Reading: Renate Hebauf “Du wirst nach Amerika gehen“ (You’re Going to America)
On 10 March 2022, Renate Hebauf presented her publication “Du wirst nach Amerika gehen: Flucht und Rettung unbegleiteter jüdischer Kinder aus Frankfurt am Main in die USA zwischen 1934 und 1945” (You’re going to America: Escape and rescue of unaccompanied Jewish children from Frankfurt am Main to the USA between 1934 and 1945), in the lecture hall of the German National Library. Her book deals with the topic of child emigration from Germany to the USA during the Nazi era. The book tells the previously unwritten story of Jewish children who were separated from their parents and taken from Frankfurt am Main to the USA between 1934 and 1945. The author draws on numerous life stories to describe the often tragic emigration of children from Germany, most of whom never saw their parents again. Set against a backdrop of historical events, she tracks the different escape routes they took and their stopping points along the way besides telling a number of individual rescue stories. The book discusses political and social contexts along with the efforts made and difficulties experienced by the aid organisations. Numerous former refugee children and some of their descendants also have their say. Moreover, the book takes a close look at countries such as Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal, which became important stopping points for many of the children, who in some cases spent several years there. The book presentation was part of the accompanying programme of the exhibition “Child Emigration from Frankfurt”. Cover: Brandes & Apsel Verlag, using a cover photo from Aufbau of 3 October 1941 on the arrival of the children in New York on 24 September 1941 with the Serpa Pinto. Photo: Leo Lieb. Source: Aufbau-Archive bei der Jüdischen Medien AG Zürich.