Clinton pledges $15 million for Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation

KRAKOW, Poland (Press Release)–In a speech July 3, at the Schindler Factory Museum here, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the U.S. intention to contribute $15 million over five years to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, subject to Congressional authorization and appropriations.

The World War II-era factory of Oskar Schindler, the German entrepreneur who saved hundreds of Jewish factory workers from the Holocaust and, Krakow, the closest major city to the camp and an important center of Jewish life before WWII, provide a meaningful setting for the U.S. announcement.

The Secretary’s announcement of the anticipated U.S. contribution illustrates the significance of the Auschwitz-Birkenau site, helps commemorate the 1.1 million victims who perished there, and demonstrates America’s commitment to Holocaust education, remembrance, and research.

U.S. Contribution

*Subject to Congressional authorization and appropriations, the United States’ contribution of $15 million over five years will begin in FY 2012.

*The U.S. contribution will help fund a €120 million endowment to preserve and safeguard the remains of the camp. Due to the temporary nature of the camp’s initial construction, the buildings and other artifacts at Auschwitz-Birkenau are in poor condition and in serious danger of irreversible deterioration.

*The United States strongly encourages other nations who have not already done so to follow suit and to contribute to the Auschwitz-Birkenau fund to preserve the site for future generations.

Importance of Auschwitz-Birkenau

*The Auschwitz-Birkenau death and concentration camp is one of the most widely recognized symbols of racism, bigotry, and hatred where untold millions suffered unthinkable and heinous treatment under Nazi tyranny. While there are hundreds of other historically important camps and mass grave sites, Auschwitz-Birkenau has become a symbol of the Holocaust.

*In 2009 alone, more than 1.3 million people from around the world visited the museum and memorial, among them survivors of Nazi persecution and their descendents, students, educators, and many who only for the first time learned of the horrors that went on at this infamous camp.

*The preservation and continuation of Auschwitz-Birkenau is essential so that future generations can visit and understand how the world can never again allow a place of such hatred and persecution to exist. It is also an important educational tool to show those who doubt that the Holocaust ever existed that indeed, tragically, it did.

*
Preceding provided by the U.S. State Department

Israel’s ‘Lousy PR’ vs. its national defense needs

 By Shoshana Bryen

Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a strange conversation, a journalist called to ask how badly Israel’s image had been damaged by the flotilla incident. Our first thought was, “Not as badly as if the precedent was set for ships to land in Gaza without Israeli inspection, or if the millions of Euros in their pockets had actually reached Hamas.” But that wasn’t what he was asking. He really wanted to know whether countries or people who had previously “liked” Israel “liked” Israel less now, and if Israel would have “done better” if it could have explained itself better. 
It was, in fact, the dreaded “Israel’s lousy PR” question.
 
In a second strange conversation, an admittedly cynical diplomat told us to disregard the posturing anti-Israel statements at the European Parliament, the UN Human Rights Commission and other international bodies. “People don’t really know anything, they just say things.” But, he added, Israel couldn’t expect to get a fair shake in those places because it doesn’t spend enough time making its case to European diplomats. 
 
Again, “Israel’s lousy PR,” was the issue, not the reality of the Arab/Islamic threat to Israel or the reality of Israel’s defense.
 
Our belief is that the flotilla incident actually made people and countries behave more like themselves. 

There are those inclined to dislike Israel for ethnic or religious reasons; or because they see only the limited view of Israel their media-controlling governments want them to see; or because they reflexively support people who look sad. 

There are those, on the other hand, who are inclined to appreciate the difficulties of Israel in the Middle East and find in Israel a like-minded, democratic ally under attack by radical forces that also threaten the West. This group often includes post-Soviet countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and in this case includes Italy and The Netherlands. 

And there is a third type, those who travel in groups or packs – among them the media, Western Europeans, and left-wing Democrats – who don’t necessarily want Israel to disappear; and who do in fact understand the substance of Israel’s difficulties; and who would never think of themselves supporting Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran; but who can’t defend Israel in public because it isn’t fashionable; but won’t condemn it more than absolutely necessary; and will still do business with Israel where they find it useful. Cynical diplomats often find themselves here.

All reacted to the flotilla in predictable ways.

Arabs governments, Arab and other media, Turkey and Iran trashed Israel. 

Americans were far more supportive of Israeli actions than Europeans, but President Obama and Congressional Democrats walked a finer line in their support than conservatives. 

And while the EU Parliament – a body responsible to no one for anything – loudly denounced Israel for the raid, the European countries on the UN Human Rights Commission largely abstained from the slander of Israel and the call for a UN-run investigation (Norway always, sadly, excepted).

The actual elected leaders of the G-8 – the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, Germany France, Italy and Russia – people who have a responsibility for policy, put forward a communiqué calling for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks (as Israel has), welcomed Israel’s own investigation (not mentioning the UN or any other international investigation) and Israel’s own decision to change the rules of the embargo, noted that the “legitimate security concerns of Israel that must continue to be safeguarded,” and called for the “immediate release” of Gilad Shalit. 

And, interestingly, while Iran naturally trashed Israel and threatened it with future flotillas, faced with the reality that Israel would not permit future ships to land and would consider blockade busting to be an act of war, the Iranian government called the whole thing off. Ditto the government of Lebanon.

Israel and supporters of Israel have to make the best possible case for Israeli defensive activities with the full understanding that there is a double – and triple – game out there. The requirements for national defense have to trump PR. If Israel (or America, for that matter) allows itself to be undone by the PR ramifications of defense, or if PR becomes the ultimate determinant of rightness or wrongness in security matters, defense will become impossible – for Israel, for the United States and for the West.

*

Bryen is senior director of security policy of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.  Her column is sponsored by Waxie Sanitary Supply in memory of Morris Wax, longtime JINSA supporter and national board member.

