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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 TodayDrawing 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.
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
Exclusive Online Talk for AJR Members
Join us as we shape the next chapter of Holocaust education and remembrance—together
11 September 2026
Over two days and one night, a group
11 September 2026
Each year, I try to organise a staff
7 September 2026
The AJR is giving away ten theatre tickets
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.
The AJR is home to the UK’s largest community of Holocaust refugees and their descendants, welcoming anyone with a connection to – or interest in – this history, from researchers to those committed to remembrance and education.
By supporting the AJR, you help preserve the legacy of Holocaust refugees and survivors and ensure future generations learn from their stories. Through funding Holocaust education, combating antisemitism, and supporting our research, AJR plays a vital role in keeping this history alive.
