Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage16 Des 2025

"Kindertransport" by Diane Samuels

In this episode, Sam and Alex explore Kindertransport by Diane Samuels. In 1938-39, nearly 10,000 mostly Jewish children were brought to the UK as part of a humanitarian mission that rescued them from what was to come in Nazi-occupied Europe - but meant that many never saw their parents again. Kindertransport draws upon the experiences of kinder and rescuers to look at what it means to survive when everything you once knew has been ripped away.

When nine-year-old Eva arrives in Manchester from Germany, she knows it won’t be long before her parents join her. But as time passes, contact stops and hope fades, Eva begins to transform herself into Evelyn, blocking out her past to reinvent herself. It’s only years later, when her own daughter Faith is getting ready to fly the nest, that Evelyn is forced to admit the truth and face what she thought was already gone.

Sam and Alex discuss elements including the themes of identity, loss and intergenerational trauma; comparisons between the Kindertransports and British evacuees during WWII; the device of the Ratcatcher; and Kindertransport’s contemporary relevance in the context of child refugees and rising global tides of hate.

Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner

Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke

Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner

Music: “Image” by Infraction Music

Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/

Episode Sources

Books & Articles

Melissa Hacker and Ernest Goodman, "Kindertransport." Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 November 2025.

Plays

Diane Samuels (1995/2009) Kindertransport. Nick Hern Books.

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