A Personal Reflection

June 29, 2018

To end off the Guest Blogs we have a lovely reflection form a volunteer. Interestingly I spoke , last week, to a man in New York whose father came to Gloucester in 1939 on the Kinder transport.

My mother and her two sisters were sent to the UK in 1938 aged nine, eight and five. They were sent from Germany by their Catholic mother who had a Jewish father, as she knew they were in danger under Hitler’s rule. They came via Holland where they had been living with their mother. A Catholic/Jewish charity sponsored their visas to the UK. They were sent to various Catholic boarding schools in Scotland and England and were told that they must say they were Dutch and not German and they lost their mother tongue as a result. My mother has vivid memories of lying in bed at night crying for her mother. 

Later, when my mother was about 15, she and her sisters were taken under the wing of a wonderful couple from Liverpool, who became their guardians and gave them a taste of a warm and comfortable home life. The couple, who were childless, were both professors at Liverpool University and encouraged my mother and sisters in their higher education achievements.

My mother has now lived in the UK for 80 years (30 years in Gloucestershire) and I am forever grateful for the generosity and welcome of the people and government of the UK. And this is why I am proud to support the work of GARAS.

All the best 

Clare John (the Curtain maker!)