Edgware United Synagogue was proud to accept the invitation from World Jewish Relief to designate last Shabbat as ‘Kindertransport Shabbat’. Nine members of the community submitted stories of their parent’s journeys, each unique in its own way and yet with a familiar distressing thread running through them all. They were all aged between four and fifteen years old and were waved off by their parents from various stations across Germany and Austria, some to never see their families again.

Each person’s narrative was movingly presented together with photos of the ‘kinder’ and displayed around the shul hall for members to read after the service. One congregant was heard to say that she had ‘never before cried at a shul Kiddush.’ A running theme through each account was that despite all the trauma, they went on to lead fulfilling lives, both in this country and in Israel; many making significant contributions to British society and displaying a love and respect for Britain for enabling them to build new lives.

Their legacies of children, grandchildren and great grand children is described by one of the kinder as ‘his revenge on the Nazis’

“We are all duty-bound to remember this 80th anniversary and celebrate the lives of those 10,000 ‘kinder’ whilst at the same time recalling the utterly altruistic sacrifice made by their grandparents and relatives”.

by Sandy Potashnick, Edgware United Synagogue