Voice of the Jewish News: From refugees to refuge providers

The poignancy of World Jewish Relief’s support for the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme wouldn’t have been lost of our readers.

WJR, albeit under its previous name the Central British Fund, was instrumental in supporting the evacuation of 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe in the late 1930s.

Today WJR is working round the clock on the ground to support ordinary Ukrainians suffering unimaginable fear and loss under fire from Vladimir Purim’s forces.

But within hours of Monday’s announcement of the scheme to house refugees lucky enough to make it to Britain, the charity also turned its focus to registering Jewish families who now feel it is their turn to open their doors to those fleeing.

Those who were once the rescued are now turning rescuers in big numbers.

At the time the newspaper went to press on Wednesday evening nearly 1,000 people – families, individuals, young, older, Orthodox and not – had registered their potential interest with WJR in less than three days, more than double the rate nationally.

Regular readers of the Jewish News can become immune to the generosity of our tiny community – but the support Anglo-Jewry has shown in this way and others from the moment of Russia’s invasion is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

The discussion about whether Britain could have gone further than just taking kids ahead of World War Two is not a new one – and it’s no surprise it’s been ignited this week.

Spoiler: this country could have done much more. But the fact is Britain stepped up then when others closed their borders and each one of the 10,000 – the families they’ve raised – owe this country their lives.

Today history is repeating itself, led by a charity chaired by the son of a Holocaust survivor who made Britain his home after the war. Like his father Sir Ben Helfgott, many of the Ukrainian newcomers will become beacons in Britain in decades to come.