A Five-Week Unit for Teaching The Diary of a Young Girl and related texts, aligned with Common Core

State Standards Part II

Created by Megan Pankiewicz, on behalf of The English Teachers Friend

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to run to the bathroom." My whereabouts were public

knowledge. I should have said I was going to make a phone
call. I'd planned to urinate and maybe run a little water over

my face, but now I had this to deal with. The tank refilled, and I made a silent promise. The deal
was that

if

this thing would go awali I'd repay the world by

performing some unexpected act of kindness. I flushed the toilet a second time, and the big turd spun a lazy circle. "Go on," I whispered. "Scoot! Shoo!" I turned away, ready to per-

form my good deed, but when I looked back down, there it was, bobbing to the surface in a fresh pool of water.
Just then someone knocked on the door, and I started to panic.
"Just a minute."

At an early

age

my mother sat me down and explained

that everyone has bowel movements. "Everyone," she'd said.

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of the actors we saw each week on television. I'd gotten the overall picture, but natural or not, there was no way I was going to take responsibiliry for
bors, the priest, and several

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66

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Name:

PERIOD:

CLOSE READING ACTIVITY PROSPECTUS AND GUIDE TO THE SECRET ANNEX Special institution as temporary residence for Jews and suchlike. Open all the year round. Beautiful, quite, free from woodland surrounding, in the heart of Amsterdam. Can be reached by trams 13 and 17, also by car or bicycle. In special cases also on foot, if the Germans prevent the use of transportation. Board and lodging: Free. Special fat-free diet. Running water in the bathroom (alas, no bath) and down various inside and outside walls. Ample storage room for all types of goods. Own radio center, direct communication with London, New York, Tel Aviv, and numerous other stations. This appliance is only for residents use after six oclock in the evening. No stations are forbidden, on the understanding that German stations are only listened to in special cases, such as classical music and the like. Rest hours: 10 oclock in the evening until 7:30 in the morning. 10:15 on Sundays. Residents may rest during the day, conditions permitting, as the directors indicate. For reasons of public security rest hours must be strictly observed! Holidays (outside the home): postponed indefinitely. Use of language: Speak softly at all times, by order! All civilized languages are permitted, therefore, no German! Lessons: One written shorthand lesson per week. English, French, Mathematics, and History at all times. Small Pets Special Department (permit is necessary): Good treatment available (vermin excepted). Mealtimes: breakfast, every day except Sundays and Bank Holidays, 9 a.m. Sundays and Bank Holidays, 11:30 a.m. approximately Lunch (not very big): 1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Dinner: cold and/or hot: no fixed time (depending on the news broadcast) Baths: The washtub is available for all residents from 9 a.m. on Sundays. The W.C., kitchen, private office or main office, whichever preferred, are available. Alcoholic beverages: only with doctors prescription.

S T U D Y
B ASED ON THE

G U I D E
FILM

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM-2000

S T U D Y
B ASED ON THE

G U I D E
FILM

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM-2000

Written by

Scott Chamberlin
and

Gretchen Skidmore
Creative & Editorial Consultant

Deborah Oppenheimer
Historical Consultants

Dr. Michael Berenbaum Dr. William F. Meinecke, Jr.

Educational Consultants

Stephen Feinberg Susan Feibelman Facing History and Ourselves

Editorial Assistant

Jacqueline Vissid
Research Assistants

Zo Burman Robert W. Egami

Designed by

Reneric and Company

Picture Credits
Lorraine Allard, pp.14, 20, 27 AP/Wide World Photos, p.13 Leo Baeck Institute, p.17 Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, pp. 8, 9, 26 Lory Cahn, pp.14, 18 Cayce Callaway, pp.14, 15, 16, 17, 31 Hedy Epstein, pp.14, 33 Herbert Friedman, p.22 Kurt Fuchel, pp.14, 19, 24, 29 Vera Gissing, p. 28 Alexander Gordon, pp.15, 27 Eva Hayman, pp.15, 23, 28 Jack Hellman, pp.15, 19 Hulton Getty/Liaison, Inside Front Cover, p.25, Back Cover Institute of Contemporary History and the Wiener Library Ltd., pp.4, 12, 21 Jewish Chronicle, p.12 Bertha Leverton, pp.15, 29 Sylva Oppenheimer courtesy of the Oppenheimer family, pp.3, 5, 25 Lillyan Rosenberg, Inside Front Cover Ursula Rosenfeld, pp.16, 30 Inge Sadan, pp.9, 10, 16 Lore Segal, pp.7, 16, 17, Inside Back Cover Michael Steinberg, Inside Front Cover Robert Sugar, p.16 UCLA Film and Television Archive, p.10 Silke Reents (Photo of Ursula Rosenfeld), p.16 Nicholas Winton, p.17 Courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives (Photo by Max Reid), p.22

Available on Videocassette and DVD from Warner Home Video Download this study guide at www.intothearmsofstrangers.com/studyguide

2001 Warner Home Video, A Division of Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. All Rights Reserved. For information: Warner Home Video, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522. Academy Awards is the Registered Trademark and Service Mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Table of Contents
5

Preface
6

Introduction
7

Using This Guide

8

Historical Background
11

Map of Kinder Homes and Transport Destinations

14

The Kinder
17

The Parents and the Rescuers

18

Discussion
Part 1: Life Is Quite Normal... . . . . . . 18 Part 2: A Light in the Darkness . . . . . . 20 Part 3: Into the Arms of Strangers . . 24 Part 4: War and Deportation . . . . . . . . . 26 Part 5: None to Comfort Them . . . . . 28 In Retrospect: Living with the Past . 30
32

Timeline
34

Glossary
35

Bibliography
36

Additional Resources

Kinder on train at Dutch border

P R E F A C E

Preface
In August 1939, in the days just following my mothers eleventh birthday, my grandparents sent their daughter on a train departing Chemnitz, Germany. My mother was exchanging life with a loving family under the peril of Nazi control for an unknown future with strangers, in the relative safety of Great Britain. Like the majority of the 10,000 children saved by the Kindertransport rescue effort, she never saw her parents again. Throughout my life, my mother could never speak about the events that brought her to Great Britain and then to the United States. The few times I tried to break through her silence she would start crying, then I would begin to cry and would ultimately retreatout of love for my mother. She was hiding a profound grief from her childhood, and I made a silent pact to absorb it. In 1993, my mother passed away from cancer. As a means of dealing with my loss and no longer fearful of causing her pain, I went in search of her story. While the Kindertransport had been the defining experience of my mothers life and had deeply affected our family, I had never heard it mentioned outside our home, studied it in school, talked about it with friends, or, to my knowledge, met another Kindertransport survivor. I always had an emotional awareness of the Kindertransport, but I never knew its history. I decided to learn everything I could in the hopes of bringing it to the widest audience possible. I wanted people to know what had happened, and used the skills I had developed as a longtime producer (The Drew Carey Show) at Warner Bros. to make my documentary feature debut. I contacted Mark Jonathan Harris, whose work I had admired in the Academy Award-winning film The Long Way Home. Recognizing that we couldnt possibly present the complete range of experience of a rescue operation which saved so many lives, we looked for witnesses whose stories would represent what we considered the most characteristic aspects of the Kindertransport. We read historical accounts, letters, diaries, transcripts, and memoirs. We viewed testimonies and spoke to Kindertransport survivors around the world whom we found through Holocaust institutions, word of mouth, and books. Inspired by the hundreds of stories we read and heard, we then retraced the path of the Kindertransport through Germany, the Netherlands, and England, and attended the 60th Anniversary Reunion of Kindertransport survivors in London. Because we wanted our audience never to lose sight of the fact that the Kindertransport happened to children, we decided the story should be told through the childs point of view. We began filming Into the Arms of Strangers in September 1998 and released the film in the United States in September 2000. In November, at the royal premiere in London, 14 of the 16 people featured in the film met privately with HRH Prince Charles to express their gratitude to Great Britain for having saved their lives. The following week, German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder introduced the film in Berlin. With his encouragement, the German governments Agency for Political Education announced that the film will be distributed to every school in Germany as part of its compulsory Holocaust education program. On March 25, 2001, we were presented with the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. When presenter Samuel L. Jackson announced the films name on the telecast, over 200 million viewers in more than 150 countries heard the word Kindertransport, many for the first time. The Award will ensure the film a very long life. There is a terrific irony to my search. If my mother had told her stories, I would never have felt the need for this quest. Now there is so much I want to talk to her about. I wish I could ask questions. I wish I could introduce her to the people I have grown to know and love during the making of this film. They have taught me much about my mother and about her silence, and I feel that, in their words, glimpses of her life and my grandparents lives have been brought to light. This film is a tribute to my mother, Sylva Sabine Avramovici Oppenheimer. Producer Deborah Oppenheimer Los Angeles, July 2001

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Introduction

or nine months prior to the outbreak of World War II, in an unprecedented act of mercy, Great Britain conducted an extraordinary rescue mission known as the Kindertransport. Ten thousand Jewish and other children were transported from their homes in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland and placed into British foster homes and hostels, expecting eventually to be reunited with their parents.The majority of the children never saw their families again.

In the film Into the Arms of Strangers, this unique story is told through the firsthand accounts of 12 of the Kinder (children) who were rescued, as well as a parent, a foster parent, and two rescuers. Their recollections are interwoven into a compelling chronological narrative and illustrated by rare archival footage, photographs, and personal artifacts.The result is a hopeful and human portrait of an unusual and edifying historical event. The Kinder (sing. Kind ) describe their early years with their families, their parents agonizing decision to send them to safety, and their own childhood journeys into an unknown future, offering a unique perspective on important themes of choice, responsibility, identity, memory, fitting in, loss, and separation. The stories highlight the significance of individuals actions as well as the impact of government policies. Because this is also a film about children and parents, the accounts offer a rare opportunity to explore and discuss the power and fragility of this deepest of human relationships. Into the Arms of Strangers enables thoughtful classroom discussion of these topics and acts as a compelling and accessible means to approach a historical event that is particularly difficult to learn about and to understand. The accounts of the Kinder remove the distance of history, helping to demystify the Holocaust by showing the effects of intolerance, racism, and institutionalized violence on individuals. Their stories resoundingly assert the value of human life; the timeless and universal themes serve to remind us of every persons responsibility for its protection.

The film and this guide can be used together in the classroom to meet the following general objectives:
Reinforce a meaningful historical understanding of the Holocaust without exposure to explicit content for which students may be unprepared; Provide a solid foundation of knowledge about the Kindertransport and an understanding of the political and social factors behind immigration and refugee policies; Explore the importance of language, beliefs, values, and traditions in defining a culture; Recognize the value of individual firsthand accounts in the study of the past; Consider the responsibility of each citizen to protect the democratic process, to guard individual rights, and to participate in community service; Examine the presence of ethical principles underlying individual action and illustrate ways in which one individual in a society can change the lives of many others; Develop historical perspective and connect the events of the past to students own lives by addressing themes universal to the human experience; Help students learn to use their knowledge of the past to make informed choices in the present and the future.

U S I N G

T H I S

G U I D E

Using This Guide

This guide serves as a companion to the film Into the Arms of Strangers, providing students and teachers with reference materials and suggestions for classroom discussion, group projects, and individual assignments, as well as a potential entry for parents and guardians to join the classroom dialogue. This film and the guide are appropriate for students from grades 7 to 12.

Reference Materials
To put the accounts of the film into context, this guide includes summaries of each of the stories of the people who are featured in the film. A brief historical review provides background information on the origins of the Holocaust, World War II, and the Kindertransport. A map, a timeline of relevant events, a glossary, and a bibliography are also included.

Viewing and Discussion

For the purpose of classroom use, the film can be divided into five parts: Part Part Part Part Part 1 2 3 4 5 (approx. 20 minutes): Life Is Quite Normal... (00:00 -19:41) (approx. 27 minutes): A Light in the Darkness (19:41-46:40) (approx. 23 minutes): Into the Arms of Strangers (46:40 -1:09:19) (approx. 26 minutes): War and Deportation (1:09:19 -1:35:25) (approx. 22 minutes): None to Comfort Them (1:35:25 -1:57:12)
Lore Segals Kindertransport identity card

The class is encouraged to watch the film in full before discussing its separate sections, but the film may also be watched, or watched again, in the five individual parts in order to fit it into class periods. On pages 18-29 of this guide, you will find suggested discussion points for each part of the film, as well as a reflective section on pages 30-31. Recommendations for group projects and individual assignments are included.

Suggestions
Teachers may encourage students to keep a journal while watching the film to note the stories, images, music, or sounds that resonate for them. How do the visual and audible elements of the film illustrate the stories being told by the participants? The students should treat this journal as a physical memoir of their experience, and they may want to add drawings, photographs, printed text, or other items that are meaningful to them. Suggestions for journal entries are indicated by this symbol: Since the relationship between parent and child is central to this film, teachers may wish to ask students to invite their parents or guardians to join them in the classroom or auditorium for viewing Into the Arms of Strangers. They may then facilitate a discussion of the themes in this study guide and encourage a dialogue among the generations.

Its strange that its only six years out of a long life and those six years will affect the rest of your life.
Eva Hayman

H I S T O R I C A L

B A C K G R O U N D

Historical Background
The following pages provide a brief review of the historical context for the Kindertransport. To explore the following topics in greater depth, please refer to pages 32-36.

