Amy Williams

 Memory of the Kindertransport in National and Transnational Perspective 

Holocaust Studies, Memory Studies, and Exile and Emigration Studies

Thesis Description:

My thesis seeks to present the first comprehensive examination of the different national and international memories of the Kindertransport. In the following, I understand 'Kindertransport' here as referring not just to the actual rescue of Jewish children from Nazism (1938-1940), but also its effects, i.e. transplantation to a new and strange environment, with all the ensuing complications of adaptation and integration. There is yet to be a true comparison of how the English speaking host nations - Britain, America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand - received the Kindertransportees and integrated them, and of how the memories of the transportees and the nations' memories of the Kindertransport developed (Kinder also travelled to Sweden, Belgium, Holland and France). A comparison of these various host countries will reveal that memory of the Kindertransport and other transports was not uniform, but shaped by national factors such as the role of these countries in the war, their post-war political, economic and social development, social and cultural policies towards refugees, and nationally conditioned memory discourses. However, no memory is entirely nationally bounded. Increasingly, Holocaust memory operates in a transnational, even global network (Levy and Sznaider, 2006); the specific interaction of such global memory with national memory patterns in the case of the Kindertransports will also be examined. Moreover, the working hypothesis of this PhD project will also disclose that there was not ONE memory of the Kindertransport, but several, nationally conditioned memory discourses. My previous research has focused on British memory of the Kindertransport, revealing that interest in this event emerged late (1980s). British historiography, the Kindertransportees' accounts and museum exhibitions were studied to reveal how the memory of the Kindertransport is represented in Britain. Also I have recently studied the fictionalisation of the Kindertransport and here I discovered that a more unconventional narrative was disclosed to the reader. The final chapter of my MA dissertation considered the link between how British, American, German and Swedish authors represented the Kindertransport to Britain and whether they brought their own national perspectives to the table. However, this PhD project aims to branch out from specifically focusing on the British narrative of the Kindertransport to reveal the stories of the Kindertransport in other host nations which are not as explored or recognised as the British story of this event.

The first aim of the project is to map out the ways in which the Kindertransportees were received in their host countries, something that has only partially been research despite a growing body of work on the Kindertransports (e.g. Fast, 2010; Hammel and Lewkow, 2012; Read, 2013; Baumel, 1990; Lindauer, 2007). The second is to identify, for each country, how the memories of the Kindertransport were articulated in autobiographical, political, social and cultural form. The third is to undertake a comparative assessment of these forms of expression, exploring interactions between them. The project will be aware of the need to differentiate between forms of memory; nevertheless, I believe that it will be possible to identity broad national patterns within each country. Finally, this PhD project will provide an international comparison of memory of the Kindertransport. The increasing 'cosmopolitanisation' of Holocaust memory (Levy and Sznaider, 2006; 2010) will have impacted in all four countries under consideration. The research will explore how national memory patterns intersect with global ones and, in terms of academic impact, extend knowledge of the aftermath of the Kindertransports. It also hopes to bring the national back into the equation through an international comparison.

Supervisors and Institution(s): 

Prof. William Niven - Nottingham Trent University

Dr. Karl Wilds - University of Nottingham

Biography:

• Midlands3Cities/AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (Nottingham Trent University)
• MA Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Distinction (Nottingham Trent University)
• BA History with English Literature: 1st (Nottingham Trent University
  
  

Research Assistant at Nottingham Trent University (January 2019 – July 2019)

• Co-created an open-air exhibition in Berlin with PhotoWerkBerlin, Prof. Bill Niven and Dr. Andrea Hammel entitled "Am Ende des Tunnels: Die Kindertransporte for 80 Jahren aus Berlin" (2019).
• Presented on the Kindertransport within UK schools.
• Gave conferences papers about the Kindertransport.
• Working with the Stolpersteine team in Berlin to bring the memorials to the UK.
• "Britain remembers the Kindertransport but is in danger of forgetting its lessons" via The Conversation, 2019  https://theconversation.com/britain-remembers-the-kindertransport-but-is-in-danger-of-forgetting-its-lessons-123227
   

Kindertransports in National and Transnational Perspective' in Laura A. Macaluso's edited volume Monument Culture: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments in a Changing World (2019) 

In Search of the Kindertransport: Research Journal (2019)

"Am Ende des Tunnels: Die Kindertransporte for 80 Jahren aus Berlin" (2019) - An Open-Air Exhibition. 