Book Review: ‘Kiss Every Step’

Kiss Every Step by Doris Martin with Ralph S. Martin, Booksurge Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4392-5606-0, ©2009, $14.95, 222 pages

By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.

Fred Reiss

WINCHESTER, California — The year is 1939. Hitler tells the Reichstag that if war erupts, the Jews will be exterminated. Eichmann is placed in charge of the Prague branch of the Jewish Emigration Office. The Soviet Union’s Molotov and Germany’s Ribbentrop sign a mutual non-aggression pact. Germany invades Poland on September 1. Three days later, the innocent life of little twelve-year old Dora Szpringer (now Doris Martin) is shattered. She can no longer roam the streets freely jumping rope, tossing a ball, or playing hop scotch with her best friend Rutka. The playful romps through the old castle grounds, which overlook the city, are over. The joyous visits to Gipsman’s fruit and ice cream shop have ended. On September 4, the Wehrmacht entered Dora’s hometown of Bendzin, Poland. Within a week, they burn the synagogue and many Jewish homes, with the people locked inside them.

In Kiss Every Step, Doris Martin, together with her husband Ralph, tells the remarkable and disturbing war-time encounters of the Szpringers, a family that miraculously survived the Holocaust intact, as they struggle to outwit Hitler’s army and the by-and-large anti-Semitic Polish population. Some of the chapters are autobiographical, while others are first-person accounts of events told by Doris’ siblings, Isaak, Moishe, Josef, and Laya. Each of them provides a narrative that authenticates the worst of human brutality, allowing us to vicariously experience the wiliness, cunning, and just plain luck that the Szpringer family members used to stay alive in the Polish, Russian, and German countryside.

Over three million Jews lived in Poland at the start of World War II. These unique lives mostly end in death. Thus, we are fortunate that Doris Martin has written about the disturbing episodes of her childhood and teenage years, which allow us to understand everyday life of the Jews under Nazi occupation and to some small degree, understand the terror that enveloped their very existence.

Hitler set out to make the world free of Jews. Kiss Every Step is a compelling account of the success of one family, the Szpringers, in defeating this nefarious plan.

*
Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Public Education in Camden, NJ: From Inception to Integration.; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah.

Survivor tells circumstances of entire family living through Shoah

By Fred Reiss, Ed.D

Fred Reiss

ESCONDIDO, California — I am sitting next to Doris Martin (nee Dora Szpringer) in her home north of San Diego. She is a Holocaust survivor and author of Kiss Every Step, a harrowing narrative of her family’s odyssey through Eastern Europe to escape the Nazi war machine. I look at Doris as she speaks and realize that her diminutive height belies her inner strength and courage.

Doris Martin visiting Laos

Doris was just a pre-teen when Hitler’s army invaded Poland. She lived in Bendzin (pronounced ben-jeen), with her family—mother, father, three older brothers (Isaak, Moishe, and Yossel), and a younger sister, Laya. They lived an average life by Eastern European standards, and Judaism pervaded her part of town.

The Nazi soldiers, who arrived first in Bendzin, give chocolate to the children. “How bad could they be,” Doris thought to herself? Four days later, additional soldiers round up two hundred Jewish men, lock them in the main synagogue, and burn the synagogue to the ground. What could a twelve-year old know of the Nazi menace? What could any Jew have known? Doris tells me that overnight people changed. Friends changed. Relatives changed. The very government elected to protect its citizens, now turns on them. Except for immediate family, the word trust is out of the dictionary. In a matter of a few short weeks reality changes from living a care-free childhood to one of surviving day-to-day.

At the demand of the Nazis, Jews gather at the great outdoor sports stadium. There a Nazi commander separates families. Some are marked for death, others for slave labor and some are sent home. The Szpringers, who are sent home, are the only family not separated! This is the first of many such incidents. Her brother Isaac is beaten by German soldiers on his way to the Russian border for having a German name. No Jew should have a German name, the German soldiers tell him. None the less, they escort him to the border, and he is safe. For a while, brothers Moishe and Yossel find work with Alfred Rossner, who did all he could to help Jews survive. On many occasions the entire family escapes detection by roving bands of Nazi soldiers. Is it mazel or God? Doris tells me that she is less religious than she was as a child, “but how can she be angry with God? He saved my family.” There is a long pause, and I watch her thinking; remembering back. “Why my family,” she asks soulfully? It’s an answer she has sought for over sixty years.

In the fall of 1942, the Judenrat, the Jewish council under the control of the Nazis, comes for Doris. But the family hides her, an unacceptable response. They take Perla, Doris’ mother, to the police station as a hostage. They want Doris. The next day, Doris knows what she must do. She walks full of dread and fear, almost catatonically, to the police station. The swap is made and they take Doris to an old orphanage, expropriated by the Nazis. A few hours later, they move her to Auschwitz, a short distance from Bendzin. “No one knew it was there, or what was its ultimate purpose,” she says. But Auschwitz was not her final stop. She was marked for work, not death. Was this another example of the family’s luck, or the hand of God? Doris’ final destination was Ludwigsdorf, one of about sixty sub-camps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp.

Doris, now a young teenager, was assigned to the mine factory, where she spent her days measuring the green-powder explosive for land mines. Each morning after the head count, she drinks some ersatz coffee and a piece of bread and is marched up a steep hill with other inmates to the factory. At the end of the day, the green dust covers her clothes, skin, and hair. She marches back down the hill feeling the dust in her lungs. The more immediate concern, however, is the possibility that the unstable explosive could detonate at any time.

Because of an incident that occurred in the mine factory when a top Nazi official was at the camp, she and several other girls were pulled aside for discipline. Doris was sure that she had seen her last day on Earth, and prayed to God all the way back to the barracks. However, the commandant showed them mercy. Instead of death, they were to be beaten nearly to death with rubber clubs. What a relief. Further proof that for Doris and her fellow Jews that the world had been turned upside down, Doris tells me that once, as she stood by the barbed-wire fence, she saw a deer running through the forest. Oh how jealous she was. The deer was free and she was in a cage. So what kept Doris alive all those years at Ludwigsdorf? Hope, she says. Hope that she would be reunited with her family.

