Oct - The Association of Jewish Refugees

Transcription

Vol. XVII No. 10
October, 1962
INFOR/\/iATION
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
1941-1962
Twenty-one Years
Association of
Jewish Refugees
in Great Britain
PRINCIPAL CONTENTS
Page
"Bearers of a Proud Tradition"
By Hans Reichmann
3
The Beginnings of the AJR
By Ernst G. Lowenthal
4
The Services of "AJR Information"
By Werner Rosenstock
5
Council of Jews from Germany
By the late Kurt Alexander
7
Restitution and Compensation
By F. Cioldschmidt
8
AJR Social Services
By Lucie Schachne
9
The AJR Club
By Margaret Jacoby
9
Homes for the Aged
By Hans Blumenau
10
Observations of a Psychiatrist
12
The Leo Baeck Institute
By Arnold Paucker
13
Assessment by an English Jew
By Cecil Roth
15
Economic Contributions of New Citizens
By Waller Schindler
17
"Der Erste Tag"
By PEM
19
"How They Settled"
By Kenneth Ambrose and Egon Larsen
20
"Tradition and Progress"
By Leon Zeitlin
22
The Jewish Community in Two Berlins
By Norman Bentwich
News from Abroad
23
24, 25
Anglo-Judaica
24
"Old Acquaintances"
25
Published by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain.
8 Fairfax Mansions, London, N.W.3.
Tel.: MAIda Vale 9096/7.
49
Page 3
AJR INFORMATION October, 1962
Hans
Reichmann
BEARERS OF A PROUD TRADITION
The Jews from Germany and Austria
" The history of the Sephardi Community
of London, established in the middle of the
seventeenth century and, almost unchanged
by the vicissitudes of time, still flourishing
today, is one of the romances of Jewish life
in the Diaspora. Founded by Marranos,
the unity of the congregation has remained
unimpaired in spite of the diversity of its
membership."
This passage is quoted from a history of
the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, which
can look back on three hundred years of
existence. It is safe to assume that only
a tiny minority of this oldest group of
Jewish immigrants to England speaks the
language of its forefathers. For generations
its members have been firmly integrated in
the general community. They play a leading 'part in society, in the economy, the
political and cultural life of this country.
And yet they firmly stick to their origin and
have preserved their identity as a group with
pride.
On the whole, immigrants, even if they
settle in large numbers in a new country,
tend to lose their identity within two generations. Only communities with an old or
honourable tradition usually resist the lure
of assimilation.
A Middle-Class Community
Of the 60,000 to 70,000 Jews from
Germany and Austria who were admitted,
and thus saved, mainly after the November
pogrom, by the generosity of the United
Kingdom, 40,000 to 45,000 may still be
here. They are bearers of an old and proud
tradition. The Jews of Germany constituted
a group which had been emancipated for
four generations and had lived on German
soil for hundreds of years. Socially it was
for the most part middle class, with a small
stratum of proletarian elements and, in not
too high a proportion, a wealthy upper
class. The proportion of members of the
professions was considerable, signifying the
esteem in which scholarship and education
were held.
The urge for general education, it is true,
outweighed that for Jewish studies, and yet
it was the German-Jewish community which
created the " Science of Judaism " (Wissenschaft des Judentums).
The general
tendency towards integration expressed itself
equally in the methods of Jewish learning :
the old methods were adapted to the standards of modern scholarship, a development
which was not yet completed when the life
of the old community was brutally crushed
in Germany. Yet even in those years of
persecution the cultural efforts of the
Gennan Jews experienced a renaissance:
never before had Jewish learning been as
intense, never before had the Jewish Press
shown such vitality and high standards in
its contributions, and a number of books
which old and new publishing houses then
issued will retain their value permanently.
With this esteem for culture was linked a
high moral standard ; moral integrity had no
longer to be set up as an ideal, but was
taken to be the natural basis of personality
and was to some degree a concomitant of
social integration in the middle classes.
The social conscience of this group is
reflected in its feeling of solidarity with the
weak and aged. In 1933 over five thousand
beds were provided in Jewish Old Age
Homes in Germany alone ; and youth hostels,
training centres, orphanages, institutes for
the blind and deaf, hospitals, lodges and
numerous welfare societies were to be found
even in small towns.
Difficult Start
When this community was uprooted, it
left, unlike the Spanish Jews, without considerable worldly goods. Only too many
fell victim to the plot of their persecutors
to reduce them to pauperism before driving
them across the frontier. Most of those who
found refuge in this country had to struggle
to make a new start in life. Their membership of the middle class, which had been an
advantage before, now proved a disadvantage to speedy integration. For members
of the professions, whose tools included
mastery of their mother tongue, the new
language was an almost insurmountable
obstacle.
And yet the majority have
succeeded in finding a niche in the economy
of this country. To those who were too old
or weak, the British Jewish community and
also our own have stretched out a helping
hand.
The percentage of people who succumbed
to temptation and deviated from the path of
justice is negligible. That such an observation can be made on a community that was
made destitute, confirms its tradition of
obedience to the law. One of the most
insidious documents of the Nazi period is
a memorandum entitled : " The Jewish
Question as a Factor of Foreign Policy in
IN MEMORIAM
We gratefully remember our deceased
friends who served on the Executive of
the AJR :
Dr. Kurt Alexander
Dr. Franz Bienenfeld
Dr. Hans Feist
Mr. Paul Goldschmidt
Mr. Abraham Horovitz
Mr. Wilfrid Israel
Professor Dr. Eugen Mittwoch
Dr. Arthur Prager
Mr. Adolf Schoyer
Mr, Louis Schurmann
Mr. Leo Ullmann
Mr. Arthur Wechsler
Mr. Menki Zimmer
We also wish to pay tribute to the
memory of those departed men and
women who strengthened the cause of
thc AJR as members of the Board, the
local Committees and the Staff.
the Year 1938 ". In this a Nazi diplomatist
bluntly suggested the usefulness of depriving the Jews of all their belongings ; abroad
they would be an encumbrance on the
economy, and foreign countries, confronted
with these paupers, would recognise the
justification of National Socialist antiJewish policy. The innate honesty of the
majority of the refugees has thwarted this
wicked plan. There is no group of immigrants anywhere in the world which figures
as low in the criminal statistics as ours.
There is one characteristic of the GermanJewish group at which good-humoured fun
is often poked : that is their typical German
tendency to organise, even to over-organise.
One should accept this genial criticism as
justified : this edition bears witness to the
success of 21 years of organisational work
of our Association of Jewish Refugees. Its
roots go back to a time when its founders
did not have any freedom of action. They
found themselves behind barbed wire in an
internment camp in the Isle of Man—which,
by the way, was not so unbearable a
sojourn and should never be mentioned in
the same breath as other notorious places
of confinement. But even there the sense
of solidarity of the half-dozen founders
manifested itself in the idea to form an
organisation for the self-representation of
the Jewish immigrants from Germany and
Austria. Of its achievements this issue is
a testimony. Indemnification of National
Socialist wrongs, in many of its ramifications, would not be what it is if this selfrepresentation had not been active over the
last 15 years.
Solidarity Enacted
Our social services have sprung from the
spirit of understanding and fraternal
solidarity, and in those who render assistance one will seek in vain the slightest
trace of a patronising or condescending
attitude. This is last, bu)^,not least, due to
the fact that we have in otj- midst more than
50 men and women who, as voluntary
workers, devote the major part of their
spare time to their fellow-refugees, especially to the well-being of the residents of the
Homes for the Aged.
Our obligation to pass on the spiritual
inheritance of German Jewry to the next
generation and to record it for history, is
seen in the volumes of the Leo Baeck
Institute, which we have founded together
with our friends in America and Israel.
The work we have started is not yet complete. It will continue as long as Aiere are
men and women in our group who desire
this. Whether the younger generation will
follow in the footsteps of their fathers is
for them to decide. On its twenty-first
anniversary the members of the Association,
who through their efforts have made its
functioning possible, register with pride that
they have continued, in adverse circumstances, the tradition of the generations that
preceded them in their former homeland.
Page 4
Ernst G.
Lowenthal
BY OUR OWN EFFORTS
The Beginnings of the AJR
June 27th, 1941. This was the day when
a circular signed by nine Jewish refugees
from Germany was sent out to a few dozen
interested refugees in London :
" We are pleased to hear that you are
willing to join the newly formed Association of Jewish Refugees. We have much
pleasure in inviting you to attend its
meeting on Sunday, July 6th, 1941,
11 a.m., at 26 Belsize Park, N.W.3. Please
confirm that you will be present; envelope
for answer enclosed.
Yours sincerely,
S. Adler-Rudel, K. Alexander, W.
Breslauer, W. B. Israel, E. G. Lowenthal,
A. Michaelis, H. Pels, A. Schoyer,
B. Woyda."
So the AJR, a loose association of persons
formerly engaged in Jewish work of one
sort or another in Germany, appeared for
the first time before the public, cautiously
and giving no guarantees.
Wartime
The outbreak of war in early autumn
1939 and the threat of invasion to England
in the beginning of 1940, brought in their
train additional worries to more than 40,000
Jewish refugees from Germany and almost
20,0(X) from Austria. Even the Jewish
" refugees from Nazi oppression" were
declared " enemy aliens" in 1939 and
interned in their thousands and deported
overseas by hundreds scarcely a year later.
In the still critical days of spring and
summer 1941, when internment had been
practically wound up. these nine recognised
the necessity for the Jewish refugees in
England, up till then in the sole care of
committees (e.g., the German Jewish Aid
Committee, later renamed the Jewish
Refugees Committee), to have a spokesman
and an independent representation that
would have tasks reaching far beyond daily
or weekly welfare work, even beyond
channelling into important war work or
assisting in re-emigration. *
Tasks concern "Tig other spheres of life and
future problems *ere to be considered and
drawn in. Organisation of their own lives
as emigres was not the only subject of their
efforts. Thoughts were also directed outwards, overseas, often to the Continent of
Europe. It was not unknown that, in
*As early as the spring of 1940. before mass
internments occurred, an attempt to create a kind
of independent representation had been made—
called the "Refugee Liaison Group" (R,L,G,),
Its members, all voluntary workers, if possible
by team-work and outside their activities, were to
give help and advice, stimulate a firmer personal
and intellectual incorporation of the Jewish
refugees and thus establish a permanent relation
with the Anglo-Jewish community. They were
in part the same men (and women) who came
together a year and a half later as flrst members
of the Executive and Board of the AJR. The
R.L.G.. whose spiritual guide was Wilfrid B.
Israel—completely untrammelled by restrictions,
as a British citizen, and loyal to his friends from
Germany—broke down of necessity at the start,
because almost all who had declared their readiness to co-operate found themselves soon afterwards in one or another of the internment camps.
Germany alone, a quarter of a million Jews
had to reckon with the uncertainties of
deportation to the East. The tragedy of
these hemmed-in people was a burning grief
for the Jewish refugees in England. Even
at that time, with wise and not too pessimistic foresight, that small circle, which also
comprised lawyers, included in its deliberations questions bound to arise after the
war ; and it is probable that here for the
first time the word " compensation" (in
the sense of a post-war indemnification) was
uttered.
Preliminary Work
When the " bigger circle" of interested
persons met in July, 1941, in N.W. London,
several months of preparation had gone
before, dedicated to defining the programme
of an association in the form of a selfrepresenting body. Between March and
June of that year the " nucleus " had been
meeting in each other's small houses ; an
office, even a modest one, was not to be
thought of! Even the name of the proposed
organisation had not been decided : " Committee of Jewish Refugees", " Working
Group of Jewish Refugees", "Standing Committee of Jewish Refugees ", " Vereinigung
juedischer Fluechtlinge "—these and similar
suggestions were examined, until finally all
were agreed on " Association of Jewish
Refugees ". (It remained for a much later
resolution to add " in Great Britain ".)
The basic aim of the AJR, adopted
unanimously after lengthy debates and still
decisive and valid, had the following text:
" The Association aims at representing
all those Jewish refugees from Germany
and Austria for whom Judaism is a determining factor in their outlook on life ".
This " objects clause ", which clearly distinguished the Jewish refugees of both countries
from the political, and long since organised,
refugees, now appeared on all their printed
matter, however modest and unassuming.
It appeared, therefore, on the first printed
invitation, sent to a fairly large circle, to
two functions : one the " Otto Hirsch Memorial Meeting", attended in astonishingly
large numbers by the Jewish refugees, on
August 10th, 1941, and the other, a week
later, a lecture by the Hon. Mrs. Sebastian
Earl, " Refugees and War Effort". In itself
this invitation was a programme ; on the one
hand it demonstrated a protest against force
and arbitrariness in a State founded on
injustice, and, on the other, a readiness to do
the utmost against the hated, death-bringing
system.
Giving due consideration to the Committees for Jewish Refugees and keeping
aloof from the propaganda of certain refugee
organisations whose members were politically-minded and frequently desirous to go
back (" Free German League of Culture ",
" Austrian Centre"), the AJR made every
effort to demonstrate to the public exactly
who the Jewish refugees from Germany
and Austria were, and how ready they were
to give their help against the common foe
to a country which had so generously given
them asylum. The result of this trend was
the issue of further AJR directives, which
declared :
" We want to make clear to the authorities and the public that a Jewish refugee
is unconditionally opposed to Nazi
Germany. . . . We shall press for the
removal of restrictions which prevent full
utilisation of the services of these refugees
in the common cause against Nazism, and
for recognition that loyalty to this cause
should be the guiding principle of release
from internment".
At the same time, the AJR directives contained hints concerning the end of the war,
the conclusion of peace and the new international order which was to be anticipated
and should guarantee to the Jews, apart
from indemnification for their sufferings, full
religious, civic and political rights and the
Jewish National Home in Palestine—a note
which was struck in the first (extended)
Board Meeting that took place on November 2nd, 1941 in Woburn House, London.
The meeting was opened by a lecture from
one of the oldest, most proven and understanding friends and promoters of the cause
of Jewish refugees, Norman Bentwich. His
subject, " Refugees at Present and in the
Future ", was entirely adapted to fit the aims
and intentions of the AJR.
279b Finchley Road
All this publicity work was carried out
during the first year of its existence by the
young, still financially weak Association.
Its non-partisan Executive was at first
formed from a majority of the signatories
to the first invitation, but was expanded by
personalities like Abraham Horovitz, Eugen
Mittwoch and Emil Krasny as representative
of the former Austrian Jews. It met every
Monday evening. Anyone reading today
after twenty-one years the agendas and brief
minutes of those evening meetings, held in
black-out and fog, wonders at the multitude
of fundamental questions, organisational
problems and business matters discussed. In
order to make effectual as quickly as possible
their idea of outward representation, they
had to make themselves inwardly strong—
by canvassing members and financial support
(through professional groups: fur and
textile trades, banks and insurance, doctors
and rabbis) ; by setting up AJR subcommittees (on Questions of Legal Status,
War Work and Integration, Contacts with
Refugee Soldiers, Education for the Young
and Adults, Post-War Problems) : by
creating an expanded and active Board ; by
forming provincial groups. To this internal
work external activities were increasingly
added : Contacts with Parliamentarians and
the authorities concerned, with the Refugee
Committees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Board of
Deputies; Representation at Jewish and
non-denominational organisations and committees ; Observation of and influence on the
general and Jewish Press ; and the organisation of Public Meetings.
To the outward eye the first office, where
21 years ago W. Rosenstock as Secretary.
Continued on page 5. colmmn 3
^êrner
Page 5
Rosenstock
CONTINUITY AND EXPANSION
The Services of "AJR Information"
Since its inception, the AJR has considered it as one of its duties to keep its
members informed on the activities of the
organisation and on developments of
general importance to them. During the
war years, this was only possible by the
circulation of irregular bulletins. However,
as soon as paper restrictions were lifted,
this Monthly was launched. Two experienced journalists. Dr. Herbert Freeden and
Dr. E. G. Lowenthal, both closely associated
with the work of the AJR, were appointed as
editors. From the very outset, they co-
More often than not, Jewish magazines
have been compelled to discontinue their
publication, mainly due to lack of support.
If " AJR Information " still flourishes, it is,
in the first place, due to the loyalty of
AJR members. This organisational and
editorial achievement has not remained
unnoticed among observers of the AngloJewish scene. As early as 1953, the
American Jewish Journal " Menorah"
wrote : " It is significant that the one other
communal periodical (apart from " The
Jewish Chronicle ") to have a general circu-
No.
JANUARY 1946
INFORMA TION
Issued by the
—
the Displaced Persons in Germany, about
100,000 of whom were Jews, called for
detailed reports on the London Session of
the United Nations Committee, which
resulted in the foundation of the International Refugee Organisation (I.R.O.), and
on the hearings of the Anglo-American
Committee on Palestine, at which the late
Dr. Leo Baeck gave evidence as the spokesman of the Jews from Germany. The issues
of the first years also carried reports on the
AJR Relief Department which, from 19441951, collected clothing and food, first for
Jews in the liberated countries and later for
Displaced Persons and new immigrants in
Palestine. The idea of establishing Homes
for Aged Refugees was propagated for the
first time as early as February, 1946.
Indispensable for Claimants
From Jhe very beginning, detailed and
exact information on legislative developments in the field of restitution and compensation has been one of the paramount tasks,
and whenever new laws or implementary
orders were promulgated, their contents
were described in special supplements.
ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES LN GREAT BRITAIN
8.
FAIRFAX
MANSIONS.
LONDON.
Continued at thc bottom of page 6
N.W.3
BY OUR OWN EFFORTS
Continued from page 4
A NEW VENTURE
The first issue of " A I R Information" is
out. One of thc priniiiry functions oi' this
monthly pubUcation will be to keep its
readers infa-'.ned about thc position of
Jewries on the Continent and about the work
for their relief arid rehabilitation. It will
bring into contact the members of the AJR
with the immigrants overseas, especially with
our kindred organisations, and ventilate all''
possibilities of immigration for the remnants
on the Continent. The problem of refugees
in this country will be no less our concern,
and legal, economic and social questions and
all thc factors which add up to their status,
will be dealt with extensively. " A J R Information " will report on the activities of
the As*- '-'i'—
'^
INDIVIDUAL
AND
A community is a combination of
individualii. 'Ihai means it is a combination of men and women wilh
characteristics of their own. and with
desires, wishes and tendencies of their
own. We may therefore say: A community binds together human beings
who are or may be animated by forces
directed against tlie community or at
least tending to transgress it.
This
-vlif
COMMUNITY
or group have to be weighed against
the rights and demands ot the community in order to achieve a sound
integration and fruitful harmony of
forces, 'lo direct and guide them means
to prevent the individuals from permanently standing against thc community, and even in changing circumstances to make them conscious of the
fact that their allegiance will be to the
eommunity. Having achieved this, thc
• -..,( i- -Tength.
The First Issue
operated with the Secretariat of AJR. In
1947, Dr. Lowenthal left for Germany to
take up an appointment with the Jewish
Relief Unit, and three years later. Dr.
Freeden went to Israel. Since then, the
General Secretary of AJR has been the
editor of " AJR Information ".
When the first issue appeared in January,
1946. the Home Secretary had just
announced that the pre-war refugees were
entitled to apply for naturalisation, also if
they had been admitted only as transmigrants. By this decision of H.M. Govemment, an object was achieved for which
AJR had consistently fought. At the same
time, the prospect of naturalisation might
have raised doubts as to whether a representati\e body of the Jewish immigrants
from Germany and Austria would still be
necessary for a long time to come. Today
we know that the acquisition of British
nationality, decisive as it was, has not
solved the variety of problems with which
we are faced. We need not elaborate on
this : the contents of this Anniversary Issue
bear witness to it.
During the past seventeen years, "AJR
InformaUon " has not only continued, but
even expanded its services. Its size has
doubled from 8 to 16 pages, and its
scope has also been widened. Such an
upgrade development is by no means the
rule in the history of Jewish periodicals.
lation, however modest, is the organ of the
Association of Jewish Refugees."
One of the questions which arose when
the paper was launched, was that of the
language : Should " AJR Information " be
published in German or in English ? On
the one hand, German was the mother
tongue of its readers and of most of its
contributors. On the other hand, however,
the AJR had constantly proclaimed
throughout the war that the Jewish refugees
did not consider themselves as political
exiles from Germany and Austria, but as
prospective citizens of this country. Therefore it would have been a political inconsistency if the paper had not been published in English. Another reason was that
" AJR Information " is also sent to English
parliamentarians, politicians, journalists and
other leading personalities in British and
Anglo-Jewish life, to make them aware of
our wishes and hopes. However, all this
has never precluded exceptions from the
rule : announcements on restitution and
compensation and literary contributions are
sometimes published in German.
The 17 volumes, now almost completed,
mirror the history of the AJR and of the
manifold questions with which its members
have been faced.
The first numbers,
amongst others, listed the small remnants
of Jews found in German towns after the
end of hostilities. The wider problem of
and Adelheid Levy as Welfare Adviser
began, and which the first Chairman, A.
Schoyer, for many years regarded as his real
place of work, consisted at the beginning of
a medley of furniture mostly on loan. This
did not hinder a great output of energy, both
on the spot and issuing from it, on the building-up and expansion of the AJR. Apart
from the current, ever more intensive
administrative work, this energy also resulted
in the organising of the "Hours" (Social
Advice Hours, Legal Consulting Hours, and
so on) or, for example, on the preparation
of " Transmare", the " Address Book
of Jewish Refugees Overseas ", which may
be regarded as one of the first precursors of
the international Jewish tracing services
which had to be established at the end of
the war. Thus from the start the AJR had
a far-seeing policy.
Beginnings of Publicity
Even when there were considerable
financial
difficulties—for
instance,
in
October 1941, K. Alexander, then Hon.
Treasurer, informed the members of the
Executive that in view of the situation the
small staff was agreeable to have its salaries
postponed for some weeks—there were small
printed publications describing the aims,
tasks and organisation of the AJR, intended
to inform and gain adherents. They had no
title, but made up for that in content. They
fulfilled their purpose, because they helped
to propagate the ideas of the young AJR. In
the light of domestic and public circumstances it was a considerable achievement
that, after the first year of its existence, the
AJR had already 1,000 members on its
records, representing four times as many
Jewish refugees.
