What Remains

When news of the Holocaust reached Britain, Jewish philanthropy focused on the survivors. In 1945 Leonard Montefiore, Anthony de Rothschild and Lola Hahn-Warburg helped bring 700 child survivors of concentration camps to Britain. They would need support to recover from the trauma and build new lives.

Child survivors at Weir Courtney.

Sir Benjamin Drage housed the youngest survivors in his country home in Surrey. They were cared for by Alice Goldberger, a refugee who had run a centre for underprivileged children in Berlin. Some found their families, others were fostered in Britain, others relocated to Israel.

Courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

A few Jewish country houses have become museums of international importance. Waddesdon Manor is now one of the National Trust’s flagship properties, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. Yet the Trust was initially reluctant to acquire such a foreign looking property, packed with “hideous French furniture”.

In this window at Strawberry Hill, Frances, Countess Waldegrave displayed her Jewish father’s coat of arms together with her own. John Braham rose from poverty to become a celebrated opera singer. His crest represented a Phoenix rising from the ashes holding a lyre, perhaps alluding to King David’s harp.© Matt Chung, Strawberry Hill House & Garden

Many country houses did not survive long in the post-war era. Most Jewish country houses have been demolished or repurposed as care homes, schools, hotels or events venues. Some traces of their Jewish owners remain.

Save Mentmore for the Nation. The 1970s campaign to save the Rothschild mansion of Mentmore failed. Some felt it seemed insufficiently English. In the House of Lords, Viscount Norwich agreed it represented “the international bankers’ Jewish taste of the Rothschilds”. He stressed it was “no worse for that…. Great art belongs to the world”
Booklet cover, Save Mentmore for the Nation, 1977

A few Jewish country houses remain hidden in plain sight. The Jewish Country Houses project is working with the National Trust, with historic properties like Strawberry Hill House, and with local communities to recover these lost Jewish stories.