Association of Jewish Refugees, Serving Holocaust Refugees and Survivors Nationwide

Founded in London in summer 1941, The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) is one of the most important organisations established anywhere in the world by the Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. As it announced at the outset, it aimed at representing all those Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria for whom Judaism is a determining factor in their outlook on life. It thereby differentiated itself from the other organisations claiming to represent the refugees from Nazism in Britain, principally the Free German League of Culture and the Austrian Centre, which had been established by politically conscious refugees, with the intention of persuading their members to return after the war to Germany and Austria respectively. The AJR, by contrast, defined itself as a Jewish self-help organisation. Its founding executive consisted of Orthodox Jews, Liberal Jews and Zionists, in an attempt to appeal as widely as possible to the Jewish refugees in Britain its membership, however, would soon reflect the preponderance of secularised, assimilated Jews among those who had fled to Britain after 1933. Under its long-serving General Secretary, Werner Rosenstock (1941-82), the AJR settled in premises in the Finchley Road area of Hampstead, north-west London, where it was to remain until the early years of the twenty-first century. The AJR began at once to campaign on behalf of its membership, then still classed as ‘enemy aliens’ formerly of German nationality. It sought to bring home to the British public that its members supported the war effort against Germany unconditionally; accordingly, it demanded the removal of the restrictions placed on them as ‘enemy aliens’, which prevented them from contributing to the Allied cause to the best of their ability. As the war neared its end, the AJR campaigned against attempts to repatriate the refugees against their will to their countries of origin. It also pressed for the refugees to be permitted to apply for British citizenship, thus enabling them to settle securely in their adopted homeland. Many thousands of Jewish refugees were to become British by naturalisation in the later 1940s, laying the foundation for a flourishing community that combined its German-Jewish social culture with a strong sense of integration into British society. Since 1946, the AJR has published its monthly journal, AJR Information, which was renamed AJR Journal in 2000. The AJR also provided important services to its members. One of its first appointments was a trained social worker, who offered advice and support to refugees suffering from the emotional dislocation of forced emigration, from the difficulties of adapting to life in a foreign country, from problems of employment and accommodation, and not least from the burden of anxiety about family members left behind in Nazi-controlled areas. After the war, the AJR involved itself in the struggle to secure restitution for the Jewish refugees for the losses they had suffered under Nazi persecution. The campaign for Wiedergutmachung was to remain a central concern for the AJR for many decades. As its membership aged, the AJR largely abandoned political campaigning and concentrated on providing social services for its members; most notably, it cooperated in the running of old age homes for elderly and incapacitated refugees. Over many years, the AJR has established a proud record of serving its membership, which now includes Holocaust survivors from across Europe. 

Among others contains restitution- and/or compensation-related materials: Association of Jewish Refugees; office holds a few files (Director Michael Newman)