This successful start
confirmed the rightness of the idea that
inspired the founder-members when, in June,
1941, they resolved that we refugees should
build up an organisation " by our own
efforts ".
AJR INFORMATION October. 1962
Page 6
THE ORGANISATION
AJR EXECUTIVE
AJR BOARD
Dr. H. Reichmann (Chairman)
Mr. A. S, Dresel (Vice-Chairman)
Mr. M, Pottlitzer (Treasurer)
Mr, W. M, Behr
Mr. H. Bendhem
Dr. W. Berlin
.Mr. S. Bischheim
Mr. H. Blumenau
Dr. F. E. Falk
Mr. H. S. Garfield
Mr. V. E. Hilton
Dr. A. R. Horwell
Dr. K. Krotos
Dr. F. A, Mann
•Mrs. L. Wechsler
Dr. W. Rosenstock (Gen. Secretary)
Dr. P, Abel
Dr, H, W, Kugelmann
Mrs, R. Abels
Dr. H. H. Kuttner
Mr. R, Apt
Dr. H. Lawton
Dr, S, Auerbach
Dr. Julius Loeb
Mrs, R, Berlak
Mr. Ludwig Loewenthal
Mrs, R. Berlin
Dr. E, G. Lowenthal
Mr, S. Boehm
Mr. Julius Lowenthal
D.-. J. Bondi
Dr. E. Magnus
Dr. W, Breslauer
Mr. C, T. Marx
Dr, R, Bright
Rabbi Dr, I. Maybaum
Rabbi I, Broch
Mr. H, C. Mayer
Dr, P. Chapp
Mr, Perez Mosbacher
Dr, W. Dux
Dr. H, Neufeld
Dr. L, Engel
Mrs, H. Philipp
Dr R. Engel
Dr. A. Philippsborn
Rabbi Dr. M.
Mr. E. Plaut
Eschelbacher Dr E. Rachwalsky
Mr, L. Eschwege
Dr Eva Reichmann
Dr, E, Eyck
Mr. Z, M, Reid
Mr. J, Feig
Dr. E. Reifenberg
Dr, H, Feld
(Gabriele Tergit)
Dr, H, Fleischhacker
Mr, A, Reimann
Mr, K, Friedlander
Mr, J, Sachs
Dr, R, Fuchs
Rabbi Dr, G. Salzberger
Mr, F, Godfrey
Mr, F, Samson
Mrs, Elisabeth
Mr. R. Schneider
Goldschmidt Mr. F. Schonbeck
Dr, Erna Goldschmidt Mrs, M, Schurmann
Dr, F, Goldschmidt
Dr, W, Selig
Dr. E. Gould
Mr. P. E, Shields
Dr. L. Guttmann, C.B. EMr, E. Speyer
Mr. S. F. Hallgarten
Mr, Hugo Stern
Mrs. G. Hambourg
Dr, Alfred Straus
Mr. E. Haymann
Mr. Julius Strauss
Mr. A. W. Heller
Mr. G. Streat
Mr. E. K. Heyman
Mr. G, L. Tietz
Mr. Herbert Hirsch
Dr. U. Tietz
Mrs. M, Jacoby
Mr. F. W. Ury
Mr, W, Jonas
Dr. Alfred W'ener
Dr. A. Kaufmann
Dr. Vally Wihs
Mr. H, E. Kiewe
Dr. Leon Zeitlin
Mrs, F. Kochmann
Rabbi Dr. W.
Rabbi J, J, Kokotek
Van der Zyl
AJR CHARITABLE TRUST
Trustees:
Dr. F, E. Falk
Mr. H. S. Garfield
Mr. M. Pottlitzer
AJR CLUB
Mrs. Margaret Jacoby (Chairman)
Mrs. Gertrud Schachne (Hostess)
AJR OFFICE
Social Services Dept.: Dr. Adelheid Levy,
Mrs. Margot Williams (For the Sick and Aged)
Old Age Homes Dept.: Miss Hilda L, Mohr,
Mrs, Ursula Oilman
General Administration : Miss Lydia Freund
CONTINUITY AND EXPANSION
Continued from page 5
Thus " AJR Information " has always been
indispensable for victims of Nazi persecution in this country, and quite a few
instances
have
been
known,
where
persons who were not members of AJR
and recipients of its journal missed the
time limits, because they were not aware
of their rights. As legislation is by no
means completed and as questions of jurisdiction and administration are also of the
greatest importance, ' AJR Information "
will still have to render its services in this
sphere for a very long time to come. At
the same time, it has repeatedly raised its
voice to criticise shortcomings of the existing laws. Only a few months ago, a series
of articles on the " Wiedergutmachungsschlussgesetz " was published, to put
forward the demands of the persecutees.
On going through the volumes of the
past years, we also notice references to one
question which is indirectly linked up with
the problem of compensation. It concerns
the taxability of annuities paid under the
Federal Indemnification Law. Time and
again, " AJR Information" called for the
HOMES FOR THE AGED
M A N A G E M E N T COMMITTEE
Mr. A. S. Dresel
Mr. M. Pottlitzer
Dr. C. I. Kapralik
Dr. W. Rosenstock
Dr. R. Lachs
Mr. M. Stephany
PRE-SELECTION COMMITTEE
.Mr. S. Boehm (Chairman)
Dr. F, Brassloff
Dr, K Krotos
Mrs. S, Epstein
Mr. Eugen Prager
.Mrs. Elisabeth
Goldschmidt
OTTO SCHIFF HOUSE COMMITTEE
Mr. H. Blumenau (Chairman)
.Mrs. R. Berlin
Mrs. F. Kochmann
Mr. F. Godfrey
Mrs. D. Levy
Mrs. Elisabeth
Miss A. Michel *
Goldschmidi * Mrs. J. Rosenberg
Dr. Erna Goldschmidt
(* Aiso members of the other House Committees)
Matron : Mrs. L. S. Grawi
Medical Officer: Dr, P, Goldscheider
LEO BAECK HOUSE COMMITTEE
Mr. F, Ury (Chairman)
.Mrs. R. Berlak
Mr. E. K, Heyman
Mr. P. Geiger
Mrs. I. Loewenthal
Matron : Miss E. Merlander
Medical Officer: Dr. F. L. Newman
OTTO HIRSCH HOUSE COMMITTEE
Dr. W, Dux (Chairman)
Mrs, A. Eliel
Mr, H. C. Mayer
Mrs. E. Feig
Dr. E, Rachwalsky
Mrs, A. Lewinnek
Matron : Mrs, E, Rosenthal
Medical Officer: Dr, Margot S, Newton
The Board also includes representatives from
the provincial groups.
OSMOND HOUSE COMMITTEE
Dr, K, Krotos (Chairman)
Mr, F, Dannen
Mrs, I, Offenbacher
Dr. M. Grossmann
Dr. C, Wittelshoefer
(Subject to further nominations)
Matron: Miss E, Margulies, S,R.N
Medical Officers: Drs, G, and P, Goldscheider
HEINRICH STAHL HOUSE COMMITTEE
Mr, O. Weisz (Chairman)
(When this issue went to press the full Committee
was not yet set up)
Matron : Miss M, Goldschmidt
Medical Officer: Dr, F, L, Newman
exemption of these payments from U.K.
tax, until, in the issue of May, 1961, it was
able to announce that the efforts of the
AJR had been crowned with success by the
passing of the Finance Act, 1961.
Throughout the years, our journal has
informed its readers on developments in
Germany. As the attitude of the AJR
members to their country of origin is not
uniform and as there is no need for such
uniformity within a non-political organisation like ours, critical comments have
been restricted to special occasions. At the
same time, news items have always been
selected in an unbiased way, giving equal
weight to political setbacks and to
encouraging trends.
Information on happenings in this country was originally confined to the column
" Anglo-Judaica". In the course of the
past years, more space has been allocated
to Home News, covering various events
which, in one way or another, affect the
position of the Jews in Great Britain.
Lastly, there is " News from Abroad".
This feature was introduced at a comparatively recent stage.
Developments in
Eastern and Western countries are bound
to leave their impact on the Jewries of these
countries and more or less also on Jews all
over the world. If a Jewish paper entirely
ignored such happenings, it could rightly be
blamed for working in a political vacuum
and being parochial in its outlook. Here,
too, a balanced presentation of the news
is aimed at.
Above all, however, " AJR Information "
is anxious to retain its identity as a paper
with a specific function for a specific group.
It tries to live up to this task by giving
prominence to subjects of particular importance to the Jews from Germany and
Austria. This especially applies to the
articles and book reviews which form the
bulk of its contents. Directly or indirectly,
they reflect the formative strength of our
common background. In substance, Jews
from Germany and Austria may differ from
each other in their views. However, the
same approach to many problems has
been preserved as a unifying factor. It has
created an invisible bond between those who
write for this paper and those who read it,
and it is also the main reason for which
" AJR Information" has been able to
continue and, at the same time, to expand.
Kurt
Page 7
Alexander
SPOKESMAN OF GERMAN JEWRY
The Council of Jews from Germany
The following article by the late Kurt Alexander was first published in
" Council Correspondence", the bulletin issued by the Council of Jews from
Germany for its affiliates all over the world. Only those passages have been
abbreviated which referred to the work of the Council in the field of restitution
and compensation and to its part in the foundation of URO ; these subjects have
been described in the special article by Dr. F. Goldschmidt. By reprinting Kurt
Alexander's record of the Council's history we wish at the same time to pay
tribute to his own decisive share in the establishment of the Council as well as
of the AJR and URO.—Ed.
I
Very soon after reaching their countries of
refuge Jews from Germany established their
refugee organisations, not merely to provide
renewed proof of their organisational capabilities but to meet the multitude of problems
that confronted them. These problems were
not precisely the same in the three main
countries of immigration, Israel, U.S.A. and
Great Britain, although the differences were
only in degree. The problems always concemed questions of settling down, the welfare of those who had lost both profession
and material resources, the aged and infirm
and help for those who might still be rescued.
Political questions, residence permits and
acquisition of citizenship had not to be dealt
with by all the groups. Gradually thoughts
of compensation were inevitably assuming
more prominence.
In 1942 the three refugee organisations in
Israel. U.S.A. and Great Britain, namely, the
Irgun Olej Merkas Europa, the American
Federation of Jews from Central Europe and
the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great
Britain, began to exchange views, and this
developed on an ever-increasing scale.
A natural and effective result of this
association took place at the beginning of
1945. before the war was even over, when
it was decided to give this mutual endeavour
an organisational form. During the course
of a visit to America in 1944 Dr. Siegfried
Moses suggested to the American Federation
that the three above-named refugee organisations should be combined into one over-all
organisation. Dr. Moses's suggestion was
favourably received and the " Council for
the Protection of the Rights and Interests of
Jews from Germany " came into being. Its
headquarters were at first in New York and
its administration linked with that of the
American Federation. Dr. Hermann Muller
became its administrative director.
A \ery important change in the organisation already took place during the course of
1945. After Dr. Leo Baeck's arrival in
London from Theresienstadt it seemed
obvious that he, who had been the leader
of the Jews in Germany, should now be
palled upon to head the organisation that was
intended to represent the Jews from Germany, Dr. Baeck accepted the call and in
consequence the administrative headquarters
was moved from New York to London.
I. at that time General Secretary of the
Association of Jewish Refugees in London,
thus also became administrative director of
the Council and held this oflice until I left
for the U.S.A. in 1949.
Bv the summer of 1947 the Council was
so firmly established in itself that it could
hold its first big conference in London.
Representatives of practically all the membercountries took part. The Jewish communities in Germany were also represented. The
conference ended with an imposing public
rally, under the chairmanship of Dr. Leo
Baeck, with Martin Buber as thc principal
speaker and with reports from the national
representatives.
Kurt Alexander (1892-1962)
From the outset, the Council took an
active part in working out the restitution
legislation. The founding of the United
Restitution Organisation was of especial
importance, and this was due to the initiative of the Council.
Fight for Share in Heirless Assets
The Council had to fight very hard to
secure recognition in the Jewish scene. A
basic question was at stake here: are the
surviving Jews from Germany the heirs of
the material assets of the former German
Jewry or is Jewry as a whole the heir ?
This question has never been clearly decided,
and perhaps in the long run this is for the
best. The Council always recognised that
necessitous groups within Jewry, especially
Israel as a land of sanctuary for masses of
Nazi victims, had a prior claim. Nevertheless, the Council felt it had the right to
demand that it was entitled to an appropriate
proportion of the wealth which German Jews
had formed.
This demand was also
strengthened by the fact that all over the
world this group of former German Jews in
its turn found itself in a special position with
its own needs, requirements and difficulties.
This was the root of the argument with the
so-called successor organisations which,
according to the restitution laws, should take
over the heirless, unclaimed and communal
assets.
The fight for a share in the funds available
for distribution by the successor oraanisa-
tion for the American Zone (JRSO) ended in
November, 1954, with the so-called Paris
agreement, which awarded the Council a
quota of 11 per cent of any moneys still to
be obtained for distribution. Before this the
Council had already come to terms with the
successor organisation for the British Zone,
the Jewish Trust Corporation.
Social and Cultural Tasks
In consequence of these agreements thc
Council found itself in a position to devote
itself to major new tasks which had long
been under discussion in our circles. The
age-grouping of former German Jews is
exceedingly high.
Care for the aged
and infirm is urgently necessary ; old age
homes, flatlet homes and similar social
ventures must be promoted or provided by
us. The Council has done a great deal in
this field in the few years that have elapsed
since the Paris agreement.
Apart from social welfare there is today
a cultural task, namely, to preserve the great
spiritual values that German Jewry has
created. In 1954 the Council established the
Leo Baeck Institute, which in its few years
of existence has become the repository and
guardian of the spiritual inheritance of
German Jewry,
When Dr. Leo Baeck, the President of the
Council, died in November. 1956, Dr.
Siegfried Moses was elected as his successor.
And so Dr. Moses, who had originated the
idea of establishing the Council, now also
became its head. Changes in organisation
were introduced to overcome those difficulties
in co-operative endeavour which occur in
every international organisation. In particular, a small executive committee was established which was empowered, together with
the President, to carry out the Council's
business. After the first assembly of the
Council in the summer of 1947, as mentioned above, meetings have been held practically every year in London, Israel and
New York.
The Council has never publicised its work.
Perhaps this was a mistake, and that is why
our people know so little of its achievements. But if today the former German
Jew in Israel, America, Great Britain, Australia or some other part of the world has
his compensation claims satisfactorily settled,
if he can lead a better life, if he hears of old
age homes, if he reads books and articles
about the spiritual achievements of German
Jewry, this should all remind him that none
of it would have been possible without the
Council.
Dr. Max Grunewald. for many years President and now Honorary President of the
American Federation of Jews from Central
Europe and one of the Council's Vice-Presidents, coined the phrase " the forgotten
German Jew". Not only forgotten by the
world around him, but for long enough he
has himself forgotten his place in Jewish
historv. Basically it is the Council's task
to extract German Jews from this oblivion
and install them in their proper niche in
Jewish history. It has applied itself to this
task and will have to go on so doing as long
as there are Jews from Germany still alive
and, beyond that, it will have to ensure that
the memory of the values and achievements
of Gernân Jewrv is never dimmed.
g^mmeam^-ssmiâmxBmmm'smfim^msmiîif. y • ;ti^Mn-g»^<^2îji^|!^^
^gî|g^g|^re
Page 8
F.
im
Goldschmidt
RESTITUTION AND COMPENSATION
Even during the last war, in 1942, the
Irgun Olej Merkas Europa, the American
FaJeration of Jews from Central Europe
and the Association of Jewish Refugees in
Great Britain—the refugee organisations in
Israel, the U.S.A. and England of former
German Jews who had been driven abroad
—contacted each other about problems of
restitution and compensation. As early as
1944, Dr. Siegfried Moses, now President
of the Council of Jews from Germany, published a pamphlet on " Jewish Post-War
Claims " and the late Dr. Georg Landauer
recommended the idea to the international
Jewish welfare associations. Dr. Walter
Breslauer, Vice-President of the Council of
Jews from Germany, and Dr. Kurt Alexander, then General Secretary of the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain
(who died recently), both of London, and
Dr. R. Callmann, of New York, took up the
suggestion.
In May, 1945, Dr. Callmann presented to
the Assembly of the " United Nations " in
San Francisco a memorandum in which the
following demands were made :
" Communal and private property
seized from former German Jews by the
Nazis shall be restored; wherever restoration is not possible, just compensation
shall be provided. Losses and damages
suffered collectively or individually shall
be indemnified ".
In spring 1947, the Association of Jewish
Refugees in Great Britain opened a special
SCHWARZSCHILD
OCHS
LIMITED
Walmar House,
296, Regent Street,
London, W.l
Telephone : LANgham 4069
department for restitution and indemnification under the direction first of Reichsgerichtsrat a. D. Daniel Cohn and, from
October, 1947, under that of Dr. F. Goldschmidt. The United Restitution Office,
later the United Restitution Organisation,
founded on the Council's initiative, which
has enabled over 100,000 destitute victims
to prosecute their indemnification claims,
took over the restitution and indemnification
department of the AJR. Dr. Kurt Alexander
was successful in persuading the Jewish
Agency for Palestine, the American Joint
Distribution Committee and the Central
British Fund for Relief and Rehabilitation
to finance the URO, and Professor Norman
Bentwich and Mr. A. G. Brotman to assume
the offices of chairman and vice-chairman.
England being the nearest to the Federal
German Republic of the three principal
countries granting asylum to the victims, the
secretaryship in restitution matters was given
to the London Section of the Executive of
the Council of Jews from Germany. Under
the direction of Dr. W. Breslauer the Allies,
in particular the Foreign Office in London,
were contacted on the subject of the enactment of restitution laws.
Development of Legislation
In the Federal German Republic the idea
of compensation had been gaining ground
since Professor Theodor Heuss, then President of the Republic, made a declaration
concerning " collective shame " (December,
1949). On September 27th, 1951, the will
of the Federal German Republic to pay
indemnification was solemnly expressed by
the Chancellor, Dr. Adenauer, and the
parties of the German Federal Parliament,
in a declaration of principle.
On the initiative of Dr. Nahum Goldmann, now President of the organisation,
the Conference on Jewish Material Claims
against Germany (" Claims Conference")
was founded, comprising 23 leading Jewish
organisations, including the Council of Jews
from Germany.
Negotiations on indemnification began at
The Hague in March, 1952, between a delegation from the Federal German Republic
(led by Professor Dr. Franz Boehm and
Rechtsanwalt Otto Kuester) on the one hand,
and delegations from the State of Israel
(led by Dr. G. Josephthal and Dr. Shinnar)
and from the Claims Conference under
the leadership of Mr. Moses A. Leavitt.
Dr. F. Goldschmidt was the representative
of the Council of Jews from Germany at
The Hague. These negotiations, lasting
several months, culminated in a comprehensive
Indemnification
Agreement,
which was signed on September 10th, 1952,
in Luxemburg and has become the basis
for Gennan legislation on indemnification.
The first Federal German law on indemnification was promulgated on September 18th,
1953.
As is well known, restitution is
specially complicated in that the relevant
legislation is not uniform, but consists of
overlapping laws and ordinances of the
Western Allied Occupation Powers, the
Federal German Republic and the various
German Laender. It has been necessary
since 1952 to have constant negotiations and
discussions on restitution and compensation
with Allied authorities as well as with
the indemnification authorities of the
Federal German Republic and the Laender.
The Council has been represented at these
negotiations by Dr. W. Breslauer, Mr. A.
Dresel and Dr. F. Goldschmidt, who also
represents the Council on the Legal Committee of the Claims Conference. Negotiations are pending at the moment on a
supplementary law to the Federal Law on
Indemnification of June 29th, 1956 (the
so-called Final Indemnification Law) and on
an amendment to the Federal Law on
Restitution of July 19th, 1957.
Since a great number of demands have
been made in connection with the Final
Indemnification Law, it must be reckoned
that it will be some considerable time before
this law is passed. The Council of Jews
from Germany is endeavouring to secure an
earlier promulgation of the supplementary
law to the Federal Restitution Law, as the
preparation of its legal technicalities is more
advanced ; in its case full satisfaction of all
claims is being demanded, as well as the
cancellation of the existing ceiling of one and
a half milliard D.M. for the obligations of
the Federal German Republic.
It is to be hoped that the Federal German
Republic, although recently it has been
confronted with a series of other commitments, will recognise the special nature of
indemnification obligations and will agree to
a settlement that will remove the hardships
and shortcomings of previous legislation.
With the compliments of
DICK & GOLDSCHMIDT
LTD
London, W.l
msm^
Page 9
Lucie Schachne
Margaret
SOCIAL SERVICES AT FAIRFAX MANSIONS
" To safeguard the rights and interests of
the Jewish Refugee "—these were the terms
of reference in 1941 of the Association of
Jewish Refugees; terms which do not
necessarily suggest an organisation comprising a Social Services Department. It
was all the more significant then that the
AJR. included this branch at its very inception. Looking back, this feature within the
structure of the AJR not only illustrates the
broad basis upon which the founder-members
built their work for the future, but it has also
proved them excellent judges of the refugee
situation.
Twenty-one years have passed. Most of
the then refugees have become British
citizens.
And yet the Social Services
Department is still in full swing. Dr.
Adelheid Levy, who has been in charge of
it from the very beginning, gave me the
impression that the subjects on which advice
or information is required are practically
unlimited. At the same time, it has pro ^d a
boon that callers may turn to the Department
at any time, i.e., by appointment also after
office hours.
Employment and Accommodation
It seems that the Employment Agency
which is annually licensed by the L.C.C.
takes pride of place. " The people who
come to us very often feel, and express it in
so many words, that they are too old to find
work through the ordinary channels ; they
may also have certain disabilities", Miss
Levy told me, " but I have found time and
time again that their self-confidence is very
badly shaken. Over the years we have
collected a number of firms and employers
who are willing to give a helping hand. Very
often a personal recommendation from us
will do the trick. Of course, this works both
ways: employers frequently approach us,
knowing that we may have somebody here
who has just the right qualifications for
them. This especially goes for Germanspeaking shorthand-typists, companions,
cooks, home-helps, part-time workers and
also for retired people who are still keen to
do a job."
