Jewish Museum London is now delivering our learning programmes and collections displays in the community & around the UK. Come and visit us at Swiss Cottage Library from 7 March to 4 April.

Stories of Volunteers

In this article I want to introduce you to some people volunteered in different contexts. I am a volunteer for the museum myself and I took this as an inspiration to share stories about volunteering from the collection. These people decided to contribute their time and energy to a cause they supported.

Dora Shuster

The first person I want to introduce you to is Dora Shuster. The picture already suggests how she supported a cause: she went fundraising. The box in her hands is inscribed with Hebrew letters which say “Jewish Hospital Fund” in Yiddish. The collected money supported the establishment of the London Jewish Hospital. It had been a vision of Jewish immigrants to build their own hospital which would fulfil their needs like kosher food and Yiddish speaking nurses and doctors. Dora’s parents were leading figures in the realisation of the plans. The campaign started in 1907. The picture of Dora was taken in 1913 by the famous Jewish photographer Isaac Perkoff. At first, the progress was very slow but eventually it became more successful. This was due to fundraisers like Dora and all the people who decided to donate a bit of their money to the hospital. Eventually, building work was able to start in 1915, and the hospital opened its doors in 1919.

But, Dora continued to be active in the hospital and she later became known as “Lady Almoner”. This title suggests that she was still responsible for the welfare of the patients. Especially, in contexts like hospitals where people are most vulnerable, it is good to have a friendly face who looks after your welfare.

 

This is Betty Vines when she was about 18 years old. The picture was taken in Shenley, Hertfordshire during Betty’s break. Break from what, you may ask. Betty took a break from hay-making because she was part of the Women’s Land Army. The WLA was essential for Britain’s food supply during the Second World War. Before the war, most of Britain’s food was imported and little was grown and harvested in UK itself. Due to the war, a lot of food did not reach the country, and the necessity to grow food in the country occurred. But, the business of agriculture was male dominated and most of men joined the armed forces. Hence, women had to help out. The WLA was re-established in June 1939. It was originally founded during World War One. By autumn 1941 over 20,000 women had joined the WLA. From December 1941, the WLA was also able to conscript women for land work.

The WLA advertised the work as “a healthy, happy job” which attracted many women from cities. Sadly, our records do not show from where Betty joined the WLA. The women did all kind of work, varying from rat catching, hay making, land reclamation to work on dairy farms.

Although, they did the same hard work as men they were paid less. Moreover, the workers did not get holidays but a free travel pass after six months of work. However, this changed after 1943 with the introduction of the “Land Girls Charter” which improved the conditions and introduced one week of holiday a year and a minimum wage.

 

And that is me. My name is Mona, I am 19 years old and I am a volunteer of the Jewish Museum London. I am here with the organisation Action Reconciliation-Service for Peace, and I have been in London since last September. I support the learning team of the museum and help to create content and workshops for the general public and schools. I volunteer for the museum four days a week.

My year started remotely – I was in London but due to the high number of Covid19 cases the museum had to remain closed. Still, there was work to do and I wrote several newsletters about objects in our collection, varying from a wedding picture of a GI bride to various parks in London to an Auschwitz-prisoner’s uniform. Further, I was able to record two Object Talks: one about a ceramic model of an Auschwitz model made by survivor Leon Greenman. The other one focused on the 45’ aid society, an organisation which was established by the Boys to support each other and to contribute to society.

When I arrived, my knowledge about Judaism was very little, but I can happily say that I have learnt a whole lot during this year. I supported the Life with Loss school project which deals with universal feelings of loss and grief while focusing on the story of Solly Irving, who was the sole survivor of his family. His family is now funding this amazing project. Another project in which I am involved is the Teaching Inclusive Judaism project, whose aim it is to make teaching about Judaism more divers. Therefore, we have been creating an image library with funding from Culham St. Gabriels. The image library will be a platform on which various Jewish communities and individuals can share their stories and voices. Teachers are then able to learn more about various communities and to download pictures to use them while teaching.

This is just a small insight in all the projects I was able to support this year, and all of it was super interesting and I have been able to learn so much. I am very grateful that I had this opportunity. Big thanks to the Jewish Museum. Sadly, my placement is coming to an end in August.

However, I enjoyed volunteering a lot and it is something everyone should try. If you have the capacity to volunteer, find an organisation and a cause you want to support. You will gain unique experiences, learn more and meet new and interesting people.