VOLume 12 NO.9 september 2012

Founder of the n 4 July 2012, a reception was Guttmann defended the interests of his few survivors spent the rest of their held at the Attlee Room in the Jewish patients courageously; even at the days as incurable, useless cripples OHouse of Lords to celebrate the time of greatest danger, during the so- in institutions. In December 1941, life of Sir , founder called ‘’ in November 1938, Guttmann presented a paper proposing of the Paralympic Games, whose he defied the and SS men who radical new methods in the treatment pioneering wartime work with victims descended on his hospital. and rehabilitation of those suffering from of spinal injuries at Realising that he could no longer safely traumatic paraplegia, with the aim of re- Hospital, , revolutionised the remain in Germany, Guttmann emigrated integrating them into everyday life. As treatment of members of the forces to Britain. He arrived in March 1939 with a result, he was appointed director of a whose wounds would previously have his wife, Else, and their two children, new unit for spinal injuries patients that left them bedridden and condemned to opened at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in an early death. February 1944. Guttmann’s methods were subse­ Guttmann’s ground-breaking new quently applied to paraplegics approach involved both physiological ­everywhere. Fittingly, the reception and psychological treatment, as one of took place under the auspices of the the principal obstacles to be overcome Council for Assisting Refugee Academ­ was the ingrained belief that paraplegics ics (CARA), the successor organisation were beyond help, a prejudice shared to the Society for the Protection­ of Sci­ all too often by the victims themselves. ence and Learning (SPSL), which was Guttmann adopted the idea of using sport responsible in the 1930s for finding posts as a means of inspiring self-confidence in for a large number of refugee academics his patients, as well as building up their and scientists, mostly Jewish, who had physical strength, so that they could been dismissed from their positions by again lead active and fulfilled lives. The the Nazis. results of his visionary innovations were Ludwig Guttmann was born in 1899 remarkable, on a par with the wartime in the village of Tost (Toszek) in Upper work of the famous plastic surgeon ; his family then moved to the Archibald McIndoe in treating RAF larger town of Königshütte (Chorzow). Sir Ludwig Guttman, 1899-1980 personnel suffering from burns and facial He studied medicine at Freiburg disfigurement at Queen Victoria Hospital, University, where he was active in one of Dieter (Dennis) and Eva, to take up a East Grinstead. the Jewish student fraternities affiliated position that the SPSL had secured for Guttmann’s work continued after the to the Kartell-Convent; these were bodies him at the Radcliffe Infirmary in , war, leading to the transformation of for patriotic German , aiming to on the invitation of Hugh Cairns, Nuffield countless thousands of lives that would instil confidence in their members in Professor of Surgery. The Guttmanns otherwise have been consigned to the the face of anti-Semitism by building were saved but impoverished; they lived scrapheap. In 1952, his unit became the up their strength through activities like in modest circumstances at 63 Lonsdale National Spinal Injuries Centre. He was sports. Guttmann graduated in 1924 and Road, Oxford (as documents from the knighted in 1966, only the fourth refugee returned to Silesia, where, after a spell in SPSL archives at the Bodleian Library, to be so honoured (after the scientists Hamburg, he became a neurosurgeon at Oxford, helpfully supplied to me by Mrs Francis Simon and Hans Krebs and the Wenzel Hancke hospital in Breslau Laura Broadhurst of CARA, show). the philosopher Karl Popper), and was (Wroclaw) and a lecturer at Breslau In the early stages of the war, the a revered figure far beyond Britain by University. In 1933 he was stripped mortality rate for members of the forces the time of his death in 1980. ‘Poppa’ of both positions, but went to work at with injuries to the spinal cord was Guttmann, as he was known, combined the Breslau Jewish Hospital, where around 80 per cent, with a life expectancy concern and compassion for his patients he became medical director in 1937. of some three months from injury; the continued overleaf  AJR JOURNAL september 2012

 Sir Ludwig Guttman cont. from page 1 with unbounded energy, a pioneering serviceman and AJR member, Kenneth walk side by side with the Queen and mind and that devotion to the duties of his Fraser (Kurt Fleischmann), gravely act as her host at a public function, most of us would have dismissed the story calling that was the hallmark of the best wounded at Arnhem in September 1944, as the product of wild and unrealistic of German Jewry. He also had an eye for was able to cope with his injuries thanks imagination. And yet, it came true publicity, hitting on the idea of holding to Guttmann’s new treatment and lived a few weeks ago, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann welcomed Her Majesty who the initial Stoke Mandeville Games on 28 on until 1972. had graciously consented to open the July 1948, the opening day of the London But in the early days of emigration Stoke Mandeville Sports Stadium for the Olympics of that year. Guttmann shared the hardships and Paralysed and other Disabled. From that event, at which 14 ex- restrictions of refugee life. Admitted on Guttmann combined loyalty to Britain servicemen and 2 ex-servicewomen took a temporary permit, he was, like other with loyalty to his German-Jewish part in an archery competition, the Stoke refugees from , forbidden to under­ origins. The house in which he lived Mandeville Games expanded, taking take any form of employment, though he with his family in High Wycombe was on an international dimension in 1952 was able to continue his research on the called ‘Menorah’, and he was an active when a contingent of Dutch war veterans physiology and pathology of the cerebro­ member of the local synagogue. He was competed in the first international games spinal fluid thanks to his grant from the particularly concerned to promote the for athletes with . In 1960, SPSL (despite the strenuous attempts of treatment of spinal injuries in Israel. Guttmann arranged for these games to be the British Medical Association to block He also remained a proud champion held in Rome, in parallel with the Olympic the entry of refugee medical practitioners of the values and heritage of German Games; medals were awarded to disabled into the profession). Guttmann’s situa­ Jewry: speaking at an anniversary athletes for the first time, leading to tion remained insecure, as his residence banquet for former members of the the integration of what became the permit expired in September 1939; only Kartell-Convent in September 1976, Paralympic Games with the Olympics. after of the SPSL wrote to he compared German Jewry’s fight for This, along with his unique contribution the Home Office on his behalf in August equal rights with his own campaign to the welfare of an entire category of 1939 was the permit for Guttmann and his against the discrimination suffered by medical patients, formed part of Ludwig family extended until September 1940 – by groups like the disabled. Guttmann’s legacy. which time there could be no question of Anthony Grenville Readers of this journal will be their returning to Germany. interested to know that Guttmann was The papers of the SPSL show how also an active and longstanding member grateful Guttmann and his wife were AJR and of the AJR, serving on its Board (then for the permit that had enabled them to a large advisory body separate from escape Germany for Britain and for the German-Jewish the Executive Committee) for over 25 extension that allowed them to remain Studies Centre years after being co-opted onto it in in Britain permanently. Britain benefited 1953. On 1 April 1953, he was, alongside hugely from the hospitality that it had to hold the historian Erich Eyck and Rabbi Dr offered Guttmann, while the honours that September seminar Leo Baeck, one of three distinguished his achievements earned him – an OBE speakers at a public meeting organised in 1950 and a CBE in 1960 preceded his The AJR is joining forces by the AJR at Woburn House, on the knighthood – were a source of great pride with the Centre for German- Jewish Studies at Sussex occasion of the twentieth anniversary of to the AJR. When the Queen opened University to hold a series the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses, the the magnificent new sports stadium at of lectures, discussions and first official anti-Jewish action undertaken Stoke Mandeville on 2 August 1969, AJR interviews at the London by the regime after Hitler’s accession to Information commented: Jewish Cultural Centre (LJCC) power in 1933. If we had been told thirty years ago that on 12-13 September. Guttmann also acted as one of the one day someone in our midst would The two-day seminar will distinguished patrons of the Thank-You AJR Chief Executive Michael Newman highlight the cultural legacy Britain Fund, which was set up in the Directors of the Jewish German and 1960s, under the administration of the Carol Rossen Austrian refugees who fled David Kaye AJR, to raise money from the Jewish Nazism and celebrate their Head of Department refugees from Hitler to promote scholarly Sue Kurlander Social Services remarkable contribution to research, as a token of gratitude to their AJR Journal life in Britain. new homeland. He gave generously of Dr Anthony Grenville Consultant Editor Dr Howard Spier Executive Editor If you wish to attend, his expert advice to the AJR on questions Andrea Goodmaker Secretarial/Advertisements please phone the LJCC on relating to the homes for elderly refugees Views expressed in the AJR Journal are not 020 8457 5000. that it administered jointly with the necessarily those of the Association of Jewish Central British Fund. And at least one ex- Refugees and should not be regarded as such.

