BHH Journal Jjim L^M ^ Association of Jewish Refugees
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VOLUME 9 NO.S MAY 2009 BHH journal jjim l^m ^ Association of Jewish Refugees Saved by a transit visa urprisingly little has been written described the desperate atmosphere of those about the Jewish refugees from Hitler months. He worked for a committee that Swho reached safety in Britain on chose as many emigrants as possible, transit visas, though at least 5,000 of them provided they were under 45 and had some were admitted in 1939, in the last desperate kind of documentation promising entry to a months before the outbreak of war. In foreign country, from the mass of shom- November 1938, at the time of the 'Crystal headed applicants freshly released from Nazi Night' pogrom, the Nazi authorities had camps and from those still imprisoned, rounded up some 30,0(X) Jewish men and whose cases were pressed by their relatives. detained them in concentration camps. The The agonising decisions the committee had Nazis were prepared to release detained to make were all too often a matter of life or Jews, if they had entry visas for foreign death. countries and would emigrate immediately. The view from the windows in the A problem arose, however, with visas, Reichsvertretung's headquarters in Berlin's entry certificates and travel documents that Kantstrasse underlined the urgency of the were not immediately valid: visas for situation: to the left was the bumt-out shell Making music at Kitchener Camp America, for example, were granted of the Fasanenstrasse Synagogue, a according to a rigid quota system with a Like most transmigrants, Fred Pelican reminder of the November pogrom and its strict annual limit, the result being that a stayed in Britain, serving with distinction victims in the camps, while to the right was visa granted in 1939 might only be valid for in the army. The requirement that trans a station, Bahnhof Zoo, where the move a later year, thus delaying any possibility migrants should re-emigrate from Britain ments of troop trains indicated that the of emigration. But a released Jew who was was quietly dropped, and they assumed the remaining period of peace was likely to not able to emigrate quickly faced the threat same status as refugees permanently prove short. Rosenstock paid tribute to two of re-incarceration in a camp - effectively a resident in Britain. In a circular sent to its of the men who played a key part in the death sentence. In this emergency situation, members in August 1944, the AJR was able rescue work, stayed at their posts, and were the British government agreed, after to reassure those who had arrived as later deported: Senatsprasident a. D. Richard negotiations with a group of leading British transmigrants that they need not fear to fill Joachim, head of the department in charge, Jews, to admit to Britain on transit visas in a form from the Jewish Refugees and Landgerichtsdirektor a. D. Walter Jews from Germany who had a realistic Committee that drew attention to their Sprintz, chairman of one of the two selection prospect of re-emigrating elsewhere. status; the clear implication was that the committees. Rosenstock himself only reached This device almost certainly saved the AJR had received assurances that there was Britain just before the outbreak of war. lives of the several thousand men admitted no longer any danger that transmigrants Once in Britain, the transmigrants were as 'transmigrants', plus the family members would be obliged to leave Britain. housed in Kitchener Camp at Richborough, they were then able to bring to Britain, at In 1939, Wemer Rosenstock, who served near Sandwich in Kent, a disused First least as many people again. Fred Pelican as editor of AfR Infonnation from 1946 to World War army camp. The arrangements describes in his autobiography, From 1982, was employed at the Reichsvertretung in Britain were organised by a committee Dachau to Dunkirk, how he was released der Juden in Deutschland, the only major of four leading Anglo-Jewish figures. from Dachau in April 1939, only to be Jewish organisation still functioning in Lieutenant-Colonel Julian Layton went to wamed by the SS that if he had not left Germany after the November pogrom. He Berlin to negotiate the release of the Germany within a week he would be worked in the department responsible for endangered men with the Nazi authorities. retumed to the camp, 'and this time forever'. selecting those men from the camps whose Emest Joseph arranged the accommodation. He had a ticket for a ship scheduled to leave applications for transit visas would be Sir Robert Waley-Cohen made the financial Liverpool for Shanghai (where no visa was successful, and thus he had considerable arrangements. The Jewish Refugees required), but only on 28 October 1939; first-hand experience of the scheme. (x)mmittee was jointly responsible with the cmcially, he also had the