The Russians freed the inmates of Ludwigsdorf in 1945. After a few days, Doris returned home to Bendzin. But for Doris, it was no longer home. The city she loved as a little girl was no longer the same. Her home was not her home. Her friends were nowhere to be found. The shops were owned by others. She no longer felt the Jewishness that once pervaded her community. Doris had no idea of the fate of her family. Homecoming brought abject sadness; not joy. She left word with the Jewish Committee, and returned, ironically, to the Ludwigsdorf Concentration Camp.
The family did reunite and eventually fled to the Americans in Berlin, where they stayed in various DP camps. In 1950, Doris and her family made their way to America.
Doris has had a good life with her second husband, Ralph, who constantly supports her through her sadness, depression, and even nightmares. Doris knows she is getting up in years, and recognizing her own finitude, wrote Kiss Every Step to tell the world the unbelievable story that the seven members of her immediate family survive Hitler’s death machine, and to tell the personal account of the evil that took place in many so-called civilized countries of Europe.
Doris and Ralph have done more than just author a book together. In 2000, the pair founded the Martin-Springer Institute for Applying the Lessons of the Holocaust to Promote Altruism, Moral Courage, and Tolerance at Northern Arizona University. In 2007, Ben Gurion University of the Negev changed the name of its Center for Conflict Studies and Negotiations to Martin-Springer Center for Conflict Studies and Negotiations. In addition, Doris speaks about the Holocaust to public school children, college students, and adults.

 Doris asks me if I know of another family that survived the Holocaust intact. I sadly respond, no. She worries now, in the twilight of her courageous life, that the next generation will forget about the Holocaust, and that the story of her family’s tortuous journey during World War II, as told in Kiss Every Step, will be unread and forgotten. The Jewish people have a long history and a long memory. It will be remembered that the Szpringer family was the family that defeated Hitler’s plan, called the “final solution.”

*

Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of From Inception to Integration; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and Reclaiming the Messiah.

Tessie Sonnabaum, lady of big hats, smile and heart, laid to rest

By Donald H. Harrison

Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—At gravesite services for Tessie Sonnabaum at the Home of Peace Cemetery on Thursday, June 24 , I couldn’t help but observe that she was known for her big hat, big smile, big laugh….

“And her big heart,” added Leah Fradkin, the rebbetzin of Chabad of Scripps Ranch.

How true.

Sonnabaum died June 19 at the age of 90 and was buried next to her husband, Irving, who at age 84 had predeceased her in 1997.   Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, rabbi of Chabad of Scripps Ranch (home of the Chabad Hebrew Academy) officiated, assisted by sons Elie and Moti, both of whom are rabbis, and other members of the Lubavitcher movement, including Rabbi Zalman Carlebach of downtown San Diego.

Rabbi Elie Fradkin is spiritual leader at Chabad of Coronado, the city in which Tessie and Irving Sonnabaum lived and worked for many years as the proprietors of Jake’s Clothing Store on Orange Avenue.   Cecile Kipperman, whose “Kippy’s” still is located on Orange Avenue, was among the mourners at the gravesite services.

The families that owned these two stores anchored the small Jewish community in Coronado, and, as Rabbi Yonah Fradkin observed, they helped non-Jews in that suburb on the west-side of San Diego Bay to understand the goodness of the Jewish people.  

Today, serving as director of the regional Chabads in San Diego, Rabbi Yonah Fradkin said he wondered what Tessie and Irving might have thought to see that the young rabbi whom they had helped get settled in San Diego County more than 40 years ago has a son who today has his own congregation in Coronado.

Irving Sonnabaum was the kind of man who made sure that a man’s clothing looked good on him—quietly tugging at a friend’s sleeve or collar out in public  to make sure it laid exactly right, Fradkin recalled.  And Tessie was the kind of woman who always sought to help other people—“how can I help you?” being her approach toward all.  Her watch phrase was the Yiddish expression “zei gezeundt, herst!” be in good health, now!

With son Stan and two grandchildren in attendance, Rabbi Fradkin recalled that until Alzheimer’s Disease robbed Tessie of much of her memory, she almost single-handedly made the Hallmark Card Company a wealthy concern, so determined was she to personally communicate best wishes on  the birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions of her friends and acquaintances. Another son, who lives in the Los Angeles area, is Jack.

Among the mourners were Pessie Sonnabend, a Holocaust survivor from the coal-mining area of  Niemce, Poland, who was married to Irving’s first cousin and who was aided in adjusting to American life by the Sonnabaums after arriving in San Diego.  Another present was Gussie Zaks, longtime leader of the New Life Club of Holocaust Survivors, as well as former San Diego City School Board Member Sue Braun, and Tifereth Israel Synagogue Sisterhood members Phyllis Spital, Binnie Brooks and Judy Morganstern.

Known for her happy laugh, Tessie had been honored by the Tifereth Israel Sisterhood as a “woman of valor,” one of the highest salutes the organization renders to its active members.

Spital recalled taking walks with Tessie along Orange Avenue in Coronado and being stopped seemingly every few feet to be greeted by delighted passersby.   Tessie would carefully introduce her to each one of them. 

She also recalled Tessie’s trademark beautiful hats and her blue house in Coronado.

Sue Braun said after the formal services that she and her husband, Dick, had met the Sonnabaums in 1964 when they moved to Coronado. “Dick took his uniform over to Jake’s, not knowing anything about Irv and Tessie.  We were living right around the corner from them.  Tessie and Irv befriended us right away.”

