Inubanan sa atong “Mga Kasosyo sa Pag-atiman” programa nga gipondohan sa UJA-Federation of New York, ang Y magpakita sa mga interbyu gikan sa unom ka lokal nga survivors aron mas masabtan ang istorya sa matag indibidwal. Kini nga mga interbyu ipakita sa gallery sa Hebrew Tabernacle “Pagsinati sa Panahon sa Gubat ug Labaw pa: Mga Hulagway sa Spirited Holocaust Survivors”. Ang gallery ablihan sa Biyernes Nobyembre 8.
Ruth Wertheimer has been a member at the Y for over a decade. You can find Ruth at the Y for special events and programming, especially at Sunday concerts at the Center for Adults Living Well @ the Y.
Ruth Wertheimer(photography by Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com)
Ruth Wertheimer was born in Mannheim, Germany on June 6, 1931. At the age of one, her father died. Her mother raised her and her older brother in Mannheim, Germany. Ruth’s mother owned a thrift shop in town. Growing up in Mannheim was difficult. She remembers having very little schooling as a child. Ruth recalls experiencing anti-Semitism from a very young age. She recounts being called a dirty Jew as well as being beaten up in the streets. The anti-Semitism was so rampant that Ruth’s brother used to take her to their grandmother’s house. They would avoid main roads to prevent being beaten up. Their mother could not join them because she was busy working at the family’s store.
In Mannheim, Germany, Kristallnacht began on November 10, 1938. Ruth recalls the events of Kristallnacht, “we lived in this place with an Orthodox synagogue that had a rabbi and a cantor. There was an office there for social workers and a Jewish school. These buildings surrounded a schoolyard…It started at 6 in the morning, you heard the noise of the burning buildings…it was terrible. There was a lot of noise and I was scared.” Ruth’s synagogue, The Haupt synagogue, was destroyed that day.
Once the destruction was finished, Ruth remembers her family’s store being completely ruined. “We had a beautiful photograph of my brother in color and they took it and put it out in the street…and wrote underneath ‘dirty Jew.’ Dirty Jew! It was a beautiful picture.” After seeing the destruction, Ruth’s family decided that they should leave the building they were living in. Her grandmother was a diabetic and she used to receive her injections from nuns so the family decided that it would be best to seek refuge with the nuns. The entire way there, they were followed by teenagers who were calling them ‘dirty Jew’. Ruth was able to find protection with the nuns for a while. From there, she and her family left to stay with relatives.
kontak sa mga tawo.” Nahinumdom siya sa pag-eskuyla uban sa mga bata nga Katoliko ug Lutheran 1940, Ruth’s brother celebrated his bar mitzvah in an Orthodox synagogue in Mannheim. Three weeks after this joyous occasion, she and her family were rounded up and brought to a camp called Camp Gurs in France. Ruth remembers “we had one hour to pack and we didn’t know where we were going. We were put in some kind of recreation hall overnight, I’m not sure anymore, and the next day we were put on a train and we did not know where we were going. I had a grand aunt that was there too and she was with us and she brought sugar cubes and lemon to eat. We had nothing to eat. Finally we arrived in the camp. It was horrible: you had mud up to your knees, you were in a barrack with 20 people maybe. Rat, mice, lice, you name it. You slept on the floor with straw.” After being in Camp Gurs for a year, someone from the organization OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) came to the camp. OSE is a French- Jewish organization that saved hundreds of refugee children during the Holocaust. The representatives from OSE asked the parents in the camp if they wanted to give up their children. Ruth recollects that her mother never wanted to give up any of her children, but with great difficulty, she did. Ruth was given up first. From Camp Gurs, Ruth was taken to Chabannes. After being in Chabannes for some time, Ruth remembers that it was not safe there anymore and some of the older children were taken to Auschwitz. After this, OSE felt that it would be best to move the children.
Ruth was placed with a Jewish family for four months. She was then moved to a gentile family. Ruth remembers, “…my name was not Ruth anymore. I was Renee…I wasn’t Jewish then.” In France, children went to school on Saturdays instead of Thursdays. Ruth went to school on Saturdays. One day at school, the police came and began to question Ruth, “I was always told to tell the truth. So I told the police everything.” She informed the family that she was staying with and that night, social workers from OSE came and took Ruth and placed her in a convent in 1943. She changed her name again to Renee Latty.
