In samewerking met ons “Vennote in Omgee” program befonds deur die UJA-Federasie van New York, die Y sal onderhoude met ses plaaslike oorlewendes bevat om die verhaal van elke individu beter te verstaan. Hierdie onderhoude sal in die Hebreeuse Tabernakel -galery ten toon gestel word “Ervaar 'n tyd van oorlog en verder: Portrette van geesdriftige Holocaust -oorlewendes”. Die galery word op Vrydag 8 November oopgemaak.
Fredy Seidel lives in Washington Heights. Through this initiative, he has learned more about the Y and plans to become a member of the Center for Adults Living Well @ the Y.
Fredy Seidel(beeldhouwerk deur Peter Bulow: WWW.PETERBULOW.COM)
After Kristallnact, the Seidels realized that it was no longer safe to stay in Germany so they decided to contact a Jewish agency in Breslau to begin preparations to leave. There was a Jewish organization that worked tirelessly to help Jews get out of Germany. The organization’s first priority was helping to get prisoners out of concentration camps, which was a very expensive task because the German government would not let prisoners leave the camps unless they were able to produce a roundtrip ticket out of the country. Fredy’s parents received a telegram at their synagogue on Saturday morning during services from this agency, stating that the agency found money for them to leave Germany and that they should come immediately. The agency had enough money to rescue Fredy’s parents, grandmother, and one of his brothers, Horst. Fredy’s oldest brother Rudi would be sent to Berlin to stay with an interfaith family in the hope that he would receive an affidavit to go to America. However, Rudi would never make it to America; while he was in Berlin, he was picked up from the street and sent to Auschwitz.
In 1939, the family left Bremerhaven, Germany and arrived in Shanghai a month later. After getting off the boat, the Seidel’s were taken to the ghetto that had been organized by the local Sephardic community. Fredy Seidel was born on May 1, 1941 in Shanghai, China. While in Shanghai, Fredy’s parents attempted to make a living by doing anything that they could to make money. The conditions were poor and made it very difficult to find work. The ghetto of 25,000 people was fed by a community kitchen that was also funded by the local Sephardic community. The ghetto had one synagogue, which had been built by Russian Jews. The synagogue became known as Ohel Moishe and that synagogue is still standing today.
The Jews who lived in Shanghai ghetto were housed in warehouses that were divided into 10 rooms. Each room provided shelter to 28 people. There were no walls; it was just one large room with bunk beds. Fredy’s mom would use a trunk and tablecloth to make a table for their meals. Conditions were not very sanitary. For example, the toilet was about 150 feet away from the room, so the Seidel family would keep pot under their bed in case they had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. In the morning, they would take their pots to the toilet to dispose of the waste. There were two community showers, one for men and one for women; this did not allow for any privacy. Approximately 3000 people died from malnutrition and unsanitary conditions. Fredy recalls that you were not allowed to leave the ghetto without special permission from the police commissioner.
Not all of the refugees in the ghetto were Jewish. Fredy remembers that there were people who came because they had interfaith marriages. When asked about his community, Fredy states, “For me, I felt a very strong sense of Judaism and a very strong belief in G-d.” While living in Shanghai, Fredy recalls learning a lot about Judaism and what it means to have faith. He goes on to explain that a large portion of the refugees came from a town in Germany called Selisia.
The Jewish community in Shanghai was very tightknit and poverty stricken. People tried to make the best of their time there. The Jews created their own newspaper called the Yellow Post. Fredy recalls the Chinese being very helpful and shared what little they had with the Jewish community.
Fredy attended four Jewish schools within five years in Shanghai. He also attended a British school. Fredy recalls having to attend Anglican services while in the British school. There, the students were punished by the teachers with a bamboo stick, which they used to hit the children. This was very different from his experience in the Jewish schools. He described the Jewish schools as very nurturing. Since there were many refugee students left, a small school was created to accommodate them. There were three students to every teacher. This was not very conducive to learning because of the way the teacher’s attention was decided.