She said often they would be joined for simchas at the Sonnabaum house by Rabbi Monroe Levens and Lillian Levens, rabbi and rebbezin of Tifereth Israel Synagogue when the congregation was located at 30^th and Howard Streets.  “Our kids grew up with Uncle Irv and Aunt Tessie,” Braun recalled. 
After the Brauns moved to the Del Cerro section of San Diego, they transplanted from the Sonnabaums’ garden some pink geraniums that still flourish, as do the Sonnabaum rhubarb plants.

At the end of Tessie’s life,  she lived in a nursing facility for Alzheimer’s patients.

“I’ve been told that the last thing that goes when someone gets dementia is the strongest part of their character—that’s the thing that hangs on the most,” Braun said.  “Tessie’s sense of humor never ever left her.” 

Braun said she and Spital held a small birthday party for Tessie every December 25 – “we would bring a cake to the nursing home, and gifts.”   Braun said that “I would have to think of things to say—jokes—to hold up my end, because Tessie had this sense of humor. She would laugh so much, and she never, ever lost that sense of humor. That’s the thing that stayed. She was always finding things funny.   You know what, the staff loved her!”

*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World

Adventures in San Diego Jewish History, July 9, 1954, Part 1

Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 1

Her First American Doll

First of the five displaced families and individuals slated to come to San Diego in 1954 arrived last week from Sweden.

According to Dr. Walter Ornstein, chairman of San Diego’s Émigré committee, the Zajd family consisting of Josek, Sarie and their five year old daughter Hanna Ida was the first family of those who spent the war years in concentration camps or escaped from Iron Curtain countries to come to San Diego in 1954.  They arrived through the help of the San Diego committee for émigrés, and the United Service for New Americans. They are the first of fifteen families to come here in the next three years under the terms of the Refugee Relief Act, passed by Congress last August.

The new law makes possible  the first and probably the last large scale immigration of aliens in some years. Communities all over the country are making provisions to receive the Jewish group, by accepting quotas of persons assigned to them through the United Service for New Americans.

Chief problem in processing affidavits for the new is finding jobs for them. The Refugee Relief Act requires that a certified assurance of a job be filed with the United States Employment Service before visa is issued. This is in addition to the requirement for certified housing and a guarantee that the immigrant will not become a public charge.  Individuals or firms wishing to underwrite a job for an immigrant are asked to call Mr. Hutler at Belmont 2-5172.

The Employment Committee of the Émigré Committee under the leadership of Zel Camiel, its chairman, is working very closely with the Jewish Social Service Agency in attempting to find jobs and housing for the affidavits.

*
Long-Awaited Community Study To Begin Soon
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Pages 1,3

Three hundred Jewish homes will be visited during the month of July by volunteer interviewers in the long awaited community survey which will be undertaken this month by the San Diego Federation of Jewish Agencies, according to Carl M. Esenoff, its president.

With the appointment and first meeting of the Technical advisory committee taking place last week, work on this much needed project was under way.  Members of the committee, all experts in statistic surveys and tabulations who are preparing the “”Family Household Questionnaire,” include Dr. Oscar Kaplan, State College Professor and survey director of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce; Tom Davidson, director of the survey division of the Communioty Welfare Council; Ben Ferber, supervisor, Convair Electronic Computing Lab; and Carl M. Esenoff, Accountant and Federation president.

Direction of the survey will be the responsibility of the National Jewish Welfare Board, whose survey department in New York will analyze and tabulate the material gathered in San Diego.  The entire study will be co-ordinated by Albert A.Hutler, Executive Director of the Federation, with the assistance of Sidney Posin, Director of the Jewish Community Center and Abe Friedman, Director of the USO-JWB.  The Jewish Community Center will be directly responsible for furnishing the manpower to carry out most of the work in the sampling process with all organizations being asked to furnish workers and members of the study committee, which will have the job of carrying out the complete project.

The “Three Hundred” to be used as a sample will represent approximately 20 percent of the Jewish population of San Diego.  They will be interviewed to secure information relating to the population and interests of the Jewish community. Information thus secured in this sampling process will indicate to the Federation, the Center, the Jewish Social Service Agency, Hebrew Home for the Aged, the Community Relations Council, and the Synagogues, the need in our community and th gaps that must be filled in our efforts.

It is anticipated that the study will give the community agencies much needed information including the size of the population of the Jewish Community, how and where they live, what their interests are, and what are the needs which must be met by the local agencies in San Diego.

Schedule calls for the steering committee to meet on Tuesday, June 13^th, with the overall study committee meeting on Tuesday, July 20^th, and an orientation meeting for interviewers on July 21^st.  Interviews will be held Monday, July 26^th, through Sunday, August 8^th, and the entire project should be completed by November 1^st.

Anyone wishing to participate may call BElmont 2-5172 to volunteer.

*
Kaplan To Attend London Conference
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 1

Dr. Oscar J. Kaplan, State College Professor of psychology and Chamber of Commerce research director, will leave Wednesday for Europe. 

Dr. Kaplan, who has made a long study of the process of ageing, will attend the London Gerontological Congress the week of July 19 and will give a paper on “”Communication of Health Knowledge to the aged Through Radio and Television.”

The San Diego psychologist will visit France, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium.  He said the trip was being financed by a grant from the National Science Foundation.  He plans to return Aug. 10.

*
Plans for Roosevelt Talk Get Under Way
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 1

Jack Ritoff, Center director and National City Furniture Executive has been announced as the chairman of the committee planning preparations for the lecture of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt by Edward Breitbard, Center president.

Mrs. Roosevelt will speak in the Russ Auditorium on the evening of November 11, 1954 under the auspices of the Jewish Community Center. Proceeds will be used for both the operation and the building fund of the Center.

Plans are under way to form a patrons and sponsor committee which will honor Mrs. Roosevelt with a reception on the evening of her lecture.

Topic of the address has not as yet been announced.

All committee’s will be appointed in the near future according to Rittoff. He asks that anyone who wishes to serve on a committee for Mrs. Roosevelt call Belmont 2-5172.

*

Del Mar Track To Open July 27
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 1

DEL MAR, Calif., June 10—An imposing total of 87 swift 2-year-olds have been kept eligible for the seventh running of the $25,000 added Del Mar Futurity, highlight of the summer meeting “where the turf meets the surf,” it was announced today by General Manager Clive H. Becker.  Del Mar’s season begins July 27.

The Futurity, famed as one of the nation’s outstanding classics for juveniles, will be presented on Del Mar’s closing day, Sept. 11, and is expected to have a gross value close to $50,000.

*
Probation Chief Speaks for B.B.
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 1

Charles T. G. Rogers, Chief Probation Officer of San Diego County will be the guest speaker at the regular meeting of B’nai B’rith Lasker Lodge, Monday, July 12, at the Temple Center.

Mr. Rogers attended Wagner University and New York University. He was head of delinquency control for the New York City schools prior to coming to San Diego. He will speak on “Probation and the Community.”

*
Local Residents Welcome New Americans; Famed Resistance Leader Finds Haven Here
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 1

Ajzyk Bialek, one of the organizers of the underground movement in france during the German occupation in World War II, recently came to the U.S. on an immigration visa and will make his home in San Diego.  Upon his arrival in New York, he was reunited with a sister, MRs. Tola Blumstein of Syracuse, whom he had not seen for 27 years.

The Bialek’s were brought to American through the efforts of their cousin, George Neumann, of San Diego.

The Bialek’s have a son, Sol, who graduated from San Diego State College as an engineer, and a married daughter who is living in Los Angeles with her American Navy husband.  The younger Bialek’s were brought to San Diego some five years ago by Mr. and Mrs. George Neumann.

Natives of Poland, the Bialeks came here from Belgium where they have lived intermittently for 13 years.  During the war the family fled to Oradour S/Vayres, Limoges, in France where they hid with about 100 other Jewish families.  Mr. Bialek, an ex-lieutenant in the Polish army, put his military experience to good use by active participation in the newly formed French underground movement. As  a group leader in the Resistance, he conducted sabotage operations, hit and run raids on German installations, and general harassing maneuvers directed against German Occupation troops.

He became well klnown to the Germans who tried desperately to capture him. Mr. Bialek had several narrow escapes, once hiding on a rooftop while the Germans ripped the house apart searching for him.

Mrs. Bialek and the two children were eventually rounded up by the Nazis along with a number of other families hidden in Oradour S/Vayres.  Fortunately she was released due to an administrative error on the part of the Germans who assumed that she was the wife of a legionnaire. She and the children made their way back to Limoges where they were secreted by a Christian family. Shortly thereafter Mr. Bialek found them.

*
To See or not To See
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Pages 2,7

By Berenice Soule

First prize for life’s darkest moments must be awarded to that last eve before a columnist’s deadline—even a once-every-two-weeks columnist.  In columnist credo, it is simply not cricket to prepare a column well in advance.  Even with that horrible last moment fast approaching, the time consuming routine must be observed. First all the notes taken during the previous two weeks must be gathered. They can be found on the backs of envelopes, between the pages of last month’s Theatre Arts, scattered throughout purses, and tucked under the toaster tray next to the typewriter. Those are the easy ones.  Somehow the best notes are always in the pocket of the coat that went to the cleaners yesterday.

I always become most feminine and weak at this moment, too, so Alan has to be called in from spading around his tomato plants to carry the typewriter onto the dining room table for me. It follows naturally that this is just the right moment for a second cup of Sunday morning coffee and a chat about the proper placement of an acacia that should have been transplanted last April and will probably die, anyway.

Alan eventually goes back to his gardening and I’m really stuck. But I don’t give in easily; I can still look for the typewriter eraser (just my luck, I find it), round up my cigarettes and an ash tray, choose just the right pillow to sit on because the bench at the  dining room table is too low, and lower the radio to the point where it gives out the amount of decibels necessary to soothe but not interfere with my concentrative powers. 

There is nothing left now but to write, so here I go…

Star-Light Has a Hit – The ever-lasting, indestructible , glorious “Oklahoma” opened the Star-Light season in Balboa Bowl last week with an effective and sprightly cast.

John Powell, about whom I grew ecstatic last year, is outstanding in the role of Jud Fry.  He has an exceptionally pleasing baritone and can “sell” a song, he has a magnetic personality, is a convincing actor, and surprised the audience by dancing too. In the Dream Ballet sequence he is the only member of the cast who plays himself. While he doesn’t gallop through a pas de deux or leap like a Nijinksy, he moves well and possesses a masculine grace.

(Just learned that poor John Powell fell during a performance last week and badly sprained his wrist—no more dancing for our hero.)

This William Dean production rates high up there among Star-Light musicals due, in part, ot its pleasing cast. Tina Otero and Gene Clarke in the romantic leads, Ruby Kisman as Aunt Eller, Bobby Finch, who reports on an “up to date” Kansas City and Claribel Fisher among the dancers, deserve praise.

“Widow Returns” – Recalled by popular demand, Star-Light will present “The Merry Widow,” opening July 15.  Maribel Millard, Bernard Lamb and Winfred Fipp of the original cast are appearing in the musical as well as a new comedy team of Kelman Aiken and August Ghio.

La Jolla Opener – Edward Ashley has taken over the role of Sir Robert Morton from Vincent Price, opposite Dorothy McGuire in “The Winslow Boy” at La Jolla Playhouse.  Price had to leave to play in “The W.B.” in Laconia, N.H.

Supporting the leads are Eduard Franz, Sean McClory, Hilda Plowright, Richard Lupino, Christopher Cook, Margaret Brewster, Pitt Herbert, Clare Justice and Daniel Levin.

Franz is effective in the most exacting role and Margaret Brewster earned applause after a moving second act scene. 

Robert Corrigan , making his debut in La Jolla but well remembered for his work with the Globe and Star-Light is responsible for this attractive set.

