Children During The Holocaust: Kindertransport

http://www.childrenwhocheatedthenazis.co.uk/ Kindertransports http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/faqs/answers/faq_11a.html From December 1938 until the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, 9354 children and youth, 70% of them Jewish, reached Great Britain mostly from the German Reich in organized groups known as the Kindertransports. The trigger for the start of this rescue operation was the terrible violence of the pogrom of November 9, 1938, known as Kristalnacht. In its wake the Jewish community in Palestine declared their desire to accept 10,000 Jewish children from the Reich. However, the British who ruled Palestine were

Over one million Jewish children died during the Holocaust. They were ripped out of their homes and taken away from their families, and stripped of their childhoods. Innocent lives were caught in a war that they were not able to stop. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he promised Germany that he would improve life their by getting rid of the one race that caused the problems, the Jews. Jews, including Jewish children, were sent to concentration camps, inspected, and if approved, were sent to work. All others would have been sent to be killed. Being sent to work did not ensure survival, children would be given very little food and water, and beaten severely, which caused their death. None of the children of the Holocaust will ever

It was extremely difficult for survivors to rebuild their lives back in their home town. This is because “Jewish communities no longer existed in much of europe”(United States Holocaust Museum). And when the survivors tried to return to their houses most “just didn't feel welcome”(United States Holocaust Museum); “ they found that in many cases, their homes had been looted or taken over by others”(United States Holocaust Museum). On top of their houses often being stolen from their possession, there had been “anti-Jewish riots [that] broke out in several Polish cities” (Levine). Struggling with PTSD and attempting to find their lost relatives and friends that were more times than not killed in the holocaust, survivors really did not have a place to call

To fully understand the importance of the Jewish Refugee question, it is important to understand the context of what was happening in Nazi controlled Germany at the time. The Nazi regime did not start with killing all Jews, though that was how it ended. It started with a concentrated effort to exclude Jewish persons from every level of society, from

After the Holocaust, many survivors found shelter in displaced shelter camps provided by the allied powers.

On the night of November 9-10, 1938, Jewish shops and synagogues were destroyed by the Germans. This night was called the Kristallnacht, which was also known as the Night of Broken Glass. Many Jewish parents decided to send their children to Great Britain, in hopes of keeping their kids away from the danger happening around them. The Kindertransport was the transportation that children from ages 17 and younger used to travel to Great Britain. Not all of the children were able to get on the Kindertransport because space was limited, but about 10,000 of them made it. During that time, many people from different countries and states helped Jewish children escape from Germany. This is an example of the universe of obligation, which is how we determine

The Kindertransport was an organized rescue facility that took play during the holocaust and world war II. The Kindertransport was used to saved children from the Jews.

After the children were brought to Great Britain, they lived many different lives. Through the help of British Parliament and the forces of their allies, the Kindertransport was able to save the lives of many children, whom otherwise could have died during the Holocaust. Before the Holocaust had even begun, forces were working against the Nazi’s to help aid the Jewish people. Many jewish people were stranded in Nazi Germany because there were not many countries willing to offer them refuge.

However, just a few days after Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass”, in 1938, a group of British Jewish leaders made a request to the Prime Minister, that Great Britain allow Jewish children and teens into the UK (“Great Britain and the Holocaust”). British leaders such as Sir Samuel Hoare, the Home Secretary, requested Parliament to allow group visas for these children in order to speed up the immigration process (“The Kindertransport and Refugees”).  Eventually, the request was agreed upon as sympathy for the children grew and guarantees against government financial burden of the children were secured. This program would be forever known as the Kindertransport.  The government organized vast preparations for thousands of children to be rescued from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. A group of people was formed, called The Movement for the Care of Children from Germany, which assisted in making these arrangements including the grouping of the youth, the organization of trains, establishing foster homes, and getting guarantees for each child’s care. (“Great Britain & The Holocaust: The Kindertransports”). The British government looked for the help of everyday people in locating foster homes for the kids using such unique methods as the BBC Home Service radio broadcasts  (“The Kindertransport and Refugees”). Finding loving caretakers for the children was extremely important as they would be traveling without their parents, being taken away from their homes, families, and friends, leaving all that they knew behind. Finally on December 1st, 1938, the first Kindertransport left Berlin by train carrying around 200 children, arriving in Harwich, Great Britain, by ship the next day (“First Kindertransport Arrives”). Those that could not initially be placed in foster homes lived in summer camps, group homes, farms and hostels. The Kindertransport’s operated for less than two years before the efforts

