CHANNEL CROSSING TO LIFE
1938 KINDERTRANSPORTS 1939

Between 1938 and the outbretak of the War, 10,000 mainly Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, were permitted to enter England without their parents and escape Nazi persecution.
Most crossed the channel from the Hock of Holland to Harwich.
Their journey was aided by the Dutch Government and Dutch volunteers,
This sculpture is dedicated to the people of Holland and the United Kingdom who saved these children from certain death.

Tussen 1938 en het uitbreken van de T’weede Wereldoorlog kregen 10.000 voornamelijk Joodse kinderen uit Ikuitsland. Oostenrijk en T’sjechoslowakije toestemming om zonder hun ouders naar Engeland te komen om te ontsnappen aan de Nazi-vervolgingen. Bijna al deze kinderen staken hier in Hoek van Holland het kanaal over naar Harwich. Zij werden tijdens hun reis bijgestaan door de Nederlandse overheid en door Nederlandse vrijwilligers. Ditkunstwerkis opgedragen aan het Nederlandse en Britse volk, als dank voor het helpen van deze kinderen, die daardoor allen de oorlog hebben overleefd.

The monument commemorates the rescue shipments of Jewish children (mostly) from German territories and countries it occupied to Britain. These shipments took place between the years 1938-1939, and about 12,000 children survived. Each child was only allowed to take one suitcase.
Monuments marking the shipments were placed at various stations of the voyage: Gdansk, Berlin, Hook of Holland (from which the children boarded ships sailing to London) and London.

The monuments were made by Frank Meisler, who was also rescued from Gdansk as part of the "Kinder-Transport".

The monument was photographed that day by the same photographer Click for a larger image Click for a larger image

The sculpture features a newspaper from that period asking citizens to contribute to the success of the operation, which reads:
Duizenden Joden
moeten Duitschland verlaten V
Voor hun transmigratie is zeer veel geld noodig. Vervuit Uw menschelijke plicht en stort Uw bijdrage op postgiro Nr 343000 van het
Joodsche Vluchtelingenfonds 1938
Subcomité Rotterdam. of bij de bankiers S. VAN DANTZIG & Co. Rotterdam; in samenwerking met het Joodsche Vluchtelingenfonds 1938 Amsterdam.

Thousands of Jews
have to leave Germany
Their transmigration requires a great deal of money. Fulfill your human duty and deposit your contribution on postgiro No. 343000 of the
Jewish Refugee Fund 1938
Rotterdam Subcommittee. or at the bankers S. VAN DANTZIG & Co. Rotterdam; in collaboration with the Jewish Refugee Fund 1938 Amsterdam.
Click for a larger image

The name of the sculptor Frank Meisler also appears on the basis of the sculpture Click for a larger image

Near the Gdańsk railway station, from which the rescue shipments departed, was another statue of the same artist, who was also photographed by the same photographer Click for sign's details
Another monument is at Liverpool Street Station in London, where trains arrived with the children Click for sign's details