"Terezin"Script Notes 13-29 June 2008 Preliminary ThoughtsThis is a draft of a script about my grandmother Minna (Wilhelmina) Pächter, bringing together information from many sources. Certain things I have in files and transcripts--my family's story, my mother, cousin Liesel's, my grandmother's life etc. On other subjects I will need help, since I lack first hand information: especially, life in Terezin, and life in the Prague ghetto 1940-41--how Jews were expelled from schools and businesses, made wear a yellow star, and how their property was stripped. Maybe Ruth Bondy can help here--or else Anita Tarsi can find persons who remember (even a written accounts). I am reluctant to involve Zdenka Ehrlich (unless her film project is stuck: her story deserves to be told separately), though maybe she should read the draft script and her inputs are valuable--she was there. I don't know enough of Arthur Buxbaum, or Vally Grabscheid--maybe Elsie does, the 3rd chapter in her book suggests something.
What ideas would set the tone of the film? The story of the Kochbuch is a significant part, but alone it does not seem enough. Edelstein's office and desperate attempts by Jews to escape early in the occupation also belong here. And the story of Terezin (aka Theresienstadt Ghetto) as a whole has not yet been told in public. These three topics should interweave on the background of Czech culture and society--a small brave nation, devoted to building up a fair society and culture, people very much like us, with history of foreign oppressed but an active culture ... abandoned by their allies to the Nazis. Brutality was not absent, but it was not as virulent as in the East-- some Germans even tried to be fair, but all obeyed orders, and gradually the Nazi leadership developed its extermination plans, Czech identity was crushed and Jews disappeared "to the East." The "Kochbuch" was part of an instinctive urge by prisoners to cling to normalcy. While this is the story of a Jewish family and its community, I suggest broadening the scope and also covering the fate of the Czech nation. The film-going movie has seen quite a few Jewish Holocaust stories, but none of Hitler's rape of the Czech Republic. I think including this angle is not just part of the story but would widen interest in the film. These are some thoughts about the story line. I will try to write down anything which may be significant; inevitably, parts will have to be whittled down, but still better than padding with invented incidents. In any case, any agreement with Colleen should clearly state that the final script must have my approval. The main figures are of course my grandmother Minna Pächter and my mother Anny Stern (pronounced as in German "Anni", that is "a" as in "car", not as in "cat"), Jacob (Yaikev) Edelstein (my mother referred to him as Yankev; his name is pronounced "Edlshtain", with a and i pronounced as separate vowels)), Vally Grabscheid and other women in their room (Minna's rhymes help here), and maybe Zhenka and Manci, their wedding and Minna's poem about it. Liesel Laufer, (then Liesel Reich) gave me her OK to use her real name. Edelstein's trip to Palestine deserves to be mentioned, also the story of the illegal steamers. Incidentally, I refer everywhere to "Palestina" (Palästina actually), the German name used then: using the term "Palestine" in English has too many loaded connotations. The family name "Stern" was pronounced "Shtern" in Europe (German for "star") but for an English film, the anglicized "Stern" is probably preferable. The family name "Paechter" is an English rendering of "Pächter" and may be found written either way. Czech words and letters are to be pronounced appropriately--"ch" is always soft, as in German, whereas the sound "tsh" (like ch in the English "church) is written č. The English "sh" is written in Czech as š, while ě is pronounced "ye" as in "yet." Also, ž is "zh" (as in Jean), ř is "rzh", ý is short "i" as in kitten, ů is "oo" and ň is "ny" (with y a consonant) as in Spanish ñ. In Chech, "j" is always pronounced like "y" in "young." I would avoid gratuitous violence, stressing instead methodical German dehumanization--by restrictions, by reduced food rations, by constant pressure in the name of rules and regulations clearly meant to oppress. Many possible scenes underscoring Nazi brutality could be included--e.g. hanging of people caught trying to smuggle mail out of Terezin, or loading prisoners into Auschwitz cars and scenes inside those cars--but it seems the public has already seen enough of that. -----------------------------
----------------------------- "Sonderbehandlung"--you know what this means? "Not really.." "They all will be put to death. Immediately." "Why then send them all the way east? Why not take them to the forest and shoot them here?" "No. The Czechs will know, the story will spread, and we will have more problems. Things must stay quiet here, at least while we are fighting our war." "And killing them in the East--will it be different?" "The East is different. You don't want to know, but it is different." Opening, ending and musicThe next questions may be how to open the film, and how to end it.Both opening and closing should be accompanied by appropriate music; two selections are proposed, (but may be interchanged). The opening (on a background of scenes from Terezin--battlements, various barracks, bunks in a room, crematorium, Menorah monument in the cemetery, etc.) can be accompanied by Karel Hašler's "Ta naše pisnička česka", a lilting, gentle and sad song (hear it on web at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7fcNDqCG-4 , or search "nase pisnicka ceska" ) The words--which may be included or omitted, in either Czech or English--reflect the desperation of the Czech people confronted by the Nazis. (Hašler himself was arrested by the Nazis and sent to his death in Mauthausen, where he was tied up naked on a freezing night). Here is a rough translation, based on memory (and help by Vilem Mikula):
It is so pretty, so pretty As in the meadow the flower grows So our little song here arose When this song no longer sparkles We will have nothing at all If it is left to die All we have will be gone Then we shall no longer live Little people, sing with me Whoever you may be Moravian, Slovak or Czech This little song we have Simple as it may be Is the most precious of all Sample BeginningAn opening scene, caption "1938, Bodenbach-Podmokly / a short way south of the Czech-German border". Inside Minna's apartment, old-style carved furniture, piano, framed art on the walls. The room is dark, but someone outside is unlocking th door.Minna opens the door, Anny follows her ("Shh! Peter is asleep"), then Minna, Anny, George and a refugee family come in, wearing raincoats, carrying luggage, child with teddy and sailor's hat...Then George. --Father of family: Thank God we are here! You cannot imagine... --Anny: "Stop worrying. You are on Czech soil, safe. (pause) No Germans will come here--we have our own army, and we are not alone. France and England stand behind us." George meanwhile has gone to another room, brings back a small pack of bills. -- "Here is the money you gave me. It will smell of beer, because I smuggled it out in an empty beer bottle, on the local train which brings workers back from Schönau. On days when Czech border guards are on duty, they will let you do it, and it is registered legally in your name". Minna brings some candies in a box--"have a treat!" Little square candies, wrapped in wax paper. --Hmm, that tastes good. What are they? Minna: "Badener Caramels". --Like the ones made in Austria? Minna: Only, these I made myself. Fresher, maybe better, more coffee. --Hmm. Can I take another? The cook comes in. "Herr Doktor, a letter for you. Arrived this afternoon." The letter is a call-up for army reserve service. George reads the beginning aloud, then lowers the sheet. "Three days!"
