CHILDREN LEARN FROM HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

 Schoolchildren from Millisle and Newtownards had a lesson in life as well as history when they visited Down County Museum in Downpatrick recently to meet Holocaust survivors Ruth Kohner and Walter Kammerling at the formal launch of the Museum’s latest suite of learning resources.

‘Finding Refuge: The Millisle Farm Story’ brings together photographs, interviews, film and documents from a variety of museum and archival collections to create an innovative and engaging multimedia learning resource for schools, presenting the powerful tale of how, during the Second World War, a farm in Millisle, County Down became a vital safe haven for Jewish children who were fleeing from the Nazis.

As a 15-year-old, Walter Kammerling was sent by his desperate parents from his home in Vienna as part of the ‘Kinderstransport’ to Britain where he found a temporary home at the Millisle farm. One of his sisters, Erica, gained a precious work permit for England and she made an escape at the same time, but his 17-year-old sister Ruthi was too old for Kindertransport and too young to obtain a work permit. Walter later learned that Ruthi and both his parents perished at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1944 ... just three months before the liberation of the extermination camp.  
Ruth Kohner escaped from Prague with her family and came to the Millisle Farm as a toddler, eventually building her life in Northern Ireland.  She has never returned to her native Poland because, she says, there is nothing left for her there but sadness.

Walter now lives in Bournemouth but was delighted to return to County Down to meet some of the young people who will be learning about his life and experiences as part of their school studies
 The online story of the Millisle Farm, targeting principally Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 pupils is one of two newly launched online resources.  ‘Transformation: Politics and Protests in County Down 1900-1920s’  is directed at Key Stage 3 pupils, providing educational insights into two turbulent decades of Irish history from the perspective of people living in County Down in those times.  Alongside the web resources, Down County Museum also launched two printed educational packs.  ‘Crime & Punishment in County Down’ provides information and activities, with a colourful focus on the Downpatrick Gaol (now the home of the Museum), suited to pupils at Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 while the second of the Learning Packs, ‘Different Pieces, But One Big Picture’ looks at the religious and cultural identity of a variety of local people, encouraging pupils in Learning For Life and Work and Religious Education to open and explore important new connections with their neighbours.

All four resources are part of the museum’s Peace III community history project whose aim is to build positive relations between and within communities. Visit www.downcountymuseum.com to find out more.

Pictured showing an old Millisle Primary School register with listings for some of the war-time refugees are, from left, present day pupils, Molly McBride, Jasper Robbins and Jake Donaldson.