Non-Fiction

Field not found.

Millisle, County Down – Haven from Nazi Terror

by Taylor, Marilyn (2001); Published by History Ireland

The story of the Refugee Resettlement Farm, which existed in Millisle, County Down from 1938 to 1948, is one of the little-known ‘secret histories’ of the Second World War in Ireland. To this remote, disused farm on the beautiful Ards peninsula, came, in the late 1930s, Jewish children who escaped on Kindertransports, together with older members of religious Zionist youth groups, and some adults, all refugees from Nazi terror.

Mit dem Kindertransport in die Freiheit. Vom Jüdischen Flü zum Corporal O’Brian

by Behrendt, Gideon and Claudia Curio (2001); Published by Frankfurt: Fischer

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

More Than Any Child Should Know: A Kindertransport Story of the Holocaust

by Paul Regelbrugge and Julia Thompson (2021); Published by Holocaust Center for Humanity

What is it like for a child of eight to leave the only home he’s ever known, traveling alone by land and sea to an uncertain future? On the eve of World War II, this was the journey of young Steve Adler. Born in 1930 to a German-Jewish family, Steve was one of the lucky ones: finding refuge from persecution and danger during the Holocaust in England and later the United States.

This true story takes the reader swirling along with moments in history as seen through Steve’s eyes: from the moment his happy world in Berlin was shattered; to separation, evacuation, and foster homes in England; and finally, to stability and strength in the United States. Steve’s refugee story transcends time and place to illuminate the costs of war and bigotry, while also offering a beacon of human hope and resilience.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/more-than-any-child-should-know-a-kindertransport-story-of-the-holocaust-paul-v-regelbrugge/17932710?ean=9781737760108&next=t&next=t

Mothers in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Postfeminism

by Rowe Fraustino, Lisa and Coats, Karen, Editors (2016); Published by University Press of Mississippi

Chapter 4: The Women Who Sent Their Children Away: Mothers in Kindertransport Fiction. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports

by Hacker, Melissa (1996); Published by Bee's Knees Productions

Award-winning documentary film directed by the daughter of a Kind from Vienna.

For more information, and to purchase dvds or to arrange a screening, contact melissa@kindertransport.org

My Train to Freedom: A Jewish Boy’s Journey from Nazi Europe to a Life of Activism

by Backer, Ivan (2016); Published by Skyhorse

The breathtaking memoir by a member of “Nicky’s family,” a group of 669 Czechoslovakian children who escaped the Holocaust through Sir Nicholas Winton’s Kindertransport project, My Train to Freedom relates the trials and achievements of award-winning humanitarian and former Episcopal priest, Ivan Backer. Now an eighty-six-year-old who remains an activist for peace and justice. He has been influenced by his Jewish heritage, his Christian boarding school education in England, and the always present question “For what purpose was I spared the Holocaust?”.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/my-train-to-freedom-a-jewish-boy-s-journey-from-nazi-europe-to-a-life-of-activism-ivan-a-backer/ea7b51b6488c1e87?aid=56539&ean=9781634506045&listref=kindertransport-memoir&next=t

Never Look Back: The Jewish Refugee Children in Great Britain, 1938-1945

by Tydor Baumel-Schwartz, Judith (2012); Published by Purdue University Press

This book charts the history of the Kindertransport movement, focusing on the dynamics that developed between the British government, the child refugee organizations, the Jewish community in Great Britain, the general British population, and the refugee children. Based on archival sources and follow-up interviews with refugee children both forty and seventy years after their flight to Britain, this book gives a unique perspective into the political, bureaucratic, and human aspects of the Kindertransport scheme prior to and during World War II.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/never-look-back-the-jewish-refugee-children-in-great-britain-1938-1945-judith-tydor-baumel-schwartz/7e301b51787fa349?aid=56539&ean=9781557536129&listref=kindertransport-history&next=t

Nicholas Winton and the Rescued Generation

by Emmanuel, Muriel and Vera Gissing (1982); Published by Edgware, England: Vallentine Mitchell Publishers

When Nicholas Winton met a friend in Prague in December 1938, he was shocked by the plight of thousands of refugees and Czech citizens desperate to flee from the advancing German army. A British organisation had been set up to help the adults, but who would save the children? Winton felt he could not walk away. He set up a makeshift office and in just three weeks interviewed thousands of distraught parents who had the courage to part with their children and send them alone to England. Armed with their details and photos, he returned to London to convince the Home Office of the urgency of the situation. He knew he was working against time. His supreme efforts resulted in eight trainloads bringing 669, mainly Jewish, children to London.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/nicholas-winton-and-the-rescued-generation-save-one-life-save-the-world-muriel-emanuel/d2e85f24082f92bc?aid=56539&ean=9780853034254&listref=kindertransport-history&next=t

Nightmare’s Fairy Tale: A Young Refugee’s Home Fronts, 1938-1948

by Korman, Gerd (2005); Published by University of Wisconsin Press

Fleeing the Nazis in the months before World War II, the Korman family scattered from a Polish refugee camp with the hope of reuniting in America. The father sailed to Cuba on the ill-fated St. Louis; the mother left for the United States after sending her two sons on a Kindertransport. One of the sons was Gerd Korman, whose memoir follows his own path–from the family’s deportation from Hamburg, through his time with an Anglican family in rural England, to the family’s reunited life in New York City. His memoir plumbs the depths of twentieth-century history to rescue the remarkable life story of one of its survivors.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/nightmare-s-fairy-tale-a-young-refugee-s-home-fronts-1938-1948-gerd-korman/5c4ba1e6567562e5?aid=56539&ean=9780299210847&listref=kindertransport-memoir&next=t

