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Read nonfiction Text:

“The Children Who Escaped the Nazis”

Follow Nonfiction

Reading Plans

Read nonfiction Text:

“The Children Who Escaped the Nazis”

Follow Nonfiction

Reading Plans

Read nonfiction Text:

“The Children Who Escaped the Nazis”

Follow Nonfiction

Reading Plans

Read nonfiction Text:

“The Children Who Escaped the Nazis”

Follow Nonfiction

Reading Plans

E. K. Baker

Daily Activity Schedule – Week of 5/04/20

5th ELA– Mrs. Swafford

Office Hours are 8:30 - 12:30 Monday – Friday

Contact me: Class Dojo or Email – mswafford@mcminnschools.com

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S T O R Y W O R K S . S C H O L A S T I C . C O M • M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 0 5

On a chilly April morning in 1939, 14-year-old Lore Sulzbacher sat alone in an enormous train station in London. All around her, people were talking, but Lore didn’t know

what they were saying. She didn’t speak a word of English.

Lore clutched her only possessions: a suitcase filled with clothes and photographs, and her accordion, a musical instrument she loved to play. She wondered what was going to happen to her.

Only a few days earlier, Lore’s parents had said they were sending her away from her home, from everyone and everything she knew and loved. Germany, where Lore had been born and always lived, had become too dangerous for Jewish people like them. And it was clear that more terror was coming.

There was no escape for Lore’s parents. But they had been given the chance to send Lore to England, where they hoped she’d be safe.

As Lore shivered in the station that cold April morning, her mind swirled with worry and fear. A British family had volunteered to take her in, but Lore had never met them. She didn’t even know their names. What sort of people would they be? What would become of her family? What kind of life would she have in this strange new land?

Lore wanted to be brave, but she fought back tears.

Why did her parents have to send her away?

LOOK FOR WORD NERD’S 10 WORDS IN BOLDLearning From History As you read this story, look for information about a terrible time in history and how some people responded.

UPCLOSE

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A StoRm oF HaTreDJewish people had always been a

small minority in Germany and other countries in Europe. Like people of all religions, Jewish people had their own customs and beliefs. For this reason, many Germans viewed them with intolerance and suspicion. Prejudice against Jewish people, known as antisemitism, had been a problem in Germany and all of Europe for centuries.

But beginning in the early 1930s, when Lore was a little girl, prejudice against Jewish people in Germany exploded into vicious hatred and violence. In 1933, a man named Adolf Hitler became head of the government. At the time, Germany was still suffering from a humiliating defeat in World War I, which had ended in 1918. In the years since, German people had faced years of growing poverty, unemployment, and hunger.

Hitler and his Nazi Party gave Germans someone to blame for these problems: Jewish people. In hateful speeches, Hitler told vicious lies that stirred up old prejudices. The Nazis passed laws that robbed Jewish people of their rights and treated them like they weren’t even human.

Night of Violent AttacksJewish people were fired from their jobs

and forbidden to vote. Friends turned cold and cruel; some shouted vile insults at their Jewish neighbors or even threw stones at them.

Signs appeared in windows of restaurants and shops that said “Jews not wanted.” Jewish

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people were beaten in the streets. By the time Lore was 12, she could no

longer go to her school. She was forbidden to swim in public pools or go to the movies or even walk through public parks—just because she was Jewish.

Then, on the night of November 9, 1938, in cities and towns across Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia, large mobs organized by the Nazis unleashed terrible violence. Jewish homes, schools, and synagogues were burned to the ground. Jewish stores were destroyed. This night of violent attacks came to be known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass.

After that, Lore and her parents accepted the terrible truth: Germany—the only home they’d ever known—was no longer safe.

They needed to get out.

A Time of HorrorSeptember 16, 1935: Adolf Hitler (standing in

car) salutes Nazis as they march in a parade in the city of Nuremberg, not far from where Lore

lived in Fürth. On the flags is the swastika, a symbol of Nazi hatred.

ThE ChilDreNAs news of Kristallnacht spread, people

around the world were horrified. Yet few countries were willing to open their doors to refugees trying to escape Hitler. But in England, a group of Jewish and non-Jewish people were determined to help. They figured if they couldn’t get entire families out, maybe they could at least save the children. They asked the British government to take action.

The British government voted in favor of helping young Jewish refugees. They created a complex plan to rescue Jewish children. This operation would be called the Kindertransport. (Kinder means “children” in German.)

Under this plan, Jewish children younger than 17 could receive special permission to come to Britain, where they would be placed with families or would live in groups in small hotels.

In England, hundreds of people offered to help the young refugees. Now, parents like Lore’s faced an agonizing decision: send their children to live with total strangers in a far-off country, or keep their families together and try to survive Hitler’s terror.

Saying GoOdbYeOn December 1, 1938—just a few

weeks after Kristallnacht—the first train of the Kindertransport left Germany for England. By early 1939, nearly 300 children were arriving in England

every week. On April 14, 1939, Lore’s mom and dad

told her that they had arranged a place for her on the Kindertransport. Lore would have only four days to get ready to leave.

