WRJ Lilith Salons - "Swimmers Against the Tide"

Our WRJ Lilith Salon met in two groups, one on September 2, and the second on September 12 to discuss articles from the Summer 2011 issue of Lilith magazine.  The main article discussed was "Swimmers Against the Tide" by Karen Propp.

The article tells of a group of Jewish girls who excelled at swimming and competed on behalf of Austria in the 1920's and 1930's in the shadow of Nazi Germany.  They swam for the "Hakoah Vienna Sports Club", which was founded in 1909 in Vienna.  This club was founded to promote athleticism among Jewish youth through competitive sports, as Jews were prohibited from joining non-Jewish sports clubs.  The premises of the sports club were confiscated by the Nazis in 1938.  The club name "Hakoah" was banned and Jewish athletes fled to other countries.

Previous to the closure of the club, several of the girls became swimming champions:  Hedy Bienenfeld, Fritzi Loewy, Ruth Langer and Judith Deutsch for Austria.

Hedy Bienenfeld

Our discussion included:

1.   The idea of the club promoting "muscular Judiasm" to counteract the stereotypes of Jews as not being good at sports.  Jewish men were perceived mainly as being scholars pouring over books.

2.  The lively social and cultural life of Vienna at that time and the belief of the Jews that they had blended in to Vienna society.  Which is course proved not to be the case when the Nazis arrived.  Some of the families of these Jewish woman swimmers thought competitive swimming was unladylike and disapproved of the club.

3.  The racey life of these women swimmers, some of whom had lots of lovers and carried on affairs. 

4.  The 1936 Berlin Olympics and the fact that three of these Jewish women swimmers were chosen to represent Austria at the Berline games.  Karen Propp states "Within the context of a heated international debate about whether attending the Olympics was tantamount to supporting Hitler's Germany, the three champions (Judith Deutsch, Ruth Langer and Luci Goldner), announced in the press their painful and prescient decision to boycott the Berlin Olympics." 

Fritzi Löwy, Lucie Goldner, Hedy Bienenfeld-Wertheimer and their trainer Zsigo Wertheimer

One of Hakoah's greatest achievements was getting thousands of the club members out of Austria when, in March, 1938, the Nazis took Austria.

A documentary film telling the story of these Jewish women swimmers from the Hakoah Vienna Club has been made by Yaron Zilberman.  The film is called "Watermarks" and starts off with a group of these Jewish women swimmers in their 80s revisting Vienna which leads in to uncovering their story through their conversations.  Our Lilith Salon has ordered this documentary film for viewing by our members.

At our Lilith Salons we were joined by a Jewish woman who had competed for Canada in swimming events at the 1972 Munich Olympics. She related her memories of being part of the group of competitive swimmers, and her feelings at being at Olympic games in Germany, and the emotional shock of the terrorist attack against the Israeli athletes, known as the "Munich Massacre".

Conservative Party Annual Barbecue - Guest Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Today Neil and I attended, with Joan and Bruce and over 2,000 other people, the Annual Conservative Party Barbecue, which primarily was to thank volunteers.  It was held at the Indian Springs Ranch, home of Senator Gerry St. Germain and his wife, Margaret, located in Hazelmere, BC. 

Guests parked at the Hazelmere RV Park and were bused to the ranch. This process took us 45 minutes.  Large tents and facilities had been installed on the ranch to accommodate the large crowd.  There was a large band, and lots of politicians and supporters in attendance.

Joan and Bruce

Various BC MPs and MLAs

Senator Gerry St. Germain & Prime Minister Stephen Harper

MP James Moore, Gerry & Margaret St. Germain & PM Stephen Harper

Our nephew, Dylan, was volunteering at the Barbeque with the children's rides, and we finally found him in the crowd.

Mom's Birthday - August 26

Our mother, Dorothy, was born on August 26, 1923 in Springside, Saskatchewan, a very small farming community and after the death of her mother, was brought up by her grandparents in Ebenezer, Saskatchewan.  She was the 5th of 7 children.  This is her grandparents home on their farm in Ebenezer:

Kimmel Family Home, Ebenezer, Saskatchewan

On the far left is Ida, our mother's mother, a couple of months before Mom was born.

