AJR JOURNAL JULY 2007 journal ^ Association of Jewish Refugees

Remembering intemment y article on the 'Thank-You intemal security risks, largely imaginary. To Britain' Fund (May 2007), which intem as potential Nazi sympathisers Jewish Memphasised the positive side of refugees, who had been the most prominent relations between Britain and the Jewish targets of Nazi persecution and had the refugees from Hitler, provoked a letter, greatest reason to oppose the Nazi regime, published in June, reminding readers of the was almost perversely insensitive. Among mass intemment of 'enemy aliens' in the its worst aspects was the trauma that a fresh summer of 1940 - the heaviest item on the bout of detention inflicted on those of the negative side of that account. The wartime internees who had already experienced intemment and deportation of refugees were imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps. indeed the greatest stain on the record of The incompetence and inefficiency that the British government's treatment of those Internment camp. Isle of Man characterised the entire episode were who fled here to escape Nazi persecution. apparent from the outset. The process of The events of that momentous summer, now national security, as spies or as potential arresting detainees was conducted with a 67 years ago, were of such consequence for fifth columnists who might sabotage British combination of heartless bureaucracy and the refugees that I intend to devote two defences as their counterparts supposedly disorganised muddle. Refugees were often major articles to them. had in Holland and France. The defenceless detained in the early morning - some Initially, the govemment had intended to refugees fell victim to this temporary suffered the dawn knock on the door that avoid mass intemment, which had proved ascendancy of reactionary bigots and Jew- would carry them off to an uncertain fate - harsh and unjust in the First World War. haters allied with military and security while others adopted the simple expedient Instead, at the outbreak of war, German circles obsessed with intemal threats to the of leaving home early to avoid arrest. The nationals were required to appear before defence of the realm. police notoriously raided Hampstead Public tribunals, which classed them according to In May 1940, the newly installed coalition Library on 13 July 1940 to detain its refugee the security risk they posed. Only a tiny govemment under Winston Churchill first readers, but failed to round up those who minority - some 600, mostly Nazi decreed the intemment of male enemy aliens congregated for an early breakfast at Lyons sympathisers - were placed in Category A between the ages of 16 and 60 living in Comer House at Marble Arch. and intemed forthwith. The vast majority 'Protected Areas' on the threatened sectors After their arrest, most refugees were - over 64,000 and consisting mostly of of the coast, then issued the notorious order first held in temporary camps, like the 'refugees from Nazi oppression' - were to 'Collar the Lot'. Male refugees in Category racecourses of Kempton Park and Lingfield placed in Categor>' C and left at liberty. Some B were intemed, as were Category B women; for those in the London area. Conditions 6,800 people, whose cases were unclear to the detention of male refugees in Category were bad at Frees Heath in Shropshire, the tribunals, were placed in the C, ordered in June, was under way when the where internees lived under canvas, and intermediate Category B and made subject policy of internment was halted the indescribable at Warth Mill, a disused cotton to certain restrictions. following month. This ultimately caused the mill in Bury, Lancashire, where dirt, squalor But with the fall of France and the Low intemment of some 27,000 enemy aliens, and lack of food and facilities reigned. The Countries in May/June 1940, which exposed including some 4,000 women, most of whom chaos of these makeshift arrangements was Britain to the most serious threat of invasion were Jews who plainly posed no security risk matched by the disorganisation of the entire it had faced since 1066, a wave of panic whatsoever. exercise; the intemees soon realised that the swept the country. Newspapers like the The mass intemment of enemy aliens in military authorities had no real idea why Daily Mail and the Daily Express, organs of 1940 was, it is now generally agreed, they had been intemed, what was to be done the xenophobic right whose hostility to the indefensible. It was a measure that was as with them, and how long they were to be refugees barely concealed their dislike of cmel and inhumane as it was stupid and held. Worst of all was the psychological Jews, had been pressing for some time for pointless. The best that can be claimed for blow of being unjustly imprisoned; the the intemment of Jews from (iermany. The it is that it was an ill-considered response to deprivation of liberty, the confinement and govemment now gave way to those who a situation of extreme emergency, at a time humiliation were made more wounding by argued that the refugees posed a threat to of national obsession, largely irrational, with continued on page 2 A)R JOURNAL JULY 2007

RI'.MKMMKKIXG INT i;K.\,\IK.\'r continued from page 1

the apparent willingness of the authorities including concerts, lecture courses and other the intemees were robbed and seriously to identify Jewish refugees with the agents educational activities organised by 'camp mistreated by the military escort, and of Nazism. universities'. The galaxy of academic and eventually court-martial proceedings were The authorities soon started moving the artistic talent available in the camps made taken against the officer in charge and two intemees from temporary camps to the Isle for a wide and attractive selection of lectures of his subordinates. On 2 July 1940, the liner of Man, where, as in the First World War, for those eager to put their enforced idleness Arandora Star, bound for Canada, was sunk they were to be held. Many spent some time to good use. off the Irish coast with the loss of several at a makeshift camp in Huyton on But the emotional and psychological hundred lives, mostly German and Italian Merseyside, a newly built council estate impact of detention remained powerful and deportees. Though the govemment first hastily converted into a camp. The intemees hurtful. The internees were confined on an claimed that all Germans on board had been were housed in camps in Douglas and other island remote from the mainland cities, far Category A intemees, it soon became known resorts on the Isle of Man, mostly in groups from their families, whose safety was at that many of the dead were Jewish refugees of boarding houses requisitioned for the serious risk from German bombing and who in Category C. purpose. Camp names like Central had been deprived of their main The resulting furore crystallised opposi­ Promenade, Hutchinson, Onchan, Sefton, breadwinner. Cut off from reliable sources tion to intemment and led to a determined Mooragh and Rushen (the women's camp of news, the intemees fell prey to all sorts campaign against it in parliament, culminat­ comprising Port Erin and Port St Mary) of nunours and fears, not least that Britain ing in a celebrated debate on 22 August passed into refugee usage. would surrender and hand them over to the 1940, as German bombs fell on the capital. Conditions in the camps on the Isle of Nazis - 'like rats in a trap', as had happened By then, public opinion had swung sharply Man were considerably better than in the in France. The difficulty of communicating against intemment and the govemment had temporary camps, not least because some with the outside world, especially the long reversed its policy, issuing a White Paper semblance of order and stability could be delays to which letters and telegrams to in late July listing a variety of categories of established there. The internees lived in families were subject, was a source of great intemees eligible for priority release; these small groups in individual boarding houses, frustration; refugees found it hard to set were widened over the following months. where the food and accommodation were about securing their release. The arbitrary The release of the intemed refugees pro­ spartan but adequate; many refugees slept inefficiency of the administration was one ceeded reasonably speedily. The first 50 two to a double bed. The summer months of the aspects of camp life that most affected were released from the Isle of Man on 5 on the Isle of Man were pleasant, and free the intemees' morale. August 1940, though many more were from air raids. Walks in the country were The govemment took the process a stage detained until late 1940 or early 1941. By permitted, under armed guard, as was further when it started to deport intemees August 1941, only about 1,300 refugees were swimming in the sea. There were adequate overseas. Four ships carrying some 4,400 still intemed in Britain, while many of those sanitary arrangements and some medical men sailed to Canada, while some 2,400 were deported overseas had retumed, often to join care. The intemees were able to develop a sent to Australia on the ill-famed Dunera, the armed forces. remarkable array of cultural activities, in extremely poor conditions; on this vessel Anthony Grenville

Kindertransport Survey: a progress report he Survey Team of the KT/AJR Planning much welcome further returns. Each Bertha Leverton and Judy Benton, TCommittee has been very busy regis­ one will add value to our historical who have generously given of their time tering the returns of our Survey archive. to work with me, and Ronald Channing, Questionnaires. The good news is that the We are indebted to the AJR Charitable who has provided support and advice, join number already received approaches Trust for funding this initial stage of the me in expressing our gratitude. I will 1,000. Approximately 550 are from the project and intend to report fully at an report again. UK, 150 from Israel, 280 from the early opportunity. Hermann Hirschberger USA, and a handful from other countries. To all those who have generously pro­ We have also received several hundred vided additional anecdotal information on AJR Directors Supplementary Questionnaires about ex- the last page of the Questionnaire, it has Gordon Greenfield Kinder no longer with us. These are yet so far not been possible to assess this Carol Rossen to be registered. fully and/or answer letters, but please be AJR Heads of Department This response is very pleasing, to say assured that these contributions will yield Marcia Goodman Social Services much knowledge. Michael Newman Media and Public Relations the least. A return of over 60 per cent is Susie Kaufman Organiser, AjR Centre a result which would be hailed with We are now striving to formulate the AJR Journal euphoria by any market research next stage, the aim of which includes Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor organisation, which would normally have computer scanning of the returns and Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor to make do with a mere fraction of this. data processing ofthe historical facts. This Andrea Goodmaker Secretarial/Advertisements The Survey Team wishes to express its may take some time, but ultimately, I am unstinting admiration and gratitude to confident, it will lay the ghost and provide everyone who has returned forms. Those us with statistically dependable, archival Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not information of what have hitherto been necessarily those of the Association of Jewish who have not yet responded, be assured Refugees and should not be regarded as such. - it is not too late. We would very only views and guesstimates. AJR JOURNAL JULY 2007

