Becoming a Refugee

The physical shape of our dialogue box reminds us that refugees are never "people from nowhere". The contents relate to our immersive Journey exhibition, which tells the story of a German-Jewish family, and their son Leo, who becomes a child refugee.

Before 1933, most Jewish people, like the Herrmann family pictured here, lived happily among their non-Jewish neighbours. Nazi rule changed all that, first in Germany, then across most of the continent.

The Berenzweig family were among those who, unable to flee themselves, sent their son to safety in the UK on the Kindertransport. These child refugees left everything they knew behind. Only a few precious mementos of their old lives fitted into the tiny suitcases.

Most child refugees who arrived in the UK travelled on education permits. This provided safety from immediate danger. But many, like the young John Fieldsend, felt bewildered finding themselves alone in a foreign country.

While some child refugees found loving foster families, charity workers in the UK struggled to place teenage boys like Bernard. Here, he talks about a reception that was, physically and emotionally, much colder.

For many refugees, settling into a new life raised complex questions of identity: German? English? Jewish? Margarete Treharne brought her ‘Berlin Bear’ mascot to the UK on the Kindertransport. Though she built a happy life in Britain, she often remarked that, in her heart, she remained a Berliner.

While a few children were placed with Jewish foster parents, most were raised by Christian families. Refugee Ilse Buxbaum brought this Star of David pendant with her. She treasured it, but would not wear it in public: she was unsure how Jews would be viewed in the UK.

Some child refugees were reunited with their parents or siblings after 1945. But the Holocaust turned most of them into orphans. They had to fend for themselves, and find work to sustain their new lives.

The children at Lingfield House were invited to make a quilt. Each child contributed one design, depicting a memory of home , or a symbol of the future they hoped to build. The Hora, the traditional Jewish dance visible in the previous image, takes centre stage.