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Shaping the future as well as remembering the past NEWTONS SOLICITORS hat’s that badge you’re wear- men of the party were invited to join in ‘ ing?’ is a question I have been the dancing! Our experienced team Wasked a great many times in I suspect that the visit changed us will give you expert recent months. The badge is a reminder all. We all know about the Holocaust and personal advice of the ten days I spent at a seminar at but properly ‘remembering the past’ is 22 Fitzjohn’s Avenue Yad Vashem in March this year. It rep- about not only not forgetting but about London NW3 5NB resents the slogan ‘Remembering the constantly keeping alive the memories. Past, Shaping the Future’. It is a simple We should never forget that which Tel: 020 7435 5351 Fax: 020 7435 8881 reminder of a profound visit and an supposedly ‘civilised’ Europeans, most [email protected] opportunity to get into conversation of whom had some association with about my visit. a Christian church, inflicted on people Eighteen Christian church leaders whom they perceived as ‘different’. visited Yad Vashem under the auspices of One result of the trip is that another the Council of Christians and Methodist minister, Bruce spring grove Jews (CCJ). We represented Thompson, and I are setting RETIREMENT HOME a variety of Christian up a new organisation within denominations – Church of our Methodist Church. Our 214 Finchley Road England, Methodist, Baptist, denomination has not always London NW3 Reformed, Roman Catholic, been sensitive towards the London’s Most Luxurious Unitarian and Orthodox. That Jewish community in recent  Entertainment  Activities made for an amazing group! years and so we are founding  Stress Free Living Two of us, Debbie Davison the ‘Methodist Friends of  24 House Staffing Excellent Cuisine and I, had the privilege of Judaism’. We will want to  Full En-Suite Facilities being sponsored by the work at reminding people of Call for more information or a personal tour AJR. We were accompanied the Christian history of being 020 8446 2117 by a past president of the anti-Jewish and sometimes or 020 7794 4455 Board of Deputies, Dr Lionel anti-Semitic. We will want [email protected] Kopelowitz. to encourage people to take more care I had been to Yad Vashem before, 25 using New Testament passages which years ago. That had been a fairly brief refer to ‘the Jews’ and be more sensitive visit as part of a trip around the whole to the Jewish heritage of Christianity. of Israel in two weeks. I did remember The trip to Jerusalem was profound JACKMAN . that short visit as having had a profound but we must work to do something SILVERMAN effect on me. My main memory was practical as a result. We must shape the COMMERCIAL PROPERTY CONSULTANTS of the memorial to the children – that future as well as remember the past. I amazing effect of lights and mirrors with am deeply grateful to the CCJ and the AJR the names being read. for making such an experience possible. That memorial is still there, but I Colin A. Smith could hardly recognise the new Yad The Revd Colin Smith is the Superinten- Vashem. So many moving memorials dent of the Barnet Methodist Circuit in have been created – I think especially of North London. the Valley of the Communities, where Dr Telephone: 020 7209 5532 Kopelowitz found carved in the rock the [email protected] name of his ancestral village, destroyed, like so many, by the Nazis. The main museum is not one which you can visit quickly. There is so much to see and so The Chairman, switch on electrics many tears to shed as you understand Rewires and all household what horrors were inflicted on helpless Management electrical work people. PHONE PAUL: 020 8200 3518 But the visit was not just about Committee and Staff Mobile: 0795 614 8566 memorials or buildings. It was about wish all meeting people. We met with Shalom Eilati, a survivor of the Kovno ghetto, AJR members a Annely Juda and we learned so much from our lecturers, who included the great Happy, Healthy and Fine Art Holocaust historian Professor Yehuda 23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) Bauer, as well as Dr Rafi Vago, from Tel: 020 7629 7578 Peaceful New Year Fax: 020 7491 2139 Tel Aviv University, and Rabbi Yeshaya Balog. We attended a Shabbat service CONTEMPORARY PAINTING at a synagogue in Jerusalem and the AND SCULPTURE

3 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

An unforgettable experience: A trip to Bavaria

ast year my daughter Kathy and splendid organisation and driving and to the Greta-Fischer-Schule. I flew from Gatwick to Munich. despite my poor navigating, we arrived We were extremely impressed with L We were there, together with our in good time. If you are disabled, as I am the facilities, the children, the enthu- cousins Jack, Lilo and Michael Plaschkes, at the moment, Gatwick is wonderful. siastic teachers and the atmosphere at the invitation of the Bavarian There is a telephone right by the shuttle and ethos of the school. On every floor government and the municipality bus stop, and we were promised a there are pictures of Greta, many show- of Dachau to witness the naming wheelchair within four minutes. It ing her with the babies and toddlers in of a school after our aunt, Greta arrived dead on time, pushed by a the orphanage, with quotations from Fischer. We owed our invitation, as charming, smartly dressed young man, her sayings and writings. Though this well as the school’s new name, to who shoots you to the head of every is a special school for slow learners, the the research, organisational skills and queue and deposits you in a dedicated standard of creative work they produce persistent lobbying of Anna Andlauer, a lounge reserved for those with special is excellent. Everywhere there are exam- retired teacher from Dachau who found needs and their carers. You are given ples of art, craft, music, nature, even out about Greta and her work while a pager and told that when it bleeps, stone carving. We were given cakes researching the history of Dachau. a mobility vehicle will be with you in made by the children (with a little help Anna came upon an ancient convent two minutes to take you to the plane. from their teachers) and then had lunch and discovered that in 1945 it had Easyjet had reserved two seats for us at at the Hotel Fischer (in honour of my been requisitioned by aunt), hosted by Dagmar, the American army for mother of two of the the use of an UNRRA pupils at the school. team, whose task was After more tea to find and care for the and cake at Dagmar’s abandoned children beautiful home, she who had survived the drove us back to the concentration camps, school for the official or had been hidden, naming ceremony in the or had spent the war evening. The President years in forests or caves and the Culture and with the partisans, or Education Minister of whose parents had died Bavaria both made as a result of illness and speeches, as did Anna malnutrition in the forced and others, including my labour camps or on the cousin Michael, who had death marches. My aunt a part in Greta’s story. Greta, who had spent The proceedings some of the war years ‘Greta's children’: The quotation reads ‘Today we know how very important were introduced by the the early years of childhood are.’ The child survivors, who take part in the annual caring for the orphaned reunion in Indersdorf, also meet regularly at the Greta-Fischer-Schule in Dachau school’s headmistress, and traumatised children a delightful lady with a of victims of the Blitz, was the ideal the front of the plane and it all went like very quiet manner, and the atmosphere candidate for such a project and is still clockwork. Airports can be difficult for was lightened by two of the male remembered with great affection by disabled people, so thank you Gatwick teachers, who put on a kind of Laurel the few remaining ‘children’, who for for making it so smooth. and Hardy act between the speeches. the past few years have held an annual We arrived in Munich on time and The Culture Minister in particular spoke reunion, facilitated by Anna Andlauer. were met by Jenny, one of Anna’s very movingly about the terrible stain Those who wish to read the full story friends. She entertained us on our half- on German history the Shoah had of Kloster Indersdorf and details of the hour journey to Dachau with tales of her been and how today’s generation saw children, their activities, relationships mother, who had been one of the first it as their responsibility to make some with the local German community, and female ‘Wall of Death’ riders and whose restitution to those who had been so how it all ended after 1946 must read father had also worked in the circus. dreadfully wronged. Everywhere we Anna’s meticulously researched and She, like nearly everyone else we came went and everyone we spoke to during beautifully written book Zurück ins Le- across on our trip, spoke perfect English. our short trip re-iterated his words. ben. Das internationale Kinderzentrum We settled into our comfortable We, as representatives of survivors and Kloster Indersdorf 1945-1946 (The Road small hotel, were treated to tea and refugees, were treated as honoured Back to Life: The Kloster Indersdorf home-made cakes, and then were taken guests wherever we went. We were International Children’s Centre, 1945- to a traditional Bavarian restaurant for thanked for coming and had our hands 1946), published in 2011 by Antogo and dinner with the Oberbürgermeister of vigorously shaken by everyone we met. I reviewed in the December 2011 issue Dachau (that’s the Mayor for the rest certainly had not expected such a warm of this journal (now in ebook in English of us!), who welcomed us warmly. We welcome and such warm generosity. I translation: The Rage to Live (www. then had a hearty Bavarian meal. After am convinced their words were sincere. amazon.co.uk/dp/B008F5DRCU)). a good night’s rest in our lovely beds, Before the end Anna sat and signed To begin at the beginning, we drove we had a very good buffet breakfast and copies of her book and Kathy and I each to Gatwick and, thanks to Kathy’s at 9 o’clock were taken for our first visit received a complimentary copy.

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We had to be up early the next so impressed with every aspect of the in the neighbouring quarries as well morning for the entertainment the school. It has been built at the cost as housing anyone who did not fit the children had provided for us at the of nearly 2 million euros with every Aryan stereotype. In fact, Jews were school. Every class had prepared a possible environment-friendly feature in the minority there unless they were musical item – singing, dancing or and is full of light, air and colour. also politically active. The inmates had drumming – and some of the older ones In the afternoon we were taken to to wear coloured badges denoting had composed and sang a song about Kloster Indersdorf, just outside Dachau. their status – red for political prisoners, Greta – in English! We were introduced It is now being painstakingly restored pink for homosexuals, green for ‘the to the children, who were very friendly, to its former glory. Parts of it date back feeble-minded’, and so on. There was self-possessed and beautifully behaved. to the thirteenth century and we were a crematorium but it was used only They wanted to know all about us and shown a beautiful painted ceiling as well for those who had died from sickness, our relationship to Greta. We were as the old cloisters, with their niches for malnutrition or overwork, or as a result amused to note that she is regarded the many saints revered there. Many of the punishment they had received almost as a saint. are now repaired, but there are still a for alleged misdemeanours. Again we A very moving moment arrived when lot with their noses and fingers broken heard the slogan ‘never again’ and the two of the original Indersdorf children off. It did not seem a suitable place for sense of responsibility to make some handed over the suitcase with which an orphanage, but we were told it had restitution. I was very reluctant to go they had arrived at the orphanage, been used by the Sisters of Mercy of to the camp, but am glad I went, and I stowed away in their attic for nearly 70 St Vincent de Paul before the war for know Kathy feels the same. years and which they were presenting that purpose, and many of them had Afterwards Inge took us to the castle to the school. They were Sophie and come back to help with the damaged for a beautifully cooked and presented Janucz Karpuk: she was seven and he light lunch and we had a little walk in was six when they arrived in the middle the grounds. Then she took us to Anna’s of the night, having trekked through house, where we had tea … and more the bombed and devastated German cake. It was all most delicious but I prob- countryside in the depth of winter ably had more cake in those three days to find shelter at the orphanage. All than in the whole year put together. they had had between them was this Anna and her lovely husband Yorg suitcase, which contained a few clothes drove us to the airport, where you and a letter from their mother. When can just help yourself to one of the Greta read it to them they discovered wheelchairs standing in racks beside the they were Polish and their parents trollies. We had an uneventful trip and had been forced labourers in Germany again lots of help at Gatwick. and were now being deported. Their It has taken me some time to write mother told them to be obedient and this, partly because of my incompetence­ happy, and said Sophie should look with my new netbook, but mostly be- after her little brother. This Sophie has cause I have had to process an ­emotional done devotedly from then till now. shift in my attitude to all things German. They have lived together since coming I have had to modify a lifetime of hate back to nearly 70 years ago and Greta Fischer in UNRRA uniform, 1945 and bitterness and realise that this Sophie has cared for Janucz, who was generation of German people are very so traumatised that he does not speak children of the Holocaust. A technical conscious of their past and very keen to at all. They are now in their eighties and school has now been built behind the repair the stain on their recent history. presented the suitcase to the school in cloister, which will once again become It has taken me some time to get used memory of Greta. The school has built a monastery. to the change in my feelings and, in a glass case in a prominent position for In the evening we had our first chance order to strengthen it, Kathy and I have the suitcase and the children have made to spend some quality time with our decided to have a weekend in Berlin to an eight-minute video trying to imagine cousins, who had come from Israel and see the wonderful architecture that has what it must have been like trudging Switzerland. We had what was for me a arisen in the last few years. through the snow for days and nights really nostalgic meal: Wiener Schnitzel, The trip was an unforgettable till they found refuge. The children are bread dumplings and dill sauce. experience for both of us and I am very to be commended for the effort they The next day, Saturday, was our last grateful to the municipality of Dachau put in to the making of the film. They but, as we were not flying until the and the Bavarian government for used themselves as actors and helped in evening, Anna had arranged for us inviting us and being so generous and all the background work but, of course, to have a guided tour of the Dachau hospitable. My most sincere gratitude they are shown warmly dressed and well concentration camp in the company of goes to Anna and her husband and fed; they could not possibly imagine Inge, a friend of hers and volunteer guide friends for taking so much trouble the ragged and malnourished state the for the camp to school parties. We were to make our stay so comfortable Karpuks arrived in. heartened to hear that it is compulsory and memorable. Many thanks also After the children had gone home for all secondary school pupils to visit to the children and teachers in the we were invited to a tasty light lunch at least one concentration camp during Greta-Fischer-Schule for making us so with the staff and were encouraged to their schooldays. The memorials are welcome. Finally, I want to thank in ask questions and discuss the ethos of imposing and the museum well cared particular my daughter Kathy for acting the school with its emphasis on peace, for and much visited. We discovered as my carer and catering to my every brotherhood, positive integration that Dachau was not an extermination whim – she is a star. and mutual co-operation. We were camp but was used for forced labour Hanna Corbishley

