonal building, names are inscribed on the wall of the large international gathering in August of which cost $50 million, exhibits the synagogue gallery, which now contains a events of the Holocaust, the Jewish museum. civilisation that was destroyed and the The building was packed to capacity renewal of Jewsh life after the war. for the solemn ceremony of dedication. Extensive use is made of survivor Guest speakers included the Chief Rabbi testimonies from the Shoah Visual History of the Czech and Slovak Republics, the Foundation. Mayor and civic dignitaries, and repre sentatives of the local Christian churches. 'No claims' bonus Presov was remarkable in that a number Britain, France and the USA have of its Jewish children were hidden and requested nine formerly occupied saved during the war both by the Catho European countries to relinquish claims lic orphanage and by Protestant clergy on the residue of £40 million of Nazi some of whose members were honoured gold recovered by the allies after WWII, by Yad Va.shem as righteous gentiles. to establish a compensation fund for The event was prominently reported in Holocaust victims. It is estimated that Guests assembling for the rali'ditniion ceremony in the Slovak media. there are 40-50,000 uncompensated the forecourt of the restored syiia^of'ue in Presov, Slovakia. D Katia Gould survivors in eastern Europe. Closed files - open question The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Paris has than Newbolt was the monocled film claimed that the Vatican had 22 The Jewish mother director Fritz Lang. The baptised-at-birth committees charged with spiriting Nazis he is a cliche of the comedian's son of a Catholic architect, Lang was a out of Europe on Red Cross passports, jokebook - 'The other tie you Great War veteran who deserted art using a network of monasteries financed don't like?' - but also, according to college for films, in which he quickly by Ustashi gold taken from 900,000 S Halacha, anyway, the parent who made a name for himself. After the death Jewish and Gypsy victims of Croat ethnic transmits Jewishness to the child. The of his first wife (under mysterious circum cleansing. Vatican representative Mgr. latter interpretation makes Marcel Proust stances) he married his long-time Remy Hoechman refused to open up - but not James Goldsmith - one of us collaborator, Thea von Harbou. Harbou's relevant archives. (and who would quarrel with that?) script for Lang's 1924 Nibelnngen epic Brazilian answers But there were Jewish mothers of shows her proto-Nazi mindset: the heroes A .safe containing $4 inillion in gold bars, famous sons so obscure that no-one are tall and blonde, the villains dark and gold watches, ornate jewellery, gold teeth knew of their existence till .some diligent stunted. Over the next few years Lang and fillings, has been found in Sao Paulo, biographer stumbled upon them. turned out masterpieces like Metropolis Brazil, deposited by a German pawn Who would have thought that Sir and M, and early in 1933 Propaganda broker and spy, Albert Blume. Nazi war Henry Newbolt, the bestselling pre-1914 Minister Goebbels offered to make him criminals who fled to Brazil after the war bard of Empire and rhapsode of the supremo of the German film industry- are believed to have smuggled in stolen 'thump of leather on willow' was, Afraid that his part-Jewish origins would Jewish gold and transferred at least $15 halachically speaking, Jewish. Today be discovered, Lang took the next train million of Jewish wealth to Brazil's Newbolt's message encapsulated in famil to Paris. Divorce from Thea von HarboU central bank. A Brazilian Government iar snippets - 'Play up! play up! and play followed as a matter of course. From Commission, headed by Chief Rabbi the game!', or 'To set the Cause above re Paris Lang went on to Hollywood, where Henry Sobel, is investigating. nown/ To love the game beyond the he made a brilliant start with the anti- Prize' - sounds quaint, not to say senten lynch mob film Fury (1936). After quite a Swiss role tious (although Kipling's faidy similar If long and succe.ssful career as director of Switzerland's Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti still ranks as the most popular English American films noir - especially The told guests at the Holocaust Trust dinner poem) and Newbolt is passe. His patriotic Woman in the Window (1944) - he fell that his government would conduct a flourishes embarrass modern readers, but out of favour by I960. In his final lonely full, thorough and open investigation into I still consider lines like 'Drake he's in his days in Hollywood Lang reverted to the the country's wartime record. The Bergier hammock till the great Armadas come Jewish faith with which his mother, de Commission is due to make its first report (Capten, art tha sleepin' there below?)', spite her outward conversion, had within a short period. quite soulstirring when they're sung. imbued him in fin-de-siecle Vienn-Ji. DRDC An even more unlikely 'halachic Jew' U Richard GrunbergC Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Briuin, I Hampstead Gate, IA Frognal. London NW3 6AL Tel: 0171 -431 6161 Fax: 0171-431 8454 Printed in Great Britain by Freedman Brothers (Printers) Ltd. London NW 11 7QB. Tel: 0181-4S8 3220 Fax: 0181 -455 6860