George: "I hope not. The Germans have a strong army, much better airplanes. We can only fight back if France and England help." Anny: "And even then... the German border is so close. A cannon in Germany can reach us here." Minna: "I have a small apartment in Prague, for my business there. Maybe I should pack and take there for safe keeping--at least our valuable art." George: "Well, I have to be with the 35th regiment. And Peter should go to the farm of Arthur Pešek in Vrchotovy Yanovitze, he is married to my mother's niece Beda. It is far from the border." -----
"Only in 1960 was I informed by her former maid what had happened. In those days many people already knew that they could not possibly stay where they were. They transferred their property to Prague, almost all the Jews did. Apparently Anny and George did so too (even though they never told me): they rented a truck, loaded on it most of their collections, and told that they sold it to Prague. [There they sold part, part they brought to Palestine, but I received nothing of that property. Such is my sister. The sale of these goods or some of them sustained them when they reached the country [Palestine] in 1940.] Next scene... George leaves in Czech uniform, 4 hemispherical silver buttons on his shoulder across the end of his epaulet. Hugs at the door, a neighbor helps carry his suitcase. On the town's main street, crossing Minna's street some distance uphill, on the part seen between the houses,.. a commotion. One briefly glimpses trucks as they cross the end of the street, carrying swastika flags and some people in brown shirts. "I hope we have peace" says George as he leaves. "I hope France and England can prevent war. Otherwise, it's tanks against horses." Last hugs, then he walks down the street. Minna gets into the house, where workmen are already removing some pictures. She opens a box, carefully puts into it her late husband's picture--old fashioned, handlebar mustache. --------------------- Picture on the street in Bodenbach, outside Minna's apartment. Anny and Minna start George's small black boxy 4-seater car, the truck pulls out behind them... segue to "Prague, September 1938". Camera sweeps skyline of Prague with spires and Hradčin castle, with Smetana's music ("Vyšehrady"?) in the background,. then fades to a dingy street, 4-story walkup faced with stone, darkened by the soot of many years. The car pulls up, the truck stops behind it. The women get out, the workmen too and they drop the tailgate. Fade... --------------------- Czech soldiers sitting around a radio listen to the announcement about the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain meeting Hitler at Berchtesgarden. ....segue into Minna and Anny listening to a radio in their apartment in Prague, different voice, caption "October, 1938." It announces that in a conference in Munich, Chamberlain and French premier Daladier agreed to hand over the Czech "Sudetenland" bordering Germany, just to preserve "Peace for our Time"
The two women are pale, look at each other, Minna quietly says : "It has happened, after all." Anny: "And where is George now?" ----------
Again, panorama of Prague--statues along the ancient Charles bridge focusing on balcony of Hradčin castle. As the camera slowly swings around, large letters proclaim
Scene (reconstructed from a historic photograph) Hitler standing on the balcony of the Hradčin castle and gleefully surveying Prague In Minna's apartment: George is back from the army, in civilian clothes. He looks over a letter. "It orders me to report to a labor camp" Minna: "The Germans probably got lists of soldiers released from the army. Other Jews were also ordered to labor camps." George: "But what can I do about it? Hardly any country will allow Jews in. Your bother is in Palestina, my brother Oswald was transferred by Bat'ya shoes to their factory in Casablanca. But we have (spreads hands)--no place!" Anny: "Don't go to the camp. Bat'ya also arranged through the army command of General Baskovitz permission for you, me and David to leave the country." (pause) "Your visa to Italy is still valid. Take a train there, go to Trieste, where ships still sail for Palestina". --And...? --I have worked for years with the Zionist organization, I know Yaikev Edelstein, who heads the Palestine Emigration Office, and will ask his help to get us all to Palestina, to "Eretz.Yisra'el." (pause) ...We will send money to you in Trieste. And maybe you will find some opportunities there too. Let us know. Silence. Then George: "I suppose that is a choice. But you, and Peter?"(pronounced Peh-ter, both vowels as in "get") --"Let me talk to Edelstein." George goes to pack his suitcase... The "Palästina Amt"Scene: the Zionist office. Old furniture, high ceiling, file boxes (old style--white cardboard with black bands and a round hole ?), old manual typewriters, telephone, map of "Palästina" on the wall, blue box of Jewish National Fund, maybe iconic picture of Herzl with his long black beard, leaning over railing of a bridge in Basel.Anny enters the office of Jacob (everyone calls him Yaikev) Edelstein, head of the office. He raises his head: --Anny Stern! --Yes, I am in Prague too. Though I wish we could go to Palestina, where my brother is. --"We"? --George and little Peter, too. George was ordered to a labor camp, and we all have exit permits to get to Trieste. Only ... to continue from there, we need your help.. Edelstein (looks her over)-- I will see what I can do, but you know, we have waited too long. Now the British will only allow 1500 "Zertificate" (Tser-tifica-teh) per month, only 1500 immigration permits to Palestina. (pause) If George can go to Trieste, he should be safe there--for a while, at least. But you... with your record as an excellent organizer, this office could use you. Will you work for us? (Anny looks at him, silently) I promise I shall try to get all three of you to "Eretz." My powers are limited, but I will do what I can. (brief pause) Anny: Gladly. If I can help, I am yours, and mother will take care of Peter. What would you like me to do? --Surely you have heard of Eichmann. The Gestapo specialist for Jews. Anny: Sure. --We are now officially the "Palestina Amt", the Palestine emigration office. The Nazis want to expel all Jews from Czechoslovakia. That is, all Jews should go away, but everything they own is taken by the Germans. (pause) Half a year ago Eichmann set up an emigration office in Vienna, and got 100,000 Jews to leave. Now he has arrived in Prague, to set up the same thing here. And that is us! The Zionist office is now part of an official emigration center. Anny: But the British won't let 100,000 Czech Jews into Palestine! --That is where I need your help, Frau Doktor Stern, The Nazis don't care HOW our people leave. They would not mind if we smuggle them illegally into Palestine, or into. Uruguay, South Africa,... any place far from here. (silence) And let me tell you: I have spoken to Eichmann. In a week or two I am supposed to go to Palestina and negotiate with the British one last time, ask them to let Czech Jews in. Anny: Do you think it will work? Edelstein--- It may or it may not. Many Austrian and German Jews have already emigrated, but the British Mandate Government of Palestine is afraid of the Arabs, afraid of armed attacks on their oil pipeline. Still, they may admit some refugees. Not enough, I am sure. But no Jew is safe here ... The more we get out, the better.. Anny: What would be my part in this? Edelstein---Eichmann has given us quotas, as he has done in Vienna. Every day, 100 Jews must leave, maybe 200. It is not easy to arrange. I hope you will join the people already working on it. Anny: What do we do? Edelstein---You locate refugee families who want to leave, see that they go through the legalities--which usually means, hand over all they have. Meanwhile go to embassies of--oh, Chile, Costa Rica, any far-away country, and buy immigration visas for those people. For money, they will give you a visa, with the understanding these people will not try to go to those countries. They will just use them leave the Protektorat. Anny: And then?. Edelstein---The refugees with those visas take a train to Bratislava, where our organization is hiring river steamers on the Danube. The emigrants board the steamer and since the river is an international waterway, you can sail on it without transit papers through Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania... all the way to Constanca on the Black Sea. Anny: And then...? Edelstein---Other agents of the Zionist organization are getting small old steamers, really scrap-iron ships, which will wait in Constanca. They will go straight to Palestina, land at night on some sandy beach, and our people in "Eretz" will help passengers get off and hide, before the British catch them. (pause) And... even if the British Navy catches them--they may be arrested and detained, or perhaps sent to some distant British colony. Whatever it is, the Nazis are worse. Anny: And my job? Edelstein---Smile nicely to the consuls and buy those visas. Help us get money to pay for them. Get the people through the paperwork and on the trains. Don't worry: you will find yourself very busy. Anny: And you will help George--and Peter and me--get to Palestina too? Edelstein---You are a personal friend. I will try my very best, I promise. Anny: Then you can depend on me. (brief pause) But one more thing. (pause) George has three brothers who are also trapped here. Single young men. Can they go, too? Edelstein---You can add them to any illegal transport from Constanca. But remember--you will have to work hard. Anny: I certainly will. ------------ (I realize this is more of a draft script than an outline. I will try continue in a less detailed fashion, but it is not easy without visualizing scenes.) ---------------------- While Edelstein is in Palestina, Anny is coached by balding man: ---What is the capital of Peru? Anny: I don't know. Why do I have to know the capital of Peru? ---Because the answer is "Tel Aviv." What is the capital of Ecuador? Anny: Tel Aviv?? ---You are learning. Now go, smile nicely to the consul of Peru and buy for us 200 visas. Let me show you how... ------------------------------ Suddenly, a commotion. "Eichmann is here"