“The Winslow Boy” runs through Saturday, July 10.

“Suds” is Back—The three beer guzzling females are back in Coronado again much to the delight of summer audiences. “Suds In Your Eye” opened at the Playhouse on the Strand last night with Gwen Challacombe, Henrietta Atkins and Lucille Parsons playing the leads for the fourth consecutive summer.  More about this never-say-die comedy in our next issue, since the opening was too late to make that above mentioned deadline.

New Media for Sid – Sid Fleischman, who picked up a goodly number of local fans as one of the founders and contributor to Point Newsweekly, has made the Hollywood grade. His latest book, “Blood Alley,” has been purchased by the John Wayne Productions and will have the famous William Wellman as director.  Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are being sought to play the leads.

Sid  has evidently been too busy writing popular novels and building a new home on the Monterey Peninsula to be hep to Hollywood big names. After Wellman read the manuscripts he called Sid from Hollywood, gave his name and said he liked the story.  Sid gave back with a questioning “Yes?”  Evidently slightly taken aback, Wellman replied, “Don’t you know who I am?” … Sid’s answer was an honest “No.”  Happy ending – they bought it anyway and Sid is writing the screenplay.

Wins Again! – Young Mike Williams (Michael Schwartz) was Gold Cup winner at the County Fair Talent Show, June 29.

Well Liked – John Carter, young American tenor, who will appear in concert in the Greek Theatre on the campus of California Western University on July 11, at 3:00 p.m. was recently hailed by music critic , Albert Goldberg, as possessing “a voice of polished tenor gold.”  130,000 heard him sing in Chicago’s Grant Park and so great was the demand he was held over for a second concert the following night. That must set some sort of record for a reengagement.

*
‘Anniversary Waltz’ Next at La Jolla
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 2

Howard Duff and Marjorie Lord, both well known to radio, TV and screen fans, have been signed to co-star in the first off-Broadway production of New York’s current comedy hit “Anniversary Waltz” at La Jolla Playhouse, beginning a two week run July 13. Willard Waterman will head the supporting cast and Norman Lloyd will direct.

Both Duff and Miss Lord have appeared on the La Jolla stage before, Duff with Nancy Kelly in “Season in the Sun” and Miss Lord with Eve Arden in “Here Today.”

A rip roaring farce, “Anniversary Waltz” is concerned with a family and the differing attitudes of its three generations toward TV and sex.  It has been playing to packed houses in New York since its opening last winter. La Jolla Playhouse is the first theatre outside New York allowed to produce it.

*

Summer Symphonies To Begin Tues., July 13
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 2

Robert Shaw, whose concerts last summer packed Balboa Park Bowl, will assume the baton Tuesday night (July 13) for the season of six Tuesday evening Summer Symphonies in Balboa Park Bowl.

Scheduled for performances are Pucell’s delightful “Fantasia on One Note,” Beethoven’s symphonic masterpiece, “The Eroica,” and Gershwin’s vivacious “An American in Paris.”

Highlighting the evening will be the first local appearance of one of the best modern dance companies in America, The Lester Horton Dancers, whose entire company will be seen in a brilliant new choreography to Milhaud’s great jazz work, “Creation du Mond.”  This new ballet was commissioned by the San Diego Symphony for this engagement.

Spoecial sections in the bowl have been reserved for students and service personnel with tickets available for 540 cents. All concert tickets are available at Palmer Box Office, 640 Broadway.

To give those in the audience Tuesday night an opportunity to meet Shaw and orchestra members, the San Diego Symphony is sponsoring an open recewption in Balboa Park Club, immediately following the concert.

*
(Unmarried star)
Southwestern Jewish Press, July 9, 1954, Page 2

A motion picture star who had reached her thirties without marriage was asked by a reporter what she looked for most in a husband… brains, wealth or appearance.  She snapped back: “Appaerance, and the sooner, the better!”

*
“Adventures in Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. Our indexed “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history. 

The importance of commissioning music

By David Amos

David Amos

SAN DIEGO–In the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, people attended music concerts expecting to hear a few old favorites, and at the same time, to sample newly composed music. Many of the most celebrated concerts in history featured nothing but new music.

Somehow, starting in the Twentieth Century, we have lost our way. Concertgoers attend programs with the sole purpose of basking themselves by hearing the classics from the past which they know and love. Call it “comfort music”, much like bread is comfort food. But nutritionists will tell you, man can not live by bread alone.

Possibly the strident sounds of modernity in the serial and atonal music which started in the early 1900’s created a strong resistance to anything which hinted of new music, or contemporary, or music of our times, to say nothing of Avant Garde and other scary implications.

It all comes down to this: Concert halls are becoming museums, and not shrines which showcase a living art form. No wonder that we are suffering from shrinking, graying audiences for classical music. Our beloved concert music has changed from being a vibrant, evolving contribution to the fine arts, to a stagnant homage to glories of the past. In most instances, modern music is not even given a chance, and when it is played, it is rarely heard after the premiere performances.

A couple of decades ago, I gave a pre-concert lecture to a San Diego Symphony evening. There was Schumann in the first half, and Bartók’s monumental Concerto for Orchestra in the second. The latter work is one of the greatest symphonic masterpieces of all time, and many a serious musician has called Bartók the finest composer of the Twentieth Century. It is hard to describe my despair in watching hundreds of people rushing to the exits of Symphony Hall at intermission. The music was not even given a chance to be heard.

The late Karl Haas told me years ago that he received many letters from listeners to his immensely popular radio program Adventures in Good Music. Many of these letters unequivocally let Mr. Haas know that “the moment that you announce that you are going to play music from the Twentieth Century, I turn off the radio before listening to a single note”. Reality can be most unfair.

Serious music is well on its way to extinction. If we want classical music to survive,  the above must change.