Going through Dr. Levy's records we
found that the search for suitable accommodation looms very large. " I very soon
learnt that we can only succeed if we handle
each case in a very personal way. Simply
giving the applicant addresses would be hopeless. We usually get to know something of
the background, and that helps. We have
enough contacts by now, and continuously
make new ones, to know who might be
happy or unhappy in a certain place. Of
course, we cannot always help immediately,
especially with the constantly rising rents,
but I do feel that many people leave from
here in a happier frame of mind. The mere
opportunity of discussing their problem
with somebody who is wilHng to listen
relieves their mind. Moreover, in a more
intimate conversation they often discover
their own solution and no longer feel
altogether helpless."
Over the years much thought has been
Jacoby
THE AJR CLUB
given to one great problem which has continued to beset many among our refugees :
Loneliness. There are various ways by which
attempts to help are made. In some cases,
these efforts become a kind of " first aid ",
as it were, a stepping-stone to new associations, and even friendships. There might be
a visit to Wigmore Hall (the Department
regularly receives complimentary tickets)
together with a suitable partner ; a visit by
a voluntary helper to those who are disabled or too old to venture out on their own.
There is a German Lending Library on the
premises of the AJR. It serves all those who
still like to look occasionally into their
Storm, Fontane and in fact into all the
" Klassiker ", but it also comprises modem
German literature and popular books on
science.
This Club is a blessing. In the six years
since its inception it has become a home
for the lonely, the old, the elderly, the
middle-aged men and women, Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and Hungary.
The members meet at Zion House, 57
Eton Avenue, N.W.3, in a room comfortably
fumished by the late architect, Ernst Friedmann.
The hostesses serve afternoon teas and
sandwiches in the evening, which are greatly
appreciated by the members. The lively
chatter is only interrupted by the six o'clock
news on TV and gramophone records in the
evening. Women members talk over their
needlework. Members read magazines and
periodicals, AJR Information being a special
attraction and in great demand. A concert
or lecture is arranged every month and is
well attended by
more than a
hundred
members and friends.
Chanucah
and
special birthday
celebrations add
to the enjoyment.
Over the years
many
friendships have been
formed in the
club.
Invitations go to and
fro.
School
friends have met
again after 40
years or more.
Refugees
from
Shanghai have
An afternoon in the AJR CIJÎJ
come
together
Last but not least, the Social Services again after years of separation.
Department feels responsible for the sick
But social activities are not the only ambipeople who have no one to take care of
them in an emergency. Some of the patients tion of the Club. A strong sense of responsionly need help to do their shopping, a bility,' for the well-being of the members
social-cum-practical caller; in short the prevails. The fortunate ones discreetly
implied assurance that they are not left help those less fortunate. No one is left in
entirely alone in their distress. Voluntary despair. When one of the " regulars " does
helpers do a great deal of this, but if a ca.se not turn up twice running at the usual
requires more permanent and serious atten- meetings, inquiries are immediately made to
tion, Mrs. Margot Williams is there to look find out what has happened. In cases of
after it. She would make the necessary
illness members help with such things as
arrangements with the doctor or hospital,
visit the patients there, be in touch with shopping, and gifts are sent.
the almoner and find out about convalHolidays and convalescence are provided
escence and possibly financial support for by Self-Aid or privately. And how
during a prolonged illness. The AJR is grateful the recipients are. " I had nobody
well known to a number of almoners who
frequently approach its social workers to to talk to before I came to the Club, and now
help sort out the difficulties of patients who I am a different person ", says one member.
cannot fend for themselves. Very often a And she looks it. Depressed and bowed
short explanation of the background helps to when she first came, she is upright and
smooth out matters, a fact which certainly cheerful now. " This is my home, and now
holds goods for a number of mentally dis- I know where I belong", says another
turbed people.
member.
The Social Services Department has even
gone one step further in this direction.
During recent years very important assistance
has been given by a psychiatrist whose work
is described in another article of this issue.
This deep feeling of " belonging" to a
circle of congenial people, proves the
importance of the Club beyond doubt. The
aim of the AJR Club is to remain a happy
family in its friendly atmosphere.
m g [ ^ g M s g ^ ^ ^ fesaffiKisiEsasMSi
msMM
Page 10
victims, especially between the pogrom of
November, 1938, and the outbreak of war.
In 1958 Otto Hirsch House and Leo Baeck
House were opened. Otto Hirsch agreed
The history of the AJR shows how a few horrible, especially if they work against each in 1933 to become General Secretary
determined men tried—and succeeded—in other. I am glad to say that there is great of the newly founded " Reichsvertretung."
creating from the amorphous, powerless and harmony among the persons and committees Although arrested several times he volundispersed mass of refugees an organisation concerned, who all have only one aim: the tarily remained in Germany in fulfilment of
which would give them the feeling of unity well-being of our old people. Differences of his duty. He died in a concentration camp
and of purpose. The fields of action were opinion there are, and must be, from time in 1941. Leo Baeck was the outstanding
determined by the most pressing needs dic- to time. But there was never any major leader of German Jewry, President of the
tated by the situation. " To get together" was disagreement from the beginning to the " Reichsvertretung ". He, too, remained in
Germany and was deported to Theresienthe motto of those days. It can be said with present day.
stadt. He survived and came to England
certainty that without those efforts 21 years
Many different tasks are being carried out after the war, and became President of the
ago there would be no Homes for our old by the members of the House Committees.
" Council of Jews from Germany ".
people today.
To name only a few : Staff and catering
Osmond House, which will be opened
I do not remember when the issue of Old questions, entertainment, expenditure control
Age Homes was first discussed. Certainly within the given limits, personal care for shortly, has been built to house old people
long before the outcome of the war could be individual residents—in short, the day-by-day who need more care and attention than are
available in the other Homes. It is called
foreseen, and before any money was avail- supervision of a very complex undertaking.
after Sir Osmond d'Avigdor Goldsmid. He
able. I remember the visit of Dr. Rosenstock
was a prominent Anglo-Jewish leader, for
to Shrewsbury, where I lived during the war.
some time President of the Board of Deputies
Matron and Staff'
He addressed our " International Club " and
of British Jews. He was also the first
urged on us the need to organise ourselves.
Chairman of the " Central British Fund ".
Among other aims he mentioned: " To help
The foremost and most difficult task, howHeinrich Stahl House will also be comthe needy and the old." (We did some social ever, besetting the House Committees, is the
work for our fellow-refugees even then.) The finding of good matrons, good nurses and pleted later this year. Heinrich Stahl was the
realisation came when part of the heirless, good domestic staff. (Jhe whole tone of a President of the Berlin Jewish community,
unclaimed and communal property in the Home depends on the personality and who refused to leave Germany and to desert
former British Zone of Germany became efficiency of Matron. She must be a demon his people. He was deported to Theresienavailable for social work in this country. of strength, yet an angel in her love for stadt, where he died.
The capacity is as follows:
Today we take it almost for granted that we people; she must be generous, but never
have three Old Age Homes (with two more exceed her budget; she must be kind to
Otto Schiff House: 41 beds.
almost completed) in London and a further her staff, but never tolerate dust gathering
Otto Hirsch House: 49 beds.
Home in Manchester,' but in this Anniver- behind the cupboards. She must even be a
Leo Baeck House: 43 beds.
sary Issue of the AJR Information it should good and patient telephone operator. She
Osmond House: 38 beds.
be said for once : " Never has so much been must never be tired, but must be available at
Heinrich Stahl House: 54 beds.
done by so few for so many."
all hours, day and night, to deal with any
The five Homes will thus have 225 beds.
emergencyT)
Extensive Organisation
The part which our old people themselves These are not enough, considering the many
play is also of great importance. It cannot applicants who are still waiting for admission,
The organisation behind the Homes is be easy for anyone after a long life of and thus only sufficient for the most urgent
quite extensive. For those who are interested independence to fit into a new community. cases. They will probably be adequate after
in this side of it here are a few facts : The Views, habits and tastes, all acquired over some years, when the number of " refugees "
Homes are run by the Central British Fund many long years, cannot be easily changed. will become less. Once the generation born
in conjunction with the Association of Jewish Yet, somehow, our old people form a here grows old, the need for our special kind
Refugees. Questions of general policy are harmonious whole, and the atmosphere in of Old Age Homes will cease to exist.
decided by the Management Committee, all Homes is warm and pleasant.
which is composed of representatives of both
To help to bring this about many social
organisations. The Management Committee
Younger Helpers Required
activities
are arranged. Apart from the
deals with major expenses, the provision of
religious
ceremonies
there
are
recitals,
talks,
medical supervision, appointment of Senior
For the next two decades, however, the
Staff ; it also has the final decision on the slide-shows, dances performed by youth Homes will still be needed, and we shall
clubs, visits to cinemas and the opera and,
admittance of residents.
in the summer, outings by car into the need people willing to work for them. So far
Applications for admission are first countryside. Every Home has a well-stocked it has not been difficult to find personalities
screened by a Pre-Selection Committee.
library, television sets, record players and who offered their services to the committees ;
Applicants whose cases appear to be every single room has a wireless set.
all were chosen from the active members of
especially urgent are interviewed by a SubAlthough the majority of our old guests the AJR. But the AJR suffers from a lack
Committee, which submits its recommenda- are Liberal, the Homes are, of course, run on of younger members. It is my great hope
tions to the Management Committee.
kosher lines, so that also Orthodox people that many young people will read this AnniQuestions arising from the day-to-day can live in peace with their conscience.
versary Issue, or that some parents will show
work are dealt with by the House CommitAll the Homes are named after people it to their sons and daughters. It would be
tees, whose members have been associated who are remembered as great men in the most desirable to find young people with
with the AJR for many years.
sufficient interest in the problems of those
service of refugees.
Organisations and committees can be
The first Home which became available who came to these shores as " refugees ", and
was Otto Schiff House (1955). When the who. after all their tribulations, still had the
*In addition, a site in Highgate has been acquired
Jewish Refugees Committee was founded in strength to build a new life for themselves
recently for a Flatlet Home for elderly people. At
1933. Otto Schiff became its Chairman and and their children. The feeling that these chilpresent, the building plans are being prepared for
devoted
all his time to the rescue of the Nazi dren were spared the ordeal of their parents
submission lo the authorities.
should be sufficient stimulus to come forward
and to help the last survivors of that generation.
Work will still have to be done for at least
another 20 years. My appeal is to the young :
CONTRACTORS and SUPPLIERS
" Join the ranks of the AJR now, so that
you are ready to take over from us when we,
65 MILL LANE, N W 6 H A M
8000
ageing people ourselves, can no longer serve."
Hans
Blumenau
HOMES FOR THE AGED
0 L EDGAR ELECTRICAL ud
I
Page 11
Osmond House, Finchley, N.I: Corner of one of the Bedrooms
; imKSWKr MiiiKaBaiiiviiMiiy
iil
Page 12
i^!»ai?!«5ag5fii:i:
gg|g
RECUPERATION OF THE MIND
Observations of a Psychiatrist
Among the clients of the Social Services
Department there are a number of people
unclergoing nervous strain. This reflects on
their working capability, and the impairment of this capability in turn causes further
distress. Thus, a vicious circle is created.
It is in such cases that the question arises
as to whether the medical adviser may offer
some help.
In quite a number of instances a detailed
discussion of the circumstances between the
social worker and the medical adviser produces a new line of approach without a
medical interview, and sometimes a further
talk between the social worker and the
person in difficulties will provide a solution.
If this, however, is unsuccessful, or in circumstances where it is clear that a doctor's
direct advice may be of benefit, the troubled
person is asked whether he or she would
like to see the doctor. If so, it is first
ascertained that the person is not already
under medical or psychological treatment,
in which case the suggestion is dropped, or
else the person is asked whether the treating physician may be approached. Otherwise, people are asked to make sure that
their G.P. does not object to their being seen
by the medical adviser. After these preliminaries an interview is arranged.
This first interview is as a rule of a
" tentative " nature, when it is attempted to
make mutual contact and to estabUsh the
nature of the difficulties and their causes
(as seen from the " patient's " point of view).
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These causes are then discussed at this or
a following interview and not rarely
" sympathetic listening" and " commonsense " rather than actual medical advice
will restore confidence in oneself and/or
human society, and with this the will and
courage to face the difficulties and dangers
of which our world is so full and with which
we all have to deal.
Very often, however, such an approach
is not sufficient, and then one or more interviews of a proper medical nature take
place, often with physical and laboratory
examinations and consultation with the
patient's G.P. (if he has one). Other medical and social information is also sought.
After all the necessary information has been
collected, the appropriate decisions are
taken in an interview between patient, social
worker and doctor.
It is neither permissible nor advisable for
the purpose of this article to give psychopathological details and psychiatric diagnoses. However, the following lines may
convey some impression of our activities in
this field.
Finding Suitable Occupation
There are people whose trouble is essentially
due to an actual illness. Some of them are
convalescents after hospital care. For others
no proper medical treatment may at present
be available. As they are, however, still
desirous to work and can do so in a limited
way, their symptoms are frankly discussed,
advice is given as to how they themselves
may deal with some of their difficulties, and
the kind of work to which they are best
suited. Some are first given voluntary occupation in the narrower or wider framework
of the AJR and, when successsful, it is suggested that they undertake proper part-time,
or even full-time, work ; others are
encouraged from the beginning to apply for
jobs. In other cases, again, it is considered
that the patient should come under proper
medical care and he and his doctor are
informed accordingly.
Then there are persons, now fewer in
number, whose problems are due to their
age. They feel older than they are, often
due to the loss of near relatives and friends.
They feel lonely. Not rarely they live on a
wrong diet. They have become distrastful
of themselves and of mankind. Usually,
after a thorough examination and a detailed
discussion and analysis of their difficulties
—psychological and physical—and corresponding advice, they are put in contact with
the AJR Club, and often they gain in selfconfidence and become happier when they
find a more suitable psychological and
" physical" environment.
In very few
cases only is it necessary to tell the patient
that he is in need of proper medical care,
and he is then told how to go about obtaining such care.
Sometimes it may be that complaints
attributed to psychological and environmental circumstances are, in reality, due to
an organic disease, and then the patient and
his doctor are advised accordingly.
There are also some persons—not very
many—whose difficulties are due to the
wrong kind of job. From the beginning it was
wrong from the point of view of their desires
and their abilities; but for some reasons,
external and internal, they plodded on, frequently changed their positions but not really
their occupations. Sometimes nothing can be
done about it, but often they are found more
congenial jobs. Some are offered re-training
and means, public and private, are provided
for them for this purpose. In one case the
official Labour Exchange proved most helpful. The young man concerned had a two
months' trial in the Labour Ministry Training Centre until the right kind of occupation
was found. He has now been working
happily in an adequate position for a considerable time. In some instances the
Psychiatric Social Workers Department of
the Middlesex County Council was also of
great assistance.
Then there are people for whom more
intensive psychotherapy is necessary, and
they are told how and where to go. Again
their G.P. is accordingly informed.
Aftermath of Concentration Camps
SoiTie of our clientele were sent from
URO, amongst them people who had been
in concentration camps, but these are very
few in number. Most of the former concentration camp inmates were put under
medical and psychiatric care when they
arrived in this country, and they are still
under treatment when the need arises.
On a number of occasions advice has
been sought by the Selection Committee for
applicants to the Old Age Homes as to
whether applicants were fit for admission.
Such requests, and similarly ones by the
staffs or committees of the Old Age Homes,
in conjunction with their medical officers,
when there was occasional difficulty with
residents, have become very rare. Experience
has taught those responsible how to deal
with these problems.
Looking back over the ten years or so
since the Medico-Psychological Department
was formed, one finds that there has been
some change, though unfortunately no actual
decrease, in the kind of people seeking help.
The number of elderly people has, at least
for the time being, nearly disappeared ;
many of them have received restitution, are
more settled and there is no absolute need
for them to work in order to maintain themselves, or they are now residents in the
Old Age Homes, or hope to be admitted
in the foreseeable future, and feel more at
ease. Also the AJR Club, with its growing
amenities, has given them new friends and
a more suitable environment.
Those
people whose nervous strain was essentially
due to the more acute " refugee situation "
are also fewer. Most of these have overcome their problems in one way or another
and either need no help now, or only very
occasionally. Why then is the MedicoPsychological Department still in existence
and as busy as ever ? The answer is that
the Social Services Department still has
much to do and that, unfortunately, we live
in dangerous and strenuous times, when
nervous disorders and their awareness are or
the increase rather than on the decrease.
H.H.F.
Arnold Paucker
PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE
The Work of the Leo Baeck Institute
The Leo Baeck Institute, entering the standing, and actually hundreds of docueighth year of its existence, has by now ments, including
autobiographies
and
become an integral part of the establishment reminiscences written by German Jews of
founded after the Second World War by this or an earlier generation are now assemthe Council of Jews from Germany for the bled in the collections of the New York
conduct of the affairs of former German branch of the Leo Baeck Institute, which
Jews now living in so many different coun- contain amongst their many treasures also
tries. The Council, as Dr. Siegfried Moses the literary remains and correspondence of
pointed out in his introductory program- several notable Jewish writers.
These
matic outline printed in the first Year Book collections have been described in some
of the Leo Baeck Institute in 1956, "forged detail by Margaret T. Edelheim-Muehsam
that organisational link between German in the Bulletins of the Leo Baeck Institute.
Jews scattered all over the world " which They place at the disposal of the student of
was necessary for the
representation and defence of their interests.
After the appalling
tragedy of the years
of Nazi rule German
Jewry had not completely vanished, and
the survivors had a
duty to fulfil: to preserve the best of
German Jewry's cultural tradition. True,
the Council in its first
years was mainly concerned with matters of
restitution, of securing
the indemnification of
those who had been
Leo Baeck and Martin Buber
robbed and suffered
at
the
Council Meeting in London (1947)
_ __
injury. But this activity
having been more or less completed, the German-Jewish history essential and unique
clear consciousness emerged that a very material, and in its new building in New
remarkable chapter of Jewish history would York, into which the Institute moved
fade away without proper evaluation, unless recently, it has erected a lasting and worthy
the last generation of German Jews devoted monument to the memory of German
themselves to research on their history and Jewry.
its presentation to posterity and especially
The three working centres of the Institute,
to their own children and children's Jerusalem. London and New York, have
children.
made efforts to get in touch with historians
This was the emotional urge which led to and research workers in order to give the
the establishment of the Institute named work of the Institute a solid academic basis.
after German Jewry's last great leader. All It would go beyond the scope of this short
sections of former German Jews could article to describe all these activities in
collaborate in this matter as most of the detail. Apart from the preparations steadily
former party differences had disappeared. being made for the attainment of the
The task was to describe not only how ultimate goal of all our efforts, namely the
German Jews had felt, thought and lived, composition of a comprehensive history of
but also how they had fought against their German Jewry in all its aspects from 1779
enemies, and conducted their internal, often (the date of Lessing's " Nathan der Weise ")
passionate, discussions on the issues which until 1933, many monographs have already
split them—religious, political or philo- been published by the Institute.
One of the better known publications of
sophical. It is clear that this programme
the
Leo Baeck Institute is the Year B o o k requires much research, not an easy matter
in view of the loss of so many documents edited by Robert Weltsch in London—of
and archives and other source material in which six volumes have already appeared,
Germany. From its very beginning the Leo while the seventh is in course of preparaBaeck Institute has made a point of salvag- tion. Each Year Book brings a collection
ing whatever material of this kind, public
and private, may still be in existence and in
danger of being destroyed. Experience has
shown that many individuals were forced
to throw away family papers, corresponWir kaufen Einzelwerke, Bibliotheken,
dence and other seemingly valueless material
Autographen und moderne Graphik
W'hich could have served to elucidate the
Direktor: Dr. Joseph Suschitzky
past. In many circles the appeal to collect
38a B O U N D A R Y RD., L O N D O N , N.W.S
such material was received with under= = T e l e p h o n »
MAI.
3030i.
Page 13
of essays on various aspects of GermanJewish life, collective and individual. The
evolution of ideas in German Jewry was the
subject of a number of essays in Year
Book IV, the interrelation of German and
Jewish thought was treated in a large
section of Year Book II, while profiles of
eminent twentieth-century Jews figured
prominently in Year Book V. Within the
framework of this publication the activities
of men and institutions in the strange period
1933-1938 are also described, that time
when German Jews had to lead a semiautonomous life and organise all the services
for their own community. To this Jewish
organisational work and the spiritual resistance during those years, a large portion of
our first Year Book was dedicated.
While the Year Book is printed in English
—except for a few contributions in German
—the Israel branch of the Leo Baeck
Institute is responsible for publishing in
German a periodical called " Bulletin",
of
which
18 issues have
already
appeared. This is in fact much more than
a bulletin ; it contains many pieces of
original research and expressions of opinion
on problems which interest the Institute.
Particular mention should perhaps be made
of some recent numbers, one of which
brought a collection of illuminating essays
on nineteenth-century
antisemitism
in
Germany (No. 16), while another was
specifically concerned with Austrian Jewry
(No. 10). Under the able editorship of
Hans Tramer the " Bulletin " has increasingly established itself as a firm successor
to the famous German-Jewish academic
periodicals of which German Jewry was
once so justly proud.
Wide Range of Publications
While these few details may perhaps
serve to give some indication of the many
fields of German-Jewish history which the
regular publications of the Institute have
endeavoured to coveir, an enumeration of
the other publications presents an impressive
record. Of these we would mention •
In Englisit
Hannah Arendt: " Rahel Varnhagen ".
Nahum N. Glatzer: " Leopold and Adelheid
Zunz—An Account in Letters ",
Leo Baeck : " Judaism and Christianity ",
Luitpold Wallach : " Liberty and Letters—The
Thoughts of Leopold Zunz".
In Gerinan
Leo Baeck : " Aus drei Jahrtausenden ".
Hans Kohn : " Martin Buber ".
