I'm a Celebrity: How Gwrych Castle sheltered children saved from Nazi Germany
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Gwrych Castle in north Wales is the location for this year's I'm a Celebrity, where famous faces have been living during the show.
What you might not know is that 80 years ago, the castle had a more serious and heroic role to play.
It provided safety for 200 Jewish children escaping the cruelty of Nazi Germany.
What happened?
In 1938, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were in power in Germany - they were persecuting Jewish people.
Laws had been made which discriminated against them and many Jewish people were being robbed, imprisoned and even killed. In November 1938, there was a night of particularly terrible violence against Jewish people.
It was called Kristallnacht - the 'night of broken glass' - because there was lots of smashed glass all over the streets from Jewish shops and businesses that were damaged and broken into.
Ninety-one people murdered, 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and 267 synagogues, where Jews worship, were destroyed.
After the events of Kristallnacht, Britain decided to do something to help Jews facing violence from Nazis in Europe.
The government agreed that some Jewish children under the age of 17 could temporarily come to Britain for safety.
The mission to save the Jewish children was called 'Kindertransport' German for "children's transport". However the children being rescued had to leave without their parents, and many struggled with their mental health as a result of not seeing their mum or dad again.
How was Gwrych Castle involved?
Over the coming nine months, thousands of children were rescued, including 200 who were housed in the ancient castle, which had been empty for some years.
While there the children learned skills such as growing food, that could prepare them for starting a new life.
Speaking to the The Jewish Chronicle newspaper, Walter Bingham, now 96, was one of the first of the Kindertransportees to reach the castle.
"It was beautiful with a marble staircase, gold panelling everywhere, a dining room with an enormous fireplace. The only problem was nothing worked. There was no heating, no lights and blocked toilets. Everything was completely neglected."
Walter had seen the events of Kristallnacht first hand. His father had already been taken by the Nazis and had watched his synagogue in flames as fire crews only tended to non-Jewish properties to make sure they weren't set alight.
What happened to the children staying at Gwrych Castle?
The children who went to stay at Gwrych Castle were still young enough to be in school, but having escaped Nazi Germany they were given proper work to do during their stay.
Walter, who was born in Poland but grew up in Germany, was involved in sorting out the plumbing and drains. Quoted in the Jewish Chronicle, he said:
"Halfway down the sloping meadow was a manhole which held the key to the blocked drains. I went down there to see if I could find out what was happening. When I opened the manhole, everything spurted into my face. It was terrible."
Bingham was also given tasks such as sawing wood, working as a locksmith and later got a job with a local newspaper.
Once he was old enough he joined the British army and took part in the D-Day landing, an allied invasion to free Europe from Nazi occupation.
Bingham, has visited the castle twice as an adult: "It was the closest thing most of us had to any sort of normal youth," he says.
"I lived on the first floor of the central tower and I would look down on the meadow, at the lambs who had been born and it was beautiful."
Now living in Israel, Bingham holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest ever radio broadcaster.
What happened to the children after the Second World War?
Many of the young men who had German passports, were forced to leave the castle after a year's stay.
Some went to live in camps on the Isle of Man and in Australia.
After the war, lots of children chose to stay in the UK and build new lives for themselves, as they had no family to go home to.
Others returned to their original home, while some rejoined their families who had resettled elsewhere, like in the US.
- Published12 July 2019
- Published24 January 2019