Resources

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Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued

by Sís, Peter (2021); Published by W.W. Norton & Company

In 1938, twenty-nine-year-old Nicholas Winton saved the lives of almost 700 children trapped in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Czech-American artist, MacArthur Fellow, and Andersen Award winner Peter Sís dramatizes Winton’s story in this distinctive and deeply personal picture book. He intertwines Nicky’s efforts with the story of one of the children he saved–a young girl named Vera, whose family enlisted Nicky’s aid when the Germans occupied their country. As the war passes and Vera grows up, she must find balance in her dual identities–one her birthright, the other her choice.

Nicholas Winton and the Rescued Generation

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

New Lives: Survivors of the Holocaust Living in America

by Rabinowitz, Dorothy (1976); Published by New York: Alfred A. Knopf

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

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.

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?”.

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 Heart in a Suitcase

by Fox, Anne (1996); Published by Edgware, England: Vallentine Michell

Anne Fox’s Kindertransport memoir.

My Heart in a Suitcase

by Gunning, Greg (2006); Published by ArtsPower National Touring Theatre

Family theater production based on the life of Anne Fox.

My German Question: Growing up in Nazi Berlin

by Gay, Peter (1998); Published by New Haven: Yale University Press

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

My Family for the War

by Voorhoeve, Anne (2012); Published by Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Press

At the start of World War II, ten-year-old Franziska Mangold is torn from her family when she boards the kindertransport in Berlin. Taken in by strangers who soon become more like family than her real parents, Frances (as she is now known) courageously pieces together a new life for herself because she doesn’t know when or if she’ll see her true family again. Against the backdrop of war-torn London, Frances struggles with questions of identity, family, and love. Originally published in Germany. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

My Darling Diary, Volume Three

by Jacoby, Ingrid (2009); Published by Cornwall, UK: United Writers Publications Ltd

In her third diary we follow Ingrid Jacoby’s life from the age of 23 to 26 years. Still in Oxford and now working for Rosenthals’ Antiquarian Booksellers, Ingrid remembers, at the age of 12, being transported via Kindertransport from Vienna to Falmouth with her sister Lieselotte, discovering that her mother was lost forever after dying in a German concentration camp and subsequently being unable to properly find a close relationship with her father and his new wife. Eventually Ingrid meets Stan, and as the pages come to a close we know that her heart and life have become secure. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

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.

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

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.

Missing Girls

by Metzger, Lois (1999); Published by New York: Penguin USA Viking Childrens Books

Lois Metzger’s young adult novel features a young main character whose mother was on a Kindertransport.

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.

Men of Vision, Anglo-Jewry’s Aid to Victims of the Nazi Regime

by Gottlieb, Amy (1998); Published by London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson

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

Memory

by Lichtenstein, Jonathan (2006); Published by London: Nick Hern Books Limited

A drama involving a Kindertransport family, Memory was first performed at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Wales in November 2006 and subsequently produced at the 59E59 Theaters in New York City in 2007. May be out of print. Try your local library or Holocaust Memorial Center.

Memories that Won’t Go Away: A Tribute to the Children of the Kindertransport

by Gold, Michele (2014); Published by Kotarim International Publishing, Ltd

Memories That Won’t Go Away tells the stories of hundreds of these kinder. Their experiences as strangers in a strange land were often complicated and painful, but as this book illustrates, the rescued children – and their many thousands of descendants – remain grateful to the nation that saved them.

Max in the House of Spies

by Adam Gidnitz (2024); Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers

Max Bretzfeld doesn’t want to move to London.

Leaving home is hard and Max is alone for the first time in his life. But not for long. Max is surprised to discover that he’s been joined by two unexpected traveling companions, one on each shoulder, a kobold and a dybbuk named Berg and Stein.

Germany is becoming more and more dangerous for Jewish families, but Max is determined to find a way back home, and back to his parents. He has a plan to return to Berlin. It merely involves accomplishing the impossible: becoming a British spy.

The first book in a duology, Max in the House of Spies is a thought-provoking World War II story as only acclaimed storyteller Adam Gidwitz can tell it—fast-paced and hilarious, with a dash of magic and a lot of heart.

https://bookshop.org/p/books/max-in-the-house-of-spies-adam-gidwitz/20582785?aid=56539&ean=9780593112083&listref=kindertransport-fiction