Gertrude Kahn at Berlin’s Kindertransport monument. Kahn was rescued from the Holocaust at age 14 through the Kindertransport program.

By Robert B. Kahn, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

When Gertrude and I were seated in our plane on the way to Berlin, we wondered whether we made the right decision to once again go back to Germany. Had it not been for an invitation to my wife from Berlin’s mayor — because of her attendance at the Jewish “Goldschmidt” School in the late 1930s — we would not have been encumbered with these unsettling thoughts.

Beyond the fragments of a vanished Jewish culture, we are satisfied that we saw the attempts by Jewish immigrants to reestablish a Jewish presence there. However there was something else very noticeable. The Berlin Senate and the German Bundestag Parliament do much to publicize the beastly crimes committed by the former Nazi regime.

German newspaper articles, large signs and many memorial plaques in public places decry not only what happened to Jews, but also to other minorities and political opponents of the former Third Reich.

Today, Holocaust denial in its many forms is a criminal offense and serves as a deterrent to antisemitic outbursts, racism and xenophobia, punishable with prison sentences from one to three years. Since 1960, the German government has mandated comprehensive Holocaust education in what is similar to our high schools, and is based on specific guidelines.

A phenomenon of curiosity
An invitation by a German couple for coffee and cake, which we accepted, revealed that they as well as other Berliners are extremely interested in Judaism, the Shoah, antisemitism and what happened to us, our parents, relatives and friends.

We saw evidence of this phenomenon of curiosity in the long lines that formed every day in front of the Jewish Museum, a monument to a destroyed and lost culture in Germany and everywhere else in Europe. We were deeply impressed and touched by the unique and unorthodox lightening bolt-like architecture of Daniel Libeskind. Its Garden of the Exiles, with high, leaning concrete columns from which olive trees sprouted, was symbolic to us of our state of Israel and the rebirth of Judaism where it was once snuffed out.

Gertrude and I went to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe several times. There, within proximity of the Reichstag Parliament buildings, the Potsdamer Platz, as well as the Brandenburg Gate, 2,711 dark grey slabs loom over a five-acre area, daunting to all visitors. We felt our hearts pounding as we were mentally and spiritually lost and isolated from the world among these abstract forms.

Survivor Robert B. Kahn at the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe, near the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin

How could such an exaggerated coffin-like labyrinth not awaken the mind to the enormity of the Holocaust, the murder and attempted extermination of all of our people? In the underground information center, we could see and feel the concrete slabs above us while moving through seven dimly lit chambers with exhibits and evidence of specific Nazi extermination places and methods. Even with hundreds of people viewing these exhibits, there was complete silence. The visitors were aghast, ashamed of this chapter in German history. Was it worth the 27.5 million Euros it cost to build? When one saw all the streets surrounding the memorial area invaded by cars, school and sightseeing buses from all parts of Germany and other countries, one realizes that its value today and in the future is incalculable.

The memorial that brought forth tears in Gertrude’s eyes and had me swallow hard was the Kindertransport monument, with its life-size sculptures. It commemorates the rescue of approximately 10,000 children ranging in age from 4 months to 16 years from certain death in concentration camps. Gertrude, at the time 14, and her 16-year-old sister were among those selected for evacuation to England — but without their parents.

My wife placed flowers on the side of the sculpture portraying five children in black bronze, symbolic of the 1.6 million children who perished in the Shoah. Another grouping of the sculpture consists of a boy and girl, but in a lighter bronze; they represent those rescued by way of England. On the sculpted rails which run alongside the two groups of children is a sign with the inscription, “Trains to Life, Trains to Death.” The sculpture is in front of the Friedrichstrasse Railway, where trains transported the children in one or the other direction. Berliners passing this monument slow their walk, stop and take note.

Sparks of Jewish renewal
During a reception at the reconstructed glass-domed Reichstag Parliament building, we were greeted by the parliament’s vice president, Petra Pau, who assured us on behalf of its 612 members that official Germany accepts responsibility for the Shoah and with it the inhuman and brutal part of its history. She added that the majority of present-day lawmakers are committed to keeping the history of the Holocaust alive. I thanked her and the German Parliament’s stand on combating racism, antisemitism and extremism, and for the high moral ground they have taken to sponsor Holocaust education, to perpetuate the memory of the Shoah, and to nurture the sparks of Jewish renewal.

Of the once 160,000 Jews living in Berlin, only about 2,000 returned from the camps. Only a few have survived until now. The influx of primarily Orthodox Jews from Eastern European countries at the end of World War II — many of them or their parents were displaced persons — gave rise to the reestablishment of a Jewish community in the Western Zone of Berlin. Today the Jewish population of a reunited East and West Berlin is estimated at 12,000. Most came in recent years from the former Soviet Union, supported financially and socially by the city of Berlin, the German government and the Jewish community. The integration process to become Germans while at the same time coping with their little-known and practiced Judaism still poses huge problems for these parents and children.

The establishment of a Jewish community center, Jewish schools, restaurants, bakeries, and stores where Jewish foods can be bought are all examples of new roots and beginnings.

Still, official estimates are that 15-25 percent of Germans continue to embrace some form of antisemitism and a dislike for the state of Israel. Radical elements including fanatic Muslims continue to be a threat to Jewish individuals and establishments. Elaborate security provisions and police protection are visible wherever there is a Jewish footprint.

Some tension also exists within the Jewish Community Association because of the different prevailing religious, social, cultural and personal interests. The noticeable reluctance among members of the Jewish community to commemorate the Shoah — particularly among those who survived Stalin’s purges — is palpable. The consensus regarding the necessity and importance to memorialize the Holocaust continues to soften. This attitude has become worse since there are very few Holocaust survivors left, most too old and unable to participate or to influence the decision making process.

Lessons for Dayton
This alarming trend overseas has convinced me that we in Dayton must make renewed, innovative and lasting efforts to increase the visibility of Holocaust history and information vis-à-vis the general public, as well as local and state government. A dynamic system should be put into place to carry on the memory of Nazi genocide forever.

I suggest the following ideas and hope that members of our community will also step up to offer their support: 1. The provision for an audio tour through the Holocaust exhibit Prejudice and Memory, on permanent display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, including historical background; 2. The development of a DVD of the exhibit with appropriate narrative, for schools unable to visit the exhibit and at other venues; 3. In conjunction with other Jewish federations, to promote the drafting of legislation to make Holocaust education mandatory in Ohio public schools; 4. To design and provide markers to identify and honor Holocaust survivors buried in local Jewish cemeteries; 5. To establish a short column in The Dayton Jewish Observer to highlight a topic under the title Holocaust Fact(s). 6. To reestablish a volunteer speakers bureau to speak about prejudice, hate, the Holocaust, current issues and Israel.

Perhaps through these and other ideas from our Jewish community, we can continue to honor and memorialize Holocaust victims and provide the children of survivors and future generations with a lasting, living memorial to their grief.