Non-Fiction

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Arthur and Lilly

by Maier, Lilly (2023); Published by Titletown Publishing, LLC

What do a 75-year-old Los Angeles based rocket engineer and an eleven-year-old schoolgirl from Austria have in common? Not much at first glance, but Arthur and Lilly influenced each other’s lives in a fateful way.

In 1939, Arthur’s Jewish parents sent their son abroad on a so-called Kindertransport (“children’s transport”), hoping to save him from the Holocaust. The separation is a traumatic experience for the ten-year-old. Although he is rescued – from Austria via France to the United States – his family is murdered by the Nazis. He never sees them again. Sixty-five years later: During a visit to his parents’ former apartment in Vienna, Austria, Arthur Kern meets eleven-year-old Lilly Maier. A decisive encounter for both of them, which not only shapes Lilly’s further life but also leads to Arthur receiving a long-lost legacy from his parents.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/arthur-and-lilly-the-girl-and-the-holocaust-survivor-lilly-maier/1b3c436192725bc1?ean=9781955047302&next=t&aid=56539&listref=kindertransport-history

Audio Documentary: My Omi

by Lisa Fierstein (Fall 2015); Published by Soundcloud

Audio documentary about the life of Kind Ruth Ultmann, produced by her granddaughter KT3 Lisa Fierstein.

Audio Series “The Girls“

Published by BBC Sounds

The Girls is an audio series on BBC Sounds narrated by Lauren Laverne about the story of a forgotten Holocaust safe house in Tynemouth which housed Jewish girls fleeing the Nazis in 1939. It is a 5-part series with each episode between 8-12 minutes. Hear about the girls’ journeys to England, the trauma they faced whilst there and their lives after the war.

Author Lilly Maier discusses her now book about the impact of meeting a Holocaust survivor as a girl

(November 5, 2023) Published by NY1

In her new book “Arthur and Lily: The Girl and the Holocaust Survivor”, author Lilly Maier tells the story of meeting Holocaust and Kindertransport survivor Arthur Kern when she was 11-years-old. It tells about their unlikely friendship that developed for over a decade before he passed away. Maier spoke with anchors Shannan Ferry and Rocco Vertuccio about their friendship.

Between the Lines: Letters from the Holocaust

by Fox, Ann (2005); Published by ComteQ Publishing

KTA member Anne Fox takes us behind the lines of her family’s experience in the Holocaust. She shares with us the sorrows of parents and children separated by war, as revealed in letters that came into her possession years later. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Bitter Prerequisites: A Faculty For Survival From Nazi Terror

by Kleine-Ahlbrandt, William Laird (2001); Published by Purdue University Press

Twelve Purdue University faculty who were holocaust survivors tell their story in this oral history. One of these survivors is KTA member Joseph Haberer, who was on the first Kindertransport to England. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Book Talk Andrea Hammel: the Kindertransport – what really happened

by The Wiener Holocaust Library (December 7, 2023)

A recording of a Book Talk by Andrea Hammel about her book „The Kindertransport: what really happened“ at the Wiener Holocaust Library.

Britain and the Jews of Europe 1939-1945

by Wasserstein, Bernard (1979); Published by New York: Oxford University Press

May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Broken Homes: Three Kindertransport Poets

by Lawson, Peter (2008); Published by Bergan Journals

This essay in the journal CRITICAL SURVEY, Vol 20, No. 2, discusses how the Holocaust affected the work of Jewish poets who were relocated to England as part of the Kindertransport. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Chemistry & Art: Further Adventures of a Chemist Collector

by Bader, Alfred (2009); Published by Orion Publishing Group

In a fast-paced but incredibly detailed and honest description of his adventures, we learn of Bader’s four jobs: philanthropist,art collector, art dealer, and chemist. The book is a tale of high stakes in the art world and of deep friendships maintained over decades.It is a tale of great loss, and of great finds; of shabby treatment, and of incredible sharing and generosity; a tale of a great love, and a great family. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Child refugees forever? The history of the Kindertransport of Britain 1938/39.

by Andrea Hammel (2010); Published by Verlag Barbara Budrich

Hammel’s article gives a compact historical overview of the Kindertransport to Britain and examines how the children’s experiences have been remembered, interpreted, and sometimes simplified over time. It traces the emotional, social, and political consequences of child‑only rescue, showing how the label “child refugee” can follow survivors throughout their lives.

