Students aged 10 to 13 will engage with this landmark event in the history of their society and city through an innovative programme of lessons and events centred around the novel "The Children of Willesden Lane". This book tells the true story of Lisa Jura, a Jewish teenage musical prodigy who came to Britain on the first transport from Vienna in December 1938 and who spent the war in a hostel for teenage refugees on Willesden Lane in north London. The project has already attracted thousands of students, for most of whom it will represent their first, age-appropriate, engagement with aspects of the history of the Holocaust.
Participating schools will be provided with free copies of the book for all students, together with free classroom resources created by the Trust to support reading and study of it, as well as the opportunity to hear the testimony of a Kindertransport refugee in a live webcast. The project will culminate in attendance at a performance by Lisa’s daughter Mona Golabek of a play based on the novel, following which students will be encouraged to create exhibitions on the history of the Kindertransport for display in their schools and local communities.
Through participation in these varied activities, students will have the opportunity to explore in depth a mythologised but often misunderstood aspect of Britain’s relationship with the Holocaust, exploring where the children came from, why they became refugees, and what happened to them in the UK. Whilst the Kindertransport can be – and has often been – seen as a symbol of British humanitarian commitment, which relied on the kindness of many thousands of people, it was also a story of dislocation, separation and ultimately, in most cases, loss. And whilst Britain can take pride in opening its doors to the most vulnerable of the Nazis’ potential victims, it has to be acknowledged that the same courtesy was not extended, in most cases, to the children’s parents or to many thousands of other potential refugees from Nazism.
Stories from Willesden Lane will therefore not involve uncritical celebration of Britain’s role. It will rather use human stories to encourage students to consider the challenges faced by the child refugees, the ambiguous reactions of British institutions and society to them, and the role of the refugees themselves in providing mutual self-support. Through sensitive exploration of the history of the Kindertransport, the project therefore addresses challenging questions about identity, behaviour and ethics, helping young people to think critically about the history of their country, the world around them, and their own place in it.