The Saved and the Spurned: Northern Ireland, Vienna and the Holocaust

Noel Russell is a journalist and TV producer, and author of a compelling new book , The Saved and the Spurned (2024). For months before the Second World War, hundreds of persecuted Jews, mainly from Nazi-occupied Vienna, tried to escape to Northern Ireland. They had learned of a scheme to tackle the region’s unemployment by financially supporting skilled professionals to create local jobs. Almost all applicants were rejected, and more than 125 of these men, women and children were murdered in the Holocaust. Noel tells us what happened to those families who came to Northern Ireland – and to those who did not – and how local activists saved several refugees.