by Cindy K. Stewart
For
more information regarding the Kindertransports, please see my April post, “TheKindertransports: Nearly 10,000 Children Saved from Nazi Territory.” Today’s
post begins in Austria.
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Jews seeking emigration visas line up in front of the Polish consulate in Vienna. Austria, March 22, 1938. Wide World Photo.
Courtesy of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
|
The Germans
marched into Austria in 1938 and immediately instituted the same Nazi racial
policies they had gradually established in Germany during the previous five
years. Kurt Fuchel was seven years old, and his idyllic life in Vienna changed
rapidly. Kurt’s father was dismissed from his position as a mid-level bank
manager, Kurt was dismissed from his school, and tensions mounted in the Fuchel home. Kurt’s parents spent many hours visiting
consulates, making phone calls, and studying maps as they endeavored to escape
their homeland. Kurt, accustomed to being the center of attention, coped by
pulling the tablecloth off the table, dishes and all.
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Kurt's Mother in Their Vienna Apartment, 1930 Courtesy of USHMM |
The
German occupiers passed a law that Austrians in good standing with the Nazis could "appropriate" Jewish apartments. The Fuchels lived in a very nice apartment in Vienna,
and on the morning of Kristallnacht (November 9-10), when other Jewish businesses and
homes were raided, a Frau Januba with some officers arrived at the
Fuchel home and claimed their apartment. She showed the Fuchel's an official paper and gave
them one day to move out. When Kurt’s father told her she was stealing what he
and his wife had worked for, she threatened to send him to a concentration
camp. The Fuchels packed what they could but had to leave the rest and move in with a neighbor the next day.
The Fuchel's situation became so grave that they sent Kurt to England on the Kindertransport. He traveled by train through
Germany and Holland and then by ship across the English Channel to
Harwich. Percy and Mariam Cohen chose to become Kurt's foster parents and met him in Harwich on a bitterly cold morning. Dirty and smelling of seasickness, Kurt and the other children straggled off
the gangplank into an unknown land. The Cohens took Kurt home,
gave him a bath, burned his old clothes, and provided him with new ones.
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Kindertransport Refugees Arriving at Harwich, England, 1938 From Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library Limited Courtesy of USHMM |
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Kindertransport from Vienna, Austria, Arriving at Harwich, England From Wide World Photo - Courtesy USHMM |
According to
Mariam Cohen, Kurt was very well behaved and became a happy member of their family.
He gained a little brother - five-year-old John Cohen. Kurt learned English from a German man hired by the Cohens, and then he attended a small, private school
with John. Kurt promptly forgot how to read, write, and speak German and never relearned
it.
Kurt
recalls hiding under the grand piano in the living room and listening in as the
adults gathered around the radio and heard England declare war on Germany. To
an eight-year-old, the beginning of the war was exciting. When the air raid
sirens went off, he and the Cohens hid in the downstairs coat closet, and in the mornings,
they picked up shrapnel outside. The fear and horror came later.
Kurt’s
biggest fear was that the Cohens would send him away. Other children he knew from the kindertransports
had not adjusted well to their new families and had been forced to move to
other homes. Kurt worked hard in school and worked hard to please the Cohens, but he was jealous of John and paid close attention to whether the two boys were treated the
same. After a time, Kurt concluded that the Cohens were very fair with both of them.
Meanwhile, Kurt’s
parents escaped Austria through Italy and settled in the south of France, and Kurt was able to corresponded
with them for the first two years he lived with the Cohens. Wonderful
people in southern France hid Kurt’s parents, and after the war, the Fuchels
reestablished contact with the Cohens. But Kurt was so settled in his new life
that he was horrified by the thought of going back to live with the Fuchels. Mr. Cohen convinced Kurt's parents to wait to send for him until Kurt had earned
his English school certificate and the Fuchels had reestablished themselves. Kurt’s father obtained employment, and he and his wife found a place to live in Toulouse, France. Kurt was sixteen years old when he and the Cohens left for France.
![]() |
Kurt Fuchel |
When
Kurt saw his parents for the first time in nine years, he was
overtaken by a strong sense of love, which he both felt and fought. He couldn’t
speak German or French and his parents spoke little English. When the Cohens
left to return home to England, Mr. Cohen cried. Most of the children from the
Kindertransports had lost their birth parents to the Nazis, but Kurt had two sets
of parents who loved him.
Kurt’s
parents had sent a seven-year-old off to England and now they were confronted with a sixteen-year-old. This required an adjustment for all of them, but Kurt and his parents rebuilt their
relationship. In 1956, the Cohens' quota number came up to emigrate to the United
States. Even though Kurt was now a Frenchman and was comfortable with life in France, he and his parents moved to America, and Kurt fell in love with New York. And, of course, he could already speak
the language. Kurt corresponded with the Cohens over the years but regretted not seeing Mr. Cohen before he died. Kurt was later able to enjoy many visits with Mrs. Cohen and John.
*********
Source:
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of
the Kindertransport by Mark Jonathan Harris and Deborah Oppenheimer, 2000.
*********
Cindy Stewart, a high school social studies and language arts teacher, church
pianist, and inspirational historical fiction author, semifinaled in the
American Christian Fiction Writer’s 2017 Genesis
contest, and won ACFW’s 2014 First
Impressions writing contest in the historical category. Cindy is passionate
about revealing God’s handiwork in history. She resides in North Georgia with
her college sweetheart and husband of thirty-six years and near her married
daughter, son-in-law, and three adorable grandchildren. She’s currently writing
a fiction series set in WWII Europe.
Cindy, what a beautiful story and one that made tears stream down my face. I've shared this on my social media. Lest we forget all these brave people and children. . .
ReplyDeleteElva Cobb Martin
Pres., ACFW-SC Chapter www.elvamartin.com
Elva, thank you for stopping by and for sharing. I love to learn about stories of kindness and compassion from such a difficult time in history.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAmazing.
ReplyDeleteA truely inspirational story,heart warmimg,sad and very moving. I would have liked to have seen frau januba loss everything that she stole from this poor defenceless family, like thousands of others.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it makes you ashamed to be human beings, knowing that they can turn like that.
Hi Cindy!, How unusual to find your story, as this is my family! Kurt Fuchel was my Dad! I'm glad that you found his story to be meaningful to you. In truth, I think the plight of children often is meaningful to us all, as we can all imagine what it might feel like to be sent away, or to be the sender, as hideous as this circumstance is. (For me, the reality of my Dad's story didn't hit me until my own son turned 7, and I looked into his gentle brown eyes and couldn't imagine putting him on a train.) Anyway, thank you for re-telling our story! If you wish to be in touch, my email is here.
ReplyDelete