En collaboration avec notre “Partenaires d'entraide” programme financé par l'UJA-Federation of New York, le Y présentera des entrevues avec six survivants locaux pour mieux comprendre l'histoire de chacun. Ces entretiens seront présentés à la galerie Hebrew Tabernacle “Vivre un temps de guerre et au-delà: Portraits de survivants fougueux de l'Holocauste”. La galerie ouvrira le vendredi 8 novembre.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 années, 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.
Hannah 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; toutefois, 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.
Cette entrevue a été réalisée par Halley Goldberg de l'initiative Partners in Caring du Y et appartient au YM&YWHA de Washington Heights et Inwood. L'utilisation de ce matériel sans le consentement écrit du Y et de la personne interrogée est strictement interdite. En savoir plus sur le programme Partners in Caring ici: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Tabernacle hébreu Galerie Armin et Estelle Gold Wingen fier partenariat avecle MJ&YWHA de Washington Heights et Inwoodvous invite à notreNovembre Décembre, 2013 Exposition“Vivre un temps de guerre et au-delà: Portraits de survivants fougueux de l'Holocauste” avec photographies et sculptures de: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW et ROJ RODRIGUEZ. En conjonction avec un Service spécial en mémoirede la75e anniversaire de Kristallnacht - la nuit du verre briséPrestations et vernissage des artistes, Vendredi, 8 novembre, 2013 7:30 après-midi.
Une déclaration du Y : ” Pendant des décennies, le Washington Heights/Inwood Y a été, et continue d'être, un refuge pour ceux qui cherchent refuge, respect et compréhension. Beaucoup de ceux qui franchissent nos portes et participent à nos programmes ont vécu des épreuves et des tribulations que nous ne pouvons même pas imaginer. Pour certains, qui fera partie de cette exposition, une de ces horreurs est devenue connue dans le monde simplement sous le nom de "L'Holocauste" – l'assassinat systématique de six millions de Juifs d'Europe.
Nous, au Y, nous souvenons du passé, honorer ceux qui ont vécu et sont morts pendant cette période, et sauvegarder la vérité pour les générations futures. Pour nous et nos enfants, nous devons transmettre les histoires de ceux qui ont connu les maux de la guerre. Il y a des leçons à tirer pour l'avenir. Les entretiens sont documentés par Halley Goldberg, un superviseur du programme « Partners in Caring ». Ce programme vital a été rendu possible grâce à une généreuse subvention de la UJA-Federation of New York, conçu pour améliorer les relations avec les synagogues de Washington Heights et Inwood. “
Notre exposition d'art conjointe présente des portraits et des interviews de survivants de l'Holocauste, Hannah Eisner, Charlie et Lilli Friedman, Perle Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel et Ruth Wertheimer, qui sont tous membres du The Hebrew Tabernacle, une congrégation juive que de nombreux Juifs allemands fuyant les nazis et assez chanceux pour venir en Amérique, rejoint à la fin des années 1930. De plus, nous honorerons également la survivante de l'Holocauste Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- mère de notre artiste Peter Bulow et du survivant de la Seconde Guerre mondiale Yan Neznanskiy – père du directeur des programmes du Y, Victoria Neznanski.
Un service de sabbat spécial, avec haut-parleurs, en mémoire du 75e anniversaire de la nuit de cristal (la nuit du verre brisé) précède l'ouverture de l'exposition Gold Gallery/Y:Les services commencent à 7h précises:30 pm. Tous sont invités à y assister.
Pour les heures d'ouverture de la galerie ou pour plus d'informations, veuillez appeler la synagogue au212-568-8304 ou voirhttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgDéclaration de l'artiste: Yaël Ben Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion est née à Minneapolis, MN et élevé en Israël. Elle est diplômée du programme d'études générales du Centre international de la photographie. Ben-Zion est le récipiendaire de diverses subventions et récompenses, plus récemment de la Puffin Foundation et de NoMAA, et son travail a été exposé aux États-Unis et en Europe. Elle a publié deux monographies de son travail. Elle vit à Washington Heights avec son mari, et leurs jumeaux.
Déclaration de l'artiste: Pierre Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
Ma mère enfant, s'était caché pendant l'Holocauste. Au cours des années, son expérience, ou ce que j'imaginais avoir été son expérience, a eu une grande influence sur moi. Cette influence se reflète tant dans ma vie personnelle que dans ma vie artistique. Je suis né en Inde, j'ai vécu comme un jeune enfant à Berlin et j'ai émigré aux États-Unis avec mes parents à l'âge 8. J'ai une maîtrise en beaux-arts en sculpture. Je suis également récipiendaire d'une bourse qui me permettra de réaliser un nombre limité de bustes en bronze de survivants de la Shoah. Veuillez me faire savoir si vous êtes intéressé à faire partie de ce projet.
Déclaration de l'artiste :Roj Rodríguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Mon travail reflète mon voyage depuis Houston, TX - où je suis né et j'ai grandi - à New York - où, exposé à son ethnie, diversité culturelle et socioéconomique et son regard unique sur les immigrants– J'ai trouvé un respect renouvelé pour la culture de chacun. J'ai fait mon apprentissage avec des photographes bien établis, parcouru le monde et collaboré avec de nombreux professionnels de haut niveau dans le domaine. Depuis janvier, 2006, ma carrière de photographe indépendant est devenue un processus de réalisation de projets photographiques personnels qui émergent de ma propre compréhension de la façon dont nous partageons le monde et exerçons notre créativité dans son ensemble.
