Mayor of Barnet pays tribute to the “amazing achievement” of the founders of a welcoming home for overseas students  

A small village community of flats and bungalows established by two Holocaust survivors has provided a home over the decades for hundreds of students from all over the world – an achievement celebrated with a visit by the Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Tony Vourou.

Barnet Overseas Students Housing Association, which is based at Nansen Village in Woodside Park, will be celebrating its 55^th anniversary next year, to the great delight and satisfaction of the surviving co-founder Charlotte Weinberg.

Charlotte, who is 94, and her late husband Kurt — who was rescued by the Kindertransport – began a life-time mission to welcome and help provide accommodation for foreign students staying in London, first by hosting students in their home and then by building the village in Woodside Avenue. 

Their dream was to create a community where overseas students arriving in London could live together while completing their university studies – a vision which Councillor Vourou said had become the couple’s lasting achievement.

Councillor Zahra Beg, chair of the Nansen Village trustees (above, left) joined the mayor and Charlotte, who is 94.

Councillor Beg is a ward councillor in Underhill and Barnet’s cabinet member for equalities and the voluntary and community sector.

She said that once Kurt and Charlotte began looking after students from around the world, they marvelled at the sense of togetherness generated by young people from different religions and cultures sharing their lives.

“We know there are generation after generation of students who tell us they won’t ever forget their time living here at Nansen village – a legacy from the dream of Kurt and Charlotte that is continually being taken forward.

“As trustees we have tried to ensure that the focus of the founders stays true and that a community from diverse backgrounds can come together and share that experience.”

Brian Trainor (above, far left), chief executive of the housing association, took the mayor on a guided tour of the village which was established on what was once the site of two Victorian houses and which is named after Fridtjof Nansen, the explorer, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

With the help of a grant from the British Council, two blocks of flats and some bungalows in the gardens were constructed in the late 1960s and in 1971 the first tenants moved into the first 66 homes to be completed.

Currently there are 130 students in residence, 35 of whom have families with children. Since its opening, 380 children have been born to parents at the village.

The majority of students are currently from South America and the Middle and Far East.

The housing association is organised on a non-profit basis and rents are kept as low as possible to accommodate students on low incomes, with or without children (under the age of eight).

Laila Kasuri, who is in the second year of a PhD at Imperial College, expressed thanks on behalf of the students residing in the village and congratulated Charlotte and Kurt on what they had been achieved.

She and her husband — and their two children aged five and two – were originally from Pakistan and had moved to London from Canada so that she could complete her studies in water governance.

“I am so grateful as a young parent for all the support I get at Nansen Village. The community here is very special.

“Last year we had a visitor at our bungalow from California. He said he was two when he lived in the very same house.

“He was the child of a PhD student then living at Nansen and said his childhood in the village was the best five years of his life. 

“Apparently, he was always in the playground and the sandpit. My children are often out there too. All the children know one another socially and together we all have such a rich social life.”

After being congratulated by the mayor for all she had done to encourage students from different cultures and religions to live together, Charlotte said she did feel proud of what she and Kurt had achieved given all the troubles in the today’s world.

“I often wonder what so many of the students who have lived here are doing now.

“Our aim is to give them a sense of security, especially when facing life in a big city and we hope they have taken the name of Nansen Village around the world.

“People who survived the Holocaust don’t forget the support that we were given, and that ethos became our driving force.”