Author: Christopher Gilley

It has always been my intention to create an exhibition from the Kitchener camp project – to commemorate 80 years since the 1939 rescue to Britain of our fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other relatives and friends.

I am now pleased to announce that the exhibition opening will take place on 1st September 2019 at the Jewish Museum in London.

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The Kitchener exhibition will mark the donation of the project to the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust. Having the project under the care of this esteemed institution will future-proof our materials, our findings, and our history.

To all Kitchener families – thank you for your patience while we have worked out the details of the exhibition with the institutions involved.

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Why this date?

In writing and thinking about the Kitchener history there is a careful line to tread between the narratives of those who were ‘rescued’, and the reality that so many were not.

Many Kitchener men’s families did not make it through the Shoah, and all our forebears in this context will have experienced varying degrees of loss – of language, community, culture, country, and citizenship.

As well as family and friends, the Kitchener refugees were forced to leave behind homes, hard-earned businesses, personal possessions, known environments, and whatever had been their hopes and dreams for their future – and that of their families – in their countries of origin.

The men’s experiences of the 1930s and 1940s seem to have resulted in a majority being unable or unwilling to communicate the scale of their loss to postwar families in Britain, Canada, Australia, the USA, Latin America, Israel, and beyond.

It’s difficult to encompass a series of events that could be so terrible that a collective silence could befall so many. And yet – this is what so many of us have experienced at the heart of our families.

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Two days ago, Monica Lowenberg spoke movingly about the Kitchener camp rescue at Yom HaShoah in Hyde Park, London – in the context of her father, who was one of the Berlin ORT boys. She observed that the first transport from Berlin comprised the older pupils: the second was to have rescued the younger boys and the rest of the staff.

The second transport was due to leave Berlin on 3rd September, but war between Britain and Germany was declared that day, and the remaining staff and younger boys did not make it to safety.

It is believed that most of these boys were killed in the Shoah.

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The Kitchener history more broadly has many such narratives – of children and wives, of mothers, fathers, and grandparents who were killed when time ran out for further rescues.

Thus, the history of the Berlin ORT serves as a reminder that while ‘four thousand men’ were indeed rescued through the Kitchener scheme, their fellow concentration camp detainees were not.

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I draw this analogy because Kitchener camp was initially discussed by the Council for German Jewry as a means to rescue the 30,000 men who had been incarcerated during the events of November 1938 – but lack of funds meant that the number was fast whittled down: instead, 3,000 men were to transmigrate though the camp, and as one batch moved on to settle elsewhere, the next 3,000 would be brought out to safety.

We start to appreciate then, that the outbreak of war in September 1939 meant that tens of thousands of men were in a similar position to those younger boys of the Berlin ORT.

In terms of the Kitchener rescue, the period to the date war was declared was simply too short for this ongoing transmigration to be ‘successful’ – for most. And although by summer 1940 many hundreds of Kitchener refugees had made it to Canada and the USA, the rescue of the majority of the 30,000 from continental Europe was cut short.

Thus, while the exhibition acknowledges the truly extraordinary rescue that was ‘Kitchener camp’ – and we will without doubt gain much from this opportunity to gather together as ‘Kitchener descendants’ – the chosen date also acknowledges the context – of the many tens of thousands who were not rescued in time.

Please save the date: 1st September 2019

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The location

We always intended that the opening day of the exhibition should be more than ‘just’ an exhibition, and provide something of an ‘event day’, giving us the time and opportunity to meet with and chat to fellow ‘Kitchener Kids’ and their families.

The Jewish Museum provides the space to hold talks and workshops; it also has a history that is interesting in our context – because the original museum was located in Woburn House (see link below).

Our story

The Jewish Museum is located in Camden, a fascinating area of London: details about how to find it are here:

https://jewishmuseum.org.uk/visit/getting-here/

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Further details

You will appreciate that there is a lot to do to pull this together – and we’re volunteers with busy lives, so please bear with us.