Selma Stern : " Josel von Rosheim ",
Rahel Straus : " Wir lebten in Deutschland
Erinnerungen einer deutschen Jiidin'
Sclirifienreilic wissenscltaftlicher Abliandlungen
des Leo Baeck Institiils
No, 1. S. Adler-Rudel: " Ostjuden in Deutschland ".
No. 2. Ernst Simon: " Aufbau im Untergang ".
No. 3, Margarete Susman: " Die geistige
Gestalt Georg Simmels ".
No, 4. Guido Kisch/Kurt Roepke : " Schriften
zur Geschichte der Juden ".
No, 5. Margarete Turnowsky-Pinner: "Die
zweite Generation mitteleuropaischer
Siedler in Israel".
No. 6, Hans Kohn : " Kraus—Schnitzler—
Weininger ".
Nos, 7/8, Selma Stern: " Der Preussische
Staat und die Juden". (4 vols.)
No. 9. Erich Kahler: 'Die Philosophie Hermann Brochs".
Continued on page 14, column 1
Page 14
PRESERVING OUR HERITAGE
(Continued from page 1-3)
A great many other works are in an
advanced stage of preparation of which the
following will appear before the end of
1962: Kurt Blumenfeld: "Erlebte Judenfrage—Ein
Vierteljahrhundert
deutscher
Zionismus"; Fritz Homeyer : " Deutsche
Juden als Bibliophilen"; Jacob Toury :
" Die politischen Orientierungen der Juden
in Deutschland im 19. Jahrhundert".
The Leo Baeck Institute is also undertaking the publication of Vol. II of the
Germania Judaica, the continuation of the
scientific encyclopaedia covering the Jewish
settlements in German-speaking countries
during the earlier phases of German-Jewish
history, together with a reprint of Vol. I,
1 and 2. It has also supported the publication of the collected works of Karl Wolfskehl and of a number of other works,
amongst them an edition by the late Joseph
Meisl, of " Protokollbuch der Judischen
Gemeinde Beriin (1723-1854)."
have been particularly active in the collection of material. Partly for their benefit an
extensive lecture programme has been provided, but many of the papers read have
been, or are being, also published by the
Institute and therefore constitute a part of
its research work. Friends of the L.B.I,
receive the Year Books and bulletins free of
charge and the other publications at reduced
rates.
As this report is written for the Anniversary Issue of the AJR, we may perhaps be
justified in singling out from amongst the
many research projects with which the three
working centres are now occupied, one
which is at present the concern of the Leo
Baeck Institute in London. Under the
editorship of the well-known historian
Werner E. Mosse, Senior Reader in History
at Glasgow University, the London centre
is preparing a collection of studies on the
situation of German Jewry in the last fateful years of the Weimar Republic. In this
combined research some German-Jewish
scholars are collaborating with a number of
younger English, German and American
historians, economists and sociologists. The
survey will attempt to outline the position
occupied by German Jewry on the eve of
Hitler's accession, analyse the attitude of the
parties and churches to the Jews, describe
the impact of the crisis on Jewish life and
the defence efforts of the Jewish organisa-
The Institute's Membership Organisation
In order to establish intimate contacts
with the now dispersed German Jewry
and to foster active participation in the
Institute's work. Societies of Friends of the
Leo Baeck Institute have been formed in
England, Israel and Germany, and an L.B.I.
Membership Organisation in the U.S.A.
They have been rendering invaluable support, both financially and intellectually, and
las:
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tions to ward off the catastrophe and,
amongst other aspects, give a picture of
the many discussions on the " Jewish
Question " which agitated German intellectual life and are so revealing of the state
of mind of Germans and Jews alike. It is
hoped that this investigation will throw
some further light on this final phase of
Jewish existence in Germany before the
destruction that was to overwhelm it.
The recent holocaust has inevitably ended
a great and fruitful epoch of Jewish history.
It has been pointed out often enough, by
no means only by Jews, that the pent-up
energy of German Jewry, irrupting into
European civilisation in Germany, was in
many ways a unique phenomenon ; and that
in the comparatively short period from
emancipation to destruction cultural values
were thereby created out of all proportion
to their numbers. The story of the rise and
fall of German Jewry may well excite the
fascination of future historians but this
anticipation does not absolve us from those
tasks which can only be fulfilled now,
whether of original research or of providing
the raw material for future generations of
scholars.
The Leo Baeck Institute deserves and
expects a much larger measure of support
and a much more active participation in its
work than it has hitherto received from the
many former German Jews. They have
fortunately become rapidly integrated into
a tolerant and democratic society. They
also owe a duty to their heritage and to
history.
Cecil
Page 15
Roth
ASSESSMENT BY AN ENGLISH JEW
I seem to recall that the appearance of the
first refugees from Germany in England in
the spring of 1933 aroused in one not only
feelings of intense compassion but also what
might be described as an historic thrill; this
indeed was not unmingled with pride—to a
young man as I then was—at the fact that
one was privileged to make the acquaintance
of persons of such fame and intellectual
calibre. For it must be remembered that the
first eddy (rather than wave) of refugees to
reach these shores was composed to a very
great extent of persons of the highest possible
distinction in intellectual and academic life—
displaced writers, professors, civil servants
and so on.
One did one's duty by them, one hopes, in
a spirit of Jewish compassion. But one was
rewarded by making the personal acquaintance of persons whose names were almost
household words. I well recall my pride in
entertaining Stefan Zweig, when he came to
seek my professional advice before writing
his charming legend, " The Buried Candelabrum ", and Ernst Toller coming to lunch on
the day when the news of the Blood Purge
of June 30th, 1934, became known, certain
(poor deluded soul!) that this was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime and that
shortly he would be able to return home.
And indeed few persons imagined that the
new state of affairs with which we were
confronted would last indefinitely—much
less that it would deteriorate still more :
England was, after all, well accustomed to
giving temporary hospitality to political
refugees from abroad in the interludes before
their triumphant return. It was said that on
the following day telephone communications
in London were difficult: all the refugees
were engaged in booking their return
passages or saying good-bye to their
acquaintances.
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But they—and we—knew before long how
mistaken we had been. Conditions rapidly
became worse and worse. What had begun
as a selective emigration of the intellectual
aristocracy became before long a mass flight
of all elements. The German Refugee began
to be a prominent figure of the London
landscape. Disproportionately prominent,
indeed. They tended, of course, to concentrate in certain urban areas, all manner of
witticisms and sarcasms circulating regarding
the Germanisation of (for example) NorthWest London and how the British would be
prepared to return the colonies to Germany
if Germany would return Golders Green to
England. Moreover, these unhappy and
sometimes penniless immigrants, living in
bed-sitting-rooms and to a great extent
excluded from taking employment, had no
alternative way to occupy themselves, other
than to promenade or concentrate in places
of public resort, making their numbers
appear all the more considerable : it was no
doubt regrettable, in some ways it was
fortunate. Yet at the same time it was
inevitable.
"Woburn House"
Now was the period when Woburn House
(later to be succeeded by Bloomsbury
House) became famous as the centre from
which help, advice and relief were dispensed
to all who were jn need. But it had perhaps
the defects of its qualities. There was a
tendency for the bureaucratic system to
become a little too impersonal, perhaps even
(as it seemed to some of us) heartless. Those
who generously gave up the whole of their
working-day to activity of this sort tried to
forget refugees in their scanty hours of
leisure: and some of the latter told my
wife and me that ours was one of the few
homes where they found themselves accepted
as human beings, and not on an eleemosynary basis. Moreover, there was a tendency
perhaps to resent any infringement of this
quasi-monopoly of well-doing. When in the
darkest hours the proposal was made to set
up an ancillary canteen in the West Central
area, " Woburn House " vigorously objected
—until the eminent writer Philip Guedalla
and I threatened that, unless they yielded,
we two would personally set up and conduct
a coffee-stall for the refugees in the square
outside—and inform the Press of our intention. The opposition was then instantaneously withdrawn, and the success of the
new canteen in Fitzroy Square demonstrated
how necessary it was.
The English picture of the German Jew
was in manv ways highly idealised. We knew
that assimilation of the most extreme type
was rampant in Germany. But by the side of
this there was (as we also knew) on the one
hand a strongly organised religious life, and
on the other a remarkably well-developed
intellectual life, representing the old JUdische
Wissenschaft, which was one of German
Jewry's great contributions to Jewish civilisation. It was hoped at one time that in
both of these directions Enalish Jewrv would
receive a welcome and much needed stimulus
from the German immigration. It can hardly
be said that these expectations have been
justified. Anglo-Jewish synagogal life has
no doubt been reinforced numerically—
though not, I fancy, in proportion to the
numbers of recent immigrants. But it cannot
be said that they introduced with them any
new stimulus, except perhaps in the trend
back towards ceremonial in left-wing
Judaism in England, in line with the tradition of " Reform " Judaism in Germany.
The refugee element is doubtless more
prominent on the extreme right wing,
but it is the newly arrived Eastern rather
than Central European element which (with
certain reservations) here provides the major
impetus. The preponderant central element
in Anglo-Jewry, represented, for example,
in the United Synagogue, has been reinforced
by the newly arrived immigration in membership, but hardly in ideas : and the present
tendency towards right-wing Orthodoxy in
the Chief Rabbinate and its ancillary institutions certainly owes little to the Germanic
influx.
So far as Anglo-Jewish intellectual life is
concerned, circumstances are not dissimilar.
The picture in 1962 does not differ in any
material respect from the picture in 1933,
with the reservation that the giants who still
survived at that time from an older generation (Gaster, Biichler, Marmorstein) have
passed away, leaving none to take their place
and the general prospect correspondingly
poorer. Those who are engaged in Jewish
research and study in this country now are
as few and as ill-recognised as they were
then: the native element is no larger, the
foreign element no smaller, and the general
level certainly no higher.
Decline in Jewish Scholarship
For the truth of the matter is that even
in 1933 the JUdische Wissenschaft in Germany was already far advanced in its decline
(as the poor standard of so many of the
articles in the Encyclopedia
Judaica
sufficiently demonstrated): and the betterqualified of the German Jewish scholars
were attracted by Palestine (or the United
States) rather than by Great Britain. Dr.
Altmann, while rabbi in Manchester, made
a courageous attempt to build up there the
sort of Jewish intellectual life that might
have been expected in a German Jewish
community of similar importance, but it
remained an extension of his own personalit>. For the German Jewish influx has not
succeeded in creating here the imperative
environment for Jewish intellectual life of
tms type—the interested layman who supports the scholar by buying books and
attending lectures. Nor even, in many cases,
have Germa.i Jews of this type succeeded
in transferring their enthusiasms to, or
transmitting their interests in, this new
environment.
On the other hand, outside the Jewish
community the refugee impact has certainly
been very considerable. There can be no
doubt but that English (as distinct from
Anglo-Jewish)
intellectual
life—perhaps
especially, but by no means, exclusively, in
the realm of science, in all its ramifications
Continued on page 16. column I
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"V-MWiBi-jBTJiag K l ^ •.-• J-°:
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Page 16
ASSESSMENT BY AN ENGLISH JEW
(Continued from page 15)
—has received a very marked impetus from
the refugee scholars who arrived in this
country from Germany and Central Europe
from 1933 onwards. It is enough to look
at the lists of the University faculties, or at
the roll of Fellows of the Royal Society and
of the British Academy, to perceive the truth
of this statement.
I Position in Academic Life
A rider must, however, be added at this
point for greater clarity. It may be said
that before 1933 a perceptible difference
between the old-established German Jewry
and the relatively newly-established (or
rather newly-augmented, as a result of the
Russo-Jewish immigration
after
1882)
English Jewry was that the powerful attraction of academic life on the former was
hardly mirrored in the latter. The number
of Jews holding University posts in England
was probably as disproportionately low as
in Germany it was disproportionately high :
In Oxford, for example, a Jewish " Don "
was barely known. But within the last
generation, partly as a result of a general
change of outlook, partly as a result of the
acclimatisation of the children of the RussoJewish element who are now the majority,
this has changed, so that the number of
Jews holding academic posts in Great
Britain has now become relatively and perhaps disproportionately high : it may indeed
be said that the picture which presented itself
PASMAN FABRICS
LIMITED
in pre-1933 Germany is beginning to be
duplicated here. It is perhaps arguable that
the influx of German Jewish scientists of the
highest distinction, who were an ornament
to any academic society and whom in a rush
of compassion the English Universities were
eager to receive, may have been one of the
agencies responsible for the change of
attitude.
On the other hand, precisely in the
academic sphere (but in some others as well)
another less desirable phenomenon has been
discernible. It is not far from the truth to
say that before 1933 we in England knew
what a Jew was, and any person of Jewish
stock, unless he had left the faith formally,
could in all probability be considered a Jew.
The arrival of a very large number of highly
distinguished " non-Aryan " refugees from
Germany, of Jewish birth wholly or in part
but not confessing Judaism, changed this
situation. Having suffered because of their
quality as Jews, they were received and
helped by the Anglo-Jewish community ;
but they remained Jews only in a " racial "
sense. Hence the high proportion of refugee
Jewish names in the University faculties is
in some ways misleading : it betokens only
the emergence in this country as in Germany
in pre-Hitler days (ahhough doubtless it
would have evolved naturally and spontaneously even if there had been no German
influx) of a not inconsiderable and intellectually extremely prominent " non-Aryan "
element. The German Jewish names in the
undergraduate roll of the Universities
making no contribution to corporate Jewish
life repeats this picture. It is a new—to my
mind far from fortunate—phenomenon,
which is likely to have a permanent influence
on Anglo-Jewry.
Contributions to Art
In the world of art, in all its aspects, the
refugee influx has also made a profound
impression. Refugee painters settled in
England have become prominent among the
avant-garde of British artists of today, and
have had a considerable influence. The Jews
who made art-history into an important academic discipline in Germany have given an
enormous impetus to the subject here.
A. K. (Textiles)
LONDON. W.l.
Telephone: GERrard 3953
Telephone: GERrard 6291 / 2 / 3
In economic life the refugees inevitably turned for a livelihood wherever they
could : some introducing German processes
with them, some of them being compelled to
branch out into new and fruitful lines of
activity, a large proportion of them succeeding and giving employment to English
workers : it should not be forgotten that it
was German Jewish capital and enterprise
which was responsible for reviving one of
the hopeless economic areas of South Wales
which had been left almost desolate with the
decline of the coal industry—and this is only
one instance.
Perhaps the most obvious evidence of the
impact of the refugee element on English
life may be seen in some branches of the
catering industry. The Englishman, taking
his pleasures sadly, was, as one might say,
allergic to " eating o u t " in bright surroundings, except in the West E n d ; or to
dawdling over a friendly cup of coffee anywhere : and in the suburbs it was difficult to
obtain a good meal in the evening. The
bright restaurants about Baker Street
and on the way to North-West London—
some of them set up in the first instance in
order to reproduce for the Continental
refugees something of the Continental
atmosphere—are, to some extent at least,
part of the legacy of the German Jewish
immigrants to London life.
HERTIE LTD.
(Textiles)
LTD.
231. OXFORD STREET,
6, Gt. Marlborough Street,
London, W.l.
German Jewish art- and antique-dealers,
whose expertise is in itself a contribution to
English intellectual life, are prominent now
in the sale-rooms and London's West End ;
while the Phaidon Press, transferred from
Vienna, though no longer enjoying a quasimonopoly, has set a new standard in English
art-publishing in this country.
33, Margaret Street,
London, W.l
Telephone : LANgham 2189 (2 lines)
I
Page 17
Walter Schindler
THE NEW CITIZENS' CONTRIBUTION
TO ECONOMIC DEMANDS
Over twenty-five years have passed since
the plight of Central European Jewry began.
The story of the 60,000 refugees from Germany and Austria who were allowed to settle
in this country before war broke out was
written, though only in its broad outlines,
when, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary in 1951, the AJR published a
brochure on " Britain's New Citizens ".*
On that occasion some tangible account of
the refugees' economic and sociological position in this country was given.
To take up the thread today presents difficulties which, it is hoped, the reader will
appreciate. There have never been any
exact figures about the number of refugees
integrated into Britain's economic life. And
to produce them today has become virtually
impossible. Anyhow, the integration is complete ; the majority of former refugees
are settled.
On the other hand, new and vital
problems, affecting the country's economic
outlook, have arisen. How can a free
economy adapt itself to the demands of
greater productivity and of a stronger competitive force within a wider economic link
in Europe or the whole world ? Thus it is
no longer a story of how Jews from Germany
and Austria have found a place in Britain.
The question which arises now is what position they are holding and what contribution
they are making to modern demands.
All this has to be seen in a proper perspective. Not only has the minute number
of former refugees to be set against the huge
stmcture of the British economy. But it has
also to be realised that just now we are
living in a period when the British people
themselves are becoming growingly aware of
all that is required of them and are acting
accordingly.
Hardships Overcome
The time when the majority of refugees
had still to fight for their living is by now
left far behind for most of them. The courage
and self-sacrifice of those who, as former
doctors, lawyers and members of other free
professions, had to find work as domestic
help, office clerks and in other positions
outside their vocational training belongs to
history. The same can, to a certain extent,
be said of the older generation who had to
go on working in some form or another,
instead of being able to spend the rest of
their days in well-deserved retirement and
leisure.
The greatest hardships have been overcome, at least for those who came from
Germany. Restitution and compensation
have played their part in this direction;
the older generation could at last relax ;
and many others have been able to take
up vocations and occupations of their own
choice. But beyond this, an account of
* Copies are still obtainable at AJR Headquarters (2s. 6d. plus postage).
refugees in Britain's economic life is indeed
now becoming more and more the story not
of the fathers but of the children who at the
time were either still in the prime of years
or have already had the benefit of education
and training in Britain.
New Secondary Industries
It should also be recalled that, when the
refugees came to this country before the war,
only a comparatively small group of former
self-employed industrialists or businessmen
were able to establish their own enterprises
again, if only within a much smaller frame.
It was, however, a remarkable feature that
this handful of men, set against the whole
structure of the large British economy, could
make an invigorating impact on industrial
life at a time when the world economic crisis
of the early 'thirties had still left its mark, A
number of them established factories and
workshops in the so-called " distressed
areas" where the Government tried to
develop new trading estates to relieve unemployment. There they built up trades in
which they had specialised in Germany and
Austria and which, as secondary industries,
were manufacturing mainly consumer goods,
truly supplementary to Britain's industrial
stmcture. Out of proportion to the smallness of their number, they thus fulfilled a
twofold function: giving tangible help in
relieving unemployment, and introducing
new lines of industrial enterprise. Every
attempt to assess the present " usefulness"
of refugees in the British economy, twentyfive years or so after they came to this
country, should regard this venture as one of
the vital starting points to what exists now.
And today it can be established that former
refugees or their offsprings have the guiding,
if not controlling, hand in a good number of
striving new industries.
In some cases large concerns have arisen
in place of comparatively small and individual beginnings. The toy industry may be
singled out where, for instance, a young
refugee, together with his friend, started the
manufacture of toys in one small room and
now mns a big factory, probably producing
the largest range of nursery toys in the
United Kingdom. And only recently two
brothers, who started a small button factory
in 1933 and gradually became the leading
British button exporters, have merged their
firm with two old-established British firms
into the largest concern of its kind in Europe.
Here the process of integrating into the
whole economic stmcture of the country
and of even losing one's identity becomes
particularly conspicuous.
By now this process has extended to
practically all branches of industry and trade
where a large Jewish element prevails. It
would make it even more difficult to determine a clear-cut figure of refugee enterprises.
But this still does not preclude any attempt
of assessing the part which Jews from
Germany and Austria and their children are
playing or could play at a time when so
much is needed to pull this country's
economic position out of a certain drowsiness and lethargy and to help in building up
a new driving force.
The refugees' contribution to British
exports was already described ten years ago
in the AJR booklet on " Britain's New
Citizens ". This theme still goes all through
the wide range of former refugees' enterprises : in the fashion trade, clothing, textiles
and its specialised lines ; the fur trade; the
manufacture and use of plastic materials ;
the chemical industries ; the utilisation of
scrap metal, etc. In this article we only take
up those points where new developments
have arisen or where some amplification
appears warranted.
Former refugees have taken a sizable
share in the development and utilisation of
plastics which, ten years ago, were a promising new branch of industrial production but
have now emerged as one of the most
important modern industries. Refugees, it
is true, have concentrated more on the
utilisation than on the development of
plastics, but there alone imagination and
inventive spirit have done a good deal to
explore the potentialities of an important
market.
Clothing and Fashion
In textiles, clothing and fashion German
and Austrian Jews have, consistent with
modern requirements, extended theirfieldsof
activity quite considerably. Some of their
firms have been absorbed within a wider
frame of industrial organisation, but a good
number have still preserved their identity and
have expanded their exports, especially to
developing countries. The influence of
immigrants from Berlin and Vienna continues to play its part in the so-called
" wholesale couture ".
In this context particular reference is due
to one man who has rendered a unique
contribution not only to boosting British
textile exports but, above all, to linking art
with industry and guiding British industry in
the application of art to new industrial
designs. He is Hans P. Juda, once a young
financial joumalist in Germany and now
editor and publisher of the leading export
magazine, " The Ambassador ".
On the whole, the impact of refugees'
enterprise on Britain's secondary industries,
mainly manufacturing consumer goods, has
remained the outstanding feature. But in
the light of scientific and technological progress and of the successful adjustment of
British industry to modern needs and to the
development of entirely new branches, the
contribution by refugees in this process
should not be underrated. Though, admittedly, it cannot be regarded as a generally
applicable feature, it deserves particular
mention both in view of some outstanding
individual contributions and of its importance in a clearly transitional stage of British
economy.
Some refugees have indeed been instrumental in utilising scientific and technological progress. Ten years ago it was
Continued on page 18, coltimn 1
^•il
Page 18
CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC DEMANDS
{Continued from page li)
reported how a refugee expert in the utilisation of scrap metals introduced the electrolytic process for the recovery of copper in
this country and thus created a sizable
source of supply for these materials. Other
instances can be found in the field of electronics. There is one group of companies
which in the last year or two has made a
name for itself in the development of electronics and communications ; it is connected
with the name of Daniel Prenn, once one of
the most promising tennis stars in Germany.
