In 1949 my good fortune was complete when I was reunited with my parents, who had managed to survive the war by escaping on the last boat out of Europe to Shanghai.
SIGI FAITH
Kinderterror, Kindertransports, Kindertrauma – one sees a chain of events linking these successive stages in the odyssey of the children who came in 1938-39. The terror of the children who, together with their parents, were caught up in a modern pogrom, Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass and broken lives, which was the true precursor of the transports. The transports themselves, that marked the hurriedly and sometimes frantically arranged wrench, with dimly perceived consequences, of a child gone from his normal world and which involved a temporary separation from a family that for most children would last forever. And then, the trauma of re-establishing some infrastructure of normality in a strange land, with new families, however sympathetic and kind, with the child enjoying a dubious status, neither a temporary guest, nor adopted, a sort of twilight world of not knowing where he or she belonged, which was a state of being that was to last, for some, all their lives.
The personal tragedy of these children has now been explored and described in numerous accounts, studies, case histories. But the ‘Kinder’ also played their part on the much larger stage of world history. In September 1938, when Chamberlain returned from Munich waving his bit of paper, he was undoubtedly greeted by the most rapturous and even hysterical welcome ever accorded a British prime minister in any circumstances, let alone one who had just negotiated what many saw as an ignominious surrender. Less than five and a half months later, however, the same prime minister was being pushed by a huge groundswell of public opinion to change his policy completely and adopt measures that put Britain on a head-on collision course with Nazi Germany that would ultimately lead to war. There had in fact been a sea-change in public opinion. Traditionally, this is attributed to the occupation of Czechoslovakia on the 15 March 1939. But, by then, the sea-change had already taken place. What events took place between 1 October 1938 and 15 March 1939? Only two of any note: the pogrom of Kristallnacht on 9 and 10 November, and from 10 December, the arrival of the first of the Kindertransports, which were to go on for another nine months.
One historian has described the public mood after this as a reaction to being conned. However dishonourable Munich had been perceived to be, it was meant to buy settlement, stability and peace. And what it had seemed within weeks to have produced was a pogrom and photographs on newsreels and in newspapers of unaccompanied young children carrying their pathetic suitcases and bundles of belongings, walking down gangplanks at Harwich. The reaction to this of lots of very ordinary people was one of anger and some sort of obstinate determination to bring something which would ultimately develop into the spirit of Dunkirk, Churchill and 1940. It may be some small comfort to those children, more than fifty years on, to know that that, even in some small measure, and quite unwittingly, is what they helped to bring about. But they paid, and in some cases still pay, a price.
FRED BARSCHAK
Despite the fact that I have become completely anglicised, or perhaps because of it, I do not talk readily to people (except very close friends) about my origins. I want to be thought of as completely English. Unfortunately I still cannot knit the English way, and for that reason will never knit in public. I suppose this is because I don’t want to be different from real English people. I never think of my birthplace as home now and never refer to it as such.
Extract from We Came as Children, edited by Karen Gershon and published by Macmillan London Ltd.
Kindertransport was first performed by the Soho Theatre Company at the Cockpit Theatre, London on 13 April 1993, with the following cast:
RATCATCHER
Nigel Hastings
EVA
Sarah Shanson
HELGA
Ruth Mitchell
EVELYN
Elizabeth Bell
FAITH
Suzan Sylvester
LIL
Doreen Andrew
Director Abigail Morris
Designer Tom Piper
Lighting Designer Mark Ridler
Music and Sound Designer Richard Heacock
The play was subsequently performed in the United States of America by the Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center, Stage l, New York, in May l994, with the following cast:
RATCATCHER
Michael Gaston
EVA
Alanna Ubach
HELGA
Jane Kaczmarek
EVELYN
Dana Ivey
FAITH
Mary Mara
LIL
Patricia Kilgarriff
Director Abigail Morris
Scenery Designer John Lee Beatty
Lighting Designer Don Holder
Music and Sound Designer Guy Sherman/Aural Fixation
Other productions in the USA include Washington DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and San Diego. The play has also been produced in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Canada, Israel and Japan.
The play was revived at the Palace Theatre, Watford, on 24 May 1996, with the following cast:
RATCATCHER
Nigel Hastings
EVA
Julia Malewski
HELGA
Ruth Mitchel
EVELYN
Diana Quick
FAITH
Dido Miles
LIL
Jean Boht
Director Abigail Morris
Designer Tom Piper
Lighting Designer Jason Taylor
Music Designer Guy Sherman
This production transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre, London, on 4 September 1996 with the same cast, except for Helga, who was played by Sian Thomas.
