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

Getting Use to the Stench

When the good German people accepted abusive behavior from their police--the Nazis, towards a group of their citizens, it created a tolerance for the intolerable. When that happened, the hate became even harder to stop.

Book Excerpt

The Children’s Train

A crowd had gathered around the newsstand. Curious, Peter pushed his way through to the front to see what all the commotion was about. He saw that everyone was buying newspapers with the headline: “DECEMBER 11, 1941: US DECLARES WAR ON GERMANY!”

Peter slowly backed out of the panicking crowd. His hand quickly covered the smile he could not contain. He knew with the United States on Hitler’s tail, it would change everything. For a moment, a tiny piece of happiness sprang up inside him.

Then he frowned and shoved the joy back down. In the chaos of the news, he noticed the bread cart next to the newsstand was left unattended. Sloan had taught him that opportunity was everything. Emotions had no place in war.

Peter looked around. His surge of confidence from the news about the United States made him bold. He reached up, grabbed a loaf of bread, and briskly walked away. When he came to the entrance of the sewer, he glanced around. When the street was empty, he opened the cover and disappeared into the sewer pipes under the city. The smell still repulsed him, but he had become used to no longer having a choice in anything, and acceptance created a tolerance for the intolerable.

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Jana Zinser

The Children’s Train

Synopsis

Author Biography

Author Insight

Getting Use to the Stench

When the good German people accepted abusive behavior from their police--the Nazis, towards a group of their citizens, it created a tolerance for the intolerable. When that happened, the hate became even harder to stop.

Book Excerpt

The Children’s Train

Comment on this Bubble