Sep
23
Caring for Holocaust Refugees and Survivors
The AJR is the exclusive charity supporting a unique community united by a shared history and a commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust
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Educating Future Generations
We fund Holocaust education, combat antisemitism, and produce leading resources to advance research for future generations
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Remembering Our History
Home to the UK’s largest community of descendants, we warmly welcome all with a connection to, or interest in, this history: descendants, researchers, and those committed to remembrance, justice and education
Join Us TodayStories from Our Holocaust Testimony Archives
Drawing on powerful material from AJR Refugee Voices and AJR My Story, the below exhibition highlights personal testimonies, photographs and documents from Jewish refugees who fled Nazi persecution and rebuilt their lives in Britain. The exhibition theme will change throughout the year, offering fresh perspectives from our unique testimony archive.
The Kindertransport
This collection illuminates the experiences of children rescued by the Kindertransport. The Kindertransport was a rescue effort between 1938 and 1939 that brought around 10,000 mostly Jewish children from Nazi-controlled territories to safety in Britain after the rise of Nazi persecution.
27
Members over 100 years of age
+300
Holocaust testimony videos
4
Visits from the King to the AJR
“It was so interesting and incredibly useful listening to Holocaust educators from around the world sharing ideas, challenges, and new ways to reach the next generation in what is now a very different time and world. The insights and conversations have reinforced just how vital it is that we continue to adapt, learn, and find new ways to ensure the lessons of the past remain alive and relevant.”
“Thank you for visiting us yesterday. We thought the meeting went brilliantly. We are so lucky to have a social worker as gentle, understanding and caring as you. We really appreciate all the support and advice you give us.”
“Thank you so much for putting on such an amazing event. I’ve found documents about my grandparents that I hadn’t seen before, including my dad’s name on a Kindertransport list. I can’t tell you how much it means to me and my family and thank everyone at the AJR for all you do.”
“My client arrived on the Kindertransport as a small child. Her husband passed away many years ago, and she does not have children. I visit her each week and we talk about current affairs over coffee and cake, and quite often we go out for lunch together. She recently told me that she had forgotten that I was her volunteer and referred to me as her friend! That’s why I love being a volunteer for the AJR.”
1,857
AJR Members of whom +600 are 1st generation, of which 30 are over 100 years old
+£8m
Directly allocated to members for homecare and other support services
69,599
Minutes of face-to-face volunteer support in the last 12 months
Upcoming Events
Sep
28
The Story of Mark Twain
Exclusive Online Talk for AJR Members
- Online
- 28 Sep 2026, 4:00 pm
- Find out more
Sep
28
Researching Dutch Holocaust-era Family History
Exclusive Online Talk for AJR Members
- Online
- 28 Sep 2026, 7:00 pm
- Find out more
Latest News
11 September 2026
Paris Heritage Trip: A Short Journey with Long Echoes
Over two days and one night, a group
11 September 2026
Behind the Hidden Door: AJR Visits the House of Secrets
Each year, I try to organise a staff
7 September 2026
Free Tickets for 3Gs to see Memoriam at the Southwark Playhouse on 4 November
The AJR is giving away ten theatre tickets
1,000 years of forgotten history right under our feet 📍
Beneath the City’s modern towers and Barbican concrete lies a hidden medieval past.
After 1066, London’s first Jewish community settled in the Square Mile, leaving behind a legacy from a central burial ground beneath the Barbican to historic street names like Old Jewry.
This is the hidden legacy of the Jewish Square Mile.
As we welcome Rosh Hashanah tonight, we take a moment to look back on a meaningful year full of remembrance, connection, and community. Swipe through to revisit some of the key moments from 5786 🍎🍯
Wishing all of our members, supporters, and friends a sweet, healthy, and peaceful New Year. Shana Tova!
Shana Tova to all our members! 🍎🍯
As we welcome the Jewish New Year, we wish our members, their families and loved ones a year filled with good health, happiness, peace and meaningful moments together.
Wishing you all a sweet and peaceful New Year.
Shana Tova!
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.