The exhibition created with PhotoWrekBerlin, Prof. Bill Niven and Andrea Hammel. The project was supported by Sir Sebastian Wood, Britische Botschaft Berlin, Elke von der Lieth, Kommunuale Galerie Berlin, Inge Deutschkron Stiftung, Hanna Zack-Miley, Ruth Barnett, Ruth Parker, Matthias Schirmer, The Wiener Library, Jüdisches Museum Berlin, Bundesarchiv, Deutsche Bahn, and Fachbereich Kultur Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. 

https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news/news-articles/2019/08/holocaust-studies-academics-open-the-first-kindertransport-exhibition-in-berlin

https://www.berlin.de/ba-charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2019/pressemitteilung.835941.php

https://www.photowerkberlin.com/blogs/blog/am-ende-des-tunnels?_pos=1&_sid=8e42d8539&_ss=r

Placement at The National Holocaust Centre and Museum, UK (Beth Shalom) November 2016 - January 2017

This placement was over a three month period and focused on the preservation, remembrance, and representation of the story of the Kindertransports within a museum setting both in terms of exhibitions and collections. 

7 subject overviews have been published on the National Holocaust Centre and Museum's website - http://www.nationalholocaustcentre.net/pages/category/subject-Overviews - Kindertransport, Anne Frank, Kristallnacht, The Voyage of the St. Louis, Children in the Holocaust, Rabbi Schonfeld, and Sir Nicholas Winton. 

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum recently posted this blog post about my placement and how I worked with their SOC material. They also kindly discussed my placement in their newsletter. 

https://www.nationalholocaustcentre.net/blog/amy-williams-working-with-soc-material

https://www.holocaust.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=146abca0-98b9-49bc-b074-5fb3cd0b35c3

Exhibition: "Re-thinking the Story of the Kindertransports: Testimony, Artefacts, Identity" (2017)

The exhibition was funded by Midlands3Cities/AHRC and was completed during my placement at the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, UK. 

The exhibition has recently been displayed at the 80th anniversary events in Leominster organised by Barbara Winton and at the British Embassy in Berlin organised by Lisa Sophie Bechner. Germany's leading Jewish newspaper feature the exhibition in one of their articles - https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/allgemein/humanismus-der-tat/

I was very privileged to work with the Curator of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, UK recently to help create two new online exhibitions. The links are below. The first exhibition focuses on faith before, during and after the Holocaust and the second looks at how objects can tell a story. 

https://www.nationalholocaustcentre.net/my-faith

https://www.nationalholocaustcentre.net/how-an-object-speaks-for-me-my-journey

Exhibition: "Legacies of the Holocaust" on display at the National Holocaust Centre and Museum (The exhibition concept came from my supervisor Prof. Bill Niven - I helped to create the Kindertransport section of this exhibition) The National Holocaust Centre and Museum helped with research, images and design. Other students also contributed to this project. 

Proposed Exhibition: "The Kindertransports from a British and German Perspective" in collaboration with Prof. Bill Niven, NTU (The proposed exhibition was first displayed at the 80th Kindertransports anniversary event at the British Embassy in Berlin, Germany on 6th December 2018). 

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) recently shared our blog post about our work which is linked to the exhibition on their website - https://holocaustremembrance.blog/2018/11/20/the-role-of-memory-in-the-negotiation-of-the-refugee-crisis/

SDFs/CDFs:

SDFs 1 and 2 - These two SDFs involved applying for funding so that I could travel to interview Kindertransportees living in the UK. These SDFs were vital to my research because I had the incredible opportunity to listen and speak with survivors. These research trips also developed my needs-based training because I gathered primary evidence and developed best-practice interviewing techniques. 

SDF 3 - This research trip involved a 6 night stay in London to consult the relevant archivals here in the UK. This was critical to the overall PhD project because firstly I needed to understand how the term Kindertransport is used and secondly when it was coined. I also visited the London Jewish Museum, The Imperial War Museum, and the Wiener Library to reflect upon how their exhibtions represent the Kindertransport. This was also vital to the overall PhD project because I have now gathered material on how Britain’s memory of the Kindertransport has developed and thus I am able to draw comparisons between how these memories have been shaped and changed since the 1930s up until today. 

