The Kindertransport refugee who is still writing books at 94
Posted on March 10, 2023
W hen dining with Lore Segal, it might be wise to watch your words. The Austrian-born writer subscribes to Nora Ephron’s adage that everything is copy. That’s especially true for her encounters with her circle of close female friends, which over the years have been rendered into fiction via her Ladies Lunch series.
The stories, most originally published in The New Yorker, are wry appraisals on ageing and how this shifts our relationships.
Mostly they feature a version of Segal, today a sprightly 94-year-old living on the Upper West Side, more than eight decades after she fled to Britain on the Kindertransport. These, plus three other essays, form part of a Ladies Lunch collection published in the UK this month.
They are built on a real lunch, one that has been meeting for the last 20 years. “These stories come from picking up on some theme or story or something that has happened,” explains Segal, who is well known for her novels and short stories in the US and has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. “The characters are real, but the characters’ names are not [those of] my real friends.”
Segal arrived in New York in 1951, having spent the war in a series of foster homes, studying her eccentric English hosts (some Jews, others Christians keen to convert her) with the same curiosity a botanist might have for exotic plants. Remarkably, she was reunited with her parents early in the war, after English authorities helped them secure domestic servant visas.
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Vienna’s UK embassy honours diplomats and clergy who saved Jews from Nazis
Posted on March 8, 2023
The UK ambassador recently discovered her own grandmother escaped on the Kindertransport
A plaque honouring the memory of British officials and Anglican clergy who saved thousands of Jews from the Nazis was unveiled at the British embassy in Vienna.
The ceremony was led by Lord Pickles, the government’s special envoy for post-Holocaust issues and co-chair of Britain’s Holocaust Memorial Foundation, and the president of the Austrian parliament Wolfgang Sobotka.
The diplomats and clergy went into action after the Anschluss of March 1938 when Hitler’s troops annexed Austria.
It was an emotional morning at the embassy for Britain’s ambassador to Austria, Lindsay Skoll, who told attendees she had often found herself close to tears reading the accounts of those whom British diplomats and clergymen had tried to save.
Lord Eric Pickles and president of the Austrian parliament Wolfgang Sobotka unveiling the plaque (Photo: Richard Pobaschnig)
Ms Skoll discovered only recently that she herself was the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. Her grandmother, born in Germany, found sanctuary in Vienna as a child before making it out on one of the last Kindertransport trains, settling in the north-east of England. Her grandmother kept this a secret until almost the very end of her life.
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Bradford’s Kindertransport hostel was sanctuary in the war
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.
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BBC series tells the story of Tyneside’s Holocaust refugee house for girls
Posted on February 18, 2023
A BBC Sounds series narrated by Desert Island Discs presenter Lauren Laverne tells the remarkable and previously unknown story of how more than 20 young girls were rescued from Nazi persecution and brought to the small town of Tynemouth, east of Newcastle, and supported by the small local Jewish community.
In a nondescript terraced house overlooking the sea, the girls lived together for about a year in 1938. Once war was declared, they were collectively relocated from 55 Percy Park to Windermere in the Lake District for the next six years.
Speaking to the JC, series co-creator Joanna Lonsdale said: “The story of Tynemouth’s Kindertransport girls is a remarkable one and one that we just couldn’t believe had been forgotten. Everyone knows the story of the Windermere boys — there’s even a movie about it. But nobody knows that there was also a community of girls there that escaped the Holocaust.
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Holocaust memorial service held at new statue in Harwich
Posted on February 2, 2023
A SPECIAL Holocaust memorial service was held in Harwich for the first time following the unveiling of Harwich’s Kindertransport memorial.
Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated every year on January 27 to honour the six million victims of the Holocaust.
The date is the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.
Following the unveiling of the Kindertransport memorial at Harwich Quay last year, Harwich Town Council decided the site would be a fitting focal point for Holocaust Memorial Day.
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Lowestoft: Kindertransport arrival at town’s railway station marked
Posted on February 2, 2023
A new history panel recounting the 1938 Kindertransport arrival in a coastal town has been unveiled during a special ceremony.
The giant interpretation panel was unveiled at Lowestoft rail station – close to where hundreds of young Jewish refugees had arrived in December 1938.
And as people from the community gathered to mark Holocaust Memorial Day at the station last Friday, a special ceremony was held to unveil the new panel – which recounts the events of the 1938 Kindertransport arrival in Lowestoft.
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Legacy and the Kindertransport
Posted on February 2, 2023
One of the most moving stories of rescue during the Holocaust is the Kindertransport, the British-led effort to that transported 10,000 Jewish children to safety in the U.K. Today, Kindertransport refugees and their descendants share a legacy of survival, resilience, and responsibility.
Join USC Shoah Foundation on February 16 for this unique webinar that will introduce Edith Maniker, a survivor of the Kindertransport, and Mona Golabek, the daughter of Lisa Jura who was saved by the Kindertransport, for a live conversation as well as an introduction to their digital biographies shared in the Foundation’s Dimensions in Testimony program. This digitally based program allows students and teachers to engage in personal conversations with survivors from their own computer devices, making it a powerful tool that redefines inquiry-based education.
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Coalville CAN hosts ‘evening you will never forget’ with Holocaust survivor Ruth next month
Posted on January 28, 2023
Coalville CAN is hosting what it describes as an unforgettable evening next month at its Memorial Square venue.
An Evening With Ruth Shwiening – a Holocaust survivor – takes place on February 8 at 6pm.
It is a story of survival of the holocaust, Ruth’s journey on the Kindertransport and how it inspired her art and her life.
A Coalville CAN spokesperson said: “We are sure it will be one of those evenings that you will never forget.
Ruth arrived in England on the Kindertransport at the age of three – while her father was imprisoned in Dachau and her mother was left to desperately find a way out for the rest of the family.
“Hear the story of her life as a Jewish refugee in the UK, and how she ignited her own artistic talent that she uses to share her story and support others.
“It is part of the creative sessions at Coalville CAN.”
All are welcome and there is no charge.
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Poignant memorial service held at Lowestoft rail station
Posted on January 28, 2023
Scores of people turned out as a town fell silent in remembering others during a poignant service of remembrance.
Close to the spot where hundreds of young Jewish refugees had arrived in 1938, the people of Lowestoft gathered during a special ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.
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Antisemitism rising because of a lack of Holocaust education, survivor says
Posted on January 27, 2023
A 92-year-old Holocaust survivor said antisemitism is on the rise because young people are not learning about the Holocaust as much anymore.
Vera Schaufeld came to England via the Kindertransport, a movement that was set up to evacuate Jewish children from Germany in the wake of Kristallnacht – a night of Nazi-coordinated violence in November 1938 which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of synagogues and Jewish properties across the German Reich
Her parents remained in what was then Czechoslovakia and were sent to a concentration camp where they were later murdered.
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Holocaust survivor, 96: ‘I’m grateful to the kind British people who helped me build my life”
Posted on January 26, 2023
On 9 November 1938, the Nazis initiated a campaign of hatred against Jews in all Nazi territories, known as Kristallnacht. This was the eve of Gabriele’s 12th birthday and she remembers “dreadful screaming”. The next day she waited excitedly for her father to take her out to celebrate as arranged. “My father never appeared,” she said.
It had become increasingly clear that Gabriele’s life was in danger in Austria. “My grandmother was worried that I would be taken next,” she said.
And so her grandmother arranged for her to escape the country through the Kindertransport. And on 24 April 1939, Gabriele was one of 150 unaccompanied children, with labels around their neck to identify them, who left Vienna for the UK, not knowing if they would see their families again.
“My grandmother came to the station to wave me off. The parents had been told not to have any emotional scenes,” she said.
“I’ll always remember my grandmother waving and smiling as the train pulled away. I know now she was trying to give me her courage, and encourage me to believe everything was going to be ok. It makes me very, very sad to think about that day.
“I’ll always remember the sounds of them crying. We were all alone and some were only four years old. We stopped off at a station on the Germany-Holland border and there was a feast laid out for us – sandwiches, drinks and more along with toys. The people there comforted the crying children. I haven’t been able to find out the name of the station, but I’ll always remember their kindness.”
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Tickets for Eva at The Rockwell Centre now on sale
Posted on January 24, 2023
A SHOW based on the story of a German Jewish woman who started a new life in Britain after World War Two is coming to Bradford next month.
Eva, which uses theatre and poetry to explore themes of displacement, isolation and immigration, is coming to The Rockwell Centre in Thorpe Edge on Sunday, February 12.
Written by Nicki Davy and directed by Leanne Rowley, it will look at how thousands of refugees started a new life in this country, all while the world mourned the millions of lives that were lost in the war.
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Concert documentary to take place at University of Lincoln to mark Holocaust Memorial Day
Posted on January 23, 2023
A special concert documentary will take place at the University of Lincoln on Friday 27 January to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
The event is called Kindertransport, which means “children’s transport” in German and refers to the rescue of thousands of children from Nazi-occupied Europe before the outbreak of the Second World War.
The event is inspired by Dr Robin Young whose father came to the UK from Czechoslovakia as part of the Kindertransport.
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Holocaust survivor to tell her story in Poole for memorial day event
Posted on January 21, 2023
A HOLOCAUST survivor will share her story as an annual memorial event returns to being held in-person.
An event for Holocaust Memorial Day, hosted by the Bournemouth and Poole Holocaust Memorial Committee, will be held at Poole’s Lighthouse on Sunday, January 29.
Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines MBE will be the event’s main speaker and will share her story as a Holocaust survivor. In her talk, Lady Milena will recount her story of survival at 10 years old when her family were able to leave Prague on the last Kindertransport train with the help of Trevor Chadwick and Nicholas Winton, organisers of an operation which brought nearly 10,000 Jewish children in danger to the UK.
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Holocaust service to be held at new Kindertransport statue in Harwich
Posted on January 21, 2023
A SPECIAL Holocaust memorial service will take place in Harwich for the first time following the unveiling of Harwich’s Kindertransport memorial.
Following the unveiling of the Kindertransport memorial at Harwich Quay last year, Harwich Town Council said the site would be a fitting focal point for Holocaust Memorial Day.
Harwich mayor Ivan Henderson said: “The Kindertransport Memorial recognises Harwich’s role in the protection of many thousands of Jewish children through the Kindertransport but it also offers a focal point for us to remember and reflect on the horror of the Holocaust.
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Lowestoft: Holocaust memorial ceremony and new bench to be unveiled
Posted on January 18, 2023
Wreaths are due to be laid as a ceremony commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day will be held in Lowestoft.
At the spot where hundreds of young Jewish refugees arrived in 1938, a special service of remembrance will take place on Friday, January 27 as Lowestoft rail station hosts a special ceremony.
Everyone is welcome to attend the service of reflection, which will take place inside the Parcels Office at the town’s railway station on January 27 at 10am. People will gather to remember the Holocaust and the role the town played more than 80 years ago when more than 500 children arrived at Lowestoft station as part of the Kindertransport initiative.
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Number 55 Percy Park looks much like all the other town houses on a well-kept seafront parade in Tynemouth. But more than 80 years ago, it played a small yet significant part in the rescue of Jewish children from the Nazis.