The play was revived by Shared Experience Theatre Company between March and June 2007, and toured to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford; the Liverpool Playhouse; the New Wolsey, Ipswich; Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton; the Lowry, Salford; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Hampstead Theatre, London; the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton and Oxford Playhouse. The cast was as follows:
RATCATCHER
Alexi Kaye Campbell
EVA
Matti Houghton
HELGA
Pandora Colin
EVELYN
Marion Bailey
FAITH
Lily Bevan
LIL
Eileen O’Brien
Director Polly Teale
Designer Jonathan Fensom
Lighting Designer Natasha Chivers
Composer and Sound Designer Peter Salem
Movement Director Liz Ranken
For Elaine Samuels and Simon Garfield
Characters
EVELYN: English middle-class woman. In her fifties.
FAITH: Evelyn’s only child. In her early twenties.
EVA: Evelyn’s younger self. She starts the play at nine years old and finishes it at seventeen years old. Jewish German becoming increasingly English.
HELGA: German Jewish woman of the late 1930’s. In her early thirties. Eva/Evelyn’s mother.
LIL: Eva/Evelyn’s English foster mother. In her eighties.
THE RATCATCHER: A mythical character who also plays: THE NAZI BORDER OFFICIAL, THE ENGLISH ORGANISER, THE POSTMAN, THE STATION GUARD.
The play takes place in a spare storage room in Evelyn’s house in an outer London suburb in recent times.
ACT ONE
Scene One
Ratcatcher music.
Dusty storage room filled with crates, bags, boxes and some old furniture.
EVA, dressed in clothes of the late thirties, is sitting on the floor, reading. The book is a large, hard-backed children’s story book entitled Der Rattenfänger.
HELGA, holding a coat, button, needle and thread, is nearby. She is well turned-out in clothes of the late thirties.
EVA. What’s an abyss, Mutti?
HELGA (sitting down and ushering EVA to sit next to her). An ab
yss is a deep and terrible chasm.
EVA. What’s a chasm?
HELGA. A huge gash in the rocks.
EVA. What’s a . . .
EVA puts down the book. Music stops.
HELGA. Eva, sew on your buttons now. Show me that you can do it.
EVA. I can’t get the thread through the needle. It’s too thick. You do it.
HELGA. Lick the thread . . .
EVA. Do I have to?
HELGA. Yes. Lick the thread.
EVA. I don’t want to sew.
HELGA. How else will the buttons get onto the coat?
EVA. The coat’s too big for me.
HELGA. It’s to last next winter too.
EVA. Please.
HELGA. No.
EVA. Why won’t you help me?
HELGA. You have to be able to manage on your own.
EVA. Why?
HELGA. Because you do. Now, lick the thread.
EVA licks the thread.
That should flatten it . . . And hold the needle firmly and place the end of the thread between your fingers . . . not too near . . . that’s it . . . now try to push it through.
EVA concentrates on the needle and thread. HELGA watches.
See. You don’t need me. It’s good.
EVA. I don’t mind having my coat open a bit. Really. I’ve got enough buttons.
HELGA. You’ll miss it when the wind blows.
EVA. Can’t I do it later.
HELGA. There’s no ‘later’ left, Eva.
EVA. After the packing, after my story . . .
HELGA. Now.
EVA gives in and sews.
A key jangles in the door lock. The door opens. EVELYN enters. She carries a tea towel. If she sees HELGA and EVA, even momentarily, she ignores them. She is followed by FAITH.
EVELYN. Most of it is junk.
FAITH. You don’t keep junk.
EVELYN. Do you want anything in particular?
FAITH. Not really.
EVELYN (opening a box). Pans?
FAITH. All those?
EVELYN. Are you intending to cook or eat raw?
FAITH. I was thinking of take-aways . . .
EVELYN. Have them.
EVELYN hands the box over to FAITH who receives it.
What else? Lights, crockery, cutlery, there’s a television somewhere . . . ?
FAITH. You sound like a shop assistant trying to make a sale.
EVELYN. Just don’t be a difficult customer. I told Mum we wouldn’t be long. (She opens a box and takes out a tea cup.) Would cups and saucers be of any use?
FAITH. I prefer mugs.
EVELYN. What about for visitors?
FAITH. They can have mugs too.
EVELYN. I’ll give you this set of cups and saucers just in case.
FAITH. Mum, I . . .
EVELYN. Here’s a spare tea pot too.
FAITH. I don’t think I need two tea pots.
EVELYN. One might break.
FAITH. You don’t have to do this.
EVELYN. Who else is going to?
FAITH. Dad sent me another cheque.
EVELYN. Would you use a strainer?
FAITH. Not really.
EVELYN. Aren’t you meant to save that money?
FAITH. He wouldn’t mind me spending it.
