Anniversary of the Kindertransport and the lesser-known American program

  • December 8, 2022
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The World Jewish Congress marked the 84th anniversary of the Kindertransport with this post:
“After the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, Jewish groups organized a secret rescue operation to get Jewish children of out of Nazi-occupied Europe. Because of immigration laws, their parents were unable to join them.
“The first group of children arrived in the UK in December 1938. It is estimated that up to 10,000 children were saved in the series of transports that became known as the ‘Kindertransport.’ Most of the children were never reunited with their parents.”
Few realize that there was an American program that was similar to the Kindertransport. Organized by Lutherans, Quakers, and Jewish groups, the “One Thousand Children” program used cruise ships to rescue ten children at a time, 100 a year, from 1934-1945. This program saved about 1,400 children; my mother was one of the One Thousand Children. I have told her story in my book, IS IT NIGHT OR DAY?.

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