While hiding in the convent, Ruth remembers, “I did the sign of the cross with the left hand, you are supposed to do it with the right hand! Then they brought me to church and I didn’t know anything. Everyone was going into a booth so I went too. It was a confession booth. I didn’t know what that was…I didn’t know what to do…I became so Catholic, that you didn’t know that I was never not Catholic.” Ruth stayed in the convent for about a year until the war was liberated.
After the war was liberated, Ruth stayed at different OSE homes. For two years, Ruth did not know where her brother was. She and her brother finally reunited at one of the OSE homes. They then lived in Limoges, France and then near Paris before traveling to America together.
At the age of 15, Ruth, her brother, ug 72 other children traveled to America together on the children transport. They landed in America on September 7, 1946. The boat was overcrowded and many of the children were sea sick. When they arrived in New York, there was a strike at the pier and they could not dock. The OSE was able to arrange for a small boat to come and take the children ashore.
When Ruth first got to America, she lived with an aunt and uncle and says that it was very difficult for her. Shortly after, she moved to Queens with another relative. This relative had a daughter around the same age as Ruth. She remembers starting school and that her relative’s daughter went to a better school than she did. Ruth had a difficult time managing in school and her relatives told her that if she did not finish school, they would kick her out. Because she was having such difficulties in school, Ruth was kicked out in 1948.
Since June 1948, Ruth has lived in Washington Heights. She realized that she had to learn a trade in order to survive so she decided to go to beautician school. She attended the Wilfred Academy and fell in love with her courses. She went on to receive her beautician’s license. Hebrew Tabernacle was the first synagogue she joined since she came to America and she has been a member ever since. She has one son and two grandchildren who live in Wisconsin.
Kini nga interbyu gihimo ni Halley Goldberg sa Y's Partners in Caring initiative ug iya sa YM&YWHA sa Washington Heights ug Inwood. Ang paggamit niini nga materyal nga walay sinulat nga pagtugot gikan sa Y ug sa giinterbyu hugot nga gidili. Hibal-i ang dugang bahin sa programa sa Partners in Caring dinhi: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Hebreohanong Tabernakulo Armin ug Estelle Gold Wing Gallerysa mapahitas-on nga pakigtambayayong saang YM&YWHA sa Washington Heights ug Inwoodnagdapit kanimo sa amongNobyembre/Disyembre, 2013 Eksibit“Pagsinati sa Panahon sa Gubat ug Labaw pa: Mga Hulagway sa Spirited Holocaust Survivors” nga adunay mga litrato ug eskultura ni: YAEL BEN-ZION, PETER BULOW ug ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Kauban sa usa ka espesyal nga Serbisyo sa memoryasa75ika-ka anibersaryo sa Kristallnacht -ang Gabii sa Nabuak nga SalaminMga Serbisyo ug Pangbukas nga Pagdawat sa Artist, Biyernes, Nobyembre 8, 2013 7:30 p.m.
Usa ka pahayag gikan sa Y : ” Sulod sa mga dekada ang Washington Heights/Inwood Y, ug nagpadayon, usa ka dangpanan niadtong nangita ug dalangpanan, pagtahod ug pagsabot. Daghan nga misulod sa atong mga pultahan ug miapil sa atong mga programa nabuhi sa mga pagsulay ug kalisdanan nga dili nato mahunahuna.. Para sa uban, kinsa mahimong bahin niini nga eksibit, usa ka makalilisang nga nailhan sa kalibutan sa yano nga "The Holocaust" – ang sistematikong pagpatay sa unom ka milyon nga mga Judio sa Europe.