Background
The children of the Kindertransport (see pages 14-16) featured in the film were born between 1922 and 1931, in what was in retrospect a deeply unstable and volatile region of Europe. Much of the continent had been ravaged by World War I, and recovery was particularly elusive for Germany. Throughout the 1920s, the German people were acutely conscious of their unexpected defeat in the Great War, and they were also impoverished by the high cost of war and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germanys peace accord with Great Britain, France, the United Berlin, 1938 States, and the other victors. Unemployment was high, and in the early 1920s, uncontrolled inflation rendered German currency nearly worthless along with the savings accounts of much of A few of the prewar German laws the German population. The economy began to recover that directly affected Jewish children in the late 1920s, but the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 cast the nation into renewed misery. With the April 25, 1933 The government limits the number German people demoralized, their democratically of Jews who can attend German high schools. elected government found itself increasingly unpopular and vulnerable. September 15, 1935 The Nuremberg Laws are passed: Jews are no longer German citizens, cannot The Rise of the Nazi Party display the German flag, cannot employ Germans In 1919, when Adolf Hitler joined what would become younger than 45 in their homes, cannot marry or have known as the Nazi Party (short for the National Socialist relations with non-Jewish Germans. Jews are defined German Workers Party), it was a little - known fringe group biologically and designated based on the religion of right-wing extremists. During the 1920s, the Nazis of their grandparents rather than their own faith exploited civic discontent to build a small but loyal or cultural identity. following, but mainstream public recognition eluded them until 1929. In the vast destitution of the DeJuly 23, 1938 All Jews older than 15 must carry a special pression era, the German public began to embrace the identification card. In any dealings with the government, Nazis messages, which included fanatical pro- German Jews must declare they are Jewish and show the card. nationalism, the rebuilding of Germany through reAugust 17, 1938 Newborn Jewish children are to militarization, and open racism and antisemitism receive names only from a government - approved list. which presented ethnic minoritiesespecially the Jews as scapegoats for the nations troubles. Although the November 12, 1938 Jews cannot attend plays, movies, Nazi Party was never able to claim a majority of German concerts, or exhibitions. Jews must pay 1.25 million votes, it gained enough support for Adolf Hitler to emerge Reichsmarks (almost six million U.S. dollars today) for as Chancellor of the nation in 1933. The political damages caused on Kristallnacht. (See box on page 10.) establishment viewed Hitlers ascension with concern, but generally assumed that the realities of the political system November 15, 1938 Jewish children are expelled would force him to moderate his views. Yet Hitler, who from public schools and must now attend Jewish rose to power within a democratic system, invoked the schools. provisions of the German constitution that permitted the suspension of constitutional protections in emergency December 8, 1938 Jews can no longer attend circumstances. Ruling by decree, he dismantled the German universities. democratic structure and proclaimed himself Fhrer (leader) of an authoritarian, dictatorial new regime.

H I S T O R I C A L

B A C K G R O U N D

The Jews of Germany

The fewer than 600,000 Jews who lived in Germany in the 1920s accounted for not even one percent of the population, but Jewish people had been present in Germany for hundreds of years. As in the rest of Europe, Jews of the region had once been a subordinate class, subject to legal discrimination, but over the past century the Jews had become more and more integrated into German society. After 1870, they enjoyed full rights and protections as German citizens, and by World War I many Jewish Germans were fully assimilated and patriotic members of society. The 12,000 Jewish soldiers who served Germany during World War I were among the most decorated troops. With the rise of German discontent and the openly antisemitic Nazi Party, the Jews began to endure a renewal of persecution and a sense of deepening isolation. This experience was disturbing and painful, but not unfamiliar. Like many other minority populations, the Jews had been subject to discrimination and persecution throughout their history. Antisemitism had never truly disappeared in Germany, and it was rampant in neighboring Poland, home to more than three million Jews. To some German Jews, the ebb and flow of antisemitism seemed like an unfortunate but predictable part of life in the region. Others made the decision to emigrate in the early years of the Nazi regime.

The Nazi Regime

When Adolf Hitler took control of Germany, the Kinder featured in Into the Arms of Strangers were still children. Many were too young to understand the significance of the laws that Hitler and the Nazi government began to pass against the Jewish peoplewho, as early as 1935, were no longer even considered citizens in their own country. These laws would have a devastating impact on their lives, restricting their rights and their access to public services (see box on page 8), encouraging the non-Jewish population to degrade them, and legalizing the violence perpetrated against them. Over time, the Nazi government of Germany also began to increase the persecution of political dissidents, Communists, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, and others. Along with a systematic suppression of their political opponents, the Nazis were beginning to develop and realize a goal of racial cleansing. The Nazis admittedly racist ideology was based on a theory of a racial hierarchy that had northern Europeans (whom they called Aryans) at the top and Jews at the bottom. Believing that Germany rightfully belonged to the Aryans, they were determined to defend the genetic stock against contamination and weakening. Thus the Jews were not seen as a people who practiced a religion or affirmed a historic identity, but as a race whose Jewish blood threatened Aryan supremacy. The Nazis endeavored to force Jews and other potential contaminants to emigrate from the country and to eliminate those Aryans whose existence was not believed to contribute to a stronger race, such as the disabled. The German government remilitarized the countryin flagrant violation of the Versailles Treaty that had ended World War I. Great Britain, France, and other European nations permitted this violation as part of their policy of appeasement of Hitler, through which the war-weary governments hoped to avoid a direct conflict with Germany. For the same reason, they also did not stop the annexation of Austria in March 1938 (known as the Anschluss ) and the dismantling and subjugation of Czechoslovakia in September 1938 and March 1939.
Greater German Reich, late 1930s

H I S T O R I C A L

B A C K G R O U N D

Under German control, the Jewish populations of Austria and part of Czechoslovakia found themselves subject to all the anti-Jewish laws the German Jews had been gradually forced to accept over the previous five years.

Emigration
Until the early 1940s, the primary intent of German anti-Jewish policies was to make life so difficult for Jews that they would leave of their own accord. Although this policy of forced emigration opened a narrow window of opportunity for escape, the decision to leave was not easy. Many people were reluctant to abandon a home in which their families had lived for generations, and few wanted to leave their extended families and communities at a time when they were in most need of support. Some considered themselves patriotic Germans and thought that Hitler and the Nazis could not possibly rule their country for long. In addition, since the German government forbade emigrants to take any valuables or currency, leaving Germany meant starting anew, as penniless refugees, in an unknown land. Many preferred to believe that the events that were occurring, which had no modern precedent, would eventually subside under international pressure.

Austria, 1938

To make matters worse, those who decided to leave often found it difficult to find a country willing to take them in. Much of the world, including the United States, was still in the grip of the Depression, and, after the devastation of World War I, the populations and governments of many countries tended toward isolationism the policy of not becoming involved in foreign affairs, sometimes without regard Kristallnacht the November Pogroms of 1938 for their human implications. By July 1938, however, once On November 9 and 10, 1938, the German government the growing numbers of desperate refugees from Gercoordinated a violent attack on the Jews of Germany and many had become impossible to ignore, U.S. President Austria, in which marauding citizens and Nazi storm Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested a conference to discuss the troopers killed dozens of Jews, burned more than 1,000 issue. The diplomats who convened in the French resort synagogues, destroyed and looted more than 7,000 town of Evian spoke eloquently on behalf of the refugees, Jewish-owned businesses, and pillaged Jewish cemeteries, but of 32 nations represented, only onethe Dominican schools, and homes as police and fire brigades stood by. Republicagreed to accept more refugees to help the In the aftermath, the authorities arrested more than victims of Nazi Germany. Ironically, the only lasting effect 30,000 Jews, most of them men between the ages of 16 of this meeting may have been to prove to Adolf Hitler that and 60, and sent them to concentration camps. They no country truly cared about the fate of the Jews. enacted a new series of devastating anti-Jewish restrictions that effectively removed German Jews from the economy. The violence of Kristallnacht (see box to the left) was widely reported in the international press and left little doubt The Nazi government used the murder of a German as to the brutal intentions of the Nazi government. The diplomat as a pretense for organizing this rampage, for news fueled international public outrage, creating the which they invented the euphemistic and seemingly possibility that nations might begin to accept refugees elegant term Kristallnacht, literally meaning night of from Germany despite the economic hardship and high crystal. Inspired by the broken glass that covered the unemployment that continued to prevail throughout most streets, this term was meant to obscure a tragic event of the Western world. Most countries, however, did not which in reality was an extraordinarily brutal campaign ultimately choose to do so. enacted by a government against its own people and a continuation of the long history of antisemitic pogroms against the Jews.

10

H I S T O R I C A L

B A C K G R O U N D

Kinder Homes and Transport Destinations

GREAT BRITAIN DANZIG NETHERLANDS

Harwich Dovercourt Southampton Hook of Holland Hamburg Quackenbrck

GERMANY
Tann Frth

Breslau

Celkovice Munich Vienna

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Kippenheim

WESTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE 1933

AUSTRIA

Lorraine Allard Frth

The Kindertransport
On November 15, 1938, a few days after Kristallnacht, a delegation of British Jewish leaders appealed in person to the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain. Among other measures, they requested that the British government permit the temporary admission of children and teenagers, who would later re -emigrate. The Jewish community promised to pay guarantees for the refugee children. The next day, the British Cabinet debated the issue. The Home Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare, said that the country could not admit more refugees without provoking a backlash, but the Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, suggested that an act of generosity might have the benefit of prompting the United States to accept additional immigrants. (See The Wagner -Rogers Bill, page 13.) The cabinet committee on refugees subsequently decided that the nation would accept unaccompanied children ranging from infants to teenagers under the age of 17. No limit to the number of refugees was ever publicly announced. On the eve of a major House of Commons debate on refugees on November 21, Home Secretary Hoare met a large delegation representing various Jewish and non-Jewish groups working on behalf of refugees. The groups were allied under a nondenominational organization called the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany. The Home Secretary agreed that to speed up the immigration process, travel documents would be issued on the basis of group lists rather than individual

Lory Cahn Breslau Hedy Epstein Kippenheim Kurt Fuchel Vienna Alexander Gordon Hamburg Eva Hayman Celkovice Jack Hellman Tann Bertha Leverton Munich Ursula Rosenfeld Quackenbrck Inge Sadan Munich Lore Segal Vienna Robert Sugar Vienna

11

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B A C K G R O U N D

applications. But strict conditions were placed upon the entry of the children. The agencies promised to fund the operation and to ensure that none of the refugees would become a financial burden on the public. Every child would have a guarantee of 50 British pounds (approximately $1,500 in todays currency) to finance his or her eventual re-emigration, as it was expected the children would stay in the country only temporarily. The Home Secretary announced the program to the assembled Members of Parliament at the House of Commons, who broadly welcomed the initiative that would come to be known as the Kindertransport. Within a very short time, the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany, later known as the Refugee Childrens Movement (RCM), sent representatives to Germany and Austria to establish the systems for choosing, organizing, and transporting the children. On November 25, British citizens heard an appeal for foster homes on the BBC Home Service radio program. Soon there were 500 offers, and RCM volunteers started visiting these possible foster homes and reporting on conditions. They did not insist that prospective homes for Jewish children should be Jewish homes. Nor did they probe too carefully into the motives and character of the families: it was sufficient for the houses to look clean and the families to seem respectable. In Germany, a network of organizers was established, and these volunteers worked around the clock to make priority lists of those most imperiled: teenagers who were in concentration camps or in danger of arrest, Polish children or teenagers threatened with deportation, children in Jewish orphanages, those whose parents were too impoverished to keep them, or those with parents in a concentration camp. Once the children were identified or grouped by list, their guardians or parents were issued a travel date and departure details. The first Kindertransport from Berlin departed on December 1, 1938, and the first from Vienna on December 10. For the first three months, the children came mainly from Germany, then the emphasis shifted to Austria. In March 1939, after the German army entered Czechoslovakia, transports from Prague were hastily organized. Trains of Polish Jewish children were also arranged in February and August 1939. Since the German government decreed that the evacuations must not block ports in Germany, the trains crossed from German territory into the Netherlands and arrived at port at the Hook of Holland. From there, the children traveled by ferry to the British ports of Harwich or Southampton. (See map on page 11.) The last group of children from Germany departed on September 1, 1939, the day the German army invaded Poland and provoked Great Britain, France, and other countries to declare war. The last known transport of Kinder from the Netherlands left on May 14, 1940, the day the Dutch army surrendered to Germany. Tragically, hundreds of Kinder were caught in Belgium and the Netherlands during the German invasion, making them subject once more to the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

Dutch women greet Kinder at border

Life in Great Britain

Upon arrival at port in Great Britain, Kinder without prearranged foster families were sheltered at temporary holding centers located at summer holiday camps on the cold windy coast of East AngliaDovercourt near Harwich and, for a short

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period, Pakefield near Lowestoft. Finding foster families was not always easy, and being chosen for a home was not necessarily the end of discomfort or distress. Some families took in teenage girls as a way of acquiring a maidservant. There was little sensitivity toward the cultural and religious needs of the children, and, for some, their heritage was all but erased. A few, mainly the youngest, were given new names, new identities, and even a new religion. In the end, many of the children for whom no home could be found were placed on farms or in hostels run by the RCM. From the moment of their arrival, the children struggled to maintain contact with their parents. At first, letters between parents and children flowed fairly easily, and many were filled with hopes and plans for reunion. The beginning of the war in 1939 meant the end of this dream. In addition, the German government restricted the delivery of mail to and from Jews, forcing parents and children to rely on intermediaries or the Red Cross.

