AJR commemorates life saving rescue missions at Holocaust Memorial Day

The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) held its annual Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) service on Monday, remembering those who suffered in the hands of Nazi terror.

The theme of HMD 2024, ‘the fragility of freedom’, is especially relevant as this year marks the 85th anniversaries of two high-risk humanitarian rescue programmes, which helped liberate some of the most vulnerable.

The Kindertransport (children’s transport), which saw the historic rescue of 10,000 mostly Jewish children, sent from their homes across Central Europe to Great Britain, first arrived in the UK 85 years ago.

It also commemorates 85 years since the lesser-known ‘Kitchener Camp’ rescue – a landmark initiative that saved the lives of thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, bringing them to a safe-haven on the Kentish coastline of England.

The service, which took place at Belsize Square Synagogue, in London, was officiated by Rabbi Gabriel Botnik and featured vivid accounts of the Shoah.

Speakers included AJR member, Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines MBE, who was one of 669 mostly Jewish refugee children saved from the Nazis by the humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton.

She said: “The Czech and Slovak parents began to feel very anxious and were desperate to try and send the children to England. When Sir Nicholas came to Prague, he had a queue of 2,000 families all asking to get their children on his list. It’s been a mystery all these years how mine and my sister’s names got on that list.”

Guest speaker, Amos Schonfield, shared his grandfather, Rabbi Schonfeld’s incredible legacy – helping to organise Kindertransports, that saved the lives of children fleeing Nazi persecution and his tireless dedication after the war, aiding those who had survived the concentration camps.

AJR chief executive Michael Newman said: “As the national organisation representing and supporting Holocaust refugees and survivors, we are acutely sensitised to the fragility of freedom, the theme for this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day.

“The history and experiences of our members underscore, in the rawest sense, just how quickly humanity can crumble. Today it is vital, that as a nation, we collectively remember the victims of the Holocaust. Both to honour those whose lives were ripped apart by antisemitism and to ensure that the experiences of the survivors and refugees, and their families, are never forgotten.”

Also addressing the gathering, Neil Martin, chief executive JLGB, recalled the story of the ‘Kitchener Camp’ – a remarkable wartime rescue project for Europe’s Jews. The scheme was devised by the Central British Fund for German Jewry (today World Jewish Relief) and run by The Jewish Lads Brigade (now JLGB).

During the proceedings, six AJR Holocaust survivors and refugees illuminated memorials in a moving candle lighting ceremony and memorial prayer.

Guests of honour included Tulip Siddiq MP and representatives from the German, Austrian, Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian and Czech Embassies in London.

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