Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter No 23 May 2007 page 2 (of 3)
How we helped to uncover records
THANKS to the Jewish Telegraph, important documents belonging to the Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation have been discovered.
Trustee David Simon used Roots Directory to try to locate a Mr Steiner from Manchester, who is believed to have salvaged important material. Mr Simon said: "Mr Steiner had moved to Gateshead. But a friend phoned him to tell him about my request.
"He phoned me and was very helpful. He is coming to see me with the documents."
In 1998, soon after the synagogue's closure, Mr Steiner was passing the building in which he saw workmen. Having always wanted to visit the synagogue, he went in and asked the workmen what they were doing with documents.
They said they had been told to chuck everything. Realising that there could be things of importance, Mr Steiner took a sack and salvaged documents from a skip.
The Mancunian took the contents to the synagogue president, who was ill at the time. He instructed him to place the Chevra Kadisha register with Middlesbrough Museum and "did not seem interested in the other material".
Mr Simon said: "Mr Steiner was still worried about the documents and did not want to throw them away. He will bring them all to me so we can deposit them in the Town Hall archives." Jewish Telegraph, 24 November 2006
David Simon adds:
To date, [May 2007] I have received nothing from Steiner. He has papers and also has failed to consent to the Register of Burials being moved from the Museum to the Archives . Incidentally I understand some papers got to Israel as well.
In a skip
THE last active trustee of Middlesbrough Hebrew Congregation is seeking a Mr Steiner who is believed to have "rescued" documents belonging to the synagogue.
Public notary David Simon said: "Rumours have reached me that a Mancunian told some members of our synagogue that he found synagogue documents in a skip and rescued them.
"We have now placed synagogue memorabilia in a Middlesbrough Room at the Gateshead Boarding School, in Middlesbrough Museum and in the Town Hall archives."
He would like Mr Steiner to contact him on 01642 710799, by email at [email protected] or write to Leven Ford, 3A Levenside, Stokesley, Middlesbrough TS9 5AR. He will arrange collection and preservation of the documents. Jewish Telegraph, 15 September 2006