tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post2558808383896257008..comments2024-03-28T22:50:02.315+11:00Comments on ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainly: Jewish hero or Nazi pawn in Holland - Gertrude van TijnHelshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-39697286543279950672017-02-19T11:20:07.702+11:002017-02-19T11:20:07.702+11:00Dan
thank for a fascinating paper in Sydney at th...Dan<br /><br />thank for a fascinating paper in Sydney at the AAJS. It was a new area for me to be reading in. Interestingly Tibor Krausz's long review of the book Kasztner's Crime by the British historian Paul Bogdanor was published in the Jerusalem Report on 6/2/2017. I will now go and read Bogdanor's book, but I am very glad I heard your paper, which put Kasztner in a wider context, first. Timing is everything!<br />Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-78450632896658434952017-02-19T10:07:04.908+11:002017-02-19T10:07:04.908+11:00Helen
You might find interest in an article publi...Helen<br /><br />You might find interest in an article published by Ido de Haan which discusses the Jewish Honor Court in the Netherlands (1946-1950). This article was published in a book entitled Jewish Honor Courts (Wayne U. Press) and published in 2015 (and in which I also have an article). de Haan makes a brief reference there to Gertrud van Tijn-Cohn.<br />Best regards from Jerusalem,<br />Dan Porat, Ph.D.Dr Dan Poratnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-3924760572127116272015-08-08T11:48:06.174+10:002015-08-08T11:48:06.174+10:00Yekkes
I agree with you, Gertrude van Tijn was a ...Yekkes<br /><br />I agree with you, Gertrude van Tijn was a very brave women when she decided to stay in Nazi Europe to help her community, almost recklessly brave. <br /><br />Hannah Arendt left Germany for Czechoslovakia in 1933 and then France. In 1941 Varian Fry smuggled her to safety to neutral Portugal and then to neutral USA. So she was much smarter than van Tijn but not nearly as brave nor as focused on saving other Jews. And I agree with you about the Eichmann Trial. In 1961 Arendt still seemed to be disinterested in honouring victims of the Holocaust.<br />Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-48626859451549906282015-08-07T23:36:05.013+10:002015-08-07T23:36:05.013+10:00I read "The Ambiguity of Virtue" a coupl...I read "The Ambiguity of Virtue" a couple of years ago when it was a featured title at London's annual Jewish Book Week. I think van Tijn was faced with impossible choices and wonder what her critics, especially Arendt would have done in her place. Hannah Arendt spent the war in the safety and comfort of the United States before writing about the crowds outside the Jerusalem courthouse during the Eichmann trial in terms that would have been deemed anti-semitic if written by a none Jew. <br /><br />You have some very interesting posts on your blog. Thanks!Yekkeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946085834861575574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-27593871200046062352015-08-06T01:42:36.364+10:002015-08-06T01:42:36.364+10:00nerrida
your timing is perfect. I was just saying...nerrida<br /><br />your timing is perfect. I was just saying today that I wished I had Dutch ancestors... in the 17th century, at least, the Dutch seemed so cultured, well travelled, skilled in trade, musical, scientific and artistic. <br /><br />But as you showed, so many of the descendants of Dutch citizens had to, or chose to leave the Netherlands for the New World. Perhaps that is why Prof Bernard Wasserstein came to Australia to launch his book in Feb 2014.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-85075472970472966312015-08-05T22:51:17.494+10:002015-08-05T22:51:17.494+10:00One thing that wasn't destroyed were Dutch gen...One thing that wasn't destroyed were Dutch geneology records. Have just visited Harderwijk where my van Mentz descendants lived very well in 1700s and 1800s. As Blashki's we have multiplied mightily in Melbourne. But the ancestry.com tree has over 13,000 of us with Dutch Jewish roots.nerridahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05993140403210142828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-69995953766688471542015-08-02T23:01:54.571+10:002015-08-02T23:01:54.571+10:00Leon
sometimes blog posts are carefully planned i...Leon<br /><br />sometimes blog posts are carefully planned in advance and sometimes they just fall into one's lap. I happened to be in Adelaide when Prof Wasserstein launched his book. The topic was unusual, his speech was excellent and within a week I wrote to him at the University of Chicago for a copy of the book. He obliged :)Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-27230158892360665892015-08-02T22:57:30.481+10:002015-08-02T22:57:30.481+10:00Australian in Amsterdam
I too would have jumped o...Australian in Amsterdam<br /><br />I too would have jumped on the first boat out of Europe, clutching my children. <br /><br />So we have to ask why a person would give up a ticket to safety, to face certain danger and possibly death. van Tijn must have had a VERY powerful belief that she could make a difference against the Nazi machine. saving displaced Jews with food, health care, tickets on ships, job placements and so on.<br /><br />What an enormous risk she took!Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-82880586774814757362015-08-02T17:39:48.291+10:002015-08-02T17:39:48.291+10:00I learn something new with every one of your posts...I learn something new with every one of your posts Hels. It makes my Blog very self indulgent. But then again, I guess that's what you aim to do.<br />Thanks for this insight.<br />Leon Simshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17609891995057827081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-47912840504235038502015-08-02T14:52:40.879+10:002015-08-02T14:52:40.879+10:00If van Tijn could have saved herself and her child...If van Tijn could have saved herself and her children in 1941 by sailing out of Nazi Europe from a neutral port, she should have. A person's first responsibility is to save the family. Even heroic people have to.Australian in Amsterdamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-35587509134725467592015-08-02T00:37:39.382+10:002015-08-02T00:37:39.382+10:00Deb
Prof Wasserstein was born in Britain just aft...Deb<br /><br />Prof Wasserstein was born in Britain just after the war, the son of European Holocaust survivors. So he could not have interviewed Gertrude van Tijn before she died in 1974. But three amazing sources of information were available to him: <br />1. The Jewish Council in Amsterdam kept "careful" minutes of all its meetings.<br />2. Some of her writings were destroyed but the family give Prof Wasserstein Gertrude's letters, and her unpublished memoir. <br />3. A man who later lived in her house in Amsterdam found a false wall, covering things Gertrude had hidden. Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-25752386698883140562015-08-02T00:21:35.327+10:002015-08-02T00:21:35.327+10:00Andrew
Amongst all of the European countries, Dut...Andrew<br /><br />Amongst all of the European countries, Dutch experience during WW2 was probably unique. Your niece will love every minute of Amsterdam, including Anne Frank's house; but she should read an article or two before jumping on the plane. It is not obvious, for example, why two families would hide in hidden rooms behind an ordinary 17th-century canal house. Why could Anne's father Otto Frank not tell most of the employees in his business why the Frank family had suddenly left home and work?<br /><br />Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities in the universe, both in lectures with the students and as a travelling tourist.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-536611006181612922015-08-01T10:42:00.918+10:002015-08-01T10:42:00.918+10:00I can't remember if Prof Wasserstein interview...I can't remember if Prof Wasserstein interviewed Getrude van Tijn, to get her perspective on the war the Dutch Jewish community. She may have died to early for this book.Debnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-26901844890539361062015-08-01T09:04:20.911+10:002015-08-01T09:04:20.911+10:00There doesn't seem to be a dilemma as so many ...There doesn't seem to be a dilemma as so many survived because of her efforts. But I can see there could be a very fine line to not step over. <br /><br />A little off topic but my niece is Europe bound next year and for a time will stay with a friend in Amsterdam. She recited, no gabbled, a list of her must sees and Ann Frank's house was high on the list, except she knows nothing of Ann Frank's story. Well, I suppose she will learn when she visits.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com