'One Life' screening at Brewery Arts with guest appearance

In 1945, hundreds of children were freed from concentration camps and brought to Windermere to commence fresh lives.

They inhabited hostels, and with the assistance of a caring network, were then transitioned to various homes across the UK over the space of six months.

The screening of One Life, which is a poignant biographical drama reflecting the true story of a WWII hero, will be introduced by Dr Vivien Sieber, author of Kino and Kinder and granddaughter of the Windermere Kindertransport Hostel warden during WWII.

The screening will take place at 7.30pm and has been organised in unison with the Lake District Holocaust Project and Windermere Library.

Ms Sieber's grandmother, Paula, and her family, who were of Jewish descent, had run a cinema in Vienna which was snatched away by the Nazis, leaving them destitute.

Having fled to England with her son, Paula took care of girls who had been rescued through the Kindertransport in Tynemouth and Windermere.

The film One Life emphasises the noble efforts of Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, a British stockbroker, who committed his life to saving Jewish children from the horrors of the Nazis.

On a December journey to Prague in 1938, Nicky encountered families who had fled the rise of the Nazis in Germany and Austria.

Threatened by impending Nazi invasion, they were living in dire conditions.

He then knew it was a race against time to rescue as many children as he could before the border closed.

Sadly, he later lived haunted by the guilt of the ones he was unable to save.

Yet in 1988, following fifty years laden with guilt and grief, he was wondrously surprised on a live BBC television show, ‘That’s Life', when introduced to some now-adult survivors whom he had saved.

The broadcast marked a turning point in his reconciliation with the past.

Tickets to this historical reflection can be obtained from breweryarts.co.uk or by dialling 01539 725 133.