Ruth Grant
Ruth was born in 1928 in Cologne, Germany. She was five when Nazis confiscated her house and her parents’ business. The morning after Kristallnacht Ruth witnessed frightening scenes of destruction on the streets. After her brother’s successful escape to England via the Quakers, Ruth secured a place on the Kindertransport. She was initially fostered in London until she moved to a hostel in Yorkshire, where she met her husband, a fellow refugee. Neither saw their parents again. After a brief spell in Australia, they decided to return to England and settled in Leeds with their three children. (Quaker-aided UK immigration, Came With Parents or Close Family, Mass Kindertransport Arranged by School, With Foster Family, British Internment - Isle of Man, British / Australian Internment: Dunera, Return visit to country of birth)
I did not feel too sad to be leaving my parents, but of course they were extremely upset. I was looking forward to seeing my brother in England. I had a vision of England as a little island with a tree in the middle and my brother was sitting under it. It is strange how my mind as a child worked. It did not even occur to me that I would never see my parents again.
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