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The School that Escaped the Nazis
All the violence I had experienced before felt like a bad dream. It was a paradise. I think most of the children felt it was a paradise.'
In 1933, as Hitler came to power, schoolteacher Anna Essinger hatched a daring and courageous plan: to smuggle her entire school out of Nazi Germany. Anna had read Mein Kampf and knew the terrible danger that Hitler's hate-fuelled ideologies posed to her pupils. She knew that to protect them she had to get her pupils to the safety of England.
But the safe haven that Anna struggled to create in a rundown manor house in Kent would test her to the limit. As the news from Europe continued to darken, Anna rescued successive waves of fleeing children and, when war broke out, she and her pupils faced a second exodus. One by one countries fell to the Nazis and before long unspeakable rumours began to circulate. Red Cross messages stopped and parents in occupied Europe vanished. In time, Anna would take in orphans who had given up all hope; the survivors of unimaginable horrors. Anna's school offered these scarred children the love and security they needed to rebuild their lives, showing them that, despite everything, there was still a world worth fighting for.
Featuring moving first-hand testimony, and drawn from letters, diaries and present-day interviews, The School That Escaped the Nazis is a dramatic human tale that offers a unique child's-eye perspective on Nazi persecution and the Holocaust. It is also the story of one woman's refusal to allow her beliefs in a better, more equitable world to be overtaken by the evil that surrounded her.
In 1933, as Hitler came to power, schoolteacher Anna Essinger hatched a daring and courageous plan: to smuggle her entire school out of Nazi Germany. Anna had read Mein Kampf and knew the terrible danger that Hitler's hate-fuelled ideologies posed to her pupils. She knew that to protect them she had to get her pupils to the safety of England.
But the safe haven that Anna struggled to create in a rundown manor house in Kent would test her to the limit. As the news from Europe continued to darken, Anna rescued successive waves of fleeing children and, when war broke out, she and her pupils faced a second exodus. One by one countries fell to the Nazis and before long unspeakable rumours began to circulate. Red Cross messages stopped and parents in occupied Europe vanished. In time, Anna would take in orphans who had given up all hope; the survivors of unimaginable horrors. Anna's school offered these scarred children the love and security they needed to rebuild their lives, showing them that, despite everything, there was still a world worth fighting for.
Featuring moving first-hand testimony, and drawn from letters, diaries and present-day interviews, The School That Escaped the Nazis is a dramatic human tale that offers a unique child's-eye perspective on Nazi persecution and the Holocaust. It is also the story of one woman's refusal to allow her beliefs in a better, more equitable world to be overtaken by the evil that surrounded her.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2022
289 people are currently reading
3172 people want to read
About the author
Deborah Cadbury
23 books171 followersDeborah Cadbury is an award-winning British author and BBC television producer specialising in fundamental issues of science and history, and their effects on modern society.
After graduating from Sussex University in Psychology and Linacre College, Oxford she joined the BBC as a documentary maker and has received numerous international awards, including an Emmy, for her work on the BBC's Horizon strand.
She is also the highly-acclaimed author of The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, The Feminisation of Nature, The Dinosaur Hunters, The Lost King of France and Space Race.
(Source: Wikipedia, HarperCollins)
After graduating from Sussex University in Psychology and Linacre College, Oxford she joined the BBC as a documentary maker and has received numerous international awards, including an Emmy, for her work on the BBC's Horizon strand.
She is also the highly-acclaimed author of The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, The Feminisation of Nature, The Dinosaur Hunters, The Lost King of France and Space Race.
(Source: Wikipedia, HarperCollins)
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March 15, 2022
This is the inspirational story of how Anna Essinger, known as Tante Anna, moved her progressive school from Nazi Germany to Bunce Court in Kent. Anna had trained in America and was herself Jewish. When she was asked to fly a swastika over her school, and realised that her views were too well known, she recognised the danger and hatched a daring plan. She began with seventy children, moving secretly to the safety of the Kent countryside. However, the danger in Europe was increasing and, even in Kent, there were issues with illness, school inspectors and later internment.
By 1938 the Kindertransports arrived, bringing children torn from their families and way of life to uncertainty. Anna, and her staff, provided safety and security and later had to provide overspill accommodation to take the children fleeing Germany while the borders remained open. This book then follows events through, and after the war, when Anna made room for those children left displaced by war, who had spent their time on the run in Nazi occupied territory or who had survived concentration camps.
The story of Anna Essinger is an amazing example of how one person can make such a difference. Although she did not work alone, obviously, she was quick to recognise the danger posed by the rise of Hitler and she responded with practical solutions and strong resolve, that saved the lives of many children and gave them a safe haven, when their lives had fallen apart. This is particularly encouraging and heartening, when Europe again finds itself in a time of conflict and reminds us that individuals can inspire change and save lives. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
By 1938 the Kindertransports arrived, bringing children torn from their families and way of life to uncertainty. Anna, and her staff, provided safety and security and later had to provide overspill accommodation to take the children fleeing Germany while the borders remained open. This book then follows events through, and after the war, when Anna made room for those children left displaced by war, who had spent their time on the run in Nazi occupied territory or who had survived concentration camps.
The story of Anna Essinger is an amazing example of how one person can make such a difference. Although she did not work alone, obviously, she was quick to recognise the danger posed by the rise of Hitler and she responded with practical solutions and strong resolve, that saved the lives of many children and gave them a safe haven, when their lives had fallen apart. This is particularly encouraging and heartening, when Europe again finds itself in a time of conflict and reminds us that individuals can inspire change and save lives. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
August 3, 2022
Amazon lists 4,000 books about the Holocaust. Half are nonfiction, such as Elie Wiesel’s Night and Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. The rest include such bestselling novels as The Book Thief and The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Of course, some of the innumerable memoirs and novels relate the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of children. But I’ve never come across a book that more poignantly tells the tale from their perspective than Deborah Cadbury’s The School That Escaped the Nazis.