Children’s Exodus: A History of the Kindertransport

by Fast, Vera (2010); Published by IB Taurus

Drawing on unpublished interviews, journals, and articles, Vera K. Fast examines the religious and political tensions that emerged throughout the migration and at times threatened to bring operations to a halt. Children’s Exodus captures the life-affirming stories of child refugees with vivid detail and examines the motivations — religious or otherwise — of the people that orchestrated one of the greatest rescue missions of all time.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/children-s-exodus-a-history-of-the-kindertransport-vera-k-fast/6928947182bfdd9b?aid=56539&ean=9781848855373&listref=kindertransport-history&next=t

Claude Kacser‘s One Thousand Children story

(April 11, 2012) Published by Claude Kacser

The story of Claude Kacser, who fled Nazi Europe as part of the One Thousand Children (The American Kindertransport) to the United States.

Contesting the Kindertransport as a “Model“ Refugee Response.

by Jennifer Craig-Norton (2017); Published by Berghaan Books

Craig‑Norton’s article offers a concise but pointed critique of the idea that the Kindertransport should be celebrated as a flawless or universally applicable “model” refugee response. She shows how this narrative oversimplifies the historical reality: the Kindertransport was shaped by political hesitation, restrictive policies, and the painful separation of children from their families. By unpacking these complexities, the article encourages a more honest understanding of what actually happened.

Cooking with Ruth Zimbler

Published by Jewish Food

A cooking video with Kindertransport survivor and KTA member Ruth Zimbler.

Dancing on a Powder Keg: The Intimate Voice of a Young Mother and Author, Her Letters Composed in The Lengthening Shadow of Hitler’s Third Reich, Her Poems from the Theresienstadt Ghetto

by Weber, Ilse (2017); Published by Bunim & Bannigan Ltd. in association with Yad Vashem

Ilse’s letters, written from 1933 to 1944, serve not just as an autobiography, but as a timeline of catastrophic events. Most of the letters are written to her Swedish friend, Lilian von Lowenadler, Lilian’s mother, Gertrude, and to her dear son, Hanus. Hanus was placed on a Sir Nicholas Winton transport to England and was then taken to Sweden by Lilian.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/dancing-on-a-powder-keg-the-intimate-voice-of-a-young-mother-and-author-her-letters-composed-in-the-lengthening-shadow-of-the-third-reich-her-poems/1c0cc595884f407d?aid=56539&ean=9781933480398&listref=kindertransport-memoir&next=t

Danger On My Doorstep: The Anita Flora Powitzer Story

by Schubert, Linda (2012); Published by Brandylane Publishers

Berlin had been safe for Anita Powitzer for as long as she could remember. But when Hitler came to power, everything changed. Now policemen harmed instead of helped, and Anita couldn’t even talk to her best friend. Flung from her secure childhood into a fearful world, she and her family had to find a way to flee Berlin before it was too late. It was risky, and Anita had to be separated from her loved ones, but this was the only way out. Alone in a country with a language she didn’t understand, staying with people she had never met, Anita had to wait and hope her parents could join her. Would she and her family be safe?

A journey fraught with danger from Germany to Great Britain, and finally to America, this is the true story of one Jewish family’s escape from Nazi Berlin.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/danger-on-my-doorstep-linda-schubert/7031180?ean=9780983826484&next=t&aid=56539&listref=kindertransport-for-young-readers&next=t

Der Jüdische Kindertransport von Deutschland nach England 1938/39

by Göpfert, Rebekka (1999); Published by Frankfurt: Campus

May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center

Der olle Hitler soll sterben!: Erinnerungen an den jüdischen Kindertransport nach England

by Salewsky, Anja (2001); Published by Munich: Claassen

May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center

Die Kindertransport 1938/39. Rettung und Integration

by Benz, Wolfgang, Claudia Curio and Andrea Hummel, eds. (2003); Published by Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag

May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center