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From
December 1938 until the outbreak of World War II on September 1,
1939, 9354 children and youth, 70% of them Jewish, reached Great
Britain mostly from the German Reich in organized groups known as
the Kindertransports. The
trigger for the start of this rescue operation was the terrible
violence of the pogrom of November 9, 1938, known as Kristalnacht.
In its wake the Jewish community in Palestine declared their
desire to accept 10,000 Jewish children from the Reich. However,
the British who ruled Palestine were unwilling to allow the children
to go there owing to the very restrictive immigration policy they
had adopted. Instead
the British government declared its willingness to allow the
children to come to Great Britain.
Various groups in Great Britain – B’nai Brith, The
Woman’s Appeal Committee, the Chief Rabbi’s Emergency Council,
The Children’s Inter-Aid Committee and The Movement for the Care
of Children from Germany – along with Youth Aliyah, all played a
role in placing the children in private homes and institutions, and
caring for them. Many of the children remained in Great Britain after the war,
some who were reunited with family members, and who had lost their
entire families during the Holocaust. |