A HAVEN FOR JEWISH REFUGEE CHILDREN
Cadbury’s book relates the history of a remarkable progressive school founded in Germany in 1926 under the name Landschulheim Herrlingen. Once the Nazis came to power in 1933, the fiercely determined cofounder, Anna Essinger (1879-1960), stealthily moved the staff and students to a manor called Bunce Court in Kent on the southern coast of England. There it became a haven for hundreds of Jewish children fleeing the Third Reich. The school remained in operation until 1949.
“A SCHOOL IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF NEAR BANKRUPTCY”
One alumnus of the school described the experience years later. “‘Bunce Court,’ he wrote, ‘was a complex amalgam of humanism, the Quaker faith, liberal values and Judaism, brought together by the mind of a woman whose one purpose in life seemed to be to serve children,’ he wrote. But what made this truly exceptional, he continued, ‘was that all this happened while Bunce Court ‘was in a perpetual state of near bankruptcy.'” I have since learned that one of the most prominent of the wealthy English families who subsidized the school, staving off collapse again and again, was the author’s own relatives—the Cadbury family that had built its fortune on chocolate.
THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH THE EYES OF CHILDREN
Cadbury tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the children who experienced it firsthand. The School That Escaped the Nazis encompasses all twelve years of the Third Reich. The upsurge in antisemitism when Hitler rose to power. The Nuremberg Laws. Anschluss. Kristallnacht. Sudetenland. The invasion of Poland. The extermination camps at Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Belzec. And the advance of Soviet and Western troops into Germany. It’s a deeply affecting account told with great skill and compassion. We see the children as they looked on, sobbing or paralyzed with fear and incomprehension as fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles were dragged off to concentration camps or simply shot on the street. These are scenes you’re unlikely to forget.
THE CHILDREN SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE
Cadbury combined archival research in the records of the schools and its alumni with interviews of the few surviving Bunce Court graduates. Her account draws most heavily on the experiences of eight children from all walks of life. They were born in wealth or poverty, Orthodox Judaism or assimilated families, in cities, towns, or villages. Some hid for years in cramped spaces. Others were shipped “to the East,” including the most notorious of the death camps. One lived on the run in the countryside, rarely more than a few steps ahead of the Gestapo. One by one as the years dragged on, they made their way to Bunce Court, through the Kindertransports or other organized efforts or through family connections. But one and all arrived in England with horrific scenes seared into memory. For most, recovery from the trauma took many years.
MY SPECIAL INTEREST IN THIS BOOK
I was not closely related to anyone who perished in the Holocaust, although I was told when young that many distant cousins and other relatives on both sides of my family died in the camps. However, one of the eight children spotlighted in Cadbury’s book is my friend Anna Rabkin, who was repeatedly reelected from 1979 to 1994 as the City Auditor of Berkeley, California. Anna is the author of a moving memoir, From Kraków to Berkeley: Coming Out of Hiding, which I reviewed in 2018.
As I told Anna a few days ago, I had never dared ask her directly about her time during the war. I knew she’d lived through it from the age of three when Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia invaded her native Poland. I feared reawakening unwelcome memories. She smiled when I said this. Anna has since shared her reminiscences in more than four hours of oral history with the Berkeley Historical Society. The videos are available through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is difficult for me to reconcile the terror-stricken little Polish girl who hid from the Nazi Officers’ Club next door with the brilliant writer I know today in Berkeley. She has lived here for sixty years, and we have been friends for nearly fifty.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As Wikipedia notes, “Deborah Cadbury is a British author, historian and television producer with the BBC.” She has authored 10 books and produced a dozen films. Cadbury is a graduate of Sussex University and Linacre College, Oxford. She has two sons and lives in London.
A HAVEN FOR JEWISH REFUGEE CHILDREN
Cadbury’s book relates the history of a remarkable progressive school founded in Germany in 1926 under the name Landschulheim Herrlingen. Once the Nazis came to power in 1933, the fiercely determined cofounder, Anna Essinger (1879-1960), stealthily moved the staff and students to a manor called Bunce Court in Kent on the southern coast of England. There it became a haven for hundreds of Jewish children fleeing the Third Reich. The school remained in operation until 1949.
“A SCHOOL IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF NEAR BANKRUPTCY”
One alumnus of the school described the experience years later. “‘Bunce Court,’ he wrote, ‘was a complex amalgam of humanism, the Quaker faith, liberal values and Judaism, brought together by the mind of a woman whose one purpose in life seemed to be to serve children,’ he wrote. But what made this truly exceptional, he continued, ‘was that all this happened while Bunce Court ‘was in a perpetual state of near bankruptcy.'” I have since learned that one of the most prominent of the wealthy English families who subsidized the school, staving off collapse again and again, was the author’s own relatives—the Cadbury family that had built its fortune on chocolate.
THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH THE EYES OF CHILDREN
Cadbury tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the children who experienced it firsthand. The School That Escaped the Nazis encompasses all twelve years of the Third Reich. The upsurge in antisemitism when Hitler rose to power. The Nuremberg Laws. Anschluss. Kristallnacht. Sudetenland. The invasion of Poland. The extermination camps at Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Belzec. And the advance of Soviet and Western troops into Germany. It’s a deeply affecting account told with great skill and compassion. We see the children as they looked on, sobbing or paralyzed with fear and incomprehension as fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles were dragged off to concentration camps or simply shot on the street. These are scenes you’re unlikely to forget.
THE CHILDREN SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE
Cadbury combined archival research in the records of the schools and its alumni with interviews of the few surviving Bunce Court graduates. Her account draws most heavily on the experiences of eight children from all walks of life. They were born in wealth or poverty, Orthodox Judaism or assimilated families, in cities, towns, or villages. Some hid for years in cramped spaces. Others were shipped “to the East,” including the most notorious of the death camps. One lived on the run in the countryside, rarely more than a few steps ahead of the Gestapo. One by one as the years dragged on, they made their way to Bunce Court, through the Kindertransports or other organized efforts or through family connections. But one and all arrived in England with horrific scenes seared into memory. For most, recovery from the trauma took many years.
