German federal parliament president pays respects at Kindertransport memorial

The president of the German Bundestag (federal parliament) visited the Kindertransport (Children’s Transport) monument at Liverpool Street Station.

The visit coinciding with the 85th anniversary of the Kindertransport, Bärbel Bas, representing the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, placed a stone beside the famous memorial statue, in the presence of Kinder and their families.

Also in attendance were representatives from The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), World Jewish Relief, as well as Lord Eric Pickles, special envoy for post-Holocaust issues of the UK government.

The Kindertransport was a unique humanitarian rescue programme which ran between November 1938 and September 1939. Approximately 10,000 children, the majority of whom were Jewish, were sent from their homes and families in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to Great Britain.

AJR, the leading national charity exclusively delivering social, welfare and volunteer services to Jewish victims of Nazi oppression living in UK, arranged for Kinder including – Kurt Marx BEM, Susie Barnett BEM, Rolf Penzias, Ingeborg Hamilton and Dame Stephanie Shirley, to attend the London tribute.

President of the German Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, said: “We must never lose sight of the past, that is my firm conviction. When we talk about the future, we must be conscious of history. That is why it was so important to me, amidst the many current political discussions, to also come here during my visit to London in order to remember the persecution of the Jews by Nazi Germany, and at the same time to thank the UK for having saved more than 10,000 persecuted Jewish children from the prospect of being murdered. We remain indebted and immensely grateful to organisations such as the Association of Jewish Refugees and World Jewish Relief for the important contribution they continue to make today. I am deeply moved to stand at the Kindertransport memorial with some of the children who were rescued 85 years ago, to talk with them, and to remember what happened to them.”

Kurt Marx, one of the Kinder who arrived in the UK, via Kindertransport, from Cologne, Germany in 1939 said: “It seems incredible that I’m standing here, alongside the President of the German Bundestag, 85-years after being forced to flee my home, to seek refuge in Great Britain. In a climate of rising Holocaust distortion, it is so important that the first generation stand alongside today’s German Government to remember the atrocities of Nazi genocide”.

Michael Newman, CEO, The Association of Jewish Refugees said: “As the national organisation representing and supporting Holocaust refugees and survivors, we are immensely grateful to President Bas for including this visit in her itinerary. It is an important symbol of reconciliation and helps strengthen links today between The AJR, the former refugees and Germany.”

For more information about Association of Jewish Refugees visit ajr.org.uk