The Children’s Train

Literature & Fiction

synopsis

Synopsis

In November 1938 on The Night of the Broken Glass, the Jewish people of Germany are terrified as Hitler's men shatter their store windows, steal and destroy their belongings, and arrest many Jewish fathers and brothers. Parents fear for their own lives but their focus is on protecting their children. When England arranges to take the children out of Germany by train, the Kindertransport is organized and parents scramble to get places on the trains for their young family members, worried about what the future will hold. Soon, trains filled with Jewish children escaping the Nazis chug over the border into Holland, where they are ferried across the English Channel to England and to freedom. But for Peter, the shy violin player, his sister Becca, and his friends Stephen and Hans, life in England holds challenges as well. Peter’s friend Eva, who did not get a seat on the Kindertransport, is left to the evil plans of Hitler. Peter, working his musician’s hands raw at a farm in Coventry, wonders if they should have stayed and fought back instead of escaping. When the Coventry farm is bombed and Nazis have reached England, Peter feels he has nothing left. He decides it’s time to stand and fight Hitler. Peter returns to Germany to join the Jewish underground resistance, search for the mother and sister he left behind in Berlin, and rescue his childhood friend Eva.

bio

Author Biography

As Jana tells it, the remarkable story of the Kindertransport children in Nazi Germany touched her heart and would not let go: “Since the moment I heard their incredible, historic tale, they have not left my mind. The Kindertransport children came to live in my conscience and would not leave until I told their story.” Jana hopes readers will find the courage to stand up to the injustices that affect us all. Jana Zinser is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire School of Law and received her masters in Journalism from the University of Iowa. Her past work in politics, public policy, and the media, coupled with her determined focus on children and social justice, have uniquely placed her to tell this story. It’s a story as timeless and essential as ever, a story that will capture the hearts of the world. Jana lives in Colorado with her children.

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Author Insight

Freedom Can Still Be Scary

Although they escaped Germany, many of the older children were placed in a summer camp even though it was winter. So much like today, the living conditions for the refugees in 1939 were not ideal...but at least they were free.

Book Excerpt

The Children’s Train

Peter climbed inside the double-decker bus with his suitcase and violin. He’d overheard the volunteers saying they were headed to Dovercourt, a summer holiday camp in Essex about sixty-four kilometers south of London. The only problem with this arrangement was that it was winter.

Peter quickly wiped a tear away and looked around to check if anyone had seen him crying, but no one had noticed.

Hans and Stephen were already seated in the bus. They waved to Peter.

“Peter!” Hans called. “That boat was rough, eh?”

“Where’s Becca?” Stephen asked, looking behind Peter.

Peter looked at Hans and Stephen, eyes hollow with grief. “On a train to London.”

“What?” Hans asked.

Peter walked on past them, unwilling to discuss “the best the English could do.”

Hans and Stephen looked at each other. “Maybe the holiday camp won’t be such a holiday,” Stephen said.

“At least it’s not a Nazi camp.” Hans shrugged.

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Jana Zinser

The Children’s Train

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

Freedom Can Still Be Scary

Although they escaped Germany, many of the older children were placed in a summer camp even though it was winter. So much like today, the living conditions for the refugees in 1939 were not ideal...but at least they were free.

Book Excerpt

The Children’s Train

Comment on this Bubble