Kindertransport is the name given to a rescue operation initiated by the British Jews for Jewish children in Nazi-occupied countries, following the Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938.
The British Jewish Refugee Committee, with the aid of funds from Quakers and other refugee organizations, appealed to Members of the British Parliament, to allow the children to be admitted to the United Kingdom. Parliament agreed to admit an unspecified number of children between the ages of 5 and 17. A £50 bond was posted for each child, "to assure their ultimate resettlement".
Ten-thousand unaccompanied children travelled to the United Kingdom from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, in sealed trains. The first transport left only six weeks after the Kristallnacht, and the last left just two days before war broke out (September 3, 1939).
Upon arrival in England, some of the children went to foster families, some to orphanages, and others worked on farms. Children were generally well treated, though a few were abused or mistreated. The older children joined the British or Australian armed forces once they reached 18.
Most of the children settled in the United Kingdom, though many re-emigrated to Israel or North America.
Kindertransport is also the name of a play by Diane Samuels , which examines the later life of a Kindertransport child. It was first performed by the Soho Theatre Company at the Cockpit Theatre in London on April 13, 1993.
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