Ngokuhambisana nesihloko sethu “Abalingani Ekunakekeleni” Uhlelo oluxhaswe yi-UJA-Federation yaseNew York, i-Y izofaka inhlolokhono evela kwabasindile abayisithupha bendawo ukuze baqonde kangcono indaba yomuntu ngamunye. Lezi zingxoxo zizokhonjiswa kugalari yeTabernakele lesiHebheru “Ukuhlangabezana Nesikhathi Sempi Nasemuva: Izithombe Zabasindile EkuQothulweni Kwesizwe Okunomoya”. Igalari izovulwa ngoLwesihlanu mhlaka 8 Novemba.
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, EJalimane, 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.
ngawo-1990 bathola ukuthi i-Y ibuya ukuzokwandisa izinhlelo ezazigxile kakhulu enhlanganweni 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, futhi 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.
Le nhlolokhono yenziwe ngu-Halley Goldberg we-Y's Partners in Caring initiative futhi ingeye-YM.&I-YWHA yaseWashington Heights nase-Inwood. Ukusetshenziswa kwalokhu kwaziswa ngaphandle kwemvume ebhaliwe evela kubo bobabili u-Y kanye nomuntu okuxoxwa naye kunqatshelwe ngokuphelele. Thola okwengeziwe ngohlelo Lozakwethu Ekunakekeleni lapha: http://ywashhts.org/partners-caring-0
ITabernakele lamaHeberu Igalari ye-Armin ne-Estelle Gold Wingngokubambisana ngokuziqhenyaeya YM&I-YWHA yaseWashington Heights nase-Inwoodukumema kwezethuNovemba/December, 2013 Bonisa“Ukuhlangabezana Nesikhathi Sempi Nasemuva: Izithombe Zabasindile EkuQothulweni Kwesizwe Okunomoya” ngezithombe kanye nokubaziwe by: YAEL BEN-ZION, UPETER BULOW kanye no-ROJ RODRIGUEZ. Ngokuhlanganyela Isevisi ekhethekile enkumbulwenikwe75Umgubho Weminyaka engu-Kristallnacht -ubusuku Bengilazi EphukileAmasevisi kanye Nokwamukela Ukuvula Kweciko, ULwesihlanu, Novemba 8, 2013 7:30 ntambama.
Isitatimende esivela ku-Y : ” Sekungamashumi eminyaka iWashington Heights/Inwood Y ikhona, futhi iyaqhubeka, isiphephelo kulabo abafuna isiphephelo, inhlonipho nokuqonda. Abaningi abangena ngeminyango yethu futhi bahlanganyele ezinhlelweni zethu baye baphila ezilingweni nasezinsizini esingakwazi nokuzicabanga.. Kwabanye, ozoba yingxenye yalo mbukiso, olunye uvalo olunjalo selwaziwa emhlabeni wonke ngokuthi “UkuQothulwa Kwesizwe” – ukubulawa okuhleliwe kwamaJuda ayizigidi eziyisithupha aseYurophu.
Thina kwaY sikhumbula okwedlule, hlonipha labo abaphila futhi bafa ngaleso sikhathi, futhi ulondolozele izizukulwane ezizayo iqiniso. Ngenxa yethu kanye nezingane zethu, kumele sidlulise izindaba zalabo abake babhekana nobubi bempi. Kunezifundo okufanele zifundwe ngekusasa. Izingxoxo zibhalwe nguHalley Goldberg, umqondisi wohlelo oluthi “Partners in Caring”. Lolu hlelo olubalulekile lwenziwa lwaba yimpumelelo ngosizo lwemali oluvela ku-UJA-Federation of New York, yakhelwe ukuthuthukisa ubudlelwano namasinagoge e-Washington Heights nase-Inwood. “
Umbukiso wethu wobuciko ohlanganyelwe uhlanganisa izithombe kanye nezingxoxo zabasinde ekuQothulweni Kwesizwe, UHannah Eisner, UCharlie noLilli Friedman, Pearl Rosenzveig, UFredy Seidel noRuth Wertheimer, bonke bangamalungu etabernakele lamaHeberu, ibandla lamaJuda amaJuda amaningi aseJalimane abalekela amaNazi futhi anenhlanhla yokuza eMelika, wajoyina ngasekupheleni kwawo-1930. Ngaphezu kwalokho sizophinde sihloniphe owasinda ekuQothulweni Kwesizwe u-Gizelle Schwartz Bulow- Umama womdwebi wethu u-Peter Bulow kanye nowasinda ku-WWII u-Yan Neznanskiy - ubaba we-Y's Chief Program Officer, UVictoria Neznansky.
