Chelsea FC to partner RAF Museum to tell Jewish veterans' stories

An appeal for the hidden stories of Jewish RAF personnel from the second world war is being backed by the Chelsea FC owner, Roman Abramovich, as part of the club’s challenge to antisemitism.

The club’s Chelsea Foundation has joined the RAF Museum in a call to Jewish RAF veterans, their children and grandchildren, to share their wartime experiences for an online project, Hidden Heroes, to coincide with the 80^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain next year.

The partnership will be launched at the match between Chelsea and Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on 4 December, which will be attended by three Jewish RAF veterans, including Alfred Huberman, 96, a rear gunner on a Lancaster with Bomber Command.

The Hidden Heroes project is part of Chelsea’s Say No to Antisemitism campaign, launched in January 2018 following the rise of antisemitic incidents across Europe.

“Six percent of the entire Jewish population in the UK – about 20,000 people – joined the RAF,” said historian and author Joshua Levine, an ambassador for the RAF Museum.

“Jews are often seen as victims of the war. But they joined up in their droves. And they joined up at the sharp end. So there are so many stories,” he added.

Huberman, born in east London, joined at 18, and survived 38 sorties with Bomber Command. “I couldn’t get there fast enough,” he said.

Bomber Command had a high casualty rate. “Out of 100,000, 50,000 were killed, including a lot of my friends,” said the grandfather and great grandfather.

They were asked if they wanted “Jew” as their religion on their dog tag. For those shot down who fell into Nazi hands, the peril of this was obvious to all.

“But I wanted to wear it. I was born a Jew and I wanted to die a Jew,” said Huberman, who has regularly suffered nightmares of his war-time experience.

He never told his parents he was in active service, allowing his mother to believe he was in training, “because the losses were so high, I thought it better not to tell them”.

As a rear, or tail, gunner on a Lancaster, he was particularly vulnerable to enemy fighter planes. He recalled on his last sortie he shot down an enemy fighter, “And he went down in flames, I was even horrified myself that he died in that manner. But, he was trying to get me,” he recalled.

After the war, he attended St Martin’s school of art, then worked as a fashion manufacturer. He has refused to fly in a plane ever since.

Bruce Buck, Chelsea FC chairman, said the RAF Museum partnership was Abramovich’s idea. “With the power of football, the power of sport, we can help publicise this project. Just like the Holocaust survivors, the RAF veterans are also getting quite old now. Hopefully we can find a few stories that are hidden.

“It’s part of our efforts in fighting antisemitism, and we hope that with all of our activities over the long term, that we will be able to move the needle a bit,” he added.

The RAF played a crucial part in the defeat of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, preventing the Nazis from invading. Jewish volunteers joined from all over the world to fight, fully aware they risked torture and execution if captured.

Maggie Appleton, CEO of the RAF Museum, which is based in Colindale, north London and Cosford, in Shropshire, said: “By highlighting their stories, we want to play our part in calling out the rise in antisemitism – and wider racism – in our society.”

• Those wishing to contribute to the exhibition can do so through the RAF Museum website at rafstories@rafmuseum.org or on 01902 376237