Figure 1.--This photograph was taken in either 1938 or 1939 at Dover Court Reception Camp where some of the Kindertransport children were received when they arrived in England from Germany, Austria, or Czechoslovakia. Notice that a few of the boys are wearing long stockings.

A fascinating and moving book entitled I Came Alone: The Stories of the Kindertransports has numerous accounts of Kindertransport children. It has two introductions, one by Lord Jakobovits, the Chief Rabbi of England, and the other by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It contains reminiscences by Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria in 1938-39, just before World War II, who were sent as children without their parents from the Third Reich to safety in England. Several of the stories involve embarrassments that the children experienced because their clothes were so different from what English children wore. One of the major differences was that Austrian and German boys wore long stockings whereas their English counterparts did not.

Harry Heber (Austria)

Harry Heber from Vienna was sent to England as a boy of 8 years in December, 1938. He tells us, "I cried and cried. I wept and sobbed throughout the Christmas period before my new foster parents were able to alert the local Refugee Committee of my plight. I was then collected with my few belongings and after being allowed to see my sister [from whom he had been temporarily separated] and assured that all would be well, I was taken to a small boarding school in the village of Goudhurst in Kent. I remember when I first entered the common room where about twenty children were playing or reading, everyone stopped what they were doing to look at this tear-stained young stranger who had been placed in their midst. Without taking their eyes off me their conversation stopped and then became animated, but of course I could not understand what they were saying. They were pointing their fingers at the strange sight in front of them. He was obviously a boy, but he was dressed like a girl! Yes, I did look different from the other children--I was wearing long stockings held up by suspenders [= hose supporters] under my short trousers! In Austria at the time, because of the severe winters, it was customary, not only for girls, but also for boys to wear long stockings to protect them from the cold, but in England, where conditions were more spartan, little boys were expected to brave the elements. Within the next few days I became suitably attired as an English schoolboy and my knees continued to be exposed until I acquired my first pair of long trousers on the occasion of my Bar Mitzvah some 5 years later."

Kurt Fuchel (Austria)

Kurt Fuchel, also from Vienna, also wore long stockings when he arrived in England. He writes, ""The train from Vienna took its frightened flock of children, instant refugees, to Antwerp snd from there a ship carried us to Harwich on the east coast of England. Next morning the Cohens picked me up and drove me to Norwich. I remember walking into the house: a little boy dressed in his Austrian finery: short pants, jacket, long wool stockings help up by a suspender belt [i.e., a garter belt], and high-rising boots, the effect somewhat marred by the grubbiness accumulated during three days of travel. Ahead of me were the stairs going up to the second floor. Near the top sat John, a little boy of five, shyly looking at this new brother. I was stripped, scrubbed from head to toe, my clothes burnt, new ones provided, and then the family gathered around the table for a magnificent chicken dinner. A smile returned to my face: here was a language I could understand."

Sources

Leverton, Bertha and Shmuel Lowensohn., Ed, I Came Alone: The Stories of the Kindertransports (Sussex, England: The Book Guild, 1990).

Created: 5:11 AM 10/19/2008
Last updated: 11:43 AM 3/18/2016