A REFUGEE trail has been launched to reveal some of Scotland’s hidden Holocaust-era history.
The Scottish Jewish Centre’s Garnethill Refugee Trail goes from Garnethill Synagogue to the School of Art.
Stopping off at prolific figures’ homes along the way, the trail hopes to showcase the history of Jewish refugees in Glasgow.
After the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, the UK Government took in 10,000 sponsored Jewish children on the Kindertransport scheme. Hundreds came to Scotland and many settled in the area of Garnethill.
Kerry Patterson, manager of the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre, said: “This trail reveals places in the city that were vital for some of the refugees who made their home in Glasgow.
“Protest meetings were organised in Glasgow as soon as Hitler came into power in 1933, and the people of Glasgow supported the Jewish refugees who came here in the 1930s and 1940s, just as they support contemporary refugee causes.”
The Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre launched last year and is based in the Garnethill Synagogue.
It aims to showcase the heritage of Scottish Jews and expand access to local historical Jewish collections.
Hear how the first Jewish congregation in Garnethill made an impact on the development of Victorian Glasgow, and how people in Scotland helped Jews find safety from Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.
Philip Rodney, chair of the board of the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre, said: “The centre is a unique resource, providing understanding and learning from a Scottish perspective about the Holocaust.
“This new trail, our first, takes information from the Centre out into the community and we hope it will encourage local people and visitors to find out more about this fascinating history of Garnethill.”
The trail will run from the Garnethill Synagogue – the grounds of which stands on what was a refurbished house used as a Boys’ Hostel for children who came on the Kindertransport.
From there, the trail will look at the home of refugees Hilda Goldwag and Cecile Schwarzschild, and onto Renfrew Street to visit a hostel for Jewish women and girls.
The trail then moves onto Garnetbank Primary School, which many of the boys from the hostel attended, then the Glasgow School of Art, where sculptor Benno Schotz helped fellow Jewish artists, and architect Isi Metzstein taught.
The trail concludes at the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, which houses a wide collection of documents, photographs and testimonies relating to the Jewish experience in Scotland, with its material supporting the trail.
Harvey Kaplan, director of the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre, said: “Drawing from the archives centre’s extensive collections, this new trail emphasises how European Jewish refugees found a safe haven in Glasgow.
“The Garnethill area has a proud and longstanding record – from the 19th century to the present – of welcoming immigrants and refugees.”
Tours can be booked on the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre site. Costing £5 per person, each session will last 1.5 – 2 hours and tours usually run twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
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