Monday 17 October 2011

Lori Greschler’s "The 10,000 Children Hitler Missed"



This little volume contains yet more accounts of those who survived because of the Kindertransport. Greschler has retained the typos and spelling and grammatical mistakes of the writers. I actually think this makes the narrators seem rather vulnerable.
Not every child rescued by the Kindertransport had a good time. Some were homesick despite the kindness and some did not receive kindness. I do wonder whether we have to look carefully at which Kinder actually remember these experiences and which ones decide to talk about them. There is one account of almost complete amnesia about this. My mother-in-law reported something similar.
There are many stories not told.
There are two diary extracts in this text. These are always useful. They give a more immediate connection with this past.   
There is a useful timeline at the end of the book, though it is not all that detailed.  
Despite its faults, this is a useful book.  

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