Introduction
Wilfrid Israel (1899-1943) was a wealthy German retailer, who used his business as a cover to bring thousands of Jewish children to Britain in the run-up to the Second World War, saving them from ‘deportation, extermination and annihilation’ - words thought too melodramatic at the time, but only too accurate.
EVEN before the Nazis came to power in 1933, Wilfrid Israel was helping Jews escape to Britain, America and the British Mandate for Palestine.*
As manager of a flagship Berlin department store, Wilfrid had a peculiar kind of influence. After the SS arrested some of his employees during Kristallnacht on 9th November, 1938, Wilfrid secured their release by offering the commander at the Sechsenhausen camp free shopping over Christmas.
Wilfrid’s report on the camps, passed covertly to Herbert Samuel in London, led directly to the Kindertransport, which smuggled some ten thousand Jewish children to Britain. In 1939 he followed them, advising British Intelligence and the Foreign Office on refugees and resistance movements, and widening his operations to include Spain and Portugal.
On a flight home from Lisbon on June 1st, 1943, his plane was shot down over the Bay of Biscay.** But this secretive man, whose struggle had been ‘to reach out and touch the world’, had already saved it, ten thousand times over.*
The State of Israel was not founded until 1948. The Mandate was created by the League of Nations in 1922 from what had been Ottoman Syria, with the express purpose of providing a homeland for Jewish people at some stage. See British Mandatory Palestine.
** On the same plane was actor Leslie Howard, who had been doing war-work in Spain and Portugal. See Leslie Howard.
See also Wilfrid Israel Museum (Kibbutz Hazorea, Israel); and The Kindertransport Association.
Précis
Wilfrid Israel was a German retailer who used his Berlin store as a cover for helping Jews escape Nazi Germany. Working with the British authorities, he brought some ten thousand children across the Channel. He relocated to England during the war to continue his work, but died in 1943 when his plane was shot down as it returned from Portugal. (60 / 60 words)
Wilfrid Israel was a German retailer who used his Berlin store as a cover for helping Jews escape Nazi Germany. Working with the British authorities, he brought some ten thousand children across the Channel. He relocated to England during the war to continue his work, but died in 1943 when his plane was shot down as it returned from Portugal.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, may, or, otherwise, since, until, whereas, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Child. During. They.
2 Commander. Employee. Secretive.
3 Foreign. Movement. Which.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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