Em conjunto com o nosso “Parceiros no cuidado” programa financiado pela UJA-Federation of New York, the Y contará com entrevistas de seis sobreviventes locais para entender melhor a história de cada indivíduo. Essas entrevistas serão exibidas na galeria do Tabernáculo Hebraico “Experimentando um tempo de guerra e além: Retratos de sobreviventes do Holocausto”. A galeria será inaugurada na sexta-feira, 8 de novembro.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 Clínica de basquete para meninas, 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; Contudo, 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.
Esta entrevista foi conduzida por Halley Goldberg da iniciativa Y's Partners in Caring e pertence ao YM&YWHA de Washington Heights e Inwood. O uso deste material sem o consentimento por escrito do Y e do entrevistado é estritamente proibido. Saiba mais sobre o programa Partners in Caring aqui: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Tabernáculo Hebraico Galeria Armin e Estelle Gold Wingem orgulhosa parceria como YM&YWHA de Washington Heights e Inwoodconvida você para o nossoNovembro dezembro, 2013 Exibir“Experimentando um tempo de guerra e além: Retratos de sobreviventes do Holocausto” com fotografias e esculturas de: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW e ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Em conjunto com um serviço especial na memóriado75º aniversário da Kristallnacht - a noite dos vidros quebradosServiços e recepção de abertura do artista, sexta-feira, 8 de novembro, 2013 7:30 PM.
Uma declaração do Y : ” Durante décadas, o Washington Heights/Inwood Y foi, e continua a ser, um refúgio para aqueles que procuram refúgio, respeito e compreensão. Muitos que entram em nossas portas e participam de nossos programas passaram por provações e tribulações que nem podemos imaginar.. para alguns, quem fará parte desta exposição, um desses horrores passou a ser conhecido no mundo simplesmente como “O Holocausto” – o assassinato sistemático de seis milhões de judeus da Europa.
Nós do Y lembramos do passado, honrar aqueles que viveram e morreram durante esse tempo, e salvaguardar a verdade para as gerações futuras. Para o bem de nós mesmos e de nossos filhos, devemos transmitir as histórias daqueles que experimentaram os males da guerra. Há lições a serem aprendidas para o futuro. As entrevistas são documentadas por Halley Goldberg, um supervisor do programa “Partners in Caring”. Este programa vital foi possível graças a uma generosa doação da UJA-Federation of New York, projetado para melhorar as relações com sinagogas em Washington Heights e Inwood. “
Nossa exposição de arte conjunta apresenta retratos e entrevistas de sobreviventes do Holocausto, Hannah Eisner, Charlie e Lili Friedman, Pérola Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel e Ruth Wertheimer, todos os quais são membros do Tabernáculo Hebraico, uma congregação judaica que muitos judeus alemães fugiram dos nazistas e tiveram a sorte de vir para a América, ingressou no final da década de 1930. Além disso, também homenagearemos a sobrevivente do Holocausto Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- mãe do nosso artista Peter Bulow e do sobrevivente da Segunda Guerra Mundial Yan Neznanskiy – pai do Y’s Chief Program Officer, Victoria Neznansky.
Um culto especial de sábado, com alto-falantes, em memória do 75º aniversário da Kristallnacht (a noite dos vidros quebrados) precede a abertura da exposição Gold Gallery/Y:Os serviços começam pontualmente às 7:30 PM. Todos estão convidados a participar.
Para saber o horário de funcionamento da galeria ou mais informações, ligue para a sinagoga em212-568-8304 ou verhttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgDeclaração do artista: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comYael Ben-Zion nasceu em Minneapolis, MN e criado em Israel. Ela é graduada pelo Programa de Estudos Gerais do Centro Internacional de Fotografia. A Ben-Zion recebeu vários subsídios e prêmios, mais recentemente da Puffin Foundation e da NoMAA, e seu trabalho foi exibido nos Estados Unidos e na Europa. Ela publicou duas monografias de seu trabalho. Ela mora em Washington Heights com o marido, e seus filhos gêmeos.
Declaração do artista: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
minha mãe quando criança, estava escondido durante o Holocausto. Ao longo dos anos, a experiência dela, ou o que eu imaginei ter sido sua experiência, teve uma grande influência sobre mim. Essa influência se reflete tanto na minha vida pessoal quanto artística. Eu nasci na Índia, vivi quando criança em Berlim e emigrei para os EUA com meus pais na idade 8. Tenho um mestrado em Belas Artes em escultura. Também recebi uma bolsa que me permitirá fazer um número limitado de bustos de bronze de sobreviventes do Holocausto. Por favor, deixe-me saber se você está interessado em fazer parte deste projeto.
Declaração do artista :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Meu corpo de trabalho reflete minha jornada de Houston, TX – onde nasci e cresci – para Nova York – onde, exposto à sua etnia, diversidade cultural e socioeconômica e sua visão única sobre os imigrantes– Encontrei um respeito renovado pela cultura de todos. Eu aprendi com fotógrafos bem estabelecidos, viajou extensivamente pelo mundo e colaborou com muitos dos melhores profissionais da área. Desde janeiro, 2006, minha carreira como fotógrafo independente se tornou um processo de assumir projetos fotográficos pessoais que emergem de minha própria compreensão da maneira como compartilhamos o mundo e exercitamos nossa criatividade como um todo.
