Child Survivors' Association of Great Britain-AJR

Founded in 1995, the CSAGB-AJR is a self-support group for child survivors of the Holocaust and their partners. Membership is open to all who experienced Nazi persecution in Europe and were around 16 years or under at the end of WWII. Our membership includes “children” who survived in ghettos, in hiding, on the run and in concentration camps while some arrived in Great Britain on the Kindertransports. They were born in places as far apart as Antwerp, Berlin, Krakow and Kiev. In 2007 the CSAGB became a special interest group of the AJR.

WORLD FEDERATION OF JEWISH CHILD SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST AND DESCENDANTS

The CSAGB-AJR is a member of the World Federation and has two representatives sitting on its Governing Body. Five of our members attended the 2011 conference held in Warsaw.

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST

The CSAGB-AJR is a member of the European Association which includes large groups based in areas formerly behind the Iron Curtain. We hosted the 2010 Annual Conference which was held at Roehampton University. The President of this organisation represents our interests on the Claims Conference.

EVENTS

In addition to offering our membership emotional support, we run a series of cultural and social activities in each other’s homes throughout the year. Over the past 12 months, these included subjects ranging from a slideshow of one member’s trip to the Antarctic to a talk by Anna Frank, “My family as wartime protectors.” One member has hosted two very successful social events: a Chanukah lunch and a Strawberry Tea where representatives of a television production company met up with members with a view to including some of our experiences in a forthcoming documentary for Channel 4.

NEWSLETTER

Members receive the regular Newsletter which, for those living outside the London area, forms the link with the CSAGB-AJR. Recent topics have included reports on a variety of child survivor related events round the world, e.g. an event in Belgium honouring the saviours and this year’s conference of the World Federation and an occasional series of articles, “My First Day in the UK”, as well as book and film reviews.

We Remember

What originated as a Yiskor book of remembrance, We Remember is an anthology of memoirs with each chapter written by a different child survivor in their own words, providing an insight into one family's experience during this terrible period in recent history. The book will be launched at an event at the Wiener Library in February 2012.

Coming from different nationalities, differing cultural, educational and social backgrounds, and families who practised a variety of religious observances including those who barely identified themselves as Jews, our voices are all individual. Some survived in hiding, some on the run and even under Russian 'liberation'; others survived concentration camps. Together these memoirs cover the whole of the Holocaust experience.

The Author and Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore writes: “These remarkable, heartbreaking stories of children in the holocaust are an important historical record of the tragedy of the Holocaust, a tribute to their humanity and will to survive, a memorial to lost families and vanished Jewish communities – and a fascinating read. I recommend this book strongly.”

Copies will be available to buy through the CSAGB-AJR as well as normal retail outlets. The order form can be downloaded here.