One Small Suitcase

by Barry Turner

For ten months before the Second World War, thousands of children were bundled on to trains and waved goodbye to their parents as they set off across Germany and Holland to the ferries that would take them to England. This book is based on extensive interviews with those who helped to organise the transports, the families who took the children in and above all the young refugees as they began new lives in a strange country. Many were faced with a continuous stream of foster parents and children's homes; many were evacuated and even deported - and almost all never saw their parents again.

Genres: Nonfiction

115 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2002

About the author

Barry Turner has been a full-time writer for 30 years. He has worked as a journalist and broadcaster in the field of politics, biography, travel and education, and is the author of over 20 books. He is a regular contributor to The Times as a book reviewer and serializer, and is the editor of the annuals The Writer's Handbook and The Screenwriter's Handbook.

Reviews

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful mix of story telling, recounts, newspapers and photographs. Telling the true tales of evacuees.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Small Suitcase is the children's version of Barry Turner's adult book And The Policeman Smiled. Between 1938 and 1939 the British Government gave 10,000 permits to Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslavakia - no adults were permitted to travel, so these children travelled from their homes alone, many of them could speak no English and knew nothing about England. Many of them never saw their families again.

This book is made up of stories told by those children, now pensioners living all over the world. These children had to adapt to new cultures, often they were bullied and treated harshly, but more often they were loved and shown affection and warmth from their new families.

This would be a great introduction for children who are learning about World War II - opening up some questions and debate.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I need to read the full-blown adult version of this little book. I knew a little about the Kindertransports but this gave me a greater understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the children and the events that led up to the transports before the beginning of WW2. I shall make my copy a keeper and will encourage my youngest 2 grandchildren to read it having already introduced them to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne and Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig. It was uncanny that I should have chosen this to be one of my January 'reads'as on Sunday I read the first few pages and then became aware that it was National Holocaust Day!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about the kindertransporte--- the rescue of children from Europe during Nazi occupation. Aside from the nuts and bolts, it includes a bit of interviews from the children looking back upon the experience and how it changed their lives, including some who were remarkably reunited with their parents. It's a bit heavy on the heart, for sure, but important.

[Paula Roberts]

Sue, Do we own this book? If not it looks like a great one for us to use regarding WWII

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sad, sad reality of the Kindertransport told through true accounts through the eyes of the transported children.

[Phoebe]

Good