The Leaves Have Lost their Trees: The long-term effects of a refugee childhood on ten German-Jewish children who escaped the Nazi regime - Dorothy Marie Darke

This is the story of a wonderful life saved by the Kindertransport, the programme that saved 10000 Jewish children in the late 1930s. Dorothy Darke, who later married into the family of the composer Harold Darke ("In the bleak midwinter") tells her story in a way that is all the more moving for its simplicity and beauty. This is an essential twentieth century historical document, and very readable. (from an online review)

Based on interviews with eight people born in Germany, and one in Czechoslovakia, The Leaves Have Lost Their Trees records their memories of a childhood disrupted by being forced to leave their homeland to escape Nazi persecution of Jews. Dorothy Darke compares their experience of growing up as refugees in wartime Britain with her own.

Now, more than sixty years later, as they look back over the years and try to make sense of the volatile times through which they have lived, the long term impact of their early uprooting becomes clearer.

Dorothy has allowed the individual stories to speak for themselves, while tracing the common threads that result from their shared childhood experience. The feeling that they 'owe a debt of gratitude' just for being alive and therefore have an obligation to make something of their lives is clearly evident. Unlike much of the literature about the Holocaust experience, this book is optimistic in recognising the resilience of the human spirit in its ability to triumph over adversity and disaster. Shining through their testimony is the courage, determination and as a conscious response, others with less direct motivation, have tried to contribute to the creation of a more peaceful and harmonious world.

About the author

Dorothy Darke was born in Cologne in 1932. Her Jewish father, recognising very early on the real nature of the Nazi threat, left Germany with his family in 1934, settling eventually in England in 1936. His enthusiasm for his chosen homeland ensured that Dorothy and her older sister were encouraged to assimilate very quickly - a process which was helped by them being educated at a school. She studied Geography at Cambridge University and was a teacher for several years before becoming an Education Volunteer for Oxfam. By organising classroom projects alongside teachers, involving artists, writers and musicians from a variety of cultural backgrounds, she tried to raise children's appreciation of the cultural and social contribution made to their lives by the multiracial diversity of British society today. This led to her appointment as part-time coordinator of multicultural education for West Sussex Education Authority.

The introduction of the National Curriculum left too little time for a cross-curricular agenda, so Dorothy took time to study for the MA in Peace Studies taught by the University of Bradford as a part-time course in London. The Leaves Have Lost Their Trees is based on the dissertation she wrote for this degree.

She continues to write and to organise education projects and for the last three years has been co-editor and a contributor to an Education for Citizenship project for 14 to 18 year old students, Dealing With Conflict, which will be published by Sessions early this summer. It is based on ideas and techniques for bridge-building between groups or individuals divided by conflict which were developed for Arab and Jewish Israeli teenagers at Encounter Groups run by the School for Peace in the Israeli peace village Neve Shalom~ Wahat al Salam

William Sessions Publishingb 1999, softcover