Prince Charles meets Kinder survivor during Belfast Synagogue visit
Heir to the throne greets 82-year old Czechoslovakia-born Ruth Kohner, who told the prince of how the rescue mission 'saved our lives'
Prince Charles used his official visit to Northern Ireland this week to call in on Belfast’s Jewish community, where he met an 82-year old woman who came to the UK on the Kindertransport.
Ruth Kohner told the Prince of Wales how she escaped from Czechoslovakia in 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, as he visited a synagogue in north Belfast.
“It saved our lives,” said Kohner about the Kindertransport rescue effort which brought 10,000 Jewish children to the UK by train in the months leading up to war.
“It must have been very difficult for my parents, who had travelled ten days by train, to bring me and my sister to escape, but they saved our lives.”
Kohner spent the war at a farm in Millisle, near Belfast, along with other rescued children, and went on to run a family clothing business, but said her father lost many relatives in the Holocaust, including his own mother, who he had to leave behind.
The heir to the throne has been a longstanding friend of the UK’s Jewish community and takes a personal interest in Holocaust education. In November, he attended a reception for the Association of Jewish Refugees, marking the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport, where Holocaust survivors sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.
While Charles met the Jewish community, the Duchess of Cornwall visited a homeless charity complex beside a section of Belfast’s longest peace wall which divides the mainly Unionist/Loyalist lower Shankill Road from the mainly Nationalist/Republican Falls Road.
The Chief Rabbi welcomes HRH to Belfast
The Chief Rabbi welcomes HRH The Prince of Wales to the Belfast Synagogue for an event to mark the installation of the 'Torn From Home' stained glass windows. #RoyalVisitNI
פורסם על ידי Chief Rabbi Mirvis ב- יום רביעי, 22 במאי 2019
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
