Description
Physical description
Slim red leather book cover with the word "PASS" in gold letters on the front.
Label
This passport cover was bought for Bea Green (née Siegel) by her parents when she was given the opportunity to go on the Kindertransport: ''When the opportunity to go on the Kindertransport came up I got a passport. It was not difficult for me to get it, it really depended on the authorities of each town. When I got my passport my parents bought me the leather cover. My brother Peter Siegel left to the UK 3 months before me. My parents, Maria Beate and Michael Siegel remained in Munich, they could not get visas out of Germany. Since some relatives had emigrated to Peru, my parents started to take Spanish lessons in the hope that it would be helpful. They had a young Peruvian student as their teacher who had come to Munich to study the Nazi movement. One day the teacher came very worried, he explained that he owed money to the landlord and to many other people. My father told him that he had very little money himself, but that he could pay him five lessons in advance. The teacher, puzzled, asked him why were they taking Spanish lessons. My parents told him that they wanted to go to Peru but could not get visas. The teacher told them that his uncle was the Minister of Interior and that he could provide as many visas as they wanted. After few postal exchanges, the visas arrived by September 1940. My parents then boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway train through Manchuria, China, Japan and once there, they boarded a ship in Kobe to Peru. There were 6 Trans-Siberian Railway trains and 6 ships from Kobe to South America, taking refugees out of Europe. It travelled with the curtains down throughout the trip. And it is heart-rending the fact that even in the most remote places the train stopped, there were always a small group of people, usually Jewish, greeting the refugees and offering them food and drinks. My mother kept a diary of the journey.' When Bea arrived in England she was sent to stay with a family near Sevenoaks, Kent. For more information about Bea's experiences see: 'I Came Alone : the stories of the Kindertransports', -edited by Bertha Leverton and Shmuel Lowensohn (1990), pp. 128-130.
History note
This passport cover was bought for Bea Green (née Siegel) by her parents when she was given the opportunity to go on the Kindertransport.
Bea says of her experiences:
'When the opportunity to go on the Kindertransport came up I got a passport. It was not difficult for me to get it, it really depended on the authorities of each town. When I got my passport my parents bought me the leather cover.
My brother Peter Siegel left to the UK 3 months before me. My parents, Mathilde ("Tilde") and Michael Siegel remained in Munich, they could not get visas out of Germany. Since some relatives had emigrated to Peru, my parents started to take Spanish lessons in the hope that it would be helpful. They had a young Peruvian student as their teacher who had come to Munich to study the Nazi movement. One day the teacher came very worried, he explained that he owed money to the landlord and to many other people. My father told him that he had very little money himself, but that he could pay him five lessons in advance. The teacher, puzzled, asked him why were they taking Spanish lessons. My parents told him that they wanted to go to Peru but could not get visas. The teacher told them that his uncle was the Minister of Interior and that he could provide as many visas as they wanted.
After few postal exchanges, the visas arrived by September 1940. My parents then boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway train through Manchuria, China, Japan and once there, they boarded a ship in Kobe to Peru. There were 6 Trans-Siberian Railway trains and 6 ships from Kobe to South America, taking refugees out of Europe. It travelled with the curtains down throughout the trip. And it is heart-rending the fact that even in the most remote places the train stopped, there were always a small group of people, usually Jewish, greeting the refugees and offering them food and drinks. My mother kept a diary of the journey. I have offered it on a semi-permenant loan to the Imperial War Museum."
When Bea arrives in England she is sent to stay with Mrs. Williams of Brasted Hall, near Sevenoaks, Kent. For more information about Bea's experiences see:
I Came Alone : the stories of the Kindertransports -edited by Bertha Leverton and Shmuel Lowensohn (1990), pp. 128-130
Embossed in gold
PASS