SDF 4 - The core component of my PhD thesis is an international comparison between Britain, America, and the Antipodes and how these countries received the Kinder and how the memory of the Kindertransports developed in each host nation. For this to be achieved a 10 day scoping trip to America was needed. First to discover what is held within the archives, second to conduct interviews with survivors and their families, and third to start making concrete comparisons between the host countries. This scoping trip was critical to the overall PhD project because it made me think about the overall shape of my project. The first 5 days were spent in Washington visiting archives such as the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC and the national archives DC. The remaining 5 days were then spent in New York interviewing Kinder, visiting the Centre for Jewish History, and the Jewish Museum. 

SDF 5 -  This placement was over a three month period and focused on the preservation, remembrance, and representation of the story of the Kindertransports within a museum setting both in terms of exhibitions and collections. 

SDF 6 -  This activity was a research trip to Australia and New Zealand for 25 days. This research trip involved visiting national and other archives, interviewing survivors, and viewing museum exhibitions and memorials. I was also invited to give two talks while on my trip, one was at The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand on 3^rd May 2017 and the second was at the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne on 10th May 2017. I visited Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide altogether. 

SDF 7 - This application was for a 6 day research trip to Montreal, Canada to complete the final part of my primary research. My research is on host nations: Britain, America, Canada and the Antipodes. I have completed my research in Britain, America and the Antipodes. However, I was missing primary evidence from Canada. I have been able to collect information about this nation from history from several sources which include: Alison Pick’s novel Far To Go, edited collections The Kindertransports to Britain 1938/39 and The Young Victims of the Nazi Regime, and two exhibitions which were displayed at the Vancouver Holocaust Centre. But I still needed to gather oral testimonies from Kinder in Canada. This final research trip was to consult the archives, museums and to interview survivors and their families. 

RTSG - This application was to attend a 4 day conference from 13th-16th December in Copenhagen entitled the 2nd annual conference of the Memory Studies Association. This conference was the predominant conference in my field of study and it was also an international conference. I presented a paper on the topic of my PhD and it was also a rare opportunity to get feedback on my developing ideas from the world’s leading memory scholars, such as Marianne Hirsch, Michael Rothberg and Aleida Assmann. Discussing my thesis with these and other experts provided an invaluable inspiration. 

CDF 1 - Debates in contemporary memory studies was designed for the purpose of discussing regional, national, and international memories of the Holocaust. This CDF consists of 5 seminars and a one day workshop held at NTU. 

CDF 2 - Responding to the present by remembering the past - World Jewish Relief have established a legacy of helping and caring for refugees. Their work first started prior to the Second World War and they were instrumental in bringing the Kindertransportees over to the UK before the war broke out (although at the time the organisation went by another name). They have also helped in many other catastrophes for example they have helped in Rwanda, in Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey, and they are currently aiding Syrian refugees today.

The activity followed on from our previous, successful CDF “Debates in Contemporary Memory Studies”. It involved a collaboration between World Jewish Relief and PhD students. This collaboration lead to the creation of an exhibition tracing the history of the organisation, their work in the UK and abroad, and how we can learn from the past to help refugees in the present. The exhibition incorporates M3C students’ work, and has established links with World Jewish Relief and the Jewish community in Nottingham as well as the Jewish communities in Israel, New Zealand, and Australia as we will eventually turn the exhibition into a booklet and send it out to schools and Holocaust Centres in these countries. We invited WJR to a workshop day at Nottingham Conference Centre. The day involved talks by WJR about the history of the organisation, what is in their archives, their work in places like Rwanda, what they are doing to help refugees today, and their work in the UK. PhD students also were invited to give 15 minute presentations about their work. As the main focus was on Holocaust studies the day provided a good opportunity for students to talk with World Jewish Relief about their work. Moreover, we all work in this field but we wanted to actually give something back and help in some way. So, we are aiming to raise funds for the charity. This will be done by baking cakes, running half marathons, and a mini university challenge competition. We have raised around £500 so far. 

