Foreword As the MP for Twickenham I am honoured to have
The humanity and kindness of those who worked
been asked to introduce this important collection
so hard to bring the children here is a shining
of pieces written by young people in the borough.
example to us all of how every day we must try to
It is a series of creative reflections on the most
help others, and it is wonderful to think that right
remarkable of stories that was unearthed by two
here in Twickenham some of those children who
pupils at Hampton School.
were experiencing the darkest of times were given a home.
Josh and Felix discovered that a house in Marble Hill was home to ten young Jewish refugees
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day in 2021
during World War Two. The Jewish boys had
is “Be the light in the darkness” which is exactly
fled from Nazi Germany and Austria as part of
what 52 Lebanon Park was for these children,
the Kindertransport and lived in a Kinderhostel
and although the regime they were fleeing from
established at 52 Lebanon Park, Twickenham.
shows us the depths humanity can sink to, the Kindertransport and this Kinderhostel shows how
The Kindertransport was the most extraordinary
individuals and communities can ‘be the light’.
rescue of children that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second
The pieces in this booklet have come out of a
World War, with the United Kingdom taking in
workshop that was run by Hampton School for
nearly 10,000 from Nazi Germany and other Nazi-
over 100 students from across the borough, and
occupied countries. As a mother of two young
I would urge anyone reading this to widely share
children, I can only imagine how difficult it must
these young people’s writings. It is important
have been for the parents to make the unbearably
that we continue to talk about the Holocaust and
brave decision to send their children away in order
subsequent genocides, so that we can all learn
to get them to safety, knowing that they might
from the past in order to create a better future.
never see them again.
Munira Wilson MP
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