‘The Holocaust Connection’

Spring  2018. I picked up the museum phone. The caller was doing some research about ‘Woodcote House’ – a large house that had been located near Ascot Racecourse, and demolished in the 1990s. Apparently, it had been used from the Autumn of 1945 until 1947 to house refugees from Europe. Were we aware of it?

I’d never heard about it – and I live little more than a mile from Ascot. I took details and promised to pass them on to the museum team, and to the local studies officer. I told her that I lived nearby and would contact Facebook groups and elsewhere to see if any locals had any memories they could share. A few weeks later I forwarded her some memories from 3 or 4 people, and some suggestions as to who else might help.

I thought no more of it until a few months later when I was browsing online and found the story quite prominently on the BBC website – ‘The ‘Belsen Boys’ Who Moved To Ascot’ (the title was not strictly correct – the boys came from camps across Europe).

The caller – Rosie Whitehouse – was a freelancer, prepping something for the BBC. I kept in touch with her for a year or so, in particular the possibility of some information being displayed in Ascot Library.  I met her again when the Parish Council invited my wife and I to a commemoration event on Holocaust Memorial Day 2019. It was very moving, with Yiddish prayers and rituals. We held candles.

Two elderly men – Ivor Perl and Sam Freiman – were guests of honour. Both had been liberated and had lived in Woodcote House. Sadly, Sam Freiman is no longer with us, but Ivor Perl  – now 92 years old – still dedicates his time to sharing his story. A remarkable man.

In 2020 I put together a PowerPoint presentation about Woodcote House. It’s loaded onto the audiovisual display in the Museum (the one with the virtual tour of the Guildhall on it). We have also reproduced it here:

Gerald Hyder

for Holocaust Memorial Day 2025

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