Lord Weidenfeld, who fled the Nazis as a refugee and in turn helped Christians escape ISIS, has died. The 96-year-old founded Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1949, publishing authors such as Isaiah Berlin and Vladimir Nabokov, the company later became part of Hachette UK. Later he also published the memoirs of St John Paul II.
George Weidenfeld was born in Austria in 1919 to a Jewish family and fled to Britain following the Anschluss with just a few shillings in his pocket, later working for the BBC. Knighted in 1969, he was created a life peer in 1976 and was involved in philanthropic activities throughout his life.
Last year Lord Weidenfeld funded a scheme, Operation Safe Havens, which aims to help Syrian Christians fleeing violence at the hands of ISIS. In July the first phase saw 150 people flown by privately chartered plane from Syria to Poland, with the permission of both the Polish government and Syria’s Assad regime. The fund aims to offer 12 to 18 months of paid support to the refugees.
After fleeing the Nazi takeover of his homeland, Weidenfeld was taken in by the Plymouth Brethren, a nonconformist group. Many of the Jewish refugees who fled to Britain were cared for by Christian groups, expecting Quakers prominent. Among those who welcomed Jewish children were Margaret Thatcher’s Methodist parents.
Speaking to The Times last year, Lord Weidenfeld said: “I had a debt to repay. It applies to so many young people who were on the Kindertransport. It was Quakers and other Christian denominations who brought those children to England. It was a very high-minded operation and we Jews should also be thankful and do something for the endangered Christians.
“The primary objective is to bring the Christians to safe havens. ISIS is unprecedented in its primitive savagery compared with the more sophisticated Nazis. When it comes to pure lust for horror and sadism, they are unprecedented. There never was such scum as these people.”
Lord Weidenfeld was created a Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire in 2011.
Vatican official says Britain is better off inside the EU
Britain would be better off inside the European Union, the Vatican’s British “foreign minister” has said. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, who was raised in Liverpool, told ITV: “We respect the ultimate decision of the British people, that’s for the British electorate to decide. We would see [Brexit] as not something that would make a stronger Europe. Better in than out.”
The Vatican Secretary of State for Relations, colloquially referred to as the Holy See’s foreign minister, also spoke about his weekly meetings with Pope Francis, who he said was “extremely courteous, he always greets you, has a kind word. He’s quite self-deprecating.”
Speaking about the migrant crisis facing Europe, he said: “No one is doing enough – one of the important things is that the EU has got to work together on this.” He also criticised Donald Trump, saying his call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration was “very shocking”.
Archbishop Gallagher confided that when he first arrived in Rome as a young man he had never been on an aeroplane “or eaten a bowl of spaghetti”, and it took him three weeks to get used to the idea.
Nuns’ artwork to go on display
Artwork once belonging to religious Sisters in East Sussex is now on display at Chester Cathedral. The Royal School of Needlework is hosting an exhibition at the cathedral entitled “For Worship and Glory”. At the heart of the exhibition are six Litany of Loreto pieces – of unknown authorship – donated to the school by nuns of the Convent of the Holy Child in Mayfield, East Sussex. The exhibition runs from Wednesday until February 28.
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