Kindertransport

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Kindertransport

At the time I thought it was quite an exciting adventure. I said "goodbye" to my mother, "see you soon". Who could tell what was going to happen?Inga Joseph, interviewed in 2008

We all leant out of the carriage window and my parents waved white handkerchiefs. I didn't know that would be the last time I would see any of them alive.Vera Schaufeld, interviewed in 2008

In 1938, nine months before the Second World War, England opened its borders to around 10,000 children, mostly Jewish, who were fleeing the Nazi regime.

The children were sent, without their parents, out of Austria, Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia in a process that became known as Kindertransport.

Most Jewish families were prevented from travelling abroad by a lack of funds or the stringent visa controls imposed by countries such as Britain and the USA.

Following Kristallnacht, the night of violence organised against the Jewish communities in Greater Germany (Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia) on 9 November 1938, pressure was placed on the British government to relax immigration controls for a limited number of children.

Charitable organisations, such as the Red Cross, organised the Kindertransport, whereby unaccompanied children between the ages of 5 and 17, were allowed to travel to Britain by train and boat via Holland.

It saved their lives, but it was a traumatic rescue and the forced separation from their parents was only the beginning.

The fleeing children had to survive in a strange new world, where they couldn't speak the language and had no idea who was going to care for them. Older children lived in hostels; others were lucky enough to have loving foster families, although a small number were treated cruelly by their foster families.

British generosity in granting refuge did not extend to the parents. Children had to leave their parents behind and by the end of the war many were orphans.

Survivors' stories

Robert Wasselberg's mother had to decide which of her three sons should take the last available place on a Kindertransport bus.

Bertha Leverton was 15 when she travelled to England with her brother Theo.

Marion Marston ended up in the UK with help from a Quaker family.

You can read more about these survivors and others in the book I Came Alone - The Stories Of The Kindertransports, edited by Bertha Leverton and Shmuel Lowensohn and published by The Book Guild Ltd (ISBN: 0863325661).

The Kinder in their 80s

These interviews were recorded to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Kindertransport. Three of the Kinder, now in their 80s, spoke to Ramaa Sharma.

Inga Joseph was on the Kindertransport from Vienna.

The Quakers played a part in Axel Landman's story.

Vera Schaufeld describes the scene at the station the moment her train departed from Vienna.