| Description | 10, 000 children, the majority of whom were Jewish, were brought to Britain from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland to escape persecution by the Nazis between 1 December 1938 and 1 September 1939. What came to be known as the Kindertransport was the result of the combined efforts of Jewish and Quaker organisations in successfully persuading the British government, in the days after Kristallnacht in November 1938, to ease its immigration restrictions for refugee children. The children were permitted to enter Britain on temporary visas without their parents if a guarantee of £50 per child were provided to cover the costs of care, education and re-emigration from Britain once the war was over. If the children were over 14, they were to be found work in agriculture or domestic service. The first group of children arrived at Harwich on 2 December 1938 and was accommodated at Dovercourt Camp for Refugee Children until suitable accommodation could be arranged with a host family or in a hostel.
Led by Bertha Bracey, Secretary of the Friends Germany Emergency Committee (later Friends Committee on Refugees and Aliens) in London, the Religious Society of Friends, working with Jewish and other Christian organisations, was involved in all aspects of the Kindertransport. In Birmingham on 13 December 1938, the Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends agreed that a Refugees and Aliens Emergency Committee should be set up locally to coordinate relief work for Jewish refugees. Friends involved with the Committee included Christopher B Taylor, Harold Watts, Horace G. Alexander, Evelyn Sturge, M. Christabel Cadbury, G. Dean Oyston, Arthur Marsden, Florence Barrow, Edwin Ransome, George Cadbury, Josephine Hoyland, John S. Hoyland, Constance I. Smith, Mary L. Wilson and others.
The Committee worked with the Friends Germany Emergency Committee and the Birmingham Council for Refugees. Some of its objectives included setting up a clearing house for children from Dovercourt Camp and for other refugees, finding homes for refugees, seeking agricultural and industrial training, raising money to support relief work, and helping Friends House, London by undertaking some of the advisory work it carried out.
By 10 January 1939, the Committee had already been offered the use of Allendale Cottage, Wast Hills by William and Emiline Cadbury which was to be used to accommodate 6 refugee children prior to finding them more permanent housing. An advice bureau was set up at the Library in Bull Street Meeting House and each Thursday 8 volunteer Friends and 6 volunteer refugees provided advice both for refugees in need of aid, and for Friends wanting to offer their services in the relief effort. It helped refugees with obtaining visas for relatives, supported cases for emigration, obtained guarantees and found offers of hospitality, housing, employment and training.
Initially, the Committee found their work was hindered by foreign and UK regulations regarding refugees and they struggled to find enough housing for the numbers of refugees arriving. Despite this, by May 1939, six Preparative Meetings, including Cotteridge, Hall Green, Northfield, Rugby and George Road were responsible for 12 refugees, and 15 were being supported by individual Friends. By June 1939, the committee reported that 54 children were being helped, of whom 21 had been found homes, 10 £50 guarantees and 40 offers of domestic vacancies and work for several young men had been received. In addition, a hostel at Windmill Cottage was provided by Elizabeth M. Cadbury which had 8 or 9 young children living in it and three other hostels were also providing accommodation for a number of young people.
One of these other hostels was at Oakley, near Bromsgrove, where, under the Avoncroft College Refugees Scheme, 28 Czech, German and Austrian refugees were trained in agriculture with the hope that after a year’s training they would be able to emigrate and another scheme offered training in carpentry. Another hostel in Maple Road, Bournville, offered to the Committee by George Cadbury, housed young trainees working in Birmingham, and there was also a hostel at Offenham.
A group in south Birmingham arranged social gatherings for refugees in the area, which took place at Fircroft College on a regular basis. In addition, the group provided classes for learning English and there was also a young people’s club set up at the Beeches in Bournville. A Czech Committee was responsible for 25 Czech boys and girls aged 7-18 who were attending school in Birmingham and by the end of the year, 5 of these had emigrated to Canada and 4 had moved to schools outside Birmingham.
In July 1939, Bull Street Preparative Meeting suggested that a group of Friends should approach local MPs to request for more urgent action to help refugees and this was followed up by a meeting with representatives from the Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting, together with Bertha Bracey of the Friends Germany Emergency Committee, and 7 MPs at the House of Commons on 13 July 1939.
From the outbreak of war in September 1939, the plight of the refugees worsened, as they were sent before tribunals where it was decided whether or not they were ‘enemy aliens’ and needed to be interned or have restrictions on the type of work they could do and where they could travel. One of the members of the Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting Refugee and Aliens Emergency Committee acted as a liaison officer for Birmingham refugees in these cases. By the end of 1939, it was estimated that there were between 1018 and 1028 refugees in Birmingham, of which 200 were children.
The Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting Refugee and Aliens Emergency Committee continued to help the children in hostels in practical ways, by obtaining funding for maintenance, supporting them through school and into work, and generally staying in touch with them where possible. Some of the refugees were found positions at Upwood Children's Home (see SF/2/1/1/20) run by the Friends Relief Service and Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting. In 1941, the Committee opened a hostel in Sutton Coldfield to cater for elderly refugees and those refugees who had become homeless due to air raids in Birmingham. The hostel also provided holiday stays for refugees working as domestic helps who needed a break. Another hostel was also opened in Sir Harry's Road.
Another aspect of the Committee's work was to keep the plight of refugees both in Europe and in the UK in the public awareness by attending conferences and representing the Committee at meetings of other refugee organisations. It wrote letters to members of Parliament and published articles regarding the conditions of the internment camps, calling for internees to be given employment and the widening of categories of internees who could be released. It continued to call for help for refugees who were being persecuted in Europe.
From August 1942, meetings became more and more infrequent and by June 1944, although there were no more meetings held after this date, it was felt that the Committee should remain in existence rather than be laid down, in case futher need for similar work arose. The rescue and relief work undertaken by the Friends and other groups as part of the Kindertransport saved around 10, 000 children from persecution by the Nazis. Though many were helped, of the 6 million Jews who died in the concentration camps, about 1.5 million were children. |