Kinder arriving at Harwich, England, December 2, 1938

As the war escalated, the British government evacuated children and pregnant women from major British cities to safe areas in anticipation of devastating German bombing raids. Many Kinder were hastily moved to new homes in the countryside. Those who went with their schools The Wagner-Rogers Bill benefited from a degree of organization and care, but some found themselves completely isolated and living with unThe Wagner-Rogers Bill, introduced in February comprehending families in remote areas. It took years for the 1939 by U.S. Senator Robert Wagner and refugee organizations to establish contact with many of the Representative Edith Rogers, proposed to allow scattered children. 20,000 refugee children from Germany, over and above the rigid quotas of the 1924 Immigration Older children suffered a different hardship when, in 1940, the Act, to enter the United States. Leaders from British government ordered the internment of 16- to 70-yearmany aspects of American life, including religion, old refugees from enemy countries so- called enemy aliens. government, education, and labor, joined Approximately 1,000 of the Kinder were held in makeshift in supporting this legislation, but the bill faced internment camps, and around 400 were transported overseas strong resistance. Led by organizations such as to Canada and Australia. Those shipped to Australia on the the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies, the HMT Dunera were mistreated during the long voyage, and a Daughters of the American Revolution, and the scandal that followed revelations about the mishandling of American Legion, the opposition loudly voiced internment led to a program of releases in late 1940. Men in sudden concern for American children living particular were offered the chance to do war work or to enter in poverty. Charity begins at home was their the Alien Pioneer Corps. About 1,000 German and Austrian slogan, and they made the case that if these teenagers served in the British armed forces, including combat refugee children were permitted to enter the units. Several dozen joined elite formations such as the Special country, they would be depriving Americas Forces where their language skills could be put to good use. children of needed assistance. Even in the face of reports from the American Friends Service Most of the Kinder survived the war, and a small percentage were Committee and a British child refugee agency reunited with parents who had either spent the war in hiding or indicating that the situation for these children endured the Nazi camps. The majority of children, however, had was dire, the opposition prevailed, exploiting the to face the reality that home and family were lost forever. The fear that this legislation would become the thin end of the war brought confirmation of the worst: their parents part of the wedge the beginning of an unwere dead. In the years since the Kinder had left the European controlled wave of immigrants. As political mamainland, the Nazis and their collaborators had killed nearly six neuvering on all sides continued, the Roosevelt million European Jews, including nearly 1.5 million children. Administration remained largely silent, and the legislation died in committee. In all, the Kindertransport rescue operation brought approximately 10,000 children to the relative safety of Great Britain a large-scale act of mercy unique in a tragic historical period marked by brutality and widespread indifference.
Adapted from a speech by USHMM Director Sara Bloomfield, September 11, 2000

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K I N D E R

The Kinder
LORRAINE ALLARD Lorraine Allard, born Lore Sulzbacher in 1924, lived with her parents in Frth, Bavaria, Germany, until being sent on the Kindertransport to Lincoln, England, at the age of 14. She lived with the same foster family until the age of 18, when she joined the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) in 1943 and drove staff cars during the war. After V-E (Victory in Europe) Day in May 1945, she learned that both her parents had been murdered at Auschwitz. She died in July 2001 at the age of 76.

L O RY C A H N Lory Cahn was born Lory Grnberger in 1925 in Breslau, then part of Germany. At 14 she was scheduled to leave for England on the Kindertransport but, at the last moment, her father could not bear to part with her. At the end of 1941, she and her parents were deported to Theresienstadt, a Nazi concentration and transit camp in the former Czechoslovakia. She was confined there for a year and a half before being separated from her parents and sent to Auschwitz. For the rest of the war, she was transferred from one concentration camp to another until she was liberated in the Bergen-Belsen camp, weighing 58 pounds. Although her mother was murdered in Auschwitz, her father survived Theresienstadt and returned to Germany, where he died in 1972 at age 79. She currently resides with her husband in Pennsylvania.

H E DY E P S T E I N Hedy Epstein was born Hedy Wachenheimer in 1924 in Kippenheim, Germany. She was 14 when she was sent on the Kindertransport to London, where she lived with two different foster families. After the war, she returned to Germany as an employee of the U.S. government in order to search for her parents, both of whom, she later discovered, had been murdered at Auschwitz. A Germanlanguage memoir of her experiences, Erinnern Ist Nicht Genug (Remembering Is Not Enough), was published in Germany. Her home is in Missouri.

K U RT F U C H E L Kurt Fuchel was born Kurt Fchsl in 1931 in Vienna, Austria, where he lived until the age of seven. After his parents sent him to Norwich, England, on the Kindertransport, he was taken in by the family of Percy and Mariam Cohen and stayed with them until the age of 16. His parents escaped from Austria to the south of France and were sheltered by French families during the war. In 1947, Kurt was reunited with his parents. They lived together in France until immigrating to the United States in 1956. A past president of the Kindertransport Association, Inc. (KTA), Kurt resides with his wife in New York.

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ALEXANDER GORDON Alexander Gordon was born Abrascha Gorbulski in 1922 in Bergedof, Germany, near Hamburg. His father died when he was three years old, and his impoverished mother was forced to place him in a Jewish orphanage four years later, where he remained until he graduated from high school at age 16. Afterwards, he went to work on a farm to prepare for immigration to Palestine. Following Kristallnacht, he was one of the first children to leave Germany on the Kindertransport. Because he was 16 when he arrived in Great Britain, he was arrested in June 1940, when the British government ordered the internment of refugees between the ages of 16 and 70 from enemy countries. Two weeks later, having been declared an enemy alien, he was shipped to Australia on the HMT Dunera and interned there for more than a year until he volunteered to join the Pioneer Corps and returned to England. He served in Britain, France, Belgium, and Germany until the end of 1947, when he immigrated to the United States. He now lives in New Jersey.

E VA H AY M A N Eva Hayman was born Eva Diamant in Celkovice, Czechoslovakia, in 1924. She was 15 years old when she left Czechoslovakia with her younger sister, Vera Gissing, both of whom were rescued by a Kindertransport organized by Nicholas Winton. She spent two years in an English boarding school before taking up nursing. Her wartime memoir, By the Moon and the Stars, is based on her diaries which she started writing in June 1939, her last day in Czechoslovakia, and finished in July 1945, the day she learned of the death of her parents. She resides in New Zealand, where she has lived since 1957.

JACK HELLMAN Jack Hellman was born in 1925 as Hans Joachim Hellmann. To shelter him from the violent antisemitism he experienced daily in his hometown of Tann, Germany, his parents sent him to boarding school in Frankfurt when he was nine years old. After Kristallnacht (see box on page 10 ), the housemother of his school wrote to Baron James de Rothschild asking if he would take in 26 children as well as her husband, herself, and two daughters. The Baron agreed, and Jack and his schoolmates left Germany on the Kindertransport. Once in England, Jack prevailed upon Baron Rothschild to provide a work permit for his father. His parents arrived in Great Britain on September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland. They remained for two years until immigrating to New York, where Jack lived until his death in August 2001.

B E RT H A L E V E RTO N Bertha Leverton was born Bertha Engelhard in 1923 in Munich, Germany, the oldest of the three children of a Polish Jewish couple. She was sent on the Kindertransport with her brother Theo and spent her 16th birthday at Dovercourt Camp while waiting to be assigned a foster family. A family in Coventry took her in to be their maid and eventually welcomed Theo and their younger sister Inge, who had been in Germany until that time. Bertha conceived and organized the 50th Anniversary Reunion of Kindertransport in 1989 and also compiled and co-edited a collection of 250 remembrances of the transports, I Came Alone. She was a principal organizer of the 1999 60th Anniversary Reunion in London, where she lives.

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URSULA ROSENFELD Ursula Rosenfeld was born Ursula Ellen Simon in Quackenbrck, Germany, in 1925. After her father was arrested during Kristallnacht (see box on page 10) and murdered at the Buchenwald concentration camp, her mother sent 13-year-old Ursula and her older sister Hella to an orphanage in Hamburg. The girls remained there until they left for England the following year and were taken in by a widow in Brighton. Ursulas mother did not survive the war. Ursula remained in England, where she was appointed a magistrate for her adopted city of Manchester.

I N G E S A DA N Inge Sadan was born Inge Engelhard in 1930. At the age of nine, she traveled from Munich, Germany, to Coventry, England, after her elder sister Bertha managed to convince her foster family to act as her sponsor. The sisters and their brother Theo spent five difficult years with their foster family until their parents arrived in England in 1944. Inge lives in Jerusalem, Israel, where she co-organized a 1994 Kindertransport reunion and edited a book of Israeli Kinder reminiscences entitled No Longer a Stranger.

LORE SEGAL Lore Segal was born Lore Groszmann in 1928, in Vienna, Austria. She was 10 when the German army marched into her country, and nine months later she was on the first Kindertransport to leave Vienna. At Dovercourt Camp, she wrote letters to relatives that eventually reached the Refugee Committee in London and helped to get her parents a domestic service visa. They arrived in Liverpool in time for her eleventh birthday. Lore Segals novel, Other Peoples Houses, recounts her experience as a refugee child living with five different British families during the war. Today, she lives in New York in the same apartment building as her mother, Franzi Groszmann.

RO B E RT S U G A R Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1930, Robert Sugar was eight years old when he left on the Kindertransport. He was sent to a Jewish refugee hostel in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and then to a refugee farming settlement near Millisle, in County Down. After the war, which both his parents survived, Robert immigrated to New York in 1947 to join his mother. A graphic designer and author, Robert still lives in New York and has written extensive educational material on Jewish history as well as designed visual exhibits for the Kindertransport Association, Inc. (KTA), on whose board he serves.

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P A R E N T S

A N D

T H E

R E S C U E R S

The Parents and the Rescuers

M A R I A M C O H E N ( F O S T E R M OT H E R ) Mariam Cohen was born in 1911, and married her husband Percy Cohen in 1932. Their son John was born in 1934. During World War II, the family accepted Kurt Fuchel into their home. Percy Cohen died in 1963. Mariam Cohen still lives in Norwich and enjoys regular visits from Kurt.

F R A N Z I G R O S Z M A N N ( M OT H E R ) Franzi Groszmann was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1904. In 1939, she and her husband traveled from Vienna to England to join their daughter, Lore Segal. They worked as a domestic couple during the war: she as a cook, he as a butler and gardener. Franzi Groszmann still has breakfast with her daughter every day and has two grandchildren and two great- grandsons.

N I C H O L A S W I N TO N ( R E S C U E R ) Nicholas Winton, born in 1909, was a 29-year-old London stockbroker when he journeyed to Prague in December 1938. The desperation he encountered in the camps of refugeesthe thousands of Jews, dissidents, and Communists who had fled the Sudetenland, the portion of Czechoslovakia recently annexed by Germanyprompted him to try to save their children when he returned to London. In the nine months before the onset of World War II, he was able to bring 664 Czech children to England, including Eva Hayman and her sister, Vera Gissing. His commitment to others has continued throughout his life. In 1983, he was honored with the title of MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his services to the community. In Czechoslovakia, he was honored with the Freedom of the City of Prague in 1992. He was awarded the 1999-2000 Service Above Self Award by Rotary International for exemplary humanitarian service.

N O R B E RT WO L L H E I M ( R E S C U E R ) Norbert Wollheim, born in 1913 in Berlin, Germany, was 25 years old when he began organizing the Kindertransports in Berlin. An escort for several of the transports, he returned each time to Germany to continue his work, which ended upon the outbreak of war in September 1939. In 1943, he, his wife Rosa, and their three -year- old son Uri were deported to Auschwitz. Of a family of 70, he alone survived. In 1951, he sued German manufacturer I.G. Farben for back pay from the two years of forced labor he spent at Auschwitz. His suit led to a settlement that established a fund of $6.43 million to compensate other forced laborers. He died in November 1998 at the age of 85, five weeks after completing his interview for this film.

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Discussion: Part 1

Life Is Quite Normal...

(00:00 -19:41)

Summary
The Kinder recall their early lives, evoking memories of family, home, and childhood innocence. They also describe the changes in Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia in the late 1930sthe rise of the Nazi regime, violent antisemitism, and political persecution. The families grapple with the difficulty of emigration and attempt to determine the level of threat of Adolf Hitlers authoritarian government. On November 9, 1938, the violent, government-sponsored pogrom known as Kristallnacht ends any illusion of safety.

My father said, Shes my pride and joy, and she needs everything I can get for her.
Lory Cahn

Childhood
The film opens with a montage of images of children and their parents, juxtaposing youthful happiness with a sense of danger and the threat of change. As a class, describe the essential elements of childhood and consider what it meant to the Kinder to have these elements taken away. Consider the quotations below in this discussion. What might happen when a childs sense of safety is lost or when a child realizes a parent can no longer protect him or her? In what ways can the experiences of childhood affect a persons identity? Kurt Fuchel: My parents were sort of middle - class people, and my father was a middle-level bank manager and my mother, a lady of leisure.... And it was, in many ways, a rather idyllic life. And I was indeed, sort of the center of the universe. Eva Hayman: We had a very happy childhood, carefree childhood. My father was always busy during the week, but when he was home, he often took me for walks by the river, mostlyand talked about everything. Robert Sugar: I mean, this is all I knew, and we had to give it up, we had to leave. And that probably was the biggest blow I had. I mean, just the idea thatthat itll all end the way it is. Lorraine Allard: I still have dreams, and certain things come back. I dont know what age I am [in the dreams], but life is quite normal. Whatever were doing is an everyday happening. And this is when I wake up. As old as I am, Im still sobbing.