O/" VIEW In support of today's refugees NEWTONS Leading Hampstead Solicitors advise on he asylum-seekers who depend on that the government, by cutting off Property, Wills, Family Trusts Barnet Refugee Service are often support for refused asylum-seekers, is and Charitable Trusts T destitute and all are seeking using destitution in an attempt to drive safety, having fled from persecution and refused asylum-seekers out of the French and German spoken frequently abuse, torture and rape. country. Home visits arranged Family members and friends may have The reports reveal that many refused been killed in what had been their asylum-seekers are being reduced to 22 Fitzjohn's Avenue, homeland. penniless poverty. If they cannot find a London NW3 SNB Our clients are not economic friend or acquaintance's sofa to sleep migrants looking to improve their lives. on, they often end up sleeping in parks, Tel: 020 7435 5351 We have no argument with economic public toilets and telephone boxes and Fax: 020 7435 8881 migrants but their circumstances and have to go without vital medicines even problems are totally different from after they may have survived torture. those of people seeking asylum and the These people rely on the charity of two categories should not be confused friends, acquaintances or organisations in the debate over immigration: like Barnet Refugee Service in order to CONSULTANT economic migrants are deliberately survive. coming to a new country and new The local Barnet council has closed to long-established English opportunities; asylum-seekers are its refugee section and we are the first Solicitors (bilingual German) fleeing from persecution. port of call for most asylum-seekers in would be happy to assist clients Barnet Refugee Service is an Barnet. We deal with more than 3,500 with English, German and independent charity supporting local enquiries a year as well as running Austrian problems. asylum-seekers regardless of their specific support groups for refugee country of origin, race or religion. Our women and teenagers. We provide in­ Contact Henry Ebner role is to offer practical support to these formation and education to local service Myers Ebner & Deaner vulnerable people and to advise them providers such as health professionals, on access to health, education and including GPs and housing officers. 103 Shepherds Bush Road housing and to guide them hopefully Please think back to those trapped London W6 7LP towards integration into a new life and in Germany in 1939 because most Telephone 020 7602 4631 into our society. At all times we treat countries had closed their doors to any ALL LEGAL WORK them with dignity and respect in order more refugees. The doors were closed UNDERTAKEN to help in restoring their sense of their because allowing in new people with own worth. strange customs and a strange Many refugees need emergency sup­ language is difficult, untidy and port with food and clothing. The 'lucky' politically unpopular in that it so often ones receive 70 per cent of the basic brings out people's worst fears and AUSTRIAN and GERMAN state benetit and are forbidden from prejudices. working to enhance this meagre income. The destiny of those refused asylum PENSIONS Those in politics and the media who at that time was to die in the camps. imply that asylum-seekers are a drain Surely we, of all people, must fight to PROPERTY on our resources should question a prevent such things from ever RESTITUTION CLAIMS policy that actively prevents people from happening, both on the scale of making any contribution to society. genocide but also in the case of any one EAST GERMANY - BERLIN Most asylum-seekers would like person. Death, or at best torture and nothing more than the opportunity to abuse, is often the true cost of deciding On instructions our office will work and enjoy the financial and that we have no room for one more assist to deal with your psychological rewards that employment fleeing person. applications and pursue the brings to them and to the wider So many of us, our parents, grand­ matter with the authorities community. parents or great-grandparents, were For further information The unlucky ones, who may have asylum-seekers. Let us honour their and an appointment absented themselves from the records memory and the contribution to this for fear of being forcibly removed to a country made by them and their please contact: distant town where they know nobody descendants by supporting today's ICS CLAIMS or who perhaps have had their asylum refugees. 146-154 Kilburn High Road claim arbitrarily rejected, receive no Peter Salomon state support and are totally dependent London NW6 4JD on organisations like Barnet Refugee Peter Salomon is Chairman of Barnet Tel: 020 7328 7251 (Ext. 107) Service for food and clothing. Refugee Service. His father, who grew Fax: 020 7624 5002 Reports late last year from Amnesty up in Landsberg an der Warthe (East International and Refugee Action claim Prussia), fled to England in 1938. AJRJOURNAL JULY 2007

refugees who have made a new life in Making a New Life Project Yorkshire has been compiled. A few large Holocaust survivors in Yorkshire collections of personal papers form the bulk of the archive. The largest consists or three years a collaboration between of some six boxes of papers left upon the Fresearchers at the University of Leeds death of Edith Culman which includes a and the Holocaust Survivors' Friendship box of her husband Emil's papers and a Association (HSFA), set up in 1996 to further box of their correspondence over bring together the now ageing and scat­ 30 years with their son Emanuel in the tered Holocaust survivors, has been USA. Smaller but by no means less documenting their extraordinary lives as significant original collections relate to much after the Holocaust as before and John Chillag, Ernest Millet, Rudi Leavor during its terrible years. and Helga Anysz. Using in-depth interviews to record the The project has involved the Centre for full range of experiences of 'making a new Jewish Studies (founded 1995); the Cen­ life' as an immigrant from a world lost in tre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History the destruction that was the Holocaust, (CentreCATH, founded 2001) at the Uni­ the project has also been given a wealth versity of Leeds; and the HSFA of Yorkshire. of documents that build our picture of Silman family: Norman and Trude with The research has been generously what was left behind, what was brought daughters Ruth and Judith at Gordale Scar, funded by the Association of Jewish Malham, 1959 here, and what was made in this new life Refugees, the Arnold Ziff Foundation and in Britain. survivors, their families and our societies. the Julius Silman Foundation. This May, an event took place to mark The core of the archive comprises in­ The research team includes Professor the handing over of the archive so far terview tapes, related transcripts and Griselda Pollock, Brett Harrison, Dr accumulated to the safe-keeping of the associated papers of members of the Amanda Bergen and Bernice Shooman. Special Collections of Leeds University's HSFA. There are over 80 tapes of personal The inspiration and drive behind the Brotherton Library. testimony with individuals and, more re­ project come from the first Chair of the A small selection ofthe documents was cently, interviews of survivors brought HSFA, Trude Silman, and the many exhibited in the Brotherton Room to together for the first time. Over 1,000 members who started it off by sharing indicate the wealth of material for social images from personal photograph collec­ their stories. It has also been supported histories and the continuing study of all tions have been scanned and added to by volunteers Janet Friedman, Barbara dimensions of the Holocaust as an event these in-depth interviews. Cammerman and Hilary Curwen. with continuing repercussions for the A database of over 90 names of former Ruth Taylor, University of Leeds

AJR 'busier than it has ever been', AGM told he AJR was probably busier now than organisation, but relied on income from Tever, its Chairman, Andrew Kaufman, members - i.e. legacies. There was no pot told this year's AGM. Indeed, its of gold at the end of the rainbow: 'We membership had grown by 26 last year, depend on you!' with 235 new members in all. The year David pointed out that the second 2007 was shaping up similady, he said. generation had been badly scarred by While the numbers attending the AJR their parents' experiences and that we Centre were inevitably declining, Andrew needed to help them as well. He too paid AJR 'busier than ever': Chairman Andrew said, the Meals on Wheels service was Kaufman, left, and Vice-Chairman and tribute to the staff's hard work. booming - 'not surprisingly considering Treasurer David Rothenberg address AGM The Honorary Officers and members of the amazing quality of the food'. Susie the Management Committee were re­ Kaufman and her staff should be thanked AJRJournal remained as respected as ever elected unanimously. HS for their tender loving care. With regard to special interest groups, The Social Work team too was busier Andrew thanked Kindertransport than ever, expanding our services in North­ Chairman Hermann Hirschberger for ern England and Scotland. We were now ensuring such an easy relationship and a truly national organisation, ably led on noted that we had now been joined by the social work side by Marcia Goodman. the Child Survivors Association. Three new regional groups had been But all this 'busyness' cost a great deal formed in 2006, bringing the total to 36, of money. The AJR relied increasingly on with additional staff recruited. legacies. 'We want to be busy helping Trips - to Berlin last year and Vienna you, so please don't forget us!' Popular volunteer Fred Dunston with his this year - and members' holidays in Finally, Andrew thanked the long- sons Colin, left, and John. At a delightful lunch to celebrate his 90th birthday, Bournemouth and Eastbourne could not serving and loyal directors Carol Rossen Stanmore and Day Centre staff paid have taken place without the hard work and Gordon Greenfield as well as the tribute to 'our most loyal volunteer', as of members of staff, in particular Ruth Management Committee, who supported AJR Director Carol Rossen described him. Finestone and Carol Rossen. the organisation unfailingly. It was in the mid-1980s that Fred first Andrew went on to pay tribute to David Rothenberg, AJR Vice-Chairman began voluntary work for the AJR, Volunteer Co-ordinator Carol Hart - 'We and Treasurer, stressed the AJR's 'very alongside Sylvia Matus. Now, he does couldn't exist without the volunteers' - important' international connections. He filing in the accounts department at Stanmore. Fred vowed he would continue and to Michael Newman for the vital work noted that the New York-based Claims his volunteer work as long as he could: of publicising our activities and his Conference was the 'single largest source 'It's what keeps me going!' invaluable work on Holocaust claims. The of income'. The AJR was not a fundraising AJR JOURNAL JULY 2007

