Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport

November 28, 2016
In this addition to the Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Stories series, Berne poignantly recounts the true stories of seven children who fled Nazi Germany and Austria via the Kindertransport. They were just a few of the thousands of young Jewish refugees who traveled without parents aboard boats, trains, and planes to live with families in England. An explanatory narrative provides context and a sense of immediacy: “We can imagine the train whistle blowing. ‘All aboard,’ the conductor might have yelled in German over the crowd of frightened children and weeping parents.” Black and white photos of the children in happier times, as well as their verbatim recollections of the journey as adults, punctuate each chapter. The italicized excerpts from interview transcripts record their confusion and fear. “The parting was terrible,” remembers Ursula Rosenfeld. “That’s the one thing I’ve never forgotten in all my life.” The closing chapter recounts a recent reunion of Kindertransport participants and offers epilogues for each of the featured children. A timeline, glossary, bibliography, and index wrap up a clear and concise introduction to the Holocaust. Ages 9–12.

January 1, 2017

Gr 4-8-This slim book chronicles the harrowing journeys made by seven children who escaped Nazi Germany via the Kindertransport. The chapters focus on specific accounts, describing the subjects' lives before the war, their families' efforts to secure safe situations for them, and their experiences living with new families. The narrative is threaded with, and occasionally dominated by, excerpts from primary sources, such as interviews and journals. Glossy pages feature black-and-white photos of the children. Their fates after their escape are saved for the concluding chapter, with several left incomplete despite the availability of more up-to-date information. This volume will find its audience among readers already familiar with the Holocaust and World War II and who are looking for additional material. However, maps are absent and sorely needed. The disjointed chronology within and between chapters may be confusing, as specific dates are infrequently mentioned. VERDICT A supplemental purchase. Pair this title with more thorough works, such as Anne L. Fox and Eva Abraham-Podietz's Ten Thousand Children: True Stories Told by Children Who Escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport.-Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016
Making considerable use of primary sources, Berne tells the affecting story of the Kindertransport, a rescue effort that brought thousands of mostly Jewish children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1940.Following Kristallnacht, British Jewish and Quaker leaders appealed to the British government to permit the temporary admission of unaccompanied Jewish children, with priority given to orphans and those whose parents were in concentration camps. Among the leaders was Sir Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who died in 2015 at 106. Organized before the outbreak of war and the implementation of the Final Solution, the effort was planned under the assumption that families would be reunited. Most children whose parents were alive when they left Germany never saw them again, and many of the children were the sole members of their families who survived. Berne focuses on the stories of seven of these children. In their own words, the survivors poignantly recount the pain of leaving loved ones behind and their experiences as refugees. The final chapter briefly explains what became of each survivor after the war. That Berne tells this story in language that makes it accessible to middle graders is no small feat, and though it is a brief account, it does its best to encompass the enormity of the Holocaust, mentioning, for instance, that "gay people, people with disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses, and people who disagreed with Hitler's political policies" were targeted as well as Jews. A powerful, insightful perspective on the Holocaust. (photos, timeline, glossary, bibliography, source notes) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

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