Joan Valentine Stiebel MBE (23 April 1911 – 25 January 2007) was a relief worker in England, from before the Second World War. She was posthumously recognised as a

British Hero of the Holocaust The British Hero of the Holocaust award is a special national award given by the government of the United Kingdom in recognition of British citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. On 9 March 2010, it was awarded to 25 individ ...

. Joan Stiebel was born on 23 April 1911 in Walton-on-Thames,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England. The daughter of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

parents, Ernest Arthur Stiebel and Valentine Evelyn Mary Amelia Pender, she became increasingly active in Jewish affairs after becoming a secretary to Otto Schiff, in 1933. In 1939, after Schiff and others had formed what today is called World Jewish Relief, Stiebel was appointed to that organisation full-time. After the end of World War II, Stiebel was responsible for making travel arrangements to bring 1,000 underaged Jewish

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

orphans to the United Kingdom. The children came to be known in the press as 'the Boys', and her involvement with them continued throughout her lifetime. She was also instrumental in the formation of Jewish Child's Day in 1947. In 1958 she was appointed as the United Kingdom-based joint secretary of World Jewish Relief. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1978 for her lifetime of service to Jewish refugees. After retiring from World Jewish Relief in 1979, she was recruited by the Wiener Library to assist in establishing their Endowment Fund. She continued this ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

'' work until her permanent retirement in 1989. Stiebel died in London on 25 January 2007. In May 2019, the British Government honoured Stiebel with the

award.

References

External links

World Jewish Relief websiteJewish Child's Day Charity websiteThe Wiener Library website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stiebel, Joan V. 1911 births 2007 deaths People from Walton-on-Thames Members of the Order of the British Empire British Heroes of the Holocaust