Respect for all: The Kindertransport (Britain since the 1930s)

This activity was used with children in key stage 2, year 6.

Aim

• To understand the impact of Nazi policies on the Jewish population of Germany and Austria through a case study of the Kindertransport (the evacuation of Jewish children to Great Britain to escape Nazi persecution) and Britain's role in saving children.

Activity objectives

• To put the Blitz, rationing and evacuation into the context of the wider world.
• To learn about the story of the Kindertransport and empathise with the children who were forced to leave home.

This activity relates to the scheme of work unit 9 'What was it like for children in the Second World War?'

Activity description

The enquiry was designed to last three weeks and after completing it the class went on to study another aspect of the Second World War.

Session 1

In the first session the teacher asked the children if they knew anyone older than 70. This led to a discussion about people who would have been children or young people in the 1930s and ideas about what life would have been like for them. The teacher used the discussion to develop chronological awareness and understanding of similarity and difference, change and continuity.

Using a large Peters-projection map of the world, the teacher gave brief information about the German invasions of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Referring to A Candle in the Dark by Adèle Geras (which had been read in story time) the children were able to say that the Nazis particularly disliked Jewish people. The teacher used the word 'persecute' and talked to the children about what it meant. She contextualised the Kindertransport in the longer history of Nazi persecution, going back to 1933, and particularly, Kristallnacht (the night of the nationwide Nazi pogrom against the Jews in Germany and Austria) on 9 November 1938. Several children were able to explain what had happened on Kristallnacht. She then told the children about the plan to save Jewish children, and gave some information about the people who sponsored children.

In small groups, the children found out what happened and how the children might have felt. Each group was given a small pack of pictures of children leaving Germany and arriving in Britain, as well as testimonies and poems. They prepared a freeze-frame tableau to show emotions as well as 'what happened'. The teacher circulated round the groups and clarified some misunderstandings (eg 'why didn't they just run and run until they got away from Hitler?').

Session 2

In the next session the children developed three tableaux showing the sequence of events they had found out about, shared these with each other and critiqued each other's work. The teacher invited them to take the packs home and said that in the following session they would be doing some writing, and would watch a video.

Session 3

In the third session, the children watched the video Passover: a taste of freedom, in which Kindertransport survivors in Britain talk about their memories. Back in the classroom, in the role of refugees on the Kindertransport, the children wrote a letter home to their parents about their experience so far in England.

Session 4

The fourth session was devoted to oral history. A survivor of the Kindertransport, Otto Plaschke, had agreed to come and talk to the children. The children prepared questions for the interview. The teacher had suggested that they could ask questions about life in Germany and leaving Germany, the journey to Britain and arriving in Britain, and his experience when he had settled with foster parents. The teacher was aware that the memories could be sensitive even after 60 years, so she helped the children consider Otto's possible feelings about this history, as well as helping them develop open-ended questions. For example, children discussed why it might be insensitive to ask about Otto's parents.

After the interview, the children discussed Otto's story, and considered whether more children should have been allowed into Britain.

Commentary

This enquiry extended the children's existing knowledge about persecution of the Jews in Germany. The role play, letters and interview were designed to help them think about what it was like to be a political refugee who could not go home safely and who had to adapt to a very different culture. The teacher noted that both their letters home and the discussion before Otto's visit showed that many of the children were making links with contemporary events.

Through reading some of the testimonies, the children thought about the sacrifice of the parents who had had to say goodbye, the children who were left behind and those who did not survive.The enquiry also focused on the perspectives and attitudes of the people who sponsored and gave homes to the children.The children were able to see that history is not 'one story' but needs to embody the perspectives of the different people involved.

The policies of the Kindertransport programme were not examined in detail. However, the children had the opportunity to explore issues around personal as well as government responses and responsibilities. (This enquiry has links to citizenship, in that it promotes respect for difference and empathy with the situations of refugees.)

Resources

Geras, A, A Candle in the Dark, A and C Black, 1995

London, L, Whitehall and the Jews, 1933-48, Cambridge University Press, 2000

Leverton, B and Lowensohn, S (eds), I Came Alone: The Story of the Kindertransports, Book Guild, 1990

Passover: A Taste of Freedom, produced by J Fulford

The history schemes of work can be found at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes
The online national curriculum can be found at www.nc.uk.net

History introduction

All subjects and activities

Respect for all introduction

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