5 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

Marie Whalley, plus praise for a Palestinian doctor’s account of life in Gaza, alongside a complaint about disruption of an Israeli theatre company! Other letters start different hares. Mr Peter Phillips’s staunchly non-Aus- trian make-up makes me think of Ed ­Miliband’s far more attractive speech The Editor reserves the right recently (relating­ to Scottish independ- to shorten correspondence ence) in which he gratefully acknowledged submitted for publication influences from all the places he, and his parents, have lived in. My message to Rose Marie Whalley is: please don’t abandon us. Stick around, REFUGEE GENERATIONS WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS and let us benefit from your experience Sir – Every month when I receive the AJR Sir – I have just received the August edition and eloquence. Journal, I read it and think that I must of the AJR Journal a few days later than George Schlesinger, Durham engage in the conversation. I find the normally (I usually get it on the 1st or 2nd learned articles fascinating, although for of the month) and was beginning to have the first time I found the article about withdrawal symptoms .... As usual, I found ISRAEL: THE ‘REAL’ ISSUES Gerhard Hauptmann in your July issue of it so interesting and you seem to have a Sir – Dorothea Shefer-Vanson’s August no interest. Thank you for your work and few new contributors, which makes it even ‘Letter from Israel’ was, in my opinion, your publication. more satisfying. pure, unadulterated dross and a complete I continue to be amazed that more than I read it through (brooking no dis- waste of magazine space. I seriously doubt 70 years after the exodus of Jews from turbance from grandchildren) and saw whether more than a handful of your Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, the Joan Salter’s article on Yugoslav Jews. readers would have found her narrative Association of Jewish Refugees not only Since I was (at last) in Croatia and Slo- even remotely interesting! survives but plays an important role in the venia rec­ently, I felt very close to that She would be better focused lives of the surviving refugees and some of community, who helped my parents with commenting on the real issues that this their children and grandchildren. Having such kindness from individual Jews, until country is currently having to confront, such ‘forgotten’ to identify myself as a refugee overtaken by the same fate as the rest of as increasing poverty, self-immolations, the for more than 50 of my 83 years, I now European Jewry. growing number of homeless people, drug look forward to the arrival every month of With best wishes for your continuing, and alcohol abuse, possible attack from the AJR Journal, with its mixture of erudite interesting journal. a bloodthirsty despot using chemical/ articles, controversial correspondence Inge Sadan, Jerusalem biological WMDs, and the contentious and tributes to those who contributed so issue of the conscription of the ultra- much to winning the war and rebuilding FORUM FOR DISCUSSION orthodox into the military. post-war Britain. Sir – I shall certainly not be the only reader Just a few weeks ago, the police ran a With great respect and my condolences to regret Rose Marie Whalley’s ‘farewell very successful sting operation to ensnare­ to those who lost their parents in the letter’ in your July issue. perverts who were attempting to ­procure Holocaust, a surprising number of I agree (from a position of far less (via internet chat rooms), and then Kindertransport children (including me) experience) with her views on Israel, but ­arrange, clandestine meetings with young were eventually reunited with their I fail to see why she feels discussion of children for the express purpose of having surviving parents. Those refugees who Israel is out of place in the AJR Journal. sex with them. came to the UK as mature adults are On the contrary, what better forum for Within the next few months, the Iranian now dead and those who came as young discussion than a journal read by Jews, Hitler will have to be confronted by using adults are now well over 90 years old. and their sympathisers, but not wedded extreme military force and that will have Some of their stories have been recorded; to any firm ideology? profound consequences for the rest of others live on only in the memories of Some years ago, I wrote a fan letter the world – indeed, the course of human their children and grandchildren. It is to because I was delighted with the history will be irrevocably changed. be hoped that those memories too will Journal – interesting articles, amusing So you can see that the picture of idyllic be recorded before it is too late. As my reminiscences but, above all, its open and carefree living that Dorothea has ‘English’ children are complete strangers and varied correspondence columns. I so vividly delineated is actually far from to that north-west London refugee culture, also remember once being rung up by the reality for the greater proportion of the they are unable or unwilling to record my editor because a letter I had submitted population here. stories and the stories of my family and, was capable of differing interpretations.­ Ray Lewis, Kiryat Shemona, Israel as I am not sufficiently well organised to Notice: it was not censorship but ‘Are do it myself, I am looking for a researcher you sure you want to say this?’ (I ISRAEL AND THE MEDITERRANEAN who could help me to write things down withdrew it because of the ambiguity.) Sir – Will Dorothea Shefer-Vanson (August) and look through the records in my cellar. I am heartened by the tolerant inclusion kindly enlighten us as to the location I would also like to find information of some wildly eccentric letters. If you of any part of Israel from which the and stories about the work of the Jüdische sift letters according to high criteria of Mediterranean may be seen to the east? Kultusgemeinde in after the ‘good sense’, there is a danger that some Does she know where to find her elbow Anschluss in 1938. I know they ran interesting marginal views will not find from any other part of her anatomy? Umschulung classes – teaching those expression. I am a gut-reactor without a En passant, did Wilfrid Israel (August, hoping to emigrate such practical skills lot of precise information and here I may review by Leslie Baruch Brent) not share his as cooking, waiting at table and fountain- get published alongside the most erudite misfortune with the actor Leslie Howard? pen repairing – but they did far more to and well-informed. We Netanyahuphobes If so, the German high command made help people to leave. alongside the Netanyahuphiles! two (or three) mistakes that day. John Farago, Deal, Kent Look at the July correspondence: Rose Alan S. Kaye, Marlow, Bucks

