Foundation for Jewish Heritage Chief Executive Michael Mail and Merthyr Tydfil synagogue Project Manager Neil Richardson attended the St David’s Day launch in the Senedd/Welsh Parliament of an exhibition on refugees fleeing National Socialism who settled in Wales.
The exhibition was prepared by Dr Andrea Hammel, who is Director of the Centre for the Movement of People at Aberystwyth University, with the involvement of the Imperial War Museums.
The exhibition presents remarkable stories of individuals who had managed to escape the terrors of the Nazi regime and who went on to build successful lives in Wales. It also highlights more contemporary stories of refugees fleeing persecution and conflict who have made their homes in the country.
The exhibition includes artworks, objects, photographs, and literature created by refugees and those working alongside them, and there is a film by Amy Daniel that explores the lives of refugees past and present.
The event was hosted by the Rt Hon Elin Jones, Presiding Officer of the Senedd, and there was a moving performance by Ukrainian soprano Khrystyna Makar who now resides in Wales. One of the attendees was Renate Collins who arrived in the UK on the last kindertransport train to leave Prague in 1939.