Inkonzo yeSabatha ekhethekile, nezikhulumi, esikhumbuzweni soMgubho weminyaka engama-75 ka-Kristallnacht (Ubusuku Bengilazi Ephukile) yandulela ukuvulwa kombukiso weGold Gallery/Y:Amasevisi aqala ngokushesha ngo-7:30 ntambama. Bonke bayamenywa ukuba babe khona.
Ukuze uthole amahora wokuvula wegalari noma ngolwazi oluthe xaxa sicela ushayele isinagoge ku212-568-8304 noma ubonehttp://www.hebrewtabernacle.orgIsitatimende Somculi: Yael Ben-Zionwww.yaelbenzion.comU-Yael Ben-Zion wazalelwa eMinneapolis, MN futhi wakhulela kwa-Israyeli. Uthweswe iziqu e-International Center of Photography's General Studies Programme. UBen-Zion uyena owathola izibonelelo nemiklomelo ehlukahlukene, muva nje ivela ku-Puffin Foundation kanye nakuNoMAA, futhi umsebenzi wakhe uboniswe e-United States naseYurophu. Ushicilele ama-monographs amabili omsebenzi wakhe. Uhlala eWashington Heights nomyeni wakhe, namawele abo.
Isitatimende Somculi: Peter Bulow: www.peterbulow.com
Umama wami esemncane, yayicashe phakathi nokuQothulwa Kwesizwe. Ngokuhamba kweminyaka, isipiliyoni sakhe, noma lokho ebengicabanga ukuthi kube yisipiliyoni sakhe, ube nethonya elikhulu kimi. Leli thonya libonakala kokubili empilweni yami yomuntu siqu kanye neyobuciko. Ngazalelwa eNdiya, ngahlala njengengane encane eBerlin futhi ngathuthela e-US nabazali bami ngeminyaka 8. Ngine-Masters ku-Fine Arts ekudwebeni. Futhi ngingumamukeli wesibonelelo esizongivumela ukuthi ngenze inani elilinganiselwe labasinde ekuQothulweni Kwesizwe. Ngicela ungazise uma ungathanda ukuba yingxenye yale phrojekthi.
Isitatimende Somculi :Roj Rodriguez: www.rojrodriguez.com
Umzimba wami womsebenzi ukhombisa uhambo lwami olusuka eHouston, TX - lapho ngazalelwa khona futhi ngakhulela khona - eNew York - lapho, kuvezwe ubuzwe bayo, ukwehlukahlukana kwezamasiko nenhlalo-mnotho kanye nombono wakho oyingqayizivele kubantu bokufika– Ngithole inhlonipho evuselelwe ngesiko lawo wonke umuntu. Ngifunde nabathwebuli bezithombe asebezinze kahle, wahamba emhlabeni kabanzi futhi wasebenzisana nochwepheshe abaningi abaphezulu kulo mkhakha. Kusukela ngoJanuwari, 2006, umsebenzi wami njengomthwebuli wezithombe ozimele usuphenduke inqubo yokuthatha amaphrojekthi wokuthwebula izithombe avela ekuqondeni kwami indlela esabelana ngayo nomhlaba kanye nokusebenzisa ubuhlakani bethu ngokuphelele.
