Great Chesterford

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

The Boys had survived the Holocaust as slave labourers in the Nazi concentration camp system, had survived in hiding and by living alone. 

After arrival in the UK, members of the Boys spent time in the reception centres before being moved to children’s homes known as hostels. Others were sent direct to boarding school or yeshivas, and those who were sick spent time in sanatoriums. Some of the members of the Boys were lucky enough to find relatives or were taken in by foster families but the majority were moved to hostels.

Great Chesterford was one of these hostels.

Overview
Great Chesterford is a village 16km south of Cambridge, in the east of England. The hostel was known as the White House Hostel. It functioned from 1942 to 1946 and was run by the religious Zionist organisation Bachad. No details are known about the building. It is currently a private house.

The Great Chesterford Story
Great Chesterford was a hostel for girls and was originally used to house children from the Kindertransport. Eleven girls from the Wintershill Hall reception centre were moved here on 2 January 1946. The girls were not happy and complained that they were isolated and that the warden lacked understanding.

After a month, it was clear that the girls did not mix with those already living at the hostel, so six were moved to Cazenove Road in London, one to relatives and four to the Jewish Shelter in London’s East End.

The Staff

Rav Wreschner and his wife ran the hostel. They were members of Bachad. Ruth Floegerhoever was one of the youth leader. Eva Carlabach and Sabine Strang, who had been in Windermere, were members of staff, as were Mrs Goldstein and Ruth Richenberg.