They tore me out from my father's arm...
..and took me away.
This moment, I will never, never forget.
We were unloaded from the trains,
and boys and men in one queue,
women and children in the other queue.
And they told us to move forward...
I was ten months old when I arrived in Theresienstadt.
At night, we could see the chimneys were glowing...
You had dead bodies all laying on the floor.
Well, I hope it's not me tomorrow.
We were starving all the time.
All we were thinking of was food.
We were supposed to be eliminated...
They got the 10,000 children, took them to Chelmno
and they gassed them and then they buried them to mass graves.
I only believed that the war was over
when I actually saw German soldiers captured by the Russians.
And they told me that we're going to England.
I didn't know anything about England.
I couldn't speak any...not a word of English - I knew two words.
I know "OK"... I came with absolutely nothing
because I had no clothes of my own, no toys.
Didn't know where we were going or what we're going to do.
This is the last group.
It's been a long day, let's get them settled as soon as possible.
Welcome! It's warm inside.
Geht bitte weiter, Kinder. Willkommen.
Willkommen in England.
Off you get. That's it.
Welcome to Windermere.
This way.
Welcome. Welcome to...
Ah. Ah...
My dear boy, it's nothing a damp cloth can't sort out.
Now, please... Please follow your friends.
Please remove all your clothes and put them on the pile.
We have to get rid of them for typhus.
You will be given new clothes in the morning.
Cough for me.
I need you to remove all clothes and shoes.
On the pile here. We've got some blankets...
Next one, please.
Oscar!
Ah.
May I introduce you to Edith and Georg Lauer -
kept prisoner with some of the children in Theresienstadt.
Edith, Georg,
overseeing our project, our esteemed director, Oscar Friedmann.
Travelling all day, you must be exhausted.
We are glad to finally be here.
Before coming to England, Oscar ran an institution for
troubled boys in Germany.
He has since become quite the expert with regards to child refugees...
..which is why I asked him to lead this project.
They are going to be here for four months?
Yes.
And after?
We are working very hard at what will happen to them
after Windermere.
Come. You look shattered.
Mr Friedmann.
One of the lads is refusing to get off.
Refusing?
I tried to explain he's got nothing to fear, but he won't budge.
What happened?
We talked. And now we wait.
And how long you...?
Take him inside, Jock, would you?
This way, Salek.
Come inside.
Come this way.
Now, let's get you seen quickly.
Nurse?
Good lad.
My name is Jock Lawrence.
And you?
Arek. Arek Herszlikowicz.
Arek. And where are...where are you from, son?
Otoschno. Auschwitz.
Buchenwald. Theresienstadt.
He was in four camps?
Again, physically smaller than we might expect for his age.
Various scars across his back and arms.
Burn scars.
Damage to the fingers. Healed.
Badly.
Open your mouth please, son.
Four missing teeth.
Several in decay.
Again, almost certainly due to malnutrition.
Yet another for the dentist.
Problem?
At the last minute, another boy on the flight went back to Poland.
This boy took his place,
but there was no more time to amend the roster.
Oh, my dear boy, calm yourself.
We shall sort everything out.
In the meantime...
..welcome to England.
Compared to survivors in newsreels I've seen,
they look more normal than I was expecting.
Three months ago, you wouldn't have recognised a single child.
This way, please.
Mr Friedmann is quite clear - girls and boys must sleep separately.
How, when these boys and these girls are inseparable?
We want them to leave the chaos of their former life behind
and restore order.
And I understand. They will not.
Then we must explain it to them.
May I suggest explaining it tomorrow?
Once they - and I - have slept.
Would you prefer me to? I can manage.
Most strangers get a slap.
He must like you.
I...I did not expect such little ones to survive.
They were exceptions.
Hidden.
Living off scraps.
Like rats.
I will be most curious to see how it has affected them.
Turn around.
Wherever Bela goes, they go too.
Inseparable.
Leonard, you know, the Lauers think four months is not enough.
Well, you've certainly got your hands full.
One of the boys said to me, "The reason I am alive
"is because I was strong enough to take bread
"from someone who was too weak to eat it."
The camps taught them survival at any cost.
Four months.
Not much time to bring them back to civilisation.
Keeping them all together in one place was your idea.
We've achieved that.
I wish I could give you longer.
We raised as much as we could.
Salek!
Ah, Oscar, if you ask me, they look a tad peckish.
Hertha! More bread! What?!
More bread. Let them see it will never run out.
Do you think every meal's going to be like this?
Let's hope not.
So how do you plan to tame them?
"Tame" them?
Jock, they're not animals.
Next. Stand there, please.
Next!
Close your eyes.
Next!
Right, next.
Ey-up!
What's going on here?
You seen these?
Who you looking at, Fritz?
