Names Not Numbers

Manfred Korman

Hamburg, Germany

Kinder Transport

In Hiding

1931

Manfred Korman

Hamburg, Germany

1931

Manfred Korman was born on December 21, 1931, and lived in Hamburg, Germany, with his mother, father, and older brother. His father was a traveling shoe salesman, and his mother stayed at home. On October 28, 1938, Manfred’s family, along with thousands of other Jewish families, was deported to Poland. In Poland, they were initially housed in horse stables before being moved to a different setting.

Eventually, they all lived together in a rented room.

In April 1939, Manfred’s father was permitted to return to Germany to take care of their apartment, car, and other belongings. While in Hamburg, he was given the opportunity to go to Cuba. In May of 1939, his father departed for Cuba on a ship known as the St. Louis. Unfortunately, Cuba did not allow the ship to dock in Havana, and no other country in the Western Hemisphere,

including the United States, would permit the ship to land and allow the passengers to disembark to avoid returning to Germany. The ship eventually returned to Europe, and the passengers were distributed among four countries.

In June 1939, Manfred and his brother were accepted into the Kindertransport program, which allowed children to escape the dangers of war. They traveled to Warsaw, Poland, and were transferred to a suburb named Otwosk.

In August 1939, they left Otwosk, returned to Warsaw, and traveled to Gdynia. In Gdynia, they boarded a ship called Warsawa and arrived in England a few days later. Once in London, they were placed in Jewish homes.

On September 1, 1939, World War II began. By September 10, the British government decided to evacuate all schoolchildren to the countryside.

Six of us Kindertransport children, including Manfred and his brother, were sent to Talaton, England. Meanwhile, in July 1939, Manfred’s mother was permitted to leave Poland and returned to Germany. She visited Manfred’s father and then needed a visa to go to the United States, which took a long time to obtain. Eventually, she went to Genoa, Italy, and left Italy in April 1940, landing in the United States.

In September 1940, Manfred and his brother left England and arrived in the United States on September 10, 1940. In July 1946, after spending more than six years in the Netherlands, including nearly four years in Camp Westerbork—a concentration camp that was considered a transit camp for all Dutch Jews—Manfred’s father arrived in the United States. Many people from Westerbork were sent to places like Auschwitz.

Names Not Numbers

Manfred Korman

Manfred Korman

The End