Marking history: Plaque recognises ‘safe haven’ for German Jewish boys in the war
Heritage chiefs in Leeds have unveiled a blue plaque at school which housed German Jewish boys who fled the Nazis during the Second World War. Leeds Civic Trust have placed the plaque at 226 Chapeltown Road - now the New Horizon Community School - which was a hostel where the boys stayed between 1940 and 1942. They were schooled nearby at an ORT Technical Engineering School which had transferred from Berlin when the war broke out. The plaque commemorates the building’s historic role as a safe haven for the boys.
Trust director Dr Kevin Grady said: “Though the ORT School in Leeds existed for only three years, its establishment played a vital role in saving the lives of over 100 German Jewish boys. It is a very sobering thought that the pupils and teachers who remained at the ORT School in Berlin were sent to the concentration camps by the Nazis.”