Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport

Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport — page 5 — the seats sleeping mouths open curled like shrimp in the laps of older brothers and sisters Older children kept watch over little ones Sometimes the fretful wail of a baby broke the rhythm of quiet breathing The older child who was the baby’s only guardian bounced the little bundle in her lap Tom Berman at age 4 There were no parents on this train Only a few adult volunteers had gone with the children Those adults had to return to Germany as soon as the transport was complete Once the train left the stations in Germany no one else could get on No one could get off Tom Berman was five years old He was alone on the train alone with the other children who were also alone Back in Prague in Berlin in Vienna mothers and fathers were sad to have lost their children but also relieved They

Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport — page 6 — themselves were in danger from the Nazis but their children were safe because they had found places for them on the Kindertransport which took children to safety Tom with his parents Karl and Lenka in 1938 in Czechoslovakia All over Germany Czechoslovakia and Austria trains loaded with Jewish children were pulling out of train stations Jewish organizations had organized the transports Priority was given to children without homes orphans and children whose parents were in concentration camps The trains left from the major cities in central Europe Berlin

Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport — page 7 — Vienna Prague Then children disembarked at ports in the Netherlands and sailed from there to Harwich England German dictator Adolf Hitler was in power He passed laws against the Jews Germany teetered on the edge of war with the rest of Europe Jews were not safe in their homes They were not safe at school or at work The Jews of Germany knew that they had to get out Aid groups in Great Britain tried to help They pleaded with the British government asking them to allow the refugee children into Great Britain Then they had to fill out the paperwork necessary for the German government to allow children to leave Both governments agreed Germany wanted the Jews out of the country Britain rarely allowed refugees into their country but they made an exception for children with conditions The children would not be citizens of Great Britain Instead they would be allowed in on temporary visas They would remain refugees They could not bring their parents And

Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport — page 8 — when the war was over they would go back to their families right away No one could know that when the war was over there often would be no homes to return to No parents No families Only the charnel houses that were the concentration camps The first Kindertransport arrived in Harwich England on December 2 1938 It carried 200 children from a Jewish orphanage in Berlin that had been destroyed by the Nazis The last transport from Germany left on September 1 1939 on the eve of World War II The last transport from the Netherlands left on May 14 1940 just as Dutch forces fell to the German Nazi forces Back in the train Tom Berman might have curled up on the train seat his eyes squeezed shut his hands clenched between his knees A heavy dark brown leather suitcase was jammed down in the space beneath his seat perhaps Around his neck was a string with a numbered tag

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