Edelstein, came back from seeing Eichmann for the first time and said: "We have to make an immigration office - that means Anny, this is just what you can do, You will put down every day the names of people who want to emigrate, who get visas, who get certificates, and that we give daily to The Gestapo,"
Eichmann: Frau Doktor Stern, are you a Zionist? ---- My answer: Yes, Herr Obersturmbannführer. Eichmann: I am a Zionist too. I want all Jews to get out as quickly as possible and you have to work hard. So -- one of his questions, one of his first questions, was "who is in charge of the emigration?" As they were not prepared for it, they gave me George's title and said "Frau Dr. Stern". So Eichmann took me under oath, that I will be in charge of the emigration, will work with the SS and the Gestapo, and will be absolutely responsible for what I'm doing. And this is how I started my career, never [having] sat at a desk [before] Scene ends with Anny going to the consulate of Peru, entering ornate doorway with Peruvian coat of arms and Spanish inscription. The scene shifts to Prague railroad station. George hugs Anny, then boards train. Peter and Minna stand on the side, wave as the train chugs away... Anny waves, then breaks down and cries into a handkerchief. --------------------- Edelstein travels to Palestine--welcomed by colleagues ... gives talk in Kibutz Merkhavia. Afterwards a group of friends take him aside and ask: "Why go back? You will be safe here." ---No, I cannot. My family is there, my people are there. I cannot. No, in no way can I abandon them! Goes to the office of British High Commissioner Sir Harold McMichael. Explains to him very humbly: "You know the Germans are preparing for war against England. And you know how little regard they have for the life of Jews." McMichael: Yes, but I am not allowed to change policy made in London. I shall write to them, but you really need the people in London. --- But of course, you also know about illegal ships with immigrants. Could you just quietly let them through? McMichael: I wish I could. But I am the governor of this country, of both Jews AND Arabs. And anyway, when those ships are stopped, it is by the British Navy, over which I have no control. (after a while) What I can do for Czech immigrants is to allocate them 2000 certificates. At least that gives some help. But this is my limit. --------------- Edelstein is back in Prague. Office workers hug him. Edelstein: They gave me 2000 Zertificate (tzertificateh). I will have to report to Eichmann, but I already know what he will say: legal or not, get those Jews out! Edelstein at Anny's desk, hugs her. "It felt good to breathe free air. And I will keep my promise. I can send George a Zertifikat." * "But how do we stand with those visas?" --Anny: Not much money is left, But know someone who still has some. I will convince her that the Germans will not let her keep it anyway...I will try to get money from her, but in return, you MUST promise her and her husband immigration permits."
--She can . Anny goes to Martha Hirsch and strikes a bargain, ... From end of file Relatives-->"Family notes":
My mother was working in the emigration office, and she went to them and told them--I can get you out, but you have to trust me. She then went to Yaikev Edelstein, told him the Hirsch'es had large sums of money which the organization could use, and made the arrangements. Much of the money of course was taken by the Germans: they appointed a special attorney, Dr. Dewalt, who it turned out had been an intern in my father's law office. They got a certificate to Israel and were all their life grateful to my mother
A week later he comes back: "That is not a place for us. Poland is terrible. We should do everything to avoid being sent to Poland"] On November 27, 1939, Anny leaves for Trieste with Peter and Edelstein. Scene at the railroad station, Hugs, flashbulbs. Anny, Peter and Edelstein climb aboard--the sign on the wagon states "Prag -- Trieste". The train starts slowly, people wave, cry, slowly the melody of "Hatikvah" rises from the crowd, as the train speeds up. Anny and Edelstein sit in a compartment. Edelstein is drafting something on a piece of paper, backed by his briefcase and a closed file that provides a writing suface. (This is the transition point between the story of Anny and that of her mother) "Yaikev" He raises his head. --Yes? "You know my mother, she wanted to stay behind. Minna Pächter." --Yes. I will look to see she is safe. Is that what you wanted to ask? "Yes. And my in-laws too, Ottilia and Josef Stern. They did not want to even talk about emigrating. 'You cannot transplant a full-grown tree' they said. --I know them, and will remember. Now let me try write what I want to send from Trieste to Palestina." --------------------------- The Italian ship "Galilea" (of the "Lloyd Triestino," about 4000 tons) sails away in the dark, people singing "HaTikvah" both on boat and on shore as it pulls away. Fade to arrival in Tel Aviv, passengers jumping from the gangplank to a passenger boat... On shore, Peter sees George jumping up and down behind a chain-link fence, runs to him. Anny is crying, George too. (fade... back to Prague) Entrance to a school building. German guards with rifles, pair of teachers. Children arriving. Sign in Gothic Letters (small) Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren --Abordnung (?) 573, 8 August 1940 (Big)"Juden nicht erlaubt" Below that is a similar inscription in Czech. Camera focuses on the date before switching to the soldiers, who examine the identity card of every child and send away those whose card says "Jew." One little boy cries: he is not a Jew, but has left his identity card at home. A teacher consoles him--go home and bring your card. You will NOT be punished for being late. ------------------------------ (Date: "1941") Minna makes dinner, boils Czech dumpling. Grandparents Josef and Ottilia sit at the table, everybody wears a yellow star (maybe a strange woman and boy also sit at the table?). Close-up on the dumpling as she cuts it with a string tautly held between two hands (the traditional Czech way). "... sorry, that is all I have, but at least I have added some mushrooms to give it taste." ---------------------------- Establishing the Terezin GhettoView of Terezin, camera pans around massive brick walls."Theresienstadt Fortress, built 1780" The fortress is being inspected by two Nazi officers with escort, walking down the street. "Ganz gut" says one. "How many people live here now? --About 7000 --- They will have to leave. I guess we can fit 50,000, maybe 60,000 Jews here. ---We have more than that in the Protektorat. --- Don't worry, they will not stay here too long. Our people in the east are getting ready for them. (pause) The walls look good and high. I guess we can bring the "Aufbaukommando" from Prague, to prepare bunk beds, gates and kitchens. -------------------------- Possible scene: two "hundertschaft" groups are collected, each of 100 Jewish men. They are put on trucks, with tools, followed by cars with guards and are brought to Lidice, to a field with bodies of dead Czech villagers. A German officer in a heavy coat, SS insignia (silver skull) tells them: These are some of the people who ambushed one of our officers, right here. They paid dearly for their crime! Now, take off their shoes and clothes--what can be used will be taken back to Terezin. And bury them here in this pit. (camera pans to pit dug by bulldozer). An explosion: little pebbles rain down. "Don't pay attention. Every house in this village is being blown up. Nothing will remain." The prisoners turn to work. One man asks a guard: "What was this place called"? ---"Lidice" (Li-di-tseh, accent on "Li"),
(The scene below belongs to March 1943, but it is shifted here to early 1942) Train station "Bauchowitz" (Gothic letters; below it in Czech, perhaps, Bohuševice). Jews who had arrived by train are marched to Terezin, suitcases and baskets in hand. Camera singles out a young woman with nurse's apron (Liesel Reich). In the rear of the walking group, five German soldiers with shouldered rifles and an officer with a pistol. Coming the other way is a farm wagon with hay, a couple sits on the front seat. Children on top point at the group and shout "židy!, židy!" (pron. "zhidy"; caption below: "Jews! Jews"). Woman turns to them "They are going to Terezin. Our home is now their prison" Viewed from the rear, on the left of the road is Terezin, big walls of red brick, shingle roofs and treetops just visible behind them. The person guiding the group explains, "This is where they let us live" --- "Behind those walls?" "Behind those walls." Suddenly shots are heard. Heads turn to a smaller fortress on the right, similar to Terezin. (the film needs insert a regular field in front of it--after the war it became covered with monuments). On the gate, painted in large black letters on white background, "ARBEIT MACHT FREI" "What is there?" "That is the small fortress of Terezin, Maly Pevnost, A Gestapo prison." One of the walkers asks another in Czech (English subtitles below): "What does it say there?" --"Abandon all hope ye who enter." (English subtitle) --"Abandon... no, seriously!" (Subtitle in Enlish, picture changes). ----------- Camera sweeps over the high curved brick wall flanking the entrance. The people reach a large shack with tarpaper roof, slightly elevated. The entrance door is at one end, exit at the other. Barbed wire and a guarded car barrier flank it: once you cross, you are inside Terezin.
