History

Explore the timeline below to trace the AJR’s history — from its founding years to its lasting role in preserving refugee voices and experiences.

Founded in London in summer 1941, the AJR is one of the most important organisations established anywhere in the world by the Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Bringing together Orthodox, Liberal and Zionist voices with a shared purpose: supporting Jewish refugees rebuilding their lives in Britain after 1933.

While its leadership reflected a broad spectrum of Jewish life, the AJR’s growing membership came to represent the many secular and assimilated refugees who had fled Nazi persecution. Under the long leadership of General Secretary Werner Rosenstock (1941–1982), the AJR established its home in Hampstead’s Finchley Road area, where it remained for decades as a centre of support, community and advocacy.

1941

July: AJR founded at two meetings held in Belsize Park. Adolf Schoyer becomes Chairman of Committee of Management, Adolf Michaelis Vice-Chairman, Werner Rosenstock Secretary

1942

15 April: AJR recognised as a Friendly Society 19 April: First major meeting of the AJR outside London held in Birmingham

1943

18 April: First Annual General Meeting of the AJR held at Stern Hall, West London Synagogue

1944

17 April: AJR concert held at Wigmore Hall with pianist Franz Osborn

1945

15 May: In the House of Commons, one week after the end of the war in Europe, Prime Minister Winston Churchill rejects proposal to repatriate Jewish refugees to their countries of origin, securing foundation of refugee settlement in the UK

1945

15 November: Home Secretary James Chuter Ede announces resumption of naturalisation, suspended in November 1940, allowing many thousands of Jewish refugees to acquire British citizenship

1946

January: First issue of monthly journal AJR Information published. Editors Werner Rosenstock (till 1982), Herbert Freeden (till 1950) and Ernst Lowenthal (1946)

1947

June: First meeting of the Council of Jews from Germany, set up to represent all Jewish refugees from Germany, held in London, hosted by the AJR. Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck, now in Britain, appointed president

1948

United Restitution Organisation opens – created by the AJR to represent refugees with claims for compensation and restitution

1955

August: Opening of Otto Schiff House in Netherhall Gardens, Hampstead, the first of the homes for elderly refugees whose administration the AJR shared with the Central British Fund.

1956

18 February: Opening of AJR Club, its first social centre for refugees, at 57, Eton Avenue, Belsize Park, later at Hannah Karminski House, 9, Adamson Road, Swiss Cottage 2 November: Death of Rabbi Dr Leo Baeck

1956

Passage through parliament of Dentists Act, allowing registration of foreign dentists previously unable to practise. After years of lobbying successive governments, the AJR had finally succeeded in overcoming the last obstacle to the registration of doctors and dentists from Europe

1958

Opening of Otto Hirsch House in Kew, followed by three homes in the Bishop’s Avenue (Leo Baeck House, Osmond House, and Heinrich Stahl House), and by Eleanor Rathbone House (flatlet homes) in Highgate

1958

27 June: First service held at newly consecrated synagogue of New Liberal Jewish Congregation at 51, Belsize Square

1960

November: Announcement of establishment of AJR Charitable Trust

1961

April: After many years of campaigning by the AJR, Chancellor of the Exchequer announces exemption from UK income tax of the compensation payments from West Germany known as ‘Renten’, a major and hard-won concession for refugees

1965

8 November: The sum of £96,000 (c.£2 million today), raised by donations from refugees to the Thank-You Britain Fund in response to an appeal administered by the AJR, is handed over at a ceremony in Saddlers’ Hall in the City of London to the British Academy, to fund a Research Fellowship. Nobel Prize laureate Professor Sir Hans Krebs, on behalf of the refugees, presents the cheque to Lord Robbins, President of the British Academy. The Fellowship is still awarded today

1971

20 June: Unveiling of plaque by the AJR at Kitchener Camp, Richborough, nr Sandwich, Kent. The camp provided accommodation for some 4,000 Jewish men, many released from Nazi concentration camps, who had been admitted to Britain, many on transit visas

1971

1 September: AJR Meals on Wheels service starts to operate, from AJR HQ at 8, Fairfax Mansions, NW3

1976

March: Self Aid of Refugees merges with AJR. It moves into AJR offices at 8, Fairfax Mansions

1982

31 December: Retirement of Werner Rosenstock, with the title of Director of AJR as well as editor of AJR Information

1984

12 July: At the Annual General Meeting of the AJR, Ludwig Spiro, its honorary treasurer, announces that the AJR will, in the light of the ageing of its membership, increasingly become a welfare and charitable organisation

1986

AJR Paul Balint Day Centre opens

1987

15 September: Official opening of Paul Balint Day Centre, 15, Cleve Road, West Hampstead

1988

1 June: Richard Grunberger appointed editor of AJR Information

1989

21-22 June: Reunion of Kindertransport held in London

2000

Continental Britons exhibition opens

2001

AJR Information renamed AJR Journal
Central Office for Holocaust Claims opens to assist AJR members with reparation claims

2003

AJR Refugee Voices launched

2008

Kindertransport reunion with Prince Charles

2013

First AJR plaque unveiled, dedicated to Sir Hans Krebs at the Krebs Department for Biochemistry at Oxford University

2013

Kindertransport reception at St James’ Palace with Prince Charles

2014

Kindertransport commemorative concert at Roundhouse with Prince Charles

2016

AJR My Story launched

2021

80th anniversary projects – 80 trees for 80 years and launch of the UK Holocaust Map

2023

Kristallnacht commemoration with King Charles

2024

Launch of the UK Holocaust Testimony Portal

2026

80th anniversary of the AJR Journal

The Association of Jewish Refugees

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The AJR is the exclusive charity supporting a unique community united by a shared history and a commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust.

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Explore our archive of eye witness accounts from Jewish refugees and surviors who escaped Nazi persecution

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