Object numberM2016/040:078
DescriptionPhotograph of Beate Hammett (nee Beer), sitting on a bicycle in the garden of her foster parents home in Bridgnorth, England, 1939. Part of a collection of photographs and letters related to her kindertransport experiences during WWII.
Prompted by the destruction of the Prinzregentenstrasse Synagogue in Berlin, on the eve of Kristallnacht, 9 November 1938, Beate’s parents made arrangements for her to travel with the kindertransport to Britain. In April 1939, her new life began, commencing with a train journey and then three days on the S. S. Manhattan, the American liner which docked the children in Southampton. Beate spent the war years with a foster family in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Correspondence with her family continued for the first two years of the war, after which time communication was limited to 25 word Red Cross messages.
Beate describes, "During the first two years of the War, brief communications with my parents continued, on double-sided postcards with a space for a reply… My parents' side of the card made a sad litany of reproaches: for infrequent responses, unanswered questions, neglect and a painful change of tone became evident... I can now neither recall nor imagine how I came to be so thoughtless and cause so much pain”.
Beate’s reflections of her time in Britain echo the experiences of many kindertransport children. Assimilation into unfamiliar families with unknown customs was in many cases, traumatic. Classified as refugees, or as ‘enemy aliens’, these children underwent significant and instant transformations in their pre-war identities; cut off from their loved ones by distance and eventually by correspondence, kinder children undertook their own struggles to fit in and build lives. These letters also portray the strain for parents and extended family; forced to suppress details of their dire circumstances, unable to express the true importance of maintaining communication. For Beate, as for many of the kinder, letters such as these represent the last words from family in a life left behind.
Prompted by the destruction of the Prinzregentenstrasse Synagogue in Berlin, on the eve of Kristallnacht, 9 November 1938, Beate’s parents made arrangements for her to travel with the kindertransport to Britain. In April 1939, her new life began, commencing with a train journey and then three days on the S. S. Manhattan, the American liner which docked the children in Southampton. Beate spent the war years with a foster family in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Correspondence with her family continued for the first two years of the war, after which time communication was limited to 25 word Red Cross messages.
Beate describes, "During the first two years of the War, brief communications with my parents continued, on double-sided postcards with a space for a reply… My parents' side of the card made a sad litany of reproaches: for infrequent responses, unanswered questions, neglect and a painful change of tone became evident... I can now neither recall nor imagine how I came to be so thoughtless and cause so much pain”.
Beate’s reflections of her time in Britain echo the experiences of many kindertransport children. Assimilation into unfamiliar families with unknown customs was in many cases, traumatic. Classified as refugees, or as ‘enemy aliens’, these children underwent significant and instant transformations in their pre-war identities; cut off from their loved ones by distance and eventually by correspondence, kinder children undertook their own struggles to fit in and build lives. These letters also portray the strain for parents and extended family; forced to suppress details of their dire circumstances, unable to express the true importance of maintaining communication. For Beate, as for many of the kinder, letters such as these represent the last words from family in a life left behind.
Production date 1939 - 1939
Production periodWWII
Object namephotographs
Materialphotographic emulsion, paper, paper
Dimensions
- width: 140.00 mm
height: 87.00 mm
Language
- English
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ms Beate Hammett