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www.jewishnews.co.uk
Jewish News 8 August 2019
News / Charity skydive / Reparations scheme / Tributes to editor
Refugee, 90, to skydive for charity A 90-year-old Kindertransport refugee is set to skydive from 13,000ft in Brackley later this month to raise thousands of pounds for Jewish Care, writes Mathilde Frot. Eli Abt, a retired architect and planner from Finchley, hopes to raise £6,895 for the health and social care charity at the Hinton Skydiving Centre on 25 August. The crowdfunding target seeks to celebrate four milestones: Abt and his wife Muriel’s 60th wedding anniversary, 80 years since he boarded the Kindertransport, his 90th birthday and 50 years since he
Eli Abt with his wife Muriel during a recent trip to Japan
opened his architecture firm. “I’d been wanting to [skydive] for quite a long time,” he said. “I am confident. This is a wonderful way of raising
money for Jewish Care.” Abt said it is more important than ever to donate to community groups. “At a time of great political and economic insta-
bility in this country, we don’t know what pressures there will be on the Jewish community so this is the right time to give.” Abt was nine when he escaped on the Kindertransport. “That’s when I said goodbye to my parents in Berlin,” he said. His father was able to escape, and they were reunited with Abt’s mother and brother in Brighton in September 1939. To donate to Abt’s campaign, visit JustGiving, or donate directly to Jewish Care by post to 221 Golders Green Road, London NW11 9DQ, citing ‘EA Skydive’.
Dutch rail firm opens Shoah compensation scheme Applications have opened for compensation claims from the Dutch state-run rail operator for its involvement in the Shoah. During the Second World War, the Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, or NS), operated trains on behalf of the occupying forces. NS provided Nazi high command with both trains and a timetable for transporting Jews to and from transit camps in the Netherlands, including Westerbork, Vught
and Amersfoort. From here, they were put on trains to concentration and extermination camps across Europe. The company said it had “paid a great deal of attention to collectively commemorating, honouring and learning from the suffering inflicted on so many during this period”, but has never offered financial compensation until now. In November, NS chief executive Roger van Boxtel set up a committee to look at
how individual compensation could be provided for survivors and next of kin of those who were transported by NS, to be taken to concentration or extermination camps. He did so after speaking to Holocaust survivor Salo Muller, whose parents both died in the camps. On Monday, NS opened its compensation application period, which will now be open for one year, saying: “This is a dark chapter in our history.”
TRIBUTES PAID TO EDITOR
Tributes have been paid to Geoffrey Paul, a former editor of The Jewish Chronicle who was made an OBE for services to journalism and has died aged 90, writes Jenni Frazer. Liverpool-born Paul started life as Geoffrey David Goldstein, but changed his name when he became a full-time journalist. He could be said to have edited The Jewish Chronicle in its “glory years” – 1977 to 1990 – when it had little or no competition and a huge circulation. Former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks, who attended his funeral on Monday at Bushey New Cemetery, said: “Geoffrey Paul was one of Anglo-Jewry’s finest editors, with a sharp mind, a deeply moral set of commitments, a devoted love of Judaism, a strong sense of humour and unfailing humanity.” Speaking at the funeral, Rabbi Harvey Belovski, minister of Golders Green Synagogue, said Sacks had once advised him that every rabbi needed a wise person to consult. Paul was the “wise ear” for Belovski, who admitted he
had once been so furious about something he was ready to take a dramatic step. Geoffrey Paul “strongly advised” against such a step, he told the mourners, adding that had he proceeded in his action, “I would not be standing here today.” After working on provincial papers, Paul moved to London and worked for Jewish outlets, including the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Jewish Observer, before joining The Jewish Chronicle and rising through the ranks until he became foreign editor. Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies, said: “Geoffrey Paul upheld the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in his work and will be missed by all who knew him.”
Geoffrey Paul
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