As and when more details are confirmed, we will share them with you.

The event will be ticketed: we will let you know here when the tickets go ‘live’ from the Jewish Museum.

Funding

As yet, we have no formal funding for the exhibition costs, although we are working on it. Some families have very kindly offered a donation towards costs, and while no-one should feel under any obligation to do so, if you would like to contribute, the link to our crowd-funding page is below. You can remain anonymous on there if you wish to do so – just look for the appropriate setting:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kitchenercamp

Please pass on this link if you know someone who might be interested in supporting our exhibition costs.

Acknowledgement will be given at the exhibition to donors who are happy for their names to be made public.

Please note – we are NOT a registered charity. If you need to do so, you should consult with your accountant.

Apologies, but this link is no longer available (Update 2023)

http://www.yomhashoah.org.uk/LIVE

A favour to ask of you all today, if I may…

Please can you look at the following photographs carefully to see if you recognise anyone in them – to give us a clue as to whether these are Kitchener groups.

The family that sent them in knows that their relative was in Kitchener – there is an official letter and archival materials to show this. What we don’t know is whether these photographs pertain to Kitchener.

There are a few clues, for anyone that knows about such things – the badges on the sports shirts, the army uniforms – and of course, the faces of the men.

Please get in touch if you can help

For the 2019 Yom HaShoah event in Hyde Park, London, a Kitchener descendant will speak about her father’s experience of the Kitchener camp rescue.

And Stephen Nelken – a founder of the Kitchener Descendant Group – will light a candle on behalf of us all.

Thank you so much to both Kitchener descendants for representing our families and our Kitchener history at this significant event.

Do join them if you can – free tickets are available as outlined below.

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“Yom HaShoah UK invite the entire community to stand together and join us for the UK National Commemoration Event ‘Remember Together – We Are One’ – taking place on Sunday 5 May, 11:30am.

On Sunday 5 May 2019 the Jewish community will gather to remember together the loss of six million and to pay tribute to the Survivors and Refugees for the remarkable contributions they have made to the Jewish community and wider UK society.

Kindly note this event will be filmed.

Spaces are limited for this event and will be issued on a first come first served basis. To attend this event, please complete the form below. Tickets will be emailed to you closer to the event which will need to be printed and taken with you for admission.

No parking is available in Hyde Park, those with individual needs, disabilities or restricted access issues should email [email protected] where further information on organised shuttle buses will be provided.”

https://www.yomhashoah.org.uk/NationalEvent

Organisation	Yom HaShoah UK
Event Name	National Yom HaShoah Commemoration
Event Type	Ceremony
Venue	The National Holocaust Memorial Gardens
Email Address	[email protected]
Website	http://www.yomhashoah.org.uk/
Event Date/Time	On Sunday 5th May 2019, 11:30AM until 1:00PM
Suitable For	All
Admission	Ticket Only
Cost	Adult – Free Child – Free Concession – Free

Recently, Winston Brill – who was an infant at Kitchener camp in July 1939 – met with Frank Mecklenberg, Chief Archivist of the New York Leo Baeck Institute, and Ronnie Wolf, who is helping to organise the first meeting of US Kitchener descendants in New York. Ronnie’s father arrived in Kitchener with fellow students from the Berlin ORT.

Ronnie writes:

"Frank toured us through the Kindertransport exhibition as well as the 1938 Project: https://www.lbi.org/1938projekt/page/4/ 

The Project is an online undertaking detailing every day of 1938 from archives gathered from multiple sources.

It was a wonderful time.
 
Additionally, I've connected with approximately 16 families who are US descendants of Kitchener men. As of now, about 12 families are able to attend the May gathering at the Leo Baeck Institute.
 
With regards from across the ocean!

 Ronnie

 PS  Clare Ungerson, I finished your book and have recommended it to everyone in the group.
I can't believe that our Ort fathers were the last refugees to make it to the Camp ... and how lucky they were to have been moved to Leeds when they were!" 

