Anne Lehmann and her family no longer feel safe in their Berlin home. Life in 1938 Germany is deteriorating quickly for the Lehmanns and all Jews living there. In order to protect their daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Lehmann may have to say goodbye to her forever. Anne must struggle to bring meaning out of despair, to cling to love and hope even in a world that seems filled with hatred and violence. This gripping and poignant production about Anne and her family’s decision whether or not to send her on the Kindertransport is a tribute to the strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of a family’s love
While every student in America learns about World War II, not many people remember the kindertransport. Not many know that in 1938, as the Nazi rise to power began to spell a darker and darker fate for Jewish people, thousands of Jewish children from Germany Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Austria left their homes on the Kindertransport and went to live in England.
In 1938 and 1939 10,000 Jewish children living in Nazi occupied countries were permitted to leave their homes via the Kindertransport in order to find safe haven in England just prior to the outbreak of World War II. They were forced to leave behind their parents, their homes, and everything they knew and loved, most of them would never see their mothers and fathers again.
Anne Lehmann Fox was one of these 10,000 children. She left on the Kindertransport in December of 1938, when she was just 12 years old. Years later, she would record her experiences in the book entitled, My Heart in a Suitcase