Kindertransport

The Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933.  The persecution of Jews began, tens of thousands left the country. During the following years emigration began to slow as visas became more difficult to obtain.

In 1938, immediately after the pogrom of 9 & 10 November known as ‘Kristallnacht’ (the night of broken glass) when German and Austrian Nazis burned and destroyed 267 Synagogues, killed 100 people and smashed 7,500 Jewish stores (all that remained in the German Reich), the Jews of Britain initiated the unique rescue operation now known as 'Kindertransport'. The word derived from the transportation of children out of the German Reich to England ‘Kinder’ being the German word for children

Within days of the pogrom the British Refugee Committee appealed to members of Parliament and obtained the permission of the British Government to admit children to England up to age 17, provided a £50 bond was posted for each child to ‘assure their ultimate resettlement’. In the nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II and with aid from Quaker and other non-Jewish refugee organizations, they brought ten thousand unaccompanied children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to safety in Britain. Most of the children, but not all, were Jews. The majority of their parents who had sent them to safety perished in the Holocaust.

Of the 10,000 it is believed that most of the children settled in Britain; others re-emigrated to Israel, the Americas, and elsewhere, scattering over the world.

The panels of this exhibit trace their epic journey from 1938 to the 21st century.

The exhibition The Kindertransport Journey: memory into History was produced by Robert Sugar for the Kindertransport Association, KTA Copyright 2001. It is composed of 9 doublesided panels. The Kindertransport Booklet accompanies the Exhibition and is an informative and useful aide-memoire for those who have viewed the Exhibition to take home with them.

For availability and more information please contact: Machinery of Government, Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, Room BD20, Stormont Castle, Stormont, BELFAST, BT4 3TT  Tel: 028 9037 8055 or 9037 8053  Fax: 028 9037 8290

Email: mog.sec@ofmdfmni.gov.uk