Lory Cahn, age 6, in Breslau with mother and father

Fitting In
Between 1933 and 1938, the Nazi government passed laws banning Jewish children from public schools, parks, theaters, and other public places. (See box on page 8.) These laws had tangible implications for the children: they not only lost access to vital necessities, but they found themselves increasingly persecuted and isolated from their communities. As a class, discuss what it means to be an outcast, and consider the effectiveness of the

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Nazis methods of exclusion. Give examples of other episodes in history or current events in which people were excluded because of who they were, rather than what they had done. Ursula Rosenfeld: The table was set. We wereI was sort of very excited. Nobody came. Not a single child came to this birthday party. And so, that was the first terrible blow to me. I know it sounds trivial, but it was the first sort of comprehension for a child to understand that youre ostracized, that theres something different about you. Jack Hellman: I feared every day. I just was most unhappy going to school. I was walking on the street, six or seven boys came, called me Jew bastard, and then attacked me and threw me through the plate-glass window. I was cut severely, and I had to go to the hospital for stitching and I didnt want to go to the school there anymore, either. I just felt that I was threatened constantly.

Suddenly, I couldnt go to my normal school anymore.

Kurt Fuchel

Individual Assignment:
At many points in this film, the Kinder discuss experiences of being excluded or of not belonging. Citing the two quotations above and the historical background on pages 8 -10, write an essay describing the impact that the Nazis antisemitic laws had on the children. How did the laws lead to their exclusion from their communities and former way of life? As they found themselves increasingly isolated, what happened to their sense of identity?
Kurt Fuchel, age 6, Vienna

Basic Values
On November 20, 2000, German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder stated: This film recalls a time in Germany when all basic values were brutally rendered invalid. The values most affected were human kindness and human dignity. In 1938, the Jews were the primary group that was targeted for isolation and persecution. Based on the events described in the first part of the film and the historical background on pages 8-10, discuss how the Germans targeted the Jews specifically, and in what ways these policies and attacks affected the Kinder on a personal level. In what ways are attacks on specific groups and individuals attacks on the basic values of humanity? As a class, make a list of those qualities you consider to be basic values. Give examples from current events in which people are denied some or all of the qualities you have listed. Discuss the importance of human kindness and respect for human dignity.

Jack Hellman, age 6, first day of school,Tann, Germany

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Discussion: Part 2

A Light in the Darkness

I was told this was the best thing that could happen...
Lorraine Allard

(19:41- 46:40)

Summary
In response to public outrage after the violence of Kristallnacht, the British government quickly establishes the Kindertransport program, and the first groups of children leave German territories. Rescuers recall their participation in this effort. The Kinder describe their parents painful decisions to send them to Great Britain and their own efforts to understand their situations. They describe their journey to an unknown future and their arrival in Great Britain.

A Parents Choice
The first part of this section focuses on the extremely difficult choice that many childrens parents had to makewhether to send their children to an unknown place and a chance of safety, uncertain whether they would ever see them again. In class, discuss the different choices that the parents made and the historical factors that contributed to the decisions. Under what circumstances might parents or guardians send a child away? Lore Segal: My father said, Mommy and I cannot leave, but youre going to leave. I said, What do you mean, Im going to leave? Youre going to England, he said. When? Thursday, he said. Franzi Groszmann (Lore Segals mother): I knew that I ought to want to send her away, but I couldnt imagine to give permission for her to go. My husband said, She must go. And he didnt listen to me. He just arranged everything for her. And I had to give in, and I saw in the end that he was right. But the hurt is unbelievable. That cannot be described. Eva Hayman: So now both of us [she and her sister] would go. And that must have been very hard. That would have been hard to decide that we both go. Lory Cahn: And I held my hands and I said, I have to let go! I have to let go! No, no, no, no! I dont want you to go!...And he took me by my hands and he pulled me out of the window.
Lorraine Allard, age 14, with parents in Germany

Create a chart illustrating how a choice or succession of choices in your life, in current events, or in history determined a consequence. Describe how a different action would have altered the outcome. At home, interview a parent or guardian about a difficult decision he or she has had to make in your upbringing.

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A Nations Choice
In 1938, the world community was faced with a dilemma: What was the appropriate response to the German governments ruthless treatment of the Jewish population under its control? Discuss this question as a class, and establish criteria for deciding when a nation should come to the defense of a people persecuted by another government. Sociologist Helen Fein has suggested that people have a universe of common obligationthose within such groups as family, community, school, or nation to whom we feel a sense of responsibility. Outside the universe of common obligation are those people toward whom we feel no responsibility. How is this applicable to our understanding of why Great Britain received the Kindertransport and why the Wagner -Rogers Bill (see box on page 13) did not succeed? The class should consider the following quotations from Norbert Wollheim and Nicholas Winton in its discussion of these questions. Norbert Wollheim: My youth leader said, Call Otto Hirsch, there is a job for you to be done. So I went and saw him and he said, Listen, I have a request. Kind plays violin on the train We have been informed that the British government, the House of Commons, had discussed the destiny of Jews in Germany after all this publicity, and they are disgusted. Group Assignment: They came to the conclusion to accept Split the class into debate groups to argue for and against the children for a certain time. We have an office Wagner-Rogers Bill (see box on page 13), which, if passed, might for the operations. See what you can do. have created a U.S. equivalent of the Kindertransport. Have Nicholas Winton: We had to produce students conduct their own research to gain an understanding of somebody whod guarantee 50 pounds the quotas set by the U.S. Immigration Laws of 1921, 1924, and against their re -emigration, which I suppose 1929. Students should also become familiar with the reasons given is about a thousand pounds [approximately at the time by the U.S. government and the general public for $1,500] today. It was quite a lot of money. restricting entrance to refugees of all ages. The students may And then I had to find a family whod take choose to compare and contrast this situation with that in Great each individual child. It certainly wasnt Britain, including the British governments decision to accept the easy, but it wasnt that difficult. I mean, its children of the Kindertransport. more easy to get somebody to take a child than to take a grown-up. I tried to get Alternatively, students may conduct the above research and use America involved and wrote to a lot of the the findings to write a persuasive letter to one of the then-senators to senators and got a lot of answers saying how whom Nicholas Winton might have been referring in his quotation concerned they were and all the various at left. In the letter, argue for or against the Wagner-Rogers Bill. reasons why they couldnt do anything. When writing the letter, students should consider the opposing arguments and attempt to refute them.

What Did They Take?

The German government limited the children traveling on the Kindertransport to one suitcase and one backpack, containing only items for personal use. No jewelry, items of financial value, musical instruments, cameras, or money in excess of 10 Reichsmarks (less than $50 in todays currency) were allowed. What possible reasons might the German government have had for imposing these limitations? How did these limitations impact the Kinder ? What did the Kinder pack that would bring comfort and a connection to their home and family? Ask students to select an example from the film of an object that the Kinder chose to take on their journey and to describe to the class why it seemed to hold particular significance.

In hindsight, I think my sister and I, we owe my fathers death that we have survived.
Ursula Rosenfeld

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Ursula Rosenfeld: My mother prepared all our clothes, lovingly embroidered our names in every piece of clothing, even every handkerchief, every sock, everything. Lory Cahn: I think I took my teddy bear. And, my mother always slept on a little pillow on top of her big pillow. And I asked her whether I could take that with me. So she said, Sure. Using the stories you have heard in the film, reflect on the meaning of home. What parts of home can and cannot be taken with you? In a poem, a story, or another medium of creative expression, write about the ways in which refugees in the past, as well as today, have attempted to create home in a new place.
Shoes worn by two-year-old Esther Rosenfeld Starobin on the Kindertransport

Separation
Parents sending their children on the Kindertransport had to quickly prepare them for an indefinite separation. They tried to ease the pain by organizing clothes for them to take, giving them advice, and reassuring them. In the words of Bertha Leverton,Every parent promised their child, we will soon come and follow. How otherwise did the parents get the little children onto the trains? How did the unknown affect the childrens reaction to the situation? What do the responses of Hedy and Inge reveal about the ways people react to the trauma of separation? Hedy Epstein:I said to my parents, Im really a Gypsy child, and youre now trying to get rid of me. You adopted me, and now you no longer want me. I must have really deeply, deeply hurt my parents. Eva Hayman: We had about a fortnight [two weeks] before we left. And into that fortnight, both mother and father were trying to give the instructions, the guidance that they hoped to have their whole life to give. Inge Sadan: When my sister and brother left, all the other parents were crying bitterly, and I was so afraid. I didnt want my mother to cry because she was a very strong person, and I thought if she cries, then terrible things will happen. And I kept looking at her, and I said, Dont cry. Dont cry. You wont cry. And she didnt. Write about a time when you departed from a place that was very important to you. What and who made it difficult to leave? Consider the lessons or values your parents, guardians, or friends have taught you throughout your life. What qualities in those people do you appreciate, do you take for granted? How have they prepared you to face the world? How might you offer a tribute to one of these individuals?

The children went with the hope that the parents would follow.... I did not realize, and I could never realize, that only a year and a half later, from the same railway station, trains would go in the other directions to Hitlers slaughterhouses.
Norbert Wollheim

Kindertransport packing list

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Eva Hayman (left) and Vera Gissing with their father in Czechoslovakia

D I S C U S S I O N

Discussion: Part 3

Into the Arms of Strangers

(46:40 -1:09:19)

Summary
Once in Great Britain, the Kinder attempt to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings and to living without their families. While all of them adjust in their own ways to their new lives, some of them turn to address the challenge of rescuing their families from German control.

Cultural Dislocation
After arriving in England, the Kinder encountered a variety of cultural and economic differences. As a class, read the background history on pages 12-13 and discuss the implications of these differences. What new and different challenges did the Kinder face in fitting in and adapting to their foster homes or hostels? What meaning do specific items of food, clothing, and language bring to a sense of place, and what does it mean to be different? Consider the quotations below. Why are these details significant to them? Bertha Leverton: The culture shock was very great. And also the fact that my clothes were better than hers. And she took great exception to that. And she took the clothes and all. Jack Hellman: When it was time for dinner, they said, Well see you tomorrow. I was so excitedI was absolutely so exuberant, I ran to my house mother and told her, Somebody whos not Jewish wants to see me tomorrow. Lorraine Allard: They didnt speak one word of German, and I didnt speak one word of English.... I went up to her and put my arms around her and she pushed me away. And the words were Thats sissy. Kurt Fuchel: And then the family got together for a chicken dinner, and that I rememberthats a language I could understand. And I started to feel more at ease.

Kurt Fuchel (left) and John Cohen, Norwich, England

Individual Assignment:
Write a letter introducing your own family to an unknown child from another culture who is coming to live with you for an extended stay. Address the following issues in your letter: Would it be easy or difficult for this child to fit into your home or community, and why? What will he or she have to know to feel at home? Are there things such as food, clothing, language, customs, or music that are unique to your family or that reflect the place in which you live? What aspects of your home and family would likely be similar to those of your visitors? Write about a time when you traveled. What items such as food, clothing, language, customs, or music did you notice? Could people distinguish you as a visitor? Why or why not?

On the Shoulders of Children

In Part 2 of the film, Lore Segal says, Before long, I had a list of people who I, at 10 years old, had promised to save from Hitler. In the context of the Holocaust and World War II, people made decisions and relied on one another in ways that might seem unthinkable today. Though the children were safe in England, they still found themselves struggling against greater forcescircumstances well beyond their years. Discuss the quotations below. How do Lore, Lorraine, and Bertha challenge expectations of what it means to be a child? Create a working definition of hero. Do

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their efforts qualify them as heroes? Are they any less heroic if their attempts were ultimately unsuccessful? Cite examples in the film of adults who stepped forward to help the childrens parents or other family members. At what points did the innocence of childhood end for the Kinder ? When did the responsibility of adulthood begin? Lore Segal: I think I had a sense...while I was playing, while I was laughing, that was the moment in which I couldve been and shouldve been doing something about this demand on me that I should bring my parents out. Lorraine Allard:My biggest problem was to try and get my parents out and that was difficult because it was either finding them a job, and bearing in mind my fathers age, or getting this hundred-pound [$3,000 in todays currency] guarantee, which was just nowhere to be seen. I proceeded to find large houses and knock at the door to find out whether I could get them a job my mother as cook, bottle - washer, my father as gardener anything just to get them out. Bertha Leverton: ... I said to him, Because Inge has red hair, I leave her at home in Germany?... And he calmed down in the end, and he did accept her into the house.
Kind arriving at Harwich, England, December 1938

Parenting from Afar

Choose students to read each excerpt of letters from parents to their children who had been sent away to Great Britain. Reflect as a class about what is explicitly said and what is implicitly, but not directly, said. Marietta Rybas mother: As you can well imagine, you have been constantly in our thoughts. We still see your face before us in that window of the railway carriage. Sylva Avramovicis father: My dearest little mouse, hopefully this letter will reach you already in your new home, where you surely will enjoy your stay. Be a very good little girl. Be obedient. Sylva Avramovicis mother:I was very happy with your dear little letter, only there shouldnt be so many spelling errors! Lilly Lamperts mother: If only I could see you just for a tiny moment. But as it is, I can only write letters full of longing. Lorraine Allards mother: I keep running to the mailbox. Every line from you overwhelms me. Every day I thank God that you are in such good hands. But please show your gratefulness. Lorraine Allards father: Your letter of yesterday was again so sweet and written with so much love that tears came running down your mommys face. Your writing is so natural, it makes me imagine that youre standing before me.

Letter to Sylva from her Mutti

Write a letter to a parent or guardian, or to someone who is important to you who lives far away. Once you have completed this letter, shorten it to 25 words, including salutation and closingthe limit on the postcards that the Red Cross could deliver during the war. Can you convey the same message? How does it change?
Sylva Avramovici, age 10

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Discussion: Part 4

War and Deportation

(1:09:19 -1:35:25)

Summary
The war begins, and the lives of the Kinder are transformed yet again. Some are relocated for their own protection; Alex Gordon is arrested and deported as an enemy alien. For many children, the war shatters the hopes of reunion with their parents. The Jewish community left behind in Germany and German territories is ravaged by the Nazi regime, and news begins to reach the Kinder. As the years go by, the children continue to assimilate into British culture, and some join the war effort.

