Kwa kushirikiana na yetu “Washirika katika Kujali” mpango unaofadhiliwa na UJA-Shirikisho la New York, Y itaangazia mahojiano kutoka kwa waathirika sita wa ndani ili kuelewa vyema hadithi ya kila mtu. Mahojiano haya yataonyeshwa kwenye nyumba ya sanaa ya Tabernacle ya Kiebrania “Kupitia Wakati wa Vita na Zaidi: Picha za Walionusurika kwenye Maangamizi ya Holocaust”. Nyumba ya sanaa itafunguliwa Ijumaa Novemba 8.
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.
Katika 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. Kwa mfano, 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 umri wa miaka. 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 miaka.
Mahojiano haya yalifanywa na Halley Goldberg wa mpango wa Y's Partners in Caring na ni wa YM.&YWHA ya Washington Heights na Inwood. Matumizi ya nyenzo hii bila idhini ya maandishi kutoka kwa Y na mhojiwa ni marufuku kabisa. Pata maelezo zaidi kuhusu mpango wa Washirika katika Kujali hapa: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Maskani ya Kiebrania Matunzio ya Mrengo ya Dhahabu ya Armin na Estellekwa ushirikiano wa kujivunia naKuhusu Y&YWHA ya Washington Heights na Inwoodinakualika kwenye yetuNovemba/Desemba, 2013 Onyesha“Kupitia Wakati wa Vita na Zaidi: Picha za Walionusurika kwenye Maangamizi ya Holocaust” na picha na uchongaji by: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW na ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Kwa kushirikiana na Huduma maalum katika kumbukumbuya75Maadhimisho ya Miaka 10 ya Kristallnacht -Usiku wa Kioo kilichovunjikaHuduma na Mapokezi ya Ufunguzi ya Msanii, Ijumaa, Novemba 8, 2013 7:30 Mch.
Taarifa kutoka kwa Y : ” Kwa miongo kadhaa Washington Heights/Inwood Y imekuwa, na inaendelea kuwa, kimbilio kwa wale wanaotafuta kimbilio, heshima na uelewa. Wengi wanaoingia kwenye milango yetu na kushiriki katika programu zetu wamepitia majaribu na dhiki ambazo hatuwezi hata kufikiria.. Kwa baadhi, ambao watakuwa sehemu ya maonyesho haya, jambo moja la kutisha kama hilo limejulikana kwa ulimwengu kuwa "Maangamizi makubwa" – mauaji ya kimfumo ya Wayahudi milioni sita wa Ulaya.
Sisi katika Y tunakumbuka zamani, waheshimu wale walioishi na kufa wakati huo, na kulinda ukweli kwa vizazi vijavyo. Kwa ajili yetu na watoto wetu, lazima tupitishe hadithi za wale ambao wamepitia maovu ya vita. Kuna masomo ya kujifunza kwa siku zijazo. Mahojiano hayo yameandikwa na Halley Goldberg, msimamizi wa programu ya "Washirika katika Kujali".. Mpango huu muhimu uliwezekana kupitia ruzuku ya ukarimu kutoka UJA-Shirikisho la New York, iliyoundwa ili kuboresha uhusiano na masinagogi huko Washington Heights na Inwood. “
Maonyesho yetu ya pamoja ya sanaa yana picha na mahojiano ya walionusurika katika Maangamizi ya Wayahudi, Hannah Eisner, Charlie na Lilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel na Ruth Wertheimer, ambao wote ni washiriki wa Hema la Kukutania la Kiebrania, kutaniko la Kiyahudi ambalo Wayahudi wengi wa Kijerumani walikimbia Wanazi na kupata bahati ya kuja Amerika, alijiunga mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1930. Kwa kuongezea, tutamheshimu pia mnusurika wa mauaji ya Holocaust Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- mama wa msanii wetu Peter Bulow na mwokozi wa WWII Yan Neznanskiy - baba wa Afisa Mkuu wa Mpango wa Y., Victoria Neznansky.
Ibada maalum ya Sabato, na wazungumzaji, katika kumbukumbu ya Miaka 75 ya Kristallnacht (Usiku wa Kioo kilichovunjika) hutangulia ufunguzi wa maonyesho ya Gold Gallery/Y:Huduma huanza mara moja saa 7:30 jioni. Wote mnaalikwa kuhudhuria.
Kwa masaa ya wazi ya nyumba ya sanaa au kwa habari zaidi tafadhali piga simu kwa sinagogi kwa212-568-8304 au tazamahttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgKauli ya Msanii: Yael Ben-Sayuniwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion alizaliwa huko Minneapolis, MN na kukulia Israeli. Yeye ni mhitimu wa Mpango wa Mafunzo ya Jumla wa Kituo cha Kimataifa cha Upigaji picha. Ben-Zion ndiye mpokeaji wa ruzuku na tuzo mbalimbali, hivi karibuni kutoka kwa Wakfu wa Puffin na kutoka NoMAA, na kazi yake imeonyeshwa Marekani na Ulaya. Amechapisha monographs mbili za kazi yake. Anaishi Washington Heights na mumewe, na wavulana wao mapacha.
Kauli ya Msanii: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
Mama yangu kama mtoto, alikuwa amejificha wakati wa mauaji ya Holocaust. Kwa miaka mingi, uzoefu wake, au kile nilichofikiria kuwa uzoefu wake, imekuwa na ushawishi mkubwa kwangu. Ushawishi huu unaonyeshwa katika maisha yangu ya kibinafsi na ya kisanii. Nilizaliwa India, aliishi kama mtoto mdogo huko Berlin na kuhamia Marekani na wazazi wangu katika umri 8. Nina Shahada ya Uzamili katika Sanaa Nzuri katika uchongaji. Mimi pia ni mpokeaji wa ruzuku ambayo itaniruhusu kufanya idadi ndogo ya manusura wa mauaji ya Holocaust.. Tafadhali nijulishe ikiwa ungependa kuwa sehemu ya mradi huu.
Kauli ya Msanii :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Mwili wangu wa kazi unaonyesha safari yangu kutoka Houston, TX - ambapo nilizaliwa na kukulia - hadi New York - wapi, wazi kwa kabila lake, tofauti za kitamaduni na kijamii na kiuchumi na mtazamo wake wa kipekee juu ya wahamiaji– Nilipata heshima mpya kwa tamaduni ya kila mtu. Nimejifunza na wapiga picha waliobobea, alisafiri sana ulimwenguni na alishirikiana na wataalamu wengi wa juu katika uwanja huo. Tangu Januari, 2006, kazi yangu kama mpiga picha huru imekuwa mchakato wa kuchukua miradi ya upigaji picha ya kibinafsi ambayo hutokana na ufahamu wangu mwenyewe wa jinsi tunavyoshiriki ulimwengu na kutumia ubunifu wetu kwa ujumla.