While in the ghetto, Fredy’s fathers tried making a living by collecting old razor blades, sharpening them, and trying selling them to the Chinese, but this did not work out. He then tried to become a shoemaker. Additionally, he was the cantor at Ohel Moshe synagogue.
The Red Cross came to Shanghai and distributed questionnaires to the refugees to figure out who was looking for their relatives. A year later, they came back and posted a large bulletin board on a wall with a list of names of the people they had been looking for. This is how Fredy’s father found out that his oldest son had been murdered in Auschwitz. He also found out that his parents and siblings had all been killed. Fredy remembers, “my father collapsed into the arms of my brother. That’s how people found out what happened to members of their family. It wasn’t the most sensitive way to find out.”
Eventually, the Chinese government told the Jews that they could not stay there any longer. In 1952, the Seidel’s returned back to Germany. They were one of the last thirty families to leave Shanghai. Fredy’s parents would get startup money to rebuild their lives once again in Germany.
When the Seidel’s got back to Germany, it had been divided into East and West Germany. Fredy’s parents were from a German town called Breslau, which had become a part of Poland, and was considered to be a part of West Germany so the restitution that was promised upon their return to Germany did not apply to them. This was financially devastating to the Seidel’s. This made the Seidel’s resort to smuggling good between East and West Germany in order to help them survive. The Seidel’s moved into a small apartment and Fredy’s father became a cantor again. On February 2, the Seidel’s received their visa to come to America. On February 22, Fredy’s mother was admitted to the intensive care unit where she would stay until September and would come out in a wheelchair. Fredy’s bar mitzvah was going to be in May. He was supposed to be the first boy with two Jewish parents to be bar mitzvahed in post-war Berlin. Many rabbis came from all over to be there for this occasion. The night before his bar mitzvah, Fredy and his father decided that they did not want to have the bar mitzvah without his mother being present and healthy again. He ended up waiting until after she was discharged from the hospital to have his bar mitzvah.
The Seidel’s were stuck in Germany for 7 years. In 1959, the Seidel’s made their way to America. The family decided to go to San Francisco to visit one of Fredy’s brothers before settling down in New York. What was supposed to be a two week trip turned into a yearlong stay. While in San Francisco, Fredy worked as a busboy and then a stock boy to try and help his family financially. After his family decided to move to New York, Fredy worked in Gimble’s selling stamps. He had dreams of attending Columbia University and after working at Gimble’s for a short while, his dreams were realized. Fredy enrolled at Columbia University at 20 jaar oud. Although he would be drafted into the army while at Columbia, because of the tropical illnesses he contracted as a child in Shanghai he was not accepted into the army. In his last job, Fredy worked as a paralegal at a law firm for 20 jaar.
Hierdie onderhoud is gevoer deur Halley Goldberg van die Y's Partners in Caring -inisiatief en behoort aan die YM&YWHA van Washington Heights en Inwood. Die gebruik van hierdie materiaal sonder skriftelike toestemming van beide die Y en die ondervraagde is streng verbode. Lees hier meer oor die Partners in Caring -program: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Hebreeuse tabernakel Armin en Estelle Gold Wing Galleryin trotse vennootskap metdie YM&YWHA van Washington Heights en Inwoodnooi u uit na onsNovember / Desember, 2013 Uitstalling“Ervaar 'n tyd van oorlog en verder: Portrette van geesdriftige Holocaust -oorlewendes” met foto's en beeldhouwerk deur: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW en ROJ RODRIGUEZ. In samewerking met 'n spesiale diens ter herinneringvan die75die herdenking van Kristallnacht -die nag van gebroke glasDienste en onthaalontvangs vir kunstenaars, Vrydag, 8 November, 2013 7:30 nm.
'N Verklaring van die Y : ” Vir dekades was die Washington Heights/Inwood Y, en bly steeds, 'n toevlugsoord vir diegene wat skuiling soek, respek en begrip. Baie wat by ons ingaan en aan ons programme deelneem, het beproewinge beleef wat ons nie eers kan voorstel nie. Vir sommige, wat deel sal wees van hierdie uitstalling, so 'n gruwel het die wêreld bloot bekend geword as 'The Holocaust' – die stelselmatige moord op ses miljoen Jode van Europa.