6 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

BIBI AND THE RELIGIOUS PARTIES response to a question I was asked by Federal Archives, was 9A Gilda Close, Sir – Benjamin Netanyahu lost the last a member of a school audience I was Bristol BS 14 9JU. election by one vote to Tsipi Livni but, speaking with a couple of years ago. I was We would like to know if Adrienne while she was unable to form a coalition asked how enough trains could have been Berkun is still alive – or, more likely, the government, he was. This was thanks to organised to get 10,000 children to Britain exact date when she passed away and the religious parties, who backed his Likud when I had just told them how difficult the where – and we turn to readers of the Jour- party rather than his opponent’s Kadima. Nazis were making life for Jewish families. nal for any information they can possibly Why, one asks, was Netanyahu willing to A perceptive question indeed – and I freely supply. When we set the dates of birth and break up his huge coalition with Kadima’s admitted I had no idea. But I promised to death of the victims of National Socialism, Shaul Mofaz on the issue of the Haredim? find out. Now, a picture of Wilfrid Israel is as well as the dates on which they fled The answer is simple: he has again put on the PowerPoint disc of photos around the country or were deported, on brass his desire for power before the desire of which I tell my story in schools. plaques in front of our condominium, we his people. An element in the film that intrigues intend to be as precise as possible. Thank The religious parties do more or less me is the short clip of a traumatised girl you in advance for your kind assistance. guarantee him 19 seats in the 120-seat wearing a headscarf and looking out of Dr Nancy Amendt-Lyon, Kundmanngasse Knesset. Shas brings him 11, United Torah a cattle truck. She is a Roma girl called 13, 1030 Vienna, tel +43-1-713 07 91, Judaism 5, Yisrael Beitenu 3. He obviously Settla. You can see her photo in the email [email protected] feels they are more likely to keep him in exhibition of the Nazi genocide against power than Kadima under Mofaz or Yisrael Sinti and Roma in the Heidelberg Docu- AVOID AUSTRIA Beiteinu under Lieberman. This is why he mentary and Cultural Centre for Sinti and Sir – Reference is made to a letter by also supports the ultra-orthodox, mainly Roma. Her photo also appears in the Thomas Tait in your July issue. I was a American, settlers now living in the occu­ catalogue of this exhibition. I wonder prisoner with my father, first in the Cracow pied territories. The fact that Israel was why it was chosen for the Wilfrid Israel ghetto then in the Plaszow camp. When created as a secular state – and, indeed, DVD and where the producers obtained it. the Russian forces were approaching was such under its first leader, David Ben- Ruth Barnett, London NW6 the West, we were transported in goods Gurion – seems irrelevant to him. As does trains to Mauthausen concentration camp. the fact that most Israelis are secular. It GUT SKABY HACHSHARA AND Here, I was given the number 86833. We is truly a disgrace that the Haredim are ERNST FREUDENTHAL were then sent to St Valentin sub-camp, exempted from military service. Further to my letter in the July issue of where we worked at the Nibelungen At the same time, in a state circular, the Journal, I would be most grateful Werke (a branch of Steyr-Daimler-Puch). Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar refers if any information relating to the Gut Conditions were awful: frequent beatings to his ‘terrible pain’ at the funding by the Skaby Hachshara and Ernst Freudenthal and a starvation diet. My father died on Israeli state of the salaries of 15 Progres- could be sent to me at johnandgina@ 12 December 1944 from pneumonia, due sive rabbis. He complains that ‘the honour ausum.co.uk. mainly to very poor medical assistance. Gina Burgess Winning of heaven has been defiled’, describes the The Nibelungen Werke was bombed Progressive rabbis as ‘uprooters and des­ twice so that work there was impossible. troyers of Judaism’, and ends his polemic STOLPERSTEINE INITIATIVE The prisoners were then transported to with ‘Woe unto us that in our day such Sir – I am writing on behalf of a private Ebensee camp, where conditions were haters of Israel have raised their heads and initiative organised by the condominium appalling. I recall that very few, if any, that the State has come to recognise these owners of an apartment building in Russian prisoners survived. destroyers of religion as clergy.’ ­Vienna, of which I am a member. We are Of all the internment places I was in, Has Netanyahu commented on this scur- gathering information about the Jewish the Austrian ones were by far the worst. I rilous attack on the Progressives? No. Will inhabitants of our building who were wish to suggest to possible ­holidaymakers he? No. Why won’t he? Because he needs ousted from their apartments, deported, to try to give Austria a miss, although the Shas party to keep him in power and it murdered or fled the country during the geographically it is a nice place. A friend, is power, not morals, which motivate him. National Socialist era. Our group of condo­ Bernard Grunhaut, did survive but died of Little wonder that I worry greatly about minium owners intends to have ‘Stones a heart attack at Cracow railway station. Israel, with leaders like Prime Minister Net- of Remembrance’ set into the pavement Another survivor was Mauritz Grunbaum, anyahu and Chief Rabbi Amar at the helm. in front of our apartment building to born in Wieliczka, who was the camp Peter Phillips, Loudwater, Herts commemorate the Jewish victims of the barber and disappeared after the war with Nazis who were once tenants (http:// his girlfriend to South America. I find it my WILFRID ISRAEL: A QUESTION OF CREDIT www.steinedererinnerung.net/downloads/ duty, since there are very few survivors still Sir – In response to Leslie Brent’s review of folder_englisch.pdf). alive, to warn friends and co-religionists the DVD of Wilfrid Israel, the Savior from The task has fallen to me to research about the traumatic war experience of Berlin, I disagree strongly that ‘the DVD these former tenants and, in the Austrian many people in Austria. almost certainly gives him more credit than Federal Archives, I have come upon one Ronald Leaton (Roman Licht) he deserves’. In my view, Wilfrid deserves woman who fled from Vienna to England London NW8 every bit of credit the DVD can give him. via Le Havre in 1938. Her name is Adrienne He could have taken his family wealth Berkun. She was born on 6 October 1908 SCHOOL EXHIBITION PLANNED and gone to almost any country in the to Moses Berkun and Flora Berkun (née Sir – Whilst conducting interviews for world and been welcomed for his wealth. Mandel) and was a kindergarten teacher our Heritage Lottery Fund Oral History Undoubtedly, this is what most of today’s in Vienna. At the age of 68, in 1977, she Project (we were awarded a grant in 2011 tax-dodgers would have done! I ask my- wrote to the Austrian Government about to conduct our three-year project) with self what I would have done in his place. the loss of her parents’ apartment, their present and former older villagers in Upper Would I have had the guts to do his rescue and her possessions, their bank accounts, Broughton, Nottinghamshire, one memory work – in constant danger of my own and etc in the hope of some form of restitution. recalled was that of a young boy from the others’ lives? But he continued even after She also wrote that she was receiving a Kindertransport who came to live in the war broke out. There may even be more pension from the British government and village. He lived in Broughton House with rescue missions than we have evidence for. that she had remained an Austrian citizen. Mrs Worthington, a teacher at the local I first learned of Wilfrid Israel in Her last address, according to the Austrian continued on page 15 

7 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

isolation, Munch also made six paintings of the Weeping Woman, all nude, against an empty bed with turbulent, spotted REVIEWs wallpaper which suggests tears. In his growing alienation he depicts A rt young girls, stolid in their bright dresses, A successful life after staring into the river and away from us. difficult beginnings Notes Similarly, the wide angles of New Snow DON’T ASK ME WHERE I COME in the Avenue show two still people in Gloria Tessler FROM: ONE WOMAN’S STORY OF the foreground, with the trees falling EXILE, ESCAPE AND SELF-DISCOVERY from side to side, giddy with cold. But by Lili Loebl their stillness is deceptive. Everything Book Guild Publishing, Sussex, 2011, is on the move: swirling skies, trees and hardback 320 pp., he famous Scream was prominent landscapes, bodies and faces sketchy to ISBN 978 1 84624 633 3 by its absence at Edvard Munch: emphasise their growing anguish. Workers T The Modern Eye at Tate Modern on Their Way Home shows rushing any books based on surviving (until 14 October). The curators wanted to figures, only one of whose exhausted faces the Nazis and ­subsequently stress the subtler images created by the is clearly visible. Mmaking a successful new life Norwegian artist, who seemed to carry Munch was a great experimentalist. have been published. Each has a different­ the weight of the world on his shoulders. After suffering a haemorrhage in his and remarkable story to tell, and that also applies to Lili Loebl’s auto­biography. Yet if not one ‘scream’ was seen or heard, right eye, he depicted distortions of vision Lili was born into a prosperous the heartfelt anguish of his soul was in vibrant circles of colour in order to German-Jewish family in Bamberg in everywhere. understand the subjective nature of sight. 1930 and initially had a very happy and It is hardly surprising. Both his mother The Royal Academy’s exhibition from lovingly described childhood. Then came the Clark Collection, From Paris: A Taste and his sister died of TB and a harsh and Kristallnacht in November 1938 and alienating grief remained with him all his for Impressionism (until 23 September), her father’s temporary but traumatic describes the incarceration in Dachau. Fortunately development of the the family had previously befriended genre, led by Corot an English aristocratic couple while on and Monet, Renoir, holiday and with their help managed to Sisley, Pissarro escape to England in early 1939. and Degas, in the Life, as for most refugees, was not second half of the 19th easy. The author describes their initial century. Accurate stay in London’s Swiss Cottage area observation was then followed by the trauma of separation the academic gold from her parents when she and her standard for French sister were evacuated. The parents artists and these first meanwhile moved to Newcastle, where Impressionists, who her father and uncle hoped to set up a opted for naturalism, new business, and the family was later were rejected by reunited there. Despite setbacks such Ashes by Edvard Munch (1894) Photo: Bridgemanart.com the conventional art as the father’s internment in the early days, climaxing in that famous apotheosis world. They were championed by the stages of the war, and a temporary of visual sound. He was interested in Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, return to London during the Blitz, their film, photography and stage production. formed by wealthy New Yorker Robert situation improved and Lili was able Working with Max Reinhardt on Ibsen’s Sterling Clark and his wife Francine, heirs to restart her formal education at La Ghosts gave him a sense of the person to the Singer sewing machine dynasty. Sagesse, a prestigious convent school within a claustrophobic space. Robert Sterling settled in Paris in 1910 and in Newcastle. From this stage on, the refugee aspects Munch was a near-obsessive self- became attracted to the Impressionists, of the biography fade into the back- portraitist, particularly keen to show the particularly Renoir. He acquired 39 of ground as we are told the continuing process of ageing. But his greatest works the latter’s works, of which 21 are shown story of Lili’s fascinating, if somewhat reconnect with childhood loss in versions here. Soon after the Second World confusing, life. After school she spent War, Clark established his museum in of The Sick Child and The Girls on the several years in France and grew to love Bridge, from 1907 to 1925. Massachussetts, a permanent home for the country, especially life in Paris. She His almost sketchy paintings suggest his collection of European and American describes frankly her successes and fail- fleeting but pivotal moments. The genius art. ures both in her social life and in higher of The Sick Child is that the deathly pallor Alongside works by the major French education, which included studies in of the child’s face is reflected in the white Impressionists, the star of this show is philosophy and the Old Provençal lan- headboard, but contrasted with the vitality Renoir, for his gorgeous and intimate guage. Interspersed with studying, she of her red hair and the green drapery, all depiction of the female face and form. But had a variety of jobs, including tutor­ representing life. The mother, though, the Impressionists’ view of 19th-century ing and working in haute couture. Her is already grieving, and in black. The industry, with its smoking chimneys travels during her twenties also included­ more you study this painting the more intruding on pastoral life, as exemplified extended stays in Israel, where she spent evanescent and fragile the child becomes, by Pissarro and Caillebotte, shows the several months on a kibbutz, as well as until you can actually see her fading away. artists’ integrity in coming to terms with in Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia. She Developing this theme of loss and their changing world. admits that her life at this stage was