... Inside the shack. Prisoners stand in several lines in front of tables as they are given papers. A guard by the exit checks the papers of everyone who leaves. At the head of the line nearest to the camera stands Liesel Reich (she agreed for her real name to be used). She hands the clerk some sheets. "Name?" --Elisabeth Reich. The clerk rummages. "Are you a nurse?" --Yes. He hands her a sheet. "You will be in the hospital. Go here." (points out the direction) . Liesel does not move. "Yes?" --Where can I find Jaromir (Yaromir) Goldner? (invented name, real person). He is my distant cousin. One of the people sitting in the back says "I know where he is. Here, sit in my chair, I will find him for you." By the time the man comes back with Jaromir, the line is gone--only two ladies and a man are lugging suitcases down the road, with a 3-year old child carrying a doll. "Yes what can I do for you, Miss...?" ---Reich. Liesel Reich. I am the daughter of Inginieur Rudolf Pollack. Do you know him? "Yes, of course, he has another daughter Helena. But he is not here." ---"Not here!!? But I was expecting to meet him! My mother and Helena, too. We all lived together in Prague, and were supposed to stay together here. I was left behind in Prague because I got sick. "Sorry, but he is not here. A month ago he was placed on a transport for resettlement in the East." ---Where in the East? "The Germans don't ever tell, but nothing good is there. However, I have a message for you." ---A message? "Your father did not know where he was going, no one ever does. But all transports to the east travel in cargo wagons, and after three days, the wagons are back here, empty. Always the same wagons--the people whose job is to clean them watch the numbers, and they are always the same. So Inginieur Novak and I made an agreement. The wagon has a lamp. So he told one of the cleaners the number of his wagon-- and he promised to put in the lamp a message for you. When the wagon came back, the cleaner checked the lamp and here is what he found: (rummages in his pocket, pulls out a beat up identity card, opens it and takes out a slip of paper, which he hands to Liesel) ---(Liesel reads) Aussig... Bodenbach...Dresden... These are railroad stations! He must have read their names through a crack! (continues): Görlitz... Breslau ... Katowitz ... Auschwitz. (pause) So... they went north to Germany, then east to Poland. Katowitz is a big center for coal and iron, near Krakow. But Auschwitz? Never heard of it. --- "Neither have I. There is a Polish town Oswieczim nearby, but it is quite small. Still, the name is retraced and underlined. It must have been their final stop." Silence.. Liesel is crying. Wipes her tears. Liesel--- "Helen, Lenička, my sister... oh, how I miss you. Lenička! Now they are all gone! "Yes, together with about a thousand other people, The Germans have started resettling Jews in the East. Liesel--- Resettling? "That is what they tell us. No one has come back yet, an no messages. But then, they hang people here just for sending or even receiving letters. I hope your family is safe, wherever it was sent. Auschwitz, or whatever place." They hug. "The least I can do is show you the way to the hospital. Here, let me help you." Takes her suitcase and slowly they walk out of the shack and down the road into the fortress. ---------- (Scene shifts to a street inside Terezin) Minna enters a barracks building, old window frames, cracking yellow stucco. A man next to her carries her suitcase. At the door sits a Jewish policeman, a police badge on his armband [I think a 6-cornered star with a baton in the middle--but check USHMM]. He looks at her papers and motions her to a door inside, on the first floor. The man with the suitcase goes there with her (the police guard follows, because it is a women's dormitory), the man puts the suitcase down, they shake hands and hug, and he leaves. Minna knocks on the door .
The "room commander" gives Minna the choice of two spots--their former occupants were taken on transports--and explains sanitation and boiling of water. Is she ready for winter? It can be very cold. She herself has a padded blanket, a sweater and a heavy coat. Two women in the room have been debating something when she comes in, but they stop when she enters. Minna goes to one of the spots she was shown, unlocks her suitcase with a key hanging around her neck and takes out a pillow and a blanket, which she puts on the bunk, then finds a place for the suitcase under the bunk. The two women with the argument come to her--could she settle an argument? "Argument about what?" --About cooking. Did you do much cooking at home? --Oh, every woman does. We had a big kitchen, and a big family to feed. Are any of them here? --"I do not know. My son and daughter are in Palestina. Of the six other children--my husband was a widower--one has died, the others... they may even be in Terezin...My husband died long ago, so I am completely alone. And by the way--my name is Minna Pächter." --Where are you from? --Minna: "Bodenbach an der Elbe--or 'Podmokly nad-labem'. Right on the border, we had to run away right after the München sell-out... But --what did you want me to settle?" --What is the proper way to cut knedliki? With a knife or a string?"
--Minna: "You can use either, but the string is the traditional way. Do you cook knedliki here, on the heating stove.?" ---(Laugh) We wish we could! If we had flour, and bread, and oil... no, we just discuss recipes, to help forget hunger. (Other women meanwhile have gathered around them. Different ones talk. [see http://history1900s.about.com/od/theresienstadt/a/opfermann.htm ]). "I love cooking too, but when was my last decent meal? Now we must be happy with dry bread ..." "...And barley soup, maybe you find some potatoes in it ..." "...And a barley drink which they call 'coffee,' I am not sure why.. ... " "...The water... if you are lucky, it won't make you sick" "...and anything you can find, or steal. Watch out for thieves!,"
--Minna! "Yes?" --I am Vally Grabscheid. I saw you writing today.
