The Kindertransport Story
Guest Speaker
Above: John reading out the final farewell letter his mother, Trude Feige wrote to him and his brother Arthur.
Below: A picture of Heini Feige (John) as a young boy.
John Fieldsend was our guest speaker for October 2017. He was born Heini Feige and is one of the Winton children who, with his brother and over six hundred other Jewish children were transported from Nazi occupied Czecholslovakia to Britain to start a new life. John's describes his life as "The story of a life preserved and fulfilled." John speaks regularly at the Holocaust Centre at Laxton in Nottinghamshire, for the Holocaust Education Trust and to many other organisations around Europe.
Scroll down this page to read more about the Kindertransport story and to see more photographs.
This film first aired on BBC Newsnight in 2012, and has been shortlisted for the IWM Short Film Festival 2016.
75 years after the British government sanctioned a mission to bring 10,000 Jewish children to the UK, some of those who came to Britain speak about their memories. It contains one of the last interviews with Sir Nicholas Winton who organized the transport of the Jewish children to the UK. Producer: Maria Polachowska.
(Note: we've linked this video from youtube, so be aware you may have an advert pop up at some point. Just click on the little x in the corner of the ad to make it go away!)
John Fieldsend is sat in the centre of this photograph, with some of our members. David and Margaret Burbidge are on the left as you look at the picture.
Given the nature of John's talk, on a subject that leaves us continually in disbelief, we did expect a very good turnout. But to have in excess of two hundred members attending did surprise us!
John spoke for around an hour and then took questions from the members.
Afterwards he signed copies of his book, A Wondering Jew, for us. He then sat with members and chatted about his experiences and his life.
The photographs were taken of our members prior to the meeting getting started.
Further down the page we've added photographs in a Gallery. Most of the pictures were used in John's talk.
If you click on one of them you can enlarge and see them more clearly.
The links open up in a separate tab or window and give more information about the mission.
Links
More About Kindertransport
The link below will take you to a short eBook that tells the story of the Kindertransport mission. It's a 'flipbook' and will open in a new window. You can turn the pages just like a conventional book by clicking on the arrows on each side.
Note:
The information in the flipbook is from Encyclopedia Britannica's website.
You will see a number of 'live' clickable links in the book on various words/phrases which will open up another page in your browser on the subject. If you don't click on these links you can simply read through the information and ignore them.
On the left is John Fieldsend with Sir Nicholas Winton.