Edith Bown (née Jacobowitz) and her brother Gerald Jayson (formerly Jacobowitz) escaped Nazi Germany on a Kindertransport. Their final destination of their journey from Berlin to the UK was the Belfast refugee hostel. They were soon placed at the Jewish refugee farm in Millisle, County Down, through the help of their parents' contacts with the Belfast Refugee Aid Committee. Prior to September 1939 the farm used to be a Jewish agricultural training school. With the arrival of the refugees, nursery, health, laundry and kitchen training was added to the agricultural training for girls. New accommodation and workshops had to be built as there were about 80 refugees on the farm at the beginning of the Second World War.
Gerald spent eight years on the farm. Between 1940 and 1944 Gerald went to the public elementary school in Millisle together with the village children. Although Gerald was ten years old he started with the juniors as he could not speak any English. Edith left the farm before her brother to train as a nurse at Newtownards hospital. The farm was disbanded in 1947. Gerald stayed in Northern Ireland for another few years after the war to study at Queen's University Belfast.
Edith Bown gives talks about her experiences in 1938/1939 Berlin to women's groups in the UK.
From the guide to the Gerald Jayson, Edith Bown and Robert Sugar: articles on the Jewish refugee farm Millisle, County Down, Northern Ireland, 1990-2005, (Wiener Library)
