SELECTING EUROPEAN REFUGEE CHILDREN FOR THE PESTALOZZI CHILDREN’S VILLAGE IN 1960

We are excited to have come across a video recording of an interview in Germany in April 1960 with Dr Henry Alexander, co-founder of the British Pestalozzi Children’s Village Trust. This recording is held in the archives of SWR (Südwestrundfunk).

Dr Alexander was visiting Baden-Württemberg to select refugee children from DP camps who could be accepted for care by the British charity. We have long known that “Onkel Alex” was an excellent promoter – and, during this visit, he had the opportunity for a useful bit of publicity on German television.

Two particular points of interest: 1) Why the Pestalozzi charity did not seek UK government funding and 2) The phenomenal generosity of the British public in the 1950s and early 1960s.

To watch the interview (in German), please use this link We have included our own translation of the interview, below.

Our sincere thanks to Vladymir Rogov for bringing this clip to our attention.

Let us know your reactions: got to our Facebook page

TRANSLATION OF INTERVIEW WITH HENRY ALEXANDER

Program: “Abendschau” (Evening Show) – 7^th April 1960

(From the archives of SWR, as displayed on their web page: SWR RETRO)

The following brief conversation occurs before the interview officially started:

SWR Why doesn’t the British Government help?

HA We don’t want their help because there are always strings attached and requirements have to be met.

Interview begins [00:08]

SWR Hello, Dr Alexander. What is the reason for your trip here in Baden-Württemberg?

HA I came here to look for children in need who were stateless and living in refugee camps and who would benefit from an education and living conditions in the English Pestalozzi Village.

I assume that you know about the Swiss Pestalozzi Village in Trogen where we have two English houses for which we are responsible and which we support financially.

We are now building an International Pestalozzi Children’s Village in the county of East Sussex in England. This will be the second International Children’s Village in the world. 

The first children to arrive at Pestalozzi are from camps in this area in which these stateless children lived and which, as I was informed by Dr Lindt¹, was where the greatest need lay. 

Later, we will build other national houses like they have in our sister Village in Trogen, Switzerland where they also hope to have a German house.

I would now like to show you an aerial photo of how our own Children’s Village looks like. It comprises about 70 Hectares and in the middle is the Manor House in which the twenty children we have at present, live.

They are Ukrainian, Polish, Latvian, Russian, and a couple of English children. We also have some coloured children from Jamaica, for instance, as we want to include children from outside of the European sphere, as is in the English tradition. In general these children have acclimatised well which gives us great hope and encouragement for the future.

Here you see the children playing football in front of the Manor House. [Photo of Roman , Jurek and Stachek].

Here you see them having afternoon tea, which is an important part of English life and tradition – even if they are in fact drinking lemonade. [Photo of Roman, Arnolds, Stachek, Leonard, Jurek, Niko and Richard]. That is what life looks like in our village at present’

SWR And so, from which point of view did you select these children?

HA Purely by their need. Only by their Need!

SWR How are these Children’s Villages financed ?

HA Almost exclusively from individual donations. The English public has shown itself to be understanding and generous.. School children and organisations such as women’s institutes collected for us. These donations started when we were looking to send English children to Trogen in Switzerland. Through these donations we now have an annual budget of £50.000² exclusively from public donations. We don’t want financing from the Government.

Interview ends [03:06]

1 Thought to be Augustus R. Lindt, then United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

2 In 2020, this is roughly equivalent to £1.16m – and achieved with nothing like the promotional resources available today!