Date: June 11th
Category: Holocaust History | Refugee Journeys | Resistance & Rescue
In the winter of 1938, as the world stood on the edge of war, trains across Europe quietly began carrying their most precious cargo yet:
Children fleeing the Nazis.
They boarded with suitcases, name tags, and tearful goodbyes. Some never saw their families again. But these trains — and the resistance networks that powered them — offered a lifeline when borders were closing and time was running out.
Today, The Time Traveller’s Guild remembers the Kindertransport — the railway rescue effort that brought nearly 10,000 Jewish children to safety in Britain before WWII — and the underground networks that used trains to smuggle refugees, resistance fighters, and hope itself.
🚂 What Was the Kindertransport?
The Kindertransport (“Children’s Transport”) was a humanitarian rescue mission launched after Kristallnacht in November 1938 — a night of mass violence against Jews in Nazi Germany and Austria.
In response, the UK government agreed to:
- Accept unaccompanied Jewish children under 17
- Waive immigration visas in emergency cases
- Rely on private families, synagogues, and charities to sponsor care
Between December 1938 and September 1939, nearly 10,000 children were transported by train from:
- Germany
- Austria
- Czechoslovakia
- Poland
to ports in the Netherlands and Belgium, then by boat to Britain.
🧭 How the Trains Worked
The journeys were long, tense, and terrifying. But they were also extraordinarily organised:
- Each child had a name tag, a small bag, and sometimes a favourite toy
- Volunteer escorts rode with them for parts of the journey
- Many were met by strangers at Liverpool Street Station in London
🕯️ “We were told to wave until we couldn’t see our parents anymore. I never saw them again.” — Kindertransport survivor, Leo Bretholz
🕵️ Resistance on the Rails
The Kindertransport was only possible thanks to a network of activists, diplomats, and smugglers who worked across borders:
- Quakers and Jewish aid groups raised funds and coordinated logistics
- German and Austrian Jews risked arrest to get children on lists
- Dutch and Belgian resistance members helped guide trains and hide identities
Some trains were deliberately mislabelled to confuse Nazi authorities. Others carried falsified documents. In every case, time was tight — and courage was everything.
🇬🇧 Arrival in Britain
Most children arrived at London Liverpool Street Station, where a statue now stands in memory of their journeys.
From there, they were:
- Fostered by British families
- Sent to hostels, farms, or boarding schools
- Often separated from siblings or relatives
Though some thrived, others struggled — especially when the war cut off all contact with their families back home.
📜 Notable Figures
🧳 Nicholas Winton
- British stockbroker who organised the rescue of 669 Czech children
- Dubbed the “British Schindler”
- His efforts were unknown until the 1980s
🕊️ Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer
- Dutch resistance worker
- Persuaded Adolf Eichmann to allow 600 children to leave Vienna
- Helped coordinate Kindertransport trains through the Netherlands
🚆 Kindertransport’s Legacy
- Many survivors went on to become doctors, artists, teachers, and campaigners
- Their experiences shaped post-war refugee policy, Holocaust education, and child migration rights
- Their stories remain vital reminders of what happens when borders close — and when people act with compassion anyway
🧠 “I owe my life to a train ticket. And to the stranger who made sure I had it.” — Vera Schaufeld, Kindertransport survivor
🏛️ Where to Remember
- 🎓 Imperial War Museum, London – Holocaust galleries
- 🚉 Kindertransport Memorial, Liverpool Street Station
- 📍 Jewish Museum London – Artefacts and oral histories
- 🇩🇪 Berlin’s Trains to Life – Trains to Death Memorial, Friedrichstraße Station
📚 Want to Know More?
- Into the Arms of Strangers by Mark Jonathan Harris and Deborah Oppenheimer
- The Kindertransport: What Really Happened by Andrea Hammel
- Nicholas Winton and the Rescued Generation by Muriel Emanuel
- The Wiener Holocaust Library – Digital Kindertransport Archive
💬 Light a Candle, Share a Name: #KindertransportRemembered
Post a tribute to a Kindertransport child or family.
Share artwork, poems, or simply the name of someone remembered.
Use #KindertransportRemembered and tag @TimeTravellersGuild — we’ll share them on June 20th, World Refugee Day.