The 'other' Herzl How a refugee engineer engineered history

rich Herzl, an 87-year-old Viennese meeting with a history teacher from refugee, is not related to the Munster who happened to be delving Efamous Theodor. But he has made into the Nazi atrocities in Riga. The a lasting impact on history in a quite teacher put him in contact with Dr different way. Bergmans, the chairman of the Riga KZ I first met Erich in 1942. He was group, who in turn was acquainted with already a trained engineer, operating a Sergei Rysh, a well-qualified Jewish huge lathe at Swann Mill's London architect resident in Latvia, and his wife The Memorial in Riga-Bikernieki factory, but I lost touch with him when Galina, also an architect. Now, this I was called up into the British Army. In to the fund, as did a number of indi­ emotive journey could continue. Sergei London's Waterloo one day, there he viduals, including Herzl himself. bore overall responsibility for the design was, 58 years later, and we had an Altogether, some DM 6 million was of the monument, providing the opportunity to fill in the gaps from the raised, also covering the cost of the conceptual authenticity to reflect the missing years. Remembrance Volumes, which contain horrors that had taken place there. Subsequently, whenever Erich and I the lists of Jews deported to the Baltic Topographically, the Nazi execution met in London, the words Riga- states. squads had found in the woods a bowl­ Bikernieki regularly cropped up. I would In May 2000 representatives of 18 like spot most suitable for the killings tackle him for details about it. It was German cities and towns formed the and mass graves. This led the architects also around the mid-SOs that a Jewish Riga Committee, to which Vienna to the idea of nameless gravestones for community leader spoke on Austrian each person in 'open earth', with sharp- television about the mass deportations edged stones to denote the victims' of Jews to a ghetto in Riga and Now, as awards and honours proximity to each other The monument mentioned lists had been drawn up by flow in Herzl's direction, itself is divided into grid-squares so as the punctilious Gestapo, confirming to symbolise the planned exter­ Herzl's fears that his parents had does he regard his mission minations, while another part of the suffered a similar fate. as complete? Not so. design represents a chapel, with a So there was Erich, himself an elderly Addressing groups of young memorial stone commemorating those survivor, now fully aware of the medi­ buried there. cal experiments, torture and executions people in Riga and holding Following a great deal of spadework in the Kaiserwald camp (a suburb of educational seminars to comb clean the immediate area in Riga); moreover, he knew of the skeletal the Bikernieki woods, and the actual remains in the Bikernieki woods. Burn­ elsewhere is for him what construction of the monument, all was ing with the desire to provide the passing on the truth about ready in November 2001 for the site to victims with a decent place of rest, but the past is all about. be declared open and inaugurated by bereft of resources and contacts, his a Latvian rabbi. The commemorative early efforts to persuade Jewish lead­ ceremony was held in the presence of ers to turn his idea into reality met with (represented by Herzl) was added. The a mix of people who included surviving hesitation - it was believed there were aim was to remind the world that kin, delegates from towns and cities too many obstacles to overcome. But 25,000 Jews had been deported from from which victims were sent to Riga, gradually there grew a climate of aware­ these locations to Riga in 1941-42 and religious dignitaries, prominent politi­ ness that such a venture might succeed. put to death in the Bikernieki woods. cal figures, and members of the public. Erich began by gathering together Of the 42,000 Vienna Jews deported, Also present was Ellen Davis, who wrote friends and cohorts to form the one in ten had ended up in Riga. Aided a moving letter to the AJR Journal Initiation Riga Club. What he was seek­ by organisational and financial help (March 2002). She contacted Erich Herzl ing was a memorial for the victims plus from the Austrian Black Cross, Herzl and to say how appreciative she was: the a second memorial entitled 'Never other members of the Riga Initiative fact that her relatives now had a grave, Again' as a symbol for future genera­ Group travelled to Latvia to assess the she said, had reduced her trauma tions. He met the late German President situation. Clearly what was needed was considerably. Dr Johannes Rau, whom he found full a professional approach to express the Now, as awards and honours flow of understanding, and contacted Dr meaning of this gruesome site. As Erich in Herzl's direction, does he regard his Karl-Wilhelm Lange, President of the explained to me: 'The Germans tried to mission as complete? Not so. War Graves Association, who did every­ burn the remnants, but took hasty leave Addressing groups of young people in thing he was asked on learning of the when the Russian army closed in.' Now, Riga and holding educational seminars fate of Herzl's parents (he assisted with some 60 years later, the stage was set elsewhere is for him what passing on funds too). The Vienna authorities and for a phase of 'new history'. the truth about the past is all about. German local government contributed A defining moment for Herzl was his Ken Saunders A|R JOURNAL JULY 2007

Peace and Democracy, the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem and many Arab- Jewish ventures such as Ta'ayush and the The Editor reserves the right MidEastWeb Group for Coexistence. to shorten correspondence M. Storz also misread my objection to I TO THE 1 , the separation wall - not that it has submitted for publication reduced the number of suicide bombings, ^. EDITOR^ but where it is has been built, way beyond the Green Line. One cannot but suspect a motive of land acquisition otherwise it would have been routed through land rec­ ognised internationally as Israel's territory. ISRAEL: TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD of Palestinian babies'! It seems that even Sir - Caroline M. Salinger (Letters, May) his most faithful admirers realised he had M. Storz doubts the veracity of the proves how deeply implanted anti-Israel gone too far this time! Hopefully, others Israeli officers who refuse to 'dominate, propaganda is in the public's con­ will also reject mendacious anti-Israel expel, starve and humiliate an entire science. She repeats every falsehood propaganda from unscrupulous sources. people'. Allow me to recommend Breaking ('Israeli policy of dominating, expelling, Mrs Trudy Gefen, Kiriat Ono, Israel Ranks, by Ronit Chacham - a moving starving and humiliating an entire peo­ account of how experienced officers felt ple') based on the thoroughly discredited Sir - My friend Hans Seelig might care to compelled to take a stand against army ramblings of a few disgruntled IDF elaborate how he imagines Israel could behaviour in the Occupied Tertitories. renegades, slanted reports by Israeli defend itself by 'internationally If Mr Kolman wants to talk about human rights groups, and academics like acceptable means' at the same time as historical expulsions he should read the Dr Ilan Pappe, who roam the globe being subjected to continuous rocket diaries of Ben-Gurion, which make clear attacking Israel with the most foul lies. bombardment. Does he consider the the policy of the Haganah leadership: 'to Certain Israeli human rights groups are rocket bombardment of Israeli civilians expel the Arabs and take their places ... heavily financed by foreign interests internationally acceptable? and if we have to use force ... then we inimical to Israel's best interests and, At present, the Iranian President and have force at our disposal' (1936). in order to keep the funds rolling in, they his government are paying lip service to For those who continue to insist that supply their bosses with juicy, but rarely the destruction of Israel while they still it is acceptable to keep silent despite our credible, concoctions. An investigation have reason to be scared of tiny Israel. knowledge of what Israel is doing in the by an Israeli newspaper not only revealed The moment Israel's leaders were to Occupied Territories, let me quote the the large sums Peace Now was receiving confine themselves to an 'internationally Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer: 'Thou but also the falsity of its reports. This is acceptable defence policy' a la Neville shall not be a perpetrator; thou shall not also true of B'tselem and groups like those Chambedain's Munich, lip service would be a victim; and thou shall never, but Ms Salinger mentions, some of whom turn into action. Surely we German and never, be a bystander' accused 'settlers' of 'deliberately killing Austnan ex-refugees of all people should Caroline M Salinger, Leicester unarmed' Arabs, including children, and have learned by now our lesson that finger- destroying Arab olive trees. These wagging and wrist-slapping will never 'ON BEING JEWISH' accusations, though eventually proven stop bloodthirsty antisemitic dictators. Sir - Edith Argy writes (May) that being false, caused immense damage to the Mr Seelig rightly points out that had Jewish is an accident of birth and half- image of the 300,000 law-abiding Jews Israel existed in the 1930s, there might quoting the prophet Micah is all there is in Judea/Samana. well have been no Shoah. I should add to being Jewish. No! There is very much The olive-tree fabrication was exposed that had Hitler been stopped by force in more to being Jewish. It is most only after 'settlers' set up cameras around time, there would have been no Second unfortunate that by the beginning of the olive groves which caught Arabs and their Wodd War and no Auschwitz. By sticking twentieth century most Jews in Western left-wing allies destroying the trees to internationally acceptable means - in Europe considered their Jewishness just themselves! No similar fuss was ever other words, by pussyfooting in the face an accident of birth. Indeed, it was the made about the destruction of thousands of Iranian threats - we may well have to least important thing in their lives and ot Jewish fruit trees by Arabs! wait this time rather longer than just they were in a state of utter shock and It is most offensive that people like 1,900 years for the next State of Israel to disbelief when, under Hitier, it became the Salinger show no concern about Israeli arise. Dr Fred Rosner, Chigwell, Essex most important item in their life. They had 'unarmed civilian targets', including always wanted to assimilate and they did children deliberately killed by Arabs, Sir - With regard to the shocking so outwardly. The gentile population still leaving more than 150 dead and proposed boycott of Israeli academic considered Jews an alien population and hundreds maimed since the signing of the institutions, was there ever a boycott of were treated as such. It has been well Oslo 'peace' accords in 1994. Two academic institutions behind the Iron described as 'unrequited love'. examples: (1) In 2001 a CIA-trained PA Curtain during the Cold War, of rogue Those Jews who managed to escape, sniper shot Shalhevet Pas, a 10-month- oppressive regimes, of countries although still calling themselves 'Jewish', old 'settler' baby girl, through the head harbouring Islamist terrorists, etc? No, were really 'fellow persecutees' with little as her father pushed her pram near their Israel is fair game because everyone knows adherence to Judaism. They remained just home; (2) A 29-year-old, 8-months that Israel will not retaliate by declaring a as ignorant ofthe practices and principles pregnant 'settler' mother. Tali Hanuel, was bloody fatwah, as others might. of Judaism as they had been previously. shot at close range together with her 4 Bronia Snow, Esher, Surrey The Nazis considered us a race but this small 'settler' daughters after their car was idea is foreign to Judaism. Anyone is free attacked by 2 'poor, humiliated' Arabs. Sir - I am delighted to be able to to join the Jewish people. The Bible has Dr Pappe was booed by left-wing fans disillusion M. Storz. Of course there are defined us in Exodus Ch 19:6 as 'A during a recent lecture at London Palestinian organisations working for a kingdom of priests and a holy nation'. University when he declared seeing 'IDF peaceful solution and non-violent What constitutes 'being Jewish'? I can soldiers playing football with the heads resistance - the Palestinian Center for do no better than refer to the Hertz AJR JOURNAL JULY 2007