8 AJR JOURNAL september 2012 rather rootless and indecisive. delighted to review this book about Suzie A dozen hitherto In 1953 she travelled to America and Spitzer, who in 1939, aged only five, left unpublished lectures again there was a mixture of studying Prague on a ‘Winton train’ to escape Nazi A NEW LOOK AT HISTORY: A and work, this time including at a cotton persecution. mill in Galveston, Texas. The most vivid Having read much survivor testimony, COLLECTION OF ESSAYS descriptions, however, are reserved for I would point out that one of the unique by Frank Eyck her lively social life! The turning point aspects of this book is that it is not edited and translated by Rosemarie Eyck came when she moved to New York and, written by Suzie but is told exclusively Detselig Enterprises 2011, 340 pp. after a stint writing for women’s maga- from the perspective of her host family. paperback, CN$ 29.95, ISBN-10: zines, landed a very stimulating job as The author tells the story of Suzie’s 1550594095 a journalist with Newsweek magazine. years with the Chadwicks, providing his is a posthumous collection of Lili’s language and social skills were a compelling and honest account of 12 hitherto unpublished lectures of great value in making many useful life with her older ‘sister’ and their by the late Professor of History contacts, both among politicians and adventures as a family. T at Calgary University in Canada, who UN delegates, and these enabled her Ann Chadwick’s conversational style came to England as a refugee, served in to cover successfully important events makes the book a very easy read and the British army in Germany, and then for Newsweek between 1958 and 1964. its 97 pages can be consumed in only became a professional historian. Among these was the Eichmann trial, one or two sittings. Each chapter title The opening lecture is taken from which she reported from Jerusalem reflects the contents: from basic back- an original work by Eyck: his biography and which reminded her of her two ground information in ‘Who’s Who of the historian G. P. Gooch, in which grandmothers murdered in the Shoah. and How Did We Come to This?’ to he selects the episode when Gooch, Other dramatic events covered by Lili the contribution of holidays in ‘Wales together with Harold Temperley, was include the Bay of Pigs incident, when and Ireland Provide Memorable Experi- asked by the British government to edit Cuban dissidents from Miami tried ences’, the reader is taken on a journey British Documents on the Origins of unsuccessfully to invade Cuba, and the through phases of Suzie’s life, spanning War, 1898 to 1914. Eyck recounts the Cuban missile crisis, which brought numerous countries and a spectrum of tensions between the editors on the America to the brink of war. In all cases, emotions. one hand and the Foreign Office, War the author not only briefly describes While in the main the author depicts Office and India Office on the other, who the events themselves, but gives an positive times shared with Suzie, she wanted to exclude as still too sensitive insight into the journalist’s methods and is not afraid to present the difficulties certain documents which might damage problems in covering them. too, providing a balanced account of In spite of her convent education, their years together. Ann does not shy relationships with friendly governments. Lili recounts her numerous amorous away from the truth and wants the It was felt to be a clash between the adventures but she eventually married reader to be fully aware of the many integrity of the historians and the the man she had first met when he gave challenges involved in taking in a child interests of the state. her dental treatment many years earlier. who demanded such love and attention. The second lecture is about the The book covers only the first 34 years of Her choice of subtitle, ‘The Little Girl Cambridge spies Maclean, Philby, the author’s life, but these were cer­tainly Who Changed Our Lives’, is inventive, Burgess, Blunt and Long. Eyck suggests very full and varied. She often writes of and for me this encapsulates the book, that the reason they were not caught her experiences in a wry, self-deprecating conveying both the ups and downs of earlier was that it didn’t occur to the style and does not shirk from recounting life with Suzie. public school establishment that men the many mishaps and problems she The penultimate chapter contains a from that background could betray their encountered, including a sometimes series of traumatic events but, even in country. Actually, Leo Long was the only difficult relationship with her mother. her anguish, Ann’s optimism shines one of these who, though he had been In spite of some minor inaccuracies and through: ‘When you suffer a major loss, at Cambridge, had not been to a public insufficient editing, the autobiography look to see if you can bring any positives school (and the only one whom Eyck gives an interesting, well written account out of it ....’ Ann’s story presents us with knew personally, having served with him of an eventually successful life after many challenges and encourages us to in the same psychological warfare unit difficult beginnings. reflect on our own lives and values: I during the Second World War). George Vulkan wonder how many of us today would The ten other talks deal with German be willing to open our hearts and homes and/or Jewish subjects. Though none to a foreign child. of them deserves to be called ‘a new Ups and downs of Chapter 12 is appropriately entitled look’ (and are all marred by poor life with Suzie ‘Lest We forget? You Bet We Won’t!’ proof-reading), they are competent SUZIE, THE LITTLE GIRL WHO While Ann promises to ‘keep on telling summaries in a few pages each of subjects like Martin Luther; Munich; CHANGED OUR LIVES her [Suzie’s] story’, I believe we too German unification (delivered in 1991, by Ann Chadwick share this responsibility. The task of passing on the stories we have heard the talk reminds us how problematic for Keystage Arts Company 2012, 97 to future generations is a challenge to both West and East German unification pages paperback, £7.00, us all. still was only two years after the event); ISBN 978-1-4477-4696-6, purchase This is an inspiring, heart-rending acc­ nationalism; a history of anti-Judaism from http://www.lulu.com/shop/ ount, which shows how one courageous and anti-Semitism; the controversy about ann-chadwick/suzie/paperback/ decision in 1939 changed the lives of a Pius XII and his relations with the Nazis product-18893834.html family forever. (Eyck sympathises with the difficulties s I work in ‘The Journey’ exhibition Karen Van Coevorden confronting the Pontiff and rejects John on a daily basis, teaching about Karen Van Coevorden is Primary Education Cornwell’s description of Pius as ‘Hitler’s Athe Kindertransport plays a key Officer at the Holocaust Centre, Newark, Pope’); Zionism; and efforts by Christian role in my professional life. So I was Nottinghamshire Reviews continued overleaf 

9 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

Exhibition Tate Britain enters also the battered buckets of the Olympics Irving Penn’s cleaning ladies. Suschitzky’s work includes ANOTHER LONDON: a classic view of London just INTERNATIONAL after the war. He climbed PHOTOGRAPHERS CAPTURE up the dome of St Paul’s to CITY LIFE, 1930-1980 photograph the bombed-out Tate Britain to 16 September streets and his bewildering ate Britain has entered figures on a merry-go-round the Olympics with a hurtling into space are de- Tblack-and-white show of scribed as filling one with London photographs from the excitable dread. collection of Cartier-Bresson’s Leonard Freed’s photographic brother-in-law Eric Franck. memories of north London’s Taken by 41 ­international Hasidic communities in the photographers who came 1970s can also be seen there to London between 1930 this month, alongside the work and 1980, the photographs of photographers from Central Wolfgang Suschitzky Lyons Corner House, Tottenham Court Road, include work by the acclaimed London (1934) © W. Suschitzky and , distinctive Viennese-born centenarian for their dramatic, fragmented Wolfgang Suschitzky. never have spotted, as well its famous compositions. Franck’s gift of over 1,000 photos sites. The collection forms a tourist Finally, says the Tate, colour takes doubled the Tate’s holdings and guide to the capital, claims the Tate, and over to provide a multi-cultural, all- represents a chance for Olympic visitors includes both panoramic and personal welcoming London. to see an intimate London they might – not only the famous London sites but Gloria Tessler

reviews cont. from page 9 theologians to historicise the anti-Jewish passages in the New Testament. I thought the most interesting of these talks was the one entitled ‘The Germans and Their History’. Eyck Wednesday 3 October 2012 3.00 pm at the Gielgud Theatre shows how difficult it was for German We have a limited number of seats nationalists between 1815 and 1918 in the Dress Circle to decide what exactly Germany was: reduced from there were disadvantages to both £60 to £39.50 per seat the concepts of Klein-Deutschland In this year of the London Olympics, come (a Germany excluding the Habsburg and see the adaptation of the Oscar-win- ning movie. This spectacular and ingenious lands) and Gross-Deutschland (which retelling of Eric Liddell’s and Harold Abra- would include the Habsburg lands, in hams’s quest to become the fastest men which there were so many non-German on earth is an electrifying and immensely moving tale of two men's rivalry, and their peoples). In that lecture, Eyck also lays unwavering determination­ to conquer the stress on the importance of forging a world in the face of prejudice, immovable national identity since, unlike in most beliefs and overwhelming odds. other nation-states, religion was a For further details, please contact Susan Café Imperial: All present on good Harrod on 020 8385 3079 or at susan@ divisive force in Germany. form (see report on page 12) ajr.org.uk Ralph Blumenau

ARTS AND EVENTS DIARY

To 3 October Exhibition The London NW1, tel 020 7284 7384 Nazi Games: Politics, the Media Mon 3 Sept Aubrey Rose, and the Body At Wiener Library, ‘Jewish Humour’ B’nai B’rith London WC1, tel 020 7636 7247. Jerusalem Lodge joint meeting Admission free with Shlomo Argov Lodge. At Bushey Country Club, 8.00 pm To 16 September World City: Refugee Stories The stories Mon 10 Sept Ham & High of 9 individuals from countries Literary Festival ‘We Remember’ as diverse as Poland, Hungary, by CSAGB-AJR: Joan Salter in Czechoslovakia, Sri Lanka, Conversation with Ed Stourton Rwanda, Chile and Cameroon At London Jewish Cultural Centre, who have come to London since London NW11, 2.00 pm. Tel 020 AJR’s Newcastle group enjoys a day out at the beautiful Howick the 1930s. At Jewish Museum, 8457 5000 Hall Gardens – home of Earl Grey

