Don't Wave Goodbye The Children's Flight from Nazi Persecution to American Freedom

Subjects:

• History » Holocaust Studies
• History » World War II
• Multicultural Studies » Jewish Studies

Reviews:

• This collection of selected primary sources showcases the stories of several of the so-called one thousand children-children brought to the United States between 1934 and 1945 in response to Hitler's policies of genocide....this excellent study is recommended for both public and academic libraries with Holocaust collections.
  —Library Journal July 2004
• Sent across the ocean by their parents and taken in by foster parents and distant relatives, approximately 1,000 children, ranging in age from 14 months to 16 years, landed in the United States and out of Hitler's reach between 1934 and 1945. This account details this mostly unknown part of America's response to the Holocaust.
  —Shofar 2005
• Adolescents through early college age are targeted readers of these first-person recollections. Apparently, nothing has been written about this children's rescue operation. Researchers and general readers certainly will find it absorbing and useful.
  —Jewish Book World Spring 2005
• This is an interesting and timely compilation focusing on how American Jewish and Gentile organizations and individuals, overcoming strong impediments generated by opponents of new immigrants, rescued over 1,000 children (ages 14 months through 16 years) from Nazi Germany and resettled them in America during World War II....[t]his volume is certainly a welcome addition to the literature on Holocaust survivors, and is recommended as such to interested libraries and researchers.
  —Multicultural Review Spring 2005
• [D]emonstrates the goodwill of many Americans who fought to overcome anti-Semitism and raised funds to pay for rescuing these children....Their efforts deserve remembering.
  —Jewish Review June 15, 2005
• While Britains efforts to save young people of Jewish heritage from the Nazis have been documented, both in print and on film, this book presents the memories of those whose Kindertransport experiences led them to America by the One Thousand Children project. The book consists primarily of excerpts from memoirs and letters written by the children whose parents sent them from Germany and Austria, often by circuitous routes, to Jewish foster families across the United States. They present moving first-hand, child-centered views of life in the small towns of central Europe in the 1930s, the terror of Kristallnacht, the tearing apart of families for the sake of young lives, and life in wartime America as a young refugee....This is a valuable addition to high school Holocaust collections. Recommended.
  —Library Media Connection April/May 2005
• This is an unusual book, presenting a multitude of viewpoints on a highly complex rescue operation and is well worth reading.
  —AJL Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter February/March 2005
• [T]he first published account of those children and their rescuers, as told in their own words. The collection of little-known tales also features commentary from the descendants of several of the 1,000 children.
  —B'NAI B'RITH TODAY November/December 2004
• [C]onsists of some 40 remembrances written by the people who 65 years ago were sent by their families in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere is Europe to America to escape the clutches of the Nazis.
  —The Jewish Post & News August 25, 2004
• A four year search for members of a virtually unknown group of American immigrants has resulted in the locating of almost half of the approximately one thousand unaccompanied children rescued from the Holocaust by America and the first ever publication of the memoirs of several dozen of these children....[i]ncludes the historical context of these remarkable rescues and its importance for dealing with continuing wars of genocide today.
  —Passages Autumn 2004
• [A] poignant book....It comes alive in this first anthology of memoirs of the only unaccompanied children rescued by America from the Holocaust. It describes in detail the youngsters, their rescuers and the acceptance and generosity of the strangers who took them in. It is a story of hope and triumph spanning three continents, two oceans and 12 years. It is important because it offers the words of the children from personal diaries and letters.
  —The Jerusalem Post September 29, 2004
• [T]he messages contained here should be read by anyone interested in the human condition.
  —Carlton Jackson (Daily News) August 2004

• Endorsement From Deborah Oppenheimer
  Producer, Into the Arms of Strangers: Don't Wave Goodbye puts a personal face on the little-known Holocaust rescue story of just over one thousand unaccompanied children by private American organizations and individuals. These first-hand accounts honor the children, their parents, rescuers, and descendents and ensure the preservation of their story for future generations.
• Endorsement From Walter Laqueur
  author of Generation Exodus: It is an authentic and very moving account of those lucky enough to survive. It should be widely read.
• Endorsement From Gwen Goodman,
  Executive Director/CEO
  National Museum of American Jewish History: On the broadest level, Don't Wave Goodbye chronicles a dramatic moment in American history when Jewish and Quaker Americans worked together successfully to rescue children from the Nazi threat. The cooperation between the two communities is a rare instance of ideologies uniting rather than dividing in times of crisis. At the same time, the stories themselves remind us that the challenges facing these children did not end when they left Germany. The variety of their experiences in America testifies to the challenges of survival in a new land, a new language, and new families. By documenting the stories of these children, Don't Wave Goodbye reminds us of the flexibility of their spirit when it seemed the world at large had lost sight of that very same thing.
• Endorsement From Tommy Schlamme,
  Director, "The West Wing": [A] moving and insightful book, that gives a voice to this hidden chapter of our history. A voice I have been hearing my whole life since my Aunt was one of the 'One Thousand Children.' Her story and the story of other ordinary people in extraordinary situations, that you have brilliantly captured, has inspired me and should everyone else who reads this important chronicle.
• Endorsement From Marsha Atkind,
  President, NCJW, Inc.: A riveting book with stories that must be told--stories of personal sacrifice and courage, possibility and hope in the face of unspeakable cruelty. The National Council of Jewish Women is proud to have played a major role in the rescue of the 1000 children.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction by Judith Tydor Baumel
• In Short by Henry Schuster, Trudy Kirchhausen Turkel, and Jack Steinberger
• Trepidations by Manfred Steinfeld, Kurt Admon, Martin Birn, and Henny Wenkart
• Paths of Escape by Ruth Safrin Finkelstein, Lea Wasserman Schwarz, Camilla Maas, Michel Margosis, Richard Schifter, Henny Wenkart, Morris C. Troper, Albert Einstein, and Howard Wriggins
• Coming to America by Manfred Goldwein, Ilse Hamburger Phillips, Ruth Schnitzer, Lea Wasserman Schwarz, and Walter Kron
• Transitions by Henry Birnbrey, Charles Juliusburg, Martin Birn, Bill Graham, Gabrielle Kaufmann Koppel, and Thea Lindauer
• Becoming an American by Phyllis Mattson, Ruth Schnitzer, Bill Graham, and Arnold Isaak
• Full Circle by Charles Juliusburg, Arnold Isaak, Ben Hirsh, Fern Schumer Chapman, Rose Marie Phillips Wagman, and Phyllis Mattson
• Afterword by Richard Schifter