Trains To Life Trains To Death
Trains To Life Trains To Death
4.5
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Neighborhood: Mitte (Borough)
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- Friedrichstrasse • 1 min walk
- Friedrichstraße • 2 min walk
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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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4.5
81 reviews
Excellent
51
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24
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6
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macedonboy
Glasgow, UK179,496 contributions
Sep 2019
This monument stands as a memory of the organised rescue effort to relocate children prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. It's part to imagine not only the horrors from which these children were saved, but also the trauma these children must've suffer having been separated from their parents. This monument, like the ones in London stands as a reminder of man's inhumanity to man. We should never forget, especially in illiberal times.
Written September 28, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
bsandrs
Portsmouth, UK23,078 contributions
May 2019 • Couples
This well created memorial juxtaposes the children who left Germany before the World War and travelled to be with foster families, with on the other hand the children who travelled, never to be seen again. It is not where it is shown on the TA map, instead it is rather crammed into a space close to the Friedrichstrasse Station. It deserves a better audience and we have applied to move the map position on the website. Nevertheless, if you are walking along Unter Den Linden, take a detour to seek it out.
Written May 18, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SCC2104
Hereford, UK144 contributions
Dec 2012 • Solo
Most people who walk past the memorial do not give it a second glance. If you are passing Friedrichstrasse Station take a look and spare a thought not only for those, like my mother, who took the Kinder transport to England but also for those, like her brother, whose last train ride was not to the safety of another country.
Written December 19, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Matthew J France
Wakefield, UK49 contributions
Jul 2019
It took us a long time to find this memorial as it is one a very long road and it kind of tooked away round a corner near the train station. it is very simple and understated but it manages to say so much that I think everyone should take a momment to pay their respects to the children
Written August 2, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KTGP
Adelaide, Australia5,904 contributions
Apr 2018 • Couples
War Memorials are always sad, there are the simple and elegant, while others, pull no punches which makes them very compelling. The Kindertransport Memorial, covers all the aforementioned and what makes it that bit more powerful, is it is a reminder of the innocence of children in war.
The Memorials sculpture titled, 'Trains to Life-Trains to Death' /’Züge in das Leben-Züge in den Tod’, commemorates the Jewish children saved from the Nazis and the children murdered by the Nazis. It is also in gratitude to the people of Great Britain, for the part they played in, taking children in danger.
Kindertransport was the name given to the rescue mission, that began less than one month after Kristallnacht. Jewish children 17 years and under from, Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia were to be granted entry into England. The first group of 196 children, left from Friedrichstraße station on the 30th November 1938. They were from a Jewish orphanage in Berlin, which had been burnt down during the Kristallnacht riots. They arrived in Harwich, England on December 2, 1938. The program came to a halt with the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. It is estimated around 10,000 children, (mostly Jewish) were saved through this program. The children had to leave their parents and older siblings behind and for the majority, they never saw them again. It is estimated the Nazis murdered 1.6 million children, during the Holocaust.
The 2.25 metre high bronze, Memorial is by sculptor Frank Meisler (1925?1929?-2018). He was also rescued as part of the Kindertransport program, from Gdansk/Danzig in August 1939. Three days after his departure, his parents were arrested, they were later murdered at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The monument was inaugurated on 30th November 2008, 70 years after the first group of children left for England. The sculpture depicts five children in the darker colour, destined for deportation to one of the concentration camps, while the other two children facing the other way in a lighter colour, are on their way to England. Sadly, according to the information boards, some of the children sent to England, were neglected and exploited.
Meisler created five Kindertransport sculptures, in all. The other four are: ‘The Arrival’, Liverpool Street Station, London (2006): ‘The Departure’, Railway Station Gdansk (2009), this is where Meisler departed with 14 other Jewish children: ‘Channel of life’, Koningin Emmaboulevard, Hook of Holland, Rotterdam, (2011): ‘The Final Parting’, Dammtor Train Station, Hamburg, (2015). There are other sculptures in Vienna and Prague, however these are not the work of Meisler.
There is heaps of information on a nearby window and reading it, gives the monument so much more meaning. While images of the Holocaust are disturbing, as a mother reading this information, the fate of both lots of children was heartbreaking. While thousands died, others wouldn’t have any idea what was happening, with leaving parents behind. As for the brave parents who sent their children away to safety, can’t begin to understand how agonising that decision must have been, never knowing if the right choice was made and if they were safe and loved.
Located on Georgenstraße near Friedrichstraße station. If you’re a Mum, you may need tissues.
The Memorials sculpture titled, 'Trains to Life-Trains to Death' /’Züge in das Leben-Züge in den Tod’, commemorates the Jewish children saved from the Nazis and the children murdered by the Nazis. It is also in gratitude to the people of Great Britain, for the part they played in, taking children in danger.
Kindertransport was the name given to the rescue mission, that began less than one month after Kristallnacht. Jewish children 17 years and under from, Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia were to be granted entry into England. The first group of 196 children, left from Friedrichstraße station on the 30th November 1938. They were from a Jewish orphanage in Berlin, which had been burnt down during the Kristallnacht riots. They arrived in Harwich, England on December 2, 1938. The program came to a halt with the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. It is estimated around 10,000 children, (mostly Jewish) were saved through this program. The children had to leave their parents and older siblings behind and for the majority, they never saw them again. It is estimated the Nazis murdered 1.6 million children, during the Holocaust.
