kindertransport Flashcards
(10 cards)
1
Q
why was the kindertransport necessary?
A
- quickly implemented visa waiver scheme in response to November pogram in 1938
- aprox 10,000 mainly jewish children from Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia
2
Q
how was it organised?
A
- leading figures in British Jewry called on Neville Chamberlain, and the cabinet met on 16th Nov. 1938
- agreed to the admission of children if the government werent to bear the costs
- bodys from different religions organised the transportation
3
Q
funding
A
- £50 deposit
- Baldwin fund radio appeal £500,000
- homes provided by the british public
- upkeep maintained by refugee organisations.
4
Q
selection
A
- children selected according to specific criteria: ‘Dringlichkeit’, ‘Zukunftspotential und die pyschische und sozial Intergrationsfaehigkeit der Kinder’
- Children who looked more ‘aryan’- or inconspicuously jewish
- difficulties with orthodox jews
5
Q
departure
A
- left main stations in cities- berlin, vienna, prague
- one suitcase, no valubles
- identity card/ number
- trains deprted early in the morning or late at nighr
- parents reassured children they would follow
- seperation was emotionally traumatic
6
Q
Kindertransport survey
A
- 16.5% of the respondents of the Kindersurvey came from Berlin, 21.5% from Vienna
- 31% arrived with siblings
- median age of 12, 12.5 for boys
- 54% of parents were believed to be killed
7
Q
settling in
A
- new language and culture
- extreme homesickness
- incompatible with foster families, clash of religion
- cases of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. treated as household help
- some forgot germna
8
Q
post war and later life
A
- new challenges post war- nazi atrocities and death of loved ones
- reunions were differing
- by 1950- 15% of kinder had emigrated to the USA
9
Q
british perception
A
- celebratory british narrative of rescue- pride
- Nicholas Winton- hero
- Jennifer Craig-Norton- memoirs can provide ‘counternarrative’ to celebratory success story
10
Q
memoir genre
A
- faithful record of experience
- memoirs ‘rooted in accidental record keeping of diaries and correspondence’
- memoirs focus on one period of time
- concerns itself with public events
- attempt of facing trauma and reaching full cognition of the past
