Holocaust refugee leaves a legacy that will transform lives in Israel

Betty Shane at her 90th birthday[Missing Credit]

The endowment will fund a transformative investment at the WIZO Beit HaKerem Special Education Secondary School in Jerusalem, Israel’s only high school designed specifically for teenagers with learning difficulties, which integrates academic, vocational and therapeutic education. The school supports around 100 students aged 13 to18 each year, many of whom have experienced trauma, unstable home lives or exclusion from mainstream education.

A spokesperson for WIZO UK said Betty’s donation will modernise classrooms, expand therapeutic services, improve staff facilities and establish a new “Maker’s Room” – a workshop space designed to foster creativity, confidence, enterprise and emotional healing through hands-on learning.

Young people at the WIZO Beit HaKerem Special Education Secondary School in Jerusalem (Credit: Yuval Pan)[Missing Credit]

Born in Antwerp in 1931, Betty was the youngest and last survivor of seven children. In 1940, she, her mother and siblings fled rising antisemitism in Europe to the UK, settling in London. She spent several formative years living in Israel between 1956 and 1961.

Betty died in a fire at her Hampstead maisonette in February 2023 and was laid to rest at Bushey Old Jewish Cemetery.

In a letter to Betty’s executor, Koby Hillel, director of WIZO’s Rebecca Sieff Centre, described the donation as “a living legacy of compassion and belief in the power of education to transform lives”, adding that Betty’s memory would live on “in every corner of our school, in the joy of learning and in the confidence of every child who finds hope here”.

WIZO UK’s COO Nicola Miller said Betty’s legacy “reminds us how one person, quietly and deliberately, can change the trajectory of hundreds of lives. The dignity she was afforded in death is the dignity she has chosen to give to young people who need it most.

Young people at the WIZO Beit HaKerem Special Education Secondary School in Jerusalem (Credit: Yuval Pan)[Missing Credit]

“What began as a story of loneliness has become one of continuity, memory and purpose, and a testament not only to communal responsibility but to the enduring power of legacy.

“Through this gift, the names of Betty Shane and her father Moishe will be carried forward, not only in remembrance, but in rebuilt classrooms, restored confidence and futures made possible.”