MY SPECIAL INTEREST IN THIS BOOK
I was not closely related to anyone who perished in the Holocaust, although I was told when young that many distant cousins and other relatives on both sides of my family died in the camps. However, one of the eight children spotlighted in Cadbury’s book is my friend Anna Rabkin, who was repeatedly reelected from 1979 to 1994 as the City Auditor of Berkeley, California. Anna is the author of a moving memoir, From Kraków to Berkeley: Coming Out of Hiding, which I reviewed in 2018.
As I told Anna a few days ago, I had never dared ask her directly about her time during the war. I knew she’d lived through it from the age of three when Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia invaded her native Poland. I feared reawakening unwelcome memories. She smiled when I said this. Anna has since shared her reminiscences in more than four hours of oral history with the Berkeley Historical Society. The videos are available through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is difficult for me to reconcile the terror-stricken little Polish girl who hid from the Nazi Officers’ Club next door with the brilliant writer I know today in Berkeley. She has lived here for sixty years, and we have been friends for nearly fifty.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As Wikipedia notes, “Deborah Cadbury is a British author, historian and television producer with the BBC.” She has authored 10 books and produced a dozen films. Cadbury is a graduate of Sussex University and Linacre College, Oxford. She has two sons and lives in London.
June 4, 2022
I received a free digital review copy from the publisher, via Netgalley.
In 1926, Anna Essinger opened a boarding school in Ulm that was different from the usual German school. It was progressive, not rigidly authoritarian, and its students were mainly Jews. Essinger recognized as soon as the Nazis gained power in 1933 that her school and many of its students and teachers didn’t have a chance under the new regime. She came up with a daring plan. She and a dozen students and teachers made an advance party, traveling to England to make preparations. Just two weeks later, 65 others from the school split into three separate groups, pretended to be going on a school field trip, and all made it to England.
Essinger found a manor house in disrepair in Kent, rented it, and she and her teachers and students worked night and day to transform it into what they called the Bunce Court School. It was a tremendous challenge to get enough food and supplies, and just to get enough heat and light to survive. But such was the spirit of Essinger, her teachers and students, that their ambitions extended much further, adding more buildings to the grounds and even building an outdoor amphitheater, planting large vegetable gardens and raising livestock for food and profit. Essinger worked tirelessly to bring attention to the needs of refugee children, working with the Kindertransport sponsors as conditions for Jews in Germany deteriorated and more parents chose to send their children out of Germany. And within the school, she inspired everyone with her high standards, blended with kindness and understanding.
The school was challenged by its shoestring budget, the need to assimilate children traumatized by their experiences, local prejudices, the rigid attitudes of British school credentialing authorities, and the upheaval caused by the declaration of war in 1939. The Kent school was requisitioned by the military and with just a few days’ notice, the staff and students had to find a new property and move to what became the Trench Hall school in Shropshire.
Cadbury’s description of the school is inspiring, as is her portrayal of the charismatic, empathetic and determined Essinger. Cadbury also depicts the horrors that several students went through before making it to the school. Though these experiences won’t be new to those readers familiar with the Nazi era, it is especially painful to read about how the Nazi persecution affected these children.
The Bunce Court School closed in 1948, after Essinger retired from active service with the school, but its alumni visited often before the closure and got together for many years thereafter. Many of these refugee children went on to distinguished careers in all sorts of fields. One of its last students, who survived harrowing wartime conditions in Poland, became a tenured professor with a special study subject of altruism.
The mixture of accounts of the children’s persecution by the Nazis with the story of the school makes for a sometimes clunky narrative. Especially in the second half of the book, it feels like Essinger and the school take a back seat. I was left wishing for more detail about her and the school. Still, this is a well-researched and illuminating history of a lesser-known aspect of the Nazi era.
In 1926, Anna Essinger opened a boarding school in Ulm that was different from the usual German school. It was progressive, not rigidly authoritarian, and its students were mainly Jews. Essinger recognized as soon as the Nazis gained power in 1933 that her school and many of its students and teachers didn’t have a chance under the new regime. She came up with a daring plan. She and a dozen students and teachers made an advance party, traveling to England to make preparations. Just two weeks later, 65 others from the school split into three separate groups, pretended to be going on a school field trip, and all made it to England.
Essinger found a manor house in disrepair in Kent, rented it, and she and her teachers and students worked night and day to transform it into what they called the Bunce Court School. It was a tremendous challenge to get enough food and supplies, and just to get enough heat and light to survive. But such was the spirit of Essinger, her teachers and students, that their ambitions extended much further, adding more buildings to the grounds and even building an outdoor amphitheater, planting large vegetable gardens and raising livestock for food and profit. Essinger worked tirelessly to bring attention to the needs of refugee children, working with the Kindertransport sponsors as conditions for Jews in Germany deteriorated and more parents chose to send their children out of Germany. And within the school, she inspired everyone with her high standards, blended with kindness and understanding.
The school was challenged by its shoestring budget, the need to assimilate children traumatized by their experiences, local prejudices, the rigid attitudes of British school credentialing authorities, and the upheaval caused by the declaration of war in 1939. The Kent school was requisitioned by the military and with just a few days’ notice, the staff and students had to find a new property and move to what became the Trench Hall school in Shropshire.
Cadbury’s description of the school is inspiring, as is her portrayal of the charismatic, empathetic and determined Essinger. Cadbury also depicts the horrors that several students went through before making it to the school. Though these experiences won’t be new to those readers familiar with the Nazi era, it is especially painful to read about how the Nazi persecution affected these children.
The Bunce Court School closed in 1948, after Essinger retired from active service with the school, but its alumni visited often before the closure and got together for many years thereafter. Many of these refugee children went on to distinguished careers in all sorts of fields. One of its last students, who survived harrowing wartime conditions in Poland, became a tenured professor with a special study subject of altruism.
