Saratoga Jewish Community Arts Announces Panel Discussion of the film ‘The Windermere Children’

Saratoga Jewish Community Arts, with a generous grant from the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York and the sponsorship of Temple Sinai of Saratoga Springs, presents a panel discussion of the PBS drama, The Windermere Children. The program is scheduled for Tuesday, March 24 at 7 pm on Zoom.

Several books and films have chronicled the 10,000 children rescued out of Europe during World War II on what became known as Kindertransport, the trains that carried the children to safety in Great Britain. 

Lesser known is the smaller, post-war British mission to rescue Jewish orphans who survived the concentration camps and give them a chance to reclaim their lives.

This is the saga told in the drama, The Windermere Children. Located in the Lake District of England, Windermere hosted the refugee children for four months in 1945. They received physical care, emotional support and education from sports coaches, social workers, rabbis and others working together to deal with the children’s traumatized psyches. 

The challenge for screenwriter Simon Block was to strike a balance between history and drama, to accurately represent on screen the children’s collective and the individual experiences. In the camps, they had learned how to survive, but those behaviors didn’t translate well into a civil society where rules existed. The children had to learn a whole new way of life.

Windermere was an extraordinary place, though. During the day, the children could run free, join countless activities, and be unafraid. But nights were different. Many succumbed to horrible nightmares that persisted in some cases throughout their lives.

A number of the survivors whose stories are portrayed appear at the end of the film. They are now the aged orphans who ultimately settled in England, Israel and the U.S. They display the remarkable human capacity for resilience that can lead to productive and even eminent lives. 

In a reunion in Prague a few years ago, hundreds came, generations of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of the original survivors.

“What is message we take from this story?” asks Phyllis Wang, Coordinator of SJCA. “How about the message of welcoming refugees? How about empathy, compassion and understanding? This is in stark contrast to what is happening in this country and all over the world today, where immigrants are greeted with negativity, fear, self-importance, and religious and racial bias. Why is it so hard to accept that so many immigrants have given so much back to the country that took them in?”

Pre-registration is required. To register, enter the URL in your browser: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/kVG1OUi/WindemereChildren