response to questions on the Holocaust
Survivor Group known as "Kindertransport"
July 17, 1999, by Kurt Fuchel
Those who suffered persecution at the hands of the Nazi Regime did not all have the same experience; however, they can be classified as follows:
1.Those who were in the concentration or death camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau, etc.
2. Those who were hidden in Nazi occupied countries.
3. Those who found refuge in Shanghai, China, Japan or other countries.
4. Those who were sent to England on Kindertransports without their parents. (Kinder is Children in German.)
The Nazi persecution of Jews had started in 1933, soon after
Hitler came to power, and gradually escalated. Following the
assassination of a German embassy consul in Paris, Nazi-organized
mobs destroyed synagogues, smashed Jewish stores, beat and humiliated
Jews, and arrested many boys and men; this
was on November 9, 1938, the "Kristallnacht" (Night
of the Broken Glass.) Initially, Hitler did not plan to exterminate
Jews; he only wanted to expel them from Germany. The tragedy
was that few countries were willing to accept these refugees.
Many countries, including the United States, had established
immigration quotas and did not bend the rules to accept Jews
even when it became known what fate awaited them. Thus the real
problem facing most Jews was to find a country which would let
them in.
The British Jewish Refugee Committee appealed to certain members of Parliament, and a debate was held in the House of Commons. It was agreed to admit an unspecified number of children between the ages of 5 and 17. A £50 bond had to be posted for each child, "to assure their ultimate resettlement." The first transport left barely six weeks after the Kristallnacht, the last, just two days before war broke out (September 3, 1939), which put an end to the program. Close to 10,000 children had made the trip.
When the children arrived in England, some were taken in by foster families, some went to special hostels or group homes, while some worked on farms. They were distributed throughout Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland). Once there, they were at no greater risk than the rest of the population. This was not inconsiderable as many towns were heavily bombed during the blitz.
Mostly, the children were well-treated and grew up to develop close ties to their British hosts. A few were mistreated or abused. Many older children joined the British or Australian armed forces as soon as they reached the age of eighteen, and joined the fight against the Nazis. Most of the children never saw their parents again.
Of the 10,000, it is believed that 20-25% eventually made their way to the U.S. or Canada. It is from these that the Kindertransport Association of North America (KTA) draws its members.