Memorial ‘Children Transport – The Final Parting’ Hamburg

Since 2015, in Dag Hammarskjöld Square, in front of the southern exit of Hamburg-Dammtor station, there has been this bronze artwork commemorating the transports of children from Nazi Germany. These transports took thousands of Jewish children from Germany to Britain and other countries between December 1938 and the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939. Thanks to these transports that left from Dammtor Station, about 1,000 Jewish children could be rescued from Hamburg. They were often the only ones from their families to survive the war.

The poignant memorial consists of three bronze statues of small children with suitcases, symbolising the young refugees forced by the Nazis to leave their homes and loved ones behind. The statues stand on a plinth of concrete rails, representing the train tracks that - for them at least - led to their rescue.

A plaque contains the names of the Kindertransport children who left from Hamburg, as well as an inscription in German and English that reads, ‘In memory of the children who were deported from this place to England in 1938 and 1939 in the hope of escaping National Socialism and persecution.’

The artwork was created by Frank Meisler, who himself escaped the Holocaust on such a transport as a 10-year-old.

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