Faatasi ai ma a tatou “Paaga i le Tausia” polokalame fa'atupeina e le UJA-Federation of New York, o le Y o le a fa'aalia fa'atalanoaga mai le to'aono o lo'o sao mai i le lotoifale ina ia malamalama atili i tala a tagata ta'ito'atasi. O nei faatalanoaga o le a faaalia i le faletusi o le Tapeneko Eperu “Ofo i se Taimi o Taua ma Tua atu: Ata o le Agaga Holocaust Saola”. O le a tatalaina le faletusi i le Aso Faraile Novema 8th.
Hannah Eisner worked at the Y for 18 tausaga, 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.
O lenei faatalanoaga sa faia e Halley Goldberg o le Y’s Partners in Caring initiative ma e auai i le YM.&YWHA o Washington Heights ma Inwood. O le fa'aogaina o lenei mea e aunoa ma se fa'atagaga tusitusia mai le Y ma le tagata fa'atalanoaina e matua fa'asāina. Saili atili e uiga i le Paaga i le Tausiga polokalame iinei: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Le Tapeneko Eperu Armin ma Estelle Gold Wing Galleryi faiga faapaaga mitamita male YM&YWHA o Washington Heights ma Inwoodvalaaulia oe i la matouNovema/Tesema, 2013 Fa'aaliga“Ofo i se Taimi o Taua ma Tua atu: Ata o le Agaga Holocaust Saola” fa'atasi ai ma ata ma fa'atagata e: IAEL PEN-SIONA, PETER BULOW ma ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Faʻatasi ma se Auaunaga faʻapitoa e manatuao le75lona Tausaga o Kristallnacht -o le Po o ipu tioataAu'aunaga ma le Talisuaga Tatala a le tusiata, Aso Faralie, Novema 8th, 2013 7:30 i le taeao.
O se faʻamatalaga mai le Y : ” Mo le tele o tausaga o Washington Heights/Inwood Y sa, ma o loo faaauau pea, o se malutaga mo i latou e sulufai i ai, faaaloalo ma le malamalama. O le toatele o e ulufale mai i o tatou faitotoa ma auai i a tatou polokalama ua ola i tofotofoga ma faigata e le mafai ona tatou mafaufauina.. Mo nisi, o ai o le a avea ma vaega o lenei faaaliga, O se tasi o mea mataʻutia ua lauiloa i le lalolagi e pei o le "The Holocaust" – o le fasiotiga masani o le ono miliona tagata Iutaia o Europa.
Matou i le Y manatua le taimi ua tuanaʻi, ia ava ia i latou na ola ma maliliu i lena taimi, ma puipui le upu moni mo tupulaga o le lumanai. Mo i tatou lava ma a tatou fanau, e tatau ona tatou tuufaasolo tala o i latou ua oo i le leaga o taua. E iai aʻoaʻoga e aʻoaʻoina mo le lumanaʻi. O faʻatalanoaga o loʻo tusia e Halley Goldberg, se supavaisa polokalame “Paaga i le Tausia”.. O lenei polokalame taua na mafai ona maua e ala i se fesoasoani agalelei mai le UJA-Federation of New York, fuafuaina e faʻaleleia sootaga ma sunako i Washington Heights ma Inwood. “
O le matou fa'aaliga tu'ufa'atasi tu'ufa'atasi o lo'o fa'aalia ata ma fa'atalanoaga o ē na sao mai le Holocaust, Hannah Eisner, Charlie ma Lilli Friedman, Penina Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel ma Ruth Wertheimer, o i latou uma lava o sui o le Tabernacle Eperu, o se faʻapotopotoga Iutaia e toʻatele tagata Iutaia Siamani na sosola ese mai le Nazis ma laki e o mai i Amerika, na auai i le faaiʻuga o vaitausaga o le 1930. E le gata i lea, o le a matou faʻaaloalo foi i le Holocaust na sao mai Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- tina o le matou tusiata Peter Bulow ma le WWII sao Yan Neznanskiy - tama o le Ofisa Sili o Polokalama a le Y., Victoria Neznansky.
O se Sapati faapitoa, ma failauga, e faamanatu ai le 75 tausaga o Kristallnacht (o le Po o ipu tioata nutimomoia) e muamua i le tatalaina o le Gold Gallery/Y fa'aaliga:E amata vave auaunaga ile 7:30 afiafi. E valaaulia uma lava e auai.
Mo itula tatala faletusi pe mo nisi fa'amatalaga fa'amolemole vala'au le sunako ile212-568-8304 pe vaaihttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgFaamatalaga a le tusiata: Iaeli Penionawww.yaelbenzion.comNa fanau Yael Ben-Zion i Minneapolis, MN ma ola aʻe i Isaraelu. O ia o se faauu mai le International Center of Photography's General Studies Program. O Ben-Zion o lo'o mauaina ni fesoasoani ma fa'ailoga eseese, talu ai nei mai le Puffin Foundation ma mai le NoMAA, ma sa fa'aalia lana galuega i le Iunaite Setete ma Europa. E lua monokalafi o lana galuega na ia lomia. E nofo o ia i Washington Heights ma lona toalua, ma le la masaga tama.
Faamatalaga a le tusiata: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
O loʻu tina a o laʻitiiti, sa lafi i le taimi o le Holocaust. I le aluga o tausaga, lona aafiaga, po o le mea na ou mafaufauina o lona aafiaga, ua tele sona aafiaga ia te au. O lenei faatosinaga o loo atagia mai i lo'u lava olaga ma lo'u olaga faatufugaga. Na ou fanau i Initia, sa nofo o se tamaitiiti i Perelini ma malaga atu i le Iunaite Setete ma ou matua i le matua 8. E iai la'u Masters in Fine Arts i le fa'atagata. O aʻu foʻi o loʻo mauaina se fesoasoani e mafai ai ona ou faia se numera faʻatapulaʻaina o pusa apamemea o tagata na sao mai le Holocaust.. Fa'amolemole ta'u mai pe e te fiafia e avea ma se vaega o lenei poloketi.
Faamatalaga a le tusiata :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
O loʻu tino o galuega e atagia mai ai laʻu malaga mai Houston, TX - i le mea na ou fanau ai ma ola aʻe - i Niu Ioka - o fea, fa'aalia i ona ituaiga, aganuu ma socioeconomic eseesega ma lona vaaiga tulaga ese i tagata malaga mai– Na ou mauaina se faʻafouina faʻaaloalo mo aganuu a tagata uma. Sa ou aperenitisi ma tagata pueata mautu lelei, femalagaaʻi i le lalolagi lautele ma galulue faʻatasi ma le tele o polofesa maualuga i le fanua. Talu mai Ianuari, 2006, o la'u galuega o se tagata pu'eata tuto'atasi ua avea ma se fa'agasologa o le fa'atinoina o galuega pu'e ata a le tagata lava ia e alia'e mai lo'u lava malamalama i le auala tatou te fa'asoa ai le lalolagi ma fa'atino lo tatou fatufatua'i atoa.