Chumash (Pentateuch), page 926, where 'Challenges and Opportunities for Teaching he defines the content of Jewish education: Emotive and Controversial History'. ARE YOU ON A LOW the pnnciples of the Jewish religion; the It turns out that this is an interesting Hebrew language; knowledge of the Bible; document analysing failures and short­ INCOMEANDINNEED the history of our people. comings in the way history is taught in OF HOMECARE HELP? Just 'being Jewish' or being 'good some schools. Nowhere is there mention Jews' will not prevent our children from of teachers dropping subjects - rather AJR might be able to offer you marrying non-Jews - and that will be the that they are not included in the curnculae financial assistance for cleaning, end of Judaism and all we stand for. of some schools because of, e.g, lack of gardening and caring. Max Sulzbacher, London NWl 1 teacher subject knowledge; paucity of re­ Members who might not sources; teacher avoidance of nsk-taking. otherwise be able to afford Sir - I couldn't agree more with Edith The report goes on to analyse the homecare please contact: Argy. I was born in Prague between the problems of teaching controversial and First and Second World Wars. I was not emotive subjects such as the Holocaust, Estelle Brookner, Secretary instructed in the Jewish religion but knew Britain and the Slave Trade, Islam, Arab/ AJR Social Services Dept I was Jewish, which my family realised the Israeli Relations etc., many of which are Tel: 020 8385 3070 hard way after the Nazis occupied taught at A-level. It quotes examples of Czechoslovakia. I am aware of my how these subjects are being taught Jewishness; I am deeply interested in successfully in schools across the country Israel's affairs; I respect religious people, and gives guidelines as to the methods Leo Baeck Housing Association Ltd but cannot join them. I am a secular Jew and techniques to be employed. The and I belong to the human race, as so report concludes with a section entitled Clara Nehab House well phrased by Edith Argy. Good Practice and case studies, Residential Care Home Hana Nermut, Harrow, Middx suggesting how History should be taught, including, e.g., visits to the Imperial War All single rooms with en suite Museum's Holocaust Exhibition. bath/shower. Short stays/Respite Sir - Edith Argy's article is a personal point and 24 hour Permanent Care. Large of view, which I respect. However, it raises I found the report encouraging in the attractive gardens. Ground Floor some questions: (1) Is being a Jew differ­ ideas it put forward to stimulate Lounge and Dining Rooms. Lift ent from being Jewish! (2) Are secular discussion in order to get students to have access to all floors. Easy access Jews included in the statistics? a rounded understanding of historical to local shops and public transport. Edith Argy wishes to 'belong to one subjects. It is therefore a pity, in my view, that this news item was presented in your Enquiries and further infonnation please contact: race only - the human race'. I learned in The Manager, Clara Nehab House my English lessons that 'The more I see journal in such a negative way. It might 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 ODA of people, the more I like my cat.' be a good idea if you were to give a fuller Phone: 020 8455 2286 Anna Schlesinger, Wembley, Middx report, thus helping to lower the blood pressure of your readers. We have a tendency to be a bit paranoid when it JEWISH AT WHAT PRICE? comes to topics of this sort and I feel that SPRING Sir - When I came to England it was we should also welcome and signal because we were Jewish and we fled for GROVE positive steps taken to correct the balance. our lives. I then 'married out'. It is now Richard Tait, Richmond, Surrey 214 Finchley Road 62 years on. My marriage was a great London NW3 success and I don't regret a moment of SO MANY POINTS OF VIEW it. Of course, I want to be buried Jewish. London's Most Luxurious Sir - I congratulate you on your policy of It is in my blood and in my mind. It was RETIREMENT HOME always accepted by my family. neutrality and balance in the articles and letters, which express so many points of • Entertainment - Activities Did not the Austrian Kultusgemeinde view, not always in sympathy with mine. send me a certificate that I was an • Stress Free Living In this instance, Edith Argy's 'On Being 'Honourable Member', did my birth • 24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine Jewish' and Victor Ross's 'Restoration certificate not state that I was Jewish, of • Full En-Suite Facilities Comedy', as well as many of the letters, Jewish parents, and does Austria not list were to my liking. Victor may well feel Call for more information me as a Jewish refugee? But it costs about or a personal tour £5,000 more to be buried Jewish than the more than disgruntied, but his style of 020 8446 2117 average burial. And there lies my expression made me chuckle. or 020 7794 4455 dilemma: is my Jewishness worth an extra Werner Conn, Lytham St Annes [email protected] £5,000? H. Sale, Harrow A LAUGHING MATTER Sir - Where did you find Victor Ross? He TEACHING THE HOLOCAUST made me laugh about not getting Simon R Rhodes M.Ch.S. Sir - I read the Newsround item in your compensation - quite a feat! He reminds STATE REGISTERED May issue headed 'School teachers drop me of Richard Grunberger. Maybe he's RG CHIROPODIST Holocaust lesson for fear of giving come back? More of Victor Ross please! Surgeries at: offence'. My immediate reaction, like I (Mrs) Anthea Cohen, London SWl 9 imagine that of many other readers, was 67 Kilburn High Road, NW6 one of indignation. However, on reflection FEELING SICK (opp. M&S) it seemed so much at variance with what Sir - No wonder Richard Grunberger felt Telephone: 020 7624 1576 happened in my grandchildren's schools, sick at the concept of 'Schleim' (review. 2 Pangbourne Drive where a great deal of time was devoted May). Perhaps because of that we called Stanmore Middx HA7 4QT to the Holocaust, that I took the trouble porridge oats 'Haferflocken' in the Vienna Telephone: 020 8958 8557 to download the full text of the report of of my childhood. Visiting chiropody service available the Historical Association on the Francis Steiner, Deddington, Banbury colours are significant: the red background - lust for life; the beige edge of the curtain - REVIEWS a cloud or a bridal canopy; the green - passage of time. Preserving the memory Panchal's work is highly literal, but no BELSEN 1945: NEW HISTORICAL matter how eloquent, it can seem repetitive. PERSPECTIVES This is less true of Julie Held, the edited by Suzanne Bardgett and daughter of Jewish refugees from Nazism. David Cesarani he Ben Uri Gallery continues to Her work is forged in German London: Vallentine Mitchell. 2006, 250 pp. paper explore European-Jewish artists Expressionism but her thick, dry application working with those of other of paint recalls the technique of Francis HISTORY, MEMORY AND MASS T ATROCITY: ESSAYS ON THE cultures. Its latest exhibition, Regard and Bacon. Cobalt blues, veridian greens and HOLOCAUST AND GENOCIDE Ritual, features the work of two important vivid fuchsias manifest an inner darkness. by Dan Stone painters, Shanti Panchal and Julie Held. The Fbrist, which some see as a self-portrait, London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2006. Both are both highly sensitive to vivid has a woman in a light-fur collar at the far 262 pp. paper colour, which they use to convey the intense left of the painting pointing towards a adislav Urban spent ten months in memory of lost worlds and the quest for bouquet which is almost off-canvas. The L Belsen, taken with his brother and coming experience. blooms flicker like flames. their nanny from a hiding place in the The portrait of mountains above the Slovak spa town Piestany. It was October 1944 and he her father is also was ten years old. At the time of shown off-centre, in liberation, April 1945, he, along with deep shadow. He is thousands ofthe inmates, was suffering in a train or a bus, from typhus and his brother from leaving a Tyrolean malaria. They recovered, but remained snow scene to in quarantine in the camp until August. which he attaches Transported to Prague, they found a notice that their father, who had neither memory nor survived, was looking for them. sentiment. This is, I showed Ladislav the new volume of course, a very of essays on Belsen I was reading when evocative subject I met him on a recent trip to Slovakia. for a second- The cover is a grim picture of German generation Jewish PoWs transporting corpses to the artist. charnel house. A group of children are watching them in the background. Equally power­ 'That's me!', Ladislav exclaimed, indi­ Hazel and Ash by Shanti Panchal ful is the Shabbat cating a tall youngster in the middle of Table, in which the the front row. 'That's the house of the Gujarati-born Panchal produces rigid candlesticks and chala are shown without dead and those are our barracks!' figures with haunting Oriental eyes against perspective and represent people. She often I was stunned. And suddenly this a background of reds and ochres rendered returns to this theme of the empty dinner very informative book, edited by Suzanne Bardgett and David Cesarani, through many layers of paint to give effect table - perhaps a reference to loss, and cer­ came to life. My impression of the to a certain opaqueness, which could be read tainly the lost Shabbat meals which followed British liberation of Belsen had always as an opaqueness of spirit. In Homecoming the death of her mother. Just as Panchal is been positive, enhanced by the After a Long Absence, Panchal's dead drawn to Hindu images like fish, boats and recollections of the Jewish chaplain. brother enters the room in a ship, elephants, Held returns to flowers and shoes, Rabbi Leslie Hardman, and the romance symbolising the ethereal journey. also implying the Holocaust. between Norman Turgel, then a sergeant in British intelligence, and his Panchal's heritage is that of the Lily Freeman escaped Nazi Europe on survivor bride, Gina. But now I learned seventeenth-century Moghal tradition, a a fishing boat to England. Intemed and sent that at least 14,000 inmates had died strong influence on Indian art with its to Holloway Prison, she continues to after the liberation owing, in great part, concentration on detail and miniaturisation. exhibit at the age of 87. Her latest Happy to inadequate medical facilities and In terms of religious symbolism, a blue-black Paintings exhibition at Hampstead's inappropriate nutrition. fish, signifying Matsya, the Hindu mythical Burgh House presents florid local and more Many of these essays depict the being, is placed beside static figures sharing exotic landscapes. She is not an artist to desperate conditions in the camp at the the same stylised expressions. The depict the shadowlands - she has seen time of liberation, the terrible overcrowding - one example provided Judgement relates to the artist's divorce and enough of them. But her latest work is by Cesarani tells of a washroom with shows him in defeated pose in a green computer-generated abstract art. It is 12 taps for 4,000 inmates in the 'star dressing gown sitting on a green sofa and certainly not a step too far for this camp' - the untended piles of corpses, surrounded by silent family members. The indefatigable artist. from which it was difficult to prise the

