Ka kopanelo le rona “Bo-mphato ba Tlhokomelo” lenaneo le tšehelitsoeng ka lichelete ke UJA-Federation of New York, ea Y e tla ba le lipuisano tse tsoang ho baphonyohi ba sebaka ba tšeletseng ho utloisisa pale ea motho ka mong hamolemo. Lipuisano tsena li tla bontšoa setsing sa litšoantšo sa Tabernacle ea Seheberu “Ho ba le Nako ea Ntoa le ho Feta: Litšoantšo tsa Baphonyohi ba Polao e Sehlōhō ea Moea”. Sebaka sa pokello ea litšoantšo se tla buloa ka Labohlano la la 8 Pulungoana.
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(sculpture by 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.
Ho 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 lilemo tse. 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 lilemo.
Puisano ena e entsoe ke Halley Goldberg oa mokhatlo oa Y's Partners in Caring mme ke oa YM.&YWHA ea Washington Heights le Inwood. Tšebeliso ea thepa ena ntle le tumello e ngotsoeng ho tsoa ho Y le mohlahlobuoa e thibetsoe ka thata. Fumana lintlha tse ling mabapi le lenaneo la Partner in Caring mona: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Tabernakele ea Seheberu Armin le Estelle Gold Wing Galleryka kopanelo e motlotlo leRe ne re thabetse ho ba le sehlopha se fapaneng se tsoang sechabeng ho kenyelletsa le malapa a tsoang Sekolong sa Y Nursery&YWHA ea Washington Heights le Inwoode u memela ho ronaNovember/December, 2013 Hlahisa“Ho ba le Nako ea Ntoa le ho Feta: Litšoantšo tsa Baphonyohi ba Polao e Sehlōhō ea Moea” ka linepe le setsoantso ka: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW le ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Hammoho le Tšebeletso e khethehileng mohopolongtsa75Anivesari ya Kristallnacht -The Night of Broken GlassLitšebeletso le Kamohelo ea ho Bula ea Artist, Labohlano, La 8 November, 2013 7:30 thapama.
Polelo e tsoang ho Y : ” Ka lilemo tse mashome Washington Heights/Inwood Y e bile teng, me e tsoela pele ho ba, setshabelo ho ba batlang setshabelo, tlhompho le kutlwisiso. Ba bangata ba kenang menyakong ea rona le ho nka karolo mananeong a rona ba phetse litekong le matšoenyeho ao re ke keng ra a nahana.. Bakeng sa ba bang, bao e tla ba karolo ea pontšo ena, le leng la tšabo e joalo le se le tsebahala lefatšeng ka bophara e le “Polao e Sehlōhō” – polao e hlophisitsoeng ea Bajode ba limilione tse tšeletseng ba Europe.
Rona ba Y re hopola tse fetileng, tlotla ba ba neng ba tshela le go swa ka nako eo, le ho sireletsa ’nete bakeng sa meloko e tlang. Molemong oa rona le bana ba rona, re tlameha ho fetisa lipale tsa ba kileng ba hlaheloa ke bokhopo ba ntoa. Ho na le lithuto tse lokelang ho ithutoa nakong e tlang. Lipuisano li ngotsoe ke Halley Goldberg, molebeli oa lenaneo la "Partners in Caring".. Lenaneo lena la bohlokoa le ile la khoneha ka thuso ea seatla se bulehileng e tsoang ho UJA-Federation of New York, e etselitsoe ho ntlafatsa likamano le lisynagoge tsa Washington Heights le Inwood. “
Pontšo ea rona e kopanetsoeng ea bonono e na le litšoantšo le lipuisano tsa baphonyohi ba Polao e Sehlōhō, Hannah Eisner, Charlie le Lilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel le Ruth Wertheimer, kaofela ha bona e le litho tsa Tabernakele ea Seheberu, phutheho ea Sejuda eo Bajuda ba bangata ba Majeremane ba balehang Manazi le lehlohonolo la ho tla Amerika, e ile ea kopanela bofelong ba lilemo tsa bo-1930. Ho feta moo, re tla hlompha le mophonyohi oa Polao e Sehlōhō Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- mme oa sebini sa rona Peter Bulow le mophonyohi oa WWII Yan Neznanskiy - ntate oa Ofisiri e ka Sehloohong ea Lenaneo la Y., ka ho keteka Letsatsi la Boipuso.
Tshebeletso e ikgethang ya Sabatha, ka dibui, sehopotsong sa Sehopotso sa bo75 sa Kristallnacht (Bosiu ba Khalase e Senyehileng) e etella pele ho buloa ha Gold Gallery/Y pontšo:Litšebeletso li qala hang ka 7:30 thapama. Bohle ba memeloa ho ba teng.
Bakeng sa lihora tse bulehileng tsa gallery kapa bakeng sa tlhaiso-leseling e batsi ka kopo letsetsa synagoge ho212-568-8304 kapa bonahttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgPolelo ea Moetsi: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion o hlahetse Minneapolis, MN mme o holetse Iseraele. Ke seithuti sa Setsi sa Machaba sa Lithuto tsa Kakaretso tsa Setsi sa Litšoantšo. Ben-Zion ke moamoheli oa lithuso le likhau tse fapaneng, haufinyane tjena ho tsoa ho Puffin Foundation le ho tsoa ho NoMAA, ’me mosebetsi oa hae o ’nile oa bontšoa United States le Europe. O hatisitse monograph tse peli tsa mosebetsi oa hae. O lula Washington Heights le monna oa hae, le mafahla a bona a bashanyana.
Polelo ea Moetsi: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
'Mè ha ke sa le ngoana, ba ne ba ipatile nakong ea Polao e Sehlōhō. Ho theosa le lilemo, phihlelo ea hae, kapa seo ke neng ke nahana hore e bile phihlelo ea hae, e bile le tšusumetso e kholo ho 'na. Tšusumetso ena e bonahala bophelong ba ka ba botho le ba bonono. Ke hlahetse India, o ne a lula Berlin ke sa le ngoana 'me a fallela US le batsoali ba ka ha a le lilemong 8. Ke na le Masters in Fine Arts ho betliloeng. Hape ke moamoheli oa thuso e tla ntumella ho etsa palo e lekanyelitsoeng ea baphonyohi ba Polao e Sehlōhō.. Ke kopa u ntsebise haeba u thahasella ho ba karolo ea morero ona.
Polelo ea Moetsi :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Mosebetsi oa ka o bontša leeto la ka ho tloha Houston, TX - moo ke hlahetseng le ho holela teng - ho ea New York - moo, e pepesehetseng morabe wa yona, mefuta-futa ea setso le moruo oa sechaba le pono ea eona e ikhethang ho bajaki– Ke ile ka fumana tlhompho e nchafalitsoeng bakeng sa setso sa motho e mong le e mong. Ke ithutile le baetsi ba lifoto ba hloahloa, o ile a tsamaea lefatšeng ka bophara 'me a sebelisana le litsebi tse ngata tse phahameng tšimong. Ho tloha ka Pherekhong, 2006, mosebetsi oa ka oa ho ba ralitšoantšo ea ikemetseng e se e le mokhoa oa ho nka merero ea ho nka lifoto ea botho e hlahang kutloisisong ea ka ea tsela eo re arolelanang lefatše ka eona le ho sebelisa boqapi ba rona ka kakaretso.
