The Journey from Essen

I wrote this book to tell an important story about a boy from a wealthy Jewish family who escaped and survive Nazi Germany. His parents and his sister were killed outside the Lodge concentration camp in 1941.

The book begins with the history of the grandparents and the parents to the time when the boy found himself with other boys. They saw their parents quickly fading in the distance as the locomotive started to pull them into an unknown journey. The boy’s father was wealthy enough to secure for Hans, a place with the Kinder-Transport.

By train and boat the boys arrived in England were they were received by families who had volunteered to bring these ’refuge children’ into their homes. Hans was fortunate enough to be assigned to an affluent family, who lived near London. After several months Hans was informed that there had been a conversation about adoption between his host and his father. He opted to go to school on his own and eventually make his way to Palestine.

After attending classes at several locations, Hans and some of his friends were located to Chester. That is were he found himself when World War II broke out. Two weeks before his graduation, he and all his friends were shipped to a farm in Lancashire were they were taught farming in preparation for Kibbutz-life in Palestine.

The last stop for Hans was in Kindersley, Shropshire where Hans had a very successful career as a dairy-man. But when the group of boys and girls had to register as ’Friendly

German Enemy Aliens’, Hans and several others opted to volunteer for the ’JEWISH BRIGADE’. It was because of his service with the Brigade that Hans would find a way to fulfill his dream to go to Palestine.