Judge Rinder narrates story of ‘the Boys’ brought to UK 75 years ago
Video commemorates landmark anniversary of day when first young survivors were flown to England to start new lives
Rinder paid tribute to his grandfather Morris Malinicky, a Polish Holocaust survivor of Buchenwald and Schlieben concentration camps, who was among those brought to recuperate in Lake Windermere.
“My beloved zayde was gifted a chance to come to this country, to come to heaven from the hell of the Holocaust,” the Judge Rinder star said.
“That happened for him and over 700 other young people because of the work of the Jewish community, World Jewish Relief and then a family that was born out of it, the Boys.”
The Boys went on to build lasting friendships and form the ’45 Aid Society, which is now run by descendants but has raised thousands of pounds for charity and continues to deliver a Holocaust education programme.
Instrumental to the scheme was Leonard Montefiore, founder of the Central British Fund, now known as WJR.
The prominent Jewish philanthropist persuaded the government to allow up to a thousand Jewish orphaned survivors into the country and helped fundraise £1 million (approximately £80m today) to fund the rescue bid.
Every year, the ’45 Aid Society continues to mark the date “because we are eternally grateful to World Jewish Relief, as the CBF, and to Leonard Montefiore and his amazing team who tirelessly lobbied Jewish communities to give the Boys such a heartfelt welcome into this country and the opportunity to start new lives,” said its chairman Angela Cohen.
WJR’s work to bring the group to England is “one of the greatest achievements of our organisation,” said the humanitarian agency’s chief executive Paul Anticoni.
“We are proud of the Jewish community who supported our charity and of the survivors themselves and the wonderful lives they have gone on to lead,” he said.
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