Loss
The quotations below reveal the reactions by the Kinder to the loss of parents or of home. As a class, silently read the quotations and then discuss the different ways in which the children dealt with trauma and irrevocable loss. Think about the ways we all react to the loss of a home, a loved one, or anything else that we value. Lorraine Allard:Everything wed ever talked about or written about it, thought about it, had all collapsed. Everything had collapsed. I think I cried for, not weeks, not months, I cried for years. Hedy Epstein: Shes saying that shes traveling to the east, and is saying a very final goodbye to me. But for many, many, many years, I mean, I would see the postcard in front of me, and I would see shes saying traveling to the east, and yet I would understand that shes saying that shes traveling in an easterly direction. And then I would say to myself, Well, maybe shes going back [home] to Kippenheim, and maybe thats good. And the final goodbye, I didnt understand. Mariam Cohen:He [Kurt] didnt cry, not at all not at all. Couldnt understand it. Just oncethey used to like to listen to some programs on the wireless, and he used to come sit on my knee. And there was somethingsomething in the news. I just heard him once goyou know, a little sob and that was all. Kurt Fuchel: The other signs that I had a lot inside me was that Ive always had some intestinal problemsuntil I went in the army, and then I had the most terrible food, and felt fine. Robert Sugar: I went to school, and a fellow came up to me and he said, Who are you? And I just knocked him down. Lore Segal: I have an analogy for this. When all of us have had the experience of finding a bird with a broken wing, and you pick up this bird and you hold it in your hand. And you think its going to sit there, quietly, sweetly with its warm feathers and be darling. Its not. What it does is immediately to use its muscles, and its a very uncomfortable thing to hold in your hand because theres this fluttering. What he wants is to get away. It may need you to hold it and to nurse it, but what he wants is to get the heck out of there. And I think thats what we were like. Certainly, thats what I was like. I was not nice to have around.

Theresienstadt

I never dreamt that one could be so lonely and go on living with this constant fear for our loved ones.
Eva Hayman

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Consider your reaction to a personal loss and the various ways you tried to understand that loss. Did the people around you know what you were experiencing? How did their reaction contribute to what you were feeling? Create an analogy like Lore Segals that illuminates or clarifies your own experience.

I felt like everybody else. The people on my left, the people on my right we were all the same.
Lorraine Allard

Deportation
While some Kinder were transported from the cities to protect them from air raids, Alex Gordon was among others who were forcibly relocated for an entirely different reason. In class, discuss the reasons for Alexs arrest and his description of life on the HMT Dunera. Alex Gordon: We had no idea where we were going, except it must have been Australia. We were starving daily. They were treating us like pigs. Being hungry every day, people were lining up in the kitchen to get an empty pot, you know, where the jam was, just to scrape it outand having one slice of bread.... Years later Im looking at itthis didnt happen to meit must have been somebody else because it was horrible, too horrible, to describe.

Individual Assignment:
Write a persuasive essay arguing against or in defense of the British governments internment and relocation of enemy aliens. Research the arrest and forced internment of Japanese- Americans from the West Coast of the United States during World War II. Compare and contrast the motivations of the governments, public response in the two countries, and the outcomes of both acts of internment.

Work of Importance
As the war progressed, approximately 1,000 German and Austrian teenagers served in the British armed forces, including combat units. Several dozen joined elite formations such as the Special Forces where their German-language skills could be put to good use. Lorraine Allard and Alex Gordon were among the Kinder who enlisted; Eva Hayman became a nurse. As a class, discuss the different reasons that the children had for serving Great Britain during the war. Why did Alex, specifically, decide to fight for the nation, given his treatment on the HMT Dunera ? (See the previous discussion topic.) How does the war contribute to the desire to do, as Lorraine Allard says, work of importance? What are the students reasons for contributing to work in their own communities and how do they compare or contrast with the reasons given in the film testimonies and the quotations below? How are they similar to or different from the quotations of Norbert Wollheim and Nicholas Winton in Part 2? (See page 21.) Alex Gordon: Those who want to go back to England, they would send back under one condition: they would join the army. I was anxious to get into this. First of all, I hated the Germans. I hated their guts, and I wanted to be part of it. Besides, what was I going to do in Australia? Sit there in Australia throughout the whole war? God forbid. Lorraine Allard: When I was 18, I had to do either work of importance or join the forces. And I decided to join the forces. And I also felt I was saying thank you to England for saving my life. Eva Hayman:I wanted to do something to help finish the war, and I said I wanted to go [into] nursing.
Lorraine Allard in the ATS, Oxford Circus, London, 1945

Alexander Gordon, age 23, Sergeant, British Army, occupied Germany

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Discussion: Part 5

None to Comfort Them

(1:35:25 -1:57:12)

Summary
V-E (Victory in Europe) Day in May 1945 is a moment of great joy. For most Kinder, however, the end of the war is the beginning of the end of hope for reunion with their families. Some family members have survived, but most Kinder eventually learn that they have lost their parents, their families, their homes, and many traces of their early childhood. In the film, the Kinder also assess what has become of their own lives and move forward into the future.

Hope and Acceptance

After reading the following quotations, discuss as a class the meaning of hope and the anxiety the Kinder experienced not knowing what happened to their family members. Why is it important to know? Compare and contrast the ways in which the Kinder learned about their parents deaths. How might the manner in which they heard the news about their parents fate influence their ability to accept their loss?
Eva and Veras parents, Irma and Karel Diamant, photographed after the girls departure

I remember V-E Day very clearly. It was just wonderful, wonderful.... I went straight back and wrote to both of them...in Theresienstadt.The letters were returned to me about three, four months later took a long time. All it said on the back: Deported to Auschwitz, October 44.
Lorraine Allard

Ursula Rosenfeld:Eventually we got a letter from [the Red Cross] to say my mother had been killed in Minsk, in Russia, where she was deported. Its very hard to come to terms with when youve always had that hope. And, of course, weve had nono grave really, no parting, no end, no funeral, no... its that sort of faint feeling in the air of hope, and that hope suddenly fading. Eva Hayman:I was called to the telephone and there was a telegram for me. I asked her, would she read it? And so she read over the telephone: Your parents were gravely ill. There was no hope. Wait for further news. ...It was such a shock. Suddenly the future which we had always painted wasnt there. There was no future. There was just an emptiness. Hedy Epstein: I knew my parents didnt survive, but ... as long as I didnt go back [home] to Kippenheim, I could still say, well, that maybe theyre back in Kippenheim. Which doesnt really make a lot of sense, but I think it was just my survival mechanism. I just wasnt ready yet to accept the fact that I no longer had parents, that I hadnt had parents for a long time.

Telegram to Eva Hayman, 1945

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Reunions
After discussing the parent-child reunions described in the film, consider what contributed to the complex reactions of Kurt and Inge to their parents return. In a situation like Inges or Kurts, what has changed? What makes it difficult to recreate circumstances from a time or place in the past? Inge Sadan:After about two years of not hearing from our parents, life sort of stretched on endlessly, but suddenly we heard that our parents had reached Spain.... The telegram said, Arriving Friday, 4:45. That was all.... I remember rushing down to meet them and knew they were my parents, but it wasnt the same parents Id left. They were much older, and they were worn out. And we, obviously, we werent the same children theyd sent off. Mariam Cohen: We met, and Kurts father, who was more demonstrative than the mother, put his hand through Kurts curls, and Kurt went like that and gave him a a wallop. And my husband said, Dont you ever do that again, Kurt. Your father is showing youyou know, his affection. Kurt Fuchel: My parents let go of a seven-year- old, and got back a 16-year- old. And my mother, especially, wanted to carry on where shed left off. And a 16 - year-old doesnt like to be treated like a seven- year- old. So when we got back to France things were very difficult. Course, Im very lucky. I mean, I realize this: whereas most of the Kinder never saw their parents again, I not only had mine back, but another set of parents as well. What more could one ask for?

Remembering
In the quotations below, Hedy Epstein and German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder speak of two different kinds of remembering. What is the implication of each kind of memory, for an individual and for society? What do the quotations indicate about our responsibility to remember? Hedy Epstein: I certainly do my share of remembering, but remembering also has to have a present and a future perspective. You cant just stop at remembering. I dont think I ever made a conscious decision to devote myself to human rights and social -justice issues. Someone helped me. I cant pay back or thank some of the people who helped me, but I can do something for other people. Chancellor Gerhard Schrder: In those days, murderers were ruling Germany; today, state and society join together in opposing the neo -Nazi gangs. But that does not mean we are exempt from our duty to remember. Nobody is asking those generations born after the war to feel guilty about our history. But still the young people should learn to deal with the present, and the future, by understanding the past.

Bertha Leverton (right), with sister Inge, brother Theo, and parents in Munich, 1935

Survival is an accident.
Norbert Wollheim

Kurt Fuchel, age 18, with mother and father, Toulouse, France, 1949

Individual Assignment:
Discuss an event in U.S. history that might be painful for us to remember as a society. Propose a plan through which your class or your school might remember the past by taking action to help those in need today.

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Discussion: In Retrospect

Living with the Past

(After Viewing the Film)

A Tiny Glimmer of Hope A Tiny Glimmer of Hope

Sara Bloomfield, the director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., described the story of the Kindertransport as a tiny glimmer of hope during an enormous catastrophe. That it happened is cause for hope; that it was so tiny is cause for concern. History is not inevitable; it is determined by choices made by people and their government. What does the story of the Kindertransport convey about the importance of the choices made by individuals and nations currently affecting the lives of people in need? Mariam Cohen: You felt you wanted to do something.... And then some photographs were handed around, and I remember there were some boy twins. Oh, my heart ached, but, well, we couldnt afford it in those days. We didnt know what was going to happen, you know. So thats when we took Kurt. Jack Hellman:And I said, Uncle Paul, youve got to get my parents out of Germany. He says, I cant do it. After me being so insistent, he finally said, Ill give him an affidavit if he has a working permit. Jack Hellman: I said to him, Baron Rothschild, my fathers cousin will give him and my mother a visa providing he has a working permit. Without hesitation, he said to me, Would he work on a chicken farm? I said, Hell do anything. He went to a notary, which wasnt terribly far, but and made out a working permit for my parents. Lore Segal: Nevertheless, they did, as I say, what most of us dont do, which is to burden the household the kitchens, and the bedroom, and the living room with this little foreigner.

Ursula Rosenfeld (left) with sister Hella

I never belonged when I was a child. I wanted somewhere to find roots. I feel in the latter years of my life that Ive been accepted. Nobodys ever said to me,You werent born in this country. I was entirely accepted as everyone else, and I gradually felt I had somewhere I belonged.
Ursula Rosenfeld

With the help of your teacher or librarian, research historical incidents in the United States or the world in which a tiny glimmer of hope existed during an enormous catastrophe. Describe what made it a glimmer of hope, the conditions from which it arose, and the impact it had. In what ways did it benefit individuals and/or the world? How did it outlive the crisis, and why was it able to do so?

Actions and Consequences

The Talmud, commentary on the Bible, states,Whoever saves one life, saves a world entire. As a class or individually, identify some recent examples of choices made by individuals or groups that follow this same principle. What action can you take today that would make a positive difference in the life of another? Might you or your family take in a child? What circumstances would help facilitate this choice? Why are the events in this film significant, and what implications do they have for everyday life? Use the following quotations to help formulate your answers to these questions.

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On-Screen Text: The Kindertransport was an act of mercy not equaled anywhere else before the war. Nearly 1,500,000 children perished in the Holocaust. Alex Gordon: And Ive come to one conclusion: I was meant to survive, not because of myself, but the Jews would survive, and I would bring up another generation and they would live. And I look at my children, and my grandchildren, and I know there was a purpose to my life. Eva Hayman: I ceased to be a child when I boarded the train in Prague. Its strange that its only six years out of a long life and those six years will affect the rest of your life. Inge Sadan: To be a refugee is the most horrible feeling because you lose your family, you lose your home, youre also without an identity. Suddenly youre a nothing. You are just reliant on other peoples good nature and help and understanding. And thats why I think, living in Israel, I feel for the new immigrants. I feel for the Russians, and the Ethiopians, and anybody whos new, especially if they come without their families. Then, you know, if I can do anything, I do it. Lorraine Allard: He says, Anything you havent had, youve got now, which is so true. And Im very grateful and very proud of the whole family.
Franzi Groszmann, Lore Segal, and Lores grandson Benjamin, New York, 1999

It seems to me it was a gift didnt think so at the time.

Lore Segal

Despite the tragic consequences of the Holocaust for the children of the Kindertransport, the reflections of those at the end of the film indicate that they were able not only to move forward with their lives but also to find ways to use their experiences as a basis for positive change for themselves and other people. How did they accomplish this? Write about a person who has responded to difficult circumstances and positively affected his or her life or the lives of others. Describe the actions that were taken, and why they cause this specific person to stand out in your mind.

Go Forth... and Be a Blessing

The children of the Kindertransport were given the opportunity by the parents, rescuers, and foster parents to Go forth... and be a blessing, as the book of Genesis says. How have the individuals in the film done that? Many people took great risks and made tremendous sacrifices to ensure the childrens survival. In closing, consider the following questions: Who are the people in your life who have played a role in ensuring your safety and wellbeing? What gifts have you been given by your family or friends that will allow you to make the most of your own life?

