The Rise of Fascism
The rise of fascism in the 1930s presented a huge threat to the Jewish communities of Europe. Many Jews fled Europe before the war started in 1939. This was a fifth wave of Jewish immigration to Britain. In the UK, the Board of Deputies of British Jews formed a Defence Committee to address the threat of violent followers of fascist leader Oswald Mosley who supported Hitler and Nazism and blamed the Holocaust on Jews. Other Jewish charities were formed to help refugees – most are still active today.
The Kindertransport
Around 10,000 Jewish children arrived in Britain on the Kindertransports – ‘Children’s Trains’. These were specially commissioned trains that took unaccompanied children (their parents weren’t permitted to come with them) to safety in Britain.
While many of their parents were murdered in the Nazi occupation of Europe, many of the rescued children made lives in this country and made a huge contribution to the society that welcomed them.
After the war, the British government wanted to bring child survivors from concentration camps to safety in Britain. They were only able to find 732. This group, known as ‘The Boys’ (although some of them were girls!) were given a home and refuge in the Lake District, escaping the horrors of post-war Europe.
While the Holocaust did not come to mainland Britain, it had a profound impact on British Jews, and efforts to commemorate and record its impact continue to this day.
Nicholas Winton was a stockbroker who rescued Jewish children from Prague, Czechia by organising Kindertransports. In 1988, his wife discovered a scrapbook in the attic containing a mass of documents, including the names of these children. The BBC programme That’s Life reunited him with just a few of the many hundreds of people he had rescued. He never sought fame or recognition despite having saved hundreds of lives. His only regret was that he couldn’t save more. Sir Nicholas was knighted in 2003, and died in 2015 at the age of 106. His story is told in the film One Life with Anthony Hopkins.
