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Did you know the UK had its own rescue camp during WWII?
In 1939, Kitchener Camp in Sandwich, Kent became a sanctuary for thousands of Jewish men fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany and Austria. Rather than a place of hardship, it became a thriving community with workshops, education, and religious services, and many of these men went on to support the British war effort.
Though little remains today, its legacy lives on as an essential chapter of Jewish and British history.
Berta was born in Bielsko, Poland in March 1927. Berta’s war-story is one of endurance, spending over a year in a Siberian gulag and travelling through Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, on disease-infested boats, trains which needed to be pushed by the passengers, and a pump-trolley. From 1941 Berta and her family lived in Uzbekistan under extremely difficult conditions. Berta was in Moscow the day the war ended and then returned to Bielsko where she met her future husband Zyga. Berta came to England in 1946 with Rabbi Schonfeld and moved to Israel in 2018, aged 91.
Read Berta’s fully story in the My Story section on the AJR website.
“Without hope, there’s no life.”
For the latest episode of our Lunch with a Holocaust Survivor series, Romy Kosher sat down with survivor Jacques Weisser to discuss gratitude, community, and the importance of passing the torch to future generations.
In a world that can often feel fractured, Jacques reminds us of the power of goodness, honesty, and above all, courage. We are endlessly grateful to Jacques for sharing his story, his family, and his wisdom with us.
“He never treated anyone with hatred… You can’t hold grudges against people.”
Chloe Kaye reflects on the remarkable kindness and calm spirit of her grandfather, Holocaust survivor Harry Olmer MBE. Despite everything he endured, Harry chose to meet the world with love, treating everyone as family and leaving a legacy built on compassion rather than bitterness.
“That was the worst moment of her 3.5 years incarceration.”
Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke BEM describes her mother’s painful return to Prague after the war. Though she had survived years of unimaginable horror, arriving at her empty home station proved to be the most devastating moment of all. Facing a dark, deserted station stripped away the protective shock she had maintained, forcing her to confront the tragic reality that no one was left to greet them.
Taking a tram to the flat of her aunt, who had survived in Terezin due to being married to a non-Jew, they were welcomed with the traditional sign of hospitality, bread and salt.
At the beginning of September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, triggering the outbreak of the Second World War.
Approximately 100,000 Jewish soldiers served in the Polish armed forces, bravely defending their country against the German attack. As the invasion advanced, hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews were forced to flee eastward seeking safety. However, their escape was cut short on September 17 1939, when the Soviet Union invaded from the east, trapping refugees between two occupying powers.
Upon taking control, Nazi authorities targeted the Jewish population with public terror, forced labour and severe anti-Jewish decrees. These brutal measures marked the beginning of systematic persecution that would ultimately destroy Polish Jewish life and claim millions of lives across Europe.
Today marks the 87th anniversary of the final German Kindertransport via train and ferry to the UK. It’s also the anniversary of the 9th Czechoslovak Kindertransport which did not arrive here. Some of these children did survive the Holocaust in Prague and in Sweden but many of them perished. There were some children who escaped here from the Netherlands in May 1940 but they came on a ship. The ferry which brought the children over on the final transport 87 years ago today was the Amsterdam.
“I had the best incubator: my mother.”
Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke BEM recounts her miraculous birth at Mauthausen concentration camp on April 29, 1945. Her mother gave birth on a coal wagon while surrounded by prisoners dying of typhus, convinced it was her last moment on earth.
Against all odds, both survived thanks to two chilling twists of fate: the Germans had run out of gas for the chambers the day before Eva was born, and the US Army liberated the camp just days later. Weighing only three pounds, Eva survived without medical equipment simply because her mother held her close constantly, providing the warmth and love that kept her alive.