--Because here in this room, there is really not much to do. We clean the floor, kill bugs, keep the sanitation as clean as one can with this worn-down wood. Most of us are old women, and even young ones are rarely given real work. (pause) So there is a lot of time for arguments, even fights. And for gossip, and stories about families, parties, journeys. But also, quite often, about food. When your stomach is empty, your mind naturally turns to food--food, food, food! "So?" --"So I was thinking, you write all those things. Maybe instead of arguing about recipes we remember, we should write them down. I have quite a few myself. We may never make those dishes, except in our imagination... but it gives us something to do."
And yes, I will gladly talk to the others. But we need paper. Do you have any?"
(pause) "A good thing that when you eat so little, you don't need it so often."
------------------------ Morning. Street in Terezin. Minna sits under a tree, next to her an old beat-up handbag, in one hand a tablespoon and a chunk of bread, in the other a big mug in which something is steaming, Her teeth are no longer good (in fact, she uses dentures), so she dunks the bread in the "coffee," then chews on it. Once again she does so, then the carefully chews off all the wet edge of the chunk, pulls out from the bag a handkerchief, wraps the rest of the bread in it and tucks it in the bag. She then takes the barley brew and drinks from it, then .. (in the next frame) drains the last bit from the cup, tilting it to make sure she got everything, then puts it and the spoon in the bag. Stops at a water tap outside. A woman fills a teapot, then Minna quickly pulls out the cup, rinses it perfunctorily and drinks most of the water, then continues. There is already another woman waiting for her turn. ---Minna enters the room as the women huddle on the floor in the middle, as if they were conspiring (except for four who are lying down, too tired, but they too are listening). As she enters they turn around to see who has entered, and seem happy the see Minna. Vally stands up and says: "Yes, everybody agrees. Let's collect recipes." (One of the women): "Yes. Platonic cooking". (Another): "Platonic?" --Yes. "Like Platonic love. You talk, discuss... only the last step is missing." --"The food." --"Yes. Unfortunately." Minna: "Good . I will try get paper. But first, we should know each other. I am Minna Pächter of Podmokly--Bodenbach auf der Elbe. Long ago my husband had a factory for buttons, but he died in 1915, the depression killed the factory, and I became an art dealer. I used to live with my children, but thanks God they both are now in Palestina. So I am really alone". --I am Else Holz from Prague, and this room is my responsibility. Everybody has duties, and I make sure they get done. Luckily, we are all hard workers. --(Mrs. Langer) Nu-nu. (eyes turn to her. Pause as she realizes that she is probably expected to speak next) "I am Edith Langer, from Benešov..." (fades to next scene) ---------- (somewhere in Terezin) Minna emerges from a door--painted dirty brown, with inscription "Kultur Zentrum". She carries a sheaf of pages and a sheet of cheap gray cardboard, about 18" by 24". She walks slowly, from weakness and age. Next scene: the camera looks down at the assembly of the cookbook--the faces of the assemblers are not seen, just the table and hands. A page is folded in half, carefully, to find the middle, then opened again and centered on top of the cardboard. The ends of the crease are marked on the cardboard by scoring it with the tip of a pair of nail scissors. The spine of the book is then creased the same way, using a wooden lath as a ruler Finally, the cover is slowly, carefully folded. Sounds of relief: "Ahhh..." Another pair of hands produces a needle threaded with a string. The entire bundle of pages has now been creased, the person with the needle holds it firmly with one hand and slowly pushes the needle through page after page, then the cover. Next view--the book is almost assembled, last needle thrust and then the strings are tied in the middle of the book. (see image Files > Kochbuch > KB-26). The "book" is passed from hand to hand, until everyone has looked at it, maybe turned a few pages. Frau Holz:--- Do we have enough good pens, and ink? Voice:--- I have a fountain pen, it can be refilled in the office. Minna:-- I have one too. Another voice: ---And I too. Frau Holz: All writing must be clear, of course. If you want, dictate your recipe to someone else... Frau Weil: Can I use a dark pencil? Liesel Grabscheid: If it does not smear, and the words are clear--why not? Voice: "And if the recipe is a good one!" Frau Holz: "Let us begin tomorrow. Today there is still dirty work waiting --scrubbing toilets and floors, wiping the window. And washing up, before the water is turned off! Tomorrow morning, with clean hands, we can start." Knock on the door: "Inspekzion!" Vally takes the book and tucks it under a suitcase. Frau Holz:: "Come in, we are all here!" A Jewish policeman comes, followed by a German soldier shouldering a rifle. "Achtung! Stand up!" (the soldier accompanies the command with a hand motion and the women all rise) Policeman has list on a board, held by a clothespin. "Just checking identity cards. Each of you, show me yours, and soon we will be out again." A little later, the inspectors have left and Vally pulls out the Kochbuch. "Minna, can I take care of it?" Minna: "Why not. You are younger than me." Vally takes a pen and the book, and writes on the cover with fine cursive hand: "Kochbuch" Then using the edge of book like a ruler, she underlines the word twice. Below that, in larger letters, she writes: "Vally Grabscheid" ---- (Next day). A woman's hand is scribbling in the book. She voices what she writes: "Torte, sehr gut." Writes a little more and then says: "Actually, that was a wartime recipe, with potatoes and beets and "ersatz" coffee, not the real thing. But it tasted surprisingly good." Vally (resting on her back, as do most women in the room): "Sometimes, you do what you can with what you have." Mrs. Kreisky: "Like now" Minna: I will write the next one--it is from before the war, when we had lots of good ingredients for the "Pächter Gesundheits-torte", our "health cake" Vally: Is it your recipe? Minna: "Yes" Mrs. Holz: "By all means, write it down after she finishes". A little later, Minna finishes writing in the book. "There! A real "health cake"--sugar, cream, butter, eggs, almonds... and of course, flour. You bake it in a kugelhupf mold, it starts small but grows to fill the mold completely." Vally looks at it. "You have a clear handwriting, and a good pen. Perhaps you want to write a few more?" Minna: "Gladly. Why don't you dictate one of your favorites?" Vally: "How about 'asparagus salad with mayonnaise'. Of course you need make the mayonnaise too and save it in the icebox." Minna:" I am ready.... " Vally: "Asparagus salad.... Cook half a kilo asparagus spears..." (fades) This is followed by different short scenes of women entering their own contributions. One is sitting on the floor and writing on a board perched on the top of a suitcase. Another sits by the table (the furniture is unpainted and beat up, stuff which Czech inhabitants or soldiers had discarded), next to the window, which provides more light. Most writing scenes focus on the hands and the book, and are gradually overlaid or combined with scrolling pictures of recipes, images from the actual book. Each has subtitle in English at the bottom of the screen. Not all items on the list below need appear, but keep the first (image KB-26) which shows the string holding the pages together (it's the middle of the Kochbuch), and the last one (KB 44), signed by Minna Pächter at the bottom left. At the end, the camera zooms onto that signature, and the text, which in earlier frames was just a dim background, gets brighter and makes it stand out. Their file-numbers and subtitles: KB 26 Plum Strudel KB 25 Hay and Straw KB 15 Pächter Pirogy KB 23 Matzah Kugel KB 44 Farina Dumplings ------------------------------ Scene of Minna in the evening, writing--and as she writes, the image of "rhymes 2.3" slowly scrolls across the screen, and lines 80-193 (page 90 in the book) are read and subtitled together, a few lines at a time Subtitles in German "Bei der üre legt ein Schwesterpaar Harmonisch wie selten es war Sie kochen zusammen oft, nur platonisch... Letters dissolve and are replaced by a translation, which continues to the end Two sisters by the door, a pair Their harmony is something rare A love of cooking both do share But it's platonic, the cupboard is bare The food they brought no longer there A man and child each has somewhere Both creative in this art Always something new they start Often something of it I tried Just the skimpy share decried In vain do you seek weakness of folly By God, not one flaw can I recall Like Demosthenes, Vally speaks for us all...