Community
Time to say a fond farewell to London’s Jewish Museum after 28 years in Camden
The late pop star Amy Winehouse’s dad, Mitch, leads tributes to the Camden museum as it closes its doors
July 27, 2023 12:05
The late pop star Amy Winehouse’s dad, Mitch, leads tributes to the Camden museum as it closes its doors
July 27, 2023 12:05Amy Winehouse’s father has paid tribute to the Jewish Museum in Camden, which will close on Sunday, telling the JC that it “was a place for us to show everyone who the real Amy was”.
Mitch Winehouse said he would be “forever grateful” to the museum for holding the exhibition Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait in 2017. “It was a place for us to show everyone who the real Amy was as a daugher, granddaughter, sister and real person, right near where she lived and grew up.”
He added that the exhibition being housed in the Jewish Museum meant it was “connected to her roots”.
Mitch is among many members of the community who feel a strong attachment to the museum, which opened on Albert Street in 1994 and will now seek new premises.
Bob Kirk, 98, a Kindertransport refugee originally from Hanover in Germany, was one of a group of volunteer speakers. "It’s a wonderful and special place. I could spend days in any museum, but particularly this one,” he said.
Visitors at the Jewish Museum (Photo: Benedict Johnson Photography)
“For me, the museum’s History of the East End section is especially resonant, being a first generation immigrant.”
He has “so many” positive memories of the Albert Street museum, which he says is “done extremely well and is a very well organised use of space”.
Bob took part as a volunteer guide in the Remembering the Kindertransport: 80 Years on exhibit in 2018.
He has most enjoyed his work educating young people, which he has done extensively since the early 1990s.
“Each time is different, but I am always excited by their excitement at being at a museum on a schoolday.
“The questions you get from them can be quite amazing.”
He said it was “very important” for there to be a museum dedicated to Jewish life and culture in London. “The Jewish community is a very important, integrated, and vibrant part of London life. Its history and background need to be preserved.”
The then Prince Charles with the museum's former director Rickie Burman (Photo: Handout)