8 A)R JOURNAL JULY 2007 neady dead, the skeletal living inmates anniversary of the liberation, he could description on the back cover of 'a riddled with disease and laid low by not trace them and it was only after his psychiatrist who grew up in Freud's starvation, and the complete shock and death in 1997 that the information Vienna' is a bit misleading as Hans did horror of the liberators, who were centre at the memorial discovered the not qualify as a psychiatrist until the unprepared for such a situation. sisters alive in Prague and conveyed the 1960s, when he and his family A collection of papers presented at news to Matthew's daughters, who emigrated to Canada. Hans Reichenfeld a seminar on the sixtieth anniversary of contacted them. Eva's drawings illus­ has led, and is probably still leading, a the camp's liberation, the book includes trate this volume. fairly charmed existence. He and his testimonies from a variety of angles - I have related this story in detail as I immediate family were able to leave survivors' recollections, including essays find it - and much else in this book - Austria for England, avoiding the fate written by children immediately after the most effective form of Holocaust of several other family members who liberation, impressions of soldiers and testimony. When the subject is, to my were murdered by the Nazis. Hans was medical personnel involved in the mind, over-intellectualised, as in Dan the first to leave. Through a family liberation effort, and reactions of Stone's undoubtedly worthy attempt to connection with a prominent Quaker, broadcasters and film-makers and their assess different interpretations or Alois Jalkotzy, he went to the Friends audiences. A prominent survivor who perspectives, it feeds into what Stone School, Great Ayton in Yorkshire. A year published hertestimony is Anita Lasker- himself refers to as the 'Holocaust later his parents and sister settled in Wallfisch, who had survived Auschwitz industry'. One intriguing feature Stone Scotland, where he joined them. by becoming a member of the highlights are the conflicting attitudes Both Hans and his father were Lagerkapelle before having to confront Hannah Arendt voiced at different interned. Hans was sent to Canada, the fresh horrors of Belsen. stages in her career. Her dismissal of the where the most important people in Among questions raised in some of 'banality of evil' in the wake of the the camp were the Viennese pastry the essays and in Cesarani's lucid intro­ Eichmann trial is well known. Less chefs and - since they were able to duction is whether there was an element commented on are her reactions at the obtain good ingredients - a cafe was of antisemitism in the liberation effort. time of the atrocities and shortly after, opened serving delicious pastries and Were some inmates treated with less in which she depicts a virtually good coffee. Later, the RAF trained compassion and attention because they metaphysical horror - powerfully Hans as a wireless mechanic. His war were Jewish? And was the preponder­ conveyed in a letter to Karl Jaspers in was uneventful and he never saw a ance of Jews among the victims and December 1946 as 'an organised shot fired. Posted to Iceland, he survivors of the camp played down so attempt ... to eradicate the concept of experienced Icelandic hospitality as not to excite excessive sympathy? A the human being'. (pancakes and coffee) and wonderful chilling directive by the Ministry of In­ Has Norman Finkelstein's disparage­ scenery and met Ragga, to whom he formation in 1941 cited by Tony ment of the 'Holocaust industry' any was married for over 50 years. His Kushner recommends limiting atrocity validity? Clearly there is a need to mother didn't approve of his choice and propaganda to incidents involving 'in­ preserve the memory, not least to told him that 'this marriage of yours nocent people' - not 'violent political counter ignorance, as in the reference, may be fine for Iceland but it's not for opponents' and not 'Jews'. by R G. Wodehouse's biographer (cited the long haul.' In contrast are reports of the moving by Kushner) to 'Belsen-Birkenau'. Can Ragga Reichenfeld supported her broadcasts made by Patrick Gordon this be exaggerated, however? This husband during his years of study and Walker and Richard Dimbleby. Gordon is a question Ladislav Urban has to his time as a GP, initially in practice with Walker's recording of the first Sabbath contend with, in a society where his father, and, later on, in Canada, eve service held in the camp is antisemitism is closer to the surface. where he changed careers. He says 'he particularly affecting: 'A group of a He is the representative for Holocaust thrived on the moves (three in all) but hundred or so in the open air, amid the Memorial Day in his native Komarno they created great stress for the family'. corpses. Two or three women sang and has been interviewed on several This period is glossed over. duets and solos. The padre read the European television channels. Yet his Although a strong supporter of service in English and Hebrew. No eye children 'don't want to know', his non- Communism for most of his life, Hans was dry. Certainly not mine. Most of the Jewish second wife feels he is too Reichenfeld lost his faith after the celebrants were in unconcealed floods consumed by the subject, and even his Hungarian uprising, when the Da/7y of tears.' half-sister, Hanka, born after the war, Worker suppressed Peter Fryer's report Equally affecting is Rainer Schulze's agrees. Yet I found Ladislav's courage (later published as A Hungarian Tragedy) essay on the bond between Andrew and bearing worthy of the greatest because it went against the party line. Matthews, a medical student volunteer respect. He experienced feelings of solidarity from London, and Hana and Eva Emma Klein towards the Hungarian refugees, in Sachselova, teenage sisters from Czecho­ spite of the traditional Austrian love/ slovakia. Horrified by what confronted hate relationship, 'because they let us him at Belsen, haunted particulady by Charmed existence down during the 1848 revolution'. ON THE FRINGE: A SORT OF the 'living dead' - 'human animals half- I would like to have read more about naked and dying, bereft of all hope and AUTOBIOGRAPHY his experiences and his marriage but, common dignity' - Matthews found in by Hans Reichenfeld since he outlived his wife, that may be the sisters a symbol of the 'immortality published by Hans Reichenfeld, 2006, too painful. The book is a little sketchy of youth and hope'. After he left the 144pp., may be ordered from a and I was left with the impression of a camp, he believed they must have died bookshop quoting ISBN 0-9782162-0-2 rather detached personality. from typhus, and treasured the draw­ sort of autobiography' sums up this Laraine Feldman ings Eva had given him. Returning to A book. The eady chapters about life Belsen in 1949 and on the fiftieth in Vienna are the best, but the Reviews continued on page 10 AjR JOURNAL JULY 2007

A'/'."I JEW S colliiinii'd from p(ii>c' 9

CINEMA of-the-century Vienna. Naomi Watts is extremely nice to look at and we do do Chocolate box film-making a lot of looking at her - far more even THE PAINTED VEIL than we look at the holiday-snapshot directed by John Curran mountain range which reappears every Peace at almost any price? starring Edward Norton few moments to remind us that this is Peace with Syria? It has seemed like an and Naomi Watts an 'art-house' film. Watts is a consider­ unattainable dream for a very long time. at selected cinemas able actress but never looks at ease The visit of an unofficial Syrian here. Mother Superior Diana Rigg, ow can so many internet reviewers wearing a perpetual I'm-older-more-ex- intermediary combined with repeated get it so wrong! Here was I H perienced-and-therefore-cleverer-than- declarations by Prime Minister Olmert trudging heroically through the driving you-are smirk on her face, is made up that Israel has no intention of attacking rain to my local cinema, even finding to resemble a not-so-distant cousin of that country has prompted speculation somewhere not so far away to park, Norton's Roswell alien. sitting myself down in a draughty, one- in Israel that some kind of agreement is third-full hall, and looking forward to The only truly sympathetic Brit in the in the pipeline. what most agreed was an outstanding film is the local colonial official No one disputes the fact that any movie. But soon I was counting the Waddington, played by Toby Jones, who agreement with Syria would involve seeks to place a protective layer around minutes -125 long ones. retuming the Golan Heights, the strategic the odd couple. Shacked up with a As everybody knows, Somerset plateau that dominates Israel's fertile Chinese gid half his age and double his Maugham novels are all about the weight, he never loses his humility. Jordan Valley, Lake Tiberias and many British doing dastardly things to one northem towns and settlements. another in colonial parts, with As the film plods to its chocolate-box In the Second Lebanon War last marriages breaking down and lots of climax, the ingredients are melted down hanky-panky going on along the way, one at a time. The nationalist Chinese summer rockets were fired into Israel all against a contrasting cultural anti-foreigner backdrop eases, Walter from Lebanon, causing damage to Israeli background. So it is here. the Bacteriologist cleans up the water life, limb and property - but not a single Empty London socialite Kitty (Naomi in the village, and Mother Superior Rigg shot was fired from Syria. Lebanon paid reveals she has long ago lost her Watts), past her sell-by date in her a heavy price for its failure to restrain passionate faith: she and the Almighty family's eyes, marries infatuated terrorists, while Syria did not suffer in are 'like an old couple sharing a settee bacteriologist Walter Fane (Edward any way. Norton), who sweeps her off with him who don't speak but deep down we The Golan Heights region is dear to to his research job in Shanghai. In what know we'll never leave each other' the hearts of many Israelis, whether as a for her is a loveless marriage, Kitty is The film was produced by Norton buffer zone, an area of agricultural soon hanky-panky-ing with the local and Watts - hopefully they'll go on to stiff-upper-lip Lothario, who drops her better things. settlement whose rich archaeological the minute Walter finds out. Walter Howard Spier remains attest to ancient Jewish life, or blackmails her into accompanying him an area for tourism. Under Israeli hands to a new job in an area deep inside the volcanic soil has yielded good China overtaken by cholera. After the Annely Juda Fine Art harvests, and the terrain and climate have couple have spent long hours mentally been found to be ideal for viticulture. 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) torturing each other, and following her Today no connoisseur can ignore the deepening involvement in the local Tel: 020 7629 7578 Fax: 020 7491 2139 excellent Golan wines, some of which are orphanage under the influence of the considered to equal those of France. Mother Superior (Diana Rigg), Kitty CONTEMPORARY PAINTING finds spiritual redemption (oh dear!), AND SCULPTURE But if that is the price that has to be igniting at last a mutual love between paid, the question arises whether Israelis her and her husband - before a tragic will be able to see beyond the immediate ending which, in the context of the loss to the ultimate benefit. The film, seems hardly to grow out of the WANTED TO BUY hardliners will doubtless oppose the idea plot. German and with every fibre of their being, but there Not that there's anything wrong also seems to be a growing groundswell with the plot - cholera-infected villages, English Books of voices advocating peace at almost any however sanitised, in a China smoulder­ price. ing with anti-foreigner sentiment are Bookdealer, AJR member, welcomes invitations to view and If real peace can be guaranteed, then not a film-maker's idea of a commer­ purchase valuable books. cial payout- it's the plodding treatment perhaps it is worth exchanging real estate for the lives of our sons and grandsons. of it that's the problem. Norton, who Robert Homung looks, acts and talks like an elongated 10 Mount View, Ealing Perhaps we should consider that each relative of the celebrated 1947 Roswell London W5 1PR Remembrance Day, when we hear about alien, played more or less the same role Email: homungbooksdaol.coin yet another family devastated by loss. Tel: 020 8998 0546 in last year's infinitely better The Dorothea Shefer-Vanson Illusionist - a fairytale love affair in turn-

