The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), in partnership with the UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues, The Rt Hon. The Lord Pickles, will host Remembering & Rethinking: The international forum on the Kindertransport at 80 in London from 15-16 April 2019 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport. The forum will combine commemoration, learning and practical action in relation to contemporary refugee issues.
Registration:
Two days: £60 / £40 with concessions (Students, AJR members)
Single day: £40 / £30 with concessions
PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME (subject to change)
Monday 15th April
08.45 – 09:30 Registration and coffee
09.30 – 09.45 Welcome & introduction, Michael Newman, Chief Executive, The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR)
09.45 – 11.15 The Kindertransport in context – policy and memory (Chair: Alex Maws, AJR)
- Teaching, Learning, and Remembering the Kindertransport, Dr Andy Pearce, Centre for Holocaust Education, University College London
- British policy and the immigration of unaccompanied refugee children, Dr Louise London, Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck Colleg
- Never look back? The History of Kindertransport Research and Commemoration, Dr Andrea Hammel, Aberystwyth University
11.15 – 11.30 Coffee break
11.30 – 12.15 In conversation, Hella Pick CBE, journalist (Interviewer: Dr Bea Lewkowicz, AJR)
12.15 – 13.15 The archival record of the Kindertransport (Chair: Michael Newman, AJR)
- The Children’s Transports from Vienna, and the Children Left Behind, Professor Paul Weindling, Oxford Brookes University
- Stories from the archives: uncovering the experiences of the Kindertransport children in World Jewish Relief’s documents, Debbie Cantor, World Jewish Relief
- A New Life: The Experiences of Kindertransportees Settling in Britain as Shown in the Archives of The Wiener Library, Dr Barbara Warnock, Wiener Library
13.15 – 14.00 Lunch
14.00 – 14.15 Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Kindertransport, The Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
14.15 – 14.45 Kinder in the AJR Refugee Voices Testimony Archive, Dr Bea Lewkowicz, AJR (Q&A moderator, Michael Newman, AJR)
14.45 – 15.30 Lesser-known histories, part 1 (Chair: TBC)
- History Forgets Heroines: Marie Schmolka, a Key Player of International Refugee Help, Dr Anna Hajkova, University of Warwick
- ‘From Hitler to Hi-de-Hi’? The role of the Dovercourt Holiday Camp in the first months of the Kindertransport, Mike Levy, Anglia Ruskin University
15.30 – 15.45 Coffee break
15.45 – 16.15 Preserving memory through education (Chair: Alex Maws, AJR)
- Teaching about the Kindertransport in British schools, Clementine Smith, Holocaust Educational Trust
- The ‘Virtual Journey’: Teaching about the Kindertransport using a digital learning resource, Louise Stafford, National Holocaust Centre and Museum
16.15 – 16.45 National cultures of remembrance (Chair: Michael Newman, AJR)
- The legacy of the Kindertransport in Germany, Ambassador Michaela Küchler, German Foreign Office Special Representative for Relations with Jewish Organisations, Antisemitism, Antiziganism and Holocaust Remembrance
- Britain’s responsibility to remember, The Rt Hon. The Lord Pickles, UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues
16.45 – 17.00 Day 1 wrap-up/summary, Dr Toby Simpson, Wiener Library
18.00 – 20.00 Reception at the Austrian Residence, 18 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PQ
Tuesday 16th April
08.00 – 09.00 Breakfast meeting for the children and grandchildren of Kinder
08.45 – 09:00 Registration (for day-2 only attendees) and coffee
09.00 – 09.15 Welcome & introduction, Alex Maws, AJR
09.15 – 10.30 Lesser-known histories, part 2 (Chair: Dr Bea Lewkowicz, AJR)
- Unravelling the story of Truus Wijsmuller, Pamela Sturhoofd & Jessica van Tijn, including Q&A with Rabbi Harry Jacobi
- A filmmaker’s journey exploring the story of the last Kindertransport boat from Poland, Alan Reich, including Q&A with Sir Eric Reich
10.30 – 10.45 Coffee break
10.45 – 11.30 Kindertransport remembrance: Austrian and German perspectives (Chair: David Herman, AJR)
- Passing on the memory of the Kindertransport stories: Museum zur Erinnerung‚ Für das Kind – a Project funded by the National Fund, Milli Segal, Kindertransport Museum, Vienna, and Hannah Lessing, The National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism
- The German government’s expulsion of a generation from 1938-39,
- Lisa Bechner, Kindertransport Organisation Deutschland
11.30 – 12.30 Intergenerational responses: the children of refugees (Chair: Danny Kalman, AJR Kindertransport Group)
- ‘Visions of the Kindertransport’ (exhibition) and ‘My Knees Were Jumping; Remembering The Kindertransports’ (film), Melissa Hacker, Kindertransport Association (KTA)
- ‘Kinder’ (film), Janet Eisenstein, Co-writer/Executive Producer
- ‘Suitcase’ (theatre), Jane Merkin, Producer
12.30 – 13.00 Second generation: Mixing the personal and professional, Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Kings College London (Q&A moderator: Gaby Glassman, AJR Trustee)
13.00 – 13.45 Lunch
13.45 – 14.15 Pursuing restitution for Kinder, Speaker TBC, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Q&A moderator: Michael Newman, AJR)
14.15 – 15.15 Roundtable discussion: The contemporary relevance of the Kindertransport (Chair: TBC)
- Barbara Winton, Sir Nicholas Winton Memorial Trust
- Eleanor Harrison, Safe Passage UK
15.15 – 15.30 Coffee break
15.30 – 16.15 If Not Now When? Kinder Voices and Today’s Global Refugee Crisis, Mark Hetfield, HIAS (Q&A moderator: Melissa Hacker, KTA)
16.15 – 16.45 Commemorating the Kindertransport at the UK’s new memorial and learning centre, Asa Bruno, Director, Ron Arad Architects Ltd. (Q&A moderator: Alex Maws: AJR)
16.45 – 17.00 Day 2 wrap-up/summary, Dr Gideon Reuveni, University of Sussex