After the “night, many members of the British Parliament pushed for the laws to be eased (“Great Britain and the Holocaust”). In mid November of 1938, British leaders requested Parliament to allow some Jewish kids in Britain. This request was up for debate for leaders like Sir Samuel Hoare. Sir Samuel Hoare was the Home Secretary in Great Britain at the time. Eventually, the request was agreed upon by the British leaders. Sir Samuel Hoare announced the program to the British Parliament (“Britain & the Holocaust,”).This program would be forever known as the Kindertransport. The government organized many preparations after the announcement. Some of these preparations included organization of the trains, finding foster homes, and getting guarantees for each child’s care. The British government looked for the help of everyday people in finding foster homes for the kids using radio broadcasts. (“The Kindertransport and Refugees”) It was very important to find loving homes for these children. Finally on December 1st, 1938, the first Kindertransport left Berlin carrying around 200 children (“First Kindertransport Arrives”). This first transport arrived in Britain on the very next day. These transports operated for about two years before the efforts finally came to an end. The importance of the British efforts in saving the children can’t be understated. All together the Kindertransports saved around 10,000 children. Without the help from

With the liberation of the concentration camps at the end of WWII, the issue at hand was what to do with the Jewish peoples with no place to go.

Deciding to go into hiding for an unknown amount of time was a major challenge that imposed many hardships on those targeted by the Nazis. To get around the mindful Germans and police force, false identity papers gained through contacts with the anti-Nazi resistance were distributed to Jews who wanted to attempt to pass as “Aryans” so they were able to roam freely. However, the children not able to pass as “Aryans” were forced to physically hide in places like cellars and attics, remaining motionless, while those in rural areas hid in chicken coops, barns, and forest huts; as a result, children often suffered from a lack of human interaction, fear, and boredom. Infant male Jews were ritually circumcised as a sign of the Jewish people’s covenant

The homeless kids parents were either killed or deported to concentration camps. “The first group of people to be targeted was the disabled they were described as “useless eaters”. (At the Killing Centers 3). “Some were sent to concentration camps to have medical experiments performed on them or had to slave labor”. (A Guide to the Holocaust 1).

The Holocaust is a very large topic with many subtopics within, which many people have never heard of. One in particular is the Hidden Children of the Holocaust. Like a majority of individuals, I never heard of this topic before, until I started my inquiry work. Hiding children during the holocaust was an effort to save thousands of children’s lives. The children were hidden in different ways, either with false identities, underground, and with or without their parents. The children with false identities were allowed to participate in everyday life activities, like attend school and socialize with children their age, which in the long run this lead to less emotional and mental issues. However, the children that were hidden and not allowed to leave their hiding spots often faced boredom, pain, and torment. Some children were capable of being hid with their parents while other children were not. Depending on the situation the child was in, depends on the effects it had on the child during this time. In this paper, I will be discussing works by two scholars, Natalia Aleksiun’s Gender and Daily Lives of Jews in Hiding in Eastern Galicia and Judy Mitchell’s Children of the Holocaust. Aleksiun’s article talks about the daily lives of Jews in hiding and also about how they prepared their hideouts. Aleksiun’s article mainly focuses on children that were hidden with their families. In Mitchell’s article, he focuses on the hidden children and gives examples/survivor stories on what it

During World War Two the Jewish people were being “exterminated” by their fellow neighbors, own government and even their own loyal worshipers. They were not even being attacked for a valid reason, this was all set into motion by the beliefs of Adolf Hitler, German Dictator. Hitler held beliefs known as anti-semitism, he was not the first person to hate the Jewish people as a whole, but he was the first person to establish an entire army and country against them. Many of the Jewish people began to flee the country, in hope to escape the genocide. This task became extremely difficult when neighboring countries realized why they were fleeing. The refugees were denied access into the United States and Cuba, but later were taken in by very few countries in Europe and in the surrounding areas .