‘Wembley Way’ built by German POWs

‘Wembley Way’ built by German POWs
A recent investigation by BBC Radio 4′s Document programme has revealed that German POWs were employed to work on the redevelopment of the area around Wembley stadium prior to the London Olympics in 1948. Many German POWs were still held captive three years after the end of the Second World War. The last German POWs finally went home in July 1948.
Read the report on the website of the BBC.

Re-opening of Jewish Museum London
The newly redeveloped Jewish Museum London in Camden opened to the public yesterday, March 17th, following its official launch by writer and broadcaster Nigella Lawson and Alan Yentob, Creative Director of the BBC and one of the museum’s patrons, the previous day. Following a £10 million redevelopment programme, partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the museum has tripled its exhibition space. The museum tells the story of Jewish history, culture and religion through audio visual displays, hands on exhibits and personal stories brought to life through objects and photographs.
Jewish Museum London
Raymond Burton House
129-131 Albert Street
Camden Town, London NW1 7NB
www.jewishmuseum.org.uk

Uganda blaze update
We reported, yesterday, on the fire at the Kasubi tombs in Uganda, the burial site for the kings of Uganda’s Baganda tribe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Relations between the Baganda tribe and the central government have recently become increasingly strained and protesters from the tribe have accused the government of involvement in the fire. At least three people have been killed in clashes between protesters from the Baganda ethnic group and government security forces.
The Guardian reports.

New light on concentration camps in Franco’s Spain
During and after the Spanish Civil War, there existed 132 concentration camps and 541 forced labour battalions in Spain. At the beginning of the week, hundreds of files from the camps went on display for the first time at the Historical Memory Document Centre in Salamanca. The files had been hidden in Spanish government archives until the promulgation of the Law of Historical Memory in 2007. They provide a terrifying insight into the fates of as many as 500,000 prisoners, which included Britons, French, Germans, Polish and some Jews. According to the records, when the Huelva concentration camp opened in Andalusia in February 1938 it held 3,202 prisoners; when it closed in July, there were 662 surviving prisoners.
Graham Keeley reports in The Times.

For further information on Franco’s Spain, visit our Spanish History focus page.

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