Jo Briggs, Editor, AJR Journal
In Spring 1939 a pair of 10-year-old twin boys, with their family, fled persecution in Nazi Germany and found refuge here in Britain. Their parents made sure they received a good education. The boys grew up, graduated from the LSE, and went on to help create the world’s first business computer. They remained incredibly close throughout the next 87 years, right until their respective deaths earlier this summer, just ten weeks apart.
Ralph and Frank Land’s story, written by the secretary of the LEO Computer Society – a charity that celebrates the history of the world’s first business computer – is featured in the September issue of the AJR Journal. It is just one of several articles in this month’s issue which honour the remarkable contribution of Jewish refugees to British industry and society. For example, Dr Alfred Bader – who became a distinguished chemist after being saved via the Kindertransport, eventually buying Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex and donating it to Queen’s University – and Dr Henry Alexander, who fled here with his family and went on to provide a home and school for hundreds of young refugees from around the world, strongly believing in education as a force for peace,
The AJR Journal also tells the stories of some Jewish people who were not so lucky. Dr Emma Schindler, a pioneering eye doctor from Berlin, was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 after working in the eye clinic at Theresienstadt for two years. Her remarkable contribution to ophthalmology has finally been honoured by Hamburg Medical School. Lottie Rosier was one of 669 children rescued from Czechoslovakia by Sir Nicholas Winton, but later discovered that her entire family had been murdered in Belarus.
Emma and Lottie’s stories are both written by their great nephews, reflecting the AJR’s commitment to providing a forum for next generations of Holocaust victims and survivors to respect their unique heritage and honour their ancestors. These days the number of second, third and fourth generation members of the AJR greatly outnumber the first generation survivors who are still here to tell their tales, many of them with the help of the AJR, which is committed to helping them enjoy their remaining days as best they can.
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Happy reading!
Jo Briggs
Editor, AJR Journal
