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At the Wiener Library in London, Kindertransport scholar Amy Williams holds a photograph of refuge children arriving on the first Kindertransport into the UK from Germany.
In July 1942, the Nazi authorities began the systematic deportation of Jewish people from the Netherlands.
Families received orders to report under threat and deception, promised “labour in the East.” Instead, they were sent to the Westerbork transit camp in Drenthe, which functioned as a staging post for weekly trains. From there, the vast majority were transported to killing centres, primarily Auschwitz and Sobibor, where they were murdered.
The scale of the devastation in the Netherlands was immense. Out of more than 107,000 Jewish people who were deported, less than 25% survived.
Today, we remember those who were lost, the families torn apart, and the enduring legacy of the survivors.
As AJR celebrates 85 years of dedicated service, hearing from the very people who lie at the heart of our mission is a beautiful reminder of why we do what we do. Our community’s strength, resilience and enduring connection are what drive us forward every single day.
A massive thank you to our incredible members for your beautiful messages and a very hearty Mazel Tov to our entire AJR family on this historic milestone!
Third generation descendant, Joshua Nelken-Zitser, the author of ‘Trauma Bonds: How Generational Trauma Shapes, Divides, and Connects Us,’ shares how his Grandma spoke about her experience for the sake of history.
His book will be released in January 2027 by Harper Collins.
Tracing centuries of Jewish tradition, resilience and survival on our trip to Paris.
From the heavy history preserved at Drancy and the Shoah Museum to the thriving, vibrant community culture alive in Le Marais, this trip was a deeply moving reminder of strength and heritage. Every street corner tells a story of the city’s rich Jewish culture and enduring past.
‘He remembered a song which was written in the Łódź ghetto and he sang it to me”
Dr Bea Lewkowicz Director of the AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, shares the powerful and moving evolution of their oral history project. Since 2003, the archive has preserved 331 invaluable life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees.
As time passes, the urgency only grows, with the average age of interviewees rising from 81 to 89. Every story is a vital piece of history that deserves to be heard.
Mary was born in Romania in 1940, just before everything changed due to the war. Her father worked in a labour camp while Mary and her mother went into hiding but eventually they were all deported to Transnistria, a Romanian and German-run concentration camp, where they lived and suffered for four years. After the war the family moved to the States but Mary eventually moved to England to marry Michael, after her first husband died tragically young. More tragedy befell Mary as she had a terrible car accident in her 30’s, the effects of which changed her life.
Read Mary’s fully story in the My Story section on the AJR website.
“It’s not only the story of one individual, it’s a recreation of a world which doesn’t exist anymore.”
For Dr. Bea Lewkowicz, Director of the AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, safeguarding the legacy of Holocaust survivors and refugees is a massive responsibility. In this video, Bea shares a beautiful example of this preserved history: the Kindertransport documents and small metal badge belonging to Gerta Regensburger.
Gerta trusted the archive with these deeply personal artefacts, which now reside safely at The Wiener Holocaust Library. By securing both the oral testimonies and the physical fragments of these lives, we ensure that the lessons and truths of the past are future proof.