life-saving transit In an article in AfR Information in British govemment for financing Kitchener visa for Britain that enabled him to leave November 1958, on the twentieth Camp; the total cost of the camp to the Germany within a few days. anniversary of 'Crystal Night', Rosenstock I continued overleaf I I AJR JOURNAL MAY 2009 SAVED BY A TRANSIT VISA 'Wonderful Pre-Seder' at Cleve Road Centre continued from page I 1^ Jewish community in the 18 months of its existence, from early 1939 to summer 1940, was £100,000. Professor Norman Bentwich negotiated the immigration technicalities with the British authorities. He prevailed on the Home Office to issue blocks of permits for transmigrants, which were sent to the Reichsvertretung in Berlin, where they could be issued individually to the selected applicants for emigration. In his obituary 'I am writing in appreciation of the wonderful Pre-Seder we had at the Cleve Road AJR of Bentwich, who died on 8 April 1971 aged Centre. Rabbi Stephen Katz took the service, explaining again the well-known story in the Haggadah. We had a wonderful festive meal. Many thanks to Susie Kaufman and her 88, Wemer Rosenstock recalled the unfailing capable and friendly staff and many thanks also to Rabbi Katz, who conducted the service punctuality with which the permits arrived so well and with lots of feeling.' Josie Dutch in Berlin from Bentwich's office at the Central British Fund for German Jewry. to be short. Yet Freeden also remembered Sandwich and Norman Bentwich's widow, the beauty of the Kent countryside with Helen. The AJR had taken charge of the According to Fred Pelican, the routine at some nostalgia, and he admired the novel arrangements. The inscription reads: Kitchener Camp provided only a modest This plaque is to commemorate the and daring plan that had been devised to measure of comfort: refugees were given Richborough Transit Camp (1939-1940) extricate as many Jewish men as possible where 5,000 men found refuge from Nazi sixpence a week and a postage stamp for a from the grip of the Nazis by setting up a persecution on the Continent. During the letter home and were confined to camp, a transit station in a now forgotten spot in the Second World War most of them pass being necessary for short periods of volunteered to fight for the Allied cause. - south-eastem comer of England. absence. But Pelican greatly appreciated the Erected in gratitude to the citizens of When war broke out, many of the camp community spirit among the inmates, feeling Sandwich and East Kent who, as in the past, inmates volunteered to join the two welcomed the refugees. that he had become 'part of a large family', companies of the Pioneer Corps, No. 69 and Anthony Grenville and he enjoyed the array of entertainment No. 74, that were formed there. Writing 30 on offer to inmates. He was befriended by a years later, in September 1969, Herbert middle-aged British lady from Broadstairs, ANNUAL GENERAL Freeden recalled the Rosh Hashanah service Mrs Joyce Piercey. The kindness of his MEETING that had been held in the camp after war benefactress meant a great deal to him, of had been declared. Rabbi Werner van der especially after his treatment in Dachau; he THE ASSOCIATION OF Zyl, later minister at the North Western JEWISH REFUGEES came to relish the convivial exuberance of Reform Synagogue and subsequently at the MONDAY 22 JUNE 2009 the English seaside resorts that he was now West London Synagogue, stmggled to bring 11.00 AM free to visit. dignity to the improvised setting of a huge at the Paul Balint AJR Centre The pool of talent in the camp was 15 Cleve Road, London NW6 tent dimly lit in the blackout. Almost 3,000 considerable. Organised activities included Lunch, if required, £5 payable in advance people attended the service; Freeden courses of study and team sports, as well as Agenda imagined their prayers rising and travelling a camp orchestra, a theatrical group and a Annual Report 2008 across the sea and the closed borders to meet Hon. Treasurer's Report camp joumal, the Kitchener Camp Review. Discussion with the thoughts and hopes of their dear When Mr E. Heam advertised the laundry Election of Committee of Management ones trapped in Germany. All questions for the chair should be service he ran in West London in the AfR submitted by Mon 1 June to the Head of Information of April 1955, the journal On 20 June 1971, a ceremony was held at Administration at Jubilee House, Merrion Avenue, Stanmore, Middx. HA7 4RL. reminded its readers that in an earlier the site of the former camp, at which a plaque was unveiled by Julian Layton, in the ELECTION OF COMMITTEE OF incarnation his name had been Hermstadt MANAGEMENT and that he had entertained Kitchener Camp presence of a number of former inmates and The following members will be staff members of the camp, the Mayor of proposed for election or re-election to the inmates as the magician 'Hamn al Rashid'.