(fades) ... ... ... ... ====================================== Another scene: Minna looks out the window. "Snow again. God, it is cold! With his constant hunger, the chill goes to the bone." Frau Holz: " Come join us around the stove!" The women are resting around the coal-fired stove, with a large teapot on top. Mrs. Hermann: It must be even colder in the east. Vally: "Just saying "the east" makes me shiver. Four months ago Manzi's ("Mantsi's") parents were sent there, and not one word. You both fear and hope, all the time." Minna: "Manzi?" ("Mantsi") Vally: "The love of my daughter Ženka. You have met her, she visits every day. Remember, she mended your torn dress." Minna: "Yes, and I gave her a little ball of margarine which I had. Is Manzi in Terezin?" Vally: "He is now. He was lucky to work for a Czech farmer.--in a group under guard, of course, but still, on a farm you sometimes find food, even if you have to steal it from the pigs. After the ground froze, he was sent back, and we will have a wedding as soon as the weather allows. ----------------- (check this for consistency. One poem refers to Liesel as "Virtuoso flea catcher") Minna sits on a chair by the window (so that her hair gets the best light), with Liesel Grabscheid going through her hair carefully with knitting needles. Close up on Minna's hair. "Ah, there. Got another one!". -------------------------- Minna enters a doctor's cubicle in the clinic of the Magdeburg building (big room with high ceiling, divided into cubicles where doctors meet patients). Her doctor is a blond woman, fortyish but trim. "And how are you today, Mrs.Pächter" --- "Cold and hungry, but what can you do?. And my legs are swollen and hurt.
---- Evening. Minna writing in the light of the room's single lightbulb (scroll image of Rhyme 3-1, with subtitles) Du bist wie eine Blume (recited in German) So hold, so schön, so rein ... ... ... (subtitles dissolve into English, recited in English, different voice) "You are just like a flower So fair so pure so bright ... ... ... ... ... ... (view angle changes--this is a different part of the poem) The profession you chose is one of the best (recited in English) God only bestowed it on those that He blessed Your fame far from Magdeburg's borders has flown You are as the blond pretty doctor now known ... ... ... ... ... ... Camera rises towards the lightbulb, which suddenly shuts off. A voice calls "Dobrou Noč! ======= Outdoor scene, sunny weather, outside the barracks next to some old fortification. The women and some men stand in a circle around Manzi and Ženny, about to get married. The two stand under a wedding canopy improvised from a tablecloth, pieces of wood lath or sticks from dead tree branches. Vally stands with her husband, they remove their own wedding bands and give them to the rabbi. Minna sits on a chair--she is weaker, and all wrapped up. But she smiles and raises an arm. All fall silent as she reads: The sun smiled into the ghetto once more As springtime did Manzi to Zhenka restore From now on together through life they will go Will stand by each other throughout joy and woe That's how they stood here today, hand in hand Chained tightly forever by their holy band May nothing again take the one from the other No pain and no hardship should ever cause bother For eighteen months they were a long way apart But Amor, the love god, took them to his heart The wrongs of their fortune, again he set right And helped the two lovers once more reunite Yet seldom is joy whole, untempered by pain And our hearts suffer a small bit of strain For one pair of parents is not with us here Alas, they are elsewhere, now gone half a year But even far in the East, we trust Their love to their children will never rust Silently they bless this celebration Reinforced by their own determination To move with you two, to the promised land And there the rest of their lives with you spend I sense it--no, know it for sure, it is true Hansl and his young wife, they wait there for you The other two parents you congratulate See all the joy which their eyes radiate But this is quite easily understood Two young people--both, so handsome, so good We wish you the nicest and all of the best On this, your wedding day, may you be blessed May your good fortune never relent May you enjoy wealth, be always content May you for your good luck always be known May gods of kind fate count you as their own And may you never be deserving of pity In this sense I write you this wedding-carmen ditty Pious Jewish men Say to such words: Amen! Everybody applauds. Rabbi gives a ring to Manzi and says: "Put the ring on her finger as you repeat after me:" Harey At repeated by the pair Harey At Mekudeshet Li repeated by the pair Mekudeshet Li Betaba'at zu repeated by the pair Betaba'at zu (fade out) -------------- Daytime, Minna lies in her bunk, breathing heavily, dozing. Knock on the door. "Come in!" Liesel Reich walks in: "Minna! A doctor told me you were here." Minna (shakes her head up, as if coming out of a daze): "Anny! Anny is here!" Liesel : "No, no, Anny is safe in Palestina, thanks God. I am Liesel --Elisabeth Reich, a different part of the Pächter family." Minna: "Liesel ! How did you get here?" Liesel : "Just like you. All Jews were taken to this prison." Minna: "Liesel ! And the rest of your family? " Liesel : "Gone... my little sister too, with a transport to the East. Not good. Only I remain, married to a doctor at the Ghetto hospital. How are you, Minna? The doctor who knew you said you were very weak. Minna: Yes., weak and swollen... And tired... And hungry. Liesel: "Let me see your arms" Minna stretches them out. They are red and puffy. Liesel: I will try to get help. Go back and rest, I will be back. (looks over Minna for a moment longer, then walks out quietly. Minna closes her eyes, rolls over on her side, then pulls up blanket over her head.) ============ At the hospital, Liesel is talking to her husband, Dr. Ernst Reich: Liesel : ... yes, a relative, from my town. You see, my grandfather... (new viewing angle) ... she had a good education, and supported herself and her children as an art dealer. In Terezin she has protection papers. But she is very weak, old and confused, all swollen up, with sores. Reich: It is all from the lack of food! We too go hungry, nothing can be done about it. Liesel : But we can bring her to the hospital. At least she will have a clean bed, I can wash her, and she will also be warmer. Reich: (after short pause) We do have some beds, quite a few people died last week. Is she alone? Liesel : Completely. Reich (thinks for a while): Bring her here. Take an orderly and a cart with you, and bring her back. =========== Later in the room, the women come back from work outside. Minna's place is vacant. Vally: "Where is Minna?" Mrs. Kreisky (one of those who remained in the room all the time): "A nurse and an orderly came and took her to the hospital. With her suitcase." Vally: "And the "Kochbuch"? Kreisky: "Must be with her, too. When we thought we had finished with the recipes, she took it back to copy someone's play in it. Maybe she should have waited, because women from other rooms heard about the Kochbuch and wanted to contribute too. In the end, their recipes went on pieces of paper, which she saved inside the book" Vally: "How did it happen? (pause) Why?" Kreisky: "The nurse is a relative of hers, and said she wanted to take care of her." Mrs. Holz: "Maybe that was a blessing. She was fading fast, and I did not think she would survive the winter." Liesel Grabscheid: "But how we will miss her! Her rhymes, her ideas, the way she held herself. Such a fine lady!" ======================
