Eighty years ago, on the 14th August 1945, 300 young Holocaust survivors arrived at the Calgarth estate, Windermere. They were some of the very few Jewish children from across German occupied Europe to survive the Holocaust and they would spend three months surrounded by the beauty of the Lake District whilst they attempted to recuperate from the unimaginable horrors that they had encountered during their young lives.
These child survivors, many of whom will be well known to the teachers and the schools that we work with, were remembered in a series of events across the day to mark their arrival in the UK. Representing UCL Centre for Holocaust Education, I was fortunate to accompany a group of second and third generation survivors, along with their guides from Regenesis, on a lakeside walk beginning at the LDHP exhibition space at Windermere Library and ending at the Lakes School which today sits on the site of the former Calgarth estate where the children were housed. We were privileged to be joined on the walk by Jackie Young, who had arrived in Windermere 80 years earlier at just three years old.
Having been urged to collect two stones each from the shores of Lake Windermere, we arrived at the Lakes School for a moving ceremony. The walkers were invited to lay one of their stones at an acorn tree planted by Ben Helfgott in 2015. The service ended with the ceremonial opening of a memorial garden in the grounds of the Lakes School, made possible by the support and collaboration of Trinity Catholic School – one of our Quality Mark schools and Gardener’s World award winners.
Overall, the day was one of moving ceremonies and moments of powerful reflection, involving some survivors themselves, their families and representatives of the local community that had welcomed the child Holocaust survivors eighty years earlier. It was also a time to look ahead, to ensure that this history and this local connection is remembered. In this endeavour, we are honoured that the Lakes School will be working with us across the academic year 2025-26, to become a UCL Centre for Holocaust Education Beacon School.
Find out more about our Beacon School Programme and explore our classroom resources to help you to teach about the ‘Windermere children’.
Helen McCord, Lecturer at UCL Centre for Holocaust Education