The 2.25 metre high bronze, Memorial is by sculptor Frank Meisler (1925?1929?-2018). He was also rescued as part of the Kindertransport program, from Gdansk/Danzig in August 1939. Three days after his departure, his parents were arrested, they were later murdered at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The monument was inaugurated on 30th November 2008, 70 years after the first group of children left for England. The sculpture depicts five children in the darker colour, destined for deportation to one of the concentration camps, while the other two children facing the other way in a lighter colour, are on their way to England. Sadly, according to the information boards, some of the children sent to England, were neglected and exploited.
Meisler created five Kindertransport sculptures, in all. The other four are: ‘The Arrival’, Liverpool Street Station, London (2006): ‘The Departure’, Railway Station Gdansk (2009), this is where Meisler departed with 14 other Jewish children: ‘Channel of life’, Koningin Emmaboulevard, Hook of Holland, Rotterdam, (2011): ‘The Final Parting’, Dammtor Train Station, Hamburg, (2015). There are other sculptures in Vienna and Prague, however these are not the work of Meisler.
There is heaps of information on a nearby window and reading it, gives the monument so much more meaning. While images of the Holocaust are disturbing, as a mother reading this information, the fate of both lots of children was heartbreaking. While thousands died, others wouldn’t have any idea what was happening, with leaving parents behind. As for the brave parents who sent their children away to safety, can’t begin to understand how agonising that decision must have been, never knowing if the right choice was made and if they were safe and loved.
Located on Georgenstraße near Friedrichstraße station. If you’re a Mum, you may need tissues.
Written July 27, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Noora K
18 contributions
Feb 2017
Afwul history, but worth to visit. Life and death. Very close of the train station. If you are in berlin, do not forget to pay you respect.
Written February 16, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
zove2016
Melbourne, Australia70 contributions
Dec 2015 • Friends
You can easily walk past this memorial - it is not small by any means and yet it blends in with the surrounding. Worth keeping a look out for it! Like many other memorials in Berlin, it speaks a thousand words of hope and tragedy.
If you are interested in holocaust history, don't miss this one.
If you are interested in holocaust history, don't miss this one.
Written February 16, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Geoff A
Caernarfon, UK138 contributions
Nov 2015 • Solo
One could so easily miss this remarkable memorial to the Kinder transport,set as it is just behind the entrance to the U-bahn. On the opposite side of Friedrichstrasse railway station from the Traenen Palast the near life size figures represent as stated elsewhere, the two sets of children transported from this place. The bronze coloured boy and girl facing the River Spree symbolise the lucky ones who escaped in the early days of Nazism. The grey bronze group of five represents the unlucky children transported to their fate in the camps in the east. Particularly poignant is the broken doll abandoned in the open suitcase. The expressions on the faces of the smaller children searching for reassurance from the older children. It seems even more thought provoking when viewing it in the rain. The Friedrichstrasse area of the railway station seems to exude an atmosphere which transcends the hustle and bustle of the 21st century transport hub and like the Palace of Tears around the corner, one can shut out today while concentrating on memories of the past, Like many visitors do, leave a token of remembrance before you cross the street to catch your tram or descend into, the U-bahn.
Written February 7, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Carol K
New York City, NY440 contributions
Jun 2015 • Solo
Just outside the Friedrichstrasse S-bahn station, you see this memorial with children facing two directions---one toward a new life in a new country, frightening as that must have been, and the other toward senselesss death at the hands of murderers with an insane ideology and political power, people vicious enough to murder children systematically along with adults.. This is a work to arouse public memory, whether or or not art connoisseurs find it sufficiently avant-garde. I noticed that nobody was sitting on this monument in Berlin. Germans know too much about the Nazi period to lack respect for this statue's meaning.. In London, at a parallel monument at Liverpool Street Station of children arriveing safely, young people ignorant of history were sitting on the pedestal chatting on cell phones.
Written September 20, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
szunia
New York City, NY15 contributions
Aug 2014 • Friends
Visited this memorial as part of the "Jewish" Berlin tour. The sculpture speaks volumes!
It is deeply moving & thoughtful! Provokes conversation about sacrifices made during this dark period in the European history. Not to be missed
It is deeply moving & thoughtful! Provokes conversation about sacrifices made during this dark period in the European history. Not to be missed
Written September 11, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Claim your listingTrains To Life Trains To Death - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)
Frequently Asked Questions about Trains To Life Trains To Death
- Hotels near Trains To Life Trains To Death:
- (0.08 mi) NH Collection Berlin Mitte Friedrichstrasse
- (0.10 mi) Meliá Berlin
- (0.10 mi) Eurostars Berlin Hotel
- (0.14 mi) Maritim proArte Hotel Berlin
- (0.17 mi) martas Hotel Albrechtshof Berlin & Restaurant Alvis
- Restaurants near Trains To Life Trains To Death:
- (0.01 mi) Asiagourmet
- (0.03 mi) Dunkin'
- (0.04 mi) Café Haferkater, Friedrichstr.
- (0.08 mi) Flamingo Fresh Food Bar
- (0.05 mi) BLOCK HOUSE Friedrichstrasse
- Attractions near Trains To Life Trains To Death:
- (0.00 mi) Berlin Friedrichstraße Station
- (0.02 mi) Palace of Tears
- (0.09 mi) Decouvrir Berlin
- (0.07 mi) Brewer's Berlin Tours
- (0.09 mi) EXIT Game
Trains To Life Trains To Death Information
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