Minna: lies in one of the hospital beds. Big long room, paint peeling, men and women lie in steel beds painted white, most of them hardly move, many doze. Liesel walks in with a man, Mr. Arthur Buxbaum. They approach the bed and sit on the edge. Liesel (softly): "Mrs. Pächter! Minna!" Minna slowly opens her eyes. The man rises, then sits down again closer to her head. Buxbaum: "Mrs. Pächter! Remember me? Arthur Buxbaum! You asked me to come." Minna: (slowly): "How could I forget you! We were in the same business, and you just one town away. Welcome! Buxbaum: "It hurts me to find you like this, in this place." Minna: "Yes, times have changed, Arthur, and not in a good way. Is what I have heard about you true?" Buxbaum: "Yes, I am not proud of it, but yes. Because of a medal in World War 1, I am now on the "protected" list, while the Gestapo wants me to tell them about art it has stolen. Now and then I even get left-overs from their meals. (Pause, sigh). "In Terezin, you exist as well as you can." Minna: For you there is hope, but not for me. More and more I begin to doubt I will ever leave this place. Buxbaum: There is always hope. Germany's luck in war has changed, you know. Minna: Yes, but maybe too late for me. I have asked you to come because I need a favor. Buxbaum: Yes? Minna: (in a tired voice): "I have a daughter, Anny Stern, who got out to Palestina. Thank God. Her husband George was an advokat, a lawyer, but now they have a small restaurant in some army camp, and their son Peter is also taken care of. I have papers which they should get when this terrible war ends: letters written but not sent, a "Kochbuch" put together with other women in my room--just to forget our hunger and dangers--and little silly poems I have written." Pauses, then with a little more urgency: "Will you take them, and if you survive this awful place, will you see to it that they reach my daughter?" (Arthur nods.) "Anny Stern, in Palestina." Liesel: "Where are the papers?" Minna: "In the bottom of the suitcase under the bed. It is open." Liesel moves the bed aside, drags out a suitcase, opens it, thrusts her hand inside, searches for a second, then retrieves a large envelope and gives it to Minna. Minna: "Yes, this is it." (Reads. Files > Kochbuch > Letter 2 jpg) "Muj Miley Zlatej Petričku!... ("j" pronounced like "y") Pushes the page back, closes envelope and hands it to Arthur
Minna: "Yes, yes.. But if not..." Buxbaum: "Then I will try find your daughter Anny Stern, and make sure she gets it." ============= Street in Terezin, an overcast autumn day: letters below may spell the date, 27 September 1944. Liesel and an orderly push a handcart, onto which Minna's body is tied, down the end of a street, to the casement next to a gate in the wall where bodies are collected. About ten men are there, loading bodies onto a funeral wagon, one taken from a Jewish funeral home. A horse is tied to it, waiting. An unloaded handcart stands by the side (probably used to bring another body or two) and about 5 people who have come to accompany the deceased stand around. One among them quietly recites the kadish, facing he dead and paying no attention to the living . This is as far as inmates are permitted to go: the exit next to the casement has a barrier guarded by German soldiers, and a sign with an arrow, Gothic letters, "Krematorium". The cart stops next to the wagon, four people come and slide the body from the cart to the wagon, and the supervisor watching them raises his palms and says "Enough". Liesel and the orderly watch with no emotion, as the men shut the rear of the wagon, then the supervisor takes the seat on the top, while two walk behind. They roll it towards the gate, where the guards, accustomed to this and knowing the people, simply lift the gate and let them out. They disappear, following a road on the left, outside the wall. The few mourners slowly walk away, the orderly looks at Liesel and says:
After a while, the scene shifts to the crematorium, where a fire is burning inside and attendants are waiting (the flames must be added to the picture in the studio, but the original crematorium still stands today and may well be included). Meanwhile a message in big letters scrolls across the screen.
as were 18,000 inmates-- two thirds the remaining Terezin population. Edelstein and family were shot in Auschwitz, June 1944 (inscriptions fade and are replaced by others) At the end of the war, 6,900 Czech Jews , remained in Terezin, out of 73,600 deported there. 26,000 Jews managed to emigrate early in the Nazi rule. (inscriptions fade again and are replaced) Vally Grabscheid and her husband survived, also Ženka and Manzi. Other women in the room, including Vally's sister, did not. Liesel Reich, the nurse, survived Auschwitz, but her doctor husband did not. It is now 15 years after the war. The gloomy day in Terezin has been replaced by a sunny one in Teplice, a nearby Czech town. in a tidy living room, pretty pictures on the walls and a small sculpture. The war had ended. An older Arthur Buxbaum sits in an padded chair, reading. A large caption across the screen : 1960 Arthur: "Irma!" Irma: "Good to see you, at long last! I wish you had gone with me to Palestina before the war." Arthur: But finally, we meet! Even if most of the family is gone..."
Irma: "Yes, you wrote me about it." Arthur: "In Terezin I knew Minna Pächter, another art dealer, who lived up the road near the bank of the Elbe--the river Labe ("Lah-beh"). Quite an old lady, but upbeat and creative--even in Terezin she wrote humorous rhymes, and with other women in her room they assembled a "cookbook." Irma: "She died, no?" Arthur: (taking her hand between his palms?): Yes, she did. Very, very few survived Terezin. I was lucky, you know my story. Most were sent to Auschwitz, to the fire, but Minna died in Terezin, of starvation and old age. Just before that, she gave me her papers, including some letters never sent, and I promised to get them to her daughter Anny Stern in Israel. She only knew the names--Anny and George Stern, and their son Peter, who should be grown up by now. Last she knew, they were in some town called Be'er Tuvya ("e" as in "get"). I have no idea where they are now, and your visit is my first opportunity. Will you take the papers with you and see to it that they reach those people? Irma: Of course I will take them. I do not know how, but I will do my best to reach Anny Stern. Arthur: "Good". (Presses her hand) ============ Very short scene in a railroad station. Irma stands in the entrance of a carriage, the station master's whistle is heard, the engine slowly starts puffing and the train begins to move. Irma waves to Arthur, who stands on the platform and waves back. ============ Party room in Israel. The camera slowly sweeps the table: bottles with Hebrew lettering "Asis", "Carmel" wines in screwtop bottles, "Elite" chocolate wafers, bowl of mandarin oranges and bananas.. Plate with pita slices, small bowl with green olives, chummus dip... ashtrays In the background, a big social gathering, neatly dressed people. Gradually the point of view rises from the table and the scene focuses on the people. A woman--obviously the hostess--stands with an empty wineglass and a spoon, and hits it a few times for a clear, tinkling sound. Irma stands next to her. Gradually the hubhub dies down and eyes all turn to her. Woman: We have all met Irma Buxbaum--I hope we all have--she has just come back from Prague. Now she would like to ask you something. Irma? Irma: "Thank you! I have been telling you all about Prague and other places, my visit to Terezin and other things. I also visited Teplitz-Schönau to see my relative Arthur Buxbaum, he was an art dealer before the war and is one of the few survivors of Terezin. In the camp Arthur met another art dealer, Mrs. Minna Pächter, and elderly widow who finally died, of hunger more than of anything. But she told him she had a daughter somewhere in Israel, named Anny Stern--that name again (more slowly), Anny Stern--with husband George and son Peter. Minna gave him a package for Anny, and he gave it to me. Does anyone here know Anny Stern, or may know where she is?" People look uneasy--they do not know. But the voice of a man in the back shouts: --"Yes! I know her, They lived in Haifa for many years. (pause). But they are not here! They moved to America a year ago!" Irma: "Where in America?" ---"I do not know. New York, I think. But I know someone who may." Irma: "Would you...?" ---"Sure, I will gladly forward her the package and see it gets to Anny Stern." ==== Irma sits by a table and writes, and as she writes, her letter (in German) appears in the background and the text (in English) scrolls in the front (Files > Kochbuch > Letter 5.jpg) Dear Mrs. Stern
