Posted on September 9, 2024
Last Updated 02 September 2024
85 years ago, Liverpool Street station welcomed hundreds of refugee children.
It’s not unusual to find a group of kids hanging around outside McDonald’s. These five are a bit different, however. They are dressed in the clothing of another age, laden down not with Roblox rucksacks, but traditional valises and satchels. These five represent the many hundreds of children who arrived at the station in the late 1930s. They were refugees of the Nazi regime, and Londoners welcomed them with open arms.
The Kindertransport (German for “Children’s transport”) rescued some 10,000 children from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe, between November 1938 and September 1939. Most of them were Jewish. Parents could not accompany the children, and nobody over the age of 17 was eligible. It must have been terrifying.
The evacuation was done with the support of the British government, who waived visa requirements. Numerous organisations and individuals — notably Sir Nicholas Winton — worked hard to set up the transport, raise funds and find foster homes for the children.
Most of the young refugees arrived by boat in Harwich, Essex. From there, many were sent to converted holiday camps. Others boarded trains for London. It was here, in Liverpool Street station, that they were first introduced to foster parents. The evacuations continued right up to the eve of the second world war, but which point some 10,000 children had been saved.
The experience could be deeply traumatic. Some children were too young to fully understand why they had been separated from their parents. Many would never be reunited. Then they had to settle in an unfamiliar country, living with strangers who often could not speak their language.
Liverpool Street’s role in this mass evacuation is commemorated by two sculptures. The one shown above is called Kindertransport – The Arrival. It depicts a group of five children, standing symbolically on a railway track, which carries the names of the cities from which they fled. This powerful sculpture was created by Frank Meisler and Arie Ovadia. Meisler was himself among the children evacuated from Gdańsk and transported to Liverpool Street. It stands in what is now named Hope Square, just outside the Liverpool Street entrance.
The second sculpture, down on the main concourse, is called Fur das Kind – Displaced. It shows two forlorn children waiting around with their luggage. The base carries a dedication to The Religious Society of Friends (The Quakers) who played an important role in arranging the Kindertransport.
This sculpture, by Flor Kent, is itself displaced. It originally stood up in Hope Square from 2003 to 2006, where the figures were accompanied by a giant glass suitcase filled with original objects from Kindertransport children. This proved unsuitable for an outdoor location. In 2006, it was taken apart, and reconfigured. Nicholas Winton himself re-dedicated the sculpture in 2011, when it was unveiled on the concourse. The objects from the glass suitcase are now in the Imperial War Museum.
We should note in closing that children were evacuated to other countries — including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark — though in smaller numbers. Other memorials can be found along the Kindertransport routes, including at Harwich, Gdańsk, Berlin, Prague, Hamburg and Hook of Holland.
Liverpool Street’s statues are all too often used as ad hoc seating or for the lazy disposal of coffee cups. But they deserve our attention and respect. These are memorials to kindness, humanity and altruism, qualities we should remember today when considering the needs of refugees.