Sitting unobtrusively in the Friends House courtyard, a simple, symbolic sculpture pays a quiet tribute to an important – yet largely untold – episode in recent Quaker history: the role of the Society in rescuing almost 10,000 children from Nazi Europe before the Second World War.
After the Kristallnacht in November 1938, Jewish groups turned to the Quakers for help.
Monday 1st December marked the seventieth anniversary of the first train carrying Jewish children away from Nazi persecution to leave Berlin. Quakers, who played a key role in this evacuation, marked the anniversary with an event at Friends House in London, bringing together survivors and families who cared for the children.
Britons who saved the lives of Jews and other persecuted groups during the Holocaust are being honoured for their actions. They include Quaker Bertha Bracey who lobbied the British government about the plight of Jews in Germany. She played a key role in setting up the Kindertransport which brought 10,000 mainly Jewish children to England from mainland Europe.
For forty years what happened to Lotte Kramer was too hard to think about. She says “One knew, but memories were too painful to express.” Then she began writing poetry – and is still writing. It is a way of telling other people. “They need to know but I don’t know if they’ll learn any lessons. You get such terrible things happening now.” 
