The Tiger in the Attic: Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing Up English

by Edith Milton

In 1939, on the eve of Hitler's invasion of Poland, seven-year-old Edith Milton (then Edith Cohn) and her sister Ruth left Germany by way of the Kindertransport, the program which gave some 10,000 Jewish children refuge in England. The two were given shelter by a jovial, upper-class British foster family with whom they lived for the next seven years. Edith chronicles these transformative experiences of exile and good fortune in The Tiger in the Attic , a touching memoir of growing up as an outsider in a strange land.

In this illuminating chronicle, Edith describes how she struggled to fit in and to conquer self-doubts about her German identity. Her realistic portrayal of the seemingly mundane yet historically momentous details of daily life during World War II slowly reveals istelf as a hopeful story about the kindness and generosity of strangers. She paints an account rich with colorful characters and intense relationships, uncanny close calls and unnerving bouts of luck that led to survival. Edith's journey between cultures continues with her final passage to America—yet another chapter in her life that required adjustment to a new world—allowing her, as she narrates it here, to visit her past as an exile all over again.

The Tiger in the Attic is a literary gem from a skilled fiction writer, the story of a thoughtful and observant child growing up against the backdrop of the most dangerous and decisive moment in modern European history. Offering a unique perspective on Holocaust studies, this book is both an exceptional and universal story of a young German-Jewish girl caught between worlds.


“Adjectives like ‘audacious’ and ‘eloquent,’ ‘enchanting’ and ‘exceptional’ require rationing. . . . But what if the book demands these terms and more? Such is the case with The Tiger in the Attic , Edith Milton’s marvelous memoir of her childhood.”—Kerry Fried, Newsday

“Milton is brilliant at the small stroke . . . as well as broader ones.”—Alana Newhouse, New York Times Book Review

Genres: Memoir, History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, World War II, Biography Memoir, Contemporary

242 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Shelley]

Although not really about the process of the Kindertransport itself, this memoir about 'growing up English' was poetic, honest, and exquisitely written.

[Lynette]

As others have said, it's not what I expected, but it was lovely. I'd have liked more exploration into how it felt being separated from the rest of her family and thrown into a totally different world. She only briefly mentions being an outsider.

[Kitty]

This was a positive, uplifting memoir. Not really what I expected, but that is a GOOD thing. I had never heard about the Kindertransport, so this book was an enlightening and enjoyable experience. I kept wondering what the title had to do with the book and when that story came, I thought, cute, but maybe a little misleading. But, who am I to criticize. I loved what Edith's mother said when she summed up her own life, "I've had a difficult life and it didn't do me a bit of harm." Edith went on to mention a worm in half could be the family crest and these words of her mother would be over each half. Edith and her sister were lucky to be placed with the foster parents that they were given. The foster parents would make a great story on its own, as well as the story of Edith's mom, who had to train to be a doctor twice, having already practiced as one. And I might add, Jewish and a woman, to boot.

This book makes me want to rent the movie staring Judi Dench, Into the Arms of Strangers.(about the Kindertransport)

[Sherry]

This is a richly written and superbly articulate memoir. Milton conveys aspects of her life as a 7 year old child moved from Germany to foster parents in England as part of the Kindertransport program. More than a factual and systematic journal of this time, it is both her coming of age story and her thoughts about comparative societies, German, British and American. She is a masterful writer, with tight sentences, always using the perfect word to convey her thoughts and their complexities. Sometimes she's quite humorous, as in her discussion of American vs British ghosts and other paranormal manifestations. Other times, she is moving and honest, with her warm tributes to her foster family and her reconciliation with her natural mother.

I loved this book!

[Jessica]

Beautiful, beautiful memoir. Rich, fulfilling, profound, enlightening, thought-provoking. Really, really like it. May have to change that to "love" it when I get a chance to read it a second time...

[PS]

This gave me personal insights into the experience of a Germany Jewish young girl & her family as they navigate the hostile world of Hitlers Germany. Thankfully the mother had the foresight to realize they all needed to escape Germany but this meant they had to be separated for an extended period of time. In this case the author & her sister were housed, fed & cared for by people in rural & small town Great Britain. This follows the main character & sister for many years until they are finally reunited with their mother in the USA. I thoroughly enjoyed the authors shared descriptions of every life for her & her observations.
It was a light read but there were warm & fuzzy moments.

[Marcia]

It wasn't really about the Kindertransport and all about becoming English upper class. Our book discussion helped me appreciate it much more and have some sympathy for her. Reading it, I couldn't get past her orneriness (a bit of projection perhaps?) and lack of gratitude. For all that, it felt honest and real.

[Carmen]

Edith and her older sister, Ruth, are sent from Karlsruhe Germany to Leeds England in 1939. They are quartered with an English family. Edith was seven. This saved their lives. Edith's story is moving, but also full of funny quirky moments.

[Cynthia]

I probably won't read many memoirs about the Kindertransport, but I'm glad I read this one. Good to know this little patch of history, and Milton writes it well. Gentle, sometimes witty prose.

