Foreword by Munira Wilson, MP

Foreword

As the MP for Twickenham I am honoured to have been asked to introduce this important collection of pieces written by young people in the borough. It is a series of creative reflections on the most remarkable of stories that was unearthed by two pupils at Hampton School.

a home. Josh and Felix discovered that a house in Marble

Kindertransport and this Kinderhostel shows how Hill was home to ten young Jewish refugees during World War Two. The Jewish boys had fled from Nazi Germany and Austria as part of the Kindertransport and lived in a Kinderhostel established at 52 Lebanon Park, Twickenham.

The Kindertransport was the most extraordinary rescue of children that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, with the United Kingdom taking in nearly 10,000 from Nazi Germany and other Nazioccupied countries. As a mother of two young children, I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for the parents to make the unbearably brave decision to send their children away in order to get them to safety, knowing that they might The humanity and kindness of those who worked so hard to bring the children here is a shining example to us all of how every day we must try to help others, and it is wonderful to think that right here in Twickenham some of those children who were experiencing the darkest of times were given

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day in 2021 is “Be the light in the darkness” which is exactly what 52 Lebanon Park was for these children, and although the regime they were fleeing from shows us the depths humanity can sink to, the never see them again.

individuals and communities can ‘be the light’.

The pieces in this booklet have come out of a workshop that was run by Hampton School for over 100 students from across the borough, and I would urge anyone reading this to widely share these young people’s writings. It is important that we continue to talk about the Holocaust and subsequent genocides, so that we can all learn from the past in order to create a better future.

Munira Wilson MP