Notes for: Margareta Braun
First marriage to Bertram Wilson in 1920. Surname Braun, Pritchard or Braun Pritchard.
Also at 20 Chaucer Road in 1939-53 was Maria Ida Braun, born 1894, possibly her sister.
Extensive interviews with her recorded and now online at http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80004548
From http://www.keystage-company.co.uk/Keystage_Arts_and_Heritage_Company/Project_Portfolio/Entries/2014/1/1_GRETA_BURKILL.html:
WE MUST SAVE THE CHILDREN
Greta Burkill and the Cambridge Refugee Committee 1935 - 45
In March 1939, the first train containing refugee children fleeing from Nazi Europe arrived in Cambridge. 2014 marks the 75th anniversary of the arrival of 2,000 children who came to East Anglia - over 100 to the city of Cambridge itself.
Who looked after these children in Cambridge? The Cambridge Children’s Refugee Committee (CRCC) was set up specifically to address their welfare - most of whom would never see their real parents again. This heroic story of rescue and refuge has rarely been told and remains a hidden part of our city and region's proud heritage. Currently there is nothing at all that remembers or commemorates the selfless work of the CRCC.
Keystage are delighted to announce that the Heritage Lottery Fund has funded a 6-month research project, focusing on the experiences of refugee children, The Refugee Committee and those foster families who looked after the children.
The project, titled "'We must save the children' - Greta Burkill and the Cambridge Refugee Committee 1935-45" aims to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the arrival of these children by raising awareness of the remarkable rescue. This will be done with a unique exhibition and educational resource researched and developed by a team of volunteers drawn from two interested communities in Cambridge.
From http://www.ajr.org.uk/content/view.cfm/documents/KT_Newsletter_April_2012.pdf:
Greta Burkill & The Cambridge Refugee Committee.
The following is a short overview of a paper by Manpreet Sidhu (majoring in biology and chemistry) received at AJR (Association of Jewish Refugees) via Professor Sepinwall at the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey. The paper attaches a short bibliography.
The paper focuses on the work of Greta Burkill who founded and led the Cambridge Refugee Committee; 12 regional and 65 area committees existed. Manpreet first describes the conditions in Germany from 1933, pointing out that emigration to the UK and elsewhere began so early and points out these refugee committees came into existence from that period. After describing the varied problems of emigration and immigration, she tells of the origins of the Kindertransport.
This leads on to the Cambridge Committee and a biography of Greta Burkill, born in Germany of Jewish parents who came to Cambridge where she married Charles Burkill, a professor of mathematics. After Kristallnacht, the local committee was formed with Greta Burkill as secretary. "The primary purpose of the committees was to try and save as many refugees ...." Manpreet points out the difficulties of finding refuge and homes for children not guaranteed; this meant going round personally to obtain help.
She then refers to the problems which we Kinder faced: to learn English, to acclimatise culturally to the new society and overcome the fright immigration brought. Then there were the issues of education, of obtaining release from internment, of trying to get help from the local and general Jewish community. There was the added problem of dealing with orthodox children in non-Jewish homes.
Greta Burkill worked tirelessly to ensure that 'her' children were well looked after. Many of 'her' charges did well in life in various areas.
Editor's note: Much of the above is not new to many of us, as weexperienced whatever Manpreet describes. What is interesting isthat someone far removed from it all, should take an interest in a particular person and her committee. The study is a very interesting piece of work and to be commended. Manpreet, a biology major, planning a career as a physician, was inspired to do this research about Greta Burkill and the Cambridge Children's Refugee Committee after hearing the testimony that Siegmar Silber gave when he came to speak in the College's History of the Holocaust course. No doubt a reader out there somewhere can recall Greta Burkill and Cambridge. If so, please send something in for publication in the next issue of the Newsletter