Despite the Kinder’s own diverse experiences being more widely known in the UK and the fact that some of the Kinder’s voices have even been heard in parliament, and although scholars are continuously dispelling myths about the Kindertransport, some politicians often still paint a rosy picture of the Kindertransport, particularly under the influence of their views about the current refugee crisis. The Kinder were not privileged refugees who were afforded full governmental funding upon arrival; rather, they were viewed as transmigrants who would not remain in the UK. The ignorance around the history of the Kindertransport seems to be conditioned by the UK’s long-standing self-congratulatory narrative of rescue, welcome, and adaptation. Over 80 years on, it is important to leave assumptions at the door and follow the historical record.

The Hansard on 21st November 1938 states that the Prime Minister of Holland “was prepared to give a temporary refuge to children and trans-migrants of this kind, provided there was a hope of [the UK] receiving them”. On 24th November 1938, we read that Jewish refugee children will be “permitted to remain in this country for purely educational or training purposes until they have completed their education or training, on condition that they are not placed in ordinary employment”. After Kristallnacht, the Kinder came to the UK essentially as schoolchildren, as did those children who came over from Nazi Germany before them between 1936 and 1938. Their numbers are retrospectively included in the Kindertransport number by the refugee committee in July 1939.

On 8th December 1938, the Home Secretary was asked whether the UK could “eventually [take in] 50,000 Jewish children”. Later that month on 21st December 1938 the Secretary of State for the Colonies was asked about whether 10,000 Jewish refugee children could be sent to British Mandate Palestine. Today we rightfully commend ourselves for rescuing the Kinder from the horrors of 1938 and later the Holocaust, but despite the more critical scholarship, there is still a tendency to not fully reflect upon the shortcomings of the Kindertransport. Do we understand that the Kindertransports to the UK were interlinked with the rescue of Jewish children to British Mandate Palestine? This matters because the Kindertransport did not happen in a vacuum, and the policies around the Kindertransport impacted and connected with other rescue........

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