Finished? Not without Molly the kitten

Yes, I think I’ve finished.  I’ve completed all edits, even the copy edit and the read out loud edit.  Very last minute I’ve put another tiny sub-plot in. A story about a kitten. Traumatised Kindertransport children often found it easier to relate to animals than to other humans, no matter how much kindness was shown. In fact, kindness by others often made them feel guilty. They felt unworthy, partly because they had been labelled as a disgrace by the Nuremberg laws and partly because they felt guilty as they were surviving whilst other friends and relations were not.

It was particularly difficult for Mischling children such as Renate, who felt neither as if they were German nor English and neither were they properly Jewish like the other Kinder.

Molly the kitten has to be bottle fed. She is the daughter of one of the two farm cats who gave birth within a few days of each other. Most of the other kittens feed from either mother without hesitation. Molly seems unable to decide which cat should feed her and is ultimately rejected by both mothers. She becomes attached to Renate who looks after her. Molly eventually goes to live in London with Renate after she has left school. She is initially as confused about her identity as Renate is. But she thrives because she is loved.

I’ve found out very recently that Renate adopted a cat while she was evacuated with the school. She took it everywhere with her, often hidden inside her jacket. It seemed like a thread that needed to be woven into the story. The word count has gone up now by a couple of thousand.     

                  

Ruth Barnett "Person of No Nationality"

Ruth came to England in 1939 with her older brother Martin. Her father was a Jew and her mother was German. She had a slightly different experience form our own Renate Edler, whose mother was a Jew and whose father was German, but there are many parallels.

Like Renate, she didn’t know whether she was German, Jewish or English. Renate had most problems with her Jewishness but perhaps Ruth had more problems with being German: she was very young when she first left Germany. Both girls forgot their German.

The uncertainty about identity caused both girls to become depressed. Both girls ended up sleeping for a long time when they finally gave into their tiredness.

Amusingly Ruth had the opposite problem from Renate when it came to beds: the German bed with its bed roll and square pillows puzzled Ruth when she went back to Germany for the first time. Renate was puzzled by the sheets, blankets eiderdown and bedspread when she first arrived in London.

Ruth’s story shows that though the Kindertransport was well-intentioned and though it did save many lives, it did not supply a happy-ever-after ending. Both girls had three different foster homes. Ruth had some bad experiences in her first foster home. Renate was well-treated everywhere. Both girls found their parents alive again. So in many ways they were more fortunate than some of the other Kinder.

The worst for both of them was the feeling of not belonging anywhere. Renate had her serendipitous German passport but returned to Germany in 1947 as a British citizen with a British passport. Ruth had to travel as a “Person of No Nationality”. But both girls suffered from confusion about whether they were English, German or Jewish and therefore lacked an identity.

The question is, is this resolved for Renate?

Ah, well, you will just have to read the book. While you’re waiting for it to be finished, you could read Ruth’s book.