Eighty years after the operation to provide safe haven for 10,000 unaccompanied child refugees, how should the Kindertransport be remembered?

This is a significant question for Kitchener families – in part because the two schemes were organised and funded by the same people and institutions; in part because some Kindertransport boys ended up at Kitchener camp for some weeks; and in part because some Kitchener men’s children were on the Kindertransport. In other words, there is significant overlap between these two rescues.

At Remembering & Rethinking: The international forum on the Kindertransport at 80, the question of how the Kindertransport should be remembered will bring together experts, eyewitnesses, and stakeholders from numerous countries. 

This landmark event, co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and the UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues, The Rt Hon. the Lord Pickles, will take place from 15-16 April at Lancaster House in London.

The forum aims to build bridges between scholars, educators, practitioners, policy-makers, and those who may have a more personal or tangential interest in the subject. 

Speakers include journalist Hella Pick; Mark Hetfield, President of HIAS; noted psychiatrist Professor Sir Simon Wessely; and representatives from international educational and remembrance institutions.

For more information and to purchase tickets to the international forum, please visit: https://internationalforum.eventbrite.com

Aims of the international forum

Rethinking the historical narrative – With the UK engaging in a government-led process that will shape Holocaust memory for the next generation and beyond, the forum will provide a platform for scholars whose work highlights the refugee experience in all its historical complexity, helping to establish its central place in the British narrative. 

Putting ‘remembering’ into practice — The present day refugee crisis represents a clear example of how an understanding of the events of the 1930s and 1940s can and should inform policies and attitudes today. The international forum will address the contemporary relevance of the Jewish refugee experience and hear the voices of experts on this subject.

Highlighting good practice – The AJR is the UK’s largest dedicated funder of Holocaust educational and remembrance programmes. In this capacity, we promote innovation and impact-led programming within Britain’s leading Holocaust education and remembrance organisations and beyond. The forum will provide an opportunity for institutions to network and showcase their output for the benefit of domestic and international counterparts.

Target audience & content

The conference aims to build bridges between scholars, educators, practitioners, policy makers, and those who may have a more personal or tangential interest in the subject. Participation is particularly encouraged amongst:

• Academics/scholars
• Survivors/refugees, including Kinder and their descendants
• Teachers
• Holocaust remembrance/education sector stakeholders
• Stakeholders working on contemporary refugee issues
• Journalists
• Parliamentarians
• Diplomats

Registration & fees

Two days: £60 / £40 with concessions (Students, AJR members)

Single day: £40 / £30 with concessions

Some wonderful images of Kitchener cooks have arrived – from the family of Kitchener camp’s ‘Chief Cook’ Jack Agin (see the 1939 Register – his name seems to have been overlaid with that of Bruno Offner, who was also resident at Kitchener for some time).

If you recognise anyone in these photographs, please get in touch so we can pass on the information to Jack’s family.

All images submitted by the family of Jack Agin

There are just a few tickets left for the next talk in the Kitchener camp series –

Jewish refugees in Britain: Internment of ‘enemy aliens’ during the Second World War

Coffee, tea, nibbles, and chat on Thursday, 11 April 2019 – from 6pm for a 6.30 start

All welcome – looking forward to seeing you!

Tickets here:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jewish-refugees-internment-during-wwii-tickets-57082347839?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

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Tuesday 2nd April – Talk: Dr Helen Fry – Remembering the German Jewish Refugees’ War Effort 

You may recall that not long ago, Dr Helen Fry came to talk to us about the involvement of around 900 Kitchener men in the Pioneer Corps.

If you would like to know more – or if you were unable to join us on that occasion – another opportunity to hear Helen is fast approaching.

The Second Generation Network, together with the Wiener Library, have invited historian Dr Helen Fry to speak about her research into the 10,000 German Jewish refugees who fought for Britain in the armed services or the secret service during World War II, and the establishment of a museum at Trent Park, home of the secret listeners.

