The November 1938 Pogrom devastated the Jewish community of Germany. Following this event, the British government changed their immigration policies, allowing children under the age of 17 from Germany and German-annexed territories to resettle in Britain. This policy change initiated an organized effort to relocate Jewish children, which became known as the Kindertransport (Children’s Transport). The Kindertransport operated from 1938 to 1940, facilitating the rescue of 9,000-10,000 children. This initiative prompted other individuals to continue saving children, even after the Kindertransport.
SEARCH TERMS
Kindertransports (Rescue operations)
RESOURCES
All resources are provided in MLA format.
Alter, Kallman Judith Mannheimer. A Candle in the Heart: Memoir of a Child Survivor. New Milford, NJ: Wordsmithy, 2011.
Call Number DS135 .S553 K35 2011
This book details the true moving story of an orphaned little girl caught in the dangerous whirlwinds of World War II. She and her remaining siblings rely on the kindness of strangers for protection.
Berne, Emma Carlson. Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport. Capstone Press, 2017.
Call Number JUV D804.6 .B47 2017
This book contains memoir pieces, poems, photographs, and other primary sources of several Jewish children rescued from Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1940.
Byers, Ann. Saving Children from the Holocaust: The Kindertransport. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2012.
Call Number JUV DS135 .E5 B94 2011
This book discusses the heroes who organized the transports and the children who were saved from the Holocaust.
Lopez de Casenave, Licia. Los Otros Niños Del Pijama De Rayas: Los Ángeles Del Holocausto. As De Diamantes, Barcelona: Robinbook, 2009.
Call Number ESP D804.48 .L66 2009
This book documents the children that lived through the worst of World War II, exploring their harrowing world of concentration camps, ghettos, and deportee and exile routes from an intimate viewpoint.
Goldstein, Susy, et al. Ten Marks and a Train Ticket: Benno’s Escape to Freedom. Toronto, Canada: League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, 2008.
Call Number JUV DS135 .E6 H359 2008
This memoir tells the story of two Jewish brothers from Berlin who traveled to Holland, where the Jewish Refugee Committee was helping children who arrived illegally, and arrived in England via the Kindertransport.
Hirsch, Benjamin. Home Is Where You Find It. New York:IUniverse, 2006
Call Number DS135 .G5 H487 2006.
This book poignantly chronicles Benjamin Hirsch’s, and his four older siblings’, journey from the horrors of Nazism to a new life in America.
Hodge, Deborah. Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport. Toronto: Tundra Books, 2012.
Call Number JUV D804.34 .H63 2012
This book tells the story of how more than 10,000 Jewish children were rescued out of Nazi Europe by the Kindertransport. The book includes real-life accounts of the children and is illustrated with archival photographs, paintings of pre-war Nazi Germany, and original art by the Kinder commemorating their rescue.
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport. Directed by Mark Jonathan Harris, Warner Bros., 2000.
This documentary details the life-affirming tale of 10,000 children saved from Hitler’s grasp and placed with foster parents and hostels in Great Britain at the outbreak of World War II.
Kinder-Exodus, 1939. Directed by Hilary Gatoff, Ergo Media Inc., 2001.
This video tells the story of the transportation of Jewish children after the British Parliament authorized the entry of children to Great Britain after Kristallnacht.
Korman, Gerd. Nightmare’s Fairy Tale: A Young Refugee’s Home Fronts, 1938-1948. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007.
Call Number DS135 .P63 K5695 2005
This memoir follows the author’s journey – from the family’s deportation from Hamburg, through his time with an Anglican family in rural England, to the eventual reunification in New York.
Mináč, Matej. Nicholas Winton’s Lottery of Life. Washington, DC: American Friends of the Czech Republic, 2008.
Call Number DS135 .C95 M56 2007
This book details Sir Nicholas Winton who organized, under difficult conditions, transports of children from Prague to Britain, where they found safety and their second home.
Montreal Holocaust Museum. “Survivor’s Stories: Jane Litvack.” Holocaust Museum Montreal, https://museeholocauste.ca/en/survivors-stories/jane-litvack-kindertransport/. (Provide Date Accessed).
This webpage includes a video of Jane Litvack, a woman who escaped Czechoslovakia via the Kindertransport.
McGuire, Meghann. “A Survivor’s Story of Escape on the Kindertransport: Sidney Bratt.” The Pennsylvania State University, https://sites.psu.edu/localhistories/books/jewish-community/a-survivors-story-of-escape-on-the-kindertransport-sidney-bratt/. (Provide DateAccessed).
This article details the story of Sidney Bratt, who escaped East Prussia via the Kindertransport.
My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports. Directed by Melissa Hacker, distributed by New Video Group, 2003.
In this documentary, survivors recall the 1938-39 rescue of children from concentration camps in Germany, Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Nicky’s Family. Directed by Matej Mináč, Menemsha Films, 2011.
This docudrama tells the story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Jewish Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II.
Sir Nicholas Winton Memorial Trust. “Czech & Slovak Kindertransport.” Sir Nicholas Winton, https://www.nicholaswinton.com/exhibition/kindertransport. (Provide Date Accessed).
This webpage provides biographical information about Sir Nicholas Winton, who helped save many Jewish children during World War II.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Kindertransport, 1938-1940.” USHMM, Edited September 2021, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kindertransport-1938-40. (Provide Date Accessed).
This webpage provides details about the Kindertransport operation.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Hidden Children.” USHMM, https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/hidden-children. (Provide Date Accessed).
This webpage describes the Jewish children forced to hide, some by hiding in concealed places and others by disguising their identity,
Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Rememberance Center. “Irena Sendler: Smuggling Children Out of the Ghetto.” Yad Vashem, https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/sendler.html. (Provide Date Accessed).
This webpage details the story of Irena Sendler, a social worker during World War II, who helped Jews.