The mixture of accounts of the children’s persecution by the Nazis with the story of the school makes for a sometimes clunky narrative. Especially in the second half of the book, it feels like Essinger and the school take a back seat. I was left wishing for more detail about her and the school. Still, this is a well-researched and illuminating history of a lesser-known aspect of the Nazi era.
November 12, 2022
This book, as all WWII books, was informative and heartbreaking. The things that saved it from being depressing were the stories of the survivors, no matter what happened to them, you know it ended with them making it out alive and, what I read/listen to WWII books for, the light of the single candle that the darkness can never put out. The ordinary people who put their lives on the line to save others, to save people they didn't even know. The hardships they endured and the risks they took, all to keep that little candle lit. So others could see it and light their own candles.
These stories give me hope for humanity, that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the darkness that surrounds us won't win. It gives me hope that if I light my candle, it can be seen and help others to light their own. Until our candles are as bright as the sun.
The stories in this book are harrowing, but they need to be told and taught. We are letting history repeat itself, just look at China and the Uyghers.
I won't say anything specific about this book other than British narrators make hard things easier to hear, at least for this listener. She did an excellent job. Also, just read/listen to this book and others like it about WWII. The market seems to be flooded with this genre/history now, but it is important to learn, to internalize and to teach and try to not let it happen again. (I'm looking at you China, but there are other places this happens as well.)
5, this book touched me, stars.
My thanks to libro.fm and Hachette Audio for an advanced Audio of this book to listen to and review.
These stories give me hope for humanity, that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the darkness that surrounds us won't win. It gives me hope that if I light my candle, it can be seen and help others to light their own. Until our candles are as bright as the sun.
The stories in this book are harrowing, but they need to be told and taught. We are letting history repeat itself, just look at China and the Uyghers.
I won't say anything specific about this book other than British narrators make hard things easier to hear, at least for this listener. She did an excellent job. Also, just read/listen to this book and others like it about WWII. The market seems to be flooded with this genre/history now, but it is important to learn, to internalize and to teach and try to not let it happen again. (I'm looking at you China, but there are other places this happens as well.)
5, this book touched me, stars.
My thanks to libro.fm and Hachette Audio for an advanced Audio of this book to listen to and review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2023
I went into this book skeptical that there would be anything new I would learn about the well documented atrocities and depravations of the Nazi Holocaust. But this book is again a reminder that no matter how much one thinks one knows, there is always much more to learn about the Holocaust and indeed the absolute and unadulterated evil perpetrated by the Nazis.
This book documents a heroine I had never heard of before reading this. Anna Essinger (or Tante Anna as she was known by everyone) was a non-practicing Jewish person, with an incredibly idealistic view of how education needs to be imparted to the young. She started a school with those progressive and humanist ideals in Germany well before WWII and watched in complete horror at the rise of the Nazi brownshirts and Hitler, and even more alarmingly at the complicity of the average German.
The story also follows the experiences of kids who lived through the most traumatic experience imaginable, their rehabilitation and their successes in their lives after graduating from Tante Anna's school(s). It is absolutely heart breaking to read their stories, of the misery that the parents went through when sending their kids away knowing they may never see them again. Oh man.
As I read this book, so much of the fascist, right wing bunk that is heard today in our body politic traces its origins directly to the propoganda machinery of the Nazis. Books like this one should be required reading for our kids coming through the ranks to make sure what happened in mid-century Germany / Italy / Poland doesn't happen again.
I have nothing but respect for those that lived through the Holocaust and were still able to find grace in their lives. Even after 80+ years, just reading about their experiences fills me with rage and anger at the Nazis, and especially the enablers amongst the ordinary citizenry in places like Germany and Poland and other places. And it occurs to me that it really is in the hands of the people - we must stay involved, stand up for the rights of everyone, and eliminate hate.
This book documents a heroine I had never heard of before reading this. Anna Essinger (or Tante Anna as she was known by everyone) was a non-practicing Jewish person, with an incredibly idealistic view of how education needs to be imparted to the young. She started a school with those progressive and humanist ideals in Germany well before WWII and watched in complete horror at the rise of the Nazi brownshirts and Hitler, and even more alarmingly at the complicity of the average German.
The story also follows the experiences of kids who lived through the most traumatic experience imaginable, their rehabilitation and their successes in their lives after graduating from Tante Anna's school(s). It is absolutely heart breaking to read their stories, of the misery that the parents went through when sending their kids away knowing they may never see them again. Oh man.
As I read this book, so much of the fascist, right wing bunk that is heard today in our body politic traces its origins directly to the propoganda machinery of the Nazis. Books like this one should be required reading for our kids coming through the ranks to make sure what happened in mid-century Germany / Italy / Poland doesn't happen again.
I have nothing but respect for those that lived through the Holocaust and were still able to find grace in their lives. Even after 80+ years, just reading about their experiences fills me with rage and anger at the Nazis, and especially the enablers amongst the ordinary citizenry in places like Germany and Poland and other places. And it occurs to me that it really is in the hands of the people - we must stay involved, stand up for the rights of everyone, and eliminate hate.
February 25, 2023
*audio book*
I really liked how the school teacher chose to keep her school to herself, how it died with her. I think more women could benefit undertaking limited dreams or short-term big goals. Although only she could teach the kids the way she saw fit and none could carry her methods on, MANY young people were touched and changed for all eternity.
I glimpsed my younger self reading wwii nonfiction, an odd but cherished feeling. And remembered the future self. I too have undertakings that, although I've chosen must remain small for the integrity of my work, are by no means diminished by their limited purpose. Somehow it is more sacred.
I really liked how the school teacher chose to keep her school to herself, how it died with her. I think more women could benefit undertaking limited dreams or short-term big goals. Although only she could teach the kids the way she saw fit and none could carry her methods on, MANY young people were touched and changed for all eternity.
I glimpsed my younger self reading wwii nonfiction, an odd but cherished feeling. And remembered the future self. I too have undertakings that, although I've chosen must remain small for the integrity of my work, are by no means diminished by their limited purpose. Somehow it is more sacred.
