17 July 2006

Fur das Kind

Fur das Kind, Liverpool Street

Like millions of other suburbanite I commute to work in central London. The route I use terminates at Liverpool street station in the City. I then cut across the “square mile” to catch the underground to get to my office.

I am fortunate to pass a now reduced memorial just outside Liverpool St station called “Fur das Kind” which commemorates the Kindertransport – a rescue mission that saved around 10,000 mainly Jewish children from Nazi occupied areas just before the outbreak of WWII. When it was unveiled in 2003 the memorial consisted of a statue of a small girl beside a transparent suitcase filled with memorabilia brought by the children, including books, toys and, poignantly, photographs of family members who almost certainly perished during the Holocaust.

Fur Das Kind as it was in 2003

It now consists just of the base and the statue of the child: the suitcase was unfortunately, not as safe a location for the memorabilia which began to deteriorate. The good news is that a new monument is being created and will be erected later in the year.

Although greatly overshadowed by the awful events of the Holocaust the Kindertransport rescue was an astonishing feat the first transport arrived in England on December 2, 1938, bringing 196 children from a Berlin Jewish orphanage torched by the Nazis the previous month. And continued until the outbreak of war, although a final transport brought 80 children from earlier transports that had stayed in Holland on the day it fell to the Nazis. The freighter itself was strafed by German warplanes.

Although precise figures are unknown, the Kindertransports saved around 10,000 children, most of them Jews, from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. None were accompanied by parents.


In an effort to deal with the “refugee problem” a conference proposed by President Roosevelt was held in the French resort town of Evian in July 1938, but despite grand words, the conference was ineffectual, as most countries continued to refuse to accept new immigrants.

Following events in Germany and Austria refuge aid committees in Britain swayed the government to permit an unspecified number of children under the age of 17 to enter the United Kingdom. Jews, Quakers, and Christians of many denominations worked together to rescue the children. Many great people rose to the moment, including Nicholas Winton, who saved nearly 700 Czech children; and Truus Wijsmuller-Meyer was a Dutch Christian who faced down Eichmann in Vienna and brought out 600 children on one train,

The Children who had prearranged sponsors were sent to London, arriving at Liverpool Street station. The unsponsored children waited in transient camps until individual families came forward to take them. The children were dispersed to many parts of the British Isles. Those over 14, unless they were fortunate enough to be sponsored by individuals and set to boarding schools or taken into foster care, were frequently absorbed into the country’s labor force after a few weeks of training, mainly in agriculture or domestic service. But many families, Jewish and non-Jewish, opened their homes to take in these children.

In 1940, more than 1,000 Kindertransportees over 16 were interred on the Isle of Man and other sites. Some boys, including Nobel Chemistry laureate Walter Kohn were transported to Canada. Many young men and women who had stayed in Britain, Kindertransportees later joined the army when it accepted “enemy aliens”.
Most of the Kinder survived the war, and a small percentage was reunited with parents who had either spent the war in hiding or endured the Nazi camps. The majority of children, however, had to face the reality that home and family were lost forever. The end of the war brought confirmation of the worst: their parents were dead. In the years since the Kinder had left the European mainland, the Nazis and their collaborators had killed nearly six million European Jews, including nearly 1.5 million children.

Kindertransport organisation

Wikipedia article on the Kindertransport





9 comments:

jams o donnell said...

I consider Holocaust deniers to be scumbags regardless of their faith. What amazes me though is that the piece of bullshite the Protocols of teh Elders of Zion still has credence.. even forming part of the charter of Hamas... but that's anti semitism for you.

the experience of your stepfather's parents was repeated all too otfen, thanks to the Nazis. Sadly anti-semitism IS on the rise here in Europe. This must be combatted

elasticwaistbandlady said...

I'm surprised at how many Americans despise the Jews so much that they're willing to back the terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah in this latest outbreak of war.

Don't they know that the leaders of Hamas have been quoted as saying they dream of a day when America no longer exists in this World?

Some people just have a death wish, I guess.

Agnes said...

Partly because the left ceased to be what it was, and betrayed its own noble traditions, Elasticwaistband lady: this package full of hatred (without analyzing or debating the root causes) is simplistic and dangerous. (I wish it could be constructive instead of backing monsters: but so far not a tiny bit of constructive attitude, nothing: and this seems pretty dangerous. Praising destruction is easy, finding a constructive solution is very very difficult. Instant coffee, instant soups, and nowadays instant hatred: that is left on both sides.

jams o donnell said...

Even among arabs there is no excuse for Holocaust denial. Okay, Israel is the enemy but Holocaust denial by Arabs is still vile.

Having said that there is no excuse whatsoever for such a belief among europeans or americans. even lunatic arseholes like La Voz de Atzlan

It dismays me too elasticwaistbandlady. THere is no excuse for the support given to such organisations, especially when one considers that their attitude towards humman rights would make their american supporters yearn for the heady liberal days of Dubya!

jams o donnell said...

For a large swathe of the left, Red, you have hit the nail right on the head

Agnes said...

Again, I have to scold you Jams: there is no point of comparison here, sorry: we are talking about very different cultures/societies. On the other hand, vile as it may seem, Holocaust denial is very different when it comes from a brainwashed Egyptian student, who was taught the the Protocols was true, or from an American or a European: I call the latter vile, the former - often - simply misinformed. There is a basic difference. Also, it is very easy to take sides: we do have our own biases.

Agnes said...

"I'm surprised at how many Americans despise the Jews so much that they're willing to back the terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah in this latest outbreak of war."

Elasticwaistbandlady, agreed: that is a problem. It is a problem as long as not so many care about the Palestinians/Lebanese: they use is as a pretetext to justify their own anti-Semitism. And this won't help a bit those in need.

Anonymous said...

Jams
Thank you for the wonderful b-page.
I would like to contact you directly regarding Fur Das Kind info. Can you send me a contact email to furdaskind@hotmail.co.uk

Anonymous said...

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