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PAGE 16RH THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE October 3, 1986
Jewish War Veterans
Suburban Post 980
extends wishes for a
L’Shana Tova
to the entire Jewish community.
May the coming year bring you the health and
happiness you deserve.
£-*****$ <5-***W3 <5**
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WITH ALL GOOD WISHES
FOR A YEAR OF PEACE AND
HAPPINESS TO YOU AND ALL ISRAEL
sioun I3in
y||l ISRAEL |
/lliyah
wCENTER
1655 PEACHTREE STREET, ROOM 407
I ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30309
E (404) 876-1554
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The Second Generation
Children of Holocaust
Survivors
>1311) iavh
Stanley M. Lefco, President
Risa Greenblatt, Vice President
Martha Popowski, Vice President
Anna Seligman, Secretary
Willy Spizman, Treasurer
Saba Silverman, Parliamentarian
djc ^Atlanta Chapter (0f
(Dje American tEecljmon
^xtenba (La All 3ts Jfrtertbe Sc ;Netgl|bor8
liU'st Wishes Ifar A Happy Sc Healthy
^ r ctu ^fcar
Robert Rinzler Dr. Marvin Goldstein
Chairman President
Martin Harrison
Director, Southern Region
Trinidad's Jewish enigma
Stars of David adorn the uniforms of Trinidad's police force.
by David F.ttinger
JT A
In Port of Spain, Trinidad,
home of calypso, steel band music
and carnival bacchanal, the police
men wear Stars of David on their
uniforms and the streets are named
for Zionist leaders, yet one can
count the Jewish population on the
fingers of one hand.
Hans Stecher, owner of a flour
ishing chain of duty-free stores in
Trinidad and Tobago, is one of
that handful. Stecher and his par
ents arrived in Port of Spain penni
less in 1938 with several hundred
other Jewish refugees from Ger
many and Austria who made Tri
nidad a temporary haven from
Nazi tyranny during World War
II.
As enemy aliens, Jews were in
terned in barracks erected near one
of Port of Spain’s most fashiona
ble residential areas today, but
otherwise led normal lives, accord
ing to Stecher. The sudden influx
led to the creation of the first Jew
ish congregation, the Jewish Reli
gious Society, in 1938. By the end
of the war, however, most Jews
had emigrated.
Trinidad was in many ways a
transit point,” explained Stecher.
Few Jews who made their way here
intended to settle permanently.
Those who did help set up the soon
to become independent country’s
first businesses in Port of Spain’s
now thriving downtown commer
cial district.
Among these were Shimon Aver-
boukh and his wife who arrived in
1933. The Averboukhs, active in
real estate, named the streets in the
housing development they built on
reclaimed swampland on the out
skirts of the capital after Theodor
Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David
Ben-Gurion, and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.
Why the Trinidad and Tobago
Police Force adopted the Star of
David as its insignia remains an
enigma. According to one expla
nation, it is because the first chief
of police was Jewish, but this story
is apocryphal.
Until their death in the late 1970s,
the Averboukhs together with
Stecher formed the vanguard of
the evaporating Jewish commun
ity. In 1950, a makeshift synagogue
was opened in a remodeled house
in the heart of town, but by 1971
plans to erect a new synagogue
were abandoned when the Jewish
population virtually disappeared.
Today there are not enough Jews
for a minyan, and Stecher, con
scious of his role as one of the few
remnants of a vanishing breed, is
custodian of the 50 gravesites which
occupy the Jewish section of the
Mucarapo Cemetery, a short drive
from the center of town.
Jewish settlement in Trinidad
actually dates back to the 17th cen
tury when Sephardic merchants
from the Dutch colony of Surinam
moved to the island then under
Spanish control. Historical records
show that there was a small Jewish
community when the British took
over in 1797 and again in 1818.
In 1900, Trinidad’s 31 Jews were
all British civil servants, including
an associate justice of the Trinidad
Supreme Court, or representatives
of British firms.
Today, the only traces of a pre
war Jewish presence are names on
the windows of shops formerly
owned by Jewish merchants which
have long since passed into non-
Jewish hands.
K The officers and boards of the I
4^ ** t*. x
.. 4,
■"wsh m** Atlanta Chapter
&
The Spirit of Life Chapter 1
—City of Hope—
send
Best Wishes for a New Year
of Peace and Prosperity
B’nai B’rith Women
C.reater Atlanta Council
extends warmest
New Year’s Greetings
( onme Giniger, Regional Director ^
Bobbie Simonelli, Pres., Greater Atlanta Council
Roslyn Winston, Pres., Chevra
Florence Kushnarov, Acting Chairwoman, Citywide
Vivian Hershey, Pres., Havanah
Shelley Brailowsky, Pres., Mitzvah
Doroth, Muchnick 4 Leslie Weiner, Co-Pres., N«he Sh.lom
Ruth Glass, Pres., Northwest Evening
Terri Heyman, Pres., Young Professionals
Ben Boksenberg, Pres., Shalom Unit
CeU & David Canter, Chairmen, Solel Unit