In 1990, a book by Judith Baumel, "Unfulfilled Promise" was published about OTC.
In 2000, Leonore Moskowitz and Iris Posner found the names of virtually all the children brought over and located about 500 who were still alive.
A three-day reunion was held in Chicago, Illinois, in 2002 with about 200 attendees
Britain had a similar operation called Kindertransport which is better-known, From 1938-1939, 10,000 Jewish children were removed from harm's way. VIVO, the Center for Jewish History in New York City is now the repository for the entire OTC archival collection.
Besides Wikipedia, you can find out more at www.onethousandchildren.org.
Quite a Heartwarming Attempt. --Cooter
Showing posts with label One Thousand Children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label One Thousand Children. Show all posts
Friday, May 27, 2011
One Thousand Children-- Part 1
Earlier this week, I wrote about the teenagers who got two ladies together who came to the US under this little-known program before and during World War II.
I had never heard of it and did some quick research on good old Wikipedia.
Approximately 1400, mostly Jewish, children were rescued from Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied or threatened countries. This was done by entities and individuals in the US. All came without their parents.
There is a One Thousand Children (OTC) organization whose primary goal is to explain and document this little-known part of World War II.
Some facts:
** Children came from Europe to US 1934-1945
** Aged 14 months to age 16
** Arrived unaccompanied by parents
** Placed with foster families, schools and facilities across the US
The first small group came arrived in New York City in November 1934. After that, about 100 annually came in small groups. Before 1941, small groups were the norm because of US hostility to foreigners during the Great Depression.
More to Come. --DaCoot
I had never heard of it and did some quick research on good old Wikipedia.
Approximately 1400, mostly Jewish, children were rescued from Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied or threatened countries. This was done by entities and individuals in the US. All came without their parents.
There is a One Thousand Children (OTC) organization whose primary goal is to explain and document this little-known part of World War II.
Some facts:
** Children came from Europe to US 1934-1945
** Aged 14 months to age 16
** Arrived unaccompanied by parents
** Placed with foster families, schools and facilities across the US
The first small group came arrived in New York City in November 1934. After that, about 100 annually came in small groups. Before 1941, small groups were the norm because of US hostility to foreigners during the Great Depression.
More to Come. --DaCoot
Monday, May 23, 2011
Teens Link 1938 Friends-- Part 3
The students then found another important clue, a 60th wedding announcement dated from last year.. The Madison teens then felt they were confidant enough to find Gerda Frumkin's phone number.
A call was left. Frumkin's husband Perry responded via email and then found Chapman's blogpost about her mother's search
The long-lost friends have since spoken several times by phone and plan to reunite in Seattle this June. O'Boyle says her students will be watching via Skype.
Hopefully, there will be newspaper coverage of the reunion.
That is amazing when you think that the students at Madison are about the same age as Gerda and Edith back in 1938. Who knows how many historians we are going to get out of this class of eighth graders?
Now, That IS Some REAL History, Not Just from Books. --Cooter
A call was left. Frumkin's husband Perry responded via email and then found Chapman's blogpost about her mother's search
The long-lost friends have since spoken several times by phone and plan to reunite in Seattle this June. O'Boyle says her students will be watching via Skype.
Hopefully, there will be newspaper coverage of the reunion.
That is amazing when you think that the students at Madison are about the same age as Gerda and Edith back in 1938. Who knows how many historians we are going to get out of this class of eighth graders?
Now, That IS Some REAL History, Not Just from Books. --Cooter
Teens Link 1938 Friends-- Part 2
I had never heard of this One Thousand Children Program so definitely will be doing some more research on it. On the cruise ship was where Edith Westerfield (then Edith Schumer) met Gerda Frumkin (then Gerta Katz) met. They quickly became inseparable. For ten days on the ship and three days in New York, the two formed a bond to fill the void of their families left behind.
In New York, they saw the Rockettes and Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at Radio City Music Hall.
They parted ways when Gerta headed to Seattle and Edith to Chicago, both to stay with family. They never met again, until now.
For 73 years, Edith Westerfield kept a photo of her friend she nicknamed Gertie. "21 Marz 1938. Zur Erinnerung Deine Freudin, Gertie Katz," theback of the photo read. "March 21, 1938. For remembrance. Your friend, Gertie Katx."
After Chapman's visit, Madison social sciences teacher Catie O'Boyle told her students that teaching the Holocaust always made her wish there was something she could do. Her students suggested they try to find Gerda.
Chapman had tried to do that as well but had been unsuccessful.
The students spent four days in the school's Learning Rsources Center using Google, Facebook and newspaper databases.
A clipping from a Seattle newspaper in the late 40s revealed that Gerda Katz was now Gerda Frumkin. An important find.
More to Come. --DaCoot
In New York, they saw the Rockettes and Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" at Radio City Music Hall.
They parted ways when Gerta headed to Seattle and Edith to Chicago, both to stay with family. They never met again, until now.
For 73 years, Edith Westerfield kept a photo of her friend she nicknamed Gertie. "21 Marz 1938. Zur Erinnerung Deine Freudin, Gertie Katz," theback of the photo read. "March 21, 1938. For remembrance. Your friend, Gertie Katx."
After Chapman's visit, Madison social sciences teacher Catie O'Boyle told her students that teaching the Holocaust always made her wish there was something she could do. Her students suggested they try to find Gerda.
Chapman had tried to do that as well but had been unsuccessful.
The students spent four days in the school's Learning Rsources Center using Google, Facebook and newspaper databases.
A clipping from a Seattle newspaper in the late 40s revealed that Gerda Katz was now Gerda Frumkin. An important find.
More to Come. --DaCoot
Teens Link 1938 Friends-- Part 1
From the May 14th Chicago Tribune by Mick Swasko.
"Two who fled Nazi Germany as girls are reconnected by Naperville students' efforts.
Here is a group of teens who are getting a great history lesson.
"It was a brief email that rekindled an equally short childhood friendship 73 years ago." Gerta "Gertie" Frumkin is living in Seattle and the email made it to Edith Westerfield, 86, in Skokie, Illinois.
Determination and technical knowledge enable eighth grade students at Naperville, Illinois' Madison Junior High School, got the two together for the first time since they spent about two weeks together escaping Nazi Germany in 1938.
Edith Westerfield's daughter, Fern Schumer Chapman, had visited the students earlier this year to discuss books she had written about the 1930s, based primarily on the experiences of her mother who traveled to America as a twelve-year-old without her family.
Westerfield was part of a small and little-known American effort called One Thousand Children to remove Jewish children from Germany.
"This was a very quiet program," she said. They took ten kids out (at a time) on cruise ships."
"Two who fled Nazi Germany as girls are reconnected by Naperville students' efforts.
Here is a group of teens who are getting a great history lesson.
"It was a brief email that rekindled an equally short childhood friendship 73 years ago." Gerta "Gertie" Frumkin is living in Seattle and the email made it to Edith Westerfield, 86, in Skokie, Illinois.
Determination and technical knowledge enable eighth grade students at Naperville, Illinois' Madison Junior High School, got the two together for the first time since they spent about two weeks together escaping Nazi Germany in 1938.
Edith Westerfield's daughter, Fern Schumer Chapman, had visited the students earlier this year to discuss books she had written about the 1930s, based primarily on the experiences of her mother who traveled to America as a twelve-year-old without her family.
Westerfield was part of a small and little-known American effort called One Thousand Children to remove Jewish children from Germany.
"This was a very quiet program," she said. They took ten kids out (at a time) on cruise ships."
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