Lorraine Allard with grandchildren (left to right), Jonathan, Georgina Lore, and Andrew, London, 1999

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T I M E L I N E

Timeline
1933
January 30 February 28 April 1 April 7 Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. The Nazi government of Germany suspends constitutionally protected freedoms, including freedom of speech, assembly, and press. The Nazi Party declares a nationwide boycott of Jewish-owned businesses in Germany. The German government enacts a new law excluding most non-Aryans from government employment, prompting the subsequent firing of Jewish civil servants, including university professors and school teachers. On Hitlers hundredth day in office, students and many of their professors enter libraries and bookstores in cities throughout Germany, carting away books by Jewish authors, or non-Jews deemed un-German, for book burnings in cities and towns across Germany. The German government passes the Nuremberg Laws, which deprive Jews of citizenship and forbid marriage between Jews and non-Jews. The laws define Jews biologicallybased on the religion of their grandparents rather than their own religious practices or identity. Germany occupies Austria and proclaims the union (Anschluss) of the two countries. Representatives from 32 countries meet at Evian, France, to discuss refugee policies. All countries but onethe Dominican Republicrefuse to relax immigration standards. The German army enters the Sudetenland, a largely German-speaking region of neighboring Czechoslovakia.The occupation follows the Munich agreement, in which Great Britain and France cede the territory in exchange for Hitlers promise of an end to territorial ambition. Jews begin fleeing to unoccupied portions of Czechoslovakia.

May 10

1935 1938

September 15

March 13 July 6-15 October 1

November 9-10 The German government instigates a nationwide series of anti-Jewish pogroms called Kristallnacht. (See box on page 10.) November 15 November 21 December 1 December 10 Jewish children are officially expelled from public schools, forcing the creation of segregated Jewish schools. The British House of Commons approves the Kindertransport program. (See pages 11-13.) The first Kindertransport departs from Berlin, Germany. The first Kindertransport departs from Vienna, Austria (now part of greater Germany). U.S. Senator Robert Wagner and Representative Edith Rogers introduce a bill to permit 20,000 refugee children from Germany to enter the United States. This bill will ultimately die in committee. (See box on page 13.) Germany initiates the partition of Czechoslovakia and occupies the western portion of the country. Kindertransport organizers begin plans to rescue Jewish children from the city of Prague. The British government issues the White Paper of 1939, placing severe limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine. No more than 15,000 Jews will be allowed to immigrate to Palestine each year for the next five years. For most of the Jewish population of Europe, one of the most promising avenues of escape is effectively closed.

1939

February 9

March 14 May 17

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1939

September 1 September 1 September 3

Germany invades Poland. The last Kindertransport departs from Germany. Great Britain, France, and other countries declare war on Germany.

1940

April 9-June 26 The German army invades and defeats Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and France. May-June May 14 July 10 September 6 November 14 The British government orders the internment of refugees between the ages of 16 and 70 from enemy countries, including Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. The last Kindertransport departs the Netherlands as the Dutch army surrenders to German forces. The HMT Dunera sails from Liverpool, England. The HMT Dunera arrives in Sydney, Australia. The German Luftwaffe (air force) begins the massive bombing of Great Britain known as the Blitz. Germany invades the Soviet Union. The German troops are accompanied by mobile killing units who murder Jews, Roma (Gypsies), Communists, and others in the conquered regions. Japanese airplanes bomb Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, prompting the United States to enter the war on the side of Great Britain. The first Jewish prisoners to be systematically murdered by poison gas are killed at the Nazi death camp known as Chelmno. German SS and state officials convene the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the Final Solutionthe German plan to systematically murder the Jews of Europe by deporting them to extermination camps, already under construction. The Nazis begin operating the gas chambers of the Auschwitz, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka death camps, the chief apparatus by which millions of Jews will be killed over the next three years. With the German army in retreat, Soviet troops liberate the Auschwitz concentration camp and its remaining prisoners. British forces liberate Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Germany surrenders to the Allies in the west. Germany surrenders to the Allies in the east; V-E (Victory in Europe) Day is proclaimed.

1941

June 22 December 7 December 8

1942

January

February-July

1945

January 27 April 15 May 7 May 9

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G L O S S A R Y

Glossary
Anschluss: German word meaning union, designating the incorporation of Austria into Germany on March 13, 1938. Antisemitism: The hatred or persecution of Jews. Aryan: An idealized race of people which the Nazis glorified as superior to other races. In Nazi ideology, the Aryans were the only suitable people to be members of the German master race. Auschwitz: The Nazis largest concentration camp. Established in German-occupied Poland in 1940, it grew to include a labor camp, Buna-Monowitz, and the death camp known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Nazis murdered more than 1.2 million people at Auschwitz. Bar Mitzvah: Traditional ceremony recognizing that a 13-year-old Jewish boy has attained the age of religious duty and responsibility. Bergen-Belsen: Nazi concentration and transit camp to which German officers marched more than 100,000 prisoners and abandoned them to die in the last weeks of the war. Buchenwald: A major Nazi concentration camp established in 1937 in north-central Germany. In November 1938, 10,000 Jews arrested during and after Kristallnacht were interned at Buchenwald. Evian Conference: International conference held in July 1938 to discuss the plight of refugees from Nazi persecution. (See page 10.) Home Secretary: The British state secretary responsible for internal affairs, including immigration and constitutional issues. HMT Dunera: Ship on which the British government deported enemy aliens to Australia, under inhumane conditions, in July 1940. Kristallnacht: Brutal anti-Jewish pogrom on the night of November 9-10, 1938. (See box on page 10.) Pogrom: An organized attack on a minority group, often encouraged by a government or other official organization. Race: Commonly used to refer to a group of people related by common descent, blood, or heredity. Over the last century, race has been largely dismissed as a scientifically meaningless concept. Reich: German word for empire and realm. The term Third Reich was used by Nazi leaders to create a sense of continuity with two previous German empires. SA: Short for the German word Sturmabteilung, which means Storm Troopers. These military units of the Nazi Party, also known as Brownshirts, facilitated Adolf Hitlers rise to power. SS: Short for the German word Schutzstaffel, which means Protection Squad. The SS formed in 1925 as Adolf Hitlers personal bodyguard unit and grew into the fundamental apparatus through which the Nazis perpetrated and supervised the Holocaust and other campaigns of terror. Theresienstadt: Concentration and transit camp established in 1941 near Prague. The Nazis used this camp and its prisoners as a propaganda device, creating the illusion of a model Jewish settlement. Tens of thousands of Jews died there or were deported from there to death camps in occupied Poland. Wagner-Rogers Bill: Failed 1939 congressional legislation that proposed to admit 20,000 refugees into the United States. (See box on page 13.)

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B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Bibliography
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport is a 292-page book that expands upon the testimonies and materials presented in the movie. It features additional stories from the people interviewed in the film, supplementary accounts, and previously unseen photographs. It includes a preface by Lord Richard Attenborough, a historical introduction by David Cesarani, and words from the filmmakers. (Mark Jonathan Harris and Deborah Oppenheimer, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000)

General Holocaust History

Yehuda Bauer and Nili Keren, A History of the Holocaust (Franklin Watts, 1982) Michael Berenbaum, The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Little Brown, 1993) Saul Friedlander, Nazi Germany and the Jews: The Years of Persecution 1933 -1939 (HarperCollins, New York, 1998)

Books by Featured Kinder

Hedy Epstein, Erinnern Ist Nicht Genug (Remembering Is Not Enough) (Unrast Verlag, Germany, 1999) Vera Gissing, Pearls of Childhood (Robson Books, London, 1988) Eva Hayman, By the Moon and the Stars (Random Century New Zealand Ltd., Auckland, 1992) Bertha Leverton and Shmuel Lowensohn, I Came Alone, Stories of the Kindertransport (The Book Guild Ltd, Sussex, 1990) Inge Sadan, No Longer a Stranger (Inge Sadan, Jerusalem, 1999) Lore Segal, Other Peoples Houses (The New Press, New York, 1994)

The Kindertransport
Eva Abraham-Podietz and Anne Fox, Ten Thousand Children: True Stories Told by Children Who Escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport (Behrman House, Springfield, NJ, 1998) Olga Levy Drucker, Kindertransport (Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1995) Karen Gershon, We Came as Children (Gollancz, London, 1966) Amy Gottlieb, Men of Vision (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1998) House of Commons Official Report, Parliamentary Debates, Fifth Series, Volume 341 (H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1938) House of Lords Official Report, Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, Volume III, No. 16, Wednesday 14 December, 1938 (H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1938) Barry Turner, ... And the Policeman Smiled (Bloomsbury, London, 1990) Dorit Bader Whiteman, The Uprooted: A Hitler Legacy: Voices of Those Who Escaped Before the Final Solution (Perseus Books, Cambridge, MA, 1993)

Sources
Sara Bloomfield, speech at premiere of Into the Arms of Strangers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, September 11, 2000 Richard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, American Refugee Policy and European Jewry, 1933-1945 (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1987) David Cesarani, Introduction to Into the Arms of Strangers, Stories of the Kindertransport (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000) The Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (MacMillan Publishing Company, New York, 1990) Tony Kushner, The Holocaust and the Liberal Imagination: A Social and Cultural History (Blackwell, Oxford, 1994) Louise London, Whitehall and the Jews 1933-1948 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000) Chancellor Gerhard Schrder, speech at premiere of Into the Arms of Strangers in Berlin, Germany, November 20, 2000 A. J. Sherman, Island Refuge: Britain and Refugees from the Third Reich (Frank Cass Publications, Essex, 1994) Survivors: Testimonies of the Holocaust (Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, 1999) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Teaching about the Holocaust: A Resource Book for Educators

Great Britain
Paul R. Bartrop with Gabrielle Eisen, The Dunera Affair (Schwartz & Wilkinson, Melbourne, 1990) Peter & Leni Gillman, Collar the Lot: How Britain Interned and Expelled Its Wartime Refugees (Quartet Books Ltd., London, 1980) Benzion Patkin, The Dunera Internees (Cassell Australia Ltd., Melbourne, 1979) Cyril Pearl, The Dunera Scandal (Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1983)

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A D D I T I O N A L

R E S O U R C E S

Additional Resources
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport Website www.intothearmsofstrangers.com
The website for the film provides further resources, including documents, correspondence, film footage, photographs, historical background, and excerpts from interviews. Supplementary materials on the making of the film are also available.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW Washington, D.C. 20024
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., has created a resource guide for educators entitled Teaching about the Holocaust : A Resource Book for Educators, which includes helpful guidelines, bibliographies, videographies, historical information, and other materials. To order or for further information on the Museum and its programs, please call (202) 488-0400 or visit www.ushmm.org.

Kindertransport Association, Inc. (KTA) www.kindertransport.org

The Kindertransport Association is a North American organization of Kindertransport survivors and subsequent generations.The KTA publishes a quarterly journal entitled The Kinder Link, and sponsors regional informational and social gatherings. Its speakers bureau provides materials and speakers for public forums.

Dunera News 87 Clow Street Dandenong Victoria 3175, Australia dunera@netlink.corn.au Kindertransport Journey: Memory into History KTA Visual Exhibit, designed and produced by Robert Sugar Kindertransport UK Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) 1 Hampstead Gate 1A Frognal London NW3 6AL Tel: 44 (0)20 7431 6161 Fax: 44 (0)20 7431 8454 kt@ajr.org.uk Reunion of Kindertransport Israel POB 71105 Jerusalem 91079, Israel Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation Tel: (818) 777-4673 www.vhf.org

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Nevertheless they did, as I say, what most of us dont do, which is to burden the household the kitchens, and the bedroom, and the living room with this little foreigner.
Lore Segal

WARNER BROS. PICTURES PRESENTS A SABINE FILMS PRODUCTION INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS NARRATED BY JUDI DENCH MUSIC BY LEE HOLDRIDGE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DON LENZER EDITED BY KATE AMEND PRODUCED BY DEBORAH OPPENHEIMER WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MARK JONATHAN HARRIS { [ }

6
Thematic Elements

Companion Book by Bloomsbury Publishing

Soundtrack Album on Chapter III Records

www.intothearmsofstrangers.com

www.warnervideo.com

THIS FILM WAS PRODUCED WITH THE COOPERATION OF THE UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, D.C. www.ushmm.org.

2001 Warner Home Video. All Rights Reserved.

Name:

PERIOD:

CLOSE READING ACTIVITY Thursday, 29 July, 1943 Mrs. Van Daan, Dussel, and I were doing the dishes and I was extraordinarily quiet, which hardly ever happens, so they would have been sure to notice. In order to avoid questions I quickly sought a fairly neutral topic, and thought that the book Henry from the Other Side would meet the need. But I had made a mistake. If Mrs. Van Daan doesnt pounce on me, then Mr. Dussel does. This was what it came to: Mr. Dussel had specially recommended us this book as being excellent. Margot and I thought it was anything but excellent. The boys character was certainly well drawn, but the rest I had better gloss over that. I said something to that effect while we were washing the dishes, but that brought me a packet of trouble. How can you understand the psychology of a man! Of course a child is not so difficult (!). You are much too young for a book like that; why even a man of twenty would not be able to grasp it. (Why did he so especially recommend this book to Margot and me?) Now Dussel and Mrs. Van Daan continue together: You know much too much about things that are unsuitable to you, youve been brought up all wrong. Later on, when you are older, you wont enjoy anything, then youll say: I read that in books twenty years ago. You had better make haste, if you want to get a husband or fall in love or everything is sure to be a disappointment to you. You are already proficient in the theory, its only the practice you still lack! I suppose its their idea of a good upbringing to always try to set me against my parents, because that is what they often do. And to tell a girl of my age nothing about grown-up subjects is an equally fine method! I see the results of that kind of upbringing frequently and all too clearly. I could have slapped them both their faces at that moment as they stood there making a fool of me. I was beside myself with rage and Im just counting the days until Im rid of these people. Mrs. Van Daan is a nice one! She sets a fine example she certainly sets one a bad one. She is well known as being

Name:

PERIOD:

very pushing, selfish, cunning, calculating, and is never content. I can also add vanity and coquetry to the list. There is no question about it, she is an unspeakably disagreeable person .I could write whole chapters about Madame, and who knows, perhaps I will someday. Anyone can put on a fine coat of varnish outside. Mrs. Van Daan is friendly to strangers and especially men, so it is easy to make a mistake when you have only known her for a short time. Mummy thinks she is too stupid to waste words over, Margot too unimportant, Pim too ugly (literally and figuratively), and I, after long observation for I was never prejudiced from the start have come to the conclusion that she is all three and a lot more! She has so many bad qualities, why should I ever begin about one of them? Yours, Anne P.S. Will the reader take into consideration that when this story was written the writer had not cooled down from her fury!

