WHERE LUXURY
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Travel
FLORENCE page 57
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58
Meaning Of Mauritius
For Jewish Refugees
recent, 23-day voyage
across the Indian Ocean
on the good ship Marco
olo brought me to Mari-
tius, home of the fabled dodo and,
as well, the one-time place of im-
prisonment for 1,700 Jewish
refugees.
I wanted to learn more about
the hapless bird which is the na-
tional symbol of Mauritius. It had
wings but could not fly. With no
natural predators, there was nev-
er an evolution of wings into
appendages for aerial es-
cape — until the Dutch
came in the early
17th century. They
were the first hu-
mans to land on
Mauritius, and they
made their mark by club-
bing the flightless dodo
into extinction.
But there was more
than the fate of the dodo to
interest me. There was
also the possibility of
finding traces of a more
recent phase of human
history in Mauritius — the ar-
rival, detention and departure of
almost 2,000 European Jews.
Our vessel docked at Port-
Louis, the Mauritius capital, for
a span of 12 hours, barely time to
track down one of the several
Jewish residents and to visit the
Jewish cemetery, in the middle
of the island, burial place of some
150 victims of a deadly malaria
which had assaulted them dur-
ing internment.
Australian-born Owen Grif-
fiths, my source of information,
has lived in Mauritius for the
past 25 years, married, raised
two children and continues to
raise hundreds of crocodiles on a
large game farm which is one of
Ap
is ft)Eio ••
LLJ
crowed into the sanctuary for the
big event.
Even though this still a very
small community (nearby Berlin,
in contrast, has 6,000 Jews), Mr.
Aris sees it as part of a climate of
change and hope.
With Germany unified, Dres-
den Jews feel part of a much larg-
er whole. Their city, once isolated
as part of East Germany, now
has diplomatic ties to Israel. It is
experiencing a tourist boom,
which means more visitors, in-
cluding Jews. The climate of
change is invigorating.
"We're optimistic about Jew-
ish life in Germany," said Mr.
Aris. "As German citizens and as
Jews, we're very hopeful about
the future." ❑
GABRIEL LEVENSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
For information and reservations,
please call your travel agent or
Israel Hotel Representatives
(212) 752-6120 or outside New York
State Toll Free: 800-223-7773/4
or FAX: (212) 759-7495
C/D
large, with half of its members
recent Russian emigres who have
come since 1991.
Even though they do not have
weekly Shabbat services, the
Jews of Dresden worship on ma-
jor holidays, with a cantor from
Budapest officiating.
Because there are now fami-
lies with young children, the com-
munity now has a teacher, Dr.
Ruth Roscher, an Israeli, who
gives weekly lessons to 15 Jew-
ish youngsters in Dresden.
Then, too, there's now a
Chanukah party, a Purim party,
and a kiddush whenever services
are held. Recently, the commu-
nity celebrated two bar mitzvahs
– the first to be held in Dresden
in 30 years. Over 100 people
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the island's major points of in-
terest.
Mr. Griffiths, who speaks and
writes Hebrew fluently, and a na-
tive Mauritian of Indian origin,
who is the Honorary Israel Con-
sul, is active in an Israel-Mauri-
tius Friendship Society. The
organization conducts an annu-
al community seder with Jewish
and non-Jewish participation, en-
tertains occasional Israeli visi-
tors (especially those on nostalgia
trips) and keeps up contact
with the survivors of in-
ternment in Mauritius who
are now living in Israel.
As I learned from Mr. Griffiths,
these are the men and women
who, on the 9th of Kislev each
year mark the anniversary of the
ordeal they endured almost half
a century ago.
It was on the 9th of Kislev
1940 that British soldiers invad-
ed the refugee camp of Atilt, near
Haifa, dragged all 1,700 of its in-
habitants — men, women and
children — aboard two Dutch
vessels and shipped them to
Mauritius.
Even before that date, the
refugees had undergone and
overcome the most incredible dif-
ficulties. The arduous journey
which had brought them to Haifa