A Kindertransport Rescue: My Journey from Berlin to England to the USA
Ilse Eden - A Kindertransport Rescue: My Journey from Berlin to England to the USA • March 25, 2018
Ilse Eden was born in Berlin, Germany, to non-observant Jewish parents, in 1928. Although an only child, she was surrounded by extended family and friends. After the ascent of Hitler in 1933, life for Jews gradually became circumscribed and risky. Ilse first went to a parochial, and then, a Jewish school. Her mother wanted to emigrate, but her father was reluctant to leave because he was allowed to continue working as a lawyer, being a veteran of World War I.
Photo courtesy of Ilse Eden
Ilse remembers “Kristallnacht.” After that, England agreed to admit 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children, and Ilse was chosen as one of a group of 12 sponsored by a Jewish pediatrician in London. She emigrated March 15, 1939, and lived with these children until the outbreak of war, when all children were evacuated from London. She graduated from a boarding school in Cornwall at the end of the war, in 1945.
Ilse's mother was able to come to England as a domestic servant. Ilse saw her during school vacations until they emigrated to Los Angeles together in 1947. Her father had been issued a visa to go to Cuba in 1942, but Hitler had issued an edict that men under 50 were not allowed to leave Germany. Her father was 48 years old at that time. He was deported and killed in Auschwitz.
After Ilse emigrated to the United States, she went to night school college and then to the Graduate School of Social Work. She worked as a social worker for 50 years, and along the way married, and had two children. She now spends her time exercising, walking, taking classes, and enjoys traveling and visiting her two grandchildren in Utah.
If you would like to view our archive video of the presentation, contact Dr. Marion Gerlind for access. You can watch a trailer here.
