VOL. XX No. 2 February, 1965 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN GREAT BRITAIN a FAIRFAX MANSIONS, FINCHLEY RD, (corner F.irt.x Rd,). London, N.W,J °ll'" """^ f^ontulting Hourt: Telephone: MAIda Vale 9096/7 (General OUice and Wellarc for the ABed). Monday (o Thuriday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. 3-6p,m. MAIda Vale 4449 (Emplorment Agency, annualiv licensed by thc L,C,C,. - j ,n _ i and Social Services Dept,) ""'='>• 'O"'"--'P™ 'T^- Rosenstock connected with Jewish activities, either in a professional or in a voluntary capacity ; others had begun their work in the Jewish "MORE LASTING THAN ORE" sphere only after their elimination from German public life. There are rabbis and teacher,s who served the same medium- A Monument for German Jewry's Martyrs size communities throughout their lives ; yet there is also a surprisingly high num­ One of the tasks about which the late tions of surviving children had to serve as ber of young rabbis who started their Hans Reichmann felt particularly strongly the sole source of information. The hope studies only after 1933 and whose careers was the erection of a fitting memorial to of these children—who had been sent were cut short when they were deported those men and women who had held res­ abroad when still very young—and their with their wives and young families. Quite ponsible positions in German-Jewish life parents that one day their families would a few of the " newcomers " had held dis­ and who perished during the war. Some of be united again was not to be fulfilled. tinguished offices as High Court judges, tnem have already been commemorated in The biographies differ in length and civil servants and university professors. ponographs and articles published in the approach. In a number of cases only the Their administrative experience and expert Year Books and Bulletins of the Leo Baeck bare facts could be compiled. But there knowledge often proved particularly bene­ institute and in various periodicals, but are articles—some of them real literary ficial because of the limited number of others—and they are the majority—had not gems—which are genuine profiles, written qualified officials which the Jewish organi­ yet been given the lasting niche in the his­ by persons from first-hand knowledge and sations employed before 1933, when their tory of German Jewry which they deserve. mirroring the warm feelings of friendship, terms of reference were considerably « Was Leo Baeck who, with the humility love and admiration felt by the authors narrower. which marks great men, in his addresses for former fellow-workers. A high proportion of the biographies and writings always recalled those com- In view of the unavoidable divergency refers to First World War veterans who niunal workers of whose selfless services of the articles, the names of the authors had won high distinctions. Some of them only a limited circle of people could be and contributors have not been mentioned. were so severely wounded and mutilated aware. It testifies to the skill of the editor, Ernst that even the Gestapo officials were G. Lowenthal, who prepared the book in embarrassed when they had to deal with CoUection of 180 Biographies them ; yet this did not save them from We are grateful to the Council of Jews extermination. We read, too, about the from Germany that now, after many years heroism of those who, though not yet °f painstaking preparation, a work has SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL selected for deportation, voluntarily joined come into being which, under the title the transports to the East, or who were Bewaehrung im Untergang", describes Sir Winston Churchill's death murdered because they refused to be a the personalities of not less than 180 Ger- which was announced when this party in the compilation of transport lists. JJian Jews and Jewesses whose lives were issue went to press has brought to It is significant that many who at the time dedicated to their fellow Jews and who an end the full life of a great man of the November pogroms or when the war ^ere put to death by the Nazis.