The rules were strict: Lore was allowed one suitcase, one small bag, and 10 marks—about $70 today. The Nazis didn’t want anything of value to leave Germany.

At the train station, Lore’s parents insisted they would see her again. As the train hauled itself out of the station, all Lore could do was stare out the window until her mom and dad faded from view.

A New LiFeWhen Lore arrived in London, a couple

appeared and introduced themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Schreiber. Lore barely understood

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In 1942, Germany, Italy, and Japan fought together and were known as Axis countries. Against them were Allied countries: Britain, the U.S., the Soviet Union, and more.

a word of what they said, but she went with them to their home in the city of Lincoln.

The Schreibers and the people of Lincoln did their best to help Lore. The Schreibers gave her a bed to sleep in and food to eat, and they sent her to school to learn English. Their 17-year-old son quickly accepted Lore as a sister, and the two became close friends.

At school, kids invited Lore to play cricket, one of England’s most popular sports. Lore didn’t know the rules, but the kids

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The KindertransportThe experiences of the Kindertransport children varied widely. Some were taken in by kind families. Others were put to work as household servants or sent to work on farms. Left: Lore with her mom and dad in Germany.

S T O R Y W O R K S . S C H O L A S T I C . C O M • M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 0 9

made sure she knew when to run. Despite these kindnesses, Lore was lonely

and homesick. She wasn’t used to English stews and meat pies. Even as her English improved, school was difficult, and she struggled to communicate with her classmates.

And most of all, Lore missed her parents. She held out hope that they would be able to escape to England, but life in Germany was getting more grim by the day. Her parents wrote often. In one letter, her father told her to be strong.

“Keep your head up high,” he wrote.

PuShiNg FoRwarDOn September 1, 1939, horrific news

arrived: Germany had invaded Poland. Britain was joining with other countries in Europe to fight Hitler.

World War II had begun.The start of World War II put an end to

the Kindertransport in Germany. For Lore and the other children, the dream of seeing their families was crushed. Mail stopped, though Lore was able to get bits of news about her parents through a relative in Switzerland.

Through the difficult years of the war, Lore tried to make the best of life in England —even as bombs from German warplanes rained down. She learned to sew while working in the dress shops the Schreibers owned. She also took art classes at night. After all, this is what her parents had wanted for her: to live her life, to thrive.

When Lore turned 18 in 1943, she said goodbye to the Schreibers and joined the British army. “I felt I was saying thank you to

England for saving my life,” she would later say.

Lore was sent to London and given a job as a driver. She made many new friends. For the first time, she felt like she truly belonged. “The people on my left, the people on my right,” she recalled, “we were all the same.”

ThE End oF tHe WaRIn 1941, the U.S. joined the fight against

Germany. The war raged on for four more years until finally, in May 1945, Germany surrendered.

After the war, hundreds of Kindertransport children found one or both of their parents. But most never saw their parents again. Few Jewish people in Nazi-occupied countries survived.

Tragically, Lore’s parents were killed in a Nazi death camp. They were among the some 6 million Jewish men, women, and children across Europe who were murdered by the Nazis. This horror would later be known as the Holocaust.

Today, the Kindertransport is remembered as a remarkable feat. During a time of violence and hatred, ordinary people in England had banded together to help children from a foreign land. The lives of some 10,000 children were saved.

Despite everything that she lost, Lore always looked back on her life with a sense of gratitude. After the war, she had a son, three grandchildren, and a marriage as happy as her parents’ had been.

“I think I’m very lucky to be here,” Lore said. “I’ve had a lovely life.” n

Write a letter or record a video explaining to Lore what you learned from her story about the Kindertransport and why it happened. Send it to “Kindertransport Contest” by June 1, 2020. Ten winners will each receive I Survived the Nazi Invasion, 1944 by Lauren Tarshis. See page 2 for details.

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After the war

“The Children Who Escaped the Nazis”May/June 2020

Text Structure

Name: ____________________________________________ Date: ________________

Sequence of EventsDirections: After reading “The Children Who Escaped the Nazis,” fill in the timeline below to map out the text structure, which is a sequence of events. In the article, find each year listed here and use the prompts in the margin on the right to help you.

Skill Builder

©2020 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Permission granted to teachers and subscribers to make copies of this page to distribute to their students.

(and theearly 1930s)

What happened in 1933 in Germany? What did Jews living there experience in the early 1930s?

What terrible event happened on November 9th? What began as a result?

Who joined the war?

What did Lore do during the war?

What did Lore do after the war?

Continued on next page >

“The Children Who Escaped the Nazis”May/June 2020

Text Structure

Name: ____________________________________________ Date: ________________

Sequence of Events, p. 2Directions: Although sequence of events is the main text structure for this article, it includes examples of other text structures too. Answer the questions below about the other text structures you can find.

Skill Builder

©2020 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Permission granted to teachers and subscribers to make copies of this page to distribute to their students.

1. Find one example of cause and effect in the article. Describe it below.

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2. Find one example of problem and solution in the article. Describe it below.

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3. Find one example of compare and contrast in the article. Describe it below.

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4. Find one example of description in the article. Describe it below.

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