Kindertransport families to open educational display at Imperial War Museum
Schools have been invited for educational sessions at the display titled ‘A Child’s Road to Freedom', which tells the story of how 10,000 children escaped the Nazis to Britain
Those rescued from the Nazis by the Kindertransport and the descendants of their rescuers are to help open a new educational display on the remarkable humanitarian aid mission at the Imperial War Museum next month.
The special display titled ‘A Child’s Road to Freedom: The Kindertransport Activists’ will be open to specific schools who have been invited for a session, from on 12 January.
It tell how 10,000 Jewish children came by train to the UK before and after the war.
Attending the opening will be the children of Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld and Sir Nicholas Winton, two humanitarians who together helped organise trains to carry hundreds of Jewish children to safety from Nazi occupied lands.
Jonathan Schonfeld and Barbara Winton will join several of those rescued, including Lord Alf Dubs, Benjamin Abeles, John Fieldsend and Lili Pohlmann, at IWM London at 1pm on Sunday 12 January.
Abeles, 94, came over on Winton’s trains in 1939 and went on to become a physicist who worked on the Voyager spacecraft, while Ukrainian-born Pohlmann arrived in London in March 1946 in the first of the three transports of Jewish children brought over from Poland by Schonfeld.
The Imperial War Museum (IWM) display was developed in partnership with the Amud Aish Memorial Museum in New York and will focus on the “faith‐based beliefs and practices amongst families who entrusted their children to strangers, as well as the activities of activists” such as Winton and Schonfeld.
“The display explores a tumultuous period for the children and their rescuers,” said organisers. “This is a story of resilience, fortitude and faith amongst children, as they try to maintain their identities in a time of deepening despair. Most of their families, left in Europe, did not survive.”
The display includes film clips and artefacts, and is accompanied by learning sessions delivered by experienced Holocaust educators, trained by IWM and Amud Aish England.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
