New chair announced for the Association of Jewish Refugees

The new chair of the Association for Jewish Refugees has been announced as the son of a Holocaust survivor and kindertransport refugee, Mike Karp.

He will take over from long-serving Andrew Kaufman, who was awarded an MBE for services to Holocaust education in 2018. He spent 25 years at the helm of the organisation.

Karp is a retired partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who holds a number of communal and non-communal positions, including as a trustee of the Holocaust Educational Trust, treasurer of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. trustee of  Westminster Academy.

Born to a survivor father who fled Poland to join the British army and a Viennese mother who escaped on the kindertransport, he said: “It is a huge honour and privilege to become Chairman of the AJR at this critical time in our history.

“While our over-riding priority and focus will always remain the welfare of the refugees and survivors, the AJR will continue to play a leading role as a benefactor of Holocaust education programmes and projects. We are also stepping up our efforts to engage with the next generations. I pay tribute to Andrew for his remarkable accomplishments in turning the the AJR into a truly national organisation and for handing over the reins with the AJR ready and able to make a transformative difference to our members’ lives.”

He succeeds Kaufman, who said it was  “the honour of my life to serve as a trustee and as Chairman of our great organisation, and it is a personal pleasure to have made a contribution to our work, development and achievements. I am indebted to my fellow trustees for their support and good counsel and to our visionary Chief Executive Michael Newman. I am delighted Mike Karp has been elected as our new Chair and wish him much luck and success in the role.”