Wednesday, 27 July 2011

The Blackout, more Kindertransport, flowers, passports and Steiner education

A varied day’s work. I’ve been reading up a bit on the Blackout – and how it caused many accidents. It was later “dumbed” down and became the dim-out. Reading up on that did emphasise how sure people were that we would soon be at war. It actually started on the 1 September. That was also the day that many schools were evacuated.
I’ve revisited the Kindertransport. This time I was lead to many of the mentions of how the Quakers had helped and now at last I’m beginning to read some reports of how well the Jewish children managed to fit into the English homes. There was another type of exclusion as well. Many “Mischlinge” – like my mother-in-law, were excluded by very orthodox Jews they travelled with. There was much recognition that the host families were very kind but there is also a remaining sense of unease. My mother-in-law did not talk much of her foster family, though she did say that they were kind. She was separated from this family when her school was evacuated to Minehead.
I’ve not had so much luck with the autumn cut flowers – I guess they’re just going to have to be some sort of large daisy- type thing. I may have to revise that whole scene anyway because I possibly have the time of the school evacuation wrong.
I’ve had a good look at some German Jewish passports. I’ve registered on a Jewish genealogy site – but so far found nothing. I’m keeping an eye open for information about Clara Lehrs also.
I’ve just also started an investigation into Steiner education. This is going to be so important for some of the school scenes and also later if I do decide to continue with work on Clara Lehrs.

No comments:

Post a Comment