He asked me to hand you the enclosed papers as legacy of your mother. Because he did not have your address, he kept the papers for all these years, and he asked me, to find out the address. Because of the helpfulness of the ladies Cahane and Edith Reiner, the package will now reach American and your own hands. Shalom Tel Aviv 5.X.60
Picture of Haifa bay, with port, mountains--sunny day, clearly a new location. The camera swings around and into an open window, zooms until we are in the room itself. A woman is speaking to a man: Woman: "So you fly back to America, and stop in New York. I asked you before and you agreed... Man: "Yes, I told you that I will try to find Anny Stern and give her your package. If I cannot do it, my friends in New York will" Woman opens drawer in a desk, pulls out the package--square, wrapped in brown paper tied by two strings at right angles. The camera zooms onto address New York (?) c/o Irma Buxbaum Haalkoshi Street 4 Tel Aviv, Israel (fade) ===================== An aerial shot of Manhattan, (or of the statue of Liberty with Manhattan in the background, but no World Trade Center) with lettering Indoor picture of another party. Different furniture, ceiling lower [In Europe ceilings were about 9' high, in Israel at the time too]. TV in the corner, turned off. Wine bottles on the table have corks, large cake is next to them, bottles of ginger ale and Coca-cola, paper cups and plates... Again, many people milling around in the room. The man seen earlier in Haifa is among them. He goes to the hostess, talks to her, she nods. She takes him by the hand, goes to the light switch and flips it on and off, and once again. Most people stop talking--she claps her hands a few times for silence, and everyone turns towards her. "As many know, our guest here, Mr. Goldmann from Cleveland, has just come from Israel, He has a question." Mr. Goldmann: "In Haifa I was given a package from one of the survivors of Terezin, who brought from there papers for someone named Anny Stern. She escaped from Prague to Israel in 1939 and supposedly now lives in New York. Does anyone know someone like that, named Anny Stern? Woman: Anny Stern--I know her well. She lives at 20 East 35th Street. I can give you her exact address. Mr. Goldman: I am only staying in New York overnight. Could someone here make sure it is the right Anny Stern? Woman: I also have her phone number. Why don't you call her? --------------------------- Note by David Stern: The above story is what my mother Anny Stern told me, but may well be incorrect. On 2-14-2009 I found among old correspondence a letter addressed to me, asking for my mother's whereabouts and giving the New York address of a family where the "Kochbuch" was being held. The writer did not know the address of my parents, but did know that I was a post-doctoral fellow in the Physics Department of the University of Maryland and therefore mailed it to my name at that department. I contacted my mother at once, and she retrieved the package. I had completely forgotten about that letter. It is now archived and scanned in "files 3-28-09 > Memoirs > Reiner letter 1960." In the same folder is correspondence with Elsie and Anne. ---------------------------- (Phone rings. Anny is standing in a small apartment kitchen as she answers) Anny: Hallo?" ---"Is this Mrs Anny Stern?" Anny: Yes" ---"Was your name once (brief pause) "Pächter?" Anny: Yes! ---"I have a package for you, from Mrs. Minna Pächter" Anny: (very emotional) "That was my mother's name! (pause). But she died in Theresienstadt!" ---"It is from her. Some of her papers survived the war, they were sent to Israel and I have just come from there. Can they be brought to you?" Anny: Yes! Yes!! The picture goes slowly out of focus as Anny's recorded voice is heard (file and tape "Parents > 7.15.82 Anny 2nd cont.doc) and words scroll on the screen "This is how I got all these things. And if this is not destiny, if this is not a hand reaching out and holding you, I don't know what it is. Because I still have .. I still did not come over this loss." ---------------------------- As New York fades, the scene shifts to Terezin, gradually receding, red brick, yellow barracks with red tile roofs, the gate of the Small Fortress with the garish Nazi "Arbeit Macht Frei" --only now Czech workers stand on ladders, erasing the black letters with white paint.
The music gradually rises into the Czech anthem "Kde Domov Muj", another gentle melody
Waters murmur across the meadows Pinewoods rustle 'pon the cliff-rocks, Bloom of spring shines in the orchard, Paradise on Earth to see! And that is the beautiful land, This Czech land, it is my home! This Czech land, it is my home! Possible parting message--with photograph(s) of Minna as background "Minna's ashes were poured into the river Ohře (Ohrzhe) next to the camp. They now belong to the entire world, as does her memory and that of Terezin." ######################## [Possible introduction at the beginning of the film, while scenes from Terezin float through the background, including barracks, battlements, the memorial stone Menorah in the graveyard, the crematorium, the casement where bodies were taken out, room with bunk beds, This is a true story of my grandmother Minna (Wilhelmina) Pächter and the small gray "cookbook" crafted by her and her roommates in the prison-fortress ot Terezin or Theresienstadt, not far from the Czech capital Prague. The story was pieced together from the words of witnesses and written records; the "Kochbuch" itself is preserved in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Its is a testament of desperate times, which we, living in peace and prosperity, can hardly comprehend. These people--Minna Pächter, and the women imprisoned with her--were very much like us. They grew up in peace and prosperity, because Czechoslovakia, before the war, was a rich and friendly country, treating Jews fairly and involving many of them in its intense cultural life. Like us, they never expected the horror and degradation which gradually overtook them, gradually descending to starvation and genocide as inmates of Terezin were taken from there to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. ######################### Note about this script Postscript, 31 May 2009In 2005 a French independent producer of documentary films, Anne Georget, heard about Minna Pächter and decided to create a documentary film about her. She took pictures of the "Kochbuch" at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, visited David and obtained pictures and a recording of Anny, Minna's daughter, telling about the "cookbook". She visited Bianca Brown and together they traveled to Terezin, where more of the film was produced, with Bianca guiding her. The film also included Daliya Goldstein and Anita Tarsi, director of the "Beit Terezin" museum in Israel, where Anne also met other grandchildren of Minna, now living in that country. Together with Elsie Herberstein, author and illustrator, Anne produced a 45-minute documentary video "Les Recettes de Mina, Terezin 1944", shown numerous times on the French "Planete" network (it is also available with English narration). In 2008, an accompanying French book "Les Carnets de Minna" was produced by the Seuil publishing house in Paris, with water-color illustrations and writings by Elsie. |
Author and Curator: Dr. David P. Stern
Mail to Dr.Stern: david("at" symbol)phy6.org .
Last updated May January 8, 2010