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| English: Kindertransport monument at Liverpool Street Station. A project established by the Association of Jewish Refugees, it pays tribute to those Britons who aided the rescue of 10,000 Jewish children from the Nazi persecution which led onto the holocaust. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Breaking Israel News which offers news from Israel from an Orthodox Jewish perspective to both Jewish and Christian readers has an article on the new book concerning what happened after the Kristallnacht in November 1938.
Britain, the only willing host
country, began the Kindertransport, taking in over 10,000 Jewish
children from Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Germany. Conscientious
objectors and shunners of politics our faith group which the magazine falsely accuses to be "an obscure
Christian sect", were according to them "unlikely hosts". For us Christadelphians we have to have respect for the creatures of God and we do have to protect the weaker ones. Therefore is was very clear by the changing times we had to do something against the cruelty one group of people caused to an other group of human beings. In the face of the growing evil
that threatened the Jews, our faith-group found we could not let everything happen just like that; We had to undertake action.
Today we can look back at the secret and other work the Christadelphians have done during the war years. Not wanting to take up the arms, the Christadelphians as pacifists, used their hands and their love to contribute to the humanitarian actions.
It is known that their
participation in the Kindertransport saved 250 Jewish children from
almost certain death.
The book project came as a result of Jason Hensley’s visit last year to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC for a
national conference of educators. Hensley, M.Ed, a principal of a small private school in California, was so affected by what he
learned that he created a Holocaust course in his school. The message
from the conference that impressed him most deeply was the reminder that
the Holocaust is not about statistics, but about individuals.
Read
more at
The Lost Story of How One Christian Sect’s Biblical Beliefs Kept 250 Jewish Children Alive
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Part of the Family: Christadelphians, the Kindertransport, and Rescue from the Holocaust
In 1938 and 1939, the Kindertransport occurred––a movement to bring
thousands of Jewish children out of Nazi occupied territories to safety
in Great Britain. These children came without their parents, almost
always without a knowledge of English, and also little experience with
English culture. They came to a new family, a new country, and a new
life. Approximately 250 of these children were sponsored by
Christadelphians, a small Christian group.
They came and lived in houses
with Christadelphian families, or lived in hostels that the
Christadelphians had started. So often the Holocaust is considered in
terms of statistics––how many perished and how many were affected. Yet
it is often the individual stories that provide the most powerful human
connection and the opportunity to learn. Rather than focus on the
statistics, this series examines the experiences of these people, who
came to England as children, and lived with Christadelphians. Ten of
the former Jewish refugees, and their families, were contacted and
collaborated in this effort to bring about this first volume. These
are their stories.
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