Award-winning garden unveiled at 80th anniversary of arrival of the Windermere Boys - The Jewish Chronicle

The 80th anniversary of the arrival of the Windermere Boys – 300 orphaned Holocaust survivors who were given refuge in the Lake District after surviving Nazi concentration camps – has been marked with the unveiling of a memorial garden on the site where they were housed.

Their story, which was captured in the BBC Warner Bros drama The Windermere Children, tells of a group of children, who were flown from Prague to what was then the Calgarth Estate, on the edge of the picturesque Lake Windermere.

They were part of a larger group of 732 orphaned Holocaust survivors – known as The Boys - who were brought to Britain in five groups by the Central British Fund for German Jewry (CBF), now World Jewish Relief.

Those who arrived on the Calgarth Estate on August 14, 1945, often recalled how they had gone from experiencing the most unimaginable horrors to being able to heal in a place they called “paradise”.

Four of the original Windermere Boys, – Arek Hersh, Harry Olmer, Jackie Young and Bela Millan – returned for the 80^th anniversary.

The Windermere Boys (Photo: the Lake District Holocaust Project/the BBC/The Windermere Children)[Missing Credit]

Bela was one of the 48 girls, who was just two when she arrived in the UK. In an interview with ITV, she said that no one had told them that they had been liberated. “I think that made it more difficult for us… Gradually, we settled down and we understood that we were going to be given proper food to eat, but we had no explanations. We'd never been in a family situation. We grew up in the camp…”

Bela said that initially no provisions had been made for such young children at Calgarth as "no one believed that young children would survive - we were miracle children in a way.”

Jackie Young, 83, who was born in Austria, only found out two years ago who his father was. He told ITV: "My mother and father were on the same transport to a place in Belarus... you either arrived dead in a gas van or you were shot when you arrived.

"I thought I was just a regular north London Jewish kid. Then I got the shock at nine years old that I was adopted.

"My adopted grandmother told me that I was from Austria, which came to me in my teenage years. My life changed from that time, searching for my past."

Some of the Windermere Boys with second and third generation at the 80th anniversary of their arrival (Photo: Snappy Dayve)[Missing Credit]

One of the most poignant parts of the 80th anniversary was the unveiling of the striking memorial garden, with a Magen David as the centre piece, at Lakes School, on part of the original Calgarth Estate.

The garden was donated by Trinity Catholic School in Leamington Spa, who had designed a similar piece as a Holocaust Memorial Day project. The garden won an award at BBC Gardeners’ World Live and the People’s Choice Award for Best Beautiful Border.

The new garden at the Lakes School, built by the school’s pupils and staff, with help from local gardeners, is believed to have one of the UK’s largest Magen David designs, built from original estate bricks and Cumbrian slate, whose colour shifts with the changing weather, said Trevor Avery, the director of the Lake District Holocaust Project. “When the weather’s dry, the slate is white; when it’s wet, it turns blue and when it’s really wet, it goes green. It changes colour to match the cycle of life,” he told the JC.

The Memorial Garden on the site of the original Calgarth Estate, now the Lakes School (Photo: Snappy Dayve)[Missing Credit]

The garden comes ten years after a tree was planted to mark the 70th anniversary, by one of the Windermere Boys, the late Sir Ben Helfott, from an acorn that Avery had found in Auschwitz. “The tree was an iconic place to visit and now the garden is even more so,” said Avery.

Having been working for the Lake District Holocaust Project for 20 years, Avery said that when he started, the annual gatherings used to attract 150 of the “Boys”, but now far fewer are living, and, of those, just a handful are able to travel. “This anniversary was especially poignant as it might be the last time that any of the survivors are with us. Some had flown in from Israel, and there were also 50 or 60 from the second and third generations.”

Avery, who is not Jewish, said that when Kaddish was recited at the garden by Eli Kienwald, he “broke”, adding: “Over the years, I have got to to know The Boys well and they became personal friends of mine. They were – and are – utterly charming. Hearing Kaddish in the garden made me reflect on all of those who have now gone.”

Trevor Avery, director of the Lake District Holocaust Project (Photo: Snappy Dayve)[Missing Credit]

Telling the JC that the Lake District Holocaust Project had been the target of antisemitic attacks since October 7, including a swastika being daubed on the wall of the library, Avery said that he remained optimistic. “There are far more good people than bad. The day after the graffiti, about 10 local people turned up to scrub it off. Nothing will stop us continuing to educate people about the Holocaust and the survivors who came to Calgarth. We need this more than ever now.”

Mark Dichter, son of Abe Dichter, who was one of the Windermere Boys and who had flown in from Israel for the event, said: “I am not sure that the community in Windermere understand the powerful influence they had over The Boys. It wasn't just the idyllic scenery, but the people themselves gave The Boys reason to believe in humanity again and as such indirectly enabled them to live normal lives.

“I am of the second generation, who, along with many others like me, do not have the words to express my enormous appreciation to Windermere for giving my father the opportunity to experience their humanity and put him on a safe path to life.”

Angie Cohen, chair of the '45 Aid Society, a charitable and Holocaust educational organisation set up by some of The Boys, spoke at an event held later in the day at the permanent Auschwitz to Ambleside exhibition, located at Windermere Library. Her late father, Moishe Malenicky, was one of the Windermere Boys.

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The Windermere Boys