Ons by die Y onthou die verlede, eer diegene wat gedurende daardie tyd gelewe en gesterf het, en die waarheid vir toekomstige geslagte beskerm. Ter wille van onsself en ons kinders, ons moet die verhale deurgee van diegene wat die euwels van oorlog beleef het. Daar is lesse te leer vir die toekoms. Die onderhoude word deur Halley Goldberg gedokumenteer, 'n programbegeleier van 'Partners in Caring'. Hierdie belangrike program is moontlik gemaak deur 'n ruim toekenning van die UJA-Federasie van New York, ontwerp om verhoudings met sinagoges in Washington Heights en Inwood te verbeter. “
Ons gesamentlike kunsuitstalling bevat portrette en onderhoude met oorlewendes van die Holocaust, Hannah Eisner, Charlie en Lilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel en Ruth Wertheimer, almal lede van die The Hebrew Tabernacle, 'n Joodse gemeente dat baie Duitse Jode van die Nazi's gevlug het en gelukkig was om na Amerika te kom, het in die laat 1930's aangesluit. Boonop vereer ons ook die oorlewende van die Holocaust, Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- ma van ons kunstenaar Peter Bulow en die oorlewende van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog Yan Neznanskiy - pa van die Y's Chief Program Officer, Victoria Neznansky.
'N Spesiale Sabbatsdiens, met sprekers, ter nagedagtenis aan die 75ste herdenking van Kristallnacht (die nag van gebroke glas) voorafgaan aan die opening van die Gold Gallery/Y -uitstalling:Dienste begin stiptelik om 7:30 pm. Almal word uitgenooi om dit by te woon.
Vir die openingstye van die galery of vir meer inligting, bel die sinagoge by212-568-8304 of sienhttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgKunstenaarsverklaring: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion is in Minneapolis gebore, MN en grootgemaak in Israel. Sy is 'n gegradueerde van die International Center of Photography se algemene studieprogram. Ben-Zion ontvang verskeie toekennings en toekennings, mees onlangs van die Puffin Foundation en van NoMAA, en haar werk is in die Verenigde State en in Europa uitgestal. Sy het twee monografieë van haar werk gepubliseer. Sy woon saam met haar man in Washington Heights, en hul tweelingseuns.
Kunstenaarsverklaring: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
My ma as kind, was tydens die Holocaust weggekruip. Oor die jare, haar ervaring, of wat ek my voorgestel het dat dit haar ervaring was, het 'n groot invloed op my gehad. Hierdie invloed word weerspieël in my persoonlike sowel as in my artistieke lewe. Ek is in Indië gebore, woon as 'n jong kind in Berlyn en emigreer op ouderdom saam met my ouers na die VSA 8. Ek het 'n meestersgraad in beeldende kunste in beeldhoukuns. Ek ontvang ook 'n toelae wat my in staat sal stel om 'n beperkte aantal bronsborste van Holocaust -oorlewendes te maak. Laat weet my asseblief as u deel wil wees van hierdie projek.
Kunstenaarsverklaring :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
My werk weerspieël my reis van Houston, TX - waar ek gebore en getoë is - na New York - waar, blootgestel aan sy etniese, kulturele en sosio -ekonomiese diversiteit en sy unieke siening oor immigrante– Ek het 'n hernieude respek vir almal se kultuur gevind. Ek het geleer by gevestigde fotograwe, het die wêreld omvattend gereis en saamgewerk met baie professionele persone op die gebied. Sedert Januarie, 2006, my loopbaan as onafhanklike fotograaf het 'n proses geword van die neem van persoonlike fotoprojekte wat voortspruit uit my eie begrip van die manier waarop ons die wêreld deel en ons kreatiwiteit as geheel uitoefen.