10 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

An unexpected lunch with The Queen

letter from Dr Ingrid Roscoe, Hilary Barber, the Vicar of Halifax Min- I thought we would applaud but no the Lord Lieutenant of West ster; Naveeda Ikram, the immediate one did. They were escorted to the top A Yorkshire, arrived at my home in past Lord Mayor of Bradford then the tables, the Queen to one, the Duke to Bradford in mid-May. I was invited to a Dean of Wakefield Cathedral; Lorraine an adjoining one. Grace was said and luncheon on 19 July in the staff dining ­Ratcliffe, Chief Secretary of the Lord we sat down. room of Pace, a local but widely known Mayor of Bradford; Sue Baker, past The highly localised menu was Kilnsey electronics firm in Shipley (a suburb of President of the Jewish Board of Trout Confit, Wharfe Valley rapeseed Bradford), in the presence of Her Majesty Guardians; Fanny Waterman, aged 92, dressing, mini Hovis loaf, Cannon the Queen and His Royal Highness the Chair of the Leeds International Piano of Nidderdale Lamb, Lamb Shoulder Duke of Edinburgh. The letter seemed Competition; a president of the Ahma­ croquette, Yorkshire root vegetables, genuine enough but I had no idea why diyya Muslim Association of Bradford, Yorkshire cheese board, mulled apricots I had been chosen. As it had arrived on by whom my wife Marianne and I are (2), muscat grapes (3), warm breads a Saturday I had to wait until Monday invited each year to a grand function (1), Yorkshire piccalilli, chocolates and to enquire if spouses were invited. The with dinner; Stephen and Carol David- coffee. Drinks were water, followed by answer was ‘no’, so reluctantly I sent off son – a former headmaster of Bradford white wine with the hors d’oeuvres, red my reply slip to accept. Grammar School, he is now the High with the main course. The quality of the I heard nothing for weeks. I had Sheriff of West Yorkshire, looking after meal was excellent. visions of my reply not having been The maître d’ then stood at the top received. Two weeks before the event table and waiters carrying two plates I telephoned the office of the Lord each came out to stand behind the Lieutenant and was told the details ­people on it. When he gave a quiet would be in the post that week. These ­signal, everybody had their plate placed duly arrived – but still with no clue as in front of them at the same time. So it to the reason for my invitation. Parking progressed from table to table. It was a instructions were given and I was curious sight I hadn’t seen before – that informed that a lounge suit was to be each person on a table had their plate worn by men. served at the same time like clockwork On the day, outside Pace, a couple – but then I hadn’t eaten in royal circles walking slowly in front of my car gaily before! waved to the (small) crowd as if they During coffee a gentleman made were royalty. Entering the Pace dining a short speech praising Sir Titus Salt, room, I saw a figure of a full-sized one of the first reformers for working ornamental Chinaman: I almost asked people. The village of Saltaire is a him for the way in just as I had of a UNESCO-protected area (one result wax commissionaire outside Madame of which is that an old BT telephone Tussauds many years ago. Rudi Leavor box, long obsolete, can’t be removed There were some 30 people because it’s part of the structure). assembled. I was offered orange with the amenities of judges visiting the Presently the Queen and the Duke cranberry juice – an odd choice as many area; and Robin Silver, brother of the and their small entourage rose and left of those present may well have been late Jonathan Silver, who founded the in complete silence as unceremoniously on statins, for whom cranberry juice is Saltaire Gallery, which contains many as when they had entered. My left-side a no-no drink. I asked for neat orange David Hockney originals, next door neighbour said he thought we should juice. More guests arrived. The lady to Pace (Jonathan went to Bradford have applauded both when they entered of one couple gave me a slight smile Grammar School and to art classes and when they left, but that it wasn’t – the couple looked vaguely familiar with David Hockney, hence their close up to him to start it. but I couldn’t place them. Simon association). I took a few photographs but the Lindley, Leeds City Organist and a one- Presently all guests – some 120 of us Queen and Duke came in between tables time rehearsal conductor of the Leeds and all from Yorkshire – were asked to at which people were standing and she, Philharmonic Choir, in which I sing, sit at round tables, of which there were being a diminutive figure, could hardly made a bee-line for me as mine was the about 12. On my left sat the Chairman of be seen. only familiar face he saw. the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra; It would be a cliché to say that it was I said to one lady whom I knew that opposite sat the Chairman of the Hud- an honour for me to be I invited and so it I thought she at least would know why dersfield Choral Society (probably even was. In so many countries minorities are she was invited. Presently it dawned on better and certainly more famous than not in the same category as the ruling me who were the couple of whom the the Leeds Philharmonic Choir; and, sec- class, but not in the UK. Furthermore, lady had smiled at me: Christa Ackroyd ond on my right, the Dean of Wakefield I, like many thousands, came here as a and Harry Gration. For those outside Cathedral. At last I discovered why I had refugee with virtually nothing and have Yorkshire, I should explain that they are been invited: my place card said my name achieved a certain status culminating on TV virtually every night presenting followed by ‘Jewish Community’! in this invitation and for that I am very news from the region. After what seemed ages we rose proud. I also spoke to, among others, Canon and the Queen and the Duke entered. Rudi Leavor

11 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

turn, moving, wry, funny, and always wonderfully easy to listen to. Sue Barnett

St John’s Wood Weird and INSIDE Wonderful Antiques Julia, an AJR intern from Vienna who is helping Myrna, introduced herself. Maurice Collins had brought along a the AJR selection of weird and wonderful antiques for us to try to identify. Among these were a clockwork razor, a moustache protector spoon and a toothbrush for horses! Wessex Summer Outing David Lang The Old Smithy Gardens in Ibberton, Dorset, was the venue for our Summer Brighton & Hove Sarid Outing this year. Natasha Solomons read ‘The Camera of My Family’ selections from her books Mr Rosenblum’s Rabbi Charles Wallach talked about his Glasgow CF enjoy lunch at Mark’s Deli List and The House at Tyneford and a extended family, who had lived in Dachau. cream tea was followed by a walk in the His father, who had had nine siblings, was Liverpool Annual Lunch grounds for members willing to brave a grain merchant with contacts in South At our annual lunch some 30 members the elements. All agreed it was a most Africa, making it possible to travel there enjoyed an illustrated talk by Wiener enjoyable afternoon. Myrna Glass at the start of the Nazi oppression. Rabbi Library Chief Archivist Howard Falksohn. It Wallach’s cousin, Catherine Hanf Noren, was an opportunity for members to realise Ealing Items of Sentimental Value published ‘The Camera of My Family’, an that they could enquire about their own Members brought along an item of illustrated book of the family’s history. personal documents and photos, which sentimental value and explained its Ceska Abrahams could be lodged at the Library. Thanks importance to their family history. Other once again to Liverpool Reform Synagogue members asked questions, leading to for hosting the event and to local deli a general discussion on issues that Leeds CF ‘Last Train to Tomorrow’ Roseman’s for a delicious lunch. Trude Silman described the inspiring emerged. Leslie Sommer Eric Cohen concert she and other group members (Second Generation member) Marlow Documents Sought by had attended at Manchester’s Wiener Library Bridgewater Hall. The concert (see Radlett Erudition and Elegance Wiener Library Chief Archivist Howard review in August issue of the Journal), Displaying the same erudition and elegance Falksohn told us the Library welcomed given by the Hallé Orchestra and which mark his writings, AJR Journal documents – in fact, anything that could Children’s Choir, plus actors, consisted Consulting Editor Anthony Grenville spoke provide research material. Thanks to Hazel of music representing the journey of the about the early period of the arrival of for all the organisation and lunch. Kindertransport children and was the Jewish refugees from in this Alex Lawrence premiere of ‘Last Train to Tomorrow’, country. His talk sparked an interesting a moving tribute to the ‘Kinder’ by discussion which added much to our Ilford How to Go about Shoplifting Carl Davis. pleasure in the morning’s proceedings. Retired senior police officer David Wass Liesel Carter, 18 months old when Fritz Starer kept us laughing as he outlined ways her father became the first victim in which thieves go about shoplifting. of the Holocaust in Hildesheim, had Welwyn GC Enthralling Afternoon Women carrying babies are prime suspects been trying for many years to trace his Roger Sanders enthralled us with an as they sometimes walk out with their tot grave. Her search now over, she read entertaining afternoon of anecdotes of in a new pram. Another ploy is to alter out a letter she had received from the trials he had sat in on as a judge. We were the price ticket to a cheaper sum. Body mayor of Hildesheim with a photo of captivated and would have kept Roger language gives most thieves away. her father’s headstone (placed where with us for a lot longer had the meeting Meta Roseneil his ashes had been buried) and an not had to end. Hazel Beiny invitation to visit the grave. Cardiff ‘Watermarks’ – Ian Vellins, who is researching the Birmingham Annual Garden Party Funny and Tragic experiences of the Kindertransportees We enjoyed our annual garden party on Yaron Zilberman’s film ‘Watermarks’, to Yorkshire, joined us at tea. If you what was the first day of sunshine for portraying women swimmers of the would like to help Ian with his research, weeks. Loretta and Henry Cohn opened interwar Vienna Hakoah sports club, was please contact him on 0113 268 5747 their home and wonderful garden to us funny, tragic, heart-warming. or at [email protected]. and, along with delicious food and wel- Marian Lane Barbara Cammerman coming company, an enjoyable afternoon was had by all. Susan Harrod HGS Marvellous Work by Turgu Edgware The V&A’s Jewish Mures Trust Wembley A Busy Afternoon Sharon Barron told us how the Turgu Art Collection Members, including a couple attending Mures Trust helps Holocaust survivors in Marilyn Greene, Programme Manager at their first AJR event, enjoyed a busy this area of Romania who are impoverished the V&A, spoke to us about the museum’s afternoon discussing many topics, and have little, or no, family. We were all Jewish art collection and showed photos including the 1948 Olympics, the impressed with the marvellous work the of some of the exhibits. A very interesting changing face of Wembley, and aspects Trust is doing. hour. Felix Winkler of religion. Hazel Beiny Myrna Glass Café Imperial Essex (Westcliff) Easy to Listen to All Present on Good Form North London A Most Enjoyable Shirley Jaffe, who read from her own We were delighted that Judy, wife of the Morning poetry, has had a rich and varied life as, late Willy Field, joined us. All present were Gloria Tessler spoke about her new novel among other things, a film, TV, theatre on very good form and lively discussions Dancing with Carmen but somehow the and radio actress. Her poems were, in took place. Hazel Beiny talk mutated to other subjects, all of which

