Kindertransport: Remembering & Rethinking The Association of Jewish Refugees

The Kindertransport was a loosely coordinated rescue effort in 1938-39 through which nearly 10,000 children under the age of 16 were sent by their parents to safety in England. What was that journey like? What memories did those refugees carry with them throughout their lives, of the day that they left their parents behind?

In 2003, the AJR began the process of recording the testimonies of some 250 Jewish refugees from Nazism living in Britain – a project we call Refugee Voices . In this podcast series, we have delved into that archive focusing on one specific strand of the refugee experience, the Kindertransport. We use testimony extracts to examine the Kindertransport from first-hand sources, to try to better understand this historical event in its depth and complexity – both for its own sake and also in the hopes of informing our understanding of refugee policies today. 

Fred Barschak can vividly remember the menu at his father's kosher restaurant. Otto Deutsch recalls his family's humble living conditions. And Ursula Gilbert remembers attending Berlin's grandest synagogue. These are some of the happy childhood memories that stand in stark contrast to subsequent tales of antisemitic taunts and a night of unprecedented violence.

The events of the November Pogrom prompt Westminster to loosen immigration restrictions, allowing unaccompanied child refugees to come to Britain. What did these children understand at the time about how they ended up on a Kindertransport? Eight refugees recall their experiences and historian Louise London explains British the shift in British policy.

Thousands of British families respond to the call to help unaccompanied Jewish child refugees, and at long last Kindertransports start arriving. What were the reactions to the children upon arriving in a strange new country? Years later, what were the memories – positive and negative – that stuck with them about those first impressions?

In the coldest winter Britain had experienced in more than a century, refugees were housed in unheated huts, while they tried to make the best of their situation by learning English and going on cultural outings. Meanwhile a radio appeal for prospective foster parents created a weekly experience that the children referred to as the 'cattle market' in which visiting couples would walk through the dining hall looking for their ideal foster child.

With the onset of war in September 1939, the transport of child refugees to Britain stops, stranding untold numbers of children in Europe and cutting off those children who had already arrived in Britain from their families. Ursula Gilbert recalls her experience bouncing around between homes, hostels and job training opportunities. Other refugees describe being sent to work on farms and as domestic servants.