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Book launch with author Andrea Hammel
Discussion leader: Lukas Geck
Location: Exilmuseum, Fasanenstr. 24, 10719 Berlin
Free admission
Registration at veranstaltungen@exilmuseum.berlin
This event will be held in German

In 1938 und 1939, over 10,000 children and young people fled Nazi persecution to the United Kingdom. For a long time, this evacuation was celebrated as a humanitarian rescue mission, but unpleasant truths lurk behind many of the stories of those saved.
The British government freed the mostly Jewish refugees from the Kindertransporte from visa requirements, but volunteers were needed to organize and finance the evacuation. The British government demanded a guarantee that all costs would be covered and refused to accept the parents of the refugee children. When selecting the children, preference was given to those who would potentially benefit British society most, not the most urgent cases. Several children and young people were left in unsuitable foster care, leading to additional trauma.

Andrea Hammel’s expert analysis, written with impressive empathy and insight, casts a new light on the actual events during the Kindertransporte and in the years afterward. This informative and passionate book is essential reading for all those interested in the history of flight from Nazi Germany and offers inspiration for how we can ease conditions for refugee children forced to flee conflicts today.

Author Andrea Hammel is professor for German and director of the Centre for the Movement of People at Aberystwyth University in Wales. Her book was originally published in English in 2024 and is now appearing in a German translation.

Andrea Hammel: Die schwierige Geschichte der Kindertransporte 1938/39 nach Großbritannien
Published by hentrich&hentrich
ISBN 978-3-95565-760-4