Sixty-five years ago a group of Jewish "youngsters" were rescued from the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany by Richmonders William B.
Thalhimer and Morton G. Thalhimer. 

This little-known story of rescue by means of land ownership in America is a most remarkable but little-known chapter in Holocaust history.  A reunion of those "youngsters", took place in Richmond on Sept. 10 and 11, and included a visit to Hyde Park Farm, the farm in Nottaway County., which was known as "Hyde Farmland" when the Thalhimer cousins purchased it in 1938 in the names of the Buchenwald inmates.

The original group of 35 young German Jewish men and women, between the ages of 17 and 25, had been enrolled in what became the last class at  Gross Breesen,  a program preparing them to become farmers in Brazil.  On Nov. 9, 1938, Kristallnacht, all of the boys and men were sent to Buchenwald, and the Gross Breesen enterprise came to an end.  Previous groups trained at Gross Breesen had already established farming communities in Kenya and Argentina.  Such agricultural training programs for young Jews, with Zionist and non-Zionist destinations, known as Hachshara's, had sprung up all over Europe in response to the Nazi threat to
Jewish existence there. 

Five of the original group who settled on Hyde Farmland were able to attend the reunion: Ernst Cramer [Berlin], Kenneth Herman [NY], Hans Georg Hirsch [MD], Eva Loew [CT] , and George Landecker [NY] who organized this as well as previous reunions.  In addition, two others who were in the last Gross Breesen group but emigrated elsewhere attended: Herbert Cohn [Australia] and Ann Strauss [FL].  Some came with spouses or children and grandchildren or both.  Ilse Stein, the widow of a Hyde Farmlander, attended, as did Michael Caplan, Ginger Marr and Ken Gordon, the children of deceased Hyde Farmlanders.  The reunion program included a showing of Michael Caplan's documentary film about Gross Breesen which is scheduled to air on PBS stations in May, 2005.  

Reunion activities were joined by Charles Thalhimer, and his wife Sybil.  Charles, son of William Thalhimer, recalled driving his father to Washington in 1938 to meet with a high government official to make arrangements for the rescue. 

After a tour of the Virginia Holocaust Museum, which includes a Hyde Farmland exhibit, William Thalhimer III, his wife Sallie, and Elizabeth and Ryan Smartt, and Morton Thalhimer, Jr. joined the entourage of cars to Hyde Park Farm. They were also joined by Dianna Gabay and Harold and Inge W. Horowitz who had helped with local arrangements for the reunion. Anne Scott, owner the farm since 1948, welcomed the returnees and participated in hosting lunch on the lawn. 

On the evening of September 11, the Hyde Farmlanders  joined  a meeting
of The Richmond Eric M. Warburg Chapter of the American Council on Germany.  Ernst Cramer, one of the original group, and now senior writer for Springer Publications and chairman of the board of the Axel Springer Foundation in Germany,  addressed approximately 100 attendees.  His address, It All Began in Virginia: Looking Back over 65 Years of Transatlantic Relations was recorded and will be available for viewing at the Virginia Holocaust Museum.