Melodies of Survival & Songs of Forgiveness

Between Barbed Wire:Melodies of Survival & Songs of Forgiveness

PATRICIA COBURN

Between Barbed Wire: Melodies of Survival

& Songs of Forgiveness

Between Barbed Wire: Melodies of Survival

& Songs of Forgiveness

How Music Kept One Family Alive During the Japanese Occupation of the Dutch East Indies

PATRICIA COBURN

Text Emily Blackwood, on behalf of Story Terrace

Design Adeline Media, London

Copyright © Patricia Coburn and Story Terrace

Text is private and confidential

First print February 2019

www.StoryTerrace.com

CONTENTS

1. GROWING UP IN ROMANIA 9The Seven Brothers 9The Conservatory 11Hitler is Coming 13

2. MEANWHILE, IN INDONESIA 17Four Daughters 17Growing up Sephardi 18Hotel Majapahit 21

3. FORCED OUT 23Sent Away 23Trying to Survive 25

4. THE HOTEL 31The Fuhrman Brothers Orchestra 31Wrong Sister 33A Happy Marriage 35

5. JAPANESE INVASION 39Calm Before the Storm 39Only the Clothes on Your Back 40Concentration Camps 42

6. KLEINA LENGKONG & TANGATINCEY 45Taken 45Helen’s Role in the Camp 47Iziu’s Role in the Camp 49

7. SURVIVAL 53Camp Life 53Death 55Is the War Over? 57

8. LIBERATED 59Finally Free 59Separated 61

9. SINGAPORE 63Refugee Camp 63The Katong House 64

10. FREEDOM THREATENED (AGAIN) 67Dog Attack 67Reunited 68Patricia’s Life 69A Discovery 71

11. FORGIVEN BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN 73Faith 73Their Deaths & Legacies 74

The Seven Brothers

The year was 1906, and Micah and Miriam Fuhrman were happy.Together, they made their home in the small Romanian city

of Czernowitz, their modest cottage filled with both the constant chaotic nuances of seven young boys and the rhythmic sounds of gypsy music. Everyone—except for the youngest, who was only a toddler—knew how to play an instrument thanks to their parents, who were both locally known musicians and music teachers. The large family even managed to squeeze themselves and their possessions into the second story of their home, so the ground floor could be devoted to a music studio. It was there that you would hear the sweet sounds of Miriam teaching violin and the low altos of Micah strumming on his cello.

While it stands to reason that everyone knew how to play the violin and the cello, some of the boys developed their own personal instruments of choice. Otto could play piano in his sleep, Slovo found his beat in percussion—and dabbled with the trumpet—and Iziu brought people to their feet with his accordion. But it wasn’t

1GROWING UP IN ROMANIA

BETWEEN BARBED WIRE: MELODIES OF SURVIVAL & SONGS OF FORGIVENESS

long before Iziu realized he couldn’t let Otto hog the spotlight, and soon made a name for himself as a renowned pianist.

Only Julian followed in his mother’s footsteps and focused all of his musical talents on the violin. One can only imagine that his other brothers may have ridiculed and teased him for his choices.

The boys’ talents weren’t confined to passersby of their cottage; the boys regularly played bar mitzvahs and weddings and even gave out so music lessons of their own. While music was a huge part of their lives, sadly no one could make their living solely on it.

Everyone had to work.Whether it was taking in the wash from the neighbors,

collecting trash around the village, or sewing up holes in tattered clothes, providing for the family was a responsibility shared by all. In between their music and their chores, the boys still found time to attend school and get an education. That is, until the war broke out and Jews were no longer allowed their right to attend school.

“They were barely making a living with a big family,” said Patricia Coburn-Foorman, granddaughter of Micah and Miriam Foorman, and daughter of Iziu. “They all worked. My grandmother, even though she taught violin, would still take people’s wash in. All the brothers got jobs at early ages. Dad helped collect people’s garbage. Anything they could find, they would do.”

During the rare moments when they weren’t working, the family would sit around, playing gypsy music and enjoying traditional Romanian foods such as lamb stew, sweet and sour


cabbage rolls, and baba ghanoush, which sounds a little strange but is just mashed eggplant mixed in with other seasonings.

For the Fuhrman family, it seemed like things would stay this way forever. Little did they know that the opportunity of a lifetime would soon be knocking on their old cottage door in the small Romanian city of Czernowitz.

The Conservatory

In 1923, after years of playing for bar mitzvahs and local spots around the village, Iziu, Slovo, Otto, and Julian all received scholarships to the Vienna Conservatory of Music. Now known as the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, the school was established in Austria in 1817 and is known one of the world’s largest and most prestigious schools of music, theatre, and film.

So needless to say, the brothers were over the moon with excitement. Not only would they get to play music for a living, but they would eventually be able to provide for their family in a way that hadn’t been financially possible. After kissing Miriam, Micah, and their younger brothers goodbye, the Fuhrman brothers left the only home they had ever known and made their way to Austria.

During their time at the conservatory, the brothers took on a huge courseload, practicing music theory and performing every chance they got. Since they were just young kids, messing around in their parents’ music studio, it was the collective dream of the Fuhrman brothers to become a group of touring performing


artists. And for once in their lives, it seemed like it might actually happen.

It was a dream come true—but not one that would last very long.

While they were learning beats and songs and ballads at the conservatory, a storm of hate and evil was brewing up North. Micah, Miriam, and their three remaining sons—Ludevic, Dolu, and the toddler—started hearing whispers of a war, a war on Jews, one that would soon be known as World War II.

Those whispers turned into screams when on November 9, 1938, a pogrom—deliberate persecution of an ethnic group that’s either approved or at least condoned by local authorities—was carried out against Jews throughout Nazi Germany. An estimated 91 Jews were murdered during the attacks that were later named Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass,” due to the shards that littered the street in the aftermath.

In addition to the killings, 267 synagogues were destroyed and over 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and thrown into concentration camps. After years away from home, Iziu, Slovo, Otto, and Julian realized they had to come back and protect their Jewish brothers and sisters.

Hitler is Coming

When World War II broke out in 1939, Romania at first took an official stance of neutrality. However, their militaries quickly crumbled and their territory was lost along with the people’s faith


14

in their government. Out of options, the country turned into a dictatorship and joined forces with Nazi Germany in 1940.

Romania’s Jewish population—one of Hitler’s many targets—had increased after World War I. Before World War II, there were about 757,000 Romanian Jews. An estimated 15,000 Jews had already been murdered by Romanian soldiers, police, and civilians, so it’s no wonder that when Iziu, Slovo, Otto, and Julian learned that Hitler’s army was marching towards Romania, they quickly packed their belongings and fled back home to be with their family.

The future that once seemed so bright for the Fuhrman family was now colored in fear and uncertainty. The brothers didn’t know what they were going to face when they arrived home to Chernovitz, but they knew they had to face it together as a family.


15

Iziu and Dolu in Romania.


16

A young Miriam in Romania.


17

A young Micah in Romania.

Book Title:

Between Barbed Wire: Melodies of Survival & Songs of Forgiveness

Package Size, Number of Words, Pages, Photos:

Complete (12,655 words, 15 photos, 84 pages)

Ghostwriter Level: Senior

For the next two years, that’s how they lived,

peacefully in their two-bedroom cottage in a

cozy village that was just far enough away from

all the chaos that still inhabited much of their

surrounding world. Even though there were

whispers that the war was encroaching on

their peaceful life, they weren’t totally aware of

how close it was getting — and unprepared for

the danger that was soon to come knocking on

their front door.

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Melodies of Survival & Songs of Forgiveness