Other outstanding examples may be found
in the fields of chemical production and oil
refining.
Science and Technology
Equally striking has been the direct contribution to science and technology, and
consequently to their application in industry.
This contribution ranges over a wide field,
from chemical and medical research to the
development of atomic power for peaceful
purposes. Here only a few achievements
can be mentioned. The medical discovery
of penicillin, in which Beriin-born Dr. Boris
Chain co-operated with the late Sir
Alexander Fleming, has by now led to the
development of an important branch of the
pharmaceutical industry. Or Dr. Marcello
Pirani, once connected with the Osram
Works in Beriin, who, as an expert on technical physics and high-temperature processes,
has done much for the improvement of production methods in British industry. And
then two of the world's leading atomic
scientists. Professor Otto Robert Frisch and
Rudolf Peierls.
By now the number of refugee scientists
could considerably be enlarged by including
the younger generation. Here, again, exact
data are not available, but, broadly speaking,
it can be stated that many of them hold, if
not prominent, at least highly constructive
positions in scientific and technological
fields, such as bio-chemistry, synthetic
chemistry, physics, electronics, aviation, etc.,
and their practical application. And many
more are now in their studies, following the
call for more research workers in private and
government employment.
There is also the comparatively sizable
group of merchants and bankers. But here
in particular their position and influence on
shaping the British economy must be seen
in the correct proportion. The " City "—
and this is still the financial heart not only
of Britain's economic life but of large parts
of the whole worid—has its great and deeprooted tradition. If bankers, brokers and
other financial experts from Germany and
Austria are now working there, one should
keep in mind that they only form a minute
part in this huge, important and influential
structure. They cannot be discerned by
virtue of their origin, but they have further
increased the number of Jewish merchantbankers whose long-established impact on
financing British and world trade may well
be recognised.
There are also some other fields of activity
worth mentioning: One is the part some
former refugees are now playing in developing trade with the Soviet bloc countries and
China. Another is the contribution they are
making or may make within the whole orbit
of " Common Market " problems. And they
have also found some important foothold in
commodity markets and kindred fields of
financing overseas.
To a certain extent, this short survey may
serve as a reply to the question of what
contribution refugees and their famiUes
are making to modern demands of the
British economy. However, some further
points have to be mentioned. Individual
values, and in particular the mental and
educational make-up, also play their part in
meeting these demands. They apply to selfemployed and employees alike, and they
concern such features as organisational
capabilities, management, efficiency, reliability,
conscientiousness,
salesmanship,
international experience, knowledge of world
markets or linguistic faculties. They not
only deserve mention but they also must be
mentioned, because some of these qualities
are now so badly lacking in this country.
As this is generally realised, no self-praise
is involved.
Organisation and Management
Some of the qualifications are closely
interlocked: training and experience often
go hand in hand with a good understanding
of ths human element. Take organisation,
management and efficiency. It can be said
that a number of factories and other enterprises founded by refugees have become
exemplary not only by their production and
working methods, but also by the harmonious atmosphere between management and
employees. It is often argued that it is much
easier to establish such conditions in smaller
or medium-size enterprises such as run by
refugees. Yet we must not overlook that,
even in some smaller firms in this country,
relations between management and staff are
not always satisfactory ; furthermore, experience in smaller enterprises has often served
as an example for larger organisations and
their departments. Without wishing to give
the impression that there are not also refugee
firms which are open to justified criticism,
quite a few instances could be quoted where
refugees have shown an outstanding, con-
NEW LIBERAL JEWISH
CONGREGATION
SIMCHAT TORAH
DIIVIVER & B A L L
at Cafe Royal, W . l , on
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27,
at
7
p.m.
for 7 . 3 0
p.m.
VAN STRATEN & HIS BAND AND
HIS LATIN-AMERICAN
ENSEMBLE
Tables
Evening
may
be
dress
reserved.
opfional.
Tickets, at 2^2 gns.. from the Secretary. 51 Belsjze
Square, N.W.3. before October 22.
structive approach. This is reflected in their
modern premises and working conditions as
well as in the close contact between management and staff. There is also the example
of a manufacturer who, after having made a
special study of relations between employer
and employees in Australia, has applied a
successful system of incentives and bonuses
to his factory in London.
The question of attracting the employees'
interest in their work may indeed be called
one of the most important aspects of productivity in British industry. One method—
that of profit-sharing—is certainly not
unknown in this country. But, on the
whole, it appears that Jews, perhaps more
than others, have realised that the human
approach must not be underrated in our era
of automation, where the steadily increasing
introduction of mechanical devices for
improving efficiency and lowering production
cost matters so much. This applies to
mechanisation itself as well as to modern
time-and-motion study which nows plays a
particularly important part in industries such
as textiles and clothing.
Reliability, conscientiousness and hard
work are other features where former
refugees, self-employed or in responsible
positions, have something to offer. It is not
easy to find an explanation for this. One
should have thought that the more negative
aspects of our so-called " affluent society "
might have affected them just as much as
anybody else. Has their approach been conditioned by the education ? Or is it really
a fact that, in their mental make-up, refugees
have brought with them from their countries
of birth a greater sense of duty and responsibility ?
Salesmanship
Last but not least there are salesmanship
and international experience. One would
have expected that, in a country like Britain,
with its long tradition of commerce and
international trading, arrivals from the
Continent would have something to leam
rather than to give, and there is certainly
still much to learn from British experience.
Yet the fact remains that owing to too much
self-confidence, originating from the time
when Britain was the leading industrial
country, training for salesmanship has been
neglected. Furthermore, people in Britain
sometimes do not sufficiently realise that
conditions in buyer-countries have changed ;
that the customer's wish to be treated
accordingly requires some readjustment of
selling methods. Recently, the Duke of
Edinburgh put it in a nutshell when, after his
tour of Latin American countries, he said
that in selling British goods it is better to
wear a bowler hat and speak Spanish than
to wear a sombrero and speak only English.
This survey has had to confine itself to
general observations. But the conclusion is
that, despite their small number within a
huge economic structure, and despite the fact
that often their identity can no longer be
clearly defined, refugees and their families
are, on the whole, participating in many
fields where a constructive contribution to
modern economic demands seems to be
needed and is also welcome.
_
9
Page 19
Pem
DER ERSTE TAG
1935
". . . does not enter any employment paid
or unpaid while in the United Kingdom. . . ."
Mit diesem Stempel im Pass atmeten wir auf,
als waeren damit all unsere Sorgen beendet
und eine lebenslaengliche Rente verbunden ;
die Angst vor dem Immigration Officer kam
uns nachtraeglich recht laecherlich vor.
Dann die seltsam hohen Taxis, die direkt an
den Zug gefahren kamen. Die Bobbies, die
genau wie auf der Kinoleinwand aussahen
und die ploetzliche Erfahrung, dass das
Dezimalsystem nicht mehr funktionierte.
Das erste Boardinghouse mit dem kleinen
Tisch gleich hinter der Eingangstuer, auf
dem ich dann jahrelang jeden Morgen sehnsuechtig nach Post und besonders Geldbriefen
Ausschau halten wuerde. Der Gasring im
Zimmer mit dem immer aehnlich verkleideten Waschbecken. Und die ewig gleiche
Marmelade zum kaltgewordenen Fruehstuecks-Toast. Dass das nun Heimat sein
sollte, kam uns kaum in den Sinn; das
Gefuehl, hierbleiben zu duerfen, genuegte
vorerst zum Gluecklichsein.
Von den Zeitungen, die fuer einen Penny
anscheinend herrenlos zur Selbstbedienung
an den Ecken lagen, kauften wir zuerst jede
Ausgabe, um nachzusehen, ob die Nazis
noch an der Macht waren ; es konnte doch
wirklich nicht lange dauern. Die erste
Mahlzeit in " Lyons Corner House " mit der
Ei-geschmueckten Boulette nebst den vielen
Beilagen fuer einen Schilling und einen
Penny—die erste von vielen. Das Trinkgeld
lehrte man uns, diskret unter die Teller zu
schieben, als muesse man sich genieren. Und
der Autobus hielt unberechenbar, wo gar
•êine Haltestelle war, wenn man die Hand
erhob ; man musste nur wissen wo.
Die einen Tag vor uns Angekommenen
fuehlten sich als alte Londoner. Aber was
nuetzte es uns, dass sich die Eingeborenen
geduldig unser Schul-Englisch anhoerten,
wenn wir etwas fragten ; ihre Antworten
verstanden wir nicht—sie sprachen viel zu
schnell. Dem Egon (Jameson) gelang es nie
eme " Times" zu kaufen, weil man ihm
unmer sagte, wie spaet es war.
" Wie komme ich zum
Cleveland
Square ? " fragte ich einen Passanten stottemd in Bayswater. " Ich bin hier selbst ein
Auslaender ; " sagte Jener, denn er wohnte
•n Kensington, und Paddington war Ausland
fuer ihn. Nie wieder bin ich soviel gelaufen
wie an jenem ersten Tag in London und
niemals habe ich so gut geschlafen, ohne
daran zu denken, was die Zukunft bringen
wuerde. ". . . does not enter any employment paid or unpaid. . . ." Dass man statt
" Bitte " " Thank you " sagte, fiel mir erst
am zweiten Tag auf.
1940
Damit keine Heldensagen entstehen :
Freiwillig fuer die Armee hatten wir uns
schon waehrend der Tschechenkrise aus drei
Gruenden gemeldet. Erstens, weil wir im
Falle eines Krieges Fremdenfeindlichkeit
befuerchteten, sobald die ersten Verlustlisten
bekannt wuerden ; spaeter stellte sich heraus,
dass solche Listen garnicht veroeffentlicht
wurden.
Zweitens um unseren Frauen
Arbeitserlaubnis zu verschaffen, und drittens
konnten wir doch schlecht zusehen, wenn es
gegen diejenigen losging, die zu hassen wir
am meisten Grund hatten.
Lord Reading drueckte jedem von uns
im Kitchener Camp die Hand.
Dann
bekamen wir unsere Uniform. Unsere Zivilsachen wurden uns sofort gestohlen. Im
Lager nebenan, in dem sich Landsleute in
Zivil befanden, liess ich mir weiches Futter
in den Jackenkragen naehen. Das war einer
der drei Ratschlaege, die man mir mitgegeben hatte. Die anderen beiden kamen
von Hans Habe, der sich schon in der
franzoesischen Armee befand, und sie
lauteten : Bleibe anonym, am besten keiner
kennt deinen Namen—und versuche, sauber
zu sein, nicht zu verdrecken. Das mit der
Anonymitaet ist mir dann gelungen ; ich bin
meine ganze Dienstzeit ein " Private " geblieben.
1947
Wir haben auch waehrend des Krieges in
London Deutsch gesprochen. Aber um uns
herum sprach man selbstverstandlich nur
Englisch. Dann stand ich eines Tages wieder
auf dem Bahnhof Charlottenburg, zum ersten
Mal nach 14 Jahren wieder in Berlin. Es
war sehr kalt und 6 Uhr morgens. Auf dem
Bahnsteig draengten sich die zur Arbeit
Fahrenden. Natuerlich sprach man um
mich Deutsch ; es kam mir ganz ungewohnt
vor.
" Um Gotteswillen, lauter Emigranten ? "
schoss es mir durch den Kopf.
Auf einem weissen Pferd siegreich durchs
Brandenburger Tor reitend hatte ich mir die
Rueckkehr nicht ertraeumt; aber wie sie
in Wirklichkeit war, auch nicht. Das noch
von den Engliindern besetzte " Hotel am
Zoo " sah genau aus, wie ich es vage im
Gedaechtnis hatte : die Steinstufen, die zum
Eingang hinauf fuehrten (mit dem heutigen
hat es keine Aehnlichkeit). Das Berliner
'^^^^'"
Telephonbuch bestand aus einem duennen
Heftchen.
Zigaretten waren Waehrung.
Haeusertruemmer wuchsen ueber die BuerUnd dann standen wir also eines Morgens gersteige. An den Baeumen am Kurfuerin der Halle des " Woburn House" zur stendamm hatte man Such-Anzeigen genaAbfahrt ins Traininglager bereit. Mit viel- gelt.
leicht zwei Dutzend verschiedenen Alters
Ein Mann, den ich 14 Jahre nicht gesehen
marschierten wir, reichlich selbstbewusst, hatte, kam auf mich zu und sagte : " Gut
zum Bahnhof Charing Cross. Einer hatte dass ich Sie treffe. . . ."
eine Guitarre mitgebracht und klimperte
Ein Chauffeur, den ich fragte, wie es in
darauf das wohl einzige englische Lieu, das Berlin jetzt sei, meinte : " Wat wolln Se
wir kannten: " It's a long way to Tipperary." denn hoeren ? " Das waren Heimatklaenge.
Immer wiederholten wir den einzigen Vers,
Polizeistunde war neun Uhr. Ab sieben
den wir kannten ; die Passanten drehten sich
Uhr
sass man bei Kerzenlicht. Auch wir
nicht mal nach uns um.
im " Hotel am Z o o " waren rationiert.
" Woher kommen Sie ? " fragte ich im Denen auf der Strasse sah man den Hunger
Zug nach Kent einen meiner kuenftigen an.
Kameraden auf Deutsch. " I don't underAuf einer Gesellschaft, die mir ein Verstand " antwortete jener verwundert. Dabei leger in der
" Greifi-Bar"
in der
sah er keineswegs wie einer jener Snobs aus, Joachimsthalerstrasse gab, traf ich einen
die sich nach ein paar Jahren in England wohlerzoaenen Bekannten, den ich nach
benahmen als haetten sie ihre Muttersprache einer halbstuendigen nichtssagenden Untervergessen. Waehrend der Fahrt entdeckte haltung fragte :
ich langsam, dass "mang uns mang einer
" Warum erkundigen Sie sich eigentlich
mang war, der nich mang uns mang
nicht,
wie es mir geht ? "
gehoert". Jener war mit zwei Jahren nach
" Aber Sie kommen doch aus London,"
England gekommen und niemals naturalisiert worden ; dass er kein Brite war, merkte antwortete er achselzuckend.
" Auch in London kann es einen schlecht
man erst, als sein Jahrgang aufgerufen und
entdeckt wurde, dass er wie wir ein " b.f." gehen," sagte ich.
war. Er blieb fuer den Rest des Krieges
" Aber nicht so schlecht wie uns hier. . . ."
der ewige Aussenseiter, der Auslaender
Irgendetwas stimmt da nicht mehr.
unter lauter Auslaendern. Boesartige Kame- Gehoerte man hier noch her? Sass unsereiner
raden haben ihm spaeter das " Horst Wessel- nicht zwischen alien Stuehlen—in Berlin
Lied " einstudiert, von dem er nicht verstand, nicht mehr und in London noch immer nicht
was es besang.
zu Hause. . . ?
Page 20
Kenneth Ambrose
and Egon
Larsen
HOW THEY SETTLED
Some Aspects of Integration
Shortly before the war, this story was told
among those who were able to appreciate
the joke : Two cowboys meet somewhere in
the Argentine pampas. As they gallop
towards each other, swinging their lassos,
they discover that they are old acquaintances. " Hallo, Don Blocho," shouts one
of them, " reiten Sie noch immer fUr Goldmann und Rosenberg ? "
What was then, in the first period of
tentative integration and effort to find one's
feet in a strange country, a funny exaggeration of possible results, has in the meantime become an everyday fact. True, few
of us have changed from commercial
travellers into herdsmen or farmers, but on
the whole integration, at least in Britain,
presents a most spectacular and unique
social phenomenon, full of interesting
examples and personal stories ; in fact, most
of these " cases" are so different from
one another that it is hard to generalise,
except by saying that success is their common denominator.
" Emigration" is by no means an
immutable event with a certain predictable
result. We, the " results ", have been shaped
by the interaction of our individual personalities with the situation in which we
found ourselves. Therefore, the results are
as different as our personalities, circumstances, and background.
The Language Struggle
Age has, of course, been one of the main
factors. It has made a considerable difference whether the emigrant arrived in his
new surroundings as a child of under 10,
as a young person of 18 and over, or as a
mature man or woman of 50 and more. Up
to the age of about 12 a child can still absorb
completely a new language, the traditions
and customs of the country, and melt into its
community. If older, some trace, however slight, of foreign accent and patterns of
thought tends to remain.
Psychologists
believe that until the early teens only those
parts of the brain which are responsible for
imitative learning are fully operative ; the
parts which deal with analytic thought and
higher-level reasoning do not seem to
develop fully until middle teenage.
At a later age, linguistic and behaviourist
adaptation becomes more and more a conscious development—in other words, it is a
question of learning and as such depends on
the effort and gifts of the individual. People
with a musical ear and those who, like
writers or actors, have had some kind of
professional relationship with linguistics, are
of course at a natural advantage (though, as
we shall see, their difficulties in finding suitable work have been especially great).
Among the over-fifties there were many who
despaired right from the start, and never
made a real effort to penetrate the languageand-customs barrier because they felt that it
would be beyond their capacities. These, the
older emigrants, have been the unhappiest
group; they tended to " stick together"
without trying to establish much contact with
their new milieu. In a psychological sense,
they never " arrived " in this country.
Because age has been such an important
factor in adaptation and integration, parentchildren relationships have presented special
problems among immigrant families. Here,
the usual difficulty of parents and children
to " understand " one another—a common
phenomenon at all times, but especially in
our own, due to the immense changes
during the last quarter of a century—has
been very much aggravated by emigration :
parents and children speak, in every sense,
a different language, their upbringing and
background are different—even the nursery
rhymes on which they were reared. A great
deal of friction and alienation, many tears
and much heartbreak must have been caused
through these effects of emigration ; on the
other hand, some parents will have found
happiness in the thought that their children
have grown to be fully-integrated citizens of
their new country, an aim which the parents
could never have hoped to achieve.
Before the war, those refugees who had
already started out on well-defined professional, or at least occupational roads, were
suddenly faced with the problem of finding
work in any capacity, for there was rarely
any prospect of continuing in the original
sphere of activity, and the most urgent
problem in England was how to keep body
and soul together. Many lawyers, teachers,
actors, writers, architects, washed up on this
foreign shore, had to eke out a living on
Committee maintenance—their passports
still bore the Home Office stamp banning
them from any employment, paid or unpaid.
The business men were a little luckier; many
found some way or other of making use of
their specialist knowledge. Most of those
doctors who had arrived in or shortly after
1933 successfully passed the strict examinations required before they could start their
own practices. Up to about 1937, dentists
were permitted to work in their profession
by virtue of their German qualifications;
later on, most applications for admission to
the Foreign List of the Dentists Register
were rejected.
War Time Developments
Then came the war, and with it internment, the Pioneer Corps, or other forms of
war service. Many actors and writers found
congenial work with the German Section
of the B.B.C. (and later with the "Soldatensender ", the British or the American
Intelligence services). Doctors who held
only foreign qualifications found that their
help was now also needed. Teachers, too,
were rfquired to fill the gaps in British
elementary and secondary schools.
Those whose professional experience on
the Continent did not help them over here
went into war factories as trainees (65-yearold Rudolf Ullstein among them). One or
two former ladies of leisure started boardinghouses, ran " British Restaurants ", or found
jobs in the Labour Exchange ; but on the
whole, most girls and women who had
entered the U.K. with domestic permits were
still doing work " below stairs " during much
of the war period, and there were quite a
number of cook-and-butler couples who had
been served by their own domestics in
Central Europe, and were now cooking and
dusting in wealthy English families. A
former writer on strategic matters became
kitchen orderly in a hospital, working his
way up to the position of chef.
Intellectuals and Artists
It was only after the war that anything
like a permanent pattern of settling-down
emerged. A number of lawyers found a
most valuable new sphere of activity as
restitution specialists while several of them
turned literary agents, handling international
copyright questions, a profession in which
legal training is an advantage. One former
Referendar, however, built up a flourishing
chocolate manufacture, while another started
a new career as a psycho-analyst.
The majority of journalists succeeded in
establishing contacts with Continental papers
and radio stations, putting to good use their
knowledge of the German language on the
one hand, and of British life on the other.
One novelist started a tea house in a
provincial beauty spot; during the slack
winter months he carries on with his writing.
Prosperous trading and manufacturing companies—frequently in the toy, handbag,
textile, and plastic trades—have been built
up from scratch by refugee business men,
sometimes thanks to helpful orders from at
least one large Anglo-Jewish chain-store
firm.
And there are some outstanding cases of
spectacular success in the arts, in musical
life, in the film industry, in the theatre.
Vicky Weiss, the cartoonist, is one of them
(he owes much of his success to the great
effort with which he studied English life and
traditions systematically before the war),
Gerard Hoffnung, who died in his middle
thirties a few years ago, was another. There
are also, in musical life, Norbert Brainin.
Berthold Goldschmidt and Franz Reizenstein, and, in theatre, Peter llling and Martin
Miller—to quote only few examples from
the long list of successful artists.
Religious problems have played an
important part in some refugee families. The
impact of suffering and tragedy has turned
a number of young people from more or less
liberal families into strictest Orthodoxy,
into the Yeshivah, into complete aloofness
from life. In other cases, the kindness
shown by English Christians to Jewish
children has prompted them to become
Christians themselves ; at least one boy.
adopted by a Quaker family, is now a
practising Quaker, and another young Jew.
brought up by Anglicans, is now a Church
of England clergyman, married to a Sundayschool teacher.
Many family surnames were changed in
the Forces and—for reasons of easy pronunciation—in business life. A few seem
to have somewhat overdone the adaption of
their names, e.g., one chose the name of a
famous British general. The majority chose
their new names skilfully and tactfully-
Page 21
Panel:
Provenance :
JAN VAN GOYEN (1596-1656)
13 by 141 inches. Signed and dated 1638
From the Collection of the Earl of Mar and Kelly.
From the Collection of Mrs, G, Hart. London.
Exhibitions : Jan van Goyen Exhibition, Museum Leiden I960, No. 37.
Gemeente Museum, Arnhem 1960, No. 37.