Kami sa Y nahinumdom sa nangagi, pasidunggi ang mga nabuhi ug nangamatay nianang panahona, ug ampingan ang kamatuoran alang sa umaabot nga mga henerasyon. Alang sa atong kaugalingon ug sa atong mga anak, kinahanglan natong ipasa ang mga istorya niadtong nakasinati sa kadautan sa gubat. Adunay mga leksyon nga makat-unan alang sa umaabot. Ang mga interbyu gidokumento ni Halley Goldberg, usa ka “Partners in Caring” nga superbisor sa programa. Kining importante nga programa nahimong posible pinaagi sa usa ka ubay-ubay nga grant gikan sa UJA-Federation of New York, gidisenyo aron mapalambo ang mga relasyon sa mga sinagoga sa Washington Heights ug Inwood. “
Ang among hiniusa nga eksibit sa art adunay mga litrato ug mga interbyu sa mga naluwas sa Holocaust, Hannah Eisner, Charlie ug Lilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, Fredy Seidel ug Ruth Wertheimer, silang tanan mga miyembro sa The Hebrew Tabernacle, usa ka kongregasyon sa mga Judio nga daghang mga Aleman nga mga Judio nga mikalagiw sa mga Nazi ug swerte nga nakaabut sa Amerika, miduyog sa ulahing bahin sa katuigang 1930. Dugang pa, atong pasidunggan usab ang naluwas sa Holocaust nga si Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- inahan sa among artista nga si Peter Bulow ug naluwas sa WWII nga si Yan Neznanskiy - amahan sa Chief Program Officer sa Y, Victoria Neznansky.
Usa ka espesyal nga Serbisyo sa Igpapahulay, uban sa mga mamumulong, isip handumanan sa ika-75 nga Anibersaryo sa Kristallnacht (ang Gabii sa Nabuak nga Salamin) nag-una sa pag-abli sa Gold Gallery/Y exhibit:Ang mga serbisyo magsugod dayon sa 7:30 pm. Gidapit ang tanan sa pagtambong.
Para sa mga oras nga bukas sa gallery o para sa dugang nga impormasyon palihog tawagi ang sinagoga sa212-568-8304 o tan-awahttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgPahayag sa Artist: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comSi Yael Ben-Zion natawo sa Minneapolis, MN ug gipadako sa Israel. Graduwado siya sa International Center of Photography's General Studies Program. Ang Ben-Zion mao ang nakadawat sa lainlaing mga hatag ug mga pasidungog, labing bag-o gikan sa Puffin Foundation ug gikan sa NoMAA, ug ang iyang buhat gipasundayag sa Estados Unidos ug sa Uropa. Nakapatik siya og duha ka monograpiya sa iyang trabaho. Nagpuyo siya sa Washington Heights kauban ang iyang bana, ug ilang kaluha nga lalaki.
Pahayag sa Artist: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
Ang akong inahan isip usa ka bata, nagtago sa panahon sa Holocaust. Sulod sa katuigan, iyang kasinatian, o unsa ang akong gihunahuna nga iyang kasinatian, adunay dako nga impluwensya kanako. Kini nga impluwensya makita sa akong personal ug sa akong artistikong kinabuhi. Natawo ko sa India, nagpuyo isip usa ka bata sa Berlin ug milalin sa US uban sa akong mga ginikanan sa edad 8. Naa koy Masters sa Fine Arts sa sculpture. Ako usab ang nakadawat sa usa ka grant nga magtugot kanako sa paghimo sa usa ka limitado nga gidaghanon sa mga bronse busts sa Holocaust survivors. Palihug ipahibalo kanako kung interesado ka nga mahimong bahin niini nga proyekto.
Pahayag sa Artist :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Ang akong lawas sa trabaho nagpakita sa akong panaw gikan sa Houston, TX - diin ako natawo ug nagdako - sa New York - diin, naladlad sa iyang etniko, cultural ug socioeconomic diversity ug ang talagsaon nga panglantaw niini sa mga imigrante– Nakaplagan nako ang nabag-o nga pagtahod sa kultura sa tanan. Nag-aprentis ako sa maayo nga mga photographer, mibiyahe sa tibuok kalibutan ug nakigtambayayong sa daghang nanguna nga mga propesyonal sa natad. Sukad sa Enero, 2006, ang akong karera isip usa ka independenteng photographer nahimong usa ka proseso sa pagkuha sa personal nga mga proyekto sa litrato nga mitumaw gikan sa akong kaugalingong pagsabot sa paagi sa atong pagpakigbahin sa kalibutan ug paggamit sa atong pagkamamugnaon sa kinatibuk-an.