Exhibition: Responding to the Present by Remembering the Past (2018)

The exhibition was launched at the Scottish Parliament on 15th June 2018

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) recently shared our blog post about our exhibition on their website - https://holocaustremembrance.blog/2018/08/01/responding-to-the-present-by-remembering-the-past-a-travelling-exhibition/

World Jewish Relief also recently shared another blog post on their website about our collaboration with them -https://www.worldjewishrelief.org/news/777-responding-to-the-present-by-remembering-the-past

New Zealand and Australia SDF

I gave two talks while in New Zealand and Australia. The first was at the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand in Wellington and the second was at the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne. My paper focussed on how the Kindertransports are represented in British museum exhibitions but it also discussed some early conclusions about how they compare to exhibits in New Zealand and Australia. 

Steven wrote a blog post that was prompted by my talk in Wellington, NZ... http://stevensedley.blogspot.co.nz/

Jewish Holocaust Centre (Melbourne) - http://www.jhc.org.au/news-and-events/calendar-of-events/item/565-amy-williams.html

After visiting the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne I was asked to write a piece for the centre's newsletter about my research and my trip to Australia. This is the link to the magazine and my work appears on pages 14-15 - http://www.jhc.org.au/images/stories/centrenews/centre-news-2017-issue2.pdf

I was privileged to have had my work read out at the Child Survivors Event: Quaker/ Kindertransport Commemoration Ceremony held at the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne - http://www.upj.org.au/images/pdf/gilad8nov17.pdf 

The Chairperson of the Child Survivors of the Holocaust group in Melbourne, Viv Parry, recently asked me to discuss my thoughts on the 80th anniversary bike ride to remember the Kindertransports in the 'Connections Newsletter'. 

https://www.jhc.org.au/child-survivors-of-the-holocaust/kindertransports/

Awards 

Midlands3Cities Culture Engagement Award 2017

Teaching:

Delivered two interactive lectures, a workshop and a seminar session to G.C.S.E and A Level students who attended the NTU Summer Residential. I also graded their essays which students had to complete as part of this outreach programme.

Passed the Essential Teaching Toolkit in Higher Education at NTU.

Delivered a lecture at NTU on 15/02/2017 to the History and the Holocaust and Genocide Masters students about the Social History of the Kindertransports.

Delivered 2 lectures at NTU in November 2017 to the third year European Studies undergraduate students about the Kindertransports - the British national narrative in elected novels and Post-memory and the Holocaust: the Kindertransports in international perspectives. 

Delivered a lecture at NTU on 29/11/2017 to the History Masters students about the Kindertransports: History, Memory and Archives.

Public Engagement Activities:

• January 2019 ‘A Spotlight On: Torn from Home, the Legacy of the Kindertransports’ – Talk at the National Arboretum. 
• December 2018 ‘Memory of the Kindertransports in National and Transnational Perspectives’ – Talk in Harwich to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransports, organised by Surrender and Sanctuary, the Wiener Library and the Imperial War Museum. 
• October 2018 ‘The Kindertransports in National and Transnational Perspectives’ – Talk at Nottingham Playhouse.
• On 15^th June 2018 our World Jewish Relief exhibition will be opened at the Refugee Politics: Dilemmas and Trade-Offs event at the Scottish House of Parliament in Edinburgh. I will also be briefly talking about the Kindertransports as I will be collaborating with my supervisor (Bill Niven). The joint paper will reflect upon the current refugee crisis. The German and Greek Politics Specialist Groups of the UK Political Studies Association have funded me to attend the event.
• Kindertransports exhibition as well as my Kindertrasports section of the Legacies exhibition were displayed at the Global Heritage Showcase at NTU on Friday 18 May 2018
• https://www.worldjewishrelief.org/phdstudentamy - I recently took part in a Wolf Run to raise funds for World Jewish Relief 
• From 15th-18th May 2018 I visited the Chateau de La Hille in Southern France to learn more about Kinder who escaped on Kindertransports to Belgium but who then fled into France when Belgium was occupied - https://www.ariege.com/decouvrir-ariege/occupation-et-resistance/chateau-de-la-hille
• https://www.holocaust.org.uk/Blog/defiance-yom-hashoah-2018-hyde-park-london - I attended the national Yom HaShoah event in London this year with the Curator of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum. The Curator asked me to write a blog post for the Centre's website about our experience.  
• Organised a Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) event at NTU, Clifton Campus on February 9th January 2018. I have invited the East Midlands HMD Regional Support Worker and the Curator of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum to attend the event and to give talks on this years theme - The Power of Words

