Oral Histories

The Kindertransport Project (2011)

Ms. Kena Sosa of Grand Prairie, Texas, was the 4th recipient of a Billie M. Levy Travel and Research Grant awarded by the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection.  Ms. Sosa is a school librarian and teacher, with a BA in English and an MA in bilingual education with emphasis on teaching the gifted and talented.   

Her topic of research is the experience of Jewish children who escaped Nazi persecution to England and other countries by means of the Kindertransport program.  The Northeast Children’s Literature Collections holds works on this topic which Ms. Sosa used to gather information on the experiences of the children faced with new sights, sounds, language, and in some cases new families.  Ms. Sosa also interviewed two women who were transported to England as part of Kindertransport to create oral histories documenting their experiences. (NOTE: Mrs. Greenwood's interview begins in the middle of a sentence.)

 Click here for the transcript interview of Mrs. Eva Greenwood, or:

Here for the transcript of Mrs. Rita G. Kaplan. 

Ms. Sosa has published on a wide variety of topics ranging from biracial children’s literature to netiquette for kids.  She hopes to use the results of her research to write a children's book about the Kindertransport experience.   Ms. Sosa presented the results of her research on Thursday, April 21, 2011, 2pm-4pm in conference room 162 of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.  Ms. Sosa's PowerPoint presentation is also available.

L-R: Terri J. Goldich, Curator; Billie M. Levy, Donor; Kena Sosa, Researcher. Seated: Mrs. Eva Greenwood