In collaborazione con il ns “Partner nella cura” programma finanziato dalla UJA-Federation of New York, la Y conterrà le interviste di sei sopravvissuti locali per comprendere meglio la storia di ogni individuo. Queste interviste saranno presentate nella galleria del Tabernacolo Ebraico “Vivere un tempo di guerra e oltre: Ritratti di vivaci sopravvissuti all'Olocausto”. La galleria aprirà venerdì 8 novembre.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 anni, 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; però, 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.
Questa intervista è stata condotta da Halley Goldberg dell'iniziativa Y's Partners in Caring e appartiene a YM&YWHA di Washington Heights e Inwood. L'uso di questo materiale senza il consenso scritto di Y e dell'intervistato è severamente vietato. Scopri di più sul programma Partners in Caring qui: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Tabernacolo Ebraico Galleria Armin ed Estelle Gold Wingin orgogliosa collaborazione conil YM&YWHA di Washington Heights e Inwoodti invita al nostroNovembre dicembre, 2013 Mostra“Vivere un tempo di guerra e oltre: Ritratti di vivaci sopravvissuti all'Olocausto” con fotografie e sculture di: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW e ROJ RODRIGUEZ. In abbinamento ad uno speciale Servizio in memoriadel75esimo anniversario della Kristallnacht - la notte dei vetri rottiServizi e ricevimento di apertura dell'artista, Venerdì, 8 novembre, 2013 7:30 p.m.
Una dichiarazione di Y : ” Per decenni il Washington Heights/Inwood Y è stato, e continua ad esserlo, un rifugio per chi cerca rifugio, rispetto e comprensione. Molti di coloro che entrano dalle nostre porte e partecipano ai nostri programmi hanno vissuto prove e tribolazioni che non possiamo nemmeno immaginare. Per alcuni, che faranno parte di questa mostra, uno di questi orrori è diventato noto al mondo semplicemente come "L'Olocausto" – l'uccisione sistematica di sei milioni di ebrei d'Europa.
Noi della Y ricordiamo il passato, onora coloro che vissero e morirono in quel periodo, e salvaguardare la verità per le generazioni future. Per il bene nostro e dei nostri figli, dobbiamo tramandare le storie di coloro che hanno sperimentato i mali della guerra. Ci sono lezioni da imparare per il futuro. Le interviste sono documentate da Halley Goldberg, un supervisore del programma "Partners in Caring".. Questo programma vitale è stato reso possibile grazie a una generosa sovvenzione della UJA-Federation of New York, progettato per migliorare i rapporti con le sinagoghe di Washington Heights e Inwood. “
La nostra mostra d'arte congiunta presenta ritratti e interviste di sopravvissuti all'Olocausto, Hanna Eisner, Charlie e Lilli Friedmann, Perla Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel e Ruth Wertheimer, tutti membri del Tabernacolo Ebraico, una congregazione ebraica che molti ebrei tedeschi fuggono dai nazisti e abbastanza fortunati da venire in America, aderito alla fine degli anni '30. Inoltre onoreremo anche la sopravvissuta all'Olocausto Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- madre del nostro artista Peter Bulow e sopravvissuto alla seconda guerra mondiale Yan Neznanskiy – padre del responsabile del programma di Y, Vittoria Neznansky.
Un servizio speciale per il sabato, con altoparlanti, in ricordo del 75° Anniversario della Notte dei Cristalli (la notte dei vetri rotti) precede l'apertura della mostra Gold Gallery/Y:I servizi iniziano puntualmente alle 7:30 pm. Tutti sono invitati a partecipare.
Per gli orari di apertura della galleria o per ulteriori informazioni si prega di chiamare la sinagoga al n212-568-8304 o vederehttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgDichiarazione dell'artista: Yael Ben Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben Zion è nata a Minneapolis, MN e cresciuto in Israele. Si è laureata al programma di studi generali del Centro internazionale di fotografia. Ben-Zion ha ricevuto varie sovvenzioni e premi, più recentemente dalla Puffin Foundation e dal NoMAA, e il suo lavoro è stato esposto negli Stati Uniti e in Europa. Ha pubblicato due monografie del suo lavoro. Vive a Washington Heights con suo marito, e i loro gemelli.
Dichiarazione dell'artista: Peter Blow: www.peterbulow.com
Mia madre da bambina, era stato nascosto durante l'Olocausto. Negli anni, la sua esperienza, o quella che immaginavo fosse stata la sua esperienza, ha avuto una grande influenza su di me. Questa influenza si riflette sia nella mia vita personale che in quella artistica. Sono nato in India, vissuto da bambino a Berlino ed emigrato negli Stati Uniti con i miei genitori all'età 8. Ho un Master in Belle Arti in scultura. Sono anche destinatario di una borsa di studio che mi consentirà di realizzare un numero limitato di busti in bronzo di sopravvissuti all'Olocausto. Per favore fatemi sapere se siete interessati a far parte di questo progetto.
Dichiarazione dell'artista :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Il mio corpo di lavoro riflette il mio viaggio da Houston, TX – dove sono nato e cresciuto – a New York – dove, esposto alla sua etnia, diversità culturale e socioeconomica e la sua visione unica degli immigrati– Ho trovato un rinnovato rispetto per la cultura di tutti. Ho lavorato come apprendista con fotografi affermati, ha viaggiato molto per il mondo e ha collaborato con molti dei migliori professionisti del settore. Da gennaio, 2006, la mia carriera di fotografo indipendente è diventata un processo di assunzione di progetti fotografici personali che emergono dalla mia comprensione del modo in cui condividiamo il mondo ed esercitiamo la nostra creatività nel suo insieme.
