Holocaust Audio Tour 13: A Child’s Prized Possession

The next artifact is an accordion contained in a glass exhibit case. This artifact introduces us to the Kindertransport, a program created in 1938 that allowed 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria and Poland to flee to the United Kingdom. Those children were placed in foster homes, hostels and schools. They were often the only members of their families to survive the Holocaust. This accordion allows the museum to share the story of Gertrude Wolff, one of those 10,000 children. Children leaving on the Kindertransport train could only take two medium-sized suitcases, but 14-year-old Gertrude Wolff boarded the train with her little sister on May 17, 1939, with one suitcase and one accordion. The accordion on display was a gift from her parents. Refusing to leave her prized possession behind, Gertrude used the accordion as her second suitcase. Gertrude’s parents managed to escape Germany, but her father was interned by the British. She came to the United States with her sister and mother in 1939. After World War II, she married Robert Kahn, whose violin is also on display in this exhibit.