Kindertransport Memory Quilts
Kindertransport Memory Quilts
As the German government intensified the anti-Jewish legislation that threatened the lives of Jews living in Nazi-occupied Europe, efforts to rescue them were initiated throughout the Western world. Only Great Britain responded, following Kristallnacht, by changing its immigration laws to allow children up to the age of 17 to enter the country. This change led to the Kindertransport, the mass evacuation of nearly 10,000 children in the nine months before the outbreak of war in Europe. It was made possible through the selfless efforts of many individuals, and the commitment of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations working on behalf of the families and children.
From December 1938 to September 1939, desperate Jewish parents in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia said goodbye as they watched their children board sealed railroad cars for the first leg of their journey out of harm’s way.
In 1988, Anita Grosz, the daughter of Kindertransport survivor Hanus Grosz, conceived of the idea of preserving the memories of the Kindertransport experience through the art of quilting. The “Kinder," now adults, created the squares for the quilts to share their experiences and release what often were long-repressed memories too difficult to verbalize.
The Kindertransport Memory Quilts were loaned to The Zekelman Holocaust Center by Kirsten Grosz and her family in memory of Hanus Grosz, the Kindertransport Association, the Kinder, and their brave parents.
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