Although its main aim was to re-unite the refugee children with their parents, as the war continued and news of the persecution and mass murder of the Jews reached the United Kingdom, it became apparent this was becoming increasingly unlikely. These records from Vienna may also been found at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem (CAHJP). The Wiener Holocaust Library does not hold a comprehensive list of Kindertransportees, yet many of our document collections refer to the Kindertransport. Those Kinder not fortunate enough to have contacts within Britain stayed in hostels, lodgings or holiday camps. Almost 10,000 children were transported to the UK through this program. The Kindertransport Association is a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization.Copyright 2023 Kindertransport Association. The ferry carrying the children arrived in Harwich at 5:30am on 2 December 1938. This collection was indexed by World Memory Project contributors from the digitized holdings of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, RG-59.075: Selected records relating to Kindertransport from the National Archives, UK. files, and consists of a mixture of German departure and English arrival At school, the English children would often view the refugee children as "enemy Germans" instead of "Jewish refugees". In her novel about the Kindertransport titled The Children of Willesden Lane, Mona Golabek describes how often the children who had no families left were forced to leave the homes that they had gained during the war in boarding houses in order to make room for younger children flooding the country. Central British Fund for German Jewry, re-named Central Council for Jewish Refugees in 1939, Movement for the Care of Children from Germany, re-named Refugee Childrens Movement in 1939, Childrens Inter-aid committee (which involved the Save the Children Fund), British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia. The last transport from the Netherlands left for Britain on May 14, 1940, the same day that the Dutch army surrendered to German forces. They were spurred by British public opinion and the persistent efforts of refugee aid committees. Print. [35][36][37][38] Between 1939 and 1941, 160 children without foster families were sent to the Whittingehame Farm School in East Lothian, Scotland. (Hansard, 21 November 1938)", "Kindertransport, Jewish children leave Prague Collections Search United States Holocaust Memorial Museum", "Kindertransport | About Us | World Jewish Relief Charity", "The Winton Children: The roles of Trevor Chadwick and Bill Barazetti". 1997 from Ms. Suzy Goldstein of the USHMM Collections Department. The last transport from the continent with 74 children left on the passenger-freighter SS Bodegraven[nl; de] on 14 May 1940, from IJmuiden, Netherlands. This is not a complete list of all the children rescued from Nazi occupied Europe, but the records give a unique insight into the experience of the Kinder from their arrival, between 1938 and 1939, to the end of WWII. What are the advantages of running a power tool on 240 V vs 120 V? This was to ensure that those children who arrived in Britain to escape Nazi persecution would continue to be supported. Why is it shorter than a normal address? No limit upon the permitted number of refugees was ever publicly announced. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. The children were selected by Jewish organisations in Germany and placed in foster homes and orphanages in Sweden.[22]. Other ports in England receiving the children included Dover.[23][24]. It was typically the case that children were told to write whilst on the journey and that postcards were collected from them at a certain point and sent. In September 1939 the Kindertransport ended with the outbreak of war. This particular document may not be what one normally has in mind when one thinks of a testimony. The children arrived at the train station around 4:00pm on Thursday, 1 December 1938 via special coaches from Berlin and Hamburg. If so, how? children up to the age of 17 from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland was scheduled to travel on a particular transport but, for no stated Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database -- Search for Lists Archives, Open Government Licence By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. v3.0, except where otherwise stated, Download images and transcripts for use in the classroom, Friends of The National This achievement was remarkable not only for the sheer number of lives saved but because it was organized by ordinary people from all different backgrounds, all with the common goal of protecting a stranger against a great evil. Unfortunately, many records were lost or destroyed after the Kindertransport children were no longer under the care of the Committee, so not all searches may not will be successful. [40][49] Throughout the summer, he placed advertisements seeking British families to take them in. now focused on the administration and care of those children who had arrived before the outbreak of war. The first Kindertransport arrived in Harwich, Great Britain, on December 2, 1938. They could only take a small sealed suitcase with no valuables and only ten marks or less in money. Some children from Czechoslovakia (which was dismantled by Germany between September 1938 and March 1939) were flown by plane directly to Britain. Depending on the child's age, the explanation for why they were leaving the country and their parents differed widely: for example, children might be told "you are going on an exciting adventure", or "you are going on a short trip and we will see you soon". Learn how and when to remove this template message, Kindertransport Monument Hoek van Holland, United States Committee for the Care of European Children, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, The Essential Link: The Story of Wilfrid Israel, Jews escaping from Nazi Europe to Britain, "The Long Goodbye: Kindertransport Revisited 80 Years After", "Kindertransport survivor sees German payments as history acknowledged", "600 Child Refugees Taken From Vienna; 100 Jewish Youngsters Going to Netherlands, 500 to England", "Remembering the Kindertransport: 80 Years on", "Racial, Religious and Political Minorities. Eventually around 500 Jewish children from Germany aged between 1 and 15 were granted temporary residence permits on the condition that their parents would not try to enter the country. Special thanks to Warren Blatt and Michael Tobias for their Thanks for cotngibunitr. Link to information about the film "My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports" (1996), Link to information about the film "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" (2000), Link to free downloadable companion study guide for "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport" (2000), Link to information about the British documentary "The Children Who Cheated the Nazis" (2000), Archive of ten refugees in Gloucester in 1939, The Kindertransport to Great Britain - Stories from North Rhine-Westphalia, Children depart 5.13 pm - Recollections of the Polenaktion and the Kindertransports of 1938/39, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kindertransport&oldid=1152191268, Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism, Articles with failed verification from October 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2015, Articles needing additional references from August 2022, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Vague or ambiguous geographic scope from August 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2022, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Hanus J. Grosz (from Czechoslovakia), American psychiatrist & neurologist, Robert A. Shaw (b. Schlesinger, Vienna) British, professor of chemistry, George Wolf (from Austria), American professor of physiological chemistry, Edith Bown-Jacobowitz, (2014) "Memories and Reflections:a refugee's story", 154 p, by 11 point book antiqua (create space), Charleston, USA. In 1938 conditions for the Jewish community in Europe were rapidly deteriorating through intimidation, segregation and violence. London WC1B 5DP. The British Cabinet debated the issue the next day and subsequently prepared a bill to present to Parliament. Who sponsored children travelling on the Kindertransport, and how did this process work? View the list of all donors. https://www.worldjewishrelief.org/about-us/your-family-history, New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition. [68] It was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. 20th century - Is there an online list of Kindertransport records We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The name Kristallnacht literally means Night of Crystal in German and owes its name to the shards of broken glass from the windows of Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues that littered the streets as a result of the destruction and looting throughout the pogrom. Sussex, England: Book Guild, 1990. Also, kindertransport.org/resources.aspx?cat=9 (which you've probably looked at) might be a good starting point. The purpose of this document collection is to allow students and teachers to develop their own questions and lines of historical enquiry. The Jewish Community in Vienna Has records on the Kindertransport children and their families from Vienna. This is a fascinating collection of digitised government documents relating to the Kindertransport operation, dating from 1939 to 1945, held by The National Archives.