Posted on February 22, 2023
ARRIVING at the docks in Dover in late 1938, the children from the Kindertransport tried to be brave. They had no idea where they would be going. No idea who would look after them.
Some children were collected by relatives. Others sat waiting. They had no family to greet them. “Be polite to whoever looks after you”, their parents had said, waving them off from cities across Europe. The children knew their parents were sending them far away as a last resort. The children didn’t want to be impolite and to be returned.
Someone in an official uniform read out names. About 20 boys aged 14-16 stepped forward. Three women approached and smiled at them. “We’re taking you to Bradford,” they said. “It’s a few hours away on the train but there you will have a home. We will feed you and you will be well looked after. You will be safe.”
And so began the journey of the boys to their city of sanctuary for the war years.