Written Document Analysis Worksheet

1. TYPE OF DOCUMENT (Check one): ___ Letter ___ Memorandum ___ Death Records ___ Passenger List ___ Prisoner List ___Other ___ Passport / Transit Pass ___ Report

2. UNIQUE PHYSICAL QUALITIES OF THE DOCUMENT (Check one or more): ___ Interesting letterhead ___ Handwritten ___ Typed ___ Seals ___ Notations ___ "RECEIVED" stamp ___ "SECRET" stamp ___ Other

3. DATE(S) OF DOCUMENT: __________________________________________ 4. AUTHOR (OR CREATOR) OF THE DOCUMENT (IF KNOWN): __________________________________________________________________ 5. POSITION OR TITLE (IF KNOWN):____________________________________ 6. FOR WHAT AUDIENCE WAS THE DOCUMENT WRITTEN? _________________________________________________________________ 7. DOCUMENT INFORMATION (There are many possible ways to answer Questions A-E.) A. List three things the author said that you think are important: 1.______________________________________________________________ 2.______________________________________________________________ 3.______________________________________________________________ B. Why do you think this document was written? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ C. What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? Quote from the document. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

D. List two things the document tells you about the experiences of refugees in Europe at the time it was written: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ E. Write a question to the author that is left unanswered by the document: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

t68

AxNr Fn'rxr

TnE [)ranv

or n Your'ic; Ctnl

r69

a small shy adrne all the time and I'rn thrilled if I notice a lot just like say to llke he'd belicve I ,run." fr.r* his side.

i *."fa, little does he know that it's just his clumsiness

that attracts
me.

{ours, Anne

TuesdaY, 7 March,
Dear Kitty,

1944

now of my life in 1942, it all seems so unreal' It *us quit" a different Anne who enjoyed that heavenly wise within-these existence from the Anne who has grown

lf I think

walls.Yes,itwasaheavenlylife'Boyfriendsateveryturn' my own age' about twenty friends and acquaintances of top to ih" durling of n"u.ly all the teachers, spoiled from pocket ;;; ;; Mu*ty uni D.ddv, lots of sweets' enough

a bad mood, never,a crybaby. No wonder everyone liked to cycle with me, and I got their attentions' Now. I look back at that Anne as an amusing, but very superficial girl, who has nothing to do with the Anne of today. Peter said qrrite rightly about me' "[f ever I saw you, you were always surrounded by two or more boys and a whole troupe of girls. You were always laughing and always the center of everythingl" iVhat is left of this girll Oh, don't worry, I haven't forgotten how to laugh or to answer back readily l'm just as good, if not better, at criticizing people, and I can still flirt if . . . f wish. Thats not it thor-rgh, I'd like that sort of life again for an evening, a few days, or even a week; the life *-hi.h ,."n't, so carefree and gay. But at the end of that week, I should be dead beat and would be only too thankful to listen to anyone who began to talk abour something sensible. I don't want followers, but friends, admirers who fall not for a flattering smile but for what one does and for

moneyr what more could one want? I got around You will certainly wonder by what means is not altoall these people. Peter's word "attractiveness" by my cute gether true. Rtt ,t," teachers were entertained and my face' answers, my amusing remarks, my smiling

q".t,,."'"U

and i"or' rn"-.t,ft.r in Iat'o'' I was industrious' honest' anyfrorn f*"t. f would never have dreamed of cribbing

which quettish'and amusing. I had one or two advantages'

looks. That is all

I was-a terrible flirt'

co-

and I wasn't conone else. I shared my sweets generously'

ceited.

one! character. I know quite well that the circle around me would be much smaller. But what does that matter, as long as one still keeps a few sincere friendsl Yet I wasn't entirely happy in 1942 in spite of everything, I often felt deserted, but because I was on the go the whole day long, I didn t think about it and enjoyed myself as much as I could. Consciously or unconsciously, I tried to drive away the emptiness I felt with jokes and pranks. Now t think seriously about life and what I have to do. One period of my life is over forever' The carefree
schooldays are gone, never to return. I don't even long for them dn/ flor; I have outgrown them, I can't just only enjoy myself as my serious side is always there. I look upon my life up till the New Year, as it were,

much Vouldn't I have become rather forward with so the at of' midst the in admiration? lt was a good thing that and reality' face to height of, all this gaiety, I suddenly had there it took me at least a year to get used to the fact that was no more admiration forthcoming' thought of Flow dld I appear at school: The one rvho never in castle"' "king the of new jokes and pranks, always

through a powerful magnifying glass The sunny life

home, then coming here

at

in

1942, the sudden change, the

l7o

ANsr FnrNr

TsE Dt,rnv <lr a YouNc,

beauty" which exists

Ctnr'

171

it' I was quarrels, the bickerings l couldn't understand up some ;.k.r b; surprise, and the only way I could keep was bY being imPertinent' bearing "-if,.'f'.r,
and shortcomhow I slowly began to see all nry faults seemed much greater ings, which are so great and which the dav I delibcratelv talked about anvthing ;:; il;* that was farthest from my thoughts' tried unJ face the "u".yrting ," a-* i"t io rn", but couldn't Alorre I had to reeverlasting the stop to task of changing myself, difficult
t',uif

in the world, the world, nature,

Deauty and all, all that is exquisite and fine.

of

1943: my fits of crying' the loneliness'

p."".ft.r, which were 'J oppt"s'iut desPondcncY to "" such terrible

and which reduccd me

year'

of the ifrt"*. ,*oroved slightly in the second haif more like a treated rvas and I became a young *J** tcr came stories' and *r;;;;; Liu.t"Jto think, and write right the had t-h" .on.lurion that the others no longer l wantcd to ball india-n-rbber an like ,"*,ftt"* *" ubn,-,t one thing But .il;" in accordance with my own desires even that realized that struck me even more was when I everything' over never become mv confidant ild;;;.ld trust anyone but myself any more' to want I didnt great At the beginning of the New Year' the second longmy discovered I it with change, ty Jr"u*. ' And dis;;;,;;; io. u gi.l {:riend, but for a bov.frierrd lalso of armor defensive mvand ;;"J.;:'; *y i,.,iuutd happiness and
dorvn ,.,p"rfi.iutity and gaiety' In due.time. I.quieted

don't think then of all the misery, but of the beauty :hat still remains. This is one of the things that Mummy :nd I are so entirely different about. Her counsel when rne feels melancholy is: "Think of all the misery in the i,'orld and be thankful that you are not sharing in it!" My :dvice is' "Co outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the ;:rnshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God. Think of all the beauty thati still left in and :round you and be happyt" I don't see how Mummy's idea can be right, because :een how are you supposed,to behave if you go through :ne misery yourself? Then you are lost. On the contrary, lve found that there is alu'ays some beauty left-in na:ure, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you' yourself again, and -ook at these things, then you find Cod, and then you regain your balance. And whoever is happy will make others happy too' He *ho has courage and faith will never perish in misery!

urs, Anne

Sunday, l2 March, 1944

)ear Kitty,

Iti."t.."a
good.

beautiful and my boundless desire for all that is

and end my And in thc evening, when I lie in bed all that is for yo''t'. qodl "l o.ur.r, with the *t"dt, thank jov' Then I with J"ar and beautiful," I am filled ;;i;; health my of think about "the good" of going into hiding'

Peter' of that ."J *'* .y *hol" being o1 the "clearness" of which we and *tr,.h ,, still embryonic and impressionableneitherofusdaretonameortollch,ofthatwhichwill of "the lo*.- rorn"aime; love, the future' happiness and

I can't seem to sit still lately; I run upstairs and down ;nd then back again. I love talking to Peter, but l'm always rtraid of being a nuisance. He has told me a bit about the rast, about his parents and about himself. lt's not half :nough though and I ask myself why it is that I always ong for more. He used to think I was unbearable; and I re:urned the compliment; now I have changed my opinion, ras he changed his tooz I think so; still it doesn't necessarily mean that we shall

POEMS FOR COMPARISON WITH ENTRY ON TUESDAY, 7 MARCH 1944

Blackbird by Paul McCartney Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise. Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these sunken eyes and learn to see. All your life You were only waiting for this moment to be free. Blackbird fly, blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night. Blackbird fly, blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night. Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three. - from the novel Lolita It is possible to be struck by a meteor or a single-engine plane while reading in a chair at home. Safes drop from rooftops and flatten the odd pedestrian mostly within the panels of the comics, but still, we know it is possible, as well as the flash of summer lightning, the thermos toppling over, spilling out on the grass. And we know the message can be delivered from within. The heart, no valentine, decides to quit after lunch, the power shut off like a switch, or a tiny dark ship is unmoored into the flow of the body's rivers, the brain a monastery, defenseless on the shore. This is what I think about when I shovel compost into a wheelbarrow, and when I fill the long flower boxes, then press into rows the limp roots of red impatiens the instant hand of Death always ready to burst forth from the sleeve of his voluminous cloak. Then the soil is full of marvels, bits of leaf like flakes off a fresco, red-brown pine needles, a beetle quick to burrow back under the loam. Then the wheelbarrow is a wilder blue, the clouds a brighter white, and all I hear is the rasp of the steel edge against a round stone, the small plants singing with lifted faces, and the click of the sundial as one hour sweeps into the next.

My Life by Billy Collins Sometimes I see it as a straight line drawn with a pencil and a ruler transecting the circle of the world or as a finger piercing a smoke ring, casual, inquisitive, but then the sun will come out or the phone will ring and I will cease to wonder if it is one thing, a large ball of air and memory, or many things, a string of small farming towns, a dark road winding through them. Let us say it is a field I have been hoeing every day, hoeing and singing, then going to sleep in one of its furrows, or now that it is more than half over, a partially open door, rain dripping from the eaves. Like yours, it could be anything, a nest with one egg, a hallway that leads to a thousand rooms whatever happens to float into view when I close my eyes or look out a window for more than a few minutes, so that some days I think it must be everything and nothing at once. But this morning, sitting up in bed, wearing my black sweater and my glasses, the curtains drawn and the windows up, I am a lake, my poem is an empty boat, and my life is the breeze that blows through the whole scene stirring everything it touches the surface of the water, the limp sail, even the heavy, leafy trees along the shore.

Silent Conversations with Poetry

Overview: We want our students to closely read and discuss poetry, which can be accomplished through partner work, in small groups, or in whole class discussions. However, this activity provides students with an opportunity to combine discussion with writing, in a way which lets them actively interact with the text and each other. Materials: Enough photocopies of poem(s) for each pair of students to write on Overhead transparency copy of the poem(s) Directions: 1. Explain the directions and purpose of the activity before passing out the poems and before students move to be with their partners. Be very clear in explaining your expectations for the assignment. 2. Instruct students that they should engage in a silent, written conversation about the poem(s) they will be given. Their writing can be informal encourage them to draw arrows, circle words, use abbreviations as long as their meaning is clear. They should be asking questions to each other, providing answers, and making insightful comments on the poem(s). 3. Once students understand the directions, they can move so they are sitting side-by-side. Pass out one copy of the poem to each pair of students. 4. Allow for at least 5-7 of silent discussion per poem. Depending on the depth of the poem, students could spend even longer in discussion. As the students work, circulate around the room and politely butt in to their conversations. Look for questions theyve asked and have been unable to answer, or pose questions they have not addressed. 5. Once the majority of partner discussions are exhausted, ask the class to share insights they discovered during their conversation. Take notes or make comments on an overhead transparency copy of the poem. Assessment: Look for completion, depth of comments, and overall quality of discussion Credit: This lesson was taken from a presentation given by Robert Probst.