But, on the other hand, I must admit, that even for me, a blindly loyal supporter and performer of classical music, the idea of attending a live concert which features nothing more than the same tired warhorses, becomes a silly ritual of sameness and redundancy; this is in spite of who the performers are, and of the prospects of a real, novel rendition of the familiar music.

Where do we go from here?

As I see it, the first obvious step is to encourage, promote, and commission living composers to create new works. But keeping in mind the already built-in  resistance to new music, it is most important to guide composers to create works which will not repel the first-time listeners like the plague, while at the same time, not compromise the composer’s creative spirit. Such a happy medium is quite possible, without pandering to popular tastes, using clichés and lowering the standards of high art.

Composers have to understand the concept that pleasing the audiences is part of their job. If more composers take the attitude of Aaron Copland, who said if the public did not like some of his more “difficult works”, it was of no concern to him, people will eventually stop attending concerts and record companies will no longer issue any albums except those with the “greatest hits”. It is happening already, and we may have to close shop in a few decades in the future.

To this end, during the last 30 years, I have commissioned, or been involved in the creation of new, serious music which is accessible to the general public. And, yes, some of these works really sound “modern”, yet, when properly presented, can generate enthusiasm from the audiences.

These works have been successfully performed by my community orchestra, and some compositions have eventually been commercially recorded in Europe with world famous orchestras for worldwide distribution. And they have received quite favorable critical acclaim. There were many instances when I have faced the great orchestras of London, Scotland, Israel, Moscow, and Central Europe, where their musicians, many of them quite jaded from decades of dealing with parades of soloists, conductors, old and new music, have come up to me to express their enthusiasm and gratitude for bringing them music they had never heard, and were most pleased to know and play.

 Case in point: Last week we premiered a Holocaust piece for narrator and orchestra by Arnold Rosner, From the Diaries of Adam Czerniakow, which illustrates through words and music the tragic events of the Warsaw Ghetto in the early 1940’s. People in the audience have reported to me that “there was not a dry eye in the house”.

A partial list of composers which I have involved with such projects includes Paul Creston, David Ward-Steinman, Arnold Rosner, Tzvi Avni, and Paul Turok. For the Millennium year, we commissioned five different works, some great, and some not so great. More recently, we commissioned and premiered Harvey Cohen’s Columbia Suite, in memory of the fallen astronauts, Tim Simonec’s Anne Frank, The Story, and Laurence Rosenthal’s Prophetic Voices, a Double Concerto for Solo Violin, Percussion, and Orchestra. We also premiered a commission to Valarie Morris, Voices of Shekhinah, a large work for four female voices and orchestra, celebrating Jewish women in history and the present.

I have thoroughly enjoyed conducting and recording for posterity lesser known music by famous composers such as Alan Hovhaness, Morton Gould, Gian Carlo Menotti, Norman Dello Joio, Vittorio Giannini, Nicolas Flagello, Vincent Persichetti, Walter Piston, Henry Cowell, Isidor Achron, Ernest Bloch, and many other worthy masters.

But, keep in mind: I do not like most modern music I hear; just because “it sounds modern”, it may have incomprehensible rhythms and token dissonances, simple cheap effects that will not please me. But I will always give new music a chance and welcome its performance. Once in a while, I am surprised and pleased. What music needs to do is to create an emotional response from its listeners, preferably a good one. But this is the chance we take. Call it the happiness of pursuit.

The more music we hear, traditional and new, the more discriminating we become, in a good way, and can differentiate the wheat from the chaff. This evolving process must continue in the concert halls and in recordings.

Let us not forget that the classics we revere from the past are the results of natural selection, the survival of the fittest. During the times of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and our many other musical heroes, there were hundreds, if not thousands of other composers and compositions which are not heard today. What we do hear is the best that has survived, with a few exceptional worthy discoveries here and there, which have become part of the repertory.

Obviously, not all music of today will survive, or deserves to heard again. But for this process to continue, we must all do our part. That, is, to commission composers, have the works performed and recorded, and most importantly, to listen to them with an optimistic ear. Let history be the judge, and let us be the immediate beneficiaries.

*
Amos is conductor of the Tifereth Israel Community Orchestra and has guest conducted professional orchestras around the world.

European body criticizes Poland for lack of progress in fighting anti-Semitism

(WJC)–In a new report, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has criticized Poland for lack of progress in fighting anti-Semitic and racist discourse as well as a lack of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and the vulnerable situation of the Roma minority.

The report says that “it  is disturbing that discriminatory attitudes persist in Poland. Anti-Semitism is tolerated in parts of the political world and influential media. Racism among football fans, involving serious insults to Black players and crude references to the Holocaust, is a major problem which must be tackled by the authorities as well as by the Polish Football Association and football clubs.

“Some extreme right-wing organizations continue their activities unchallenged. There is an obvious need to curtail hate speech in publications and on the Internet. The courts have an important contribution to make in this respect and confidence should be built in the National Broadcasting Council’s ability to deal with complaints about ethical standards.

“There is no comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, no independent specialized body to combat racism and discrimination on grounds of race, color, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin and no independent police complaints mechanism”.

ECRI is an independent human rights body of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France. It monitors problems of racism and intolerance, prepares reports and issues recommendations to the Council of Europe’s member states.

*

Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress.

Alleged Mossad agent wanted in Germany arrested at Warsaw Airport

(WJC)–An alleged Mossad agent who is wanted in Germany in connection with the assassination of a Hamas official in Dubai has been arrested in the Polish capital Warsaw. The arrest earlier this month of Uri Brodsky, and his possible extradition to Germany, could lead to a diplomatic row between Germany and Israel.

