Posted on April 24, 2026
Lancashire school that gave refuge to three Jewish children fleeing Nazi persecution is raising £30k for a commemorative sculpture and garden space in their honour.
In 1939, Church of England institution Rossall School welcomed three German-Austrian Kindertransport children, Gerd Haag, Robert Augenfeld and Karl Schneider.
Each had been brought over by the Quakers and at first housed at the Dovercourt Bay reception camp near Harwich before finding places at the school.
Eighty-seven years later, Rossall alumni, Juls Dawson, 52, from Epping Forest, who spent 14 years at the school, and cousin, Caroline Apfel, 49, from Finchley, are leading a project to create a memorial to the boys in the form of a sculpture by artist Ian Wolter, whose works include Safe Haven, the Harwich-based memorial to the Kindertransport, based in a garden of reflection.
Their efforts are supported by the school council. Descendants of the boys have been consulted on the process.
Dawson told Jewish News: “Rossall provided them with safety, support and a sense of belonging. I feel now more than ever, it is critical to educate the current students and future generations to the history of the Holocaust and this story of how many British Jews came to be in the UK especially in light of 50% of schools no longer having Holocaust Memorial Day in the school calendar anymore, not to mention the rise in anti-semitism that we are witnessing escalating every day.”