BACHAD Research

Following the violent pogroms of Kristallnacht (9-10 November, 1938), all but two of Bachad's hachsharot (Gehringshof and Steckelsdorf) were closed - and these only continued under very restricted conditions under the tight supervision of the Gestapo. Jews were trying to flee Germany as never before. The situation was exacerbated by the British White Paper of 1939, which massively restricted the immigration quota for Jews allowed in to Palestine at this particularly crucial time. Jewish leaders, along with some from the Christian community, including a significant number of Quakers, began putting pressure on the British Government to 'do something'! A number of schemes resulted, later collectively known as the Kindertransport, by which the British government granted entry to around 10,000 unaccompanied children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. This development was of particular interest to Bachad and also to another organisation with whom it had been cooperating since the mid-1930s: the Youth Aliyah Organisation.

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Bachad leader, Arieh Handler, who had previously been granted permission by the Gestapo to travel to the various hachsharah farms (including to Bachad's centres elsewhere in Europe), happened to be out of the country (in Jerusalem, in fact) when Kristallnacht took place. He received a telegram informing him of the violence and arrests that had taken place and was told not to come back under any circumstances! At the suggestion of Henrietta Szold, Arieh proceeded to London with letters of introduction to key figures in the Jewish community. There, from an office in Woburn House, close to the hub of the Refugee Movement in London, he set about networking and organising. The need to find placements for Orthodox children amongst the 10,000 children permitted to enter the U.K. via the Kindertransport schemes from early 1939 tested Handler's organisational skills to the limit - he was determined to provide places of refuge (ideally, hachsharah training farms) for as many of the children from observant families as possible. 

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The most famous and largest hachsharah over which Bachad had some, but not complete autonomy in terms of management, was Grwych Castle, Abergele, North Wales (August 1939 -1941) - more recently in the limelight due to it having been used as the venue for 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here'! Conditions were very grim to begin with, as the place had been uninhabited for many years! Another hachsharah formed early on was at Gorman's Farm, Millisle, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. A number of Bachad members who had previously been on hachsharah in Germany ended up there.

Bachad's first hachsharah in the UK was in fact Thornham Fold Farm, set up with the help of the Manchester Jewish community in February1939. It was located near Castleton, Rochdale, on very exposed land overlooking the city. Again, conditions were extremely spartan. One of those billeted there recalled that he'd woken up one morning to find snow on his bed! Mercifully, this ceased to be a hachsharah in 1942.

By this time, a few other hachsharot had been established: St. Asaph, Ruthin and Rosset (all in Flintshire, N. Wales);  Kynnersley, Shropshire, Maidsmoreton, Buckingham and Avoncroft College, Bromsgrove. These took in members from the hachsharot that were closing (Gwrych Castle (1942); Whittingehame, East Lothian (1941);  Later on, hachsharot were established at Ollerton and Dockenfield. Nearly all these places served as accommodation bases for the members - run like mini-kibbutzim - from which agricultural work (on-the-job training) was found with local farmers. Not only were members working towards their goal of eventually getting to Eretz Israel, but they had the satisfaction of knowing that they were contributing to the important task of wartime food production! (That's if they'd managed to avoid being interned as 'Enemy Aliens'!)

 

Arieh Handler was hatching a grander plan, however. What Bachad needed, was a farm of its own, which could be run exactly in line with Bachad's religious ideals. For this, Arieh needed the help of some well-established businessmen! To achieve this, he set up the Bachad Fellowship in 1942, and appointed as chairman, Oscar Philipp (co-owner of the international metals company, Philipps Brothers). This over-seeing committee set about fund-raising and garnering the support of the Jewish community, including the Chief Rabbi. At long last, in September 1944, they purchased a run-down farm at Thaxted, Essex, which soon became Bachad's 'flagship' hachsharah -  The Bachad Farm Institute. In addition to training Bachad members for Aliyah, it was a place to which many groups in the Jewish community came to visit. It also inspired many members of Bachad's junior movement, Bnei Akiva, to come, firstly to attend harvesting camps or annual meetings (Pegishot), but then, when they were old enough, to join the hachsharah and prepare for Aliyah to one of the by-now well-established religious kibbutzim in Israel.

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In addition to the hachsharot, December 1941 saw the opening of the Merkaz Limmud (study centre) in Manchester. The idea was that selected members of the hachsharot would be sent there for a period of three months' study - sometimes more. Some of the girls were sent there to do the cooking and cleaning!

Below are a few photographs of the hachsharah farm at Thaxted: