Kindertransports from Chemnitz

The Kindertransporte were one of the largest evacuation and rescue operations in history. Between 1938 and 1940, 10,000 children and young people from Germany and Austria, and a smaller number from occupied Czechoslovakia and Poland, were able to flee to Great Britain. Around 5,000 children were taken in by Sweden, France, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland or the Netherlands. Around 50 children were rescued from Chemnitz.

Long celebrated as a success story, the Kindertransporte are now viewed in a more nuanced light. In the wake of the November pogroms of 1938, civil society organisations initiated programmes to take in and care for Jewish children or those persecuted as Jews. However, the host countries only permitted entry once a guarantee had been provided. Furthermore, considerations of utility and their own needs played a role in the selection of children: Young girls were easier to place with foster families than teenage boys. Psychological trauma or physical disabilities usually meant that children were not saved. It was almost impossible for parents to join them, and many children never saw their families again.

The exhibition, created in collaboration with students from Chemnitz University of Technology, presents examples of the life stories of children who, mostly on their own, set out on their journey from Chemnitz.