Should Kinder of the Kindertransports be Considered Holocaust Survivors? by Ralph Mollerick

The title of this essay may be argued in ways that depend on the definition of who is a Holocaust Survivor. A visit to the KTA website and a click on the History tab, will take the reader to frequently asked questions. The first question addresses this topic: "What is a Holocaust Survivor?" The answer is simply stated as: "A Holocaust Survivor is a person who was displaced, persecuted, and/or discriminated against by the racial, religious, ethnic, and political policies of the Nazis and their allies. The Kindertransport children are child Holocaust Survivors". For most people, this definition would suffice. Unfortunately, for some Survivors this definition has been met with arguments that question the degree to which people suffered. For example, some years ago, I attended the Holocaust Child Survivor Conference in Rockville, MD. Most, if not all, of the attendees had traumatic experiences regarding their time spent in slave work camps or concentration camps. During a workshop, a lady who was sitting next to me explained that she was a nurse in a camp and was forced to maintain a work schedule of twelve hours a day and seven days a week until she became sick. She turned to me and asked from what camp I survived. I explained to her that I was not a survivor of a camp, but was fortunate to be on the Kindertransport sent to England as a survivor. The lady turned to me and responded: "You were lucky and should not consider yourself a survivor because you did not suffer." She looked at my wife who is American born and obviously not a survivor, and told her to leave the workshop. In other words, camp survivors could not describe their experiences beside those who did not suffer. While my wife considered leaving the workshop, I felt obligated to take a different position. I explained that while Kindertransportees did not suffer the horrors of the camps, we, nevertheless, suffered in other ways. We were placed on trains without our parents, sent to a foreign land where different customs and language needed to be learned; most of us never saw our parents again; we lost our posessions; our education was interrupted; we lost support and nurturning from our parents; and for most, this included loss of a comfortable life in our homes and in the communities where we once lived. The lady apologized and said that she had not realized the losses we had suffered.

http://www.kindertransport.org/voices/mollerick_survivors.htm

NAME:

PERIOD:

IN MEMORIAM PROJECT
Hundreds of thousands of memorials exist around the world, honoring everything from peoples actions to historical events to abstract concepts. As humans, we feel compelled to make physical those things we wish to remember, and memorials serve that function. For this project, you and your group will be asked to envision a memorial related to rescue and the Holocaust. In the end, you will create a prototype of your memorial, as well as a short paper explaining the reasons behind your decisions. Before you begin creating your memorial, you must first understand more about their creation. To do so, we will read excerpts from books focused on memorials and conduct research on existing memorials. Your group will present this information to the class, so they can all benefit from the collected knowledge while creating their memorials. Here are the specific details: ASSIGNMENT #1: Memorial Prototype SUBJET: The memorial must be for or related to rescue during the Holocaust; however, the specific choice of subject is left to you. Your group may choose to create a memorial for all Danish rescuers or for a specific individual. Consider place as a possible angel perhaps your memorial will stand outside the British Embassy or in a museum. ASSESSMENT: Although your prototype need not be professionally made, it should reflect the work of an appropriate amount of time and thoroughness of thought. You will be graded based on the overall visual effect, in conjunction with the thought behind the memorials design as seen in the prototype and as explained in the accompanying paper. ASSIGNMENT #2: Memorial Prototype Explanatory Paper SUBJECT: This paper should explain all of the decisions that went into the creation of your memorial and should make clear the amount of thought that went into the project. Many of these points will be share with the class during your presentation. ASSESSMENT: You will graded primarily on the content of the paper; however, the quality of writing (grammar, mechanics, spelling, organization) will also be assessed. DUE DATE: ________________________

Teaching Background

Socratic Seminar
Summary The National Paideia Center, which has developed extensive materials on using seminars in classrooms, defines a Socratic seminar as a collaborative, intellectual dialogue facilitated with open-ended questions about a text.
Student Handouts: Open-Ended Questions and/or Critical Reasoning

Analysis Sheet, Discussion Partner Evaluation Purpose

The purpose of a Socratic Seminar is to achieve a deeper understanding about the ideas and values in a text. In the Seminar, participants systematically question and examine issues and principles related to a particular content, and articulate different points-of-view. The group conversation assists participants in constructing meaning through disciplined analysis, interpretation, listening, and participation. Background In a Socratic Seminar, the participants carry the burden of responsibility for the quality of the discussion. Good discussions occur when participants study the text closely in advance, listen actively, share their ideas and questions in response to the ideas and questions of others, and search for evidence in the text to support their ideas. The discussion is not about right answers; it is not a debate. Students are encouraged to think out loud and to exchange ideas openly while examining ideas in a rigorous, thoughtful, manner. Key Elements There are several basic elements of a Seminar: Text Classroom Environment Questions Text All participants read the text in advance. The text (or article, film clip, or other artifact) should contain important and powerful ideas and values. It should be at the appropriate level for the students in terms of complexity, and should relate directly to core concepts of the content being studied. A certain degree of ambiguity or potential for different interpretations also makes for richer discussion. It is extremely helpful to number the paragraphs in a text so that participants can easily refer to passages. Classroom Environment The classroom should be arranged so that students can look at each other directly. A circle or square works well. Some teachers like to use desks and have students use name card tents; others prefer simply to use chairs without desks. The discussion norms should be prominently posted. Some teachers like to also post the initial key question. 106

Teaching Background

Socratic Seminar continued

Questions Prepare several questions in advance, in addition to questions that students may bring to class. Questions should lead participants into the core ideas and values and to the use of the text in their answers. Questions must be open-ended, reflect genuine curiosity, and have no one right answer! Choose one question as the key interpretive question of the seminar to focus on and begin discussion. During the seminar, use particular questions to move the discussion along. Towards the end of the seminar, some teachers like to use closing questions that encourage participants to apply the ideas to their personal experiences and opinions. Answering these closing questions does not require use of the text but provides students with the chance to share their own perspectives. Lastly, debriefing questions help students reflect on the process of the seminar. Sample questions to serve as the key question or interpret the text: What is the main idea or underlying value in the text? What is the authors purpose or perspective? What does (a particular phrase) mean? What might be a good title for the text? What is the most important word/sentence/paragraph? Sample questions to move the discussion along: Who has a different perspective? Who has not yet had a chance to speak? Where do you find evidence for that in the text? Can you clarify what you mean by that? How does that relate to what (someone else) said? Is there something in the text that is unclear to you? Has anyone changed their mind? Sample questions to bring the discussion back to students in closing: How do the ideas in the text relate to our lives? What do they mean for us personally? Why is this material important? Is it right that.? Do you agree with the author? Sample debriefing questions: Do you feel like you understand the text at a deeper level? How was the process for us? Did we adhere to our norms? Did you achieve your goals to participate? What was one thing you noticed about the seminar?

107

Teaching Background

Socratic Seminar continued Seminar Structure The Seminar can be divided into three time periods:
Before the Seminar

Introduce the seminar and its purpose (to facilitate a deeper understanding of the ideas and values in the text through shared discussion). Have students read the text. They may use one of several formats to process the information. The Open-Ended Questions and/or the Critical Reasoning Analysis Sheet can be used to help students understand the content. These can be used as the ticket to participate in the seminar. Share any expectations related to assessment. Review the Discussion Norms In addition to the classroom discussion norms you may have already set, it is important to include the following norms, or ones that are similar: Dont raise hands Listen carefully Address one another respectfully Base any opinions on the text Additional norms might include Address comments to the group (no side conversations) Use sensitivity to take turns and not interrupt others Monitor air time Be courageous in presenting your own thoughts and reasoning, but be flexible and willing to change your mind in the face of new and compelling evidence
During the Seminar

Be seated at the level of the students and remind them to address each other and not you! Pose the key question. Ask participants to relate their statements to particular passages, to clarify, and to elaborate. If the conversation gets off track, refocus students on the opening question by restating it. Use additional questions to move the discussion along. Invite those who have not spoken into the conversation. Some teachers use talking chips (each student is allotted a number of chips that they use when they make a contribution) or a talking chain (asking each person to comment or pass in a circle). The chips may be especially useful when working with very young children but should be used only until students get the idea. You may wish to record for your own purposes the main ideas discussed and the contributions people make (using a shorthand or diagram) to refer to as you facilitate. It can be helpful to summarize the main points made in the discussion, either at a quiet point or towards the end of the discussion.
After the Seminar

Ask debriefing questions of the students. Share your own experience with the seminar as a facilitator. 108

Teaching Background

Using Interpretive, Literal, and Evaluative Questions

Interpretive Questions
A Socratic discussion is a text-based discussion in which an individual sets their own interpretations of the text alongside those of other participants. The aim is a mutual search for a clearer, wider and deeper (enlarged) understanding of the ideas, issues, and values in the text at hand. It is shared inquiry, not debate; there is no opponent save the perplexity all persons face when they try to understand something that is both difficult and important. Walter Parker, PhD, University of Washington The core of the Socratic Seminar is devoted to considering interpretive questions. These are questions that ask students to interpret the text. They should be genuine questions - ones that you are also interested in. No single right answer exists, but arguments can be made to support different positions. Students need to make their points using passages from the text to answer these questions. Sample interpretive questions might ask for the values evidenced by the author within the text, or might ask students to choose the most important word/sentence/ paragraph and describe why it is the most important.

Literal Questions
Literal questions are used by some teachers at the very beginning of a seminar, to ensure comprehension of the text. These are questions that can be answered directly from the text. The answers are contained within the text and are stated clearly. Sample literal questions might ask for an important text detail, fact, or quote.

Evaluative Questions
Evaluative questions are sometimes used at the very end of a seminar, to allow students to share their own positions and opinions. Answers to evaluative questions rely on students own experiences, not on the text itself. Students will not need to cite particular passages to answer these questions. Sample evaluative questions might ask for student opinions about the authors position, or how the ideas in the text relate to their own lives.

Variation: Fishbowl If you have a large class, it may be helpful to divide the students into two groups and use a fishbowl format. One half of the class is in the center facing each other and discussing the text, while the remainder is on the outside observing and listening. Members of the outer circle can take notes or use an evaluation form to track the overall conversation or to focus on specific participants. The Rubric for Evaluating Classroom Discussions, as well as the Socratic Seminar Fishbowl Discussion Partner Evaluation could be used for this purpose. During the seminar, some teachers reserve an empty hotseat for those in the outer circle who really want to jump in to make a contribution and then leave. At the end of the conversation, the outer circle can share their observations. The groups then switch to allow the outside group a chance to discuss. Assessment A rubric for evaluating a Socratic Seminar discussion is provided in the assessment section. This rubric may also prove useful to students who are evaluating other students or reflecting on their own participation.
Based on materials shared by Walter Parker, PhD, University of Washington, Paula Fraser, Bellevue PRISM program, Bellevue, WA, Jodie Mathwig and Dianne Massey, Kent Meridian High School, Kent, WA. We also gratefully acknowledge the influence of the Coalition of Essential Schools and the National Paideia Center.

109

Student Handout
NAME___________________________________________________________ Date_________ Period_______

Socratic Seminar Discussion Partner Evaluation

Name of person you are observing _ _____________________________________________________________________ Your name _ ________________________________________________________________________________________ Seminar Topic __________________________________________________________________ Date_________________ 1) Record a check for each time your partner contributed in a meaningful way: ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ 2) On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest, how well did your partner do at the following? _____ Analysis and Reasoning Did your partner. Cite reasons and evidence for his/her statements with support from the text? Demonstrate that they had given thoughtful consideration to the topic? Provide relevant and insightful comments? Demonstrate organized thinking? Move the discussion to a deeper level? Notes/Comments:

_____ Discussion Skills Did your partner Speak loudly and clearly? Stay on topic? Talk directly to other students rather than the teacher? Stay focused on the discussion? Invite other people into the discussion? Share air time equally with others (didnt talk more than was fair to others)? Notes/Comments:

_____ Civility Did your partner Listen to others respectfully? Enter the discussion in a polite manner? Avoid inappropriate language (slang, swearing)? Avoid hostile exchanges? Question others in a civil manner? Notes/Comments:

110

Student Handout
NAME___________________________________________________________ Date_________ Period_______

Open-Ended Questions for a Socratic Seminar

When preparing for a Socratic Seminar, write questions using these sentence frames to stimulate your thinking about the article(s) you read. Choose and complete 5 of the following: What puzzles me is

Id like to talk with people about

Im confused about

Dont you think this is similar to

Do you agree that the big ideas seem to be

111

Student Handout I have questions about

Another point of view is

I think it means

Do you think

What does it mean when the author says

Do you agree that

112

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CLOSE READING ACTIVITY PROSPECTUS AND GUIDE TO THE SECRET ANNEX Special institution as temporary residence for Jews and suchlike. Open all the year round. Beautiful, quite, free from woodland surrounding, in the heart of Amsterdam. Can be reached by trams 13 and 17, also by car or bicycle. In special cases also on foot, if the Germans prevent the use of transportation. Board and lodging: Free. Special fat-free diet. Running water in the bathroom (alas, no bath) and down various inside and outside walls. Ample storage room for all types of goods. Own radio center, direct communication with London, New York, Tel Aviv, and numerous other stations. This appliance is only for residents use after six oclock in the evening. No stations are forbidden, on the understanding that German stations are only listened to in special cases, such as classical music and the like. Rest hours: 10 oclock in the evening until 7:30 in the morning. 10:15 on Sundays. Residents may rest during the day, conditions permitting, as the directors indicate. For reasons of public security rest hours must be strictly observed! Holidays (outside the home): postponed indefinitely. Use of language: Speak softly at all times, by order! All civilized languages are permitted, therefore, no German! Lessons: One written shorthand lesson per week. English, French, Mathematics, and History at all times. Small Pets Special Department (permit is necessary): Good treatment available (vermin excepted). Mealtimes: breakfast, every day except Sundays and Bank Holidays, 9 a.m. Sundays and Bank Holidays, 11:30 a.m. approximately Lunch (not very big): 1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Dinner: cold and/or hot: no fixed time (depending on the news broadcast) Baths: The washtub is available for all residents from 9 a.m. on Sundays. The W.C., kitchen, private office or main office, whichever preferred, are available. Alcoholic beverages: only with doctors prescription.

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A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust Ideas for Research and Discussion of Anne Frank's Diary United States Holocaust Museum article on Kindertransport The Kindertransport Association United States Holocaust Museum Voyage of the St. Louis this site has a really neat primary document search activity