Kindertransport memorial plaque at Harwich

Close-up of a bronze plaque on a stone wall. The text says: The Kindertransport. At 5.30 am on 2 December 1938 the SS Prague docked at Parkeston Quay. On board were 196 children, the first arrival of what would become known as the 'Kindertransport'. Over the next 9 months some 10,000 children arrived in the UK crossing the North Sea to escape Nazi persecution throughout Europe. The majority of the children were Jewish and most entered this country through the port of Harwich. The ships carrying the children sailed past this point. Those with homes to go to went straight off the boat by train to Liverpool Street Station in London. The local community cared for Those who had nowhere to go. Many were temporarily housed in tiny chalets at the local Warners holiday camp. Other children were accommodated at the Salvation Army hostel and some were taken in by local families. The oldest were 16 years. A few were babies carried by other children. None were accommpanied by their parents. [thick line followed by a poem] 'MY FATHER' I search my childhood continually for my father as I searched the town for him on the day our synagogue burned all my finds are worthless because I cannot know whether life or make believe put these fragments into my mind / I can see him only through death, but when he was living he must have been like my sons, once young and with hope confident of his future an adventurer not a victim he was proud and respected when I was a child on his lap / Of six million Jews every man has the face of my father I pity mankind because I feel pity for him he survives in whatever on earth cries out mercy but the loss of his personal life is his and mine / Karen Gershon 'Selected Poems'

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