There will be a discussion about the feasibility of fundraising for a memorial in recognition of their contributions to the war effort.

Attendees are encouraged to share their accounts (and memorabilia) or those of their relatives who were in the armed services, the secret service or otherwise helped the war effort.

Please go to the Wiener Library website to apply for the free places: https://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/Whats-On?item=462

The Wiener Library
29 Russell Square
London WC1B 5DP
6.15pm–8pm
Free

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The Jewish Museum, London

8 November 2018 – 24 March 2019

“What is my key message to future generations? Tolerance.”

– Elsa Shamash, Kindertransport refugee

To mark the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport, discover the stories of six of the Kinder (child refugees) in their own words.

Remembering the Kindertransport: 80 Years On

The importance of family materials

A beautiful hand-drawn wedding card was sent to the project some months ago, and a very kind researcher has now translated it for us.

The card is particularly notable for the scenes depicted along the sides – of typical Kitchener tasks.

The ‘poem in a card’ to mark a birthday or wedding seems to have been popular among German families – my father always wrote a short piece of light-hearted verse in my birthday cards.

Apart from the fact that this wedding card is a wonderful item – for all kinds of reasons – the men who made the card for the happy couple also list their surnames on it, and note the fact that they were residents in Hut 23/I.

In what follows, I have cross-checked the surnames against the 1939 Register. Although some of the surnames are too commonly found to draw any conclusions (I don’t make any suggestions where there are more than two possibilities), a good number appear only once in the Register, and thus it seems reasonable to suggest that the men of Hut 23/I are as follows, below.

If your father or other relative was in Hut 23 and you can shed any more light on this list, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

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The Comrades of Hut 23/I

Ackerfeld, Adler, Baum, Demuth, Eisenberg, Gonsinowski, 3*Heilborn, Henoch, Hess, Kadritzkt, Kongrecki, Levy, Lewin, Lucas, Meier, Michel, Nebel, Neugeboren, Neustadt, Oske, Penzias, Rosenthal, 2* Sadel, Silberberg, Sommer, Tanne, Waksmann, Wedel, Weintraub, Weissenberg, Wormann, Zacharias

Kitchener Camp – 30th October 1939

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Cross-checking the names listed in the wedding card against the 1939 Register, we have the following information about the men in Hut 23/I

Mortiz Ackerfeld, born 1894 – a tailor

Adler – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Hans Baum, born 1902 – a clerk

or

Max Baum, born 1893 – a pharmacist

Armand Demuth, born 1904 – a clerk

Gustav Eisenberg, born 1905 – a plumber

Adolf Eisenberg, born 1900 – a bookseller

Manfred Gonsiorowski, born 1917 – a milliner

Heilborn – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Ludwig Henoch, born 1900 – a farm assistant

Hess – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Leo Kadritzki, born 1897 – a textile dealer

Abraham Kongrecki, born 1901 – an upholsterer

Levy – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Lewin – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

David Lucas, born 1900 – a jockey

Meier – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Michel – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Heimann Nebel, born 1897 – a master butcher

or

Erich Nebel, born 1895 – a linen salesman

Neugeboren – not in 1939 Register

Rudolf Neustadt, born 1904 – a master furrier

Werner Oske, born 1898 – a labourer and driver

Karol Penzias, born 1911 – a leather salesman

Rosenthal – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Sadel * 2 – not in 1939 Register

Kurt Silberberg, born 1903 – a bank manager

Sommer – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Max Tanne-Muenz (probably), born 1912 – a textile salesman

Cecil Waksmann, born 1899 – a laundry owner

Edmund Wedel, born 1909 – a farm assistant

Weintraub – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Weissenberg – too many possibilities to draw a conclusion

Wormann – not in 1939 Register

Julian Zacharias, born 1905 – a textiles commercial traveller

I mentioned in a recent post that Werner Weissenberg was a member of the Jewish fraternity at Breslau (the Kartell-Convent) – and that Lothar Nelken, the father of Stephen, who started the Kitchener gatherings with Clare Ungerson, was in the same fraternity.