EVELYN. That’s not what we agreed originally.
FAITH. I’m not fourteen any more.
EVELYN. I see.
FAITH. I’d just like to buy some of my own stuff.
EVELYN. I thought you approved of my taste.
FAITH. I do. Your things are beautiful.
EVELYN. I’m glad to hear it.
FAITH. You should keep them.
EVELYN. They should be used rather than left to moulder in a box.
EVELYN opens a box and takes out a glass. She polishes it.
Glasses?
FAITH. Those must be worth a fortune.
EVELYN. Nothing is too good for my daughter.
FAITH. Might be too good for the flat.
EVELYN. You said that you and your friends were very pleased with this one.
FAITH. The rent’s so high for what it is.
EVELYN (polishing). You said it was a bargain.
FAITH. Maybe you should have come to see it.
EVELYN. You’re quite capable of choosing a place to live without my help.
Pause.
FAITH. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to move.
EVELYN concentrates on polishing and replacing glasses.
I don’t feel right about it.
EVELYN continues to polish.
EVELYN (scrutinising a glass). This is chipped.
FAITH. What do you think about waiting till I can afford to buy somewhere?
EVELYN. I think that if you say you’re going, you should go.
FAITH. I can get the deposit back.
EVELYN. Like you got the deposit back last time?
FAITH. That was different.
EVELYN. It sounds remarkably similar to me.
FAITH. I’m not sure I like it.
EVELYN. Oh Faith, for heavens sakes, you’re impossible.
FAITH. If you’d come to see it, you’d know.
EVELYN (polishing madly). How on earth did that glass get damaged. I put in enough paper.
FAITH. I don’t like leaving you on your own . . .
EVELYN (holding open another box). Tablecloths?
FAITH shakes her head. EVELYN puts them back.
FAITH. Are you angry?
EVELYN. Absolutely not.
FAITH. Are we still friends?
EVELYN. Of course.
EVELYN polishes.
FAITH. I don’t want to go.
EVELYN (still polishing). Will eleven glasses be enough?
FAITH. You can forget about the glasses.
EVELYN. You’ll need something to drink from in your new home.
EVELYN continues to polish. FAITH, helpless, watches.
EVA (sewing). Why aren’t Karla and Heinrich going on one of the trains?
HELGA. Their parents couldn’t get them places.
EVA. Karla said it’s because they didn’t want to send them away.
HELGA. Karla says a lot of silly things.
EVA. Why’s that silly?
HELGA. Of course they would send them away if they had places. Any good parent would do that.
EVA. Why?
HELGA. Because any good parent would want to protect their child.
EVA. Can’t you and Vati protect me?
HELGA. Only by sending you away.
EVA. Why will I be safer with strangers?
HELGA. Your English family will be kind.
EVA. But they don’t know me.
HELGA. Eva. This is for the best.
EVA. Will you miss me?
HELGA. Of course I will.
EVA. Will you write to me?
HELGA. I’ve told you. I will do more than miss you and write to you. Vati and I will come. We will not let you leave us behind for very long. Do you think we would really let you go if we thought that we would never see you again?
EVA. How long will it be before you come?
HELGA. Only a month or two. When the silly permits are ready.
EVA. Silly permits.
HELGA. Silly, silly permits.
EVA. The needle’s stuck.
HELGA, with difficulty, pulls the needle through.
Finish it off for me.
HELGA (handing the sewing back to EVA). No.
EVA takes the coat and carries on sewing.
EVELYN is still polishing glasses. FAITH is still watching her.
FAITH. Mum, please stop doing that.
EVELYN (holding up the glass). They really need washing.
Pause.
You can’t stay here forever.
FAITH. Do you really want me to go?
EVELYN. What I want is irrelevant. This is your life, Faith.
FAITH. It affects you too.
EVELYN. You’ve made a commitment to moving into that place. Stick by it.
FAITH. It feels all wrong.
EVELYN. It seems perfectly straightforward to me.
FAITH. What do you want?
EVELYN. I want you to make a mature and reliable decision. An adult decision. This continual vacillation is not helpful to either of us.
FAITH. I can’t move out yet.
EVELYN stops polishing.
EVELYN. Yet?
FAITH. For a while.
EVELYN. What does that mean?
FAITH. Until after I’ve finished college.
EVELYN. Give it a try at least.
FAITH. I’m not going.
EVELYN. What have you got to lose?
FAITH. I’m definitely staying.
EVELYN. Are you absolutely sure?
FAITH. Absolutely.
EVELYN. So, I can’t sell the house?
FAITH. No.
EVELYN. I’ll have to phone the estate agent?
FAITH. Yes.
Kindertransport Page 2