How was the rescue of 10,000 mainly Jewish children from Nazi-controlled lands carried out? What were the mechanics of rescue and how did British government policy encourage or hinder the escape of Germany’s persecuted minority? How was a large-scale voluntary effort to care for the children once in Britain, created and sustained? Mike Levy explores the mostly forgotten role of Kindertransport rescuers and the landscape of care that was quickly established in the host country.
Mike Levy is a professional researcher, educator, critic, playwright and journalist. He holds a fellowship in Holocaust education from the Imperial War Museum in London and is a frequent educator for the Lessons from Auschwitz programme run by the Holocaust Education Trust. In 2012 he was awarded the In Memoria medal by the Polish government for his history play ‘The Invisible Army’. Mike is an oral historian currently working freelance with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and a researcher for the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation. He is also engaged by the Association for Jewish Refugees on a project to map the impact of the Holocaust on Britain. He is chair of the Harwich Kindertransport Memorial appeal seeking to create a new sculpture in the port where most of the refugee children had a first sight of freedom. Mike’s book, GET THE CHILDREN OUT! – Unsung Heroes of the Kindertransport was published by Lemon Soul in February this year.
Edinburgh Jewish Literary Society 