Koos meiega “Partnerid hoolimises” programm, mida rahastab New Yorgi UJA Föderatsioon, Y sisaldab intervjuusid kuuelt kohalikult ellujäänult, et mõista paremini igaühe lugu. Neid intervjuusid näidatakse Heebrea Tabernaakli galeriis “Sõjaaja ja kaugema aja kogemine: Portreed hingestatud holokausti ellujäänutest”. Galerii avatakse reedel, 8. novembril.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 aastat, as an office manager for Project Hope and then as a program director in the senior center. She retired in 1987, but currently is the chair of the chesed committee, attends the Partner in Caring weekly discussion group, and on occasion teaches an origami class here at the Y once a week.
Hanna Eisner(Peter Bulowi skulptuur: www.peterbulow.com)
Hannah Eisner was born in Offenbach, Germany on November 12, 1924. She grew up in Offenbach with both of her parents. Her father worked as the vice president of a Jewish owned private bank and her mother was a stay at home mom. After 1934, Jewish children were not allowed to go to public schools, so they were taught by the Jewish teachers who were also not welcome in public schools. This is how the Jewish school in Offenbach came about. Hannah describes, “I did not feel so deprived. We had our own community.” She remembers that Jews were not allowed to go anywhere in town. There were signs outside movie theaters and businesses that said “Jews not wanted.” She explained the treatment of the Jews: “they were treated like nothings. Like vermin.”
Before Kristallnacht, the super intendant of the building that Hannah’s dad worked in asked him for a favor, which Hannah’s father was able to help with. , Hannah and her parents believe that the reason that her father was not taken to a concentration camp and that her apartment was not demolished was because the super intendant paid this favor back. He protected Hannah’s family. Hannah recalls, “I felt almost embarrassed when everyone else’s father was taken, but he was safe. Still, whenever the doorbell rang, one was afraid one would be taken away. One lived in utter fear.” Hannah remembers mostly how much fear she and her family lived in. She states that there was no justice for Jews.
There was a small Jewish population in Offenbach, and during Kristallnacht, almost all of the apartments were ransacked and the synagogue was set on fire. After Kristallnacht, Hannah remembers the devastation that took place and how it affected her and her community. She remembers getting ready to go to school the next day and being told by one of her classmates to go home because there is no school left. Later on, she and one of her friends walked to the school, “we looked into the broken windows, we saw it all black and burned.” Jewish businesses were greatly affected. Their stores were empty, and no gentile dared to go in. She also describes that her father was pushed out of his position at the bank as the bank was taken over by someone else who was not Jewish. “After Kristallnacht, we knew we had to get out if we could.”
After the events of Kristallnacht, Hannah and her family waited their number to be called in order to come to America. She feared that their number would not be called because the American consulate closed over the summer; Kuid, their number was called before the consulate closed. While waiting for their number to get called, Hannah and her family prepared for their journey by taking the little money that they had left and buying clothes so that when they reached America, they would have clothes and shoes. Hannah remembers that each day she waited to leave for America, she watched as the Jewish community shrunk.
One of Hannah’s most vivid memories involves her friend Lisel Strauss. When one would receive an affidavit to leave the country, often times the affidavit was not big enough to cover the whole family. The Strauss family did not have an affidavit that would cover all four of them. So the family split up. The father and younger sister, Ellen, went to American first. Lisel and her mother stayed behind with the hope that the father would soon be able to get an affidavit for the two of them. But Lisel and her mother never got out. Ellen married a man who was in the leather business, specifically handbags. The handbags that they made were called the Lisette, which was named after Lisel. (Hannah still has her original handbag, pictured above).
Many of Hannah’s relatives perished in Nazi death camps. She had a cousin who was imprisoned in one of the camps. Her cousin found a boyfriend at the camp. The boyfriend had an opportunity to leave the camp, but he decided to stay with Hannah’s cousin. They both ended up being murdered in the camp together.
The Eisner’s came to America in April 1939. Hannah had relatives in New York who rented a room for her family for a short period of time. She remembers, “to my surprise, the freedom here, the abundance…after relatives had picked us up, they rented a room for us until our few belongings did come…they wanted me to buy things in the grocery store. So with my best English I went down and I said ‘can I have an egg or two?’ They said ‘what? Why don’t you take a dozen?’ These were the surprises of an immigrant.” Hannah’s family would rent five bedroom apartments, which was bigger than what they needed in order to rent out rooms to other refugees who could not afford their own apartments. Hannah remembers, “I never had a room of my own. For a long, long time because we rented out two rooms. But I’m glad to be alive.” When they first arrived, Hannah’s father took a job as a door-to-door salesman. This was a tremendous step down from his position at the bank, but it was the only work he was able to get. Eventually, he was fortunate enough to get a job as a shipping clerk. Hannah’s mother worked very little from home; she stitched slippers together.
Hannah was 14 years old when she came to America. She attended junior high school and then George Washington High School. She was a bright student, but did not want to go to college because she would have to go to classes a night. After graduation, Hannah worked as a billing clerk in a slipper manufacturer.
Living through the devastation of Kristallnacht and the Holocaust affected Hannah in many ways throughout her life, but especially when it came to raising her children. She explains, “I was stricter with them because I felt that the others were killed and we survived so [my children] shouldn’t be so silly. So I was stricter on my boys, which I regret now.”