March 4, 2022
Anna Essinger was an assimilated Jewish, American-educated, German teacher with a heart of gold. She founded a progressive liberal arts school in the aftermath of WWI, but as the Nazi party came to power, she quickly realized Germany was no longer safe. Through various contacts, she was able to relocate her school to an old manor in Kent, England. Bunce Court School would become a haven for refugee children in the years to come as war broke out on the continent.
Also known as Tante Anna to her staff and students, it was her foresight, logistical and organizational acumen, and resourcefulness that would save the lives of hundreds of children in Nazi occupied territories. Her primarily Jewish students left their parents in uncertain circumstances, and many of them would become orphans without knowing that until the war ended. Tante Anna was able to create a safe environment for these children despite a shoestring budget and being enemy aliens in a foreign country. At one point, they were kicked out of Bunce Court because it was on the southeast coast, so they had to start a new school from scratch in the middle of the war.
An interesting aspect to the narrative was how Cadbury paralleled the lives of the Bunce Court Students with children who actually survived the Nazi occupation. Kids who lived through ghettos and concentration camps or hid in plain sight were severely traumatized, but through some divine providence ended up at Bunce Court after VE Day. Through Tante Anna’s patience and tender ministering, they were able to overcome debilitating emotional damage and thrived at the school. So many people owe their lives to Tante Anna and hers is an inspirational story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
Also known as Tante Anna to her staff and students, it was her foresight, logistical and organizational acumen, and resourcefulness that would save the lives of hundreds of children in Nazi occupied territories. Her primarily Jewish students left their parents in uncertain circumstances, and many of them would become orphans without knowing that until the war ended. Tante Anna was able to create a safe environment for these children despite a shoestring budget and being enemy aliens in a foreign country. At one point, they were kicked out of Bunce Court because it was on the southeast coast, so they had to start a new school from scratch in the middle of the war.
An interesting aspect to the narrative was how Cadbury paralleled the lives of the Bunce Court Students with children who actually survived the Nazi occupation. Kids who lived through ghettos and concentration camps or hid in plain sight were severely traumatized, but through some divine providence ended up at Bunce Court after VE Day. Through Tante Anna’s patience and tender ministering, they were able to overcome debilitating emotional damage and thrived at the school. So many people owe their lives to Tante Anna and hers is an inspirational story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
January 3, 2025
Wow! This was an excellent read detailing not only the story of the teacher but also of the students. Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.
February 17, 2023
Excellent book about Tante Anna who created a school in England that nurtured refugees from Nazi torn countries . Anna realised in the early 30's that Germany was not heading in a way that she wanted to educate children in so she moved her school to England. As the situation started heating up in Europe more and more parents were trying to send their children to her school. Then Kinder transport started where jewish refugees sent from Germany to England as a way for Germany to remove Jews from occupied areas. This involved 1000's of children influxing England, Anna took some into her school and at one stage had around 1000 in the school. The stories of the children are harrowing and one must hold Tante Anna in amazement in what she was able to create with very little resources
December 27, 2022
Having read many, many books about the holocaust, I wasn’t sure whether to pick up this one (afraid it would be a retelling of what I had already read before). I am glad I did! I learned, I cried, I was moved by people’s kindness, and shocked all over again at the depth of evilness of some. Overall a worthy read!
March 11, 2022
Deborah Cadbury’s The School That Escaped the Nazis relates the story of Anna Essinger, called Tante Anna, a German Jewish woman who moved her progressive school from Ulm, Germany, to England before the start of the Second World War. For years she spoke out against the rise of Hitler, but the last straw for Anna was the requirement that she fly the Nazi swastika from her school. She planned out her escape, taking many students with her to England to restart her school in a more accepting atmosphere. From the first seventy students who joined her new venture, to the students who arrived during the Kindertransports in the nine months prior to the war, to the students who joined the school after the war ended, Cadbury presents the picture of a woman who does everything in her power to show these children what life can be outside of Germany and away from Nazism.
Cadbury sums up her book well in her conclusion, stating, “[Tante Anna’s] story could easily be lost to us, existing as it does principally in the minds of her elderly former students. She has been overlooked by a history frequently beguiled by male-dominated narratives of power and decision-makes. But Anna’s story arguably stands for the efforts of generations of women in history. She is a symbol of caring and loving; qualities that are just as important in shaping human history though much more easily overlooked.”
The School That Escaped the Nazis is exhaustive in its research and puts the story of Anna’s school in the context of the history of the Second World War. One of the sections I found most compelling was the British reaction to having this group of German people in their midst when war began. At times, this book read like fiction in that I found myself not wanting to put it down, but to find out what happened to certain characters.
That being said, I did have a few quibbles with this work. First, I think there was too much detail. That seems a strange thing to say, but there were times while reading this when I asked myself what the point was of a certain account. Eventually, I would find out, but sometimes not until one hundred pages later. I also don’t think it was necessary to know the nicknames of every single staff member. I found this to be a bit distracting, although I understand the author was sharing details like this to humanize the characters.
Second, the book could have benefited from a better edit. I try not to review a book based on its grammatical errors—every author has missed typos—but there were just too many for me to ignore here. I often found sentences with words mixed up, along with some misspellings throughout (for example was the teacher’s name “Gwynne” or “Gywnne”? I’m not certain, because it was spelled both ways quite often).
In the end, these critiques are minor, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn about this pioneering woman who saved a group of German Jewish children from the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review.
Cadbury sums up her book well in her conclusion, stating, “[Tante Anna’s] story could easily be lost to us, existing as it does principally in the minds of her elderly former students. She has been overlooked by a history frequently beguiled by male-dominated narratives of power and decision-makes. But Anna’s story arguably stands for the efforts of generations of women in history. She is a symbol of caring and loving; qualities that are just as important in shaping human history though much more easily overlooked.”
