Statue: Kindertransport - Kent
War Memorial
Erection date: 16/9/2003
{Carved into the right side of the plinth:}
Pro dítě {Czech for “for the child”}
{Carved into the left side of the plinth:}
For the child
{and on a bronze plaque below:}
Dedicated to The Religious Society of Friends – The Quakers, for instigating the Kindertransports and their unique role in getting the British Parliament to change legislation in order to accept the children into Great Britain.
{followed by text in Czech, presumably saying the same thing.}
{Carved into the front of the plinth:}
Fur das kind {German for “for the child”}
{and on a bronze plaque below:}
Fur das kind – Displaced
by Flor Kent
Commemorating the greatness of ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Kindertransport Memorial
linking
Liverpool Street Station – London
Hlavni Nadrazi Station – Prague
Westbannhof Station – Vienna
In tribute to all those who helped rescue 10,000 Jewish and other children escaping Nazi persecution through the Kindertransports from Austria, Czechoslavakia and Germany to the United Kingdom in 1938-9. Liverpool Street Station was the main place of arrival and the meeting point for the children and their sponsors and foster families.
In memory of the millions, including over one and an half million children, who were killed during the Holocaust.
They will not be forgotten.
Dedicated 16 September 2003.
Rededicated 21 May 2011
By Sir Nicholas Winton.
With special thanks to: Crown Fine Arts; Deutsche Bank; Minister of Transportation, Innovation and Technology of Austria; Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic; Portland Sculptures & Quarry Trust; Schreiber Charitable Trust; UBS; Winton Train Inspiration by Goodness; and many other generous donors & supporters.
Site: Kindertransport - Kent (1 memorial)
EC2, Liverpool Street Station, Lower level
This sculpture was first installed in 2003, just outside this station, in what is now named Hope Square, when it looked very different, consisting of just the female figure and a large glass cabinet. Flor Kent informs: "The piece, comprising a glass cabinet that resembles a giant suitcase, contains real objects belonging to some of the rescued children. The bronze figure is actually a life cast, aged 8 and dressed with contemporary clothes, of the grandchild of one the rescued girls." The Poor Mouth has a photo of the original sculpture.
The Kent sculpture was removed from Hope Square (where, in 2006 Meisler's Kindertransport sculpture was installed) and, in 2011, the Kent sculpture was reconfigured with the 2 children and installed where we photographed it, on the lower level of the station. The IWM partly explains this: "The sulpture was dismantled when it was found that the facilities affecting the environmental conditions of the case were not performing correctly. The artefacts were returned to the Imperial War Museum."