INCLUDED
IN THE AUTUMN
EXHIBITION
OCTOBER 18th—NOVEMBER 15th
OF THE
ALFRED BROD GALLERY
36 Sackville Street
LONDON, W.l
Telephone : Regent 7883
Page 22
Leon Zeitlin
political psycho-pathology" should be founded.
It indicates how, due to the wind of change
blowing over the four corners of the earth,
mankind is gradually becoming aware that
" some of the very greatest contrioutions to
progress in the unaerstanding of man and his
environment have been made by European
Jews , . ,". The final sentence of this address:
" We shall never know what wealth of human
talent the world has lost in the destruction of
European Jewry ", can surely be regarded as a
monumentiini aere perenniiis. confirming the
lasting achievement of the Diaspora in its
successful efforts to merge tradition and progress.
Those of our fellow Jews, who have the great
cause of Judaism at heart, will have learnt with
relief that there are also other quarters where
the wind of change is blowing away obsolete
traditions, based on intentional or thoughtless
misinterpretations. There is news from Rome
that the Catholic Church suggests steps stressing the groundlessness of the centuries-old
allegation which holds the Jews responsible for
the death of Jesus. There is good reason to
believe that the Ecumenical Council may
decree the total inconsistency of this allegation,
which has indeed been the main source of the
poisoned relationship between Jews and
Christians for almost two thousand years. In
the same spirit, the denunciation of antisemitism at the Meeting of the World Council of
Churches in New Delhi was, in Cardinal Bea's
own words, a worthy demonstration.
Internally, even in the American strongholds
of strictly Orthodox Diaspora Jews, the gap
between Orthodox and Reform Jewry, if not
closed •' in our time", should not prove
insurmountable for ever.
abounding lip-service is being paid, and ignore
the urgent need to bring them to earth.
Neither can we deny that a " Holier than
Thou " claim, or an over-sensitive touchiness
even in cases of unprejudiced criticism, or a
certain liking to " show-off" belong to the
stock-in-trade of Jewish shortcomings.
But
the multitude of international and national
Jewish Diaspora organisations (excluding those
which adhere to "right or wrong: Israel my
coimtry ") are the shock-troops of the Diaspora
Jews in their struggle for merging and, if necessary, for reconciling tradition with progress in
Jewish life.
Incidentally, the dynamic trend of our time
towards " expansion" on socio-economic
markets, leads not only to mergers, take-overs
and monopolies, but also to specialisation in
the social life of the modern Welfare State we
are heading for. It is from this point of view
that the activities of the AJR should be brought
into focus. Apart from discharging untiringly
and effectively its first raison d'etre, to secure
for its members the maximum of comptensation, the AJR has realised that one of the outstanding demands in a modern, dvnamic,
growing and affluent society, is care for
the increasing number of elderly and lonely
people. They are, indeed, the " Cindsrellas "
in our pink or red Welfare State, Taking into
account the limited number of its members,
the AJR is tackling this problem with remarkable success by helping to establish Homes
where the elderly can enjoy their days in an
adequate standard of living. These Homes are
generally recognised as models of careful providence for those who are getting too old to
look after themselves.
Though it is only a fraction of German
Jewry which has found a new homeland in this
country, the spirit of the Jewish Diaspora in
this free land is kept alive, continuing to merge
tradition and progress.
A Period of Tremendous Changes
Returning to the starting point of this
article: Though the 21 years since the foundation of the AJR are only a short span,
they were full of tremendous changes. I have
to resist the temptation to try to compress
into a nutshell the simple essence of how these
changes have influenced Judaism, Yet, paradoxical as it may sound, I dare to maintain
that, in spite of the birth of a sovereign Jewish
State, the changes which really matter for
world Jewry are of a spiritual, rather than of a
political, nature. They reveal themselves in
the growing awareness of the human responsibility towards our fellow men, Jews and nonJews alike. If we think of this attitude the
names of Leo Baeck and Martin Buber conne
to mind.
In the face of the dominating
materiafistic trend of our time, it may well be
justified to assign to Judaism the part of
spiritual democracy in a still hardly budding
" Societas Humana ", and to us Jews the function of God's gadflys with their virtues and
shortcomings.
We should not forget that, in their daily life.
Diaspora Jews are often indifferent towards
spiritual and social-ethical values to which
The article by Dr. Leon Zeitlin concludes
the series of contributions dedicated to the
anniversary of the AJR, Dr. Zeitlin's assessment of the general changes during the past
21 years helps us to see the history of the
AJR in its wider context, although readers may
not agree in every respect with his assessment.
But a record of the AJR's achievements and
tasks would be incomplete if we did not also
give some thought to ways and means whereby
the foundations of the organisation can be
preserved and strengthened. It is under this
aspect that we remind members and friends,
by way of a postscript, of the AJR Charitable
Trust, which will become increasingly important
as the financial source of the charitable
activities of the AJR. Readers can help make
this essential venture a success by bequests in
wills, by donations, and by payments under
covenant. The need to care for members of
our community will exist for a long time to
come, and it will only be possible to fulfil our
obligations if the necessary measures are taken
in time.
TRADITION AND PROGRESS
Since the beginning of the historical age,
philosophers, scientists, scholars and, of course,
historians, have reminded man that he should
learn from history. But, although time and
again the most cruel happenings in mankind's
history have confirmed the wisdom and necessity of such reminders, man's memory is
regrettably short. It might sound surprising
that the 21st anniversary of the AJR should
prompt us to ponder once more over the wisdom and never-ceasing necessity of such a
reminder. However, within the short span of
these 21 years, so many and far-reaching
new aspects of man's attitude in general, and
towards Jewry and Judaism in particular, have
developed, that no conscientious Jewish group,
however small in numbers, can escape the
challenge ensuing from the " Jewish question '.
The clear picture of '" perennial Judaism " and
its message to mankind, stands out in full and
bright relief against Hitler, his horrors and his
vain-glorious attempt to find a " final
solution ",
The high cultural standard of German Jewry
and its most valuable contribulion to that of
the Diaspora everywhere, have already been
referred to in other articles in this issue. Fortunately, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
fully realises the importance of higher education for Israeli youth and urgently seeks
the formation of a link between Israel and the
Diaspora, This attitude is not only motivated
by the desire to maintain Jewish intellectual,
moral and spiritual values, but also by t h ;
necessity of raising the level of Afro-Asian
immigrants.
Diaspora a Source of Strength
It is under this aspect that the well-balanced
and unprejudiced words of Mr. David Astor,
editor of the Observer, spoken a few months
ago to members of two important Anglo-Jewish
organisations, deserve the most careful attention of every Diaspora Jew, whose way of life
is adjusted to that of his non-Jewish fellow
citizen, unimpaired by any " Jewish disabilities ". In his first lecture, given at a meeting
of the London B'nai B'rith Lodge, Mr, Astor
dealt mainly with the Diaspora-Israel relationship. He expressed the thoughtful and thoughtprovoking view that it was rather Israel which
needed the Diaspora, than the other way
round. Only by gaining strength from the
Diaspora could Israel be spared developing into a narrow-minded racially-nationalistic State like so many others for which
self-determination has paved the way to a
nationalistic ideology. The reply of one of the
audience that " Israel will never be like another
State " does not sound very convincing.
The significance of Mr, Astor's second
address, delivered at the Commemoration
Service for the 19th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the six million Jewish
Martyrs of Nazism, reveals itself in his
courageous and imaginative suggestions that
" a centre of studies of what might be called
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Norman
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THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN TWO
BERLINS
Report on a Recent Visit
Since August. 1961. Berlin has been ruthlessK
divided into two cities, impassable for the
Berliners if not for the visitors. No German resident in the Western, i.e., the British, American
and French sectors, may cross to the Eastern,
Russian sector, unless he has a special permit,
which is extremely hard to get. And no resident
in Eastem Berlin dare cross to Western, except
on the same conditions, A foreigner and a German resident in the Western Zones may cross at
two check-points after searching examination of
his passport. There is in some ways remarkable
from Salonica, with a fine voice. There are also
two Parnassim and a beadle. On the Friday eve,
though it was the holiday season, I was surprised
to find a congregation of 150-200. There were
more women than men. as almost everywhere in
Germany, where the female population exceeds the
male by nearly one-third. The women sat separate
from the men. though most were on the same floor.
The congregation may have been bigger than
usual because we had a sermon by a visiting rabbi
from Toronto. Dr. Plaut. He is the son of a wellknown and respected civil servant of the old
Page 23
But the communitv offices next to it. a bleak place,
are still in use. t h e head of what the authorities
call •• the Community of Greater Berlin." a survivor of the concentration camps, resides there ;
and on the official notice board we read particulars
of the services which are held in a smaller synagogue. Friedenstempel (Rykestrasse). on the Friday
eve and Sabbath moming. The Sabbath morning
service is given also on the radio, presumably
for the old and the sick. The notice included
a special service for the New Moon in that
coming week.
The community owns a kosher butcher's shop,
which supplies meat regularly to Jews registered
with it. The three principal burial grounds also
are in the Eastern Sector, The oldest and the
orginal is next the site of the Aged Home which
was destroyed in the Battle of Berlin, The site
is today a pleasant well-tended garden, and the
gravestones which survived are placed against the
wall. Most bear illegible Hebrew inscriptions.
The one tombstone which has been symbolically
re-erected in its place is of Moses Mendelssohn,
and the inscription gives only the name and the
year of birth and death. A plaque by it records
that here was the cemetery from 1682—when the
first congregation was brought from Vienna by the
Elector of Brandenburg—till 1827, Another tablet
in the garden records that here was the first Old
Age Home of the Gemeinde. Here in 1942 the
Gestapo gathered the Jewish victims for transport
to the death camps, •" Fifty thousand, from infants
to old people, were gathered and sent to the camps
to be brutally murdered. Never forget. Stand
fast against war. Preserve peace." The cemetery
at Weissensee. an Eastern suburb, is kept in good
order. The Rabbi of Eastern Germany. Dr.
h. c, Martin Riesenburger, resides close to it,
Bui the dead of Western Berlin are no longer
brought there, as they were till last year. A new
ground has been acquired in the Western Sector.
The Jewish hospital, in the French Sector close
to Ihe Wall, is about to be given up by the
community. It was restored to them after the
war. and has been in use since 1946 : but most of
the patients were not Jews, and the upkeep is
too heavy a charge. So it will be taken over by
the " Land'" Berlin. One recent gesture of
reconciliation and friendliness was made by a
Municipality in Western Berlin, A street in
Zehlendorf. by the wooded outskirts of the town,
has been named after Leo Baeck. It is not, and
was not. the area of a Jewish quarter. But it is well
that the future generations of Berliners may know
the name of that noble citizen. Lastly, it is
notable that a Jewish Professor of Hebrew has
been appointed at the famous Humboldt University, in Eastern Berlin, and was brought from
Israel.
Memorial al Crosse Haiiiljurger Sirasse
likeness, and in other ways remarkable difference,
between the two cities of Berlin and the two cities
of Jerusalem. In both the rigid barrier of Iron
Curtains, miles of barbed wire and tank traps cut
off the cities from each other ; in both there is
utter breakdown of human communication. But
while in Berlin the barriers are erected against
two sections of the same people, many families
are cruelly divided, and there is a desperate desire
by thousands to escape as from a prison or concentration camp—leading to tragic incidents daily
—in Jerusalem the barriers cut off intercourse
between two nations. Jews and Arabs, who have in
great measure a different way of life, the segregation affects the relations of only small groups,
and the bulk of the population have adjusted themselves to the division.
Two Synagogues in West Berlin
Recently I had the opportunity to see something
of the communal life on either side. In the
Western sector, with its five thousand Jews, there
are two large synagogues. One is in the Joachimsthaler Strasse : and adjoining it the communal
offices, a youth club and kindergarten. The
service is Orthodox, and is well attended on Friday
eve and Sabbath morning. The other is a Liberal
congregation in the Pestalozzi Strasse. It is an
^ d building, which was wrecked on the " Crystal
Night •• of the pogrom. November, 1938. and was
restored and reopened in 1947. During the period
of the war the shell, so we were told, was used
as a laundry. It has been carefully rebuilt in the
old style and is well equipped. It "has a scholarly
rabbi of the old school and a chazan, originally
community before and during the Hitler regime
and had preached in this synagogue 25 years
ago. while he was still a student. He was
a favourite son. who had made good in America.
and brought a hopeful message. A sad note
came at the end of the service, when the rabbi
read the names of six members of the congregation, all women, who had died that week. That
is a terribly heavy death-rate, and the congregation was of old men and women—only two
children.
The West Berlin community has an attractive
community centre, built and given by the Municipality, on the ruins of the old fashionable synagogue in the Fasanen Strasse. in the heart of the
West End, A few Moorish columns from the old
structure have been preserved, and are worked
into the fabric of the modern building. Here are
bright lecture-halls and classrooms, the seat of
the B"nai B'rith lodge, a library and a refectory,
ample space for art exhibitions, and a quiet
sheltered garden. One or two young men from
Israel, teachers and students at the same time,
bring fresh life into the adult education centre,
Oranienburger Strasse
The Eastern Sector, with not more than seven
hundred Jews—many of whom receive a pension
from the State—and a continually diminishing
remnant, contains more of the historic sites of
the old community, which, as is usual, was in
the Eiast End of the city. The main synagogue
of the Hitler period, in the Oranienburger Strasse.
was completely wrecked and has not been rebuilt.
AJR
CHARITABLE TRUST
These are the ways in which you can help:
CONTRIBUTIONS UNDER
COVENANT
(in lieu of vour membership subscription
to the AJR).
A Covenant commits the covenanter
for a period of seven years or during
Ills life, whichever period is shorter.
GIFTS IN YOUR LIFETIME
A BEQUEST IN YOUR WILL
Ask for particulars from: The Secretary,
AJR Charitable Trust. 8 Fairfax Mansions,
London. N,W,3,
Space donated by
TRADE CUTTERS LIMITED
Britannia Works, 25 St, Pancras Wav, N,W,1
Page 24
NBWS FROM ABROAD
ALGERIAN JEWRY
SOVIET RUSSIA
Refugees in France
Cultural Problems
Algerian Jews are threatened with the loss of
their factories and farms in Algeria if they do
not return there within one month of a new decree
to be published in the Algerian Official Gazette,
Several thousand Jews are believed to be immediately involved and the value of their property
must run into many millions of pounds, though
no exact estimate is available.
This is a result of an ultimatum from the
Provisional Algerian Executive in Algiers, which
announced that unless industrial plants, businesses
and farms considered essential to the national
economy were put into working order by their
owners within the next four weeks, the authorities would themselves take control.
French officials agree that the new measures
are unlikely to induce refugees to return from
France to Algeria,
In France, President de Gaulle is reported to
have accepted that the relief programme for refugees is insufficient. The plans produced when the
inflow of refugees first started have proven most
inadequate. As many as 85 per cent of the newcomers have so far failed to integrate themselves
into the normal life of France, and the great
majority are unemployed.
According to a statement by seven American
Jewish organisations marking the tenth anniversary of the execution of 24 leading Jewish intellectuals, Stalin's policy of Jewish cultural extinction
remained essentially unaltered under the rule ot
Mr. Khruschev, "The terror is gone", the statement declared. " but the policy of extinguishing
every spark of Jewish consciousness and identity
continues,"
Pointing out that there were no Jewish schools
and that Jewish history and culture could not
be taught even in the Russian language, the statement declared that official Soviet policy today
perpetuated the Stalin policy of depriving Soviet
Jewry of continuity with its past and of free
expression in the present. Ten years after the
executions, stated the American Jewish leaders,
there was no way other than public apology and
full rehabilitation to make reparation for the
murdered writers.
As a gesture of identification with Soviet Jewry
on the tenth anniversary of the execution of the
24 Jewish intellectuals on the orders of Stalin, a
square in Tel Aviv is to be named in honour of
Solomon Mikhoels, the Soviet Jewish actor and
theatrical director,—(J,C.)
Those Who Remain
There are no Jews among the 196 candidates
nominated for election in the Algerian Constituent Assembly.
Fifty inmates of the Home for Aged Jews in
the Bab el Oued Jewish quarter remain uncertain
of their fate, but the possiljility of opening the Ort
school in the city is being examined.—(J.C.)
Rabbis Gaoled in Georgia
A number of rabbis were among 70 clergymen
arrested by the police in Albany, Georgia, during
a prayer meeting to protest against racial segregation.
Attempts to reach Rabbi Israel Dresner, leader
of the Jewish contingent, and other rabbis in
prison were unavailing, as the police refused to
put through any calls.—(J.C.)
THE ARGENTINE
There has been a new wave of antisemitic
violence in Argentina, One of the worst incidents was a machine-gun attack at dawn on a
theatre where Bernard Kops's " Hamlet of
Stepney Green" was being presented. In the
heart of Buenos Aires, a Jewish tourist agency
was also machine-gunned and. at the entrance to
a local high school, bands of Nazi hooligans set
upon Jewish students.
But the same week also saw the first arrests
of people with known Nazi records. Three men
were held by the police after the latest incidents,
D.A.I.A,. the Jewish representative organisation,
made a vigorous protest to the Minister of the
Interior and the chief of police after the new
outbreak, demanding severe punishment for the
offenders and the adoption of legal measures for
the eradication of Nazism.—(J.C,)
JEWS IN BRAZILIAN ARMY
Colonel Isaac Nahon. a member of the Rio de
Janeiro local Sephardi community, has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General in the
Brazilian Army. He is the third Jew to attain
this rank in 1962.
SWEDISH JEWS HONOUR THEIR KING
Swedish Jews will plant a forest in Israel in the
name of King Gustav VI of Sweden, to mark his
SOth birthday on November 11.
The forest is intended as a token of Swedish
Jewry's " respect, gratitude and devotion" to
their monarch.
DANISH KING'S GIFT TO ORPHANS
King Frederik IX of Denmark has given
$10,000 in scholarships for the children of heroes
of the wartime Resistance movement.
The funds were presented to the King by the
Claims Conference delegates who met in Copenhagen last March, as a token of Jewish grafitude
to the King and people of Denmark for their
humane attitude towards Jewry during the war
years. The scholarships are to be allocated by
Professor Carl Iversen. Rector of Copenhagen
University.—(J.C.)
Wartime Murderers Sentenced
Six Russians who participated in the liquidation
of the Jewish community of Radom and assisted
in the arrest and deportation to the death camp
of Trebiinka of some 20.000 Jews, were sentenced
to death by a Soviet tribunal at Krasnodar, North
Caucasia, They were all members of the White
Russian anti-Communist group which co-operated
with the Nazis after Hitler's invasion of Russia,—
(J.C.)
SOUTH AFRICA
Anti-Jewish Propaganda
South African Jewry, through their Board of
Deputies, have requested the introduction of
legislation to deal with racial or rehgious incitement.
In his report to the biennial congress of the
Board, which recently took place in Johannesburg, the Chairman. Dr, Teddy Schneider,
referred to " sporadic manifestations of anti-Jewish
propaganda and of provocative actions against
the Jewish community,"
These included synagogue daubings, an explosion at Johannesburg's Great Synagogue, damage
to the Martyrs' Memorial at West Park Cemetery,
and the distribution of antisemitic literature.
A resolution affirming the loyalty of the Jewish
community to the South African Republic and
praying for the lasting peace, prosperity and progress of all its citizens, was unanimously passed
by the congress.
The main speaker at the opening session was
Sir Barnett Janner. M.P,. President of the Board
of Deputies of British Jews,—(J.C.)
Funds for Mosley CoUected
Mr. William Webster, an associate of Sir
Oswald Mosley, stated in Johannesburg that he
had come to South Africa to raise funds for the
Union movement in Britain, He needed the
South African money to fight elections in Britain
on the slogan of " Keep Britain White", Mr.
Webster, added : " My trip has been worthwhile—
I have had a lot of response from importers and
industrialists here whose names I carmot
disclose,"—(J,C.)
ANGLO-JUDAICA
Antisemitism Discussed on TV
Sir Henry d'Avigdor-Goldsmid. M.P.. the
Rev. W, W. Simpson, General Secretary of the
Council of Christians and Jews, and the Rev, Bill
Sargent, founder of the Yellow Star Movement,
took part in a discussion on " Persecution of the
Jews " televised in the regular " About Religion "
series, Mr, Anthony Greenwood presided.
Sir Henry put forward the view that if antisemitism is still alive, it has at least undergone a
transformation since the pre-war era. Today, it
is no longer possible for any " decent" person to
express antisemitic views.
Yellow Star Movement
The Rev, Bill Sargent and Mr, Harry Green,
the joint founders of the Yellow Star Movement,
have clarified their aims in a statement.
The result of recent trials of persons accused
of provoking violence had underlined the need
for specific legislation against racial incitement.
To get such legislation put on the Statute Book
was the aim of the national petition being
organised by the Yellow Star Movement, and they
would put that in the forefront of their
endeavours.
Legislation Against Racial Incitement
The Board of Deputies has decided to take an
active part, together with other organisations, in
petitioning the Home Office for adequate legislation against racial incitement. It is consulting
all responsible anti-fascist groups with a view to
taking every possible step to ensure that the
petition is successful,—(J,C,)
Nazi Leaflets
Mr, Marcus Lipton. Labour M.P, for Brixton,
was told in a letter from the Home Office that the
police had decided there was insufficient evidence
lo prevent leaflets bearing a picture of Hitler and
the caption " Hitler was Right " from being distributed by the National Socialist Movement,
Mr. Lipton stated that the reply was "most
unsatisfactory " and that he intt;nded raising the
matter again when Parliament reassembled.
Weedkiller Bomb Damages Synagogue
Scotland Yard is continuing its investigaUons in
connection with the bomb outrages at the Adath
Yisroel Synagogue in Stoke Newington,
The bomb—made from a weedkiller packed into
a galvanised pipe and detonated by a rag fuse—
exploded in front of the synagogue, three-quarters
of an hour after the Friday evening service had
ended. The synagogue was empty and its iron
gates locked.
