Kindertransport

A special interest group of the AJR, the Kindertransport represent the children who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia between 1938 and 1939 and prior to the start of the Second World War.

Today, the Kinder organises monthly lunches at the Paul Balint AJR Day Centre which includes a guest speaker - click here for the Centre programme. The Kindertransport management also arrange regular activities and outings and members receive the quarterly KT Newsletter (click here for recent editions). For more details about the activities of the Kindertransport please contact kt@ajr.org.uk

Upcoming events

The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) is delighted to announce a series of events this year to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Kindertransport.

On Sunday 23 June we will be organising a Kindertransport reunion at JFS, when the actress Maureen Lipman, who starred in The Pianist, and the former Foreign Secretary the Rt Hon David Miliband MP, whose father was a refugee from Nazi oppression, will be the guest speakers.

As part of the proceedings, JFS pupils will be performing a re-enactment of the debate in the House of Commons that precipitated the creation of the Kindertransport and the JFS choir will be singing a selection of evocative songs.

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, whose grandfather Dr Georg Salzberger was the Rabbi of the Westend Synagogue in Frankfurt am Main, the interior of which was destroyed on Kristallnacht, will lead a service of remembrance and there will be the opportunity to view the new exhibition on the Kindertransport that the Wiener Library is curating. Above all there will be a unique opportunity for Kinder to socialise and renew acquaintances.

Please see the letters we have sent to Kinder about the very special lunchtime reception on Monday 24 June that we are helping to organise.

The AJR is also encouraging the children and grandchildren of members to come along to a special reception between 6:30pm-9:30pm on Monday 24 June for the Second and Third Generations. The focus of this event will be how their parents and grandparents got here, where they came from and the different ways they travelled and arrived. There will be notable guest speakers, time to socialise and network, eat, drink and to meet old and make new friends. London venue to be confirmed but please rsvp and direct any queries to events@secondgeneration.org.uk or visit the organisers’ websites www.secondgeneration.org.uk and www.kindertransport.org

The symposium on the Kindertransport, being organised by the Leo Baeck Institute London (LBI) in cooperation with the German Historical Institute London (GHIL), the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies and with Aberystwyth University (School of European Languages), will be held on Tuesday 25 June at the GHIL. The provisional programme can be viewed here and information on how to book should be emailed to info@leobaeck.co.uk

On Wednesday 20 November, the AJR is organising, with the help of Lord (Alf) Dubs, a special Tea in the House of Parliament to mark the debate held there on 21 November 1938 which paved the way for the arrival of the Kindertransport. To round off the year, World Jewish Relief, in conjunction with the AJR, will be arranging a memorial service at Liverpool Street Station on Sunday 1 December, which recalls the arrival 75 years to the day of the first transport of children.

Announcing these special events, AJR-Kindertransport Chairman, Sir Erich Reich said: “It is a great honour to be invited by His Royal Highness and a wonderful recognition of the high esteem in which he holds the Kinder. The reception at St James’s Palace will be part of an historic three days of events for the Kinder and our families from around the world to socialise, renew acquaintances and share their experiences.

I look forward to meeting Kinder and their families at all these very special occasions as we commemorate one of the greatest rescue missions of the 20th century, give thanks to the British government and help create the legacy of the Kindertransport.”

People interested in attending are asked to contact the AJR on 020 8385 3070 or by emailing kt@ajr.org.uk

Hook of Holland statue

Supported by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), a statue dedicated to the Kindertransport was unveiled at a moving ceremony in the Hook of Holland in November 2011. Designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Frank Meisler, Channel Crossing to Life, commemorates the role played by Dutch people in helping to save the lives of Jewish children fleeing Nazi oppression.

Kinder who now live in Germany, Switzerland, USA and Israel as well as a group of 15 AJR members from the UK, joined school children from the Hook of Holland, who carried lanterns lighting the path to the statue and presented Kinder with roses.

After speeches from Frank Meisler and the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, Sir Erich Reich, Chairman of the AJR Kindertransport committee, gave thanks to the Dutch people who helped ensure the safe passage of the children to Britain. Speaking ahead of the unveiling Sir Erich said, “This statue is a fitting memorial dedicated to all those who perished at the hands of the Nazis and will be a permanent reminder of the continuing need to fight intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism”.

Guests at the unveiling included the Vice President of the Bundestag, Petra Pau, and the families of Kinder including their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The date of the unveiling was also symbolic, marking the eve of the 73rd anniversary of the first Kindertransport that left Europe.

Frank Meisler has also created statues commemorating the Kindertransport at Liverpool Street station in London, at Gdansk in Poland and at Berlin's Friedrichstrasse station.

AJR member Professor Leslie Baruch Brent, who attended the unveiling, gave an address at the opening of the plenary of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research which was meeting in The Hague the same week.
Forthcoming luncheon speakers

The Kinder hold a lunch at the AJR Centre, which now convenes at the Belsize Square Synagogue, on the first Tuesday in every month. To book a reservation please email daycentre@ajr.org.uk or call 020 7431 2744. Click here to see forthcoming guest speakers.

Kindertransport Survey ‘Making New Lives in Britain’ completed

A unique survey entitled ‘Making New Lives in Britain’ has recorded the Continental background, journey to Britain, reception and subsequent experiences of 1,025 (some 11%) of the almost 10,000 predominantly Jewish children of the Kindertransport. The survey was conceived and its contents designed by leading members of the AJR’s Kindertransport special interest group. For more information click here

Liverpool Street station statue

The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and World Jewish Relief (WJR) are delighted to announce a new commemorative sculpture in honour of the Kindertransport to be located at Liverpool Street Station.

Unveiled in September 2006, the bronze sculpture, designed by the renowned Israeli artist and former Kindertransport refugee Frank Meisler, will be surrounded by 16 milestones each bearing the name of a city from where the Kindertransports departed.

Andrew Kaufman, Chairman of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) said, “We are delighted to be the principal benefactor in this important project to commemorate the lives of the youngest victims of Nazism. The statue also pays tribute to the vital role Britain played in saving thousands of children from certain death and serves as a timely reminder of the need to remain vigilant of intolerance and prejudice.”

To read the article that appeared in the Jewish Chronicle click here

Parliament plaque

The Plaque below was unveiled by the Speaker of the House of Commons,
Betty Boothroyd, in the Palace of Westminster on 14 June 1999.