Jewish Child Leaves For Great Britain

August 3^rd 1939

Dear Journal,

My uncle wrote to us from Berlin, Germany. He’s the uncle that had to move for his job which is representing the Trnava Spa. In my uncle’s letter, he wrote that the Nazis were harming the Jews. He also wrote that it would be unsafe for me and my two sisters, Josephine and Ellie, to live in Bratislava. Bratislava is a village in Czechslovakia. My sisters and I would always go by the forest near our house and we picked wild flowers and strawberries for my family’s farm. Anyways, my uncle wrote that he thinks that we should be part of a Kindertransport system. I didn’t exactly know what this means, but my parents agreed for me and my sisters to be sent away on the Kindertransport. My parents thought that my sisters and I would be safer in another country. I said goodbye to my parents and my best friends Hilda and Maria. I was sad, but not depressed, because I didn’t really understand what was going on. Everyone on the train thought of it as a vacation, so I was excited. I was also a little scared because I didn’t know where I was going.

 I ended up in Great Britain. When we first arrived, I was so excited. We were wearing tags and I waited so long for my name to be called. Once it was, we were assigned guardians, since we no longer lived with our parents. My guardian is Ms. Fannie Bandit. I live with my sisters and we live at Burgess Hill, a home for children. So far it is going well, but I dearly miss my parents. I miss our hourly conversations on the Sabbath. As a family, we would all go to temple on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. We were religious Jews, so we didn’t use electricity on the Sabbath. My parents and I still write letters to each other, but they never mention what is going on with the Nazis. I hope they are safe. I will pray for them.

Sincerely,

Alice Masters