The Schwab and Westheimer Trusts

Walter and Liesel Schwab

Walter Schwab was born in the UK, the son of German Jewish immigrants who came before the First World War. His mother chaired the welfare committee of the Jewish Refugee Committee before the Second World War- she worked day and night to get Jews out of Germany, and Walter helped her until he volunteered for the army in 1939. Liesel Schwab was herself a refugee from Nazi Germany, arriving aged 22 in 1937. She was much helped and generously supported by strangers and friends alike in Birmingham and London. Her own brother was a child refugee who arrived in 1938, so she knew the trauma and stress leaving home and family could cause. Both Walter and Liesel Schwab had sufficient personal experiences to empathise with present day refugees and asylum seekers, and they believed passionately in helping people who were poor, disadvantaged, and/or unpopular. So the Schwab Trust was set up in their name, to help support and educate young refugees and asylum seekers, in the spirit of their own lives.

Ilse Westheimer

Ilse Westheimer was born in Frankfurt, Germany.  Her father was a shoe manufacturer and gave an annual gift of shoes to a local orphanage, even when his business was suffering at the hands of the Nazis, and Ilse inherited from him her dedication to help others.  She arrived in London in May 1939, just before the Second World War broke out, a few months before her 18th birthday, and was fortunate to obtain a work visa.  She made many friends, who also gave her practical help. Despite her lack of formal qualifications and shortage of funding, she eventually succeeded in becoming a very successful social worker, and trainer of social workers.  Shortly before she died, she read about the Schwab Trust, and after meeting Baroness Neuberger, decided that the Westheimer Trust should be run in conjunction with the Schwab Trust.