SEARCHING FOR HOME AT CHÂTEAU DE LA GUETTE AND BEYOND: SOCIAL AND SPATIAL DIMENSIONS OF JEWISH GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN CHILDREN’S JOURNEY TO FLEE NAZI PERSECUTION VIA CHILDREN’S HOMES IN FRANCE by SARAH SCHNEIDER B.A. Brandeis University, 2013 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2018 Major Professor: Scot A. French ©2018 Sarah Schneider ii ABSTRACT This study examines the experiences of a group of Jewish German and Austrian children who were sent on the Kindertransport to France in an effort to escape Nazi persecution. Using oral history interviews from the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, written testimonies, personal papers, and archival collections from organizations such as the Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE), this study analyzes the children’s experiences at the Château de la Guette children’s home in France and their subsequent time at the children’s home Hôtel des Anglais in La Bourboule. This thesis examines the social and spatial dimensions of the children’s journey to find home and flee Nazi persecution via France. While research has more extensively covered other children’s rescue efforts such as the Kindertransport to Great Britain, this thesis demonstrates that the migrations of children fleeing the Holocaust via France were diverse and often characterized by frequent movement due to the historical context of France during World War II. In conjunction with a digital project, this thesis maps and discusses four paths taken by the La Guette children during the war: life in hiding in France, illegal flight over the border into Switzerland, deportation, and immigration to the United States. This research also examines the impact of children’s homes on the pre-war, wartime, and post-war experiences of Jewish refugee children fleeing Nazism. After the La Guette group dispersed, many of the children stayed in contact with one another. Through survivor reunions and other commemorative activities years later, many survivors maintained a connection with their peers, educators, the Rothschild family, and others associated with their time in France and constructed memory of their wartime experiences. Ultimately, the La Guette case shows the long-lasting impact of children’s homes on the lives of Jewish refugee children fleeing the Holocaust. iii Dedicated to my great-grandparents Sabina and Georg Buchholz, who sent their children to France in order to save their lives but were unable to save their own. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my advisor, Dr. Scot French, for your unyielding support of my work and enthusiasm about my research project. Your feedback always helped me see the big picture and challenged me to deepen my analysis. I am grateful for all of your patience and encouragement. Thank you also to my committee members, Drs. Richard Crepeau, Amelia Lyons, and Ezekiel Walker, for the time you invested in giving me thoughtful suggestions, resulting in a much stronger final product. Thank you to Dr. Lyons for sharing your knowledge of French history and recommending sources that were pertinent to my research. I am endlessly grateful to the reference staff at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum who day after day answered my questions, pulled archival materials, provided me with headphones, and informed me about resources that I otherwise would not have found. In particular, I would like to thank Ron Coleman for sharing his knowledge of primary and secondary sources relevant to my thesis and to the rescue of refugee children from France. Thank you is also due to the staff of the Photo Archives of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who helped me view and include in my thesis photographs of the La Guette group. Please note: The views or opinions expressed in this thesis, and the context in which the images are used, do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of, nor imply approval or endorsement by, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Additionally, thank you to the staff at Yad Vashem, including in Reference and Information Services and the Photo Archive, for your assistance. v I am appreciative of the extensive aid of Dr. Bill Ferster, whose alterations to VisualEyes5 and critiques of my digital project allowed me to make a project that became more sophisticated and user-friendly over time. Thank you to Andrea Morgenthaler for your work to preserve the history of the La Guette group and for providing scripts of your film. Thank you to Jeff Smith for generously translating the film, providing me with access to a source that I otherwise would not be able to understand. A big thank you to Carol Low for your interest in my research and for connecting me with La Guette survivors. To survivors Gerald Watkins and Walter Weitzmann and the Dybnis family, it was wonderful meeting you and thank you for sharing your experiences with me and directing me to new sources. I am indebted to all of the La Guette survivors who conducted oral history interviews, created contact lists of survivors, videotaped reunions, and wrote descriptions of the group’s history, all of which resulted in archival materials that were invaluable to my research. I cannot thank my parents enough for their love, wisdom, and support of all kinds that made it possible for me to complete my Master’s. Thank you to my brother for your advice and assistance as an older sibling and as a scholar. I am grateful for the love of learning that you three modeled throughout my life. I would also like to thank my peers in the UCF History Department for their reassurance and camaraderie throughout the research process. Finally, thank you to my grandma and great aunt for sharing your history and our family’s history with me, and in the process introducing me to the La Guette story. I would never have known about this topic nor found many of the sources that exist without you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................ xii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Sources and Methodology........................................................................................................... 7 Historiography of the Château de la Guette Group .................................................................. 13 Notes about Terminology ......................................................................................................... 15 Chapter Outline ......................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER ONE: HOME IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA, THE RISE OF NAZISM, AND FLIGHT VIA THE KINDERTRANSPORT ................................................................................ 18 National, Socioeconomic, Family, and Religious Backgrounds Prior to the Rise of Nazism .. 19 Childhood Pastimes and Movement Abroad Prior to the Rise of Nazism ................................ 28 Life in Germany and Austria with the Rise of Nazism ............................................................. 32 La Guette Children’s Encounters with the Hitler Youth .......................................................... 40 La Guette Children’s Experiences of Kristallnacht .................................................................. 44 Aid from Gentiles during Nazi Rule ......................................................................................... 49 Efforts to Flee and the Kindertransport to France .................................................................... 50 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 61 CHAPTER TWO: FINDING HOME IN FRANCE AT CHÂTEAU DE LA GUETTE AND IN LA BOURBOULE ........................................................................................................................ 63 Traveling to France and Temporary Placements before La Guette .......................................... 68 Transitioning to Home Life at Château de la Guette ................................................................ 71 Daily Rituals and Education at La Guette................................................................................. 74 Leftist Educators and the Creation of a Children’s Republic at La Guette .............................. 77 Envisioning Home and Building Community through Zionism ............................................... 82 Recreational Activities at La Guette ......................................................................................... 87 The Rothschilds Visit La Guette ............................................................................................... 91 Communicating with Family while at La Guette ...................................................................... 93 Off-Site Placements from La Guette......................................................................................... 95 Reflections on the La Guette Experience .................................................................................. 97 Searching for Home again in La Bourboule ..........................................................................