What we do

The ’45 Aid Society represents the teenage and child-Holocaust survivors and their descendants who were brought to the UK after World War II for rest and rehabilitation. The group is known as ‘the Boys’ despite the fact that it included over 200 girls.

Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.

^{Sue Bermange at school presentation with Memory Quilt.}

The ’45 Aid Society works with educational establishments and a wide variety of institutions. Our Education Team can advise on how to deliver the story of the Boys by booking a suitable speaker and can help teachers devise lesson plans.

Our aim is to raise awareness and understanding of the Holocaust through education by telling the Boys stories, commemorating their families and the communities in which they lived. Many of us grew up unaware of our parents’ experiences and feeling the lack of an extended family. Our parents and grandparents passed on to us the responsibility of guarding their testimony.

We are here to:

• Bring speakers into schools, other institutions and community groups.
• Advise on and contribute to Holocaust related research.
• Help students studying the Holocaust.
• Support institutions and other educational bodies developing education programmes.

We support all those developing educational material for schools and other institutions. If you would like to use the Boys’ story as an educational tool, please get in touch for authorisation.

• Ascot Holocaust Project
• Epping Forest District Council
• Lake District Holocaust Project
• University College London