Kindertransport

NEWS: The Central British Fund for German Jewry was mentioned in the BBC's Upstairs Downstairs episode on Sunday 26 February 2012 with reference to the Kindertransport and the vital role played by the CBF arranging exit for thousands of Jewish refugee children. Watch the episode to hear the discussions about the first refugees who came over before the war at 32 minutes into the programme.  CLICK HERE TO SEE THE EPISODE ON BBCIPLAYER.

Following BBC's episode of Upstairs Downstairs, read this amazing story of the real Upstairs to Downstairs here

A stream of Jewish refugees began to leave Germany, a process that accelerated when the German Government enacted the Nuremberg Laws in September 1935. This deprived Jews of citizenship and made their lives highly restricted.

Following the devastation of Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," in Germany and Austria on 9th November 1938, World Jewish Relief (formerly CBF) embarked on a rescue operation, which saved the lives of thousands of children. Within three weeks of Kristallnacht, the first 200 of these children were assembled in Germany, and travelled to the Hook of Holland, then to Harwich in the UK. The Kindertransport had begun. In the nine months following 10,000 unaccompanied, mainly Jewish, children travelled to the UK on the Kindertransports to safety. They had found refuge in Great Britain.

Most of these unaccompanied children travelled to Liverpool Street Station in London where they met their volunteer foster parents for the first time heralding the start of a new life. The youngsters, each carrying a small suitcase holding their most cherished possessions, arrived in England between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in September 1939.

During the war years many Kinder served in the British armed forces, the nursing professions, in food production and in war related industries. Several thousand of them remained in Britain when the war ended, and as adults made considerable contributions to Britain's services, industries, commerce, education, science and the arts, for the defence, welfare and development of their country.

Records for every Kind that arrived in the UK through the Kindertransports are still maintained by World Jewish Relief through its Jewish Refugees Committee. On the supply of authorised documentation, copies of these documents can be supplied to family members at a small fee to cover administration costs.

For more information about the Kindertransport and Kinder today see the Association of Jewish Refugees website.