Learn About the Heroic Rescue Effort that Saved Thousands of Children During the Holocaust
09 Mayo 2024 - 10:30AM
As the situation worsened in Nazi Germany, parents were faced with
a difficult decision: send their children alone to a foreign land
in the hopes of finding a better life or keep their family together
while facing increasing repression. In just nine months, thousands
of unaccompanied Jewish children under the age of 17 were sent from
Nazi-occupied Europe to safety in the United Kingdom.
Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of
War, opening at Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education
Center on May 19, showcases this astonishing rescue effort through
personal artifacts, stories, and firsthand testimony. The
exhibition will run through November 17, 2024.
“I received a ticket for the Kindertransport on my tenth
birthday and left Germany a week later,” says Holocaust Survivor
Ernie Heimann. “It assured my place with the 10,000 children who
were rescued from Nazi-occupied Europe instead of among the
one-in-a-half million children who were murdered in the
Holocaust.”
Created and organized by Yeshiva University Museum and the Leo
Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin, the exhibition is arranged
into eight sections, beginning in the days and months following
Kristallnacht when Europe’s Jewish population could no longer deny
the threat of Nazism. The Kindertransport is brought to life by
presenting objects that the children brought with them to the
United Kingdom; a map detailing the transport routes; letters
between parents and children; audio testimonies by survivors; and
quotes charting the heart-wrenching decisions parents made in
sending their children away to safety. The Museum will expand the
exhibition to feature local stories of those saved by
the Kindertransport.
“Illinois Holocaust Museum is excited to share this lesser-known
story of bravery and resilience,” says CEO Bernard Cherkasov. “As
part of our mission, we look to share the full scope of what
happened during the Holocaust, including the trials, tragedies, and
survival of the children saved by the Kindertransport. While
the majority of their parents were murdered in the Holocaust, it
was thanks to passionate upstanders that these children were able
to survive.”
Details about the exhibition are available here.
The exhibition was made possible by the generous support of the
Azrieli Foundation, the David Berg Foundation, the Koret
Foundation, the Gruss Hirsch Family Foundation, and by Anonymous.
Additional support was provided by the Wolfensohn Family
Foundation, Robert M. Kaufman, Temple Sholom of Scotch Plains (NJ),
and by patrons and friends of Yeshiva University Museum and
the Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin.
Illinois Holocaust Museum’s presentation of Kindertransport
– Rescuing Children on the Brink of War is made possible with
generous support from:
Supporters:Abe & Ida Cooper FoundationWomen's Board
of Illinois Holocaust Museum
Contributors:Rubens Family FoundationFlorence and
Laurence Spungen Family Foundation
Additional Funders: Mark and Lisa PinskyGolder Family
Foundation
About Illinois Holocaust MuseumIllinois
Holocaust Museum & Education Center honors the Survivors and
victims of the Holocaust and transforms history into current,
relevant, and universal lessons in humanity. Through world-class
exhibitions and programs, the Museum inspires individuals and
organizations to remember the past and transform the future. The
Museum is open Wednesday through Monday from 10:00 a.m. through
5:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.ilholocaustmuseum.org or
call 847-967-4800.
- Children from a Kindertransport
Sierra Wolff
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center
847-967-4835
sierra.wolff@ilhmec.org