The School That Escaped the Nazis is exhaustive in its research and puts the story of Anna’s school in the context of the history of the Second World War. One of the sections I found most compelling was the British reaction to having this group of German people in their midst when war began. At times, this book read like fiction in that I found myself not wanting to put it down, but to find out what happened to certain characters.
That being said, I did have a few quibbles with this work. First, I think there was too much detail. That seems a strange thing to say, but there were times while reading this when I asked myself what the point was of a certain account. Eventually, I would find out, but sometimes not until one hundred pages later. I also don’t think it was necessary to know the nicknames of every single staff member. I found this to be a bit distracting, although I understand the author was sharing details like this to humanize the characters.
Second, the book could have benefited from a better edit. I try not to review a book based on its grammatical errors—every author has missed typos—but there were just too many for me to ignore here. I often found sentences with words mixed up, along with some misspellings throughout (for example was the teacher’s name “Gwynne” or “Gywnne”? I’m not certain, because it was spelled both ways quite often).
In the end, these critiques are minor, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn about this pioneering woman who saved a group of German Jewish children from the atrocities of Nazi Germany.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review.
May 21, 2022
The educational philosophy and practices of Anna Essinger, affectionately called “Tante Anna”, were far ahead of her time. In opposition to the Nazi policies of 1933 that had begun to infiltrate her home in Germany, Anna closed her school there and launched a plan to move the institution entirely to England. Her “home-school” in Kent, Bunce Court, would eventually accept “waves of traumatised children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia…and Poland”, brought over through the Kindertransport program, and offer them a safe place where they “could not only recover, but be inspired.”
The account of the love, care and hope she provided within the stability of the school, despite the struggles of the years of war and horror that most of her Jewish students had suffered, was presented with meticulous detail and from the perspective of the children who were protected by this incredible woman. Cadbury featured contributions by many of those whose lives had been saved by Essinger, traumatised children who had grown to believe once again that there was a place for them in the world that had robbed them of their families.
Cadbury set the success and struggle of Essinger’s school against the timeline of the war years, providing its historical context, and placing within it the horror of what some of the children and their families had experienced – in the ghettos, in the camps, in the killing fields. This allowed the reader to view the intensity of trauma within the refugees and appreciate the dedication of Essinger and her staff in helping them to heal and to restore their faith in humanity. Her educational practices were progressive and humanistic, allowing the students to develop their identities within a safe environment that encouraged individuality and a partnership in the running of the school.
Because the perspective given was that of the students, Cadbury’s use of direct quotations and source material from them as they remembered their time before the war and during their stay at Bunce Court, gave the account its intensity as we lived through their trauma with them, as they reflected on the impact of their years under Essinger’s astute guidance and boundless love. Her “school in exile…provided a unique experience in progressive education, where with minimal resources, children who had experienced the very worse of humanity were given a profound appreciation of the beauty and magnitude of human achievements.”
The account of the love, care and hope she provided within the stability of the school, despite the struggles of the years of war and horror that most of her Jewish students had suffered, was presented with meticulous detail and from the perspective of the children who were protected by this incredible woman. Cadbury featured contributions by many of those whose lives had been saved by Essinger, traumatised children who had grown to believe once again that there was a place for them in the world that had robbed them of their families.
Cadbury set the success and struggle of Essinger’s school against the timeline of the war years, providing its historical context, and placing within it the horror of what some of the children and their families had experienced – in the ghettos, in the camps, in the killing fields. This allowed the reader to view the intensity of trauma within the refugees and appreciate the dedication of Essinger and her staff in helping them to heal and to restore their faith in humanity. Her educational practices were progressive and humanistic, allowing the students to develop their identities within a safe environment that encouraged individuality and a partnership in the running of the school.
Because the perspective given was that of the students, Cadbury’s use of direct quotations and source material from them as they remembered their time before the war and during their stay at Bunce Court, gave the account its intensity as we lived through their trauma with them, as they reflected on the impact of their years under Essinger’s astute guidance and boundless love. Her “school in exile…provided a unique experience in progressive education, where with minimal resources, children who had experienced the very worse of humanity were given a profound appreciation of the beauty and magnitude of human achievements.”
October 30, 2022
This was an interesting read although too much of it was a general history of the Holocaust. When the school was focused on, the book really shined.
February 12, 2023
Anna Essinger was a young Jewish woman growing up in early 20th century Germany. She had her own ideas about everything, and was unafraid to voice them and pursue them. I would call her "a force of nature". She did not like the rigid German educational system, and began, early in life, to develop her own thoughts about more progressive methods along the lines of A. S. Neill (Summerhill), where children are given more freedom to plot their individual path while still experiencing limits and socialization. While visiting a relative in the United States she enrolled in college in Wisconsin, a hotbed of progressive thought at the time, and there, with limited funds, she pursued her dream of one day opening her own school. The incredible force of her own personality and wits brought her halfway through a doctorate when she had to return to Germany. That miraculous resourcefulness and dedication to an idea did help her build that school in Germany shortly before WWII, and carried her through a lifetime of service to children where hundreds of lives were saved, and devastated souls were healed.
I am left scratching my head that "Tante Anna" isn't more well known. It is almost unbelievable what she did. As the Nazi threat crept into and throughout Germany, she began to realize that she and her school were in danger, especially when she refused to fly a swastika flag. In 1933 she came up with a plan to secretly move herself, her staff, and any of her students, mostly Jewish, whose parents would allow it, out of harms way and into England. The story of how she did that is only the beginning of an amazing and very unlikely narrative. She could fundraise like nobody's business, and she had a way of relentlessly convincing people to think her way, and that propelled her and her first group of refugee children to set out on a so called day trip that ended in Kent in Britain. Once there, they all, adults and kids alike, worked together to make a school which became an oasis in a world quickly unravelling.