12 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

september GROUP MEETINGS Meals-on-Wheels To order Meals-on-Wheels Leeds HSFA 2 Sept Angela Henson: ‘60 Years of Harlow Gardens’ please telephone 020 8385 3075 Manchester 2 Sept Prof Bob Moore: ‘Survivors: Jewish Self-Help (this number manned on Wednesdays only) or 020 8385 3070 and Rescue in Nazi-Occupied Western Europe’ Bradford CF 3 Sept ‘Memories of School in Europe and the UK’ Bromley 3 Sept Social Get-together The AJR Paul Balint Centre Café Imperial 4 Sept Social Get-together at Belsize Square Synagogue Ealing 4 Sept Michael Mars: ‘The Sri Lankan Cleft Lip and 51 Belsize Square, London NW3 4HX Palate Project: 25 Years of Treatment, Teaching Telephone 020 7431 2744 and Research – What have We Achieved?’ Wessex 4 Sept Screening of Watermarks Open Tuesdays and Thursdays 9.30 am to 3.30 pm Ilford 5 Sept Howard Lanning: ‘80 Years in the Film Industry’ Please note: we are open Monday 24 Pinner 5 Sept Leonie Lewis: ‘Jewish Volunteering Network’ September, closed Tuesday 25 September Glasgow 9 Sept Screening of Watermarks HGS 10 Sept David Wass, ‘A Humorous Police Career’ Essex (Westcliff) 11 Sept Susie Barnett: ‘Memories of a Retired School AJR LUNCHEON CLUB Teacher’ Thursday 20 September 2012 Kingston 11 Sept Lunchtime Get-together Shirley Bilgora Liverpool 11 Sept Speaker: Benny Pollack East Midlands ’The Story of a Search‘ (Nottingham) 12 Sept Social at home of Bob and Gerry Norton KT-AJR St John’s Wood 12 Sept Helen Fry: ‘Inside Nuremberg Prison’ Kindertransport special Welwyn GC 13 Sept Warren Ashton: ‘Famous Phrases’ interest group Edinburgh 20 Sept Group meeting Tuesday 4 September 2012 Leeds CF 20 Sept ‘Memories of School in Europe and the UK’ Ruth Sulke Newcastle 23 Sept ‘The Jews of Penang’ ‘The Art of Life’ Hendon/North London/ please NOTE THAT LUNCH Radlett/Temple Fortune 24 Sept Outing to RAF Museum WILL BE SERVED AT 12.30 PM Reservations required Please telephone 020 7431 2744 ample time to look around Brighton. All in september activities OUTING TO RAF MUSEUM all, a very pleasant day. Avram Schaufeld Tue 4 Exercise with Jackie Monday 24 September 2012 Thur 6 French Conversation Book Club Hull KT Info Required in Hungary Exercise with Rosalie Our meeting was lively and interesting. Tue 11 Exercise with Jackie A Kindertransportee spoke about his Chiropodist 9.30 to 12 noon – gratitude to this country for saving his please book Thur 13 Exercise with Rosalie Guided tour of Battle of Britain Hall and his sister’s lives and we discussed the and RAF Museum Book Club & French fact that the Hungarian government has Conversation 4D Film Show built a Holocaust centre and is keen to Tue 18 CLOSED – ROSH HASHANAH Cream tea obtain relevant information: apparently 2ND DAY nobody there knows anything about the Thur 20 Exercise with Rosalie £10 per person KT. A happy and healthy New Year to all! Tue 25 CLOSED – KOL NIDRE Please contact Susan Harrod on Rose Abrahamson Thur 27 Art Club 0208 385 3070 or at Exercise with Rosalie [email protected] All activities begin at 10.30 am. Admission is £7 Eastbourne – Sunshine All the Time to include lunch from 12.30 pm, or £2 for activity alone. There is a nominal charge of £3 for a carer No queuing, no waiting, no passport accompanying a member for the day, including lunch. proved equally interesting. Result: a most control – that’s what some 35 people enjoyable morning. chose by going to Eastbourne with the september Entertainment Herbert Haberberg AJR in July for eight days of relaxation and Tue 4 KT LUNCH companionship. Thur 6 Margaret Opdahl Tue 11 Paul Toshner Hendon Background to Paralympics Everyone was on time, luggage was loaded for us, so all we had to do was take Thur 13 Geoffrey Strum Joyce Sheard from the charity WheelPower Tue 18 CLOSED – ROSH HASHANAH told us wheelchair sports had developed our seats in the luxury coach. We arrived at the Lansdowne Hotel around lunchtime. 2ND DAY from the work of Ludwig Guttmann, Thur 20 LUNCHEON CLUB Rooms were soon allocated, luggage taken who during WWII had used sport to help Mon 24 Paul Coleman to our rooms. There was time to relax and rehabilitate patients at Stoke Mandeville Tue 25 CLOSED – KOL NIDRE Hospital. He established a competition for enjoy the sunshine and scenery. Thur 27 William Smith patients which had developed into today’s Eastbourne is situated at the foot Paralympics. Shirley Rodwell of the South Downs and has a five- mile promenade, a 1930s bandstand, a At the hotel we had a quiz evening and a Victorian pier and lots of benches to sit solo singer and a trio took us back to Vienna A Very Pleasant Day in Brighton on and gardens to admire. If you want to with beautifully performed melodies. The sun was shining and the journey easy. go shopping there is a multitude of shops. On Friday evening we met for Kiddush, We were looked after splendidly by the AJR Eastbourne also has tennis courts, where with prayers recited by Walter Goddard. staff. In Brighton we had a superb lunch matches are played prior to Wimbledon, Board games for those who wanted and a very friendly reception at the Jewish and theatres, where some of us went to to play and socialise after dinner were Community Centre. Afterwards there was see ‘Singing in the Rain’ and ‘Bugle Boy’. continued on page 16 

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family announcements Death Gribbin, Mirjam (née Scheindlinger), born Berlin 8 April 1926, died London 10 July 2012. Wife to Kevin, mother of Simon and Gabriel, mother-in-law to Emma, and uma to James and Gracie.

classified If you wish to attend, please complete the enclosed form AJR Paul Balint Centre and return it to us ASAP Chiropodist 9.30 am to 12 noon Please telephone 020 7431 2744 for an appointment. AJR DAY CENTRE BOOK SWAP Come and Browse Through Our Selection of Books Pick a book and take it home – when you’ve read it bring it back and swap it for another one 75th Anniversary of the Kindertransport Special Reunion Sunday 23 June 2013 Unwanted books? at JFS, Rather than give your unwanted books to a Charity Shop, bring them along to the North West London AJR Day Centre Book Swap Library Clear out your book shelves! Please let us have any books that you have read Calling all Kinder! The AJR Kindertransport Committee is delighted to announce a Special Reunion to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Complementary Therapy Centre Robert Schon Kindertransport, which will take Tax Solicitor place on Sunday 23 June 2013 at Member of Solicitors JFS in North West London. for the Elderly Refer to our website to choose a treatment The Reunion, which will include I specialise in: contributions from Kinder, JFS Estate Planning pupils and guest speakers, will be Powers of Attorney and a unique opportunity for Kinder Deputyship applications and their families to reconnect Living wills and socialise and pay tribute Tax and non domicile issues to the British Government for including helping to bring PillarCare undeclared offshore funds to offering them a safe haven. Quality support and care at home the attention of HMRC In the coming months, we will be Tel 020 7267 5010 publishing further details about the  Hourly Care from 4 hours – 24 hours Email: [email protected] Reunion, and other special events  Live-In/Night Duty/Sleepover Care West Hill House, 6 Swains Lane, which we will be organising to  Convalescent and Personal Health Care London N6 6QS mark the 75th anniversary, in the  Compassionate and Affordable Service AJR Journal, the KT Newsletter  Professional, Qualified, Kind Care Staff and on the AJR website.  Registered with the CQC and UKHCA

Call us on Freephone 0800 028 4645 Home Care PILLARCARE ColvinCare through quality and Second Generation THE BUSINESS CENTRE · 36 GLOUCESTER AVENUE · LONDON NW1 7BB PHONE: 020 7482 2188 · FAX: 020 7900 2308 professionalism Network www.pillarcare.co.uk Celebrating our 25th Anniversary Tue 11 September Discussion Group: ‘9/11: 25 years of experience in providing the Exposing Vulnerability’ highest standards of care in the comfort LEO BAECK HOUSING of your own home Tue 16 October Film Night: The Wave ASSOCIATION Tue 6 November Talk by Martin Davidson: CLARA NEHAB HOUSE ‘Being Second Generation: The Grandson of RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME an SS Officer Gives His Perspective’ Small caring residential home with large attractive gardens close to local shops and public transport Tue 13 November: Discussion Group: Topic 25 single rooms with full en suite facilities tbc 24 hour Permanent and Respite Care Entertainment & Activities provided All events at the Wiener Library, 29 Russell Ground Floor Lounge and Dining Room 1 hour to 24 hours care Square, London WC1, 6.30 for 6.45 Lift access to all floors. Registered through the National Care Standard Commission pm. Tel 020 7636 7247 or email info@ For further information please contact: The Manager, Clara Nehab House Call our 24 hour tel 020 7794 9323 secondgeneration.org.uk. All Second 13-19 Leeside Crescent, London NW11 0DA Generation welcome. Telephone: 020 8455 2286 www.colvin-nursing.co.uk