Germany wants Brodsky to face charges of falsifying documents to obtain a German passport, but according to news reports, Israel has pressed Poland not to extradite him. The German news magazine  ‘Der Spiegel’ reported on Monday that Brodsky – an Israeli citizen suspected of working for the Mossad in Germany – was taken into custody upon arrival at Warsaw’s airport on 04 June. He is suspected of having helped another Mossad agent to illegally obtain a German passport as part of the plot to assassinate senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room in January, according to the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

Al-Mabhouh co-founded the military wing of Hamas and was allegedly in Dubai to conclude a weapons deal when he was killed. Dubai police investigations have pointed to the involvement of 33 people in the plot. They were placed on Interpol’s most wanted list, and Germany particularly sought Brodsky, according to media reports.

A prosecution spokesman in Poland was quoted by ‘ Haaretz’  as saying that Polish authorities will ask the court in Warsaw to meet the German request for Brodsky’s extradition. The Polish prosecutor noted that the extradition would be based on a European arrest warrant which leaves Poland little choice in the matter, consistent with its legal obligations as a member of the European Union. “The Polish court will rule in 30 days whether the incarcerated person, under the name of Brodsky, will be extradited to Germany or not,” the spokesman for the Warsaw District Court added, according to the Israeli newspaper.

*

Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress.

‘Chagall’ proves to be an exciting work in progress

By Sheila Orysiek

Sheila Orysiek

SAN DIEGO–The 17th Annual Jewish Arts Festival, which runs from May 30^th to June 21, spans the wide spectrum of the performing arts.  Malashock Dance and Hot P’Stromi brought together modern dance and Klezmer at the Lyceum Space Theatre in downtown San Diego.  I attended the performance on June 13^th.

What better way to celebrate art than to bring together artists of different genres to celebrate the life of another artist?  John Malashock – founder and choreographer of Malashock Dance – and Yale Strom – violinist, composer, filmmaker, writer, playwright and photographer – combined their significant talents to produce their newest collaboration Chagall.

The Lyceum Space Theatre is a small venue (seating approximately 270) with a square stage jutting out into the audience on two sides.  Thus one is both near enough to feel close to the action, but far enough away to see the design concept as a whole.  Seats are in tiers, so for the most part sight lines are good.  Because of the proximity over zealous amplification can be avoided – for which this observer is grateful.

Strom brings his varied background plus a group of musicians playing Klezmer (and more) under the name:  Hot P’Stromi.   The program opened with several selections of Klezmer from parts of Eastern Europe, such as the vicinity where Chagall was born and spent his childhood, to Romania which is just across the river. 

Love it or not, and I do love it, it is impossible not to respond to Klezmer.   In some ways it is like American jazz – the musicians responding to one another, each in turn picking up the motif – adding, subtracting, clarifying and crafting a specific sound for a specific instrument.  Then, coming all together they go rollicking along.  But, Klezmer also can be winsome and even sad.  The audience reacted to both – some barely able to keep their seats.

John Malashock founded his modern dance company in 1988 and has been a significant presence in San Diego ever since.  His background is impressive and runs the gamut from film (dancing in Amadeus), television specials, choreographing for many other companies – both dance and opera -culminating in four Emmy awards.  He spoke to the audience briefly – but enjoyably – about the work being performed and his plans for it.

Chagall is still a work in progress and Malashock presented three scenes from what will eventually be a full length amalgam of dance, music and imagery.  The first scene was of the village Vitebsk, where Chagall was born in what is now Belarus, but was then Russia and at times Poland.  The second scene is his first significant love who introduces him to her friend who becomes the “love of his life.”  

Michael Mizerany, associate artistic director and senior dancer (with an impressive resume including two Lester Horton Dance Awards) was “Chagall” and brought to the role an understanding of how to portray a painter/artist through the art of dance/movement. 

It is difficult to understand why Chagall would reject his first love, Thea, (Lara Segura) for Bella (Christine Marshall).  But love is not mental – it is visceral and there is no accounting for it.  It is the one emotion we cannot place at the service of reason; however, I think I would enjoy seeing that explored a bit more.  Segura was a lovely Thea.  Costumed in a simple short white sheath she danced passionately while still innocent enough to introduce her friend to her lover.  Marshall, surely a fine dancer, didn’t quite tell me what Chagall saw in her to capture his heart – but perhaps that was not Malashock’s intent.  Or perhaps Chagall didn’t know.

Chagall’s physical love feeds his artistic vision.  He takes his brush and paints her in invisible images upon invisible canvasses.  Then, he uses his brush to explore her body – never vulgarly – but always seeking to understand her outline.  Maybe that is what he really needs.

The pas de deux (this is modern dance so perhaps I should say “dance for two”) is well done – but somehow didn’t convey the depth of passion that must have been there.  However, this is still a work in progress not only for the choreographer, but also for the dancers and they haven’t as yet internalized it.  It is certainly a good beginning.

Tribes premiered in 1996 and has the feeling and confidence of a complete work, completely conceived – much like a Mozart symphony.  It is a dance (again using Strom’s original music) which is described by Malashock as follows:  “….each dancer creates his/her own culture.  These fantastical “tribes” connect, collide, and ultimately share in a blending of the eternal spirit.”

It is always fascinating to see what Malashock does with the music; forming groups and then breaking them apart.  Each twosome or threesome dances to the same music at the same time, but completely differently – bringing to view other aspects of the music.  And each is valid and “true.”  I find myself saying “yes, that is how the music looks.”  He also never falls overly in love with his own invention – it is given, enjoyed and then he moves on, confident in his next vision.  The flow is natural, never contrived, and though one knows of the reality of the endless rehearsal which must have taken place, the movement is fresh, natural and seemingly – what a painter would call – a “happy accident.”

The dance flows from shape to shape, pausing for just a moment to allow the eye to capture it, but still keeping the seams between phrases invisible.  The entire body is used; hands and heads as important as legs and arms as important as spines and breath.  There were a couple of times, when the choreography allowed, I would have enjoyed seeing some eye contact betwixt the dancer and the observer – a living connection; “I am also dancing for you.” 

 *
Dance critic Orysiek is based in San Diego.  She may be contacted at ORZAK@aol.com