ABSTRACT
Kindertransport is one of those neat, German portmanteau words. It means a trainload of children. In the ten months between November 1938 and September 1939 it was a trainload of children being thrown out by Germany and accepted, with a few cautious reservations, by Great Britain. They came at a rate of one thousand children a month, nearly ten thousand in all. The Germans actually paid for the trains that removed these infant ‘Untermenschen ’ from the Fatherland. This chapter focuses on the Kindertransports at the receiving end in Britain. The Quakers, the Jewish community, the various churches, and in some towns the trades unions and Workers’ Clubs, set about establishing refugee committees in every large or medium-sized town in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and in Dublin. These committees raised funds, obtained offers of Hospitality, prepared hostels, appointed Inspectors who would visit each refugee once a month, and were ready to receive children.
