Chelsea exhibit explores Jewish migration to Manhattan
BY GABE HERMAN
A new exhibition in Chelsea explores the history of
German Jewish migration to Washington Heights
during the Nazi era, and how the Jewish communities
settled and evolved in the Upper Manhattan
neighborhood.
The show, called “Refuge in the Heights: The German
Jews of Washington Heights,” opened Feb. 3 at the Leo
Baeck Institute, at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West
16th St.
During the late 1930s and early 1940s, about 20,000
of the German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany would come to
Washington Heights, noted Magdalena Wrobel, curator
and project director of the exhibition.
“We try to show in our exhibit what happened to this
immigration wave,” said Wrobel.
Wrobel added that immigrants from Berlin generally
settled in other areas like the Upper West Side or Kew
Gardens, Queens, while groups from small towns and
villages moved to Washington Heights.
“Usually the poorest of the immigrants were deciding
to go to Washington Heights,” she said.
The exhibition includes photos and historic artifacts,
including passports, photo albums and a handbook for
refugees on how to adapt to life in America.
There are also quotes from those came to the neighborhood,
including this one from Ilse Marcus: “I realized that
a great democratization had taken place in Washington
Heights. People of different classes—from cities and farms,
professionals and manual labors, those with Ph.D.’s and
those who had not gone past grade school—lived as neighbors.
This situation could never have existed in Germany
where social differences were rigidly maintained.”
Another memory, from Arthur Beiser, recalled his attempts
to find work and facing double-discrimination,
both as a Jewish person and as a German. Many who
migrated were professionals but in New York had to settle
for manual labor jobs and start over in trying to build a
career.
Wrobel noted one woman who was a doctor in Germany
and had to start her training again in New York, becoming
a doctor again after several years.
“There are many stories where people really struggled
and tried to improve their situation,” Wrobel said.
The Afbauwas a monthly newsletter for German Jews in
Upper Manhattan, started in 1934, which not only printed
news but listings for apartments, social clubs, marriage
announcements and ads for local businesses. A second
outlet, The Jewish Way, started in 1940 from Washington
Heights and was issued twice a week.
The show goes through the establishing of religious
institutions, along with social life and education for immigrants,
including at places like community centers, English
classes, and George Washington High School for teens.
Wrobel noted that school was a way for parents to learn
as well, when kids would bring home habits and materials
related to daily life. “So they were all learning how to be
more American,” Wrobel said.
Wrobel said Washington Heights is a good example of
how different groups can live together in peace, and the
exhibition explores the question of “What role neighborhood
could play in becoming American but also preserving
tradition from the homeland.”
The exhibit will run through the end of July.
A book for German-Jewish refugees
to give an introduction to life in
America.
From the exhibition, an English class in 1940 and a
1938 ad for a “Pessach-Ball” in Washington Heights.
An early 20th century photo album from a German-speaking family in Washington Heights.
8 February 13, 2020 Schneps Media