Me semati vata kei keda “iTokani ena Veikauwaitaki” parokaramu ka vakailavotaka na UJA-Federation e New York, ena vakaraitaka na Y na nodra veivakatarogi na lewe ono na bula mai kea me kilai vakavinaka cake kina na italanoa ni tamata yadua. Ena vakaraitaka na veivakatarogi oqo ena ivurevure ni Valecavu ni Iperiu “Sotava e dua na Gauna ni iValu ka Sivia: iYaloyalo ni Yalo era a Vakamatei ena iVotavota ni iVotavota”. Ena dola tiko na isoqoni ni Vakaraubuka ena ika 8 ni Noveba.
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.
Ena 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, kei na 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.
Na veivakatarogi oqo a vakayacora o Halley Yani mai vei ira na iTokani ni YY ena veivakatekivu ni Caring ka lewena na YM&YWHA mai Washington Heights kei Inwood. Na vakayagataki ni itukutuku oqo ka sega ni vakadonuya vakaivola ruarua na Y kei koya e veivakatarogi e vakatabui sara. Raica eso tale na ka me baleti ira na iTokani ena parokaramu ni Veikauwaitaki eke: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
Na Valecavu ni Iperiu Dua na vakatani kei Estelle Gold Wing Galleryena veitokani dokadoka vata keina VM&YWHA mai Washington Heights kei Inwoodsureti iko ki na nodaNoveba/Tiseba, 2013 Vakaraitaki Cakacaka“Sotava e dua na Gauna ni iValu ka Sivia: iYaloyalo ni Yalo era a Vakamatei ena iVotavota ni iVotavota” kei na itaba kei na ivakatakarakara mai vei: YAEL BEN-SAIONI, PETER LOW kei NA ROJ Rodriguez. Me semati vata kei na dua na Veiqaravi digitaki ena ivakananumini75iKa 17 ni Yabaki ni Vakananumi nei Dinalnacht -na Bogi ni Iloilo KavoroNodra Soqo ni Dolavi ni Veiqaravi kei na Daudroini, Vakaraubuka, ni Noveba, 2013 7:30 t.m.
E dua na itukutuku mai na Y : ” Sa yabaki tini vakatini na Washington Heights/Inwood Y, ka tomani tikoga me, e dua na ivakaruru vei ira era vakasaqara na vakaruru, veidokai kei na kilai deivaki. E vuqa era curuma mai na noda katuba ka vakaitavi ena noda parokaramu era a sotava na veivakatovolei kei na veivakatovolei eda sega mada ga ni vakasamataka rawa. Vei ira eso, o cei ena tiki ni vakaraitaki oqo, e dua na ka rerevaki vakaoqori sa mai kilai tu e vuravura ni "Na Sorovaka" – na nodra laba e ono na milioni na Jiu mai Iurope.
Eda na vakananuma na veika sa oti ena gauna sa oti., rokovi ira era a bula ka mate ena gauna o ya, ka taqomaka na dina me baleti ira na itabatamata mai muri. Ena vukuda kei ira na luveda, e dodonu meda lako sivita na kedra italanoa o ira era sa sotava oti na ca ni ivalu. Era tu na lesoni me vulici me baleta na veisiga ni mataka. Na veivakatarogi oqo e volaitukutukutaki mai vei Halley Vinaka, e dua na supavaisa ni parokaramu ni "iTokani ni Veikauwaitaki". A rawa na parokaramu bibi oqo ena dua na soli ka ena lomasoli mai na UJA-Federation e New York, caka me vakavinakataka na veimaliwai kei na valenilotu e Washington Heights kei Inwood. “
Na neitou vakaraitaki cakacaka ni liga vata e vakaraitaki kina na itaba kei na veivakatarogi vei ira na bula mai na iLawalawa ni Veivakamatei, Hannah Eisner, Charlie kei Lilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, Fredy Sedel kei Ruth Wertheimer, o ira kece era lewe ni Valecavu ni Iperiu, e dua na ivavakoso ni Jiu era dau dro mai na Jiu ni Jamani ka ra kalougata me ra gole yani ki Amerika, semati ena mua ni yabaki 1930. Me kena ikuri, eda na doka talega na doka na bula a vakasaduagataki Gi voli mai na Vakamatei Gimatee Low- na tinai neitou daudroini o Peter Bilow kei Yan Neznanskiy na lewe ni Matavuvale sa bula tiko ena GAUNA OQO – tamai Koya na iLiuliu ni Parokaramu ni Y, Vikatoria Neznansky.
