We meet Leo seated in a train carriage on a railway station in Berlin. It is the 2 December 1938; the situation for Leo’s family has become increasingly dangerous. Leo’s parents have made the difficult decision to send him away to England until the situation becomes safe again.

They have successfully found him a family to stay with. Unfortunately, Leo’s sister Hannah is too young to travel and must stay behind. In his diary entry, Leo explains how sad he is to leave his family and seeing his mother cry. He wonders what the people in England will be like and whether they will be nice to him.

Many of the children who boarded the transports in Germany, Austria or Czechoslovakia did so alone. They were allowed to take one suitcase, small enough to be carried by a child. Children packed a variety of items, both practical and sentimental. They were transported to the Hook of Holland, then by boat to Harwich in England.

The “Kindertransports” ran from December 1938 to September 1939 and saved just under 10,000 children.