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An Independent, Coed, Friends School, Nursery Through Grade 12

Second Generation Holocaust Survivor Shares Her Family’s Story

Students in 10th grade attended a presentation by Jeanne Gottfried who shared her mother’s story of survival during the Holocaust. Jeanne recounted her mother's emotional recollection of her childhood experiences, including being separated from her mother at a train station in Vienna and traveling on the Kindertransport to England during World War II where she lived in an orphanage. Kindertransport was a rescue operation that moved Jewish children from Nazi-controlled areas to safety in Britain between 1938 and 1939.

Later in her teen years, her mother chose to work as a baby nurse at a daycare center in a poor part of London, caring for children whose mothers were employed elsewhere. 

Eventually Jeanne’s mother immigrated to the United States sponsored by a family member who had arrived years before. This journey marked the beginning of their new life in a new country, despite the hardships they had to endure.

The last time Jeanne spoke to MB students was to 6th graders about a year ago. Both visits were coordinated by the Bornstein Holocaust Education Center in Providence. The center was founded 35 years ago by Holocaust survivors in Rhode Island with the purpose of creating a living monument and education center for future generations.