FROM GAY Block and Malka Drucker’s Aescuers of the Holocaust: M.G. von Maltzmann, Berlin

1988.

Testimonials of trust

Rescuers of the Holocaust: Portraits by Gay Block, at Presentation
House, 333 Chesterfield Ave. Jan. 31-March 8. Wed.-Sun.: noon |

to 5 p.m., Thurs.: neon to 9 p.m.

‘HIS IS an extraordinary testimonial to the unusual -
courage of non-Jewish heroes of the Holocaust, many
“of whom are still living, some of them in Canada.

itis the story of avowed atheists,
Protestant ministers, and deeply
shamed Germans, among others,
who put their own lives at risk to
rescue Jews from certain death in
the Nazi concentration camps.

The product of the collaboration
of two Jewish women,
photographer Gay Block and
writer Malka Drucker, Rescuers of
the Holocaust can also be read as
an expression of Jewish gratitude
towards their remarkably gener-
ous-spirited gentile helpers, and
the affirmation of their belief in a
solidarity that transcends all pre-
judice.

Here is a document that goes
beyond the horribly troubled his-
tory of the Holocaust itself and
testifies to the possibility of mutual
trust.

The exhibition consists mainly of
framed panels, each containing a
colored contemporary portrait-
photograph of the rescuer, black
and white, family-album shots of
the years of rescue, and hand-
written text of the testimony of the
rescue operations.

The portraits are formal, candid
and dignified portrayals, while the
family-album pieces provide the
visual history.

Archie Groham
ART REVIEW

The result is an elevated kind of
scrap-book that grips our attention
by virtue of the compelling direct-
ness of the documentation.

Alex Roslan, a Pole who now
lives in Florida, brushed aside the
danger of entering the Jewish
ghetto as an outsider in Warsaw
during the Holocaust years.

In fact, he had to wear the Star
of David on his mission to see
what was happening for himself.

Shocked by the poverty and
starvation, and by the stories of
the death-camps, he and his wife,
Mela, undertook to save several
Jewish children from the gas-
chambers.

“No matter how bad things
get,’ Alex told one of these fortu-

nate kids, ‘‘we will live through
it. And you will remain Jewish.”

The other stories here are jusi as
wonderful.

Gitta Bauer, for example, is a
German woman so “deeply
ashamed for my people, my coun-
try, still ashamed, deeply asham-
ed,” that she finds it difficult to
accept any credit for saving the life
of ilse Baumgart.

Andree Guelin Herscovici, a
French woman living in Brussels,
unpretentiously recalls how she
raced against the Gestapo to
rescue more than a thousand
children.

Aart and Johte Vos, a Dutch
couple, who refuse to be labelled
“heroes,” say ‘““we wouldn't do
differently than to say, yes,” to
those Jews who desperately need-
ed their help, even though this
meant the Voses had to endanger
themselves and their children.

In the marvellous video thai is
part of this exhibit, rescuer Jan
Karski says: “Children must un-
derstand this: do not lose faith in
humanity. This is the message to
Jewish children. For non-Jews they
should understand, ‘yesterday
Jews, tomorrow maybe Catholics,
yellows or blacks.’ ”

Karski’s statement sums up the
significance of this important
show.

The accompanying exhibition by
Nomi Kaplan is a Kaddish or me-
morial for the dead, dedicated to
her Jewish grandparents and “the
Six Million.”

This week Wine Spots recommends

LOS VASCOS, SAUVIGNON
BLANC. 1989. $9.45. (Chile)

While most inexpensive white
Bordeaux made mainly from
Sauvignon Blanc are simple, short,
overpriced and will peel the paint
off your pickup, the Chileans pro-
duce wines like this: fruity, com-
plex; there even seems to be a
touch of oak in this monster.

There's no bottom to the hypoc-
risy of French wine-makers: the
Lafite Rothschilds tried to
blackmail their cousin Baron
Philippe; if he stopped making his
popular cheap Mouton Cadets
they'd withdraw their lone opposi-
tion to Mouton Rothschild’s pro-
motion to the ‘Big Four”
anachronistic Lichine Classification
of 1855.

They wouldn’t do this at home
in Pauillac, and they'd squash

anybody who tried, but in Chile,

they own 50% of this winery and
alt those lovely unblighted grapes
who never heard of phylloxera.

Politically incorrect (Pinochet
has the silliest peaked leather biker
hats since Himmler), but delicious.
What to do?

CORONAS-MIGUEL TORRES.
1988. $9.25. (Spain)

In ‘87, Torres risked ““Coca-
Cola backlash’’ by introducing
14% Cabernet Sauvignon to this
popular previously all-Tempranillo
wine.

Fans did not en masse demand
the return of ‘Coronas Classic’
for good reason: the touch of
Cabernet added a perceptible note
of class to an unpretentious pro-
duct.

Dressed up in a Bordeaux-style
bottle with a new label. the ‘88

has abundant cherryish fruit and a
balanced overall structure, but is
noticeably lighter on the palate
than the proto-type 87; a slight
lack of concentration that means
you might invite it to a barbecue
rather than a dinner party.

“BIG BAND SOUND”
“STARDUST”
DINNER-DANCE
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