Community Stories: Temporary Buildings

In 2017 the Flourish project recorded stories of the local community, reflecting the multi-cultural heritage surrounding the buildings at Chiltern Open Air Museum. It was supported by Arts Council England.

Amanda McFeeters explains why she feels a close connection to the Nissen Hut

“The South Bucks Jewish community are a community without a permanent building of our own, so we felt an immediate connection with the temporary nature of the Nissen Hut at Chiltern Open Air Museum (although I am pleased to add that we have regular use of a warm, brick built hall for our usual Shabbat services!)

Of course, any war-time building rouses other emotions in us. Many Jewish families were evacuated from London to Amersham in World War II. There are stories of Shabbat services being held in all sorts of places, including a disused railway carriage!

We were pleased to hold a Shabbat service on 1st April 2017, in the Nissen hut, at Chiltern Open Air Museum. At the service we remembered the soldiers who served in our armed forces, and those who suffered in the concentration camps as we read a letter (below) sent by an army Chaplain, Rev. I. Levy, to Jewish soldiers in the days leading up to the festival of Passover in 1944.”

Image credit: Vivien and Deborah Samson (The Rabbi in the Green Jacket: Memories of Jewish Buckinghamshire 1939-1945)

Recording the memories of local people connected to the buildings and objects at the Museum has continued through our Heritage Stories project. If you have a heritage story you’d like to add to the Chiltern Open Air Museum archive, visit our Heritage Stories page.