The Picture Page! (3)

updated:
February, 5 2006 20:41

Welcome to my Picturepage

This is my picture gallery! (page 3)

On my 5th birthday, I was in a concentration camp,
so I have seen things, that I want to show you, too.
Since images take a long time to load, I've split them
up into several pages for your convenience.

A different subject. Well, let's start at a wedding ...

My parents in front of the synagogue

My grandfather
(1859-1933)

liberated by the 9th U.S. army

Once my parents could marry, after being engaged for some years, they had no parents left to accompany them. My father's mother died, when he was nine years old on Nov. 30, 1918 and his father had just died on April 27, 1933. My mother's father had passed away on Dec. 10, 1931 and her mother on Jan. 3, 1934.
They were wedded in the synagogue on Rapenburgerstraat, which I never knew. Its site is not far from the Portuguese Synagogue, which was preserved as a monument. Hitler wanted to preserve a memory of Judaism in monuments and museums.
The certificate, presented to my father on May 17, 1945 certifies that:


"CAMP COUNCIL
 Conseille de Camp                  2015     *
 Hillersleben
                       Certificate/Certificat

Name:  VORST     Moses Josef,
 born   5.VII.1938      in   Amsterdam
 was since   11.I.1944   till 7.IV.1945
 in the german camp Bergen-Belsen
 as     a Jew
 imprisoned.
          Got off: April 13th 1945.
 The liberation was in the train (exported the 7th April 1945
 from concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen) near the station
 Farsleben 16 klm. from Magdeburg by the 9th US. Army.
                                                D.P.CENTER
                                                Hillersleben
                                                CAMP COUNCIL"

See also Heavenly Providence for the full miracle.

My parents' family and some very close friends.
All perished, only my parents were
the sole survivors of the whole family.

in the Succah, alone ...

A year after our return from hell,
left-right: Channa (6), Ben (10),
Mirty (6 months), Rivqa (11) and me (8).

My mother in ca. 1958

After succeeding in presenting us (and the Jewish People) with new offspring, my mother feared, that she would not live another year. She took us to the photographer and surprised my father with this photograph, a present for the High Holydays. "I wish you and the children many happy years", she added, excluding herself. Fate had it, that she outlived my father by five years. We see her here sitting in the succah, a smiling widow of ca. 54, who has seen too much sorrow in her short life.

playing Bartok

at Tirzah Porath's funeral
(Passover 1988)

In 1993 I started playing the piano, I mean: learning to play. This because I was following lectures on musicology. I have not yet become a new Rubinstein (nor Barenboim or Perahia).
Ten years ago (1988), a group of youngsters went for an outing in Samaria. When attacked by rock-throwing Arabs, the guard was seriously hit in the head. A stray bullet from the guard's rifle struck Tirzah (16) in the head, killing her instantly. I went to the funeral, in festive dress, since it was during the Passover week. Note the M16, that I carried as an Army (medical) reserve. The reporters went wild and "Time" added a caption: "gun-toting West Bank rabbi".

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Residents of Jerusalem, "Photo Studio", yours for service and quality! This is the place, where most of the pictures were processed. (The owner is my son, not the family posing at the entrance!)


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