“Hitler made me proud to be a Jew. Hitler made me Jewish.” Hannah was married in 1950 to an Austrian man that she met in America. She has two sons and three grandchildren. Her middle grandson was just accepted into the Israeli Army. She is tremendously proud ofhim.
Selle intervjuu viis läbi Halley Goldberg Y’s Partners in Caring algatusest ja see kuulub YM-i&YWHA Washington Heightsist ja Inwoodist. Selle materjali kasutamine ilma nii Y kui ka intervjueeritava kirjaliku nõusolekuta on rangelt keelatud. Lisateavet programmi Partners in Caring kohta leiate siit: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Heebrea tabernaakel Armini ja Estelle Gold Wingi galeriiuhkes koostöösYM&YWHA Washington Heightsist ja Inwoodistkutsub teid meie juurdenovember/detsember, 2013 Näitus“Sõjaaja ja kaugema aja kogemine: Portreed hingestatud holokausti ellujäänutest” fotode ja skulptuuridega: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW ja ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Koos spetsiaalse teenusega mälusselle75Kristallöö – Klaasipuru öö aastapäevTeenused ja kunstniku avamise vastuvõtt, Reede, 8. november, 2013 7:30 p.m.
Avaldus Y-lt : ” Aastakümneid on Washington Heights / Inwood Y olnud, ja on jätkuvalt, varjupaik neile, kes otsivad varjupaika, austust ja mõistmist. Paljud, kes sisenevad meie ustest ja osalevad meie programmides, on elanud läbi katsumusi, mida me ei suuda isegi ette kujutada. Mõne jaoks, kes sellest näitusest osa saavad, üks selline õudus on saanud maailmale tuntuks lihtsalt kui "holokaust" – kuue miljoni Euroopa juudi süstemaatiline mõrv.
Meie Y-s mäletame minevikku, austada neid, kes sel ajal elasid ja surid, ja kaitsta tõde tulevaste põlvede jaoks. Enda ja oma laste huvides, peame edasi andma nende lugusid, kes on kogenud sõja pahesid. Tulevikuks on õppida. Intervjuud on dokumenteerinud Halley Goldberg, programmi "Partners in Caring" juhendaja. See oluline programm sai võimalikuks tänu New Yorgi UJA Föderatsiooni heldele toetusele, loodud suhete parandamiseks Washington Heightsi ja Inwoodi sünagoogidega. “
Meie ühisel kunstinäitusel on holokausti ellujäänute portreed ja intervjuud, Hanna Eisner, Charlie ja Lilli Friedman, Pärl Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel ja Ruth Wertheimer, kes kõik on Heebrea Tabernaakli liikmed, juudi kogudus, kus paljud Saksa juudid põgenevad natside eest ja kellel on õnn Ameerikasse tulla, liitus 1930. aastate lõpus. Lisaks austame ka holokausti üle elanud Gizelle Schwartz Bulow'd- meie kunstniku Peter Bulow ja II maailmasõja ellujäänud Yan Neznanskiy ema – Y programmi peadirektori isa, Victoria Neznansky.
Eriline hingamispäeva jumalateenistus, kõlaritega, Kristalliöö 75. aastapäeva mälestuseks (purustatud klaaside öö) eelneb Kuldgalerii/Y näituse avamisele:Teenused algavad kohe kell 7:30 pm. Kõik on oodatud osalema.
Galerii lahtiolekuaegade või lisateabe saamiseks helistage sünagoogi aadressil212-568-8304 või vaatahttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgKunstniku avaldus: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion sündis Minneapolises, MN ja kasvanud Iisraelis. Ta on lõpetanud Rahvusvahelise Fotograafiakeskuse üldõppe programmi. Ben-Zion on erinevate toetuste ja auhindade saaja, viimati Puffin Foundationilt ja NoMAA-lt, ja tema töid on eksponeeritud Ameerika Ühendriikides ja Euroopas. Ta on avaldanud oma loomingust kaks monograafiat. Ta elab koos abikaasaga Washington Heightsis, ja nende kaksikud poisid.
Kunstniku avaldus: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
Minu ema lapsena, oli holokausti ajal varjanud. Aastate jooksul, tema kogemus, või mida ma ette kujutasin olevat tema kogemus, on mulle suurt mõju avaldanud. See mõju kajastub nii minu isiklikus kui ka kunstielus. Olen sündinud Indias, elasin väikese lapsena Berliinis ja emigreerus koos vanematega USA-sse 8. Mul on skulptuuri kaunite kunstide magistrikraad. Olen ka stipendiumi saaja, mis võimaldab mul teha piiratud arvul holokausti ellujäänutest pronksbüste. Palun andke mulle teada, kui olete huvitatud sellest projektist osa saama.
Kunstniku avaldus :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Minu töö peegeldab minu reisi Houstonist, TX – kus ma sündisin ja kasvasin – New Yorki – kus, puutunud kokku oma etnilisega, kultuuriline ja sotsiaalmajanduslik mitmekesisus ning selle ainulaadne vaade immigrantidele– Leidsin uue austuse kõigi kultuuri vastu. Olen õppinud väljakujunenud fotograafide juures, reisinud palju maailmas ja teinud koostööd paljude oma ala tippspetsialistidega. Alates jaanuarist, 2006, minu karjäärist sõltumatu fotograafina on saanud isiklike fotograafiaprojektide võtmine, mis tulenevad minu enda arusaamast sellest, kuidas me maailma jagame ja oma loovust tervikuna rakendame.