[Sarah]

Interesting account of a Jewish German girl who spent the war in England with a family

[Trisha]

Obviously if you set out to write a memoir it’s going to be hard to avoid making yourself the center of most everything you write about. And yet, the best memoir writers are those who manage to pull back enough to let their readers see the broader picture – especially when, as in Edith Milton’s case – the broader picture involves something as heartbreaking as WWII and the brutal atrocities that were inflicted upon Europe’s Jews. Milton’s book, subtitled “Memories of the Kindertransport and Growing Up English” focused primarily on the idyllic years she spent living with an upper class British family since she was one of the fortunate ones who escaped the Holocaust. She writes with great enthusiasm about the many ways she was assimilated into English culture, but barely mentions much about the war at all – except for the inconveniences it imposed upon everyday life. She leaves the reader with the impression that she took the kindness and generosity of her foster family entirely for granted and rarely hints at any genuine feeling she had for them (although she makes it clear that they were devoted to her from the moment she first arrived.) At several places in the book I was struck by how emotionally detached she was from those around her, including her mother who had managed to immigrate to the United States and with whom she was eventually re-united after the war. Perhaps she learned at an early age not to let herself feel anything too deeply lest she be hurt. By the time I reached the end of the book I was pretty sure that might have been the case. In the final pages she describes the trip she made in later life to the town she had left behind as a child in 1939. Reluctantly she agrees to visit the grave of her father who had been buried years before the war broke out; she is puzzled to discover that there had not been any burials for many years. Instead, clustered together in groups of ten and twenty were hundreds of shoebox sized stones bearing names and birthdates. The dates of death, often accompanied with question marks, were all listed as 1944 o4 1945. “Of course there were no recent internments,” Miller notes in a grim aside, “no one had died because almost no one had lived.” That stark statement spoke volumes about the side of Milton that was missing from her memoir. That’s the side I would have liked to have gotten to know a little better.

[Kate]

I really think this book should be retitled "Princess in the Attic". I was quite shocked at how ungrateful Ms. Milton was toward her extraordinarily generous foster parents who saved her life (and sister's) as well as the disparaging remarks she continually made about America throughout the book (a country that allowed her entire family, including her, to immigrate to). While Milton's British foster parents take her and her sister in, treating them in many ways better than their own children, Milton is quite neglectful in offering any praise. One exception that comes to mind is Milton's generous praise for her foster mother's frugality such as when she bakes a cake and uses less eggs than the recipe calls for ("she's not a soufflé person"). However, a few pages later she does complain that the foster mother drives too fast.

Ms. Milton also, in tedious and narcissistic detail, describes such mundane things as the games she played. It's odd, almost as if the war itself skipped over her completely. She never really recounts the kindertransport, never discusses its impact and barely touches on the war. You will find out though, in complex detail, the games of jump rope embarked upon.

Milton is very agitated that her mother was not immediately allowed to practice medicine in the USA and blames America saying that it was "comfortable with its own mediocrity" of American physicians. She claims that her mother could not pass the medical boards because they were all purposely rigged to exclude foreigners. On the contrary, her animosity at our higher standards was not lost on me.

Overall, I have probably read at least 200 books on this subject; I am appalled at this book. Milton must be the most ungrateful Jewish survivor or the war ever.

[Peggy]

Tiger in the Attic was a good book about Edith Milton's childhood in England after she is sent there in 1939 on the Kindertransport. Many Jewish children were sent to England and America as the Nazis came to power in Germany. Edith was sent to live with an English family when she was about six years old and her sister Ruth was 13. She did not speak any English. She and her sister remained with the Harvey family until her mother sent for them and they moved to the USA. The Harveys were very kind and so were their children.

Edith and Ruth were treated just like their sponsors own children. They lived in a nice house, went to school, had birthdays and lots of friends. They lived through the blackouts and bombing of England by the Germans. Edith shares her memories about all these things.

This was an enjoyable book. I learned some more about World War II and the refugee situation.

[Meaghan]

The title of this book is misleading. They should have just said "Memories of Growing Up English" and left out the part about the Kindertransport. Although the author and her sister did arrive in England from Germany on the Kindertransport, they had a deeply ordinary childhood with an upper-middle-class English family, and the Holocaust is barely touched upon. Although this book is well-written (almost poetic) and good for conveying the atmosphere of everyday life in England during World War II, I hadn't been looking for a book about everyday life in England during World War II and I found it boring and barely finished it. It's a good enough book but not my cup of tea.

[Alicia]

An insightful, very humor filled, rich memoir of someone who migrated as a child in a very dark time. It is very rare to find a book with literary quality written by someone firsthand of such deep reaching events, without becoming self pitying. Edith Milton has given me an insight in what it can do to someone's sense of self and detachment to be uprooted and replanted in 3 different cultures.
I have recommended this to our bookclub and can't wait to do the introduction this week!

[Emily Clarke]

This book was cool to read, because my mom knows her! I've met Edith once - we watched her cat for a week; I met Edith when she brought Sushi (the cat) over.