„Trains to life – Trains to death“

They’ve escaped with trains from Germany. At the end of 1938 until 1939, just until the war had started. It was many of them. Thousands of children managed to escape. The jewish community, the quakers and the british government had arranged an escape as well as their integration into new families. The memorial by Frank Meisler at the station Berlin Friedrichstraße is supposed to get this back into your minds about 70 years later.

Many will probably know what memorial I am talking about. On your way from the tram to the station, on Georgenstraße, you will have to pass it by. On the plaque that is shown above you can see the reflection. The israeli artist Meisler was born in Gdansk and was one of the children himself who escaped from the Nazi regime. It was the rescue from a definite death and the chance to start a new life. I was surprised to read in the Jewish Newspaper that at the moment there is still much criticism from many sides. In fact, it was so strongly opposed that the figueres had to be worked over. Now two of the children are bronze (saved), the other ones are grey (not saved) just like the concrete of the actual memorial. But the discussion seems to go on. And that does have a few reasons. For example it has been proven that most of those transports started at Anhalter Bahnhof, so the location of the memorial is definitely wrong.

* Many of the children were arriving at Liverpool Street Station to meet their new families. On the plaque they’ve talked about a „mixed success“. Because just like many children were treated very well, there were also the ones that were just forgotten about or that were treated like servants. At the certain station the artist Meisler has already installed a similar sculpture.

text & photo by Eugen Braeunig