There were other Jewish fraternities across the German university system, although I believe the Kartell-Convent (K-C) was the first and perhaps, in its day, the most notorious – mainly for its somewhat riotous drinking sessions and its members’ duelling scars …

We are interested in memberships generally, because it is possible – likely, even – that they provide part of the answer to ‘Why did my father get a place at Kitchener?’

If you believe that your relative was in a Jewish fraternity in Germany or Austria (in the Jedidayah/Yedidayah, for example), or in a German or Austrian Jewish training school, or in the Maccabis/Makkabis, or some similar group, please be sure to let us know.

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It is a painstaking task, because the 1937 Kartell-Convent handbook has many names on many pages, but as an example, I have cross-referenced a handful of men who were in the Kartell who are also listed in the 1939 Register for Kitchener camp. I have triple checked, in a sense, because finding a name match is not sufficient to tell us that an apparent match is in fact a match, so I have also checked the Exemption from Internment cards online to match city of birth and occupation. This takes a while, as you might imagine!

The following information is in publicly available records online; the records are over 100 years old.

A few of the Kitchener camp men who were also in the K-C fraternity

Eugen Brandt, born in Berlin in July 1911 – a dentist

Erwin Lewek, born in Breslau in 1886 – a dentist

Salomon Freundlich, born in Gnessen in 1897 – a lawyer

Martin Hochstädter, born in Wurzburg in 1910 – a bank clerk

Max Kaiser, born in Beuthen in 1911 – a teacher

Some articles, links, and further information

The K-C

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn50283

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1157640

The K-C at Heidelberg

Images available online at the Leo Baeck Institute

Hasmonea, Hebronia, and Kadima

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1102720h

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Birnbaum_Nathan

German Jewish training schools

https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/0041_German_Training_Camps.html

Maccabi

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1158293

https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1112581

Some information on Gut Winkel and other training centres

https://www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%203245.pdf

Brian Amkraut, Between Home and Homeland: Youth Aliyah from Nazi Germany, 2009

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On this subject, we have recently received an incredible amount of information about the Berlin ORT boys, and as soon as I have some time I will be uploading this.

With membership of this training school, of course, we absolutely know it was the reason that over 100 people came to Kitchener camp.

We have started to email out letters to contributors to this Kitchener project, asking permission to draw on the photographs, letters, and documents that are viewable across this website – so that we can incorporate some of them as part of an exhibition on the Kitchener camp rescue.

As you will know, we have always intended to hold an exhibition day this year, to commemorate 80 years since the Kitchener rescue – and this is what we are now turning towards pulling together.

We cannot and will not use items in the exhibition if we don’t have your express written permission for this use. If you don’t want to have your images as part of the exhibition, it’s absolutely fine. You should not feel under any pressure whatsoever to agree if you’re not happy with it. Some families love the idea, but it won’t be for everyone – which is why we are asking this specific question. The permission letters give us material to draw on, but obviously, not everything for which we have permission can be included. There just won’t be space.

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The letter we are sending out to all contributors over the course of this week is a separate permission to the one you signed to contribute to this website project.

It is separate because the exhibition will be a different kind of presentation.

As you will appreciate, once images have been incorporated into a six-foot banner stand, with many other images and text, it will not be possible to remove an image or images later on.

As you will also know, we are not a formal, funded body – but a loose group of Kitchener ‘descendant’ families who have come together with our small and not-so-small family archives to re-build the history of this extraordinary Kitchener rescue of thousands of Jewish men, and some women and children. It is a history that had largely been forgotten.

Because we are not funded, we are very much dependent on an institution stepping forward to effectively donate a space for this event. This is no small ‘ask’ on our part: central London is incredibly expensive for event space, and our ‘ask’ is for a venue that would usually cost thousands of pounds for a day’s hire.