Aw, look. Adolf wants to shake hands!
Go on, shake hands, Malc. Go on.
Now yank the Kraut bastard over!
Go on, Malc. Pull a bit harder.
What is he doing? What are you doing?
I'm trying! He's stronger than he looks!
Get off me! Let go!
Hey!
Get off! Lads! Lads!
Come on. Get off!
That's good. Next!
Woohoo!
Woo! Woohoo!
Woohoo!
Mrs Lauer?
Good morning.
I would like to apologise for the ill-judged comments
I made about the little children last night.
No apology necessary.
I would like to understand them more.
To that end, I was wondering if you might bring them
to my classroom to paint.
Paint?
I have developed a therapy where we invite children to paint
without instruction or critique.
They choose the colours and the themes that they want.
I've discovered that this freedom allows their subconscious
to reveal itself upon the paper.
It would be fascinating to know what...
..the...the little leader...
Bela.
To see a visual representation of her psychology
would be extraordinary.
I am taking them for a walk.
Come with.
What's your name, and why are you dressed like that?
Perhaps wear some trousers next time!
He's perfectly friendly!
It's not your dog. It's any dog.
Kinder!
Are these the Jewish children we've been told about?
Some of them, yes. Bela!
We were promised that land would be
given back to the local community after the war.
Why can't their own people take them?
Oh, well, most Jewish communities have been established in the cities.
Then send them to the cities.
That is the plan,
once they have been revitalised with careful supervision.
It hardly seems fair that we should have to accommodate
all these foreigners.
Madam...
..are you aware what these children have been through?
The war has been terrible for everyone.
Not just for you people.
Kinder!
Bela!
Come on now!
News-paper.
Newspaper.
News-paper.
Photo-graph.
Photograph.
Photo-graph.
It would be easier if you put out the cigarettes!
Who can say this?
It is a pleasure to meet you.
Window.
Yes.
English girls.
English girls?
He like.
Likes English girls?
Sala.
Watch and listen.
Good afternoon.
My name is Rabbi Weiss.
My name is Sala Feiermann.
My name is Benyak Helfgott.
My name is Arek Herszlikowicz.
My name is Itzek Alterman.
My name is...
Ephraim Minsburg!
My name... My name is Chaim Olmer!
Mama...
I wonder if they will ever be free of night terrors.
Talking about it will help.
Starvation, beatings, shootings,
hanging, gassing.
All these were commonplace in their lives.
What would you say?
Forget about all that and focus on the future?
First, I will listen.
A favourite game of the guards
was to put ground-up glass into our soup...
..and watch some of us slowly bleed to death from within.
For those of us who remember a life before, these things were horrific.
But these children, they...
..they grew up in that horror.
For them it was normal.
If you ask them how they feel, they might just...shrug.
I get the impression most don't want to talk about it.
They are more obsessed with the fate of their relatives.
Every day they ask when the Red Cross is coming.
Very nice.
Lovely.
Come on, lads! Put your back into it!
Is he very good,
or the rest very, very bad?
No real skill.
But from his speed, his balance, his strength,
he's clearly a natural athlete.
Amazing, considering.
Oscar, I've been contacted by the coach of a Windermere team,
asking if we'd like to play a friendly with them.
A friendly? Aye.
A match played as a gesture of friendship
from the local community to the children.
Is the team good?
Aye. Not bad.
Well, if you had 11 of him...
..probably.
Surely what doesn't kill them makes them stronger?
I think they need to experience what they can do, not what they can't.
Tell your contact thank you, but no.
Hold the ball!
Hello, love.
Look who it is. Go on, Malc.
You seen this, Malc?
Enjoying English ice cream, are you?
Here's something to remind you of home.
Georg.
Look at him.
Oh, he's pissed himself!
Enough.
Aye-aye, Malc.
And what do you want?
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
You were attempting the Nazi salute?
So? So...
..it is always the right arm.
Trust me, I'm German.
I am also a Jew.
So no Nazi.
Try.
Try!
Higher.
Now...
..the boy you scared so much that he pissed himself -
he's not German, he's Polish. As are the others.
They watched their families being slaughtered by the Nazis.
Do you understand? Slaughtered?
You should lower your arms, boys. You look like fools.
None of us can imagine what they went through in their short lives.
Not you.
Not me.
I need your word that my children are safe to walk your streets.
From man to man.
What do you say?
Well, thank you so much.
Good day to you.
That's very good. Thank you.
♪ ..Take me over there Drop me anywhere
♪ Birmingham, Leeds or Manchester Well, I don't care... ♪
Come on, girls, I can't hear you singing.
What about you fellas? Just imagine...
..and there's a nice little bit of stuff waiting for you! Beautiful!
♪ ..Blighty is the place for me... ♪
Now all together, boys!
