Repeating history ..... yesterday in London

History is full of those moments when good men and women come together to challenge the voices of hate, discrimination, and prejudice.

London, 2023

And yesterday over a 100, 000 walked through the streets of London calling out the rising tide of antisemitism.

Manchester, 1962

It is a sad fact that such a demonstration is repeated by almost every generation from those who stood against Oswald Mosley’s attempts to revive his fascist message in the early 1960s, to the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 and back through history.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War returning Jewish and non-Jewish servicemen and women had to confront the activities of various antisemitic groups, which they successfully did.

Nor of course is it just antisemitism, Islamic hate crimes are on the increase, as are examples of prejudice and outrageous treatment of other ethnic groups.

But yesterday it was to draw attention to antisemitism and to reiterate that in a modern diverse Britain antisemitism has to be challenged.

Manchester in London, 2023

Location; London, 2023

Pictures; of yesterday’s demonstration courtesy of Stephen Gilchrist and demonstration at Belle Vue against Oswald Mosley, 1962, m07971, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

Reading the unacceptable ……..

In the month that the Equality and Human Rights Commission published Investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party, I am rereading “That’s Funny You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic”, by Steve Cohen.

Steve Cohen was a member of the International Marxist Group and wrote the book in 1984.

In the forward his son has written that after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon his father started a book condemning the invasion and “During the research stumbled across Left antisemitism by self-described ‘anti racists’ time and time again … This racism perpetuated by leaders of the radical and revolutionary Left was an affront to his sense.”

The book ranges over historic “left antisemitism", highlighting the actions of Ben Tillett, Robert Blatchford and even Keir Hardie, and in a series of chapters focuses on the position of leading members of the left in the 1970s and 80s.

For those of us who always identified with the Left, the book makes disturbing reading particularly in the light of the current debate around the failure of the Labour Party during 2015-2019 to effectively address the issue of antisemitic complaints.  

And leaves me reflecting on those who currently seek to portray the previous leader of the Labour Party and some of his allies as the victims in the fall out from that report.

*“That’s Funny You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic”, Steve Cohen, 1984, republished by No Pasaran Media Ltd 2019

“She should not be forgotten, since she was found again”…… the lost paintings of a Jewish artist murdered by the Nazis

Sometimes a story jumps off the page, and so it was with this one which  I came across today.

 

It concerns  a Jewish artist who was murdered by the Nazi’s 78 years ago and the discovery of a collection of her paintings found on a construction site.

 The story comes from the  Campaign Against Antisemitism, which "has expanded its coverage of antisemitism worldwide”.*

 And today published the story of Czech artist Gertrud Kauders, which I have taken from their site.**

 “Plans are currently in progress to find a new home for a collection of paintings by a victim of the Holocaust that were only discovered in 2018 by a construction worker during the demolition of a dilapidated house near Prague.

 The paintings by Czech artist Gertrud Kauders (1883-1942), who perished in a Nazi concentration camp, were discovered 78 years after her death.

 Initially 30 paintings were recovered, however around 700 more canvases and sketches were subsequently uncovered in the walls and under the floorboards of the building in “near perfect condition”. The artwork is dated between the 1910s and the 1930s.

 In 1939, the Nazis invaded the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, and consequently Ms Kauders asked her classmate, the Russian-born Natalie Jahudkova, to hide her life’s work, which comprised Impressionist portraits and scenes from nature, in her house that was then under construction. Ms Kauders was deported from Prague in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and from there to the Majdanek extermination camp in Poland, where the artist was murdered. Ms Jahudkova passed away in 1977, taking with her the secret of the hidden paintings.

 

Photojournalist Amos Chapple and his colleague Dana Katharina Vaskova found Jakub Sedlacek, the owner of the house and a descendent of Ms Jahudkova, on behalf of the artist’s relatives living in New Zealand. Mr Sedlacek reportedly agreed that the works would be housed together in the Czech Republic, with family portraits going to the Kauders family currently residing in New Zealand.

 Upon first seeing Ms Kauders’ artwork, the chief curator of Prague’s Jewish Museum believed that the discovery was unique given the history of art in the Czech Republic. A spokesperson for the Jewish Museum in Prague reportedly said that she would be updated about the “whole intense process” and provide a “concrete result” as to whether it would be possible for the museum to house some of the paintings.

 Ms Vaskova stated: “[Ms Kauders] should not be forgotten, since she was just found again.”

 And if you want to see a collection of those rediscovered paintings, the Campaign’s article includes a link to a story by Amos Chapple, and Dana Katharina Vaskova.***

The story was published in September by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is I have to acknowledge is a United States government-funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, and given its Cold War connections , not a site I have ever visited before.

 Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

Picture; Gertrud Kauders, date unknown, courtesy of the Campaign Against Antisemitism

 *Campaign Against Antisemitism, https://antisemitism.org/introduction/

 **Campaign Against Antisemitism, https://antisemitism.org/she-should-not-be-forgotten-since-she-was-just-found-again-78-years-after-she-was-murdered-by-the-nazis-a-jewish-artists-paintings-were-discovered-in-a-construction-site/?mc_cid=e9261ed543&mc_eid=5199852f38

 ***Hidden From The Nazis, Murdered Jewish Artist's Trove Of Paintings Discovered In Prague House, Amos Chapple, Dana Katharina Vaskova, September 25th, 2020, https://www.rferl.org/a/murdered-jewish-artist-paintings-kauders-nazis-prague/30858168.html