10 A|R JOURNAL JULY 2007

nyone meeting Lilian Levy would Lilian went to South Hampstead High and immediately be stmck by her self- PROFILE Parliament Hill Schools, in 1960 qualifying A confidence, her pride in her in modem languages at the Institut Fran9ais. appearance, and her pronunciation of Ronald Channing She took her linguistic skills to work with a English - though her early life was far number of commercial organisations. removed from 'drawdng-room' Britain. Lilian's aunt made sure that she Her parents had fled Frankfurt and attended Belsize Square Synagogue escaped to the Netherlands, anticipating Lilian Levy services every week. Lilian first met that, as in the First World War, Holland London-born girl's Herbert Levy, a leader of the youth drama would remain neutral and a safe haven. group, when she was just 15. Herbert had While Lilian's father remained in miraculous survival come to Britain with the Kindertransport Amsterdam, her pregnant mother left for and, in 1961, when Lilian was 21, they were London where, on 14 August 1939, Lilian married. They had two children: Andrew, Dreifuss was bom. Ironically, her mother now a law lecturer, and Hilary, a special decided to avoid the dangers of Britain's war needs adviser and mother of their two with Germany, flying from Croydon airport grandchildren. on 3 September with her new-bom baby to Lilian joined Herbert in running his rejoin her husband in Amsterdam. textile business and took over full Hitler, of course, swept aside Dutch responsibility at one stage when Herbert neutrality and invaded the Netherlands on was ill, until they retired in 1994. That same 10 May 1940, placing it under German year, Lilian responded to an advertisement occupation. Increasingly harsh measures in the Belsize Square Synagogue magazine against the Jews were soon introduced and seeking German speakers for archival work the family went into hiding in the north. In at CBF-WJR, and she joined the Jewish early 1943, however, in response to a radio Refugee Committee of WJR as a volunteer to announcement that British subjects - of Bimbaum, who took her, along with his wife, answer queries on the archives. The JRC which Lilian was one by reason of her place their own six children and many other archives contain records of refugees from of birth - were to be given an assurance of orphaned Jewish children, under, his Nazi persecution who were helped in some safety and exchanged for German prisoners- protection. way by the JRC between 1933 and 1945 and of-war, the three of them reported to the As the end of the war approached, the onwards. If an individual had made contact German authorities. They were taken to the Germans set about killing as many of their with Bloomsbury House, he or she was likely Dutch Westerbork concentration camp prior concentration-camp inmates as possible. to be on one of the 70,000 files on record. to incarceration in the notorious Bergen- Among all the chaos, Lilian was put on one In the 1980s the files were placed on Belsen camp. Lilian was then just four. of the last trains going east but it was microfilm. Of particular interest were the Over the ensuing year and a half, bombed by the RAF, who saw it as a troop Kindertransport files and the JRC set out to conditions in the camp drastically carrier. The train was abandoned by its retum each Kindertransportee's identity deteriorated with huge overcrowding, survivors, among them Lilian, filthy and card to the individual concerned. Other primitive conditions, life-taking diseases and suffering from paratyphoid. Somehow, with queries followed: verification of dates of little or no food. By January 1945, both her her liberation by the allies, she was taken arrival, knowledge with a significant parents had starved to death and it was a into hospital and eventually recovered. bearing on German and Austrian pension small miracle that Lilian, now a five-year- Lilian found herself in an orphanage in rights, the restoration of looted art, and the old orphan, survived. She owed much to the northern Holland which she saw as tracing of family members. Lilian found humanitarian acts of a religious Jew, Mr 'paradise' on earth. herself in a position of considerable tmst. Mr Bimbaum traced her aunt in London, Personal files remain closed for the now her only living relative and, as Lilian foreseeable future - available only to the held British nationality, there was no individual concemed or, if deceased, to their JACKMAN • impediment to her travelling in 1946 to stay direct descendants. Lilian can empathise SILVERMAN with her. Her aunt thought it best to arrange with the enquirers and is certainly the right COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS for Lilian to be adopted, and so she was, by person for the job. Dr and Mrs Davidson, a paediatrician, Both Lilian and Herbert are great former Berliner and Jewish refugee of 1933, devotees of the theatre. They also read a living in Swiss Cottage with their grown­ great deal and love music, especially opera. 26 Conduit Street, London WIR 9TA up daughter of 26. Lilian was then only six. In 1981 they visited Mr and Mrs Bimbaum Telephone: 020 7409 0771 Fax: 020 7493 8017 They were very good to her in all manner at their home in Israel. Lilian could at last of ways despite the rather large age gap. thank them for saving her life.

II Oxford talk by BoD representative Cleve Road and the Wiener Library Dr Winston Pickett, Public Affairs and Howard Falksohn gave us a Communications member of the Board comprehensive presentation on the of Deputies, gave a lively account of the Library's past, present and future. In Board's history, providing examples of 2009, he told us, it would be moving recent actions in which it had been to a building in Russell Square and involved. collaborating with Birkbeck College on Oliver Lawton a lecture programme. Next meeting: Tues 7 Aug David Lang Kingston Continental Friends Next meeting: Tues 17 July. Regional Essex talk on genealogy inaugural meeting Get-Together. Details to be sent out You could have heard a pin drop during separately Members from Cheam, Surbiton, Jeanette Rosenberg's talk on genealogy, Kingston, New Maiden, East Sheen and which was of particular interest to me Surprising events in Edgware Richmond shared bits of our life stories as a Holocaust survivor. I would also This time it was we who were the and, although some members had commend our group co-ordinator Hazel speakers and we were asked to talk known each other previously, we had Beiny for providing these speakers, each about the most surprising event in our not necessarily shared these before. We of whom has so far proved a winner. life - which, for one lady, was an agreed to meet again in late August, David Kutner invitation to Buckingham Palace for the hopefully the second of many such Next meeting: Tues 10 July. Leslie Queen's 80th birthday party, which was meetings as there was a strong feeling Sutton, 'The Nuremberg Trials' on the same day as her own. We had a of fellowship among us. special tea and cakes for our own first Edith Jayne Lucky reunion in Cardiff birthday. Felix Winkler Some 20 of us from Cardiff, Newport Next meeting: Tues 17 July. Regional West Midlands (Birmingham) and as far away as Aberystwyth were Get-Together. Details to be sent out talk on the Wiener Library given a Power Point update on the separately Howard Falksohn, Senior Archivist at the Middle East situation by the Israeli Wiener Library, gave us an illustrated Embassy's Robin Hamilton-Taylor I was Joint group visit to the theatre talk on the Library's founding, facilities lucky to meet Kurt Iwnicki, a retired Those of us who went to see and resources, as well as its ongoing engineer from Newport, and his Kindertransport at the Hampstead work and plans for the future. The charming wife. We were astonished to Theatre came away in a very thoughtful meeting was the first since the death discover we had both lived with the frame of mind. The play was powerfully of our member Paul Oppenheimer MBE, same Zuntz family in Oxford during the acted and produced. One was left to who is much missed (see obituary, war years, albeit at different times! wonder what one's personal reaction page 15). William W. Dieneman would have been had one faced the Philip Lesser dilemma of the leading lady. Next meeting: Sun 15 July. Lunch Discussion in South London on Herbert Haberberg Garden Party. Details being sent out Israel and the media separately Jack De Metz spoke about 'Fair Audiologist is guest speaker Reporting on Israel' and what members at Herts An illuminating morning in llford can do if they think the media are Robert Beiny, an audiologist, spoke Dr Helen Fry enlightened us about biased, a controversial subject on which movingly about his work with orphaned 'Refugees in Uniform', comprising many of us had something to say. and abandoned children in Romania Kitchener camp and the Jews who Nicholas Marton with severe hearing problems, before joined the Pioneer Corps and their Next meeting: Thur 12 July. A BoD discussing help available to people in combined efforts on the war front. One representative this country. member, delighted to find her photo in Ruth Tuch Helen's book, told us how she came to HGS and life in South Africa Next meeting: Tues 17 July. Regional be in Devon during the war. A very Dr Sheila Martin said that so much had Get-together. Details to be sent out illuminating morning. happened in South Africa so quickly to separately Meta Roseneil turn it from a barren country into a Next meeting: Wed 4 July sophisticated multi-racial society. Today, Brighton & Hove Sarid legal lecture the country had sadly seen a break­ Retired barrister Sydney Levene gave us Pinner: Thomas Coram's down of law and order, with 18,000 an interesting talk on the duties of the Foundling Hospital murders last year, and 40 per cent un­ legal profession. He mentioned his work Jane King traced the history of the employment. John M. Davis in some famous trials such as that of Foundling Hospital, which took in Next meeting: Mon 9 July. Details tbc the Yorkshire Ripper and the Bradford 27,000 unwanted children following football stadium fire. its creation by Royal Charter in 1739 The story of the bagel told in Ceska Abrahams due to the efforts of philanthropist Hendon Next meeting: Mon 16 July. Godfrey Captain Thomas Coram. Support by Frank Miller told us the story of the Gould, 'The Incredible Life of Trebbitch leading figures of the day, such as bagel - which, in fact, originated in the Lincoln' William Hogarth, led to the Hospital Muslim East. A scrumptious bagel tea becoming the country's first public art followed. Our thanks to Hazel Beiny for Conversation exchange in gallery. arranging the catering. Nottingham (East Midlands) l/l/a/ter Weg Annette Saville Eighteen of us met at the delightful Next meeting: Thur 5 July. Blanche Next meeting: Mon 2 July. Dr Scarlett period house of Ruth and Jurgen Benedick, 'My Escape to Sweden' Epstein Schwiening. Following a splendid lunch,