14 AJR JOURNAL september 2012 ObituarY Harold (Hans) Jackson, 17 February 1921 – 6 May 2012 he gifted artist Harold Jackson to board the Dunera were run at the London Jewish Museum’s (Hans Hermann Josephy), my uncle, for the long voyage to Sternberg Centre and at the Beth Shalom T was born in Berlin, the only child Australia and experi­ Holocaust Memorial Centre as well as at the of Richard and Klara Josephy. His mother enced the degrading Wiener Library. died in 1923 and his father married Else treatment suffered by The passing of his second wife, Gertrude, Cohen a few years later. Hans had a very many of the refugees in 1997 was a bitter blow, one that heralded happy childhood, with many friends and a on board. In October a deterioration in Hans’s general health large family. 1941 he was released, and eyesight and brought an end to his From 1931 he attended the Friedrichs­- having elected to join art career. Realgymnasium. Life for him and his parents the Pioneer Corps, and returned to Eng­ On the 60th anniversary of Kristallnacht changed on the day of the Nazi boycott of land. He enlisted on arrival in Liverpool in 1998, the Smith family at Beth Shalom Jewish businesses. What followed was a in December 1941 and was trained in established the Hans Jackson Gallery background of menace, with local Brown Ilfracombe. to display his Prelude to the Holocaust Shirts often coming to their apartment to From Ilfracombe Hans was posted to paintings as well as an educational resource search for and steal valuables and to extort Scotland with No 249 Company. In 1942 he work booklet about them. Hans’s testimony protection payments. In 1935 Hans was was attached to the Entertainment Corps was recorded by the Jewish Museum and expelled from his school. and worked with a German refugee, Otto he also appeared in BBC Radio 4 broadcasts In 1937 Hans joined the carpentry Solomon, a professional artist from whom about the Kindertransport and the ‘Behind apprenticeship scheme run by the Berlin- he acquired commercial art skills. He was the Wire’ series (presented by Professor based Federal Representation of German due to join the 21st Army for D-Day, but was David Cesarani). The Prelude paintings Jews. He applied to emigrate to Australia hospitalised in May after an accident playing also appeared in the Jewish Museum’s but his visa application was not processed by football. He was assigned a tradesman’s role Kindertransport educational resource the German authorities. A coded telephone with FANY (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry). publication for schools The Last Goodbye. call alerted the family to the onset of Hans married (Helene) Ella Sternstein Hans also produced a series of Kinder­ Kristallnacht. Their Reimann-Strasse shop in Garnethill Synagogue in July 1945. transport illustrations that were included in was wrecked; they cleared up the mess Following his discharge from the Pioneer the Our Lonely Journey – Remembering the the following day. Whilst waiting for the Corps in October 1946, they returned to Kindertransports book and accompanying opportunity to leave, Hans helped with Glasgow. In 1951 he set up in business as Teachers Resource Guide by Stephen Smith preparations for the Kindertransport and Harold Jackson, designing and producing of the Beth Shalom Centre. On the Holo­ assisted families in putting their children on display graphics and mechanised displays. caust Education Trust’s Think Equal educa­ trains at Anhalter Station. Efforts by Poldi Shortly before he retired in 1984, he went tional resource website, Hans’s ­refugee sto­ Kuh, director of the retraining school, finally into partnership to form Harold Jackson ry was crafted into a work pack for schools. resulted in Hans’s receiving a tradesman’s Screenprint Limited, which still trades The setting up of his website (www. visa to travel to the Kitchener Camp near successfully. hansjacksongallery.multiply.com) in 2003 Richborough on the Kent coast. In March During the onset of Ella’s illness in was a particular source of pride for Hans, 1939, aged 18, he left Berlin for England. 1980 until her death in November 1984, he bringing his life story and art to the world At the camp, Hans was seconded to studied artistic design and composition and stage for Holocaust education. He was a radio monitoring centre for decoding taught himself fine art drawing and painting well loved and respected by his family, by German signals at the nearby Haig Camp, techniques in preparation for expressing those who worked with him and by those run by the BBC for the War Office. He was powerfully in art his life experiences and who became inspired and motivated in his subsequently classed a civilian enemy alien what he had witnessed. presence and by his remarkable art and and interned in Ramsay Camp on the Isle From then until 2003 Hans became more testimony. His contribution to Holocaust of Man. During this time, he maintained heavily involved with Holocaust and refugee and refugee education will continue to be contact via the Red Cross with his step- education and made contact with various used for generations to come, as he hoped. mother and father and made strenuous Jewish museums and galleries in America, Rescuing the Children: The Story of the efforts to help them obtain visas for England, Australia and Berlin, and the Imperial War Kindertransport, by the Canadian children’s but was unsuccessful. Museum, to promote use of his testimony author Deborah Hodge, which features Hans arrived in Liverpool in July 1940 and copies of his paintings. Exhibitions Hans’s art and refugee story, is due for launch in the USA and Canada later this year. LETTERS cont. from p.7 Hans left no direct descendants but is primary school. She was asked to give him about their local history and, if we could fondly remembered by Ella’s two surviving accommodation by Mrs Victor Smith. It is include this little boy, it could provide a sisters as well as nephews, nieces and their thought the boy was about seven and came local perspective to the global situation extended families in Scotland, England, from Germany. at the time. America, Germany, Israel and Italy. Allen Sternstein Unfortunately, this is all the information we If anyone has any information or have and we would be extremely interested suggestions of other avenues to explore, to learn more both for our planned exhibition please contact me at jandj.nicholls@ and so on. and the local history pack we plan for the virgin.net or telephone 01664 823530. Some of these admittedly have no primary school. Jeanne Nicholls, Upper Broughton, Notts acceptable translation and it is more We plan to hold the exhibition in April/ convenient to use the original. I sometimes May 2013, highlighting changes and events ENRICHING ENGLISH wonder if there is a divide between the that have taken place in our village from Sir – Now that many Yiddish expressions Sunnis and the Shias where language around the 1930s to the 1960s. have been added to our vocabulary over is concerned. Witnessing the incessant The village primary school has closed the years, readers must have noticed the fighting in the Middle East, I feel an urge and children now go to a primary school proliferation of Arabic words that one now to use my limited Arabic and shout ‘Allahu in the nearby village of Kinoulton. They finds frequently in the media: jihad, sharia, akhbar!’ and their teachers are very keen to learn halla, intifada, sunni, shia, ramadan, haj Janos Fisher, Bushey Heath

15 AJR JOURNAL september 2012

models who posed for him. Joseph Hirsch was born in 1920 in the Dorothea Shefer-Vanson mining town of Beuthen, Silesia, then part of Germany, to an orthodox Jewish family. His interest in painting and drawing was evident from early childhood and his parents helped and encouraged him in cultivating this talent. He was 13 years few years ago I was asked to Joseph Hirsch was all of these, according old when Hitler came to power in 1933 prepare the text for a website for to art critics. His paintings express and the anti-Jewish atmosphere, with the AJoseph Hirsch (1920-97), a highly many aspects of his complex worldview restrictions imposed by the Nuremberg regarded Israeli artist who also happened but, above all, they convey his ability Laws, overshadowed his teenage years. to be my mother’s first cousin (double to tease out the essence of the material Hirsch emigrated to what was then first cousin, actually, as two brothers had world around him – as embodied in Palestine in 1939 and attended the Bezalel married two sisters in pre-WW1 Germany, both people and objects – in order Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. one of those couples eventually becoming to express its innermost poetry and The artist Hermann Struck, one of the my grandparents). Joseph was always deeper, metaphysical significance. Many founders of Bezalel, was sufficiently called ‘Boujik’ in the family, apparently of Hirsch’s pictures convey his own impressed with Hirsch’s promise to because a childhood nursemaid had been idiosyncratic interpretation of the material secure him a Certificate, the precious enchanted by his sweet appearance and universe and the individual’s relation to it. document which entitled the recipient to nature. When I knew him he was a tall, Several works by Joseph Hirsch, one immigrate to Palestine, then under the angular man with the typical ironic sense of Israel’s foremost artists, have been British Mandate. After working as a sign of humour that I associate with ‘Yekkes’, purchased by leading museums, including painter for the British authorities and later and those of my family in particular. the British Museum and the Israel in newly-nascent Israel, Hirsch was invited I collected material from various Museum. Gifted both as a teacher and as to join the staff of the Bezalel Academy sources, catalogues from his exhibitions, a painter, upon his death he left a legacy of in 1964, continuing to teach there until reviews by art critics, as well as hundreds of devoted and admiring pupils. his death. recollections by former students, and Hirsch’s paintings, the vast majority of Even in his final, mortal illness Boujik prepared a text that I thought was suitable, which are monochrome compositions on retained his characteristic dry sense of but unfortunately the website never came paper, reveal a world outside and beyond humour. A former student who visited him into being. Now the Israel Museum is the ordinary, humdrum one inhabited in hospital recounts that he commented preparing a project of its own, giving by mankind. A consummate draftsman, to the nurse who entered his room ‘I can leading Israeli artists a place in Wikipedia, Hirsch contrived to imbue the outer form see by your sadistic smile that you’ve and I was happy to hear that Hirsch, as his of objects and people with their innermost come to give me my morning injection,’ students called him, was to be included essence. This applied as much to everyday occasioning hearty laughter on her part. in it. objects, such as a vase of flowers, a rug, Boujik died in Jerusalem in November Artist, philosopher and teacher – or a doll in his still lifes, as to the various 1997 aged 77.

inside the ajr continued from page 13 available most nights. Outing to St Pancras were shown around this newly ac- Most of the time we enjoyed walking This magnificent Gothic building was quired and renovated building. It is very along the seafront or sitting in an open air closed in 1935 due to its parlous state. impress­ive, light and airy. Everything cafe enjoying an ice cream and a drink. The Demolition was mooted in the 1960s is well catalogued and the moveable weather was fantastic – sunshine all the time. but, due to the efforts of John Betjeman shelves are easily accessible. Our ex- A most sincere thank you to Carol and others, there has been a remarkable cellent guides Katy Jackson and Toby Rossen and her fantastic team, who not restoration. Our guide Katharine told Simpson showed us round, including only organised a wonderful holiday but us the huge clock is an exact replica the current 1936 Olympics Exhibition. were always on hand to help with any of the original, inadvertently smashed Marianne Black problems. but painstakingly rebuilt by a dedicated Gerald Hellman railway employee! Following a visit ‘Top Hat’ a Feast for the Eyes to Foyles, where we were given a bag Every hyperbole written by the critics is Temple Fortune A Passion for History of ‘goodies’, we were treated to a justified. The show is a veritable feast Miriam Halahmy, a novelist and poet sumptuous cream tea with a glass of for the eyes and a delight for the ears. with a passion for history, spoke about ‘champagne’ at Searcys. Again, thank you The slick dance routines, superb singing, her paternal family named Silberklang Hazel and Esther. Hanne R. Freedman excellent sets and stunning costumes (Silver Sound) and her interest in asylum contributed so much to our enjoyment seekers and read extracts from several of Visit to Relocated Wiener Library in the mercifully air-conditioned theatre. her novels. David Lang Ealing and Wembley group members Hanne R. Freedman

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

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