Nuremberg and Beyond: The Memoirs of Sigfried Ramler from 20th Century Europe to Hawaii

by Ramler, Sigfried (2009); Published by Ahuna Press

The book begins with Sig’s childhood in Vienna and follows him at age 14 on the Kindertransport to London, where he experienced the Blitz as well as V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks. After the war, his facility with languages brought him to one of the defining moments of his life: the Nuremberg trials. Working in the new field of simultaneous translation, Sig came face to face with the war’s criminals: Göring, Hess, Höss, and Hitler’s architect, Speer. A meeting with a pretty Hawaiian-Chinese court reporter, Piilani Ahuna, led to marriage and a journey to Hawaii. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

On My Own: Decoding the Conspiracy of Silence

by Schulhof Rybeck, Erika (2013); Published by Summit Crossroads Press

Erika Schulhof Rybeck tells her story as a tribute to the parents who shielded her from the Nazi hor­rors swirling around her, horrors that led to their deportation and disappear­ance. After being a teacher, mother and volunteer, she looks back at age 84 at rare experiences – living in castles and cottages, being sheltered by Catholics, discov­ering her Jewish heritage, and learning of her illustrious family.

Ordinary People and Extraordinary Evil

by Katz, Fred Emil (1993); Published by State University of New York Press

What is it in the behavioral makeup of ordinary people, operating in the course of ordinary daily living, that lends itself to participating in horrendous activities – and doing so at times with zeal, at times with joy, at times without duress? Katz demonstrates that we do not need any special behavioral equipment for doing evil. The very same behaviors can take us in both directions for either living humanely and decently or for doing evil. This book demonstrates how some of these processes work, and sensitizes us to the potential for evil in our ongoing daily activities. This knowledge about ordinary behavior can empower us to take charge of our own direction, and help us turn away from beguilings of evil when they come our way.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/ordinary-people-and-extraordinary-evil-a-report-on-the-beguilings-of-evil-fred-emil-katz/9201c875aef58138?aid=56539&ean=9780791414422&listref=if-you-are-interested-in-the-kindertransports-you-might-be-interested-in&next=t

Part of the Family, Christadelphians and the Kindertransport

by Hensley, Jason (2016)

Christadelphians, the Kindertransport, and Rescue from the Holocaust “Part of the Family” is a book and video project attempting to catalogue the lives and experiences of Jewish refugees who lived with Christadelphians during the 1930s and 1940s. To that end, if readers know of anyone who could possibly be included in a future volume, please contact us.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/part-of-the-family-christadelphians-the-kindertransport-and-rescue-from-the-holocaust/9d9f1fe18abd2d5f?ean=9781532740534&next=t&next=t

Postcards to a Little Boy. A Kindertransport Story

by Foner, Henry (2013); Published by Yad Vashem Publications

Henry Foner (Heinz Lichtwitz), who had lost his mother at a young age, was sent from Berlin to Wales and lived there with a Jewish couple, who provided him with a warm, loving home. From the moment they parted, Henry’s father sent him colorful illustrated postcards written in German and later on in English. This authentic and moving document presents the postcards and letters that Henry received from his father and other relatives and friends, along with their translation. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Project Jewish Life in Frankfurt

by Lieberz-Gross, Till and Rieber, Angelika (2012)

The focus of our work is to keep in memory the lives of former Jewish Frankfurt citizens and to learn and teach about present-day Jewish life.

Reconstructing the Past: Refugee Writings on the Kindertransport

by Sharples, Carolyn (2006); Published by Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History

This article analyses the memoirs of the former refugees themselves and sets out the case for re-examining popular representations of the scheme, addressing the diversity of experience for the children once in England, the hardships and emotional upheaval encountered during this stage of their young lives and looking at some of the limitations of the Kindertransport itself. Volume 12, Number 3, pp. 40-62 May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Remembering Refugees: Then and Now

by Kushner, Tony (2006); Published by Manchester University Press

Chapter 4 deals specifically with the Kindertransports. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Rescue Operation for Jewish Children from Nazi Germany. the Kindertransporte of 1938-1939

by Muller-Knospe, Bernd (2017); Published by Grin Publishing

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

Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport

by Hodge, Deborah (2012); Published by Tundra Books

This book, for children aged 10 and older, includes a compilation of accounts of Kindertransport children and is illustrated with archival photographs, paintings by artist Hans Jackson, and quilt squares created by the Kinder commemorating their rescue.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/rescuing-the-children-the-story-of-the-kindertransport-deborah-hodge/06cf870d777cbf15?aid=56539&ean=9781770492561&listref=kindertransport-for-young-readers&next=t

Researchers Remember: Research as an Arena of Memory Among Descendants of Holocaust Survivors, a Collected Volume of Academic Autobiographies

by Shmuel Refael (Editor), Judith Tydor Baumel-Schwartz (Editor) (2021); Published by Peter Lang Group AG, International Academic Publishers

This book is composed of over 30 chapters written by prominent researchers worldwide who belong to the “Second Generation” and “Third Generation” of Holocaust offspring.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/researchers-remember-research-as-an-arena-of-memory-among-descendants-of-holocaust-survivors-a-collected-volume-of-academic-autobiographies-judith-tydor-baumel-schwartz/17407166?ean=9783034341547&next=t&next=t