Llandyrnog and Llangwyfan Local History Society members were fascinated when author Andrew Hesketh shared the little-known story of the arrival at Gwrych Castle of 200 children rescued from Europe just prior to the Second World War.

Andrew Hesketh, a history teacher with over 30 years’ experience, was at the castle with his family when he first thought about children that may have been there in the past.

He heard snippets about over 200 Jewish young people who lived there just prior to and during the war, but initially he found very little at all as it appeared to be “a transient phenomenon that left very few footsteps”.

The Nazi authorities staged a violent riot with the aim of massacring or expelling the Jews in November, 1938, which became known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).

After this, there were pressures on the British Government to help and they decided to allow certain categories of Jewish people including children who were under 18, to come to the UK for a short period of time. The intention was that these children would join their parents at a later date when they had settled in another country.

They set one up in Glasgow, East Lothian and Chester – the ideal location being a rural, agrarian economy, unaffected by evacuation, unwanted, very large and free!

They were made aware of Gwrych Castle which was not wanted by Lord Dundonald the 13th Earl and he had already offered it to the government for alternative uses.

An application was successful and 100 young people were selected for what was planned as a flagship super centre at Gwrych.

They were joined by more from Germany, Austria, and the Czech lands.

The people looking after the youngsters at the castle developed a successful hachshara — an agricultural training scheme — for them. The Gwrych Castle hachshara opened in late August 1939, just days before the Second World War began.

The castle buildings were dilapidated without electricity and with an unreliable water supply and the interior was practically bare, with all furnishings having been sold off prior to their arrival and they initially slept on the hard floors and used straw to make it a bit more comfortable. The Marks and Spencer company were very supportive and donated as much furniture as they could to make the castle more comfortable for the children and the local Baptist church provided support and items to help.

As a sign of the importance of Gwrych, a permanent rabbi was appointed to the project. Rabbi Sperber initiated educational programmes that focused heavily on developing the children’s religious knowledge and understanding. The rabbi also led the community’s public relations with the town of Abergele and established a good rapport with many local ministers.

The teachers were very young and at the first real roll call of the children at the castle, they had to share the news that war had been declared and for most, they realised that they would never meet with their parents again.

Their day was being woken at 5.30am, prayers, breakfast (which was not great as the children took turns in cooking on rota), half of them then went to local farms to work until mid-day and half had lessons/educational activity at the castle and religion was a key part (with boys and girls taught separately) then the groups swapped with everyone back at the castle for 6pm. Then four hours of chores followed with cleaning jobs only given to the girls. The aim was to get their community as self sufficient as possible and they undertook carpentry, lock smith work, there was boatmaking and hairdressing.

Friday and Saturday were days off and the children slowly started to try to integrate into the Abergele community.

As fears abated, the young refugees went into Abergele with increasing confidence and often alone, especially when farmers had offered them cash backhanders for their work and once the castle leadership had established a kitty to provide some spending money. The local Luxor cinema was a particular favourite and also chocolate! It was on such a day out that they met Sgt. Williams, Abergele policeman who started up a conversation with them. From then he delivered a cake and other food and treats to the castle on a weekly basis. They then ventured further to visit and socialise with St Asaph being very popular as well as Ruthin where there was a small Jewish community.

Not only did they need to integrate locally but also, they needed to bond with each other and build up friendships as most of them had never met prior to their arrival at Gwrych. Friendships and bonds did form. They fell in love, they fell out of love, they messed about, carried out pranks and supported each other. They played music, they danced, they played hide and seek in the woods of the estate; they organised nature rambles and caught buses to explore the local area. They played sports and formed Gwrych Castle Football Club.

Between March and September 1941, the refugees were slowly relocated to other centres or they left to start their own lives.

* Andrew Hesketh’s book Escape to Gwrych Castle, A Jewish refugee story was published in June 2023 by the University of Wales Press.