So, while we understand that excitement is building – especially from families living overseas – please be patient with us just a little while longer, and please ignore any dates you might have heard on the grapevine – because *nothing has been fixed yet*.

As as soon as we have a date and a venue arranged, you will absolutely be the first people we tell.

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What is a Travelling exhibition?

There wouldn’t be much point going to all this trouble for one day’s exhibition – however enjoyable we hope the day will be.

The exhibition will thus be ‘mobile’ – a travelling exhibition – and we hope there will be a good amount of interest from many institutions to host it in the future.

We are getting good vibes about this from quite a number of places, and look forward to many more people learning about the Kitchener rescue in future, as they have learned, for example, about the Kindertransport to date.

If you don’t know what a travelling exhibition looks like, you can see examples across the Internet. The Wiener Library, for example, which has been such a good friend to the Kitchener project, has a page about travelling exhibitions here: https://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/Travelling-Exhibitions

As you know, we are donating the Kitchener project to the Wiener, and the exhibition will also be donated into their care for the future.

Another example: World Jewish Relief, with which many of us are also familiar, has a travelling exhibition, here: https://www.worldjewishrelief.org/news/777-responding-to-the-present-by-remembering-the-past

The impressive Washington-based USHMM also produces travelling exhibitions, and info about this can be viewed here: https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-kits/traveling-exhibitions.

Having pointed you at the latter example, it is worth bearing in mind that USHMM has federal funding and there is no equivalent state investment in Holocaust education in the U.K. of which I am aware.

Even the small but highly influential Wiener Library runs mainly on private funding and donations, as I understand it, so we hope this puts into perspective what we’re trying to achieve in relation to Kitchener camp.

Coming this far this fast with the project has been both utterly unexpected and an incredible experience for everyone involved, I think – and many more people have now heard about the Kitchener rescue than was the case even a couple of years ago. But for this to become part of our national narratives about the Holocaust still requires much good will and the ongoing, considerable support of our many Kitchener families.

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So – whether or not you are comfortable with your images being part of the exhibition, we sincerely hope you will be part of it, if you can, by joining us on the day.

And we promise to update you about the details as soon as we have them!

In the meantime, please watch out for the exhibition permission letter arriving in your inbox. It is as simple and straightforward as the one for the website, we hope, but is specifically for the exhibition, rather than the website.

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While news about Kitchener continues to spread – ‘getting the word out’ is a painstaking task.

One of the difficulties is that many families don’t know anything much – or at all – about the Kitchener rescue, so they are not even searching for information about it.

Somehow, we have to find them.

It’s always fantastic when folk take up this baton and people’s ingenuity and enthusiasm keep pushing the project outwards. It’s amazing to hear about networks of family, friends, and colleagues spreading the word.

There is something highly motivating for many about this shared history, and this extraordinary Kitchener narrative …

The latest we’re hearing is that B’nai Brith International, which so kindly put out a free advertisement for us last year, has now commissioned a writer to do an article about the Kitchener history.

Many thanks indeed to B’nai Brith for your continuing support!

And sincere thanks to a Kitchener man’s son for doing the work behind the scenes to make this happen.

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I mentioned a little while ago that a Kitchener group was hoping to coordinate to meet in the USA and that is now going ahead.

If you live ‘locally’ and would like to be put in touch, please let me know.

The US meet-up includes a talk from Frank Mecklenburg, Director of Research and Chief Archivist at Leo Baeck Institute (I’m hardly jealous at all!). There are some smaller meet-ups being arranged among those living too far from NYC to attend Frank’s talk.

We’re also hoping to meet some US Kitchener families when we hold our exhibition later this year (watch this space for details!). Some folk we will be meeting for a second time, as a number have already flown over for various events and some come over just to say hello – it’s an incredible experience for everyone involved.

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Identification of KC men in photographs

Please do check the group photographs page from time to time, in case you spot your relative. And please let me know if you recognise someone, so I can tell the family who is in the photograph with their relative.