12 A|R JOURNAL JULY 2007 we were entertained to live Jewish music by Dori Lake (a second- Child Survivors to meet this Paul Balint AJR Centre generation member) and a friend. November in Jerusalem 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 Members could also view paintings and The 19th annual conference of the Tel: 020 7328 0208 glass sculpture by Ruth displayed World Federation of Jewish Child around the house. It was a lovely Survivors of the Holocaust will take KT-AJR afternoon for sitting in the garden and place in Jerusalem on 5-8 November having coffee and the conversation 2007. Kindertransport special exchange which is so important to Child Survivors, aged under 16, interest group members who are scattered over a wide emerged from Nazi-occupied Europe Monday 2 July 2007 area and look forward to this form of at the end of the Second Wodd War 11.45 am for 12.15 pm Past conferences have all been informal occasion. successful and gathered 500 and more Dr Eva Roman Bob Norton people. Occasionally, unexpected 'Psychological Trauma' reunions, even of long-lost family Reservations required North London Israel update members, have taken place at these Please telephone 020 7328 0208 The Israeli Embassy's Robin Hamilton- conferences. Being together in Israel Taylor gave us an update on the will be of special significance. It will Monday, Wednesday & Thursday situation in Israel. His remarks were be a unique opportunity for Child 9.30 am - 3.30 pm most informative and explained a Survivors in Israel and from other PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CENTRE IS number of the undedying problems the countries as well as Second- and Third-Generation members, to come CLOSED ON TUESDAYS country is facing at present. together Herbert Haberberg July Afternoon Entertainment Next meeting: Thur 26 July. David Ebry, The conference will present Mon 2 KT LUNCH 'The Jews in Italy' prominent speakers, seminars and - Kards & Games Klub workshops as well as opportunities Tue 3 CLOSED Wed 4 Geoffrey Strum OTHER MEETINGS to relax and meet other participants. In addition, we will have a very special Thur 5 Sheila Games Wembley Wed 11 July. Tbc Mon 9 Kards Si Games Klub all-day programme at Yad Vashem. Surrey Wed 18 July. Annual Garden Tue 10 CLOSED Pre- and post-conference tours have Party. Details to be sent out Wed 11 Simon Gilbert been planned. Thur 12 Margaret Opdahl separately The Conference Committee com­ Mon 16 Kards & Games Klub Kent Sun 22 July Garden Party with prises people in the USA and the Tue 17 CLOSED members of Council for Christians Netherlands and a team in Israel. Wed 18 Concert by Music in and Jews in Hastings. Details to be The conference registration packet Hospitals Thur 19 Katinka Seiner sent out separately and further details are available on Mon 23 Kards & Games Klub the World Federation's website Tue 24 CLOSED (www.WFJCSH.org). Alternatively, Wed 25 Mark Rosen AJR GROUP CONTACTS please telephone Henri Obstfeld Thur 26 Ronnie Goldberg Bradford Continental Friends (020 8954 5298) for a registration Mon 30 Kard & Games Klub Lilly and Albert Waxman 01274 581189 packet. Tue 31 CLOSED Brighton & Hove (Sussex Region) Fausta Shelton 01273 734 648 DIARY DATES Bristol/Bath 8-15 July St Annes holiday Kitty Balint-Kurti 0117 973 1150 Leeds HSFA 17 July London & South Cambridge TrudeSilman 0113 2251628 Get-together, Radlett Anne Bender 01223 276 999 Liverpool 7 August Northem Get-together, Leeds Cardiff Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 15 August Trip to Frogmore House Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Manchester with Guided Tour & Savill Cleve Road, AJR Centre Werner Lachs 0161 773 4091 Garden Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 Newcastle 9 Sept AJR Tea at Watford Hilton Dundee For further information about any of Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Walter Knoblauch 0191 2855339 Norfolk (Norwich) these events, please call us on 020 8385 East Midlands (Nottingham) 3070. Bob Norton 01159 212 494 Myrna Glass 020 8385 3077 North London Edgware Jenny Zundel 020 8882 4033 Ruth Urban 020 8931 2542 'DROP IN' ADVICE SERVICE Oxford Members requiring benefit advice please telephone Edinburgh Susie Bates 01235 526 702 Fran^oise Robertson 0131 337 3406 Pinner (HA Postal District) Linda Kasmir on 020 8385 3070 to make an Essex (Westcliff) Vera Gellman 020 8866 4833 appointment at AJR, Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Larry Lisner 01702 300812 Sheffield Stanmore, Middx HA7 4RL Glasgow Steve Mendelsson 0114 2630666 Claire Singerman 0141 649 4620 South London Harrogate Lore Robinson 020 8670 7926 Hazel Beiny, Southern Groups Co-ordinator 020 8385 3070 Inge Little 01423 886254 South West Midlands (Worcester area) Hendon Ruth Jackson 01386 552264 Myrna Glass, London South and Hazel Beiny 020 8385 3070 Midlands Groups Co-ordinator Surrey 020 8385 3077 Hertfordshire Edmee Barta 01372 727 412 Hazel Beiny 020 8385 3070 Susanne Green, Northern Groups Weald of Kent Co-ordinator HGS Max and Jane Dickson 0151 291 5734 Gerda Torrence 020 8883 9425 01892 541026 Susan Harrod, Groups' Administrator Hull Wessex (Bournemouth) 020 8385 3070 Susanne Green 0151 291 5734 Mark Goldfinger 01202 552 434 KT-AJR (Kindertransport) llford West Midlands (Birmingham) Andrea Goodmaker 020 8385 3070 Meta Rosenell 020 8505 0063 Ernest Aris 0121 353 1437

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FAMILY ANNOUNCEMENTS Births HOLIDAY FOR Congratulations to Linda Kasmir on the NORTHERN MEMBERS J FROGMORE HOUSE J birth of her fourth granddaughter, Einav. Sunday 8 July 2007 - ! AND SAVILL GARDEN ! Congratulations to Carol and Adrian Sunday 15 July 2007 i 15 August 2007 I Rossen on the birth of their second AT THE FERNLEA HOTEL granddaughter, Ayala. 11/17 South Promenade, St Annes Join us on a guided tour of Deaths Tel 01253 726 726 Frogmore House. Hear the story Kanter, Edith, 1912-2007. My dear blind The cost, including Ditmer, Bed and of past residents of this house, mother, aged 95, living in Princess Breakfast, is £420 per person now used by the Royal Family for Alexander Home, Stanmore, died peacefully The hotel charges a supplement per private entertaining, then pay a in her sleep having suffered from bronchial room for sea view or deluxe room visit to Savill Garden pneumonia for the last few days of her life. Progranune includes Some walking is involved A truly dignified and great lady who bore GOOD COMPANY Pnce £25 includes transport, all her trials and tribulations without ENTERTAINMENT • OUTINGS entrance and sandwich lunch complaint. Will be sorely missed and never MEET OLD AND NEW FRIENDS forgotten by her daughter Ursula, whom Places are limited - book early Travel to St Annes by to avoid disappointment she left at Bedin Station in February 1939 RAIL, NATIONAL COACH or CAR at the age of 3 for the Kindertransport to Call Carol on 020 8385 3085 or Please contact Ruth Finestone on England, son Steven, son-in-law George Loma on 020 8385 3070 020 8385 3070 and daughter-in-law Patsy, 7 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. May the I everiasting GOD bless and keep her Amen. BELSIZE SQUARE Meller, Ruth Helge (nee Israel), born 19.01.20 Saar, Germany died 27.05.07. SYNAGOGUE LEO BAECK Ruth died suddenly but very peacefully at 51, Belsize Square, NW3 4HX HOUSING ASSOCIATION home. Already deeply missed by daughters We offer a traditional style of Claudia, Rachel and Sonia and her large BUNGALOW TO LET religious service. circle of fnends. A life well lived. GOLDERS GREEN AREA Details can be obtained from the O'Brien, Vera (nee Harth) has died LARGE LOUNGE AREA, Synagogue Administrator suddenly in Taupo, New Zealand, aged 78. BEDROOM WITH Telephone 020 7794 3949 or She is much missed by her husband John, FITTED WARDROBES, email: [email protected] 6 children, 22 grandchildren, 8 great­ BATHROOM WITH SHOWER, grandchildren, and her many friends. Minister: Rabbi Rodney J Mariner FULLY FITTED KITCHEN/DINER CLASSIFIED Cantor: Norman Falah Cohen 24-HOUR CALL BELL SYSTEM I am looking for a travelling companion Regular Services FOR FURTHER INFORMATION who would like to go on holiday either in Friday evenings at 6.45pm AND VIEWING CONTACT this country or abroad. Please contact Alf Saturday mornings at lO.OOam DAVID LIGHTBURN ON 020 8455 2286 Muller on 020 8450 6794. Religion School: Sundays 9.45ain-12.30pm AJR Centre Nursery School: 9.15am — 12.15pm Chiropodist. Trevor Goldman at the Paul Belsize Under 3s: 9.30am - 11.30am Balint AJR Centre Wednesday 11 July ACACIA LODGE and 8 August 2007, 10-11.30 am. Space donated by Pafra Limited Mrs Pringsheim, S.R.N. Matron For Elderly, Retired and Convalescent Meeting Rooms and our refurbished (Licensed by Borough of Bamet) communal hall are available for cultural ' Single and Double Rooms. (fjcJCou^ Home Care and social functions. • Ensuite facilities, CH in all rooms. Tel: 020 7794 3949 • Gardens, TV and reading rooms. Care through quality and • Nurse on duty 24 hours. professionalism • Long and short term and respite, including trial period if required. Celebrating our 25th Anniversary Between £400 and £500 per week 25 years of experience In providing the highest standards of care In the comfort 020 8445 1244/020 8446 2820 office hours of your own home 020 8455 1335 other times 37-39 Torrington Park, North Finchley London N12 9TB •>^4^ PillarCnre Qualit\' support and care at homo A grandchild is a wonderful blessing 1 hour to 24 hours care Hourly Care from 1 hour - 24 hours Registered through the National Care Standard Commission to have. If you would like to spend more time with them then you need to Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care Call our 24 hour tel 020 7794 9323 call CORRECT COMPUTERS. Convalescent and Personal Health Care www.colvin-nursing.co.uk Imagine being able to see your family Compassionate and Affordable Service whenever YOU want. We teach SWITCH ON ELECTRICS complete beginners to use a computer Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff and will show you how to have video Registered with the CSCI and UKHCA Rewires and all household conversations with any of your family. electrical work That's as easy as making a telephone Call us on Freephone 0800 02S 4(-.4.= PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 call but one hundred times better, Call Studio 1 Utopia Viliaee Mobile: 0795 614 8566 us now on 020 7449 0920. Chalcot Road, WVl 8LH

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Obituaries Paul Oppenheimer MBE with First Class Paul was appointed MBE in the 1990 aul Oppenheimer was bom in Berlin in Honours. In 1955 he New Year Honours for services to the motor P 1928, the eldest of three children. His obtained an MSc in industry. father, Hans, had joined the banking firm Thermodynamics Following retirement, Paul devoted of Mendelssohn and Co. The family moved at Birmingham Uni- ..-., himself to speaking about his wartime to Holland in 1936 and were caught in the versify. In 1958 he All, experiences. He addressed some 700 Nazi occupation of 1940. Paul was left BSA to join Joseph Lucas, initially as a audiences, mostly of schoolchildren. In 1996 incarcerated for almost two years, first in Nuclear Project Engineer. Four years later the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre in Westerbork then in Bergen-Belsen, where he moved to another part of the organisa­ Nottinghamshire published his memoirs, his parents perished. tion. Girling, which became his professional From Belsen to Buckingham Palace, sales of Following liberation, Paul and his sib­ home for three decades. which exceed 10,000 copies. In 2004 the lings retumed briefly to the Netherlands The mid-1960s saw the introduction of University of Wolverhampton made him an before coming to London at the instigation disc brakes in passenger cars. Paul became Honorary DLitt for his contribution to of an uncle. In 1947 Paul moved to Birming­ involved in the development of overseas Holocaust education. ham, where he combined an engineering markets, initially in Italy (with Fiat and Alfa In 1964 he married Coriime Orrae, a nurse apprenriceship at BSA Tools with evening Romeo) and Sweden (Volvo). He designed a who later became a JP. She survives him study towards a London University BSc in pioneer dirt shield for the disc brakes on the together with their two sons and a daughter Mechanical Engineering, completed in 1954 Alfa Model 105. and grandchildren.

