Sliding doors
If an Austrian woman named Klara, who had already buried five children, hadn’t eventually been able to raise a son, Adolf, would I be here today?
If a young, half British, half American newspaper correspondent named Winston, hadn’t narrowly avoided the bullet that killed his horse while on assignment in Cuba, would I be writing this in German?
And if his distant cousin, Diana, hadn’t decided on the spur of the moment, to go to Paris for the weekend…
You get my drift; the paths, decisions and twists of fate that lead us in one direction, as opposed to another and the consequences of those actions, not just for ourselves, but for the world, these are the sliding doors of history.
Our November Speaker, Chris Viner, returned to Winchelsea to share his vast knowledge of Napoleon Bonaparte with us. Many of you will remember Chris from his days on the High Street at ‘Soldiers of Rye’. Indeed our Editor, Nick Forman, wrote about him in our 16th November edition,https://www.ryenews.org.uk/community/many-remember-him
These days he is a renowned expert on the Napoleonic era, lecturing all over the world and the proud owner of over 2600 books on the subject. He had spoken to us before about the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine, but this particular talk focused on Napoleon and the Jews.
Whatever your personal views of the Emperor, and this is mainly dictated by which side of a narrow strip of channel you were born on, or which movie incarnation you might have seen, he was a visionary leader, whose radically different ideas shaped modern Europe.
Eighteenth century France abolished the feudal system, had a centralised government and banking system, modern roads and sewage systems, medical schools and a legal system, the foundation of which is still in use today in many countries.
His attitude to the Jews also singled him out amongst many world leaders, past and present. As a believer of total freedom of religion, not only did he institute open worship, but made Judaism the third official religion of the Empire.
But the single most extraordinary thing that we learned, was that as early as 1798, he was thinking of creating a State of Israel in Palestine. This document was even taken to the United Nations by David Ben-Gurion, along with a map drawn up by my grandfather, Theodore Zissu, in 1947.
And then in 1815, the sliding doors of history, led him, us, the Jews, Israel and the world, down another path, which continues to dominate the international agenda to this day…
With a screeching gear change, December is AGM month for the Second Wednesday Society, traditionally washed down with mulled wine. This will be followed by Delia Taylor’s happy, nostalgic, immersive, fun talk, ‘The Sixties – Decade of Change’ and our Christmas Tea.
So bring your memories and recollections of that era, your friends and neighbours and let’s end 2023 on a happy high…no 60s pun intended! The talks are always totally fascinating, full of fun and deeply educational, all at the same time. See you on the 13th for the final Second Wednesday Society of this year, at the New Hall, Winchelsea.
Image Credits: Nico Ladenis , Sergio Rebecchi .