I will be doing an update on these group pictures early next week: https://kitchenercamp.co.uk/group-photographs/

One American gentleman asks whether anyone has seen an image of his father in their photographs from this time – he is pictured below during his stay in Britain.

According to British National Archives records, Alfred Frisch was born in Rostock in 1908.

He was interned in Britain in summer 1940 – as were so many thousands of Kitchener men.

He was released without restriction in summer 1941.

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If your father or grandfather was interned in Britain, you might like to join us at the Wiener Library for a talk on the wartime internment of Jewish refugees.

We are meeting at the Wiener Library in London on 11 April – from 6pm for a 6.30pm start.

All are welcome and tickets are available through Eventbrite at this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jewish-refugees-internment-during-wwii-tickets-57082347839?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Hope to see you there!

A very kind person from Leeds Civic Trust, with whom we are in conversation about permission to use some Berlin ORT images, has kindly mentioned that there is a programme on BBC 4 at 9pm this evening in which some Kitchener families may be interested.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bty2g2

A Very British History: The Jews of Leeds

“Film-maker Simon Glass explores his family history and tells the story of the Yorkshire Jews in the early 20th century. Thousands of migrants arrived by boat on the east coast of England and lived in a run-down slum area of Leeds known as the Leylands. Simon discovers stories of hardship and anti-Semitism, but also success and progress as many Jews moved out of the Leylands to the more affluent suburbs. He also travels to eastern Europe where he makes a shocking discovery about what happened to his relatives who did not migrate to Britain” – source BBC 4 website.

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I don’t have a TV, so if someone can record it (legally), it would be very much appreciated.

(I think I’m allowed to ask that, but someone please email me if not!)

Thursday, 11 April 2019 6pm to 8.30pm

Coffee, tea, nibbles, and chat from 6pm, for a 6.30 start

All welcome – looking forward to seeing you there – do come and say hello!

Tickets at this link from Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jewish-refugees-internment-during-wwii-tickets-57082347839?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

Talk

With the outbreak of war in 1939, all Germans and Austrians resident in Britain became ‘enemy aliens’.

The British government instituted a series of tribunals to ascertain which enemy aliens were ‘dangerous’ and which were refugees.

Many families will have seen their archived tribunal cards, headed Exemption from Internment – but please get in touch if not.

With the swift fall of France and the Low Countries in May 1940, public hysteria led to calls for mass internment in case there was a ‘Fifth Column’ of foreign spies and saboteurs. 

However, the vast majority of those interned in Britain during the War were refugees who had fled religious or political persecution before the war.

Arrested by the police, sent to hastily constructed transit camps at racecourses, unfinished housing estates, or in one case an abandoned factory, and then moved to the Isle of Man, Australia, or Canada, internment was a traumatic experience for those involved.

Additionally, those who wanted to fight against Nazism were initially denied this opportunity, leading to much frustration, as well as unnecessary hardships caused to individuals and families already suffering displacement because of Nazism.

Almost as soon as the policy of mass internment began, it was decided to reverse the policy because of the numbers of refugees involved.

Campaigns by refugee charities, prominent MPs, and public discovery of the most controversial aspect of internment – transport abroad – led to the start of the release process.

Release was often slowed by bureaucracy and was significantly more challenging for those internees who had been deported to Canada and Australia.

Yet, despite all these trials and tribulations, the internees made the most of their situations and created thriving environments despite their lack of resources.

This talk will explain the policy of Second World War internment in Britain, life in the camps, and the experiences and memories of former internees.

Speaker

Dr Rachel Pistol is based at King’s College London, working on the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI). Prior to this, she was at the University of Exeter, where she remains an Honorary Research Fellow, and Royal Holloway, University of London. Her first book, Second World War Internment, was published by Bloomsbury in 2017. She completed her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. at Royal Holloway under the supervision of the late David Cesarani, OBE.

