Testimony is one of the most important resources we have for learning about the Kindertransport. In this blog I want to argue that seeing testimony in relation to newly discovered archival material enhances our understanding of testimony and at the same time the testimony helps us to contextualise the archival findings.

On 18th March 2026, for Women’s History Month, the USC Shoah Foundation posted a clip on their social media of Emma Mogilensky’s testimony about how she discovered two infants in a basket on her Kindertransport. She spoke very movingly about their mother’s sacrifice as well as how she cared for the babies throughout the journey. The video (found here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zeRCti-ZgRY and here is the longer version of her testimony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpQmaEcIDM8) was watched by thousands and thousands of people. Most of those who commented wanted to know who the babies were and what happened to them.

The twins, according to the Kindertransport list, were Susi and Lotte Bechhoefer. Their story is known in the UK and has featured in several books and exhibitions. The twins were fostered by a Baptist minister and his wife in Wales. Lotte was later diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away at the young age of 35 in 1971. The twins were told that they were their foster parents’ biological children, their names were anglicised and they were raised in the Christian faith. Parts of her story were later used by W.G. Sebald in his novel “Austerlitz”. If you read Susi’s own book you will discover how tragic and complex her experience was. I’m sure that many of those who watched Emma’s testimony would not have known the heartbreaking story of Susi and Lotte because Emma did not know their........

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