大象传媒

A group of pupils from Rothesay Academy, Isle of Bute, Kerr Slaven, David Hanschell, Graham Crawford, and Scott Hatton interviewed local lady Eva Shrewsbury from Tighnabruich Argyll who came to Britain as 'Kindertransport' from Germany in 1939.

Eva's story 'I was born in Frankfurt Germany and came to Britain aged 8 in 1939 with my 2 year old brother Michael in a group of 70 Kindertransport travelling to The Hague by train and then by boat to Britain. I was 8 years old and was responsible for my 2 year old brother Michael so you can imagine how upsetting it was for my parents sending their children off into the unknown knowing they might never see them again. It took some time to get Kindertransport. You needed to know someone and the 拢50 you had to pay was a lot of money then. You also needed to find sponsors in Britain who were prepared to take you. There were 2 adults who had travelled with the 70 children in our group to Britain but when we arrived they had no visas and were turned back to an almost certain fate. My parents had tried to get us a visa to the USA and New Zealand where we had relations but it was impossible by this time in 1939.
The Kindertransport started up after Kristallnacht in 1938 and my brother and I left Germany on 5th June 1939 arriving on 7th June in Britain. I had been so concentrated on looking after my young 2 year old brother that I didn't have time to be upset. However when we were separated on the ferry into girls and boys cabins I cried for the first time and was very seasick.
My parents had been very integrated into German life and had thought they were safe. However one day my father did not come home. The Gestapo used to drive around standing on the running board of the car and if they spotted anyone who looked jewish they jumped off asked them their name and if they were jewish they were immediately taken away. This is what happened to my father. Our name was Goldschmidt, a very jewish name. You can imagine how my mother felt when he didn't come home not knowing where he was or what had happened to him.
My father was taken to Buchenwald which was a camp where jews were taken to humiliate them and encourage them to leave Germany. I recently made a very emotional trip with my brother Michael to Buchenwald where my Grandfather died. My father survived and escaped to Britain on the 31st July 1939. My mother escaped through Belgium at the outbreak of war on 1st September 1939. I was one of the lucky ones very few of the Kindertransport ever saw their parents again or if they did sadly after 6 or so of the most formative years of a child's life, they were complete strangers speaking a different language.
Most of the jewish people taken to Buchenwald were intellectuals and they were put to work buiding what became known as 'Blood Road' quarrying stone with their bare hands.
My own memories of school were not bad ones I don't remember receiving any abuse but at the age of six my primary school was closed to jewish children. First they closed the Universities to jewish students then the secondary schools then the primaries. I was fortunate in that my Uncle Hugo Rosenthal who had a lot of influence opened a boarding school for jewish children where I went until I was 8. It was finally closed in 1939 which was very unusual as most facilities for jewish people ceased after Kristallnacht in 1938. In fact jewish people lost all rights. My mother lost her flat as another family decided they would like to live their and simply told her to get out. She could not refuse.
Even for ordinary Germans it was very difficult to withstand however strongly you felt when everybody around is behaving in a particular way. It was dangerous not to go along with it. One German friend Karl noe a Headteacher remembers his father who was a brownshirt wanting to go out on Kristallnacht and attack jewish shops and synagogues and being locked in the house by his father, Karl's grandfather. This was a very dangerous thing to do as children were encouraged to denounce their parents.
I was very lucky when I came to Britain. My Auntie and Uncle as I called them were very kind and looked after me and helped my parents when they came to britain even though they had only been married 2 years and had a 3 month old baby. Their son Richard is still like a brother to me today.'
Eva Shrewsbury

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