Former Kindertransport refugees get royal reception
The Prince of Wales listened to the stories of Kinder at a special reception this week
IT WAS five o’clock in the morning on a day in mid-1945 when the phone rang, waking up Herman Rothman.
“I was told to come to the office immediately — they couldn’t tell me on the telephone what it was all about.”
Six years previously, as a 15-year-old, he had been among the Jewish children rescued from Europe via the Kindertransport. With good German and English, he had later joined the British Army’s 3rd Counter-Intelligence section.
He had no idea what he was about to see. “In the office I found a document, which was Hitler’s will. And I opened it up and gave the gist of it in English.”
British soldiers had arrested Heinz Lorenz, the former press secretary to Joseph Goebbels, while travelling in Berlin under an alias as a journalist. They had noticed that the shoulder pad of his jacket was unusually thick. When the jacket was cut open, a document had been discovered.
The young Jewish man would help translate both Hitler’s personal and political wills, “as well as Goebbel’s addition to Hitler’s will”.
Mr Rothman was one of around 70 Kindertransport survivors who attended a special reception at St James’s Palace on Tuesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the initiative which saved hundreds of young Jewish children. He got the chance to tell the story to Prince Charles, who hosted the reception. The Prince, who listened with great interest, remarked:
“I didn’t think he [Hitler] had anyone to leave anything to.”
The Prince individually greeted all the former Kindertransport children, now in their 80s and 90s, in person.
Mrs Eva Glickman, one of the survivors, described herself as “so impressed that he takes an interest in this group”.
She described how, as a 15-year-old, she had sailed to Britain as part of the Kindertransport, and described her first encounter with English food.
“When the menu came around, the dishes were in English. What is ‘cornflakes’? I had learnt about corned beef in school, and so I said ‘it must be a kind of sausage’. When it came in a bowl I realised it was not a sausage!.”
Dr Elizabeth Rosenthal described how, from Kristallnacht in November 1938 until February 1939, when she left on the kindertransport, she had been hidden in the basement of a house Berlin by a German family.
“My mother was also saved by Germans,” she said. “One of them was later killed by the Nazis for his part in the [Von Stauffenberg] plot to kill Hitler.
“His daughter landed up in a mental hospital — because her father was murdered. My mother and I went to visit her every year, as long as my mother could travel. There were some very good people, who saved lives.”
The Chief Rabbi, who was also present, described himself as “exceptionally moved.
“The Prince of Wales has on many occasions reached out to Holocaust survivors. He has genuine empathy and deep concern; he’s showing that right now through the time he is spending in engaging in conversation with them — it’s hugely appreciated.”
For at least some of the “kinder”, this could have been the last major anniversary of their rescue they were able to commemorate.
Some of those present had fascinating personal stories to tell, but others did not. They did not need them. The fact that they had been rescued and allowed to live their lives, exciting or otherwise, was enough.
Edith Jakobovits fell into that latter category. “You don’t really want to know about me,” she said. “I know some of the people here are much better than I ever was.”
But she then talked about her life — “I was a nurse”. She mentioned her younger brother, who came with her on the Kindertransport: “I made sure he got a very good education. He was a professor at the University in Liverpool.”
Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees, said: “Members were thrilled to be invited to St James’s Palace for a reception hosted by the heir to the throne of the country that gave them refugee 80 years ago.”
The Prince has genuine empathy and deep concern