* to whom we, too, owe a special debt was imminent had to make journeys Most of these people met their end in of gratitude. He was one of the first abroad on behalf of their organisations, the extermination camps. Others suc­ British statesmen who recognised the returned to Germany after having fulfilled cumbed to the tortures in German concen- threat to the free world emanating their missions. After the war some of the ";ration camps into which they had been from Nazi Germany, and he stood at rabbis and community heads were com­ thrown because they had courageously the helm when the danger he had memorated by the muncipal authorities of defused to carry out orders of the Nazi tried to avert became a grim reality. their home towns who named streets after authorities. Others again were shot as Under his inspiring leadership this them. hostages when communal officials selected country resisted invasion, and we Each article tells us of a fate which is Jor " Abwanderung" did not turn up at were spared the fate which Jews in unique and different. Just as we cannot the Assembly Centre. The book also men­ occupied Europe were to meet. We grasp the abstract figure of the six million tions those who were caught in Nazi- owe it to him that we survived. martyrs as long as we do not associate it occupied countries where they had taken with the memory of those who were near refuge. to us, we only realise the magnitude of the The preface is written by Hans Reich- collaboration with Bruno Woyda (Hon. cruelty when we read the chapters about ^ann in a spirit reflecting dignity, sorrow Secretary of the Council) and Ilse persons whom we knew. It makes all the °na bridled passion. He states that, in Barter, that he has succeeded in wielding difference to have known about Eichmann spite of the careful preparatory work, the the material into an organic entity. The from the reports on the trial or to have names of some who would also have quali- main body of the work consists of 120 known a single person who suffered jjed for inclusion in the book may have articles ; a supplement lists a further 60 through him. We remember that wonder­ Oeen inadvertently omitted, and that any persons about whom only few facts could ful social worker of the Berlin Jewish ^Qoenda would be welcomed. Yet, as far be obtained. The book is enhanced by Community, Dora Silbermann, and visua­ ^s can be seen, the work is as complete as portraits of the 120 personalities described lise her in the terrible scene which the -an be expected under the circumstances. in the main part. Enlarged copies of these book records, when Eichmann lashed out 'r^- Reichmann also mentions that in a portraits have been used for a specially at her with all his brutality, trying to force "lumber of cases only comparatively few bound volume to be deposited in the her to select candidates for deportation oiographical data could be obtained. In Council's Memorial Room at the premises among the members of her staff and when some instances, he writes, scanty recoUec- of the Wiener Library. she, in the face of physical torture, stead­ p^ . ^ewaehrnng im L'ntergang—Ein Gedenlibucli, The variety in background and outlook fastly refused and offered herself instead. uolished by the Council of Jews from Germany and of the personalities described in the book The book conjures up many personal Si u ^y E- G. Lowenthal. with a Preface by Hans nl!. '"^""- 194 pages and 120 photos on art paper. reflects the peculiar composition of the recollections of the apocalyptic days gA^'sche Verlagsanstalt Stuttgart. DM. 14,80. Prefer- German-Jewish leadership after 1933. between the November pogroms and the ix 1 .price for AJB members, 17s, An Order Form "• enclosed with this issue. Some of those mentioned had always been Continued on page 2, column 1 Page 2 AJR INFORMATION February, 1965 COUNCIL FORDERT VERLAENGERUNG " More Lasting than Ore " DER VERJAEHRUNGSFRISTEN Continued from page 1 Needless to say the book includes Der Council of Jews from Germany, dem articles on personalities whose standing die AJR als Vertretung der in Gross­ outbreak of war, when we had our regular made them widely known throughout Ger­ committee meetings in the Reichsvertre­ britannien lebenden Juden aus Deutschland many, such as Otto Hirsch, Julius L. Selig­ angeschlossen ist, hat zur Frage der tung to select from the endless lists of sohn, Heinrich Stahl, Franz Eugen Fuchs, concentration camp inmates candidates for Verjaehrung der Nazi-Verbrechen der Alfred Klee and Hans Goslar. Yet it also Regierung der Bundesrepublik, dem the Refugee Transit Camp in Richborough commemorates the great number of brave (Kent). The window of the Kantstrasse Bundestag und dem Bundesrat folgende men and women who worked in the pro­ Stellungnahme uebermittelt: office faced the burnt-out shell of the vinces and were therefore mainly known Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, reminding us in their home districts, such as Oberrab­ " Wir fordern eine Verlaengerung der of the recent horror, and the railway lines biner Joseph Carlebach of Hamburg, who, Verjaehrungsfristen, wenn sie nicht—wie carrying interminable troop transports, together with his wife and four children, es in Frankreich geschehen ist—gegenue­ admonished us with the fact that time was was deported to Riga in 1942, and Siegfried ber den nationalsozialistischen Ver- running short. Gumbel of Heilbronn, later Head of the brechern gaenzlich aufgehoben werden With very few exceptions all members Israelitische Oberrat for Wurttemberg koennen.