The Kindertransport

The sound of the train’s wheels chugging across the tracks had long become monotonous. Looking out the window I saw trees quickly passing by; I only had a small sealed suitcase with a few marks in money and a photograph. In the picture was the last family portrait my family took before I had to leave Poland. There were about 200 other children on the train headed to England. We all left our beloved home country to escape the danger that might lie ahead. My parents told me that it would only be until the end of summer, like boarding school, and I would be back in no time.

We arrived in Harwich, a major trading port in England, on December 2, 1938, just three weeks after Kristallnacht. As we were waiting to switch trains, I remember thinking back to that dreadful night. The news spread like wildfire. As soon as my parents heard about what happened in Germany they knew it would not be long until it erupted into a war. Within the next week arrangements were made to transport me to England as an asylum.

We were dropped off at Liverpool Street Station in London on a bright sunny afternoon, wearing our numbers so the volunteer families could find the children they were assigned to. After about 30 minutes of people bustling around and gathering children, I was left with 11 other children unclaimed. I recall thinking why me? Why do I have to go through this? A woman, by the name of Mary, herded us into a school where we were told to stay until some families could be found. A few days went by and finally a family came and took a little boy, Noah, and me back to their house. The young couple introduced themselves as Sam and Olivia Murphy. Their house was small, but sufficient, and had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a livin...

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...mart enough by himself,” I answered. “His turtle friends were sad when they saw Logan but they said they wanted one thing to be remembered from him. For little boys and girls that do not listen to their families to start listening because Logan did not listen and he ended up paying for it.”

Noah sat there for a few moments processing the story then he got up, hugged me, and went and apologized to Sam and Olivia. He still had some stubborn flashes but he got better and we had begun to share a sibling-like relationship.

After the end of the war it went unspoken that our parents did not survive. I, for a while, did not know what was going to become of Noah and me. The Murphys told us to get ready to go outside and that they had a surprise for us. Over that night’s ice cream Sam and Olivia explained to us that we were going to be formally adopted into their family.