Greetings from Moscow
The .Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Ramsey, on
his return from the Soviet Union recently, brought
warm greetings for Dr. Israel Brodie, the Chief
Rabbi, from Rabbi Levin, the Chief Rabbi of
Moscow, The Moscow Chief Rabbi's greetings
were conveyed during a British Embassy party in
honour of the Archbishop.
Rabbi Levin's message was in reply to, and in
appreciation of, a message of goodwill which Dr.
Brodie sent to him through the Archbishop.
Cinema Becomes Synagogue
Planning permission "in principle" has been
received for the reconstruction of the Tudor
Cinema and Ballroom, Giffnock, and its conversion
into a synagogue for the Giffnock and Newlands
Hebrew Congregation, and for the provision of a
Hebrew school, a Jewish Youth Centre and a
Community Centre for the whole of Glasgow
Jewry.
Sale of Bachad Farm
Bachad Farm, Thaxted, the training farm of the
Bachad Fellowship, is to be sold, and a smaller
centre nearer London bought " to serve as a rallying point for Jewish youth in the Metropolitan
area". Explaining the move, the Hon. Officers
of the Fellowship state that they feel that a greater
emphasis must be laid on providing cultural and
recreational activities for religious youth in
London itself.
Page 25
OM Acquaintances
FROM THE AMERICAN AND
GERMAN SCENES
NO ACTION AGAINST AMERICAN NAZIS
Mr. Robert Kennedy, Attorney-General of the
United States, although he agrees that " the
odious Nazi doctrine has no place in this country ", has stated in a letter to the " Jewish Press "
of Brooklyn that his Department will take no
action against American Nazis unless and until
they commit an overt act in violation of the law.
This was in answer to the newspaper's questions
about the intention of the Justice Department.
The American Nazi Party, which is headed by
George Lincoln Rockwell, " represents only a few
distorted individuals and is anathema to almost
every other citizen ", said Mr. Kennedy,
But the " Jewish Press " was not satisfied with
Mr. Kennedy's answer and, in an editorial
headed " We can learn from the British ", advocates that the public takes matters into its own
hands if law enforcement officers allow Rockwell
to speak. Another newspaper, the " National
Jewish Post and Opinion", also demands more
vigorous action against American Nazis,
Congressman Seymour Halpern, New York
Republican, has put forward the argument to
Mr. Kennedy that Rockwell should be required
to register as a foreign agent because he participated in the recent Nazi meeting in England and
signed an agreement for the establishment of a
Nazi International, Rockwell, who boasted on
his return of the way he dodged the British
police, has said that the proposed Nazi body
would annihilate " international Jewish Communism and the Zionist machine of treason and
subversion.'—(J.C,)
AMERICAN PRESS ON EICHMANN TRIAL
According to a survey conducted by the
American Jewish Committee, almost all American
newspapers saw in the Eichmann trial a warning
against all forms of prejudice and the continuing
threat of totalitarianism to democracy.
However, the 88-page document also shows
that only a minority of American newspapers
touched on the underlying causes of Nazism and
the world's failure to prevent the annihilation of
European Jewry.
The vast majority of newspapers found that
the proceedings had been conducted with
" impressive dignity", " remarkable restraint"
and " scrupulous fairness". As the trial progressed, the question of universal Christian
responsibility for prejudice against Jews came to
the fore. Many Catholic publicafions stressed
Christian aid to Jews during the Nazi period.—
(J.C.)
ANTISEMITISM AMONG NEGROES
A strike of non-medical employees of a Jewish
hospital in New York, Beth-El, has, in the opinion
of a prominent union leader, been settled just in
time to avoid an open outbreak of anti-Jewish
feeling among the Negroes and Puerto Ricans of
New York City. The strike of the Beth-El
employees, most of them Negro and Puerto Rican,
was called off on the promise of Governor Rockefeller of New York to seek legislation extending
the right of hospital workers to collective bargaining. The strike was supported by Jewish
workers.
The union leader spoke of the long-standing
antisemitism of the Negro people, and now also
of the Puerto Ricans, in their Manhattan Ghetto,
tftey have seen only one side of the Jew—his
1? i / ^ landlord of their slum tenements or as
the Harlem merchant living better than themselves
trom his "exploitation" of them.
Students of Negro antisemitism. both White
and Coloured, have found that Negroes expect a
different behaviour from Jews than from other
Whites.
Considerable effort is being expended by Jewish
defence organisations to bring about a better
understanding between Jew and Negro,—(J.C,)
GHETTO RISING REMEMBRANCE DAY
President Kennedv has signed a resolution proclaiming April 23rd, 1963, as a national day of
commemoration for the uprising in the Warsaw
Ghetto against the Nazis. The date chosen is
based on the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the
uprising.
MEMORIAL IN OBERHAUSEN
A Memorial Room for the victims of Nazism
was recently consecrated in Oberhausen (Ruhr),
The ceremony was one of the first official acts
during the Festival Week arranged to mark the
100th anniversary of the City, The room which
is located in the rebuilt castle by documents and
photos, commemorates the persecution of the Jews.
Some time ago the Mayor. Frau Luise Albertz,
had issued an invitation to former Jewish citizens,
of Oberhausen to attend the anniversary celebrations,
CATHOLIC DACHAU EX-PRISONERS MEET
About 100 Roman Catholic priests from seven
countries who had been prisoners of the Dachau
Concentration Camp met in Munster (Westf,).
The occasion was the Golden Jubilee as a priest
of Domkapitular Reinhold Friedichs (Munster)
who had spent four years in Dachau, As
" Blockaeitester " he had tried to ease the lot of
his fellow-prisoners who included the Bishops of
Prague and Clermond-Ferrand.
MENGELE WAS IN ARGENTINA
The Assistant Public Prosecutor of Frankfurt.
Herr Hanns Grossman, in an interview with a
correspondent of one of Brazil's leading newspapers, stated that Josef Mengele, the S,S, doctor
responsible for, the notorious medical experiments
at Auschwitz, was definitely in Argentina in 1959
when the West German Government requested his
extradition.
While confidential negotiations between the
Bonn Government and the Argentine authorities
were in the process of completion, he said, the
.Argentine Minister of the Interior held a Press
conference at which he announced that Mengele
was not in the country, taking the Bonn Govemment completely by surprise.-—^J.C.)
CHELMNO MASSACRE TRIAL
At Bonn, in November, thirteen men will stand
trial charged with the murder or complicity in the
murder of some 130,000 Jews in the Nazi extermination camp at Chelmno, near Poznan.
Only two survivors of Chclmno, who will be
among the principal witnesses, have been traced
in Israel.
DESECRATION NEAR BERGEN-BELSEN
Swastikas and inscriptions reading " Jews to the
concentration camps " and " Jews must die " were
daubed on the walls of the 250-year-old cemetery
at Celle. near Bergen-Belsen, No arrests have
been made,—(J,C,)
SUICIDE OF S.S. MAN
Hermann Hoefle, a former S,S. company commander, hanged himself in his prison cell in
Vienna, He was awaiting trial on charges of
murdering Jews in Lublin and Warsaw during
1942 and 1943.
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Personal attention of Mr, W. Schachmann.
Home \ews : Dorothea Gotfurt's new comedy
" Of Mink and Men", an amusing and hghthearted satire of the " This is Your Life" TV
show, was successfully produced in Richmond.—
Cameraman Otto Heller shot " Life for Ruth ".—
Don't miss Lotte Lenya in " Brecht on Brecht "
at the Royal Court Theatre,—Paul Rotha's " Life
of Adolf Hitler ". based on an outline by Robert
Neumann and Helga Koppel, can be seen in the
late night show at the Academy, Oxford Street.
Germany ; Gustav Froehlich, the former film
star, appeared in " Prinz von Homburg" at the
Hanover Theatre,—Lilian Harvey and her partner
of long standing. Willy Fritsch, will appear in
Olias's
" Geldschrank-Ballade"
at
Berlin's
Hebbel-Theater.—Martin Berliner and Walter
Fein are in the Berlin performance of " The
Tenth Man." adapted by Eric Burger,—Kaethe
Haak, who recently celebrated her 65th birthday,
will be in the Munich production of " My Fair
Lady ', with Sonja Zieman and W, Lukschy.—W.
Dieterle will produce O'Hara's " Das grosse
Vorbild" on TV.—Minister Lemmer invited
Robert Siodmak to show his American film.
" Tunnel 28 ". at Berlin's Kongresshalle,
Posl-tcar Refugee: Jack Garfein's first picture,
•• Something Wild ". starring his wife, Carroll Baker,
of '• Baby Doll " fame, was shown in London last
month, .\l the age of eleven he was deported
to Auschwitz with his mother, father and sister.
As he was tall for his age and able to work he
survived, but his family perished in Bergen-Belsen,
Liberated by the Allies in 1945, Garfein was sent
to Sweden to recuperate, crippled, with no will to
live. Nurse Hedvig Ekberg helped him back to
life and restored his health.
He went to the
United States to join relatives there. First he
worked in a hotel and studied acting in his spare
time. Erwjn Piscator gave him an opportunity as
a producer and. shortly afterwards he successfully
directed plays in theatres off Broadway.
i\eu!s from Everywhere : After 30 years Elizabeth Bergner will again appear in a German film.
She has signed a contract with Hamburg's Walter
Koppel to take a role in "Time and the Conways ". based on Priestley's work and directed by
John Olden,—Robert Jungk attended the International Writers' Conference in Edinburgh and the
" Pugwash " meeting in London : his TV film
series " Europa—Richtung 2000 " will be shown
all over the world shortly,—After 44 years Manfred Fuerst will again appear on a German stage,
he will have the part of " Kalchas" in the
"Troilus und Cressida " performance in Hamburg.
—Dr, Bermann-Fischer broke off his negotiations
with Dumont-Schauberg in Cologne to sell shares
of his publishing business S, Fischer.—The
Albanian Embassy in Vienna showed a short film
about Alexander Moissi; he was claimed as " a
great Albanian artist" because he had acquired
Albanian citizenship after leaving Germany.
Obituary:
Willi Schaeffers. compere, actor
("White Horse Inn") and discoverer of many
stars, died in Munich aged 77, Born in Landsberg, he started with Rudolf Nelson and became
director of Berlin's " Kabarett der Komiker " after
1933,—Three actors have died in Berlin: 75-yearold Paul Guenther. who started with Reinhardt.
74-year-old Franz Weber, who hailed from
Koenigsberg and came to Berlin at the instigation
of Leopold Jessner: and 52-year-old Axel Monje.
who collapsed on the stage in Berlin whilst playing
the part of Pickering in " My Fair Lady ",—Nora
Nickisch. the actress daughter of the late conductor, has died in New Jersey.—Painter Franz
Heckendorf. a pupil of Lovis Corinth, died in
Munich at the age of 73, From 1943 to 1945 he
was imprisoned in a concentration camp,—German poet. Rudolf Alexander Schroeder, died in
Bad Wiessee aged 84.
Books and .Authors ; John H. Kisch. London,
correspondent of Munich's " Quick " has written
•' An International Casebook of Crime ". together
with H. Montgomery Hyde, to be published by
Barrie
& Rockcliff,—Pem's
twelve-year-old
•' Heimweh nach dem Kurfuerstendamm " h a s now
appeared as a paper-back ediuon. published by
Lothar Blanvalet,—Eugen Guerster,
former
Cultural Attache of the German Embassy in
London, has had his " Schriftsteller im Kreuzfeuer
der Ideologien" published by Anto Pustel
Verlag.—Gina Falkenberg's new novel " Penny
wird entdeckt" was published in Germany.
PEM
Page 26
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Page 27
TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF
REPARATIONS AGREEMENT
RESTITUTION AND COMPENSATION
AGREEMENT WITH SIEMENS
PAUSCHALENTSCHAEDIGUNG FUER
VERSCHLEUDERUNGSSCHADEN IM
VERGLEICHSWEGE IN BERLIN
Compensation for former Jewish Forced Labour
Camp Inmates
An agreement has been made between the
Claims Conference and the firm of Siemens &
Halske A.G,. Berlin/Munich, in favour of former
Jewish concentration camp inmates who had to
do forced labour for the firm of Siemens during
the Second World War. Only those persons are
entitled to claim compensation who were
incarcerated in a concentration camp owing to
their Jewish descent and had to do forced labour
for Siemens,
The Compensation Treuhand
G.m.b.H,, Frankfurt/Main. Stauffen Strasse 29a.
has been entrusted with the execution of the
agreement.
N'ach § 51 Abs, 3 des Bundesentschaedigungsgesetzes haben Verfolgte Anspruch auf Entschaedigung, wenn sie ihnen gehoerende Sachen haben im
Stich lassen muessen, weil sie, um nationalsozialistischen Gewaltmassnahmen zu entgehen
ausgewandert oder geflohen sind oder in der
Illegalitaet gelebt haben. oder weil sie aus Verfolgungsgruenden ausgewiesen oder deportiert
worden sind.
Zwecks Vermeidung zeitraubender Ermittlungen ist das Entschaedigungsamt
Berlin
ermaechtigt worden. bei der Regelung der Ansprueche ' auf
Entschaedigung wegen Verschleuderungsschadens kuenftig wie folgt zu verfahren :
Bei Antraegen auf Entschaedigung fuer Verschleuderungsschaden kann ohne Ruecksicht auf
die Groesse der Wohnung ein Vergleich in Hoehe
von 2.000,—DM abgeschlossen werden.
Es
bleibt jedem Antragsteller unbenommen. nachzuweisen. das der ihm entstaendene Verschleuderungsschaden unter Beruecksichfigung des
5%igen Zuschlages fuer Nutzungsentgang den
Betrag von 2.000.—DM uebersteigt,
Diese Regelung setzt das Vorhandensein einer
eigenen. vollstaendig eingerichteten Wohnung
voraus,
Antragsteller. die als Inhaber von
Leerzimmern oder teilmoeblierten Zimmern nur
wenige Moebelstuecke durch Verschleuderung
eingebuesst haben. sind in die vergleichsweise
Regelung nicht einbezogen worden.
RETIREMENT OF NAZI JUDGES
According to the report of the Federal Ministry
of Justice, 149 judges and public prosecutors who
had taken part in terror proceedings under the
Nazi regime have made use of the opportunity
to apply for voluntary retirement unfil June 30,
Two further judges who had not submitted their
applications in time, have in the meantime been
pensioned off " for health reasons ", Eight judges
and four prosecutors belonging to the same category are still in office. At present the question
is under consideration whether the time limit for
voluntary retirement should be reopened or
whether the judges concemed should be eliminated
by decree, a step which would necessitate an
amendment to the Bonn Constitution,
On September lOth, ten years had passed since,
as the result of negofiafions at The Hague, an
agreement was signed by which the German
Federal Republic undertook to deliver goods of
a total value of DM 3 milliard to Israel and to
pay DM 450 million to the "Conference on
Jewish Material Claims against Germany" for
Jewish victims of Nazism outside Israel, In a
message, published in the " Allgemeine Wochenzeitung der Juden in Deutschland" of September 7th. Federal Chancellor Dr. Adenauer recalls
that the date at which the agreement was signed,
was an important day not only for GermanJewish relations, but also for Germany's position
in the world,
Altbundespraesident
Prof,
Heuss writes that though payments cannot extinguish the happenings of the past, they have their
moral value expressing the determination to start
a new chapter in German history, Dr, F. E,
Shinnar, head of the Israel Mission in Cologne,
states that during the past ten years, the obligations laid down in the Agreement had been fulfilled
by the Germans; for Israel the economic effect had
been that it could cover 12 per cent of its total
annual import by the deliveries under the Agreement.
Messages of Politicians
The issue also carries messages, among others,
from Erich Ollenhauer Chairman of the
Social Democratic Party. Dr, Ludwig Erhard.
Minister of Economics. Dr, Thomas Dehler. VicePresident of the Federal Parliament, Ludwig
Rosenberg. Vice-Chairman of the German Trade
Union Federation. Erich Lueth (Hamburg), and
Praelat D. Hermann Maas (Heidelberg),
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Page 28
AJR I N F O R M A T I O N October, 1962
UNITY IN DISPERSION
Conference of the Council of Jews from Germany
Past achievements and new tasks were debated
at the Conference of the Council of Jews from
Germany held in London on August 26 under the
chairmanship of Dr, Siegfried Moses (Jerusalem),
President of the Council,
The meeting was
attended by the London representatives of the
Council and by delegates from Israel, the United
States, South America, Belgium and France. At
the beginning of the Conference Dr, Hans Reichmann (London) recalled the losses sustained by
the Council by the death of two of its leading
members, Dr, Kurt Alexander (New York) and
Senatsrat a.D. Ernst Berent (London).
The first report was given by Mr, Bruno Woyda
(London) who took over the office of the
Hon, Secretary after the death of Mr. Berent. He
first gave a survey of the assets allocated to the
Council out of the heirless, unclaimed and communal Jewish property recovered in Germany, and
their distribution among the organisations of Jews
from Germany in various countries for the implementation of their social and cultural tasks. Other
activities of the Council included the preparation
of a Memorial Book in which the life stories and
achievements of those Jewish communal workers
in Germany were to be recorded who perished
under the Nazi regime. Their memory will also
be honoured by a Memorial Album to be exhibited in the Memorial Room of the Council which
has been established in the house of the Wiener
Library (London). Turning to questions of publicity, Mr, Woyda referred to the Council's bulletin, " Council Correspondence", edited by Mr,
Heinz Gerling (Jerusalem) which was sent to
organisations of Jews from Germany all over the
world carried reports on the experiences and
activifies of the Council's constituents.
Dr. Walter Breslauer (London), a Vice-President of the Council, reported on questions of
restitution and compensafion. The representatives
of the Council including, apart from himself. Mr,
A, Dresel (London) and Dr. F. Goldschmidt
(London), had been in constant contact with thc
FAMILY EVENTS
Entries in the column Family Events
are free of charge.
Texts should he
sent in by the 18th of the month.
Birthday
Kohlmeier.—Mr,
Bernhard
Kohlmeier. of 6 Burgess Park Mansions,
Fortune Green. N.W.6. will celebrate
his SOth birthday on October Sth.
Deaths
Chotzen.—Mr,
Richard
Chotzen
passed away on August 26th, in his
93rd year. Deeply mourned by his
wife. Grete Chotzen, 58 Belsize Park.
N.W,3. his daughter. Suzanne Lackner
(nee Chotzen), Megeve (France), and
granddaughter, Helene,
Samuely.—Mrs. Helen Samuely passed
away on September l l t h in her 83rd
yeaf. Deeply mourned by her daughter
dau2hter-in-law. relatives and
friends, "7 Oakhill House, Oakhill
Way, N . 3 .
AJR CLUB
Zion Houss. 57 Eton Avenue, N.W.3
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2 1 ,
at 4.30 p.m.
RUDI CFFENBACH :
MY TRIP T O
U.S.A.
(With Lantern Slides)
German authorities concerned. During the past
year they had repeatedly visited Germany and put
forward the demands of the former German Jews,
especially with regard to the " Bundesrueckerstattungsgesetz " and the Final Law on Compensation (" Wiedergutmachungsschlussgesetz "),
The reports were followed by a lively discussion.
The first part of the Afternoon .Session was
devoted to reports by delegates concerning the
financial support required by their organisations
for the implementation of their social schemes,
particularly for the establishment and running of
Homes for the Aged, T h e delegates from the
United States in particular stressed their problems
arising from high living costs, the limited health
and social services and the difficulties of obtaining
adequate funds from other Jewish sources. Their
plea was taken into account when the allocation
of the Council's funds for the years 1963 and
1964 was fixed by the Conference. It was also
realised that a serious situation was bound to
arise when the funds out of the heirless property
were exhausted and when the payments of the
German Federal Republic to the " Claims Conference " came to an end according to the terms
of the Hague Agreement. Therefore, the Jews
trom Germany themselves would have to take the
necessary steps to make sure that their social work
could be carried on beyond this period.
Problems of " Moral Indemnification "
The next point on the agenda was headed
" Moral Indemnification ". It was introduced by
Dr, Curt Silberman (New York), the newly
elected Chairman of the American Federation of
Jews from Germany, The questions dealt with in
Dr, Silberman's opening remarks and in the
ensuing debate concerned the relationship of the
Council to Germany and to the Jews in Germany,
Whilst it was generally agreed that it could not be
the task of the Council to become active in the
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required by man of 66. Good
references. Box 139,
F O R M E R R E P R E S E N T A T I V E for
Stationery, Storekeeper for Corsetry,
experienced
import/export
documentation ; held last job 7i years,
seeks suitable work. Box 140.
SUPERVISORY A N D C A T E R I N G
job in Hotel, Canteen. Restaurant
wanted. Trained in Vienna. Good
references. Box 142.
SENIOR SALES L E D G E R CLERK,
experienced in credit control, hire purchase, following u p overdue accounts.
Good references.
Seeks permanent
progressive position. Box 143,
political sphere, most of those present felt that
this need not apply to cultural and educational
tasks, e.g., by helping to ensure an undistorted
conception of the history of the Jews in Germany up to 1933 and an honest record of the
anti-Jewish measures under the Nazi regime. It
was not the object of this debate to arrive at
definite decisions, but rather to air the general
feelings
among
the representatives
of the
Council's constituents.
The last point under discussion arose from the
fact that the forthcoming year, 1963, will have an
historical meaning for our community. It will be
30 years after the Nazis' ascent to power and
the boycott of April Ist, and 25 years after the
November pogroms which signified the beginning
of the destruction not only of German Jewry but
ultimately of Jewry all over Nazi-occupied
Europe. It is planned that the Council's constituents mark the occasion by representative mass
meetings on or near November lOth, 1963. These
functions should not be restricted to remembering
the past but should give prominence to the
rehabilitation of German Jewry in their countries
of resettlement, to their difficulties, achievements
and hopes for the future. The meetings should thus
be a world-wide manifestation of the solidarity and
strength of the remnants of German Jewry. The
Conference also considered the possibihty of
organising, in addition to these local meetings, a
re-union in Israel of former German Jews and it
was decided that the constituents should find out
whether there would be sufficient interest in such
a scheme among their members. (Particulars for
prospective participants in this country are published in this issue,—Ed,)
In the course of the Conference, which lasted
from 10 o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock
in the evening, a wide ground was covered. There
are few organisations of Jews from Europe
which have retained their readiness and capacity
for joint action to such an extent as have the
former German Jews under the auspices of the
Council of Jews from Germany,
Two days after the Council Conference the Leo
Baeck Institute held a meeting which was attended
by its Board members from Great Britain, Israel
and the United States and at which a number of
research and publication plans were discussed.