• 
  
• I have organised for three speakers to join us at NTU to give papers on their research or on their personal stories relating to the Holocaust. The first talk will be given by a second generation Kind, the second session will be delivered by an prominent academic, and for the final seminar students will have the opportunity to listen to a Holocaust survivor. These talks will take place at Clifton Campus, NTU on...
• 5th February 2018

Articles:

• My essay "Kindertransports in National and Transnational Perspective" is going to be included in the volume, Monument Culture: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments in a Changing World, which will be published in late 2018 by the American Association for State and Local History/Rowman & Littlefield. 
• On 16th November 2017 the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) blog ‘Seeking Protection’ published my piece about "The Fictionalisation of the Kindertransports: Moral Lessons from Literature" https://holocaustremembrance.blog/2017/11/16/the-fictionalisation-of-the-kindertransports/
  
• The Fictionalisation of the Kindertransport: A Conventional or Unconventional Narrative? was published in the November 2015 Issue of the Association of Jewish Refugees' (AJR) Kindertransport Newsletter (Britain). Here is the link http://www.ajr.org.uk/content/view.cfm/documents/KTNEWSLETTER_NOV15.pdf
  
• A piece about my PhD project was published in the December 2015 Volume 15 No. 12 of the Association of Jewish Refugees' Journal (Britain). This piece highlights how survivors and their families can contact me. Here is the link http://www.ajr.org.uk/journalpdf/2015_December.pdf
• I have also had a piece about my PhD research published in the Kindertransport Association's Newsletter called Kinder-Link (America). This article also focuses on my on going interviews with Kindertransportees and their families both in Britain and in America.
  
  

Conference Papers:

• 'The Role of Memory in the Negotiation of the Refugee Crisis’ – Talk in Paris at the Negotiating asylum and accommodation. Migrants, refugees and hosting societies conference, March 2019.
• ‘The Role of Memory in the Negotiation of the Refugee Crisis’ – Talk in London at the Kindertransport 80 Years On: Critical Approaches to Kindertransport Research and Historiography International conference, January 2019.
• Invited to attend the Kindertransport commemoration event at the Foreign Office Berlin, November 2018.
• ‘The Fictionalisation of the Kindertransports’ – Talk in Copenhagen at the Memory Studies Association Annual conference, December 2017.
  
• ‘Jews on the Move: Exploring the movement of Jews, objects, texts, and ideas in space and time’ (British Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference), 10-12 July 2017, paper entitled: The Fictionalisation of the Kindertransports: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Self
• ‘Exil: Marginalität und Zentralität’ Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Exilforschung (‘Exile: Marginality and Centrality’ Annual Conference of the Society for Exile Studies),1st July 2016, paper entitled: The Representation of the Kindertransport in British Museum Exhibitions
• School of Arts and Humanities 6th Annual Conference Nottingham Trent University, 24th June 2016, paper entitled: The Imagined Other: A Kindertransportee to a Syrian Refugee Child
  
• New Perspectives on Holocaust Memory and Commemoration Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 13th May 2016, paper entitled: The Memory of the Kindertransports in National and International Perspectives 
  
• The British Association for Holocaust Studies PhD Student Conference, 5 April 2016, paper entitled: The Imagined Other: A Kindertransportee to a Syrian Refugee Child
• The Second Annual Conference of the British Association for Holocaust Studies, Another time, Another place? Challenges in Commemorating, Teaching and Researching the Holocaust 70 Years On, 21-22 July 2015, discussed my Masters dissertation 
• Nottingham Trent University’s 3^rd Annual Postgraduate History Conference, Journeys to Selfhood: Myth, Memory and Identity, 20th May 2015, discussed my Masters dissertation
  
  

Other Research Interests:

• Heritage and Cultural Heritage Studies 
• Museum Studies 
• The Second World War
• Oral History 
• Refugee Experiences 
• Literature 
• History 
• Memory Studies
• Memory policy 
• Basque Refugee Children - Los Niños