Description
Physical description
Brown corduroy robe with floral pattern decoration. The robe, which has a rounded collar and a pocket on the right-hand side, is fastened by 11 large buttons down the front. The top and bottom buttons are missing.
Label
Josi Knight (née Jozefa Eberstarkova) brought this robe (made by her mother, Sidonia Dorner) with her when she was evacuated from Czechoslovakia on one of the Kindertransports in June 1939: 'My sisters and I, Josi, Alicia, Eli, 15½, 14 and 10 respectively, left our village called Trstena in Czechoslovakia on 28th June 1939, a day which will never be forgotten. We were frightened not knowing what lay before us, at the same time very excited to see our dear Uncle Heinz again. He came to London in 1938 with his wife from Berlin and wrote to our parents urging them to send us with the Kindertransport, which was being organised from Prague. He was much more aware of what was going on and his warning could not be ignored. Our parents travelled with us to Bratislava, where we said good bye, fighting our emotions, saying that before long we will be together again. Unfortunately it was not to be as our parents and the rest of our family perished in the Holocaust. We were lucky -without our Uncle and Aunt we would have shared their fate. No child from my town, other than us, survived after the war. I treasured the house dress my mother made for me as well as her pinafore and handbag.'
History note
Josi Knight (née Jozefa Eberstarkova) brought this robe with her when she was evacuated from Czechoslovakia on one of the Kindertransports in June 1939. It was made by her mother, Sidonia Dorner.
She says of her experiences:
'My sisters and I, Josi, Alicia, Eli, 15½, 14 and 10 respectively, left our village called Trstena in Czechoslovakia on 28th June 1939, a day which will never be forgotten. We were frightened not knowing what lay before us, at the same time very excited to see our dear Uncle Heinz again. He came to London in 1938 with his wife from Berlin and wrote to our parents urging them to send us with the Kindertransport, which was being organised from Prague. He was much more aware of what was going on and his warning could not be ignored.
Our parents travelled with us to Bratislava, where we said good bye, fighting our emotions, saying that before long we will be together again. Unfortunately it was not to be as our parents and the rest of our family perished in the Holocaust. We were lucky -without our Uncle and Aunt we would have shared their fate. No child from my town, other than us, survived after the war. I treasured the house dress my mother made for me as well as her pinafore and handbag.'