♪ ..Take me back to dear old Blighty
♪ Put me on the train for London town
♪ Take me over there Drop me anywhere
♪ Birmingham, Leeds or Manchester Well, I don't care!
♪ I should like to see my best girl... ♪
Come with me.
Son, I've been a PE teacher
for many years, I've seen a lot of kids play all sorts of sports.
The most you can hope for is a modicum of enthusiasm
and the ability to put the right plimsoll on the right foot.
The number I've encountered with genuine physical ability
is small, to say the least.
Do you understand a single word I'm saying?
Plimsoll.
YOU have natural talent.
But like any natural gift,
you need to work at it to make the most of it.
So here's a book of exercises for you to look at.
If you're interested.
No.
For YOU.
Thank you, sir.
Forget any notion of competence.
Whether the child is a good or a bad artist is immaterial.
My interest only concerns what they paint.
How do these compare with children who survived the Blitz?
Despite being bombed daily, those children expressed
themselves as you would expect of those in good mental health.
Strong colours.
Clear blue skies, shining suns.
Smiling faces.
They painted happy times.
By contrast, these children depict their most painful memories
of losing family and identity.
And extreme violence.
It is as though they can no longer access the happy memories
to draw upon.
"Jedem das Seine" was the...
The gate of Buchenwald. I know.
I'm sitting here all day waiting...
..to talk to them,
and here they scream from the rooftops.
Before I came here...
..I was determined to
hold their experience at arm's length,
to protect myself.
But how can you analyse these paintings?
How can you ignore the suffering on every page?
Week after week, I see this same level of extremity.
When I saw this one...
..I was overwhelmed by sadness.
I did something I have never done before -
instinctively I went to the boy and I held him.
Marie...
We feel compelled to respond as if they were our own children.
How does what we feel help them?
Tree. Branch.
Twig. Rain.
Water. River.
Bird.
Flower.
Thank you.
You are welcome.
Kiss.
Lunch.
Hungry?
Always.
Salek...
Amen.
Sala?
Salek?
Salek.
Sala.
Sala, eventually, when your strength is fully restored
and you have built a new life...
..you will meet someone who will love you as much as you love them.
Focus on the game, boys!
Into the centre! All of you!
Come on.
Down. Press-ups.
Now, please.
Right, 20.
Start again, with Ben.
Back on the floor, son. You've barely done five.
You same like guard I knew.
Same voice.
Same face.
Same...
Whistle. Whistle.
Back on the floor, son.
What do you want from me, son?
To go easy on you out of pity?
Is that how you're going to live out there? Hmm?
How long do you think pity lasts? "Poor refugee children."
They're not just refugees. Yes, spare me the sermon, Rabbi.
I know what they are.
You think in six months, the real world will care?
Everyone suffered in the war. Not like they have.
Folk don't walk around comparing misery and loss.
Arek!
Maybe no need to shout?
I wasn't shouting. Everyone speaks like this in Scotland.
Ben! Perhaps just leave it.
Perhaps mind your own business, Rabbi. Ben!
I've developed more training for you, more advanced,
now you're getting stronger.
You need to keep pushing yourself, son!
I am "son" of Moishe Helfgott.
Shot running away from death march.
Years, 37.
I say that not for pity.
For truth.
It's just an expression.
I say it to everyone.
I not want you say it to me.
Please.
Understood.
The war's over, Berish.
They need to move forward.
Not so easy, when everyone you love lies in the past.
I trust you enjoyed the eggs, gentlemen?
I trust you also enjoyed the other food that's gone missing?
And the knives, forks, spoons,
plates, bowls, bicycles.
Even a frying pan from the dining room.
Anything that isn't nailed down or locked up is likely to disappear.
Yes?
A woman has just come from Windermere about a dog.
What kind of dog? A missing one.
The local community has been very good to us.
Stealing from anyone is completely unacceptable.
But there will be no punishment.
Instead, I will respect you for having the courage to live up
to your responsibilities.
Did you take the dog?
Go and fetch it, please.
Spare the rod and spoil the child.
Unlike carpets, madam...
..children are not improved with beating.
Thank you.
I...am...sorry, madam.
Thank you, Juliusz.
The invitation to a friendly game of football between us
and the locals to foster good relations...
Now might be the time to reconsider.
Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen by Alex Baranowski
In autumn, the weather gets cooler.
Who can say this?
In autumn the weather gets cooler.
Come on, lads. Press-ups.
30.
Rozhinkes Mit Mandlen
Well done.
Good luck in America.
We've always known this moment would come,
but everything is being done to help make
the transition from Windermere as smooth as possible.
Everyone is determined to give each child the opportunity to live
a full and productive life.
We've made sure that every one of them has somewhere to go.
I wish I could say I feel they will be ready to leave.
I feel the same.
