Manor House

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation. They had survived the Holocaust as slave labourers in the Nazi concentration camp system, 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 children’s homes known as hostels. Manor House was one of these hostels.

Overview

The hostel’s official name was Woodberry Down. The Boys often refer to this property as Manor House, as it was close to Manor House Tube, in Stamford Hill, north London.

The hostel was run by the religious Zionist organisation Bachad. The house belonged to the Sklan family, who were the founders of Bachad. The brothers Cecil Sklan and Jack Sklan were key figures in the movement.

The Manor House Story

Manfried Feiber and Tutti Feiber were the first wardens. They went to live in the Palestine Mandate in March 1946.

They were replaced by Josef Honig, who was married to Traudel Honig, who both took over running the hostel. They were from Germany and eventually settled on Kibbutz Lavi in Israel.

Lina Neufeld was also a member of staff. The Boys attended the Etz Chaim Yeshiva during the day.

The Committee for the Care of the Concentration Camp Children were not always happy with how the hostel was run. They found it dirty and untidy and were concerned about the Boys access to education and training.

After Bachad took over complete control of running the hostel in October 1946, religious children from the Northampton hostel were moved to Woodberry Down.