Women
S E C R E T A R Y / P E R S O N A L ASSISTA N T , many years' experience, bi-lingual English/German, requires senior
position of responsibility and trust.
Box 132.
AJR Attendance Service
W O M E N available to care for sick
people and invalids, as companions
and sitters-in : full- or part-time (not
residential). 'Phone M A I . 4449.
AJR Needlewoman Service
W O M E N available for alterafions,
mending, handicrafts.
'Phone M A I .
4449,
MISSING PERSONS
Miscellaneous
Personal Enquiries
S U P E R F L U O U S H A I R safely and Nehemias.—Ursula Nehemias. who
permanently removed by qualified came to England with a children's
Physiotherapist
and
Electrolysist, transport, sought by her uncle.
Facials.
Body
massage.
Visits Carlos Leibholz, Guide Spano. 645
arranged. Mrs, Dutch, D,R.E.. 239 Bernal F.C,G,R„ Prov, Buenos Aires,
Willesden Lane. N,W,2, Tel,: WIL- Argentina.
lesden 1849,
5ft. W A R D R O B E T R U N K wanted.
SELF AID OF REFUGEES
Box 144,
S.R.N. Experienced secretary requires
post in London area end of October.
Box 134.
Personal
LADY would like to meet cultured,
middle-aged gentleman of strong personalitv with a view to friendship.
Box 141.
REFINED
WIDOW,
Continental
origin considered good looking. 59.
independent means, pleasant home,
cultured,
domesticated,
wants
to
meet cultured non-Orthodox genfieman between 60-70. Object matrimony.
Replies treated in strict
confidence. Box 131,
CULTURED
WIDOW,
German
origin. 57 years old, independent
means, own house, would like to
meet gentleman up to 65 years in
similar circumstanes. Object matrimony
Box 133.
CONCERT
on
Wednesday, November 14
at 7.30 p.m.
at Wigmore Hall, W.l
THE ENGLISH CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA
Leader: Emanuel Hurwitz
Conductor and Soloist:
PAUL TORTELIER
Tickets at
4 gns., 3 gns., 2 gns., and 1 guinea
SELF AID O F REFUGEES
l b Swiss Terrace,
Belsize Road, N.W.6
PRIimose '> 15112
Page 29
IN MEMORIAM
DR. GIORA JOSEPHTHAL
RICHARD CHOTZEN
Dr. Giora (Georg) Josephthal, Israel's Minister
of Housing and Development, has died in Switzerland, where he had hoped to recover from a
severe illness. He was only 50 years old.
Dr. Josephthal was born at Nuremberg of a
family active in German-Jewish life for generations. From his early youth he dedicated himself
to his Jewish community. He was an enthusiastic
Zionist and soon became a prominent leader of
Zionist youth.
National Socialism prevented him finishing
studies in Germany and he graduated from
Basle University. He then returned to Germany
and, as Director of the Youth Aliyah Otfice, gave
all the enthusiasm and great energy at his command to the task, not only of bringing youth but
aiso arms lo Palestine, often at great personal risk.
When in 1938 he emigrated to Palestine he
resumed these activities, as it were on the other
side of the border. He devoted himself to the
integration of newcomers and was active in the
acquisition of arms for " Haganah". Later, he
became head of the Jewish Agency's Absorption
Department. Thanks to his efforts the settlement
of many many thousands of immigrants became
possible.
Since his arrival in Palestine he was a member
of the Kibbutz Gal Ed and, together with his
wife Senta. was very active in its administration •
he remained deeply attached to the Kibbutz all
his life.
During the Second World War Josephtha! served
for three years in the British Army. In 1952 he
was appointed Treasurer of the Jewish Agency,
He took a leading part in the Israeli reparation
negotiations with Germany at the Hague, There
he tried to reconcile general interests with individual claims. In a critical period experienced
by Mapai, he accepted the post of its SecretaryGeneral and led the party to its prominent rdle.
Dr, Josephthal always regarded himself first and
foremost as a social worker. He was entirely free
of personal ambition ; titles and outward appearance meant nothing to him. It was only the work
that counted. When, at the early age of 40, he was
offered the office of Minister of Finance he did
not accept it. and later declined the post of Israel's
Ambassador to London. He felt that those positions would have led him too far away from his
social work.
However
prominent
Josephthal's
position
became he remained a man of simple tastes and
needs. A good friend to old friends, he never
lost his warm understanding for the individual.
His widow, a former Member of the Knesset,
has a place in the history of Israel, and in particular of the kibbutzim, in her own right,
Josephthal's remains were brought by air to
Israel and laid to rest at his old Kibbutz Gal Ed.
WB.
On the occasion of his 90th birthday in January,
1960,
we paid tribute to Richard Chotzen, our
friend and " father," not as an exponent of
longevity as such but as a man who, in his very
old age, enjoyed a vitality and suppleness of spirit
hardly exceeded by younger men. On August 26.
in his 93rd year, he was taken from our midst. We
stil! find it difficult to realise that we shall no
longer see his slight and dapper figure on his visits
to URO, never agajn succumb to his charm, nor
enjoy his " Berliner " sense of humour.
After an unusually successful banking career in
Germany, where he was a director of the
" Danatbank " and finally of the Dresdner Bank,
Richard Chotzen found refuge from Nazi persecution in this country. Like most of us, he came
over without any assets. This industrious man.
who had worked all his life and was still able
to do so, found it frustrating and heartbreaking
to be condemned to involuntary leisure, Even so,
he never complained, maintaining his inborn
equanimity. Deeply wounded by the callous
cruelties experienced in Nazi Germany, he still
retained his optimistic attitude towards life and
his kindly disposition towards his fellow-men.
He felt greatly relieved and satisfied when
eventually he found a new sphere of activity as
the Accountant of URO and the AJR, when these
two organisations still shared their offices. The
scope of this work may have been modest compared to his previous activities, but it gave him
a new purpose in life, and he devoted his tremendous industry and zest to his new tasks.
The
organisations greatly benefited from his experience, his integrity and his wise counsel. But.
even more, throughout his nine years in office,
he felt himself a member of what he called the
AJR and URO family, and was loved by all his
collaborators.
When he finally decided to retire these bonds
were by no means severed. He visited us regularly and attended our staff functions, often
accompanied by his charming wife, who was the
mainstay of his life during the good and the bad
days. On these occasions, including the celebration of his 90th birthday, which he had to endure
despite his modesty, he sparkled with friendliness
and wit and again affirmed his often experienced
gift of ready repartee. If he sometimes glossed
upon human foibles, this was never offensive.
Always his tolerant (if amused) forbearance, his
basic kindliness, made themselves unmistakablv
felt.
Even when still active in his former profession
our friend always knew how to treat his leisure
constructively. He fully enjoyed beauty in art,
literature and especially music. This stood him
in good stead after his refirement. He remained
WORLD-WIDE
receptive to the end. Far from being over-conservative and set in his ideas he was open-minded
with regard to modern trends.
Richard
Chotzen's smiling serenity, his
unquenchably optimisUc outlook, his unassuming
dignity, his steadfastness in adversity, his kindliness, industry and integrity, and the many other
facets of his lovable personality, served as a spur
and an example to all of us and will be treasured
in our memories for ever. Our sympathy goes
out to his wife and his family,
E.S.
' RABBI DR. ARTHUR BLUHM
Rabbi Dr, Arthur Bluhm who, from 1927 to
1938 held office in Krefeld, died in .Amarilla
(Texas). He was 62 years old,
LUDWIG FULDA EXHIBITION
IN FRANKFURT
To mark the centenary of Ludwig Fulda who
was born in Frankfurt on July 15th, 1862, an
exhibition in his memory was held in the Goethe
Museum am Grossen Hirschgraben. One of the
displays was a letter dated March 23rd, 1939, in
which the author asked the German Ministry of
Economics to treat the " Burgtheater-Ring"
bestowed on him some years before as an award
and not as a jewel subject to confiscation
according to the Nazi regulations. The application was rejected. A few days later, Fulda
committed suicide in his house at Miquelstrasse,
Berlin-Dahlem.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN AND
GEORG HERMANN REMEMBERED
One of the functions during the recent Kreuzberg Festival Weeks was a memorial ceremony
at the " Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof" where Felix
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and his family are buried.
The choir of the Bueckeburg Gymnasium rendered
recitals of Mendelssohn lieder and an address
was delivered by Mayor Willi Kressmann,
A memorial-stone for Georg Hermann was
erected on the site Bundesallee 80, the new
" Georg-Hermann-Garten ", named in honour of
the Berlin author who perished in Auschwitz.
" HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN AUSTRIA "
The World Council of Jews from Austria has
decided to pubhsh a book on the History of the
Jews in Austria which is to appear in 1963.
The Editorial Board consists of: Dr. F. L.
Brassloff (London), Dr. G. Jellinek (New York),
Dr. C, I, Kapralik (London), Ing. Z. Kraemer
(Tel Aviv), Reg,-Rat W, Krell (Vienna). Dr. N.
Robinson (New York), and Josef Fraenkel (London), Editor. More than 20 historians and scholars
have promised their co-operation.
C a t e r i n g with a difhrente
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Page 30
SUCCESS OF ANNOUNCEMENT IN
"AJR INFORMATION"
ORGANISATIONAL NEWS
Owner of Photo Album found
RALLY IN ISRAEL
Particulars of Council's Scheme
As readers will have seen from the report on
the London Conference of the Council of
Jews from Germany, the Council contemplates
organising a reunion in Israel of former German
Jews, provided that there is sufficient interest in
such a venture. The reunion would be held
between the middle of October and the middle
of November. 1963. It would culminate in a
public rally on or near November 10th. Apart
from optional sightseeing tours, participants
could arrange their stay in Israel according to
their personal interests and inclinations. Travelling expenses would be considerably reduced
if the demand among AJR members and their
families warrants the chartering of a plane providing for a stay of about three to four weeks. It
would, therefore, be appreciated if interested
readers contacted the AJR in writing as soon as
fKJSsible, mentioning the number of persons for
whom reservations would be required. It is not
possible at this stage to state whether the scheme
will ultimately materialise and readers would not
finally commit themselves by their registration.
FORTHCOMING FUNCTIONS
Leo Baeck Institute Lecture
Dr. Ludwig Guttman, O.B.E,, Director of the
National Spinal Injuries Centre (Stoke Mandeville),
will speak on " Der Beitra der deutschen Juden
zur medizinischen Wissenschaft"", on Wednesday.
October 31st. at 8 p.m. at the Wiener Library, 4
Devonshire Street, W, 1,
Self-Aid Concert
This year's Self Aid Concert will take place at
Wigmore Hall on Wednesday. November 14, at
7.30. The English Chamber Orchestra. leader
Emanuel Hurwitz, will play works by Couperin,
Bach. Haydn. Mozart and Roussel ; the conductor
and soloist will be the world famous 'cellist Paul
Tortelier. Tickets at 4 gns., 3 gns,, 2 gns. and
I guinea are available at the offices of Self Aid
of Refugees. Ib Swiss Terrace, Belsize Road.
N.W,6 (Tel.: PRImrose 5151/2). The B.B.C. are
so interested in the Concert that they are going
to record it for broadcasting at some later date.
MEMORIAL BOOK OF THE COUNCIL
Names of Perished Rabbis and Communal
Workers Required
As readers will have seen from the report on
the Conference of the Council of Jews from
Germany in London, the Council is preparing
the publication of a Memorial Book in commemoration of Rabbis and Communal Workers
in Germany who were killed by the Nazis.
Whilst quite a few names and particulars have
already been compiled by the editors, it would be
appreciated if readers would help to ensure the
utmost completeness of the publication. Would
they, therefore, send to the Council of Jews from
Germany, 183 Finchley Road, London, N.W.3,
names of Rabbis and Jewish Communal Workers
who they know lost their lives as victims of Nazi
persecution and. if possible, also names and
addresses of surviving near relatives.
In the August issue of AJR Information we
published an announcement about a letter received
from Berlin, in which it was stated that in 1939
a photo album with pictures of a young boy was
handed over by a Jewish woman to the Catholic
Vicarage in Berlin-Schmargendorf. This album
had been hidden and was found only now. The
AJR was asked to try and trace the owner.
However, the only clue was that the first name
of the boy was Andreas,
As a result of our announcement, the
Organisation of Racial Persecutees in Hamburg,
to which AJR Information is regularly sent, was
able to provide the full name and address of
the owner, who had gone to England as a boy
and returned to Germany after the war. It
thus became possible, through the good services
of AJR Information, for the photo album, probably the only souvenir of his family and childhood, to be restored to its owner.
HAMPSTEAD CONCERT OF JEWISH AND
CHRISTIAN MUSIC
Under the auspices of the Hampstead Council
of Christians and Jews a concert of Christian and
Jewish sacred and folk music will take place at
the Hampstead Town Hall, Haverstock Hill,
N,W,3, on Thursday, October II, at 8.30 p.m.
Recitals will be rendered by the St, Andrews
Frognal Church Choir (Choirmaster : Christine
Waple) and the Zemel Choir (Musical Director :
Dudley Cohen). The church choir has greatly
widened its scope and its activities include
concerts and even opera ; the Jewish choir has
performed at the Royal Festival Hall, has broadcast and has provided the choral accompaniment
for Sir Laurence Olivier's reading of the Old
Testament,
The AJR which is represented on the Hampsteud
Council of Christians and Jews is associated with
this venture. A similar function, held some years
ago, was a tremendous success. Tickets (5s,) may
be ordered from the Concert Secretary, Hampstead Council of Christians and Jews, 5 Verity
House, Hamilton Terrace, N,W,8, (MAIda Vale
5335,)
UNBELIEVABLE
It seems that this month, the anniversary of
the AJR has overshadowed all individual birthdays. Only one singular victim could be traced,
and her case appears unbelievable : " Lottchen "
(or to put it more solemnly. Miss Charlotte M.
Godfrey, nee Gottgetreu) will be 75 on October 15. Rumour has it that she lives in retirement. Yet this is only true in so far as the
author of this tribute has lost her devoted services as a secretary after many years of happy
co-operation. But if readers associate retirement with a quiet, uneventful indoor existence
and early bedtime, they would be mistaken in this
instance. To her, everything life has to offer is
still as "himmlisch" as it has been throughout
the past decades. There is travelling in wonderful
weather (even if other people think it rains), there
are visits to the opera and concerts, and there
are so many appointments that the week should
have 14 evenings. Above all, the affection felt
for Lottchen ignores the boundaries of generations. This has kept her young. And may she
remain young for a very long time to come!
W.R.
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Page 31
MISCELLANEOUS
CALL FOR GERMAN-ISRAELI
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
ISRAEL AID FOR PERSIA
Within 48 hours of news of the earthquake
disaster in Persia reaching Israel, seven tons of
drugs, blood plasma and other relief items urgently
required by the Persian Red Lion and Sun organisation had been dispatched from Israel by the
Magen David Adom,
As far as can be ascertained, no Jewish community suffered as a result of the earthquake in
Persia, The Joint Distribution Committee has
offered food and medical supplies, together with
a token gift of money, to the Persian authorities,
and has prepared a relief team to work in the
stricken areas.—(J.C,)
A petition to the Federal Parliament calling for
the establishment of diplomatic relations with
Israel, was signed by about 150 participants at a
rally recently held in Berlin. The rally had been
convened by an " Initiative Group ". comprising
the Liberal Students Association of Germany, the
German-Israel Study Group at the Free University, the Socialist Youth Organisation " Falken ",
and the International League for Human Rights,
FINNS FOR KIBBUTZ
Thirty-eight Finns have arrived in Haifa for a
year's voluntary work at Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim,
They include students, workers and professional
people, most of them women. Their desire, they
said, was to " work the Holy soil" and to leam
Hebrew. Their visit has been sponsored by
Carmel. an organisation fostering friendly relations between Finland and Israel,—{J.C.)
ISRAELI ACCUSED OF COLLABORATION
A 46-year-old Jewish musician living in Tel
Aviv may face charges of handing Jews over to
the Germans in a Polish town between January,
1942, and January, 1943,
Hirsch Berenblatt is now under investigation
within the framework of the Law for the Punishment of Nazis and their Collaborators. Jt is
alleged that, while serving as head of the local
Jewish police force, he joined with others in
rounding up 7,500 Jews, handing them over to
the Gestapo and assisting in forcing them into
trains bound for the death cam'ps. Other charges
allege that he aided in rounding up children from
an orphanage and handing them to the Gestapo,
that he personally beat up two Jews and that he
obtained money from a family by threatening to
denounce them to the Gestapo,—(J,C.)
LITERARY AWARD FOR DUTCH JEWESS
Rejection of Invitation to Germany
Clara Asscher, a Dutch survivor of BergenBelsen. who was awarded the 1962 German
Youth Book Prize, has declined to go to Germany
to receive the distinction. The prize was awarded
to her for her book " Children of the Star".
describing the life of small children in a Gennan
concentration camp. Clara Asscher stated that
she could not cross the border again.
BRASSIERES, CORSETS,
AND CORSELETS
JAMES FRANCK'S RESIGNATION IN 1933
NORBERT COHN
F.B.O.A. (Hons.). D.Orth.
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14 WEST HEATH DRIVE, LONDON. N.W,11
'Phone: SPE, 0615,
Also at
197 Chartridge Lane. Chesham, Bucks.
PRI.
9797
o r Post to :
Flat
LEO
ANY
HOROVITZ
Parkway Secretarial Service,
18, 9 9 Haverstock H i l l . London,
N,W.3
SCULPTOR-STONEMASON
.PARIS.
Memorials for oil
Cemeteries
UP TO 4 0 % EXPORT
DISCOUNT
16. FAWLEY ROAD,
WEST H A M P S T E A D , N . W . 6
even on fixed o f f i c i a l retail prices
if paid w i t h Travellers' Cheques,
Telephone : HAMpstead 2564
ALL FAMOUS PERFUMES, EAUX
DE
COLOGNE.
COSMETICS,
TOILET REQUISITES, GIFTS, etc.
LUGGAGE REPAIRS
Large selection of all types of travel goods,
especially A i r Travel Cases.
A l l travel goods repaired.
Old trunks and cases bought.
FAIRFIELD & FUCHS
210 West End Lane. N.W.6
PARFUMERIE des PRINCES
(MANAGER : MR. B. BERU0WIT2)
10 PASSAGE des PRINCES
(Entrance : 5
Bis. Boulevard
near Ooera).
des
Italiens.
PARIS, 2e
'Phone HAMpstead 2602
Metro : Ricbelleu-DroL'Ot
•phone : RIChelieu 04-75
4?4I
FiSCHLER
INTERIORS
(Previously M. Fischler.
.....
Continental Upholstery)
T-SJiSUNCING THE OPENING
OF
A
COMPLETE HOUSE FURNISHING SERVICE
>-ome to us for your Carpets, Curtains,
and Upholstered Furniture.
,„^
The Woild Conference on Jewish Education
ended its deliberations in Jerusalem by approving
the establishment of a World Bureau, to serve as
a clearing house for the exchange of information
and views on Jewish education,-—(J.C,)
FINCHLEY ROAD MET. STN.
14 Bury Place, London, W.C.I •Phone: MAI, 3224 and MAI, 9236
HOL
WORLD BUREAU FOR EDUCATION
(HAMpstead
OTTEiV
M. SULZBACHER
JEWISH
In connection with the tribute paid to Professor
Franck in our August issue, Dr, Eugen Mayer,
Jerusalem, has sent us an excerpt from an article
which appeared in the Deulsche Allgemeine
Zeitting of April 28. 1933. The article was entitled
" Gesprache in Deutschland", and expressed
indignation at the treatment of German Jews.
The author was Professor Wolfgang Kohler. of
Berlin University, one of the few lone voices in
the wilderness of Germany's acadetnic circles of
that period. The excerpt reads as follows:
•' Einer hat mir unterwegs auf der Strasse
gesagt: ' Der grosste deutsche Experimentalphysiker der Gegenwi,rt heisst Franck ; manche
glauben. er sei der grosste Experimentator dieser
Wissenschaft. den eben die Welt besitzt. Dieser
Franck ist Jude. ein giitiger Mensch. wenn je einer
in Deutschland war. Bis vor wenigen Tagen war
er Professor in Gottingen. ein Ruhm Deutschlands,
um den uns draussen die wissenschaftliche Welt
beneidete. Ein deutsches Gesetz hat. nicht dem
Wortlaut nach. wohl aber durch seinen inneren
Sinn, diesen guten und grossen Menschen so
schwer getroffen. dass er aus unseren Reihen
scheidet, Haben Sie gelesen, mit welchen Worten
er seine Stellung aufgibt ? Wenn es noch eines
Beweises bedurft hatte, dass Juden vornehme
Menschen sein konnen. dieser Mann hat ihn
erbracht.'
" Er nahm seinen Hut ab, und mir schien, ich
sollte cs auch tun ",
17 W o l m Lone,
N.W.2
••none: WIL, 0 7 6 2 ; evenings EOG, S411
ThewiGMORE LAUNDRYltd.
CONTINENTAL LAUNDRY SPECIALISTS
Most
London Districts Served
SHE. 4575 brings us by radio
W r i t e or 'phone the M a n a g e r ,
2 4 - h o u r telephone service
MR. E. HEARN, 1 STRONSA ROAD, LONDON, W.12
Printed at the Sharon Press, 31 Furnival Street, London, E.C.4.
R.
&
G.
INSTALLATIONS)
(Incorporating
Reissner &
LTD.
Goldberg)
ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
199b Belsize Rood,
N,W.6
MAI. 2646
Before 8 . 3 0 a.m. and after 7
GLA. 1322, M A i . 0 3 5 9
p.m.

Oct - The Association of Jewish Refugees

Transcription

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