Yhdessä meidän kanssa “Yhteistyökumppanit Caringissa” New Yorkin UJA-Federationin rahoittama ohjelma, Y sisältää haastatteluja kuudelta paikalliselta selviytyjältä ymmärtääkseen paremmin jokaisen tarinan. Nämä haastattelut esitellään Heprealaisen tabernaakkelin galleriassa “Sodan ajan ja sen jälkeen kokeminen: Muotokuvia henkisistä holokaustista selviytyneistä”. Galleria avataan perjantaina 8.11.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 vuotta, 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(sculpture by Peter Bulow: 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; kuitenkin, 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.
Tämän haastattelun suoritti Halley Goldberg Y’s Partners in Caring -aloitteesta, ja se kuuluu YM:lle.&YWHA Washington Heightsista ja Inwoodista. Tämän materiaalin käyttö ilman Y:n ja haastateltavan kirjallista lupaa on ehdottomasti kielletty. Lue lisää Partners in Caring -ohjelmasta täältä: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Heprealainen tabernaakkeli Armin ja Estelle Gold Wing -galleriakanssa ylpeässä yhteistyössäYM&YWHA Washington Heightsista ja Inwoodistakutsuu sinut meidänMarraskuu joulukuu, 2013 Näyttely“Sodan ajan ja sen jälkeen kokeminen: Muotokuvia henkisistä holokaustista selviytyneistä” valokuvilla ja veistoksella: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW ja ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Yhdessä erityispalvelun muistissa-lta75Kristalliyö - Rikkoutuneiden lasien yön vuosipäiväPalvelut ja taiteilijan avajaisvastaanotto, perjantai, 8. marraskuuta, 2013 7:30 s.
Lausunto Y:ltä : ” Washington Heights/Inwood Y on ollut vuosikymmeniä, ja on edelleen, turvapaikka niille, jotka etsivät turvaa, kunnioitusta ja ymmärrystä. Monet, jotka tulevat sisään ovellemme ja osallistuvat ohjelmiimme, ovat kokeneet koettelemuksia, joita emme voi edes kuvitella. Joillekin, jotka ovat mukana tässä näyttelyssä, yksi tällainen kauhu on tullut tunnetuksi maailmalle yksinkertaisesti "holokaustina" – kuuden miljoonan Euroopan juutalaisen järjestelmällinen murha.
Me Y:ssä muistamme menneisyyden, kunnioittaa niitä, jotka elivät ja kuolivat tuona aikana, ja suojella totuutta tuleville sukupolville. Meidän ja lastemme vuoksi, meidän on välitettävä tarinoita niistä, jotka ovat kokeneet sodan pahuuden. Tulevaisuutta varten on opittavaa. Haastattelut on dokumentoinut Halley Goldberg, "Partners in Caring" -ohjelman ohjaaja. Tämä tärkeä ohjelma tehtiin mahdolliseksi New Yorkin UJA-Federationin anteliaalla apurahalla, suunniteltu parantamaan suhteita Washington Heightsin ja Inwoodin synagogeihin. “
Yhteisessä taidenäyttelyssämme on holokaustista selviytyneiden muotokuvia ja haastatteluja, Hanna Eisner, Charlie ja Lilli Friedman, Helmi Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel ja Ruth Wertheimer, jotka kaikki ovat Heprealaisen tabernaakkelin jäseniä, juutalainen seurakunta, jossa monet Saksan juutalaiset pakenivat natseja ja onnekas tulla Amerikkaan, liittyi 1930-luvun lopulla. Lisäksi kunnioitamme holokaustista selvinnyt Gizelle Schwartz Bulowia- taiteilijamme Peter Bulowin ja toisesta maailmansodasta selviytyneen Yan Neznanskiyn äiti – Y:n ohjelmajohtajan isä, Victoria Neznansky.
Erityinen sapatin jumalanpalvelus, kaiuttimien kanssa, Kristalliyön 75-vuotispäivän muistoksi (Rikkoutuneiden lasien yö) ennen Gold Gallery/Y -näyttelyn avajaisia:Palvelut alkavat heti klo 7:30 pm. Kaikki ovat tervetulleita osallistumaan.
Gallerian aukioloajat tai lisätiedot saat soittamalla synagogaan p212-568-8304 tai katsohttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgTaiteilijan lausunto: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion syntyi Minneapolisissa, MN ja kasvanut Israelissa. Hän on valmistunut Kansainvälisen valokuvauskeskuksen yleistutkimuksen ohjelmasta. Ben-Zion on useiden apurahojen ja palkintojen saaja, viimeksi Puffin Foundationilta ja NoMAA:lta, ja hänen töitään on ollut esillä Yhdysvalloissa ja Euroopassa. Hän on julkaissut työstään kaksi monografiaa. Hän asuu Washington Heightsissa miehensä kanssa, ja heidän kaksospojansa.
Taiteilijan lausunto: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
Äitini lapsena, oli piiloutunut holokaustin aikana. Vuosien saatossa, hänen kokemuksensa, tai mitä kuvittelin olleen hänen kokemuksensa, on vaikuttanut minuun suuresti. Tämä vaikutus heijastuu sekä henkilökohtaiseen että taiteelliseen elämääni. Olen syntynyt Intiassa, asui pienenä lapsena Berliinissä ja muutti iässä vanhempieni kanssa Yhdysvaltoihin 8. Minulla on kuvataiteen maisteri kuvanveistossa. Saan myös apurahan, jonka avulla voin tehdä rajoitetun määrän pronssisia rintakuvia holokaustista selviytyneistä. Kerro minulle, jos olet kiinnostunut osallistumaan tähän projektiin.
Taiteilijan lausunto :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Työni kuvastaa matkaani Houstonista, TX – missä synnyin ja kasvoin – New Yorkiin – missä, alttiina sen etniselle, kulttuurinen ja sosioekonominen monimuotoisuus ja sen ainutlaatuinen näkemys maahanmuuttajista– Löysin uuden kunnioituksen jokaisen kulttuuria kohtaan. Olen harjoitellut vakiintuneiden valokuvaajien kanssa, matkustanut laajasti ympäri maailmaa ja tehnyt yhteistyötä monien alan huippuammattilaisten kanssa. Tammikuusta lähtien, 2006, Itsenäisen valokuvaajan urastani on tullut henkilökohtaisten valokuvausprojektien ottaminen, jotka syntyvät omasta ymmärryksestäni tavasta, jolla jaamme maailmaa ja harjoitamme luovuuttamme kokonaisuutena.
