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Photo: Frida Carlqvist
The exhibition’s information panels are shaped like suitcases.
The exhibition “I came alone” now opens in Malmö.
It tells the story of some of the 500 Jewish children who came to Sweden as quota refugees in 1938 and 1939.
At that time, it was not impossible as a Jew to leave Nazi Germany, but it was difficult to obtain entry permits to other countries.
– The world turned its back on the Jews, says Ingrid Lomfors, superintendent of the Forum for Living History.
Now the exhibition “I came alone” is opening in the archives of the city of Malmö together with the Forum for Living History. The exhibition is about Jewish refugee children who arrived in Sweden in 1938 and 1939 in the “Kindertransport” children’s transport. To a large extent, the exhibition consists of the many letters that parents sent to their children in various foster homes or orphanages in Sweden. However, most of the correspondence comes to an abrupt end, as the vast majority of refugee children lost their families in the Holocaust.
The situation for Jews in Germany and Austria had gradually worsened during the 1930s. After Crystal Night in November 1938, many Jews tried to leave the area. However, the most difficult thing was not to leave Nazi Germany.
– At the beginning of the Nazi period in power, it was good for the Jews to leave the country, city that we would leave the country, but also that we would leave our possessions. Until the autumn of 1941, we could leave Germany if we were allowed to enter another country. Then policy changed, when it was decided that the Jews would be exterminated, says Eva Lecerof, who came to Sweden when she was three years old in 1939.
What prevented many from traveling in the late 1930s was precisely the difficulty of obtaining entry permits to other countries, says Ingrid Lomfors, superintendent of the Forum for Living History.
– At the Evian Conference in June 1938, which took place at the initiative of Roosevelt, the so-called “Jewish question” was resolved, ended in complete failure, and the world turned its back on the Jews.
Few of the invited countries wanted to receive Jewish refugees. Instead, parents tried to save their children from Nazi Germany, and Jewish congregations and organizations in various countries began working to obtain entry permits for German Jewish children.
Photo: Frida Carlqvist
Eva Lecerof arrived in Sweden with her mother in May 1939.
Under pressure, England took the initiative to host 10,000 Jewish children in late 1938, and several other countries followed, but with fewer. Sweden decided to accept 500 Jewish refugee children in its child quota. A total of 20,000 Jewish children were transported from Nazi Germany, Austria and the occupied part of Czechoslovakia in the so-called Kindertransport, the transport of children, and 500 of them traveled to Sweden.
– Everyone who came had experienced discrimination and persecution, says Ingrid Lomshof.
“Men in uniform asked for dad”
Most of the children were alone. One of those who came to Sweden in “Kindertransport” is Eva Lecerof, born Eva Israel, from West Germany. She is one of the few who came with a father after Kristallnatten on November 9-10, 1938.
– On the morning of the tenth, someone knocked on our door and my mother opened it. A group of men in uniform came in and asked for my father, says Eva Lecerof.
However, he had left home when the family received a warning that the SS had arrested several teachers at the school where the father worked.
– Mom said she was at work and then they started destroying our whole house. Then they left. I have a very strong memory of those tall shiny boots that passed right in front of me. Dad got away that night, but he didn’t make it in the long run.
Eva’s parents managed to ensure that Eva and her brother received a part of the quota for Sweden. The mother also managed, through contacts, to get a job in a rectory in Munkfors, so they traveled together in May 1939. At that time, Eva was three years old. Her brother, who was 6.5 years old, went with a group of children to Stockholm and ended up in an orphanage. After a year, he joined Eva and her mother.
Photo: Frida Carlqvist
Eva Lecerof and Ingrid Lomfors in the exhibition “I came alone”. Ingrid Lomfors’ mother Penina, who came to Sweden alone when she was 13, can be seen in the black and white image on the right.
The father stayed when he did not get an entry permit. The reception of refugees then relied entirely on voluntary forces and that someone could receive the refugees. Before you had an address or a job, you were not allowed to leave Nazi Germany.
– The priest tried to get an entry permit for my father, he made a great effort but failed. A job could not be solved.
Eva’s father first fled to Belgium, but when the Germans invaded, he fled across the border to France, where he was arrested and ended up in two different detention camps in France. There were bad conditions with congestion and lack of food.
– But it was not the case that there was slave labor or slaughter right there.
“The last letter is dated July 27”
Eva’s father could send letters from the French fields.
– We got about 50 letters from dad. But the last letter is dated July 27, 1942.
In August 1942, the Germans occupied the camp and the prisoners were transferred. The father traveled to Auschwitz with about 1,000 other people on August 10. Eva doesn’t know if he was killed immediately or worked for a time, but her father died in the field in 1942.
– During the Nazi era, a million Jewish children were murdered. My brother and I avoided this destination by joining this Kindertransport.
Eva Lecerof talks about a nice welcome and a good time in Munkfors and that she did not experience any anti-Semitism there. However, the family was always ready to flee, especially after the Nazi German occupation of Norway.
– We pack the bag. We understood that if they came from Norway, we would have to flee. They all knew where Israel lived.
Later, both brothers were able to study. Eva went on to study medicine in Lund and has lived there since her studies.
Photo: Frida Carlqvist
In the folder next to the typewriter are the letters that Ingrid Lomfors’ mother, Penina, received from her parents.
The exhibition was created by Forum for Living History and has been open in Stockholm for a few months, but has now gone on tour. In Malmö, several local stories have been added.
For Ingrid Lomfors, historian and superintendent of the Forum for Living History, the exhibition is particularly personal. She found out as a young adult that her mother, Penina, had escaped the Holocaust. When she was 13 years old, her mother was part of the Kindertransport in 1939.
– I couldn’t talk about it, says Ingrid Lomfors.
“Heartbreaking letter”
Instead, Ingrid was allowed to delve into her mother’s story through, among other things, family members in Israel. After her mother’s death, she received the letters her grandparents had written to her daughter, who had been allowed to go to Sweden. In the letters, distance parents try to raise their daughter and make sure she wears warm clothes in winter. The letters are translated and can be read at the exhibition.
– They are heartbreaking letters, there is so much daily life, so much affection and love, and trying to guide your children towards adulthood, despite everything terrible that happened to them. How to constantly try to ensure that children are grateful to their adoptive parents and behave and dress warmly. And then you know that deep down there is a terrible tragedy unfolding, says Ingrid Lomfors.
– Can you imagine what it is like to receive these letters and not be able to help your parents, that debt became a companion all your life, says Ingrid Lomfors.
Photo: Frida Carlqvist
Ingrid Lomfors shows the translated version of the letter that her mother Penina received from a relative when her parents “left,” that is, they disappeared in a camp.
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