Pre-performance discussion of 'Kindertransport'

As I walked into campus this morning on my way to the Kindertransport workshop (FYI with hair channelling my inner-Hagrid and Premonitions blasting through my headphones), I realised I knew basically nothing about the reality of Kindertransport.

Yeah, I knew about the facts. Over a 9 month period starting days after the devastation of Kristallnacht in 1938, 10,000 Jewish refugee children bundled onto trains after having been waved off by parents they'd likely never see again.

Yeah, I'd seen the play a few years back and one of my friends currently studying Drama in Lancaster  is rehearsing it at the moment. But I hadn't really taken it in.

Then I remembered I'd read a book as a child by Barry Turner, about the deportation of thousands of Jewish children. One Small Suitcase is based on true accounts of Kindertransport, and what it means to be separated from family, or rather sent away by parents in the hope of a life without persecution.

What I didn't realise is that many of the accounts were not happy ones.

After the 'Falling to our knees' performance a member of the Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association, Martin Kapel, shared his account of Kindertransport. He described how difficult it was to reconnect with his mother, who had a visa in France,

The play Kindertransport is about a woman who comes to face her past and open up to the memories and heritage she had tried to askew. In the workshop, Rachel and Maureen from LAC  shared with us their knowledge of the deportation of Jewish children in 1938. They explained that the refugees could have  been placed in a lottery of foster homes, where many children were expected to work for keep. Some children, like Eva in the play, were fortunate that a proportion of foster parents just wanted to 'help' but the fact remains that the people looking after the children could've been anyone. It's such a stark contrast to the process of fostering a child in today's society, where fostering parties must jump through governmental hoops, a year's worth of paperwork and most importantly - CRB checks. In 1938 there was the need to place the children quickly (9 months...) so there was no barrier against the type of people who volunteered to protect a child - especially those with ulterior motives.

We can only thank the survivors who share their experiences with us.