JUDGE Robert Rinder made a poignant visit to The Lake District Holocaust Project as part of his Who Do You Think You Are? BBC1 documentary to be screened this week.

The popular TV star travelled to Windermere to meet LDHP director, Trevor Avery, to discover more about what happened to his grandfather who was one of 300 child Holocaust Survivors brought to Troutbeck, near Windermere, for a period of recuperation at the end of the Second World War.

Robert’s grandfather, Moishe Malenicky (known as Morris), was sent to a series of concentration camps during the Second World War and finally to Germany, where he was forced to work producing missiles for the German army. His grandfather’s parents and five siblings were sadly killed during the Holocaust.

Tracing his grandfather’s journey to Windermere, Mr Rinder chatted to Mr Avery about the incredible life then given to Morris and all the children, many of whom regard their time in the Lake District as being like ‘paradise’.

“It was an absolute privilege to meet Robert and chat to him about the incredible story of his own grandfather and how he came to stay in Windermere," said Mr Avery. "Each and every one of the stories of the 300 Holocaust survivors is very moving.

"Here at the Lake District Holocaust Project, we are very proud to have established a permanent exhibition telling their story. We are delighted Robert was able to visit us as part of his moving and fascinating Who Do You Think You Are? documentary programme screened on BBC1.”

Mr Rinder, who fronts his own courtroom show on ITV, recently told a national newspaper: “We flew to the Lake District where my grandfather -convalesced in Windermere with a bunch of other Jewish children. It is the most amazing story about what British communities can do for foreign refugees and the gift they gave. My grandfather survived the camps and came to Windermere. It was just an incredible story.

"That programme (Who Do You Think You Are?) was life changing.”