The wheels are in motion for the creation of a multi-million-pound museum to celebrate the child Holocaust survivors who were rescued from concentration camps and brought to Windermere to begin their new lives.
Ambitious plans to build a centre to celebrate the story of 300 Jewish children, so called the ‘Windermere Children’, who arrived in the Lake District in 1945 after surviving the horrors of the Holocaust, are in the ‘early stages of development’, according to Trevor Avery, director of the Lake District Holocaust Project.
The centre, which also aims to celebrate the warm welcome the orphaned children received from the community, is estimated to cost in the region of £20million.
The story of the Windermere Children is currently told as an exhibition in Windermere Library but it has been a long-term ambition of the project’s team to design a purpose-built home to educate more people about the incredible story.
“We’re only at the beginning, the aspiration is there, and things are moving along,” said Mr Avery.
“Museum is a strange term; it’s going to be some kind of centre it won’t be a typical museum.
“It will commemorate survivors; it will be family-friendly because it’s in honour of those people who came here and they always say that their life began here.
“One of the survivors said to me “we were liberated from Theresienstadt, but we didn’t feel free until we came to the Lake District.”
Mr Avery said there are three locations being considered by his team but that he hopes it will be situated near Calgarth Park at Troutbeck Bridge, where the children stayed more than 70 years ago.
He added that the community will be ‘fully involved’ in discussions regarding potential plans and that there would be many consultations, and that further conversations would need to be had with stakeholders.
“We’ll be doing a lot of consulting, a lot of talking,” he said.
“We’re not going to impose anything on people, the community will be involved.
“It’s going to be a unique and fantastic aspirational project.
“We’re taking small steps and of course, we’re in a World Heritage site and there are all sorts of sensitivities, but it’s the beginning of what is sure to be a fantastic journey.
“There are environmental sensitivities, ecological, all sorts of things, but the main thing is the aspiration is very definitely on the table and we’re very confident that something will develop.
“And we’ll hopefully have an iconic building that will fit into the landscape.
“It’s massively exciting.
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I always had a dream of doing something like this and I never thought we would get to this position.”
Renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed the Imperial War Museum North, is currently drawing up designs for the centre.
Mr Libeskind has a close connection to the Windermere Children story having designed Holocaust memorials around the world, including his work on the ‘Liberation Europe’ project which highlights key locations and moments in the liberation of Europe in the Second World War.
“There is an opportunity here to tell a story that has acute ramifications around the world because it shows that something positive can happen in this world despite the darkness in which we often live. It is a wonderous story,” he said.
Mr Avery said he felt ‘privileged’ that Mr Libeskind wanted to be involved with the project.
“He’s been visiting here and meeting people, survivors, their families,” he said.
“It’s at an early stage, it’s a long process.
“I am profoundly honoured that he really wants to do it.
“We’re going through the necessary feasibility consultation.
“This will be a huge undertaking.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel