Man who escaped Nazi persecution honoured to attend Shefford ceremony to mark Holocaust Memorial Day

A man who escaped Nazi persecution and found refuge in Shefford was honoured to attend a ceremony to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27).

Bruno Ferber, 91, and his wife Vivienne, 83, visited Bellcote Meadow Millennium Green on February 1 to plant a tree and unveil a plaque to honour survivors, refugees and victims of the Third Reich.

Bruno and his mother Rosa, both Jewish, arrived in London in 1939, and Bruno was sent to Bedfordshire for safety when war broke out.

Bruno said: "I came over from Vienna in 1939 with my mother and I went to the Jewish Secondary School. We all went to Shefford during the war and stayed until 1945.

"They [the Nazis] had taken over Austria, and I was eight-and-a-half, nearly nine, when I came to England.

"They had just made life intolerable for Jewish people at the time.

"I know things were pretty difficult. They rounded up Jewish people there.

"We were lucky not to be."

In a twist of fate, Bruno's mother, Rosa, had successfully applied for a job in England, as the company she worked for in Austria, Brillcraft, had established a site in London.

The pair travelled by train across Europe, before taking a boat to England, leaving Bruno's father in Vienna.

Bruno said: "My father stayed behind to look after his mother. We never got together again, although he survived the war."

Meanwhile, over 900 miles away, Bruno was enrolled into the Jewish Secondary School, Stamford Hill, which was based at Shefford House during its time in Bedfordshire.

Some children were based in Shefford, while others had to stay in Clifton, Stotfold and Meppershall.

Bruno remembers: "Most were refugee children from the Kindertransport.

"The whole school then went to Shefford - about 500 people suddenly arrived there and had to be accommodated.

"I made one or two friends, and we learned all the usual subjects. But I had to learn English very quickly as I couldn't talk English when I arrived!"

However, remembering the wartime conditions, he added: "It was difficult, shall we say. Things were basic, and the place where we stayed was quite basic as well."

After the war, Bruno returned to London to be with his mother, while his father, in Austria, was able to live in his pre-war flat as he did not want to move to England. Mercifully, his Austrian home had not been bombed.

However, Bruno explained that it was only after the liberation of Europe that he learned about the genocide committed by the Nazis, whom murdered six million Jews.

He told the Chronicle: "At the time we had no idea about that. It didn't come out until after the war. I knew things were bad - but as bad as that...

"I was devastated. I had [left behind] other family members, cousins..."

"My father, he wasn't born Jewish-Jewish - I think that kept him alive."

Bruno went on to become a solicitor and retired 25 years ago.

He now lives in Enfield with his wife of 58 years, Vivienne, and notes that his father made a special trip to visit for their wedding.

Vivienne, who also attended the tree planting ceremony on Tuesday, said: "It was a wonderful day, the weather was beautiful, and it was well organised by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and Shefford Town Clerk."

Bruno added: "It went very well. The Mayor was there and the Town Clerk, as well as the AJR and some schoolchildren."

The event, organised by the AJR, saw towns and cities around the UK mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The aim was to plant an oak tree in honour of the thousands of Jewish people who were fortunate to escape Nazi persecution and find safety across the channel.

A plaque was also unveiled bearing the names of Bruno and his mother, Rosa.

Susan Harrod, an AJR representative who attended with her colleague, said: “The sun shone and it was so uplifting to see so many people at the planting, from the Green Team looking after the tree, to the school children and all the other representatives.”

The AJR is a charity that still cares for and honours the Holocaust refugees and survivors who came to Britain.

It is marking its 80th anniversary this winter by partnering with 80 locations throughout the UK which are important or historically significant to the refugees.

40 trees were planted to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, which falls on January 27 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz - a concentration camp and extermination camp in occupied Poland.

To find out more about the AJR, visit: https://ajr.org.uk/