Mom moved to Victoria, BC when she was about 17 to join her two older sisters.

Dorothy, about 18 years old

She met Dad when she was about 19 and they were married in 1944 during WWII.

Talking to Dad during WWII - Dad was in the RCN

With Donna, born 1946

With her grandson Chris, December 1983

Back:  Mom, her brother Danny and her sister Vivian

Front: Her sisters Lena and Laura

75th Birthday Celebration

75th Birthday Celebration - group of former Vivian St., Dawson St., and Raleigh St. neighbours

With her three grandsons - her great joy

Mom spent her last few years at Sunrise of Vancouver Seniors Residence, living with Alzheimer's Disease.  She was very happy there.  She died in October, 2008.

Linda's 60th Birthday

My younger sister, Linda, turns 60 today.  She was born at Grace Hospital, Vancouver, on August 25, one day before my mother's birthday.  We are celebrating with dinner out tonight.

Here are a few memories of her:

                            Four months old, taken at our house on McKinnon Street in Vancouver.

                                                    Elementary School Picture - Freckles!

Linda loved Girl Guides and worked hard to earn her "Gold Cord", a very high achievement in Girl Guides.

At the Gold Cord Ceremony at Government House in Victoria in April, 1968.  She is pictured with Lieutenant Governor, George Pearkes

High School Graduation, June 1969 - Killarney High School, Vancouver

Honoured Queen, Bethel 23, International Order of Job's Daughters, South Burnaby

Graduation from Medical School, UBC 1976

Sisters:  Linda and Me, August 2009

And here are some pictures taken the night of Linda's birthday dinner (all taken at her home):

Donna, Shelly, Linda and Ken

Back Row L to R:  Neil, Sam, Jarred, Teddy, Libby

Front Row L to R:  Donna, Shelly, Linda & Ken

Linda with two birthday cakes

 

Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa

Neil and I spent two nights at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort & Spa on August 17 and 18.  We booked the resort's mid-week special which in addition to the two nights included two buffet breakfasts and one dinner in the Copper Room.

 

We chose a room in the West Tower with a lake view (pictured at the right above).  We were very lucky with the weather.  The views from the room of Harrison Lake and the surrounding mountains were gorgeous.

We were quite happy with our room - comfortable and spacious, just a tiny bit outdated, but that didn't matter.   The buffet breakfasts in the Lakeview Terrace dining room were very good, and we enjoyed our dinner in the Copper Room.  With the package, we were to chose from the Table d'Hotel menu in the Copper Room - three choices for the main course.  Food was very good.  Listened to the live music of the Jones Boys - old favorites.  They are very good musicians, with their own style of arrangements.

We used three of the hot springs pools, the adult only pool (pictured below), the larger, lengths pool (lots of children at this time of year), and the hot minerals springs pool (pictured second below).

Top and bottom two pictures are from the Resort's website.

Minter Gardens, Rosedale, BC

Neil and I just came back from three days in Harrison Hot Springs - had not been there for at least 30 years.  We went with our friends, Bonnie & Mark, who have enjoyed staying there frequently and asked us to come along.

So Wednesday morning we began our drive with the idea we would stop and have lunch at Minter Gardens near Rosedale, BC and then see the gardens.  It has always been my ambition to visit these gardens because I have enjoyed listening to Brian Minter's radio show about gardening for years and years.

So it took about 1 3/4 hours driving from our home on Highway 1 to get to the gardens.  Lots of construction and delays on Highway 1.  But we got there in time and had a delightful buffet lunch in the Trillium Restaurant at the gardens.  There was a coupon on the website for $20 covering the buffet lunch and admission to the gardens - very good value, which I printed off.

Neil and I both loved walking through the gardens:

Garden entrance

Brian and Faye Minter discovered this site in 1977 and had the dream to create a beautiful garden.  Minter Gardens officially opened in 1980.  It covers about 32 acres and there are about 12 themed gardens within the larger context.

Neil sitting in the Rose Garden

The following two pictures are from the "Formal Garden" - quite European in style.

I took the following picture at the Falls Garden, through the waterfall.

Hanging Basket Arbour

One of the gardens' "Victorian Ladies" bedecked in florals.

Beautiful Red Roses, my favorite