E Dua na Veiqaravi digitaki ni Siga ni Vakacecegu, vata kei ira era vosa, me nanumi kina na ika 75 ni Yabaki ni Bula nei Ira na Dinavi ni Matavuvale (Na Bogi ni Iloilo Kavoro) ena itekivu ni kena dolavi na iVakaraitaki ni Gold Gallery/Y:Na veiqaravi ena tekivu vakatotolo ena 7:30 pm. Era sa sureti taucoko mera tiko kina.
Me baleta na auwa e dola raraba se me baleta na ikuri ni itukutuku, yalovinaka qirita na valenilotu e212-568-8304 se raicahttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgiTukutuku nei Daudroini: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comA sucu o Yael Ben-Zion mai Minneapolis, MN ka susugi cake e Isireli. Sa taurivola mai na International Center of Photography's General Studies Program. O Ben-Zion sa dau ciqoma na veivuke kei na icocovi duidui eso, se qai oti toka ga oqo mai na Puffin Foundation kei na NoMAA, ka sa vakaraitaki na nona cakacaka mai Amerika kei Iurope. Sa tabaka o koya e rua na gacagaca ni nona cakacaka. E vakaitikotiko o koya mai Washington Heights vata kei watina, kei na nodrau gonetagane drua.
iTukutuku nei Daudroini: Pita Vale tabu: www.peterbulow.com
O tinaqu ni se gone, a vuni tiko ena gauna ni Veivakamatei. Ena veiyabaki sa oti, veika a sotava, se na ka au raitayaloyalotaka ni a sotava o koya, sa vakauqeti au sara vakalevu. Na veivakayarayarataki oqo e laurai ruarua ena noqu bula yadua kei na noqu cakacaka ni liga. Au a sucu mai Idia, A vakaitikotiko ena gauna e se gone lailai kina mai Berlin ka toki ki na Amerika vata kei rau na noqu itubutubu ni'u yabaki 8. E tiko na noqu iLiuliu ena Cakacaka ni Liga Vakamatai. Au ciqoma talega e dua na isolisoli ka na rawa kina vei au me'u cakava e vica walega na ivesu varasa ni bula mai na iVesu. Yalovinaka ni vakaraitaka vei au kevaka o vinakata mo ni tiki ni cakacaka oqo.
iTukutuku nei Daudroini :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Na yagoqu ni cakacaka e vakaraitaka na noqu ilakolako mai Houston, TX – na vanua au a sucu ka susugi kina – ki Ni'u Ioka – ena vanua au a sucu kina, vakaraitaka na nona matana, duidui ni itovo vakavanua kei na bula vakaitamata kei na nodra rai duatani vei ira na curuvanua– Au kunea e dua na veidokai vakavoui me baleta na itovo vakavanua ni tamata kecega. Au sa vakatovotovo vata kei ira na dauveitaba kilai vinaka, a lakova vakayawa sara na vuravura ka cakacaka vata kei ira e vuqa na kenadau ena vanua. Vakatekivu mai na Janueri, 2006, na noqu cakacaka vakadau dauveitaba sa yaco me dua na cakacaka ni veitaba yadua ka dau basika mai na noqu kila na sala eda wasea kina na vuravura ka cakacakataka vakataucoko na noda kila ka.
