The forgotten haven: Kent camp that saved 4,000 German Jews
Descendants of the Kitchener Camp men rescued from the Nazis will unveil a plaque on war’s 80th anniversary
It is a near-forgotten chapter in 20th-century history: the rescue of thousands of Jewish men from the Nazis, brought to a camp on the outskirts of the medieval town of Sandwich in Kent as darkness fell across Europe.
The Kitchener Camp rescue began in February 1939, and by the time war broke out seven months later about 4,000 men – mainly German and Austrian Jews – had arrived by train and boat. Although the story of the 10,000 Jewish children brought to the UK on the Kindertransport is well known, the Kitchener Camp has received much less attention.
“It’s not even well known in [UK] Jewish communities,” said in London on 1 September.