I don't believe I have ever read such graphic descriptions of the utterly depraved behavior of the Nazis and their stooges. The author, Ms. Cadbury, used interviews with quite a few former students of Bunce Court, or with their families. As the rights and dignities of the Jewish population in Europe disappeared one by one, more children were sent out or caught in the fascist trap, and the stories are hair raising. Anna was constantly trying to expand the school so that she could place more children, and they came, sometimes so hurt that they were barely able to function. She had to move the school one more time to the other side of England as the danger got closer and threatened to engulf them. All of this took immense planning and a great deal of messy hard work; they did most of their own carpentry, plumbing, electrics, gardening, and so on, and depended upon the pocketbooks of whatever doners she could find.
It is stunning what the young people, staff, and administration accomplished under horrid circumstances, and it is a joy to read about the love that held it all together. Many of these broken kids and teachers too went on to very distinguished careers, and some are still alive today and have written their own memoirs. As for Anna Essinger, I think that hers was a life incredibly well lived.
I am left scratching my head that "Tante Anna" isn't more well known. It is almost unbelievable what she did. As the Nazi threat crept into and throughout Germany, she began to realize that she and her school were in danger, especially when she refused to fly a swastika flag. In 1933 she came up with a plan to secretly move herself, her staff, and any of her students, mostly Jewish, whose parents would allow it, out of harms way and into England. The story of how she did that is only the beginning of an amazing and very unlikely narrative. She could fundraise like nobody's business, and she had a way of relentlessly convincing people to think her way, and that propelled her and her first group of refugee children to set out on a so called day trip that ended in Kent in Britain. Once there, they all, adults and kids alike, worked together to make a school which became an oasis in a world quickly unravelling.
I don't believe I have ever read such graphic descriptions of the utterly depraved behavior of the Nazis and their stooges. The author, Ms. Cadbury, used interviews with quite a few former students of Bunce Court, or with their families. As the rights and dignities of the Jewish population in Europe disappeared one by one, more children were sent out or caught in the fascist trap, and the stories are hair raising. Anna was constantly trying to expand the school so that she could place more children, and they came, sometimes so hurt that they were barely able to function. She had to move the school one more time to the other side of England as the danger got closer and threatened to engulf them. All of this took immense planning and a great deal of messy hard work; they did most of their own carpentry, plumbing, electrics, gardening, and so on, and depended upon the pocketbooks of whatever doners she could find.
It is stunning what the young people, staff, and administration accomplished under horrid circumstances, and it is a joy to read about the love that held it all together. Many of these broken kids and teachers too went on to very distinguished careers, and some are still alive today and have written their own memoirs. As for Anna Essinger, I think that hers was a life incredibly well lived.
August 13, 2023
This book reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle of sorts. The author has managed to take many interconnected segments of both the big picture and the small personal experiences of a worldwide historical man-made catastrophe and given them equal importance.
She gives details of the progression of the Nazis as they occupied one country after another throughout Europe during the Second World War. The author does not shy away from the horrors they inflicted on the Jewish people, so this becomes a very heavy read. It was also frightening to notice the connections between the events of that war and our modern world.
The author also introduces us to Anna Essinger, a woman who risked everything to protect her Jewish students. We learn how she and her team went on to make their school a safe haven for so many Jewish refugee children.
Simultaneously, the author highlights many of the individual stories of the children and the incomprehensible circumstances they endured throughout the war. She even goes on to give the reader insight to the residual trauma experienced by the students after the war, what we'd now know as PTSD.
All of these pieces are woven together beautifully. This book is a tribute to the resilience of the youngest survivors of Holocaust and to those who helped them regain a sense of trust in humanity and ultimately in themselves.
Additional note: While I gained so much from the experience of listening to the audio edition of this book, I often found myself wishing I was reading the book myself so that I'd be better able to keep track of all the people whose stories were shared.
She gives details of the progression of the Nazis as they occupied one country after another throughout Europe during the Second World War. The author does not shy away from the horrors they inflicted on the Jewish people, so this becomes a very heavy read. It was also frightening to notice the connections between the events of that war and our modern world.
The author also introduces us to Anna Essinger, a woman who risked everything to protect her Jewish students. We learn how she and her team went on to make their school a safe haven for so many Jewish refugee children.
Simultaneously, the author highlights many of the individual stories of the children and the incomprehensible circumstances they endured throughout the war. She even goes on to give the reader insight to the residual trauma experienced by the students after the war, what we'd now know as PTSD.
All of these pieces are woven together beautifully. This book is a tribute to the resilience of the youngest survivors of Holocaust and to those who helped them regain a sense of trust in humanity and ultimately in themselves.
Additional note: While I gained so much from the experience of listening to the audio edition of this book, I often found myself wishing I was reading the book myself so that I'd be better able to keep track of all the people whose stories were shared.
January 30, 2024
This book will stay with me for the rest of my life.
I noticed another reviewer state that they didn’t like when the book veered away from the school; I have to say, I disagree with that assessment. I feel reading the experiences of the children who came to the school later was crucial to understanding the importance of the school and Anna Essinger’s vision.
This was a tough, tough read at times. Rarely do books reduce me to tears but this book had me in tears many times. I had the luxury of closing this book when it got too heavy but the people whose stories this book beholds had no such thing. They had to live it.
I was especially affected by Sam Oliner’s story. To defy such odds and display such resourcefulness at his age absolutely blew my mind.
The only disappointment I had while reading this book was the fact that I had previously been unaware of Anna Essinger and her efforts to save as many children as she possibly could during WWII.
I am giving this 4.5 out of 5 and rounding up to 5; please be advised if you decide to read this book that there is much talk of violence and graphic imagery described. As I stated above, the book doesn’t solely revolve around the school but takes you into all of the Axis conquered countries during the war itself.
I noticed another reviewer state that they didn’t like when the book veered away from the school; I have to say, I disagree with that assessment. I feel reading the experiences of the children who came to the school later was crucial to understanding the importance of the school and Anna Essinger’s vision.
This was a tough, tough read at times. Rarely do books reduce me to tears but this book had me in tears many times. I had the luxury of closing this book when it got too heavy but the people whose stories this book beholds had no such thing. They had to live it.