Jack Spier studied Bakery and Confectionery. He children and two great-grandchildren. He ur father, Jack Spier, born Hans served in the National Fire Service in 1944- was always grateful to Lord and Lady de OJoachim Spier in Treysa, Germany on 46 and in 1947 obtained his British Rothschild for the haven they gave him and 9 January 1928, was one of the last of a Citizenship Certification. In 1947 he married for being able to lead a life of freedom here significant generation of young boys who Madge, who predeceased him by 21 years. after coming from Nazi Germany with the fled the Nazis in 1939. Jack was associated with many Kindertransport, which allowed him to bring Colonel Julian Leyton arranged the associations locally in Hastings and Bexhill, up a family rather than be a victim of the transportarion of a group of boys and girls being President of the Master Bakers, the Holocaust. to England. Only later did it become knovm Rotary and the Chambers of Commerce, and Jane Spier that the sponsors were Lord and Lady James Vice-Chairman of Hastings College. Hewas de Rothschild of Waddesdon Manor. The also a founder member of the Hastings and Arts and Events Diary - July children became known as the Cedar Boys Bexhill Jewish Society. He raised thousands and Girls, after the name of a house in which of pounds for charity - from the High School To 2 Sept The Last Goodbye: The they lived. Jack was one of these 31 boys to the swimming pool, the YMCA, and Rescue of Children from Nazi Europe The story of the Kindertransport. Jewish and two girls. Bucket and Spades, a home for mentally Museum Finchley, tel 020 8349 1143 On leaving school. Jack attended handicapped children. Sun 1 July Forty Years' Anniversary Aylesbury Technical College, where he Jack had six daughters, ten grand- Celebration of Clara Nehab Care Home Garden Party at 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NWII, from 3.30 pm. Guests welcome. Leo Baeck Ruth Sheldon 1947, to fit in with the arrival from Vienna (London)Lodge uth Sheldon was bom in Vienna in 1922. of her mother, whom she hadn't seen since Mon 2 Denis Vandervelde, 'A Postal R Her parents were Leopold and Helena 1939. Their son, Christopher, was bom in Historian Considers the Role of the Karrach, her sister Gerda. Following the 1951. Jewish Peddler in Nineteenth- Anschluss, they were evacuated by Kinder- Ruth put her heart and soul into Century Germany' Club 43 transport, arriving in England in early 1939. everything she did. She trained as a midwife Mon 9 End-of-Season Informal Her father was killed at Auschwitz. and, later, as a youth leader. She needed to Meeting (with readings in German and The Simons in Twickenham looked after keep busy: sewing, knitting, crocheting, English) Club 43 Ruth while she completed her schooling. making stuffed toys, cooking (Viennese, of Wed 11 A Tea Cruise on the River Wey Nursing was the only opportunity available course - her apfelstmdel was supposedly Leo Baeck (London) Lodge to her as an alien. She finished training the best outside Austria!), gardening, school having been awarded the County delivering (27) babies, running the local Club 43 Meetings at Belsize Square Synagogue, 7.45 pm. Tel Hans Seelig gold medal and was also entmsted with the youth club, and many other things. She on 01442 254360 task of giving the very first penicillin loved swimming, music (particularly Leo Baeck (London) Lodge Meetings injection to a civilian, supervised by Viennese), going to the theatre and opera, at 11 Fitzjohn's Avenue, London NW3, Alexander Fleming. and looking after her asthmatic husband. 8.00 pm. Tel 020 8958 2516 She met her future husband, John, who She died suddenly, in her husband's suffered with severe asthma, while working presence, 60 years after they first met. as night sister and they were married in John Sheldon Michael Newman is away

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Newsround

Vienna Holocaust archive unveiled in Washington A future for Britain's Jewish community? The Holocaust Archive of the Vienna Jewish community has been unveiled at he majority of Jews living in Britain prayer and the procreation of rather large the United States Holocaust Memorial during the twentieth century placed families. What I did not do was ask 'For how Museum in Washington. The archive, Tgreat importance on being many generations can such an immigrant discovered by the Vienna Jewish recognisable practitioners of the Jewish group maintain its foreign traditions, Community in 2000, includes some half- faith centred on synagogue attendance, languages and beliefs while seeking fully to a-million pages of material detailing efforts by Jews to leave the country in the religious rituals and/or adherence to aspects benefit from the educarional and material 1930s and records of their deportations of specifically Jewish social life, business, benefits proffered by the host community? to concentration camps. The archive will the professions, culture, countries of origin, Why should the integration of our be exhibited at the Jewish Museum of languages, history, welfare provision, and immigrant community ultimately not result Vienna from 3 July onwards. support for Israel. Their voluntary in its assimilation?' Former death camps seek participation within a conglomerate Jewish Perhaps similar questions were right to charge community, whose numbers supposedly occupying the minds of Jewish Policy Some of the former most notorious Nazi peaked at some half-a-million after the Research (JPR), who have published an concentration camps, now run as muse­ Second World War, is demonstrated still by illuminating study of Jews in Britain: A ums, could soon demand an entrance fee the plethora of independent communal Snapshot from the 2001 Census. For the first from visitors to help finance educational institutions which offer succour, support time, a voluntary question on religion was facilities. Former concentration camps in Germany are funded by both the federal and enlightenment to their members from included and those who identified and regional governments but the money, the cradle to the grave. Few felt it incumbent themselves as 'Jewish' have provided a directors insist, just about covers operat­ on them, or were persuaded by a unique body of information which, in a JPR ing costs. 'Between a third and a half of supernatural revelation, to convert to and Board of Deputies collaboration, has all requests for guided tours and Christianity despite an established church, yielded a revised picture of Britain's Jewish educational support are having to be emancipated Catholicism and free and population. turned down', said Gunter Morsch, who reformed churches and chapels, all eager to Apparently Jews form a total population supervises the memorial sites in Sachsen­ hausen, Ravensbruck and Brandenburg. offer salvation of souls and alternative of 270,000 and live in most parts of the UK. communities. However, 65.5 per cent of British Jews live Japan's 'Schindler' honoured Jewish immigration into Britain was in London, almost a quarter in Bamet and Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of caused by extremes of persecution and the Redbridge, and a half in Harrow, Camden, Japan have visited the monument of Chiune Sugihara in Lithuania. In 1940 resultant transfer of centuries-old centres of Hackney, Hertsmere (an exceptional growth Sugihara, who saved about 6,000 Jews Jewish learning and their surviving East and area). Bury, Leeds, Westminster and Brent. from the Nazis, was acting consul in Central European Jewish populations to A high proportion of Jews live alone at both Lithuania's temporary wartime capital North and South America, Britain and, younger and older ages. Though three-quar­ when he was ordered to abandon his post eventually, Israel. Save for a Sephardi elite, ters of married Jews have a Jewish spouse, as the Germans advanced. Instead, he most of us owe our presence in Britain either approximately one-sixth have spouses of signed as many transit visas for the Soviet Union as he could in defiance of his own to the pogroms that befell the Jews of the another faith, usually Christian, and more government. He died in 1986 and his shtetl in the Russo-Polish empire, which than 5,000 are cohabiting. Health is gener­ family had to wait 14 years for the then between 1881 and 1914 brought more than ally above average. Overall, British Jews foreign minister to issue a formal apology. 100,000 emigrants to these shores, or to the enjoy high levels of educational and career Synagogue opened in Estonia 70,000 refugees who gained entry as victims achievement, women in particular exhibit­ The first synagogue in Estonia since its of Nazi persecution in the 1930s, mainly ing exceptional success, and the Jewish Jewish population was wiped out in the from German-speaking Central Europe. population experiences high living stan­ Holocaust has opened. The synagogue, An unspoken assumption among my dards, though overcrowded accommodation which can fit 180 people in the main mid-century generation was that is found in inner-city areas. worship area, was built at a cost of about identification with Anglo-Jewry and With a community which owes its origins $2 million with money from a US-based continued 'middle-of-the-road' observation to twentieth-century immigration and is, foundation and Estonian Jews and non- Jews. of rituals in the United Synagogue, or unsurprisingly, numerically in decline, possibly within the Reform movement for rather than accepting that certain Jewish Falce Eichmann passport those who brought their convert spouses institutions tended to cold-shoulder non- put on display into the Jewish community, would ensure Jewish partners and the children of inter­ A passport used by Adolf Eichmann to its survival. The most orthodox Jews set marriage, it would seem that revitalised escape to Argentina in 1950 under the name Ricardo Klement has been turned themselves apart, retaining eighteenth- efforts to retain self-identify ing Jews within over to the Holocaust Museum in Buenos century Polish dress, devoting themselves Anglo-Jewry might both strengthen and Aires. A judge stumbled upon it in a court to the interpretation of traditional texts and enrich our community. file.

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] Website www.ajr.org.uk

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