Just before the outbreak of World War II, a factory owner travelled to Germany to bring back Jewish refugees to live in Welwyn Garden City.

Wim van Leer, owner of General Stampers ltd, returned to our town on January 15, 1939 from Leipzig after negotiating with the Gestapo to free 14 young people, many from the concentration camps.

The Dutch engineer van Leer went by himself to the German town, shortly before Kristallnacht in November 1938, and was supported in his efforts by a committee of Welwyn Garden City locals.

The Society of Friends was formed by one of the founders of Welwyn Garden City Captain Richard Reiss, a Liberal then Labour MP, student Edgar Reissner who was at King’s College, London and Quaker Geoffrey Edwards.

They then welcomed home the refugees at Applecroft Hostel, which was used to house the refugees fleeing the Holocaust.

Sam Ostro, one of the refugees who ended up working in van Leer's factory, told the WGC Heritage Trust: "We did war work, small pressings, die-casting, etc. etc.

"The chap who worked there somehow managed to get me. I was not interned because we were classed as enemy aliens and for some reason he managed to get me exempted because I suppose, he put down ‘most important chap, war work, etc, etc.’ I assume".

Another of the refugee's Peter Zander, who died in 2019 at the age of 96, went on to become a Welwyn Hatfield Times reporter.

He said in 2010: "I think it was extremely courageous of Wim van Leer, as a Jew, to enter Germany at that murderous time, and to negotiate with the Gestapo – the secret state police – for the release of ‘the boys’ from concentration camp.

"I went back to Germany 1946-48 with the Save the Children Fund, British Red Cross Commission, UNRRA, to work with refugee children, DP’s and East Germans, as Relief Officer, in a children’s home in Schleswig Holstein, and in the huge bunkers, air raid shelters, in Brunswick."

Van Leer died in the 1990s, after marrying Lia van Leer, with whom he created the Haifa Cinematheque, the Israel Film Archive, the Jerusalem Film Festival and Israel's first film archive; the Jerusalem Cinematheque.

Both Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council and Hertsmere are holding virtual services for Holocaust Memorial Day.

WHBC took place at 11am, which you can view below.

The Hertsmere webcast will be online at 6.30 pm here.