Remember Me: A Search for Refuge in Wartime Britain

by Irene N. Watts

Overview

Young Marianne is one of the lucky ones. She has escaped on one of the first kindertransporte organized to take Jewish children out of Germany to safety in Britain.

At first Marianne is desperate. She does not speak English, she is not welcome in her sponsors’ home, and, most of all, she misses her mother terribly. As the months pass, she realizes that she cannot control the circumstances around her. She must rely on herself if she is to survive.

In this exciting companion to Good-bye Marianne, Irene N. Watts has created a memorable character, and a story that is ultimately about hope, not war. Based on true events, this fictional account of hatred and racism speaks volumes about history and human nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770490512
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	02/21/2012
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

Irene N. Watts is a storyteller, playwright, drama consultant, and director who has worked throughout Canada and Europe. Although she, too, was born in Germany and left on a kindertransport, Marianne’s story is not an autobiography. Irene Watts lives in British Columbia.

Read an Excerpt

Marianne asked her, “How did you manage to come over?”

Unconsciously, Miriam replied in her native tongue, “I met Mrs. Smedley in Berlin in 1936. She was on holiday with her husband, for the Olympic Games. I was eighteen. She asked me for directions to her hotel. I walked with her, then she invited me in. I explained it was not allowed because I was Jewish. She took my arm and said, ‘I am an English tourist; no one will stop me.’ So brave! We had coffee in her suite. She told me if I ever wanted to go to England, if things got worse, to write to her. When my father’s business was taken away, and I lost my job as his bookkeeper, my mother told me I should write to Mrs. Smedley. It was an opportunity. I did, and she sponsored me. She is very kind. I make mistakes, but she makes allowances for me. My friend Hannah lives in London too, but she lives in one little room. When she wants a bath, she must pay sixpence for the hot water.” Miriam poured more coffee. “She works in a household where they are mean to her. I think she is often hungry.”

“Why don't the Jews in England do more to help” Marianne burst out in German. “Sorry, Bridget, just this one question.”

Miriam said, “They help all they can, but there are so many of us trying to get out of Europe. Mrs. Smedley says in England less than one percent of the population is Jewish. A few are rich, but most are like us – poor, or immigrants, trying to bring their relatives to England. I’ll keep this paper, Marianne. I might hear of a place for your mother.”

Editorial Reviews

Gr 5-7-In this sequel to Good-bye, Marianne (Tundra, 1998), Watts continues the story of a young Jewish child living in Berlin in 1938. As the book opens, Marianne is on a train to London with the first Kindertransport, a rescue operation for children that would eventually remove approximately 9300 refugees from Germany, Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Upon her arrival, the 11-year-old is situated in the first of a series of foster homes that go from bad to worse. Initially placed with a couple looking for a domestic, she is lonely and homesick. As war threatens England, she is evacuated to Wales with a large group of British children. Life doesn't get any easier in this small town: Marianne is accused of spying, meets with a great deal of anti-Semitism, and is billeted with a couple who view her as a replacement for their deceased daughter. In the end, Marianne proves to be lucky; her mother arrives in England, and she is one of the few children from this operation ever to see a parent again. While Watts leans toward the melodramatic, with Marianne facing horrific situations at every turn, the subject is an important part of Holocaust history and would be useful if combined with a nonfiction work, such as Anne Fox's Ten Thousand Children (Behrman House, 1998).-Betsy Fraser, Calgary Public Library, Canada Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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