Kindertransport Memorial Collection
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains materials on remembrances of the Kindertransport. Materials include correspondence, handwritten notes, memorial programs, the text of a speech by Gerhard Schroeder, membership directories, annual reports, synopses and advertisements for publications and films on the Kindertransport, and materials from a 1999 reunion in London of individuals who were part of the Kindertransport including a full reunion booklet containing lists of attendees. The collection as a whole is very small; it contains only about one to ten individual items on each organization, event, or film covered.
Dates
- 1987-2005
Language of Materials
The collection is in English.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Historical Note
The term Kindertransport is used to refer to organized efforts to rescue Jewish children from Nazi persecution.
Following Kristallnacht in November of 1938, the British government—spurred on by organizations like the British Committee for the Jews of Germany and many other religious and charitable organizations—relaxed immigration restrictions to allow unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17 from Germany and German-occupied areas to enter the country on temporary visas. Children were sent to live with foster families or in schools or hostels under the assumption that they would eventually be reunited with their parents. The first Kindertransport left Germany for England in December of 1938, and further transports ran until September 1939 when World War II began. Children continued to be sent to England from the Netherlands until May 1940.
While the majority of Kindertransport operations brought children to England, similar efforts were carried out in Palestine and, to a lesser extent, the United States.
References
Edelheit, Abraham J. and Hershel Edelheit. "Kindertransporte." History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Kindertransport, 1938-1940. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23 May 2013 from http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005260
Extent
0.25 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection contains materials on remembrances of the Kindertransport. Materials include correspondence, handwritten notes, memorial programs, the text of a speech by Gerhard Schroeder, membership directories, annual reports, synopses and advertisements for publications and films on the Kindertransport, and materials from a 1999 reunion of individuals who were part of the Kindertransport.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by the organization, film, or event to which they relate and ordered alphabetically.
Separated Material
An audio cassette tape containing a 1990 interview of Greta Wortmann was removed to the LBI A/V Collection. Clippings about Kindertransport memorials and a packet of press clippings for the film Into the Arms of Strangers were removed to the LBI Clippings Collection: AR 6992 C.
Processing Information
Duplicates were removed.
- Title
- Guide to the Kindertransport Memorial Collection 1987-2005 AR 6992
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Leanora Lange
- Date
- © 2013
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- Made possible by the Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives Grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources through The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support "Illuminating Hidden Collections at the Center for Jewish History."
Revision Statements
- March 31, 2015 : dao links added by Emily Andresini.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
