The persecution of German Jews began after the Nazi party came to power in 1933. World Jewish Relief (then called ‘The Central British Fund for German Jewry’ or CBF) was established as a direct result and to support – in whatever way possible – the urgent needs of Jews both in Germany and Austria.

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KEY FACTS

10,000 unaccompanied, mainly Jewish, children travelled to the UK on the Kindertransports

Records for every Kind that arrived in the UK through the Kindertransports are still maintained by World Jewish Relief

No fewer than four Kinder were Nobel Prize winners

A stream of Jewish refugees began to leave Germany, a process that accelerated when the German Government enacted the Nuremberg Laws in September 1935. This deprived Jews of citizenship and made their lives highly restricted.

Following the devastation of Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” in Germany and Austria on 9th November 1938, World Jewish Relief (formerly CBF) embarked on a rescue operation, which saved the lives of thousands of children. Within three weeks of Kristallnacht, the first 200 of these children were assembled in Germany, and travelled to the Hook of Holland, then to Harwich in the UK. The Kindertransport had begun. In the nine months following 10,000 unaccompanied, mainly Jewish, children travelled to the UK on the Kindertransports to safety. They had found refuge in Great Britain.

Most of these unaccompanied children travelled to Liverpool Street Station in London where they met their volunteer foster parents for the first time heralding the start of a new life. The youngsters, each carrying a small suitcase holding their most cherished possessions, arrived in England between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in September 1939.

During the war years many Kinder served in the British armed forces, the nursing professions, in food production and in war related industries. Several thousand of them remained in Britain when the war ended, and as adults made considerable contributions to Britain’s services, industries, commerce, education, science and the arts, for the defence, welfare and development of their country of adoption. No fewer than four Kinder were Nobel Prize winners.

Records for every Kind that arrived in the UK through the Kindertransports are still maintained by World Jewish Relief through its Jewish Refugees Committee. On the supply of authorised documentation, copies of these documents can be supplied to family members at a small fee to cover administration costs.