The history of the Kindertransport has been centred on the children who came rather than on how children and their parents experienced the intense persecution in their countries of origin, and then how it came about that of the children registered only a small proportion were admitted to the UK. That focus on successful departures sidesteps the key issue of why many children could not come, the processes of selection, and how the Jewish welfare organizations under Nazi rule interacted with those in London. Although the papers of the Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden (Reich Board of Deputies of the German Jews) on the Kindertransport are deemed destroyed, there are extensive papers on sending unaccompanied children from the Jugendfürsorge-Abteilung (Child Welfare Department) of the Israelitisches Kultusgemeinde (IKG, the Jewish Community) in Vienna. These papers provide details of children registered with the IKG, raising questions as to how it came about that an unknown proportion of children registered with the IKG managed to arrive in the UK. As a memorandum noted, there were in pre-Anschluss Vienna 6,900 Jewish children up to 6 years old, 7,600 between 6 and 14 years, and 4,500 children between 14 and 16 years.
Weindling, Paul
Department of History, Philosophy and Culture
Year of publication: 2020Date of RADAR deposit: 2021-06-28