Well, what parent ever believes they have done enough to
prepare their children to fly the nest? True.
Yet every forest floor is littered with bodies of young birds
pushed out before they were ready.
We are not pushing them out.
Their departure is carefully planned and equally carefully supported.
Compared to when they arrived, the children are transformed.
Outwardly, aye.
Aye, they're fatter.
Fitter.
They speak some decent English.
But up here...
Who knows?
You must understand, if I had accepted the government's
original offer, we would be sitting on milk crates in a hall
in Bethnal Green talking about ten children, not 300!
We have to accept there is neither a bottomless pit of money
from the community, nor infinite goodwill from the Home Office.
I also want to do more for them.
Six months ago, they lived from one piece of rotting bread to the next.
Many had given up all hope.
Your compassion and skill has set them on their feet.
Because of you...
..they now possess the tools to move on from here
with confidence and hope.
Every day, relationships are forming before our eyes...
And breaking apart. Yes, but this is natural.
They are starting to behave like normal children their age.
In just four months.
It's extraordinary.
I applaud.
I applaud each of you.
Keep up, lads!
Warm up, boys. Gather round.
Keep stretching, lads.
Mr Montefiore?
Mr Montefiore. Have you heard news on my papers yet?
My dear boy, I have started the ball rolling.
The ball?
The ball is in motion.
The wheels are turning.
With a fair wind and the continuous application of elbow grease,
you shall have your papers in your name.
When?
That I can't say.
But I can say...
..eventually...
..welcome to England.
Boot.
Laces.
Fingers.
Hand.
Fist.
Open.
Empty.
Alone.
Family.
Grass.
Green.
Trees.
Green.
England is very green.
Throw in, Calgarth.
I hope you've got your medical bag. It's in the car if I need it.
Nice one, lad! Are you OK?
Tiptop, my dear.
Very tiptop.
Thank you.
So kind.
You're welcome.
That's half-time.
One-all.
Have to hand it to you,
your lads have been brutal but effective.
Haven't they just.
You're doing very well, lads.
Very well indeed.
Individually, you two are a pair of footballing clowns.
But when you work together, you're bloody lethal.
Keep it up.
Same goes for the rest of you - keep those tackles going in.
Might I interject?
Of course.
It's a wonderful performance, boys.
That said, this team that you've been playing so...
..effectively,
they are the children of all those good people.
And without them,
your stay in Windermere would have been impossible.
So perhaps - and this is merely a suggestion,
Mr Lawrence is your coach, of course, not I -
but perhaps you might consider not breaking anyone's legs
in the second half?
In the spirit of friendship.
What do you think, Mr Lawrence?
Aye.
It's a thought.
Excellent.
Well done.
Well, boys, whatever happens, I'm sure you'll do us proud.
He say we lose game?
No, no. No.
What I think he's saying is, sometimes it's less important
to win badly than to lose well.
Lose well?
To achieve something bigger than winning a game of football.
You understand?
Go and tell your team.
Did you see that? He just gave the ball away.
What's that about?
Is it a Jewish thing?
I've got it!
Excuse me!
I am looking for Salek Falinower!
Salek?
I was informed that Salek Falinower was staying here!
No, this can't be.
Salek!
Chiel?
Bread is life.
None understand this better than you.
Amen.
Thank you, Rabbi.
Ladies and gentlemen,
esteemed guest...
After everything you've lost...
..no children deserve to be given the world more than you.
But...
..when you leave here,
don't expect anything.
Don't grab whatever you want from the world
because you feel your suffering entitles you to it.
Earn your place in the world, as you have earned the friendships
you've made here.
In Calgarth,
you have forged a new family,
with brothers and sisters who will be with you
for the rest of your lives.
Take care of one another.
Be proud of who you are,
and what you've overcome.
And even if you struggle with the darkest of thoughts,
be open to the wonders that life can offer.
Especially then.
To you, my dear children...
..l'chaim.
L'chaim!
I felt like living again.
More or less, everything opened up for me.
Erm...
I started feeling like I'm a human being again.
That's what Windermere did to me.
The memories are absolutely indescribable.
After all the hardship and hunger and disease,
good things started in Windermere.
It gave me a lot,
because I made many friends.
This is the most important,
because I was not alone any more.
Windermere is my first home in England...
..which means that I've always got an allegiance to it.
I am a citizen of a state.
I am proud of it.
A lot, a lot.
When I show my British passport, I know who I am.
First of all, we will forever be
grateful for the British Government...
..for giving us the opportunity...
..to go on with our lives.
Give us the opportunity...
..to work here.
We could talk about the past,
talk of our experiences more so than with anybody else.
Although we always have a little bit of a barney as well!
I'm a happy person,
and also...
..I help...try to help my fellow human beings as much as I can.