Rachel has appeared on TV and radio for the BBC and Sky News and has been interviewed for various television documentaries on Second World War history. She has written articles for The Conversation that have been reprinted in Newsweek and The Independent, and blogs for Huffington Post.

Location

Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide

29 Russell Square 

London 

WC1B 5DP

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As far as I have been able to find out so far, 887 Kitchener men joined the Pioneer Corps at Kitchener camp (Pioneer Training Ground No. 3, as it was soon to become) soon after war broke out. This figure was very kindly provided by the Pioneer Corps archives: http://www.royalpioneercorps.co.uk/rpc/index.htm

We don’t yet know how many managed to reach Canada and the USA between September 1939 and summer 1940 (figuring this out is a work in progress), but many hundreds of Kitchener men will have been interned.

Some were sent overseas, as we know – to Canada and Australia – and some were interned here in the UK, in Warth Mill or on the Isle of Man, for example.

We haven’t yet received very much information from families about internment – especially in Britain – and would very much like to hear from anyone whose father was in Kitchener and then interned – in Britain or overseas.

Hopefully we will also hear from people about this at the Q&A at Rachel’s talk – tickets at this link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jewish-refugees-internment-during-wwii-tickets-57082347839?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

A Kitchener descendant writes:

I recently connected with old friends Simon and Dina, who I have not seen for 40+ years – since they moved to Washington DC. But I am seeing them next week in London. Dina has recently written Stolen Legacy about her attempt to recover her family’s substantial business property in Berlin: www.stolenlegacy.com

Dina tells me she has a friend whose book about the rise and destruction of the German Jewish fashion industry will be published next month: https://www.ipgbook.com/fashion-metropolis-berlin-1836-----1939-products-9783894878061.php?page_id=21

Journalist Uwe Westphal’s Fashion Metropolis Berlin, 1836–1939: The Story of the Rise and Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industrywill be published in German and English in March 2019. It charts the rise of the Jewish fashion industry in Berlin and its destruction at the hands of the Nazis – through Aryanisation, theft, and persecution. Dina Gold, whose family once owned Berlin’s largest international fur business, has been working with Uwe. She has written a chapter in his book charting the history of her family’s fashion company, the 1937 forced sale of the building it was housed in, and her battle for restitution beginning in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

Uwe and Dina have already presented to audiences in the USA on this topic and they are now interested in acquiring some samples of pre-war Jewish German manufactured fashion items to be shown at lectures in conjunction with the launch of the book. They hope that children and grandchildren of people who found refuge in the UK and who have articles of clothing as well as company labels, coat hangers, letterheads, model drawings, photographs/film footage of fashion shows, workshops or shop windows from the 1920s and ’30s might be willing to donate or lend them.

If you are able to help, please contact: 

Uwe Westphal:  [email protected]

Dina Gold:  [email protected]

If you are able to help, please contact: 

Uwe Westphal:  [email protected]

Dina Gold:  [email protected]

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The following link is to an article in Haarezt about Uwe Westphal’s work:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-nazis-who-stripped-the-jewish-clothing-industry-bare-1.5931221?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

And there is a link to his research materials at Leo Baeck, as follows:

http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=2338356

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I have been interested for a while – since starting this project really – in what the Kitchener men might have chosen to bring to Britain with them. Many of us have assumed, I think, that they were not able to bring very much, yet witness accounts and interviews suggest otherwise and describe many trunks and boxes on trains and on the dockside. Some families still have storage receipts and invoices because, it would seem, not everything could be housed at the camp in the luggage stores.

Our fathers and grandfathers were certainly restricted in what they could bring out, but there do not seem to have been many restrictions on how much they could leave with in terms of unrestricted terms – as long as they could afford the shipping and storage costs, presumably.

In the case of Werner Weissenberg, he brought out quite a number of things that we still have, but perhaps most notable was his collection of books. I think he must have packed just about every school and university book he’d ever owned. A few are shown below.

We’d love to hear more about the items Kitchener men brought out of Germany – you know how to get in touch …