Click on the drop down menus below to view answers to frequently asked questions.
Archive
We have conducted detailed research using a variety of sources, all of which are in the public domain. Click here to read more about our sources.
The A-Z of the Boys’ names is based on lists that were drawn up, either at the point of the Boys departure from continental Europe, or their arrival in the UK. Click here to read more about our sources.
We have conducted detailed research using a variety of sources. Click here to read more about our sources.
The ‘45 Aid Society has used a standard format for all the profiles in the archive. It is not intended for the archive to be a family photo archive. If there are errors in what has been presented, please use the contact form provided within the profile pages and provide us with the relevant information and supporting material.
The children that were admitted to the UK as part of the Kindertransport in the years before World War Two are distinct from The Boys.
Some of The Boys moved to other countries, others did not maintain contact with the ‘45 Aid Society. For these reasons there have been less available sources of information.
Contacting Us
The best approach is for families of The Boys to post a message on the ‘45 Aid Society Facebook group.
Please join the ‘45 Aid Society Facebook Group and check the ‘45 Aid Society website on a regular basis.
Who are ‘the Boys’?
No.
The Boys came to the UK after World War Two between 1945 and 1948. The scheme that brought them to the UK was administered by many of the people who had worked on the Kindertransports. Many of them had been imprisoned in concentration camps and subjected to slave labour. Some of the children had spent the war in hiding, the rest had been in a variety of ghettos and concentration camps including Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. Several of the children had survived because they had been subjected to Dr Mengele’s medical experiments. After the liberation of the concentration camps, as most of these children were orphans, they were given visas to come to the UK as survivors.
The first group of children to be brought to the UK as part of The Boys were taken to Windermere in the Lake District and as a result are known as the Windermere Boys.
Yes. There are a number of TV programmes about The Boys:
- A documentary was made in the 1990s by Herk Krosney with Sir Martin Gilbert. Click here for details.
- A TV drama about the first group of The Boys was made in 2020 (“The Windermere Boys”)
- A documentary film was made alongside the 2020 TV drama, “The Windermere Boys in their own words”. Click here for details.
Yes. This group was the fifth group of The Boys. It does not however include all the children brought to the UK and Ireland by Rabbi Schoenfeld. For more details click here.
Yes. Alice Goldberger worked alongside Oscar Friedmann caring for the youngest members of the Boys. She was appointed as the matron of the Weir Courtney hostel in Surrey. Goldberger had previously been interned as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man where she set up a kindergarten. Her work was brought to the attention of child psychologist, Anna Freud, who arranged for the release of Goldberger and employed her initially to look after children evacuated from London due to the Blitz.
Goldberger became a surrogate mother figure to the children in her charge and is regarded by many of their own children as their grandmother. She later cared for a small group of the children at Lingfield House in West London. That hostel closed in 1957. Goldberger then became a child therapist in the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic.
Hostels
The Jewish community in the UK had not only to find ways to accommodate more than 700 children but to care for them in an appropriate way in accordance with their specific educational, health, religious and other needs.
Many of The Boys arrived at one hostel and moved on to two or three other hostels as they progressed, and their needs evolved over time. The hostels provided various functions including those of reception centres and educational centres and eventually provided support for other needs including health care, religious needs and other requirements. This process involved significant planning, attention to detail and an impressive range of resources across the whole of the UK.
Many hostels were known by the name of their building, street, neighbourhood, local London Underground station, town or city or all of the above. It was common for some of the hostels to have more than one given name. We have tried to include most of the given names as applicable.
Use of the Archive – Education
We support all those developing educational material for schools and other institutions. If you would like to use The Boys story as an educational tool, please get in touch for authorisation. For more on our educational programmes click here.