I was especially affected by Sam Oliner’s story. To defy such odds and display such resourcefulness at his age absolutely blew my mind.
The only disappointment I had while reading this book was the fact that I had previously been unaware of Anna Essinger and her efforts to save as many children as she possibly could during WWII.
I am giving this 4.5 out of 5 and rounding up to 5; please be advised if you decide to read this book that there is much talk of violence and graphic imagery described. As I stated above, the book doesn’t solely revolve around the school but takes you into all of the Axis conquered countries during the war itself.
April 26, 2024
I had never heard of Anna Essinger before, but she seemed to have been a truly remarkable woman. She had the foresight to see what was coming from Hitler in 1933 and moved her school to England. She then proceeded to take in refugee children when Jewish people were being driven out of Germany and other countries. I really liked the way she ran her school with her encouraging the children to question things and have freedom of thought. There was still discipline with love, and she also put an emphasis on practical activities as well as academic work. I think that if schools nowadays were run like hers, we would have happier, more confident children.
The book also shared the stories of several different former pupils based on interviews. Their stories were so tragic and heartbreaking. I think this is the first time a nonfiction book has brought me to tears. This book was difficult to read because of the topic, but it was eye opening to the experiences of Jewish people.
The book also shared the stories of several different former pupils based on interviews. Their stories were so tragic and heartbreaking. I think this is the first time a nonfiction book has brought me to tears. This book was difficult to read because of the topic, but it was eye opening to the experiences of Jewish people.
May 27, 2025
Very good, but I need to stop reading WWII stories. They’re self-abuse. I know all these terrible things happened - listening to them over and over again is upsetting.
I know - it’s nothing compared to what people had to live through. I know.
But at this point … like, with this book, it’s about a school that was founded that took in refugee children during WWII. Of course it’s going to touch on the horrors of the Holocaust. But there were hours and hours of tales of children’s trauma, living through and escaping the Nazis. It felt like too much - unnecessary given that the subject was the school, not the war itself.
So I need to just stop it for a while.
I know - it’s nothing compared to what people had to live through. I know.
But at this point … like, with this book, it’s about a school that was founded that took in refugee children during WWII. Of course it’s going to touch on the horrors of the Holocaust. But there were hours and hours of tales of children’s trauma, living through and escaping the Nazis. It felt like too much - unnecessary given that the subject was the school, not the war itself.
So I need to just stop it for a while.
April 16, 2022
Simply put, I enjoyed this book and think it will be interesting for people with a great deal of knowledge on the Holocaust and people who need more context. Cadbury does a good job of appealing to wide audiences by offering plenty of context and background on World War II, while also artfully delivering several lesser-known Holocaust biographies. The writing is clear and precise and the people and stories are compelling and well-researched. By focusing on a school and an imperfect woman who saved and shaped many lives, Cadbury successfully changes the focus of a tragic event from high politics to every day living.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
February 4, 2023
I’ve read tons of WWII stories. I learned so much from this book that I wasn’t aware of. It’s beautiful, horrible, tragic, and inspiring and I loved learning the first hand stories of so many survivors. The School created homes for many, many children during the war years and then for survivors afterwards. Anna Essinger changed so many lives and saved so many children, many who were orphaned and would have been completely lost without her & Bunce Court. It’s now on my list of places I’d love to see when I finally take a trip to England. Can’t say enough about this book - it’s a must read.
January 27, 2024
This book is about a lot more than the school. There are also a lot of stories about what was happening in Germany and Poland, and while some stories were connected to the school, it wasn't always a strong connection. That didn't bother me though, because I found the stories interesting and important. I enjoyed the book, felt like I learned a lot by listening to it.
Seeing what happened in Germany though and the events leading to the war, it is frightening to realize so few people have learned from history and stand by and allow similar behaviors to repeat. This is not something the author points out, merely observations I have after listening to this book.
Seems appropriate that I finished this on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Seeing what happened in Germany though and the events leading to the war, it is frightening to realize so few people have learned from history and stand by and allow similar behaviors to repeat. This is not something the author points out, merely observations I have after listening to this book.
Seems appropriate that I finished this on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
May 31, 2025
This book induced both bouts of sobbing and genuine joy. Well crafted narrative design that interweaves individual experiences beautifully. Sensitively written with respect for the children. Honest too, no sugar coating the true darkness, or the allied mistakes. Inspiring read!
January 7, 2023
If I could give more than 5 stars I would.
This is a heartbreaking, heartwarming and incredible story set in Nazi Germany.
An incredible story of how one woman saved thousands of children by creating a school to escape the Nazis.
This is a heartbreaking, heartwarming and incredible story set in Nazi Germany.
An incredible story of how one woman saved thousands of children by creating a school to escape the Nazis.
March 10, 2023
Powerful, disturbing. Important story that needs to be shared.
April 26, 2023
really stellar - the overlap of history and education is explored thoroughly, and avoids being a dry biographical account
September 10, 2023
I think everyone should read this book!
November 15, 2025
What an incredible testament to the foresight and wisdom of one dedicated educator. Also, the stories following the lives of the children of the Holocaust were so moving and so important for us to keep alive by reading them and sharing them.
February 20, 2023
This book provided a look at the Holocaust through a different lens. Anna Essinger ran a small, progressive school in Germany in the early 1930's, including many Jewish children. As she saw the changes happening around her, she decided that it was time to leave the country - but her decision was to move the entire school with her. Often filtered through the stories of individual children, the author chronicles the story of this move: the struggles to achieve accreditation in the UK, the continued stresses created by financial difficulties as well as the emotional upheaval suffered by so many of her students, and the resulting creation of a true family consisting of both students and staff. Definitely an inspiring story!
March 9, 2024
I will never stop being fascinated by world war 2 and the holocaust. This story is unlike any other ww2 story I’ve heard or read or watched. Worth a read if you like small interesting parts of history
January 5, 2023
A wonderful true story about a courageous German principal who smuggled her Jewish school children out of the country and her fight to save as many children as she could. A should read!!
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