Safe Haven

Safe Haven is the name given to the Holocaust Memorial Garden in the grounds of Millisle Primary School and a safe haven is what the community of Millisle provided for many Jewish refugees during the Second World War. The seaside village of Millisle in Co Down played its own small part in holocaust history. Their story is an important part of the story of the Millisle community and retelling it has become a vital part of the life of Millisle Primary School.

A small group of Jewish children came to live at a Millisle farm during the Second World War. Refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, they had been rescued from their homes after their parents were imprisoned by the Nazis. This transportation of children, to safety in Britain and Ireland was known as the Kindertransport.

The Kindertransport rescue operation was unique, in that about 10,000 unaccompanied children aged from three months to seventeen years of age were permitted entry into the United Kingdom on block visas.

Frightened and bewildered, the children were put on trains clutching a few precious belongings – they could bring nothing of value. Most of the Kindertransport children never saw their parents or families again.

In December 1938 the first Kindertransport of 206 children arrived from the Hook of Holland to Harwich, on the east coast of Britain.

Other Kindertransports followed, until, with the outbreak of war in September 1939, the borders were sealed, and the Kindertransports ceased. A lucky few of these children had relatives in England; the rest were accepted into foster homes, boarding schools or hostels all over Britain. And some were sent to Northern Ireland, a place of which most of them had never heard.

“The Farm” The small Jewish community of Belfast responded wonderfully to the needs of the young refugees who ended up in Northern Ireland.

A hostel was established at Cliftonpark Avenue, Belfast, initially for the older group of refugees. When the Kindertransport children began arriving, nearly every Jewish family, and some non-Jewish families, took a child into their homes. In May 1939, Barney Hurwitz, Leo Scop and Maurice Solomon of the Refugee Aid Committee leased a derelict farm of about seventy acres on the County Down coast.

‘The farm’, as it became known to its inhabitants, was situated close to the village of Millisle, about twenty miles from Belfast. The children arrived from the Belfast hostel in the summer of 1939. They found a few derelict barns and outbuildings, and a dilapidated stone farmhouse known as Ballyrolly House.

Up to eighty people, including the children, lived and worked on the farm at any one time. In all, from the first arrivals in 1938 to its closure in 1948, well over 300 adults and children are believed to have passed through it. It was run as a co-operative farm, patterned on the kibbutz principle; all the children, even the youngest, worked on the farm, and received a shilling per week pocket money; later this rose to half a crown.

The children attended the local school, where the head teacher, John Palmer, sat each refugee child with a local child to help them learn the language. Mrs Mawhinney taught the under-eights.

Friendship The Jewish children integrated well into the local community and Bobby Hackworth, who was 11 years old in Millisle Primary School when the Jewish children arrived, remembered the great fun they had playing football matches every week. Invitations were extended to each other’s concerts. Even if they did not understand the words they could always appreciate a good tune. Bobby also recalled seeing the children in a horse and cart on their way to Donaghadee railway station to pick up goods. They would also have been taken to the pictures in Donaghadee or the travelling concert shows which were held in Millisle during the summer. Bobby, who had a keen interest in local

SAFE HAVEN 35

STARTING SCHOOLSAFE HAVEN

Holocaust Memorial Garden Millisle Primary

36 STARTING SCHOOL

Jewish Children Millisle

history, kept in touch with some of the refugees throughout his life and was a valuable participant in the creation of the memorial garden and in passing on the story to the children in Millisle.

Robert Sugar was one of the children. In a heartfelt interview, Robert Sugar, said that after the war he felt homesick, for the town he called home for 10 years: “I didn’t feel like a refugee when I was here. In 1967 I was in London and was homesick for Millisle – and that felt unusual,” he said. “In world history, as Jews, we have been excluded from the mainstream, but here in Millisle, we have been included in the local history and that is very special.

In the farm and the local community, there was not a bad moment or anti-Semitism throughout all those years. As a community we expected some unpleasantness in a new place, because of our background, we were used to it; but in Millisle there was absolutely none of that. The children in the school accepted us. They didn’t treat us like victims, we were just children to them.”

Shared history A memorial garden commemorates all who helped rescue these children from the horrors of the Nazi holocaust. Robert Sugar, speaking at the opening of the garden, said, “Without the welcome and friendship of the Millisle community our Jewish farm would not have succeeded. In later years I thought perhaps I had exaggerated how well we lived together, but now … with the rising of this monument (the garden) which so lovingly incorporates our history with yours, I know my memory was true.”

Faraway Home

Marilyn Taylor, a well-known children’s author, has written a fictional book, Faraway Home, based on the story of the Jewish farm in Millisle. In Faraway Home, Karl and his sister, Rosa, are sent to the Millisle farm. Here, they must adapt to a very different life. War is never far away, with rationing, air-raid warnings and the spy scare. When Belfast is bombed, Karl feels his fragile world has collapsed. With the help of others, he learns that out of conflict and despair extraordinary friendships can grow. This was true of these real children in Millisle.

“Writing Faraway Home has had a deep emotional effect on me – tracking down the former refugees in Ireland, Britain and the US; visiting the actual farm (now in private hands); finding out about wartime life in rural County Down; and reading eye-witness accounts of the massive Belfast Blitz. And whatever I write about in the future, Millisle – the village in its beautiful setting, the people and their history – will always have a special place in my memory.” Marilyn Taylor (Author of Faraway Home)

The story of the Jewish children in Millisle was shared during workshops in preparation for this book with pupils from Downpatrick Primary School, Millisle Primary School and Our Lady and St Patrick Primary School, Downpatrick. This work enhanced the pupils’ understanding of the impact of world events on County Down society now and in the past. The pupils explored issues of racism, identity and cultural diversity and shared this learning with others via the book and exhibition. This ensures the impact of the story, the friendship and bravery of the participants will be treasured and reach a wider audience. It remains important that stories like this about those who defeat racism and conflict continue to be told.

SAFE HAVEN 37