The Last Goodbye: Separating to Save Their Children

Two Jewish children from Vienna after arriving in England on a Kindertransport. December 12, 1938. —The Wiener Holocaust Library

They dressed their children — some just babies — in their best clothing, lovingly packed toys and family photos, and prepared to say goodbye — maybe forever.

Eighty-five years ago, thousands of Jewish mothers and fathers saw the escalating violence and discrimination against Jews in Nazi Germany and made an almost inconceivable decision. Though they wanted to hold their children closer, they sent them away instead. Strangers in Great Britain took many of these children into their homes. About 10,000 were saved from the Nazi threat through a rescue mission known as the Kindertransport. Many of their parents were murdered in the Holocaust.

Watch this digital program to learn more about how the Kindertransport saved these children’s lives.

The Last Goodbye: Separating to Save Their Children