to all friends and members
a happy and healthy
“Feast of Weeks”
חג השבועות
חנה טאוזענדפעלס
פאול בן חיים
Memorial Plate for Paul Ben Chaim in Augsburg
Although (due to the inscription) one might think that Paul actually was playing under the archway, he from 1924 to 1931 of course worked in the neighboring city theater, which some years later was significantly changed in structure according to plans of Adolf Hitler. For some reason the memorial inscription for Paul Ben Chaim was not placed at the theater proper. At the passage where the plate hangs for some decades, it of course is hardly noticed by anybody. Since 2010 there is a “Paul Ben Haim Weg” in Augsburg-Oberhausen, a walk along the western shore of river Wertach, where there are no houses and therefore no postal address.
Read here on the reasoning and request for the naming (German) of the Paul Ben Chaim Weg in late 2009.
Nach langen Bauarbeiten ist er nun wieder einsehbar, bald vielleicht auch wieder begehbar, der Augsburger Judenberg, die letzte namentliche Erinnerung an die mittelalterlichen Juden der Reichstadt.
: zwei weitere in Augsburg unlängst verlegte “Stolpersteine” findet man direkt vor dem Kaufhaus “Jung” Wertachstraße, bei der Wertachbrücke. Gewidmet wurden sie Christian Lossa und Ernst Lossa (Bericht aus Irsee aus dem Jahr 2010):
שטולפרשטיין באוגסבורג
Kommentar zum Wochenabschnitt der Tora:
Rabbiner Moshe Baumel – Paraschat Behar – פרשת בהר
Well, the neighborhood bully, he’s just one man
His enemies say he’s on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He’s the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He’s criticized and condemned for being alive
He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin
He’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He’s the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He’s wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He’s always on trial for just being born
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized
Old women condemned him, said he could apologize
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, the chances are against it, and the odds are slim
That he’ll live by the rules that the world makes for him
‘Cause there’s a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a licence to kill him is given out to every maniac
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he got no allies to really speak of
What he gets he must pay for, he don’t get it out of love
He buys obsolete weapons and he won’t be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Well, he’s surrounded by pacifists who all want peace
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease
Now, they wouldn’t hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Every empire that’s enslaved him is gone
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon
He’s made a garden of paradise in the desert sand
In bed with nobody, under no one’s command
He’s the neighborhood bully.
Am Augsburger Königsplatz findet gerade eine Gedenkfeier zum 9. Mai statt, welche den Sieg über (Nazi-)Deutschland würdigen soll, die was die Beflaggung anbetrifft irgendwo zwischen russischen Nationalismus und post(?)-sowjetischer aufgemacht ist. In Russland feiert man traditionell den 9. Mai als Tag der deutschen Kapitulation im Jahr 1945, vielleicht weil die Amerikaner den Krieg bereits am Tag zuvor beendet hatten …
Deutsche feiern den Tag in der Regel gar nicht.
Mitte der Achtziger Jahre gab es eine kontroverse Debatte darüber, ob es sich “damals” um eine Niederlage oder um eine Befreiung handelte.
An sich eine eigenartige Frage, die sicher nur subjektiv beantwortet werden konnte: befreit werden konnte nur wer zuvor auch Gefangen war, und besiegt wurde, wer für die Nazis war und gekämpft hat.
Wer von den Sowjets besiegt wurde, hatte sicher nur ein begrenztes Quantum an Freiheit, quantitativ wie qualitativ. Von den befreiten Juden etwa hatten es viele recht eilig, aus dem Gebieten, die von den Sowjets beherrscht oder erobert wurden, schnell zu entkommen … מדחי אל דחי .. as the saying goes: פון שלעכט צו ערגער
Чествования 9 мая в Аугсбурге