For many children from Germany rescued with Kindertransports, the Villa Johanna in Middelkerke and the Herbert Speyer and Général Bernheim homes in Brussels were the first places at which they arrived. The holiday colony Villa Johanna in Middelkerke, a holiday resort on the North Sea, was founded in 1901 on the initiative of Leopold and Johanna Hirsch from Brussels. Here, children from poor Jewish families could spend their holidays.
From 20 December 1938 to 20 February 1939, the Comité d’Assistance aux Enfants Juifs réfugiés (Assistance Committee to Jewish Refugee Children, CAEJR) rented the villa for Kindertransport children from Germany. Among the first guests were the children from the Dinslaken Orphanage. After staying in Middelkerke for a holiday, the children were then accommodated with relatives or, from February 1939, in the Herbert Speyer or Général Bernheim homes, which had been specially set up for Kindertransport children.
The Herbert Speyer home was located in a building in the Anderlecht district of Brussels. Only boys were accommodated in the house which was owned by the organisation Foyer des Orphelins. This home had been caring for Belgian orphans since the First World War. The organisation provided the CAEJR not only with the building but also with staff. The director of the home was Gaspard Dewaay. The children were not taught in the home but went to the surrounding schools in Anderlecht.
Herbert Speyer, after whom the home was named, was a well-known lawyer, a long-standing member of the Foyer des Orphelins and a founding member of the Comité d’Aide et d’Assistance aux Victimes de l’Antisémitisme en Allemagne (Committee for Aid and Assistance to the Victims of Antisemitism in Germany, CAAVAA).
The Général Bernheim home was located in Zuen near Brussels. It had been founded and was maintained by the CAEJR. The director of the home was Elka Frank. Just like the boys in Anderlecht, the girls in this home also attended the surrounding schools. Some girls moved from there to their relatives or found shelter in foster families. For others, Belgium was a transit country and they soon travelled on. Louis Bernheim, after whom the home was named, was a highly decorated commander of the Belgian army during the First World War.
Until May 1940, 87 German and Austrian boys lived in the Speyer home. 15 of them came to Belgium with the Dinslaken Orphanage Kindertransport. The Général Bernheim home accommodated about 40 girls.
After the German invasion, the directors of the orphanages decided to flee to southern France together with the children. Their flight came to an end after several days in the small village of Seyre in the Haute-Garonne. AP