Memories of Kindertransport
St. John’s man recalls opening family home to displaced Jewish child
David Artiss still remembers the day nearly 80 years ago in the United Kingdom when a young Jewish boy from Germany suddenly came into their family.
Neat and well-dressed, the eight-year-old couldn’t speak a word of English.
“We were very curious because he was so different, not speaking our language and arriving with a number of toys which were beyond the reach of our family,” Artiss recalled. “I remember he had a model passenger ship with a motor and working propeller. I don’t know how he got that stuff through, as most of the children were searched and only allowed to bring clothing and basic items.”
He’d come from a rich Berlin family and brought with him nice clothes and expensive toys.
But Andreas Braun’s mother was Jewish. This was mere months before the start of the Second World War, and Nazi Germany had already begun its persecution of Jewish people.
On Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, the first major violent episode occurred, called the Kristallnacht, also known as the Night of Broken Glass. Nazi authorities initiated a pogrom – an organized massacre of an ethnic group – against Jews. The unprecedented wave of violence took place throughout Germany, in annexed Austria and areas of Czechoslovakia that were occupied by German troops. It resulted in the destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, synagogues and homes, and the roundup of thousands of Jewish men to be taken to concentration camps. Pressure from British Jewish groups – and other groups such as the Quakers – resulted in Great Britain and other countries agreeing to take in fleeing Jewish children. The rescue effort, known as Kindertransport, saw 10,000 Jewish children come to Britain alone. Many of them would lose their parents and relatives in concentration camps such as Auschwitz and Treblinka.
Artiss said when the call went out for families in the United Kingdom to take in a Jewish child, his parents – Thomas and Mary Artiss – did not hesitate.
“My parents were part of Kindertransport when they responded to a radio broadcast appeal to take in a Jewish child,” Artiss, 86, said from his home in St. John’s, N.L.
“My mother’s comment was, ‘I have four of my own children. What difference does having an extra child make?’”
Artiss had an older brother and two older sisters and they all welcomed Andreas into their Bournville home, which was on the outskirts of Birmingham, England. He fit in well and there were no problems.
“(Andreas) was a smart boy,” Artiss said. “It wasn’t long before
he was speaking good English. He also had brought with him a handful of German coins and he kept at my father to have them converted to English coins.”
One of the kids’ favourite activities around the streets near their home was collecting shrapnel.
Bombings had occurred in the city, as some Birmingham and area factories were manufacturing tanks, guns, grenades and other weaponry.
“There were anti- aircraft guns about three-quarters of a mile away,” he said. “Most of the shrapnel we hunted for came from the anti-aircraft guns, but there were other bits from German bombs that we collected.”
After what Artiss believed was a couple of years, a childless couple his parents knew offered to take Andreas in as their own child. He remained with them, eventually being adopted by them after the Second World War ended.
Artiss moved to Newfoundland and Labrador in 1965 to teach at Memorial University and has lived here since. He said the month of November – with Remembrance Day and the anniversary of Kindertransport – brings back the memories of those war years in England.
“I am trying to find out what happened to him, or if he is still alive,” Artiss said. “There were records kept and I’m attempting to get information. It would be very exciting if he is still alive and I’m able to contact him. He’d be 87 now. I’d like to know about his life. Did he marry? Did he have children? Where did he end up living?”
And, as if a sign, Artiss found something recently he didn’t think he had in his possession – a photo with Andreas in it.
“I’m very excited about that,” he said. “Looking at him in the photo, it’s just the way I remember him.”