Yn gearhing mei ús “Partners yn Soarch” programma finansierd troch de UJA-Federaasje fan New York, de Y sil ynterviews hawwe fan seis lokale oerlibbenen om it ferhaal fan elk yndividu better te begripen. Dizze ynterviews sille wurde toand yn 'e Hebrieuske Tabernakelgalery “In tiid fan oarloch belibje en fierder: Portretten fan Spirited Holocaust Survivors”. De galery giet op freed 8 novimber iepen.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 jier, 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; however, 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.
Dit ynterview waard útfierd troch Halley Goldberg fan it Y's Partners in Caring-inisjatyf en heart ta de YM&YWHA fan Washington Heights en Inwood. It gebrûk fan dit materiaal sûnder skriftlike tastimming fan sawol de Y as de ynterviewde is strang ferbean. Fyn hjir mear oer it Partners in Caring-programma: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Hebrieusk Tabernakel Armin en Estelle Gold Wing Galleryyn grutske gearwurking meide YM&YWHA fan Washington Heights en Inwoodnoeget jo út foar úsnovimber/desimber, 2013 Útstalle“In tiid fan oarloch belibje en fierder: Portretten fan Spirited Holocaust Survivors” mei foto's en byldhoukeunst fan: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW en ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Yn gearhing mei in spesjale Tsjinst yn it ûnthâldfan de75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht -The Night of Broken GlassTsjinsten en Artist syn Iepeningsresepsje, freed, 8 novimber, 2013 7:30 p.m.
In ferklearring fan de Y : ” Foar tsientallen jierren is de Washington Heights / Inwood Y west, en bliuwt te wêzen, in haven foar dyjingen dy't taflecht sykje, respekt en begryp. In protte dy't ús doarren ynfiere en dielnimme oan ús programma's hawwe besiket troch besikingen en beproevingen dy't wy net iens kinne begjinne foar te stellen. Foar guon, wa sil diel útmeitsje fan dizze eksposysje, ien sa'n horror is bekend wurden by de wrâld gewoan as "De Holocaust" – de systematyske moard op seis miljoen Joaden fan Europa.
Wy by de Y ûnthâlde it ferline, earje dejingen dy't yn dy tiid libbe en stoaren, en beskermje de wierheid foar takomstige generaasjes. Om 'e wille fan ússels en ús bern, wy moatte de ferhalen trochjaan fan dyjingen dy't it kwea fan 'e oarloch meimakke hawwe. Der binne lessen te learen foar de takomst. De ynterviews binne dokumintearre troch Halley Goldberg, in programma supervisor "Partners in Caring".. Dit fitale programma waard mooglik makke troch in romhertich subsydzje fan 'e UJA-Federaasje fan New York, ûntworpen om relaasjes mei synagogen yn Washington Heights en Inwood te ferbetterjen. “
Us mienskiplike keunsteksposysje hat portretten en ynterviews fan oerlibbenen fan 'e Holocaust, Hannah Eisner, Charlie en Lilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel en Ruth Wertheimer, dy't allegear lid binne fan 'e Hebrieuske tabernakel, in joadske gemeente dy't in protte Dútske joaden flechtsje foar de nazi's en gelok genôch om nei Amearika te kommen, kaam yn de lette jierren 1930 by. Dêrneist sille wy ek de Holocaust-oerlibbene Gizelle Schwartz Bulow earje- mem fan ús keunstner Peter Bulow en oerlibbene fan 'e Twadde Wrâldkriich Yan Neznanskiy - heit fan' e Chief Program Officer fan 'e Y, Victoria Neznansky.
In spesjale sabbatstsjinst, mei sprekkers, ta oantins fan it 75-jierrich jubileum fan Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) giet foarôfgeand oan de iepening fan de Gold Gallery / Y eksposysje:Tsjinsten begjinne prompt om 7:30 pm. Allegear wurde útnoege om by te wenjen.
Foar galery iepeningstiden of foar fierdere ynformaasje kinne jo skilje mei de synagoge op212-568-8304 of sjohttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgArtist syn ferklearring: Yael Ben-Sionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Sion waard berne yn Minneapolis, MN en grutbrocht yn Israel. Se is in ôfstudearre fan it International Centre of Photography's General Studies Program. Ben-Sion is de ûntfanger fan ferskate subsydzjes en prizen, meast resint fan de Puffin Foundation en fan NoMAA, en har wurk is tentoansteld yn 'e Feriene Steaten en yn Europa. Se hat twa monografyen fan har wurk publisearre. Se wennet yn Washington Heights mei har man, en harren twillingjonges.
Artist syn ferklearring: Peter Boel: www.peterbulow.com
Myn mem as bern, hie ûnderdûkt west tidens de Holocaust. Troch de jierren hinne, har ûnderfining, of wat ik my foarstelde dat it har ûnderfining west hie, hat in grutte ynfloed op my hân. Dizze ynfloed wurdt reflektearre sawol yn myn persoanlik as yn myn artistike libben. Ik bin berne yn Yndia, wenne as jong bern yn Berlyn en emigrearre nei de FS mei myn âlden op leeftyd 8. Ik haw in Masters in Fine Arts yn byldhoukeunst. Ik bin ek de ûntfanger fan in subsydzje wêrmei't ik in beheind oantal brûnzen boarstbylden kin meitsje fan oerlibbenen fan 'e Holocaust. Lit my asjebleaft witte as jo ynteressearre binne om diel te nimmen oan dit projekt.
Artist syn ferklearring :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Myn lichem fan wurk wjerspegelet myn reis út Houston, TX - wêr't ik bin berne en grutbrocht - nei New York - wêr, bleatsteld oan syn etnyske, kulturele en sosjaal-ekonomyske ferskaat en syn unike sicht op ymmigranten– Ik fûn in fernijd respekt foar elkenien syn kultuer. Ik haw in learling by goed fêstige fotografen, reizge de wrâld wiidweidich en wurke gear mei in protte top professionals op it fjild. Sûnt jannewaris, 2006, myn karriêre as ûnôfhinklike fotograaf is in proses wurden om persoanlike fotografyprojekten oan te nimmen dy't fuortkomme út myn eigen begryp fan 'e manier wêrop wy de wrâld diele en ús kreativiteit as gehiel oefenje.
