Diane Samuel’s Kindertransport is replete with issues that have been struggled with since ancient times. The Hebrews wandered the desert, taking nothing with them (for it was too much to transport through the vast desert) – no art, and thus, leaving nothing behind. A thousand years later, the same people took nothing with them, (with the exception of their memories), to their mass graves, and often times, left nothing behind – no children. Some fortunate Jewish people were able to send their children to England in order to avoid persecution from Nazis in Germany. The children that were sent could take only their necessary personal effects, clearly, taking family heirlooms was out of the question. These children were displaced people; though, they were not homeless or orphaned because they had people in England to care for them. They were a people without a land, as the Jews have been throughout history. They were a people made to almost completely vanquish their heritage in exchange for the ability to live a life, a life in other lands – complete with others’ memories and histories.

Kindertransport examines the struggle of a Jewish born, English raised Eva/Evelyn to deal with her past. Her parents sent her to England, with valuable jewelry enclosed in the heels of her shoes, to ensure that she would be able to survive. Release from her parents’ household was the ultimate loving act because it would almost guarantee that she would live. In England, Lil was her keeper. Lil was their through her pre to post adolescence. In the absence of Eva’s birth mother, Lil became her surrogate parent. Eva/Evelyn grew up accustomed to the nature of her English surroundings and more readily accepted her English heritage. At the age of 17, her Mutti came to take her to America so they could forge a life new life together. Before Mutti got on the boat, the pair had a terrible, relationship quashing argument about identity and self. Mutti missed her Eva; Eva wants to continue living as Evelyn. The play was replete with mother-daughter issues. Evelyn struggles with her own daughter Faith’s issues in understanding Evelyn’s past. Evelyn wants to suppress the memories – Faith wants to understand the history. This, of course, causes Lil and Evelyn to destroy some past papers, but also helps them to form a more intimate bond because they revisit the past. The past is, after all, what shapes the present. Throughout the entire play, the looming theme of the Rat Catcher visits the set and props. They women read the book in the German, the story is translated, the songs ring out through the air, etc. It is an ominous, foreboding feeling that one has when this character is explored. The Rat Catcher’s goal was to take away all happiness, all talent, all youth, all vitality – just because of the mistake of one. It is horrific to know that in more recent history there have been such Rat Catchers in our midst. The acts of the Holocaust will never be forgotten: drama as literature, such as Kindertransport, helps to put a more human face on the atrocities of hatred. These events were real: this work asks us to not deny, nor ever ever forget history. Like the Rat Catcher from the 1200s, history repeats itself. This play asks us to make it our goal to ensure that these memories live on ---- and never happen again.

To learn more about Kindertransport, go here: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005260

In this work, there are questions of loyalty? Should we be loyal to those who raised us, or loyal to those who bore us? Or both? How does such a situation come to a conclusion where all parties involved feelings are validated? History is a murky pond - but one we need to dive into to understand the present.

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http://blogs.setonhill.edu/DenamarieErcolani/2005/11/kindertransport.html#more

Please feel free to read the agenda item on my blog. :)