12 August 2020

East London & Essex Liberal Synagogue (ELELS) and World Jewish Relief have teamed up to hold a special online Friday night service to celebrate the 75th anniversary of ‘The Boys’ arrival in Britain.

The Kabbalat Shabbat will commemorate the arrival of the child Holocaust survivors to the UK. It will be broadcast live on Liberal Judaism’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages from 6.45pm this Friday (August 14), as well on as the ELELS Zoom channel.

World Jewish Relief, under its former name The Central British Fund for German Jewry, rescued and rehabilitated over 700 child Holocaust survivors after the liberation of the concentration camps.

The Jewish children, known as ‘The Boys’ (although nearly 200 were girls) were initially brought to Windermere in the Lake District, and later to other hostels around the country, where they were given education, training, language skills and psychological assistance to help them integrate into British society.

The first 305 children were brought to Britain on a total of 10 planes, landing at RAF Crosby-on-Eden on August 14 – the same date on which the service will take place.

World Jewish Relief chief executive Paul Anticoni said: “The operation to bring the child Holocaust Survivors to Britain is one of the greatest achievements of our organisation. We are delighted that on the 75th anniversary of the first children arriving, ELELS and Liberal Judaism are marking the occasion with a special service.

“I would like to pay tribute to my predecessors who had the vision to rescue and rehabilitate these children, to the Jewish community of 1945 who fundraised so tirelessly to make it possible and, of course, to the survivors themselves.”

To find out more about ‘The Boys’ and their incredible story, please click here.