A wild escape. A life with no home. Living with no family but your brother. These and more are all thing endured by two young Jewish boys, Benno and Heinz, as they are sent off by their parents and forced to escape Nazi, Germany. Their incredible, life-changing tale is recorded by Susy Goldstein, Gina Hamilton and Wendy Share, the daughters of Benno, in the book Ten Marks and a Train Ticket. My class had the privilege of reading this book, writing down summaries, questions we had, important quotations, a timeline and other things along the way. This is a post compiled of many of the things written and thought by me about the book.
There is one very memorable image for me in this book. In this image, an older, withered down but proud Benno is telling his granddaughters and grandsons, when they’re nine, the story of his legacy. This is a very memorable and compelling image for me because it shows the importance of sharing your background and struggles with the rest of your family. Benno shares this story to all of his daughters and grandchildren when they are nine, the same age he was when he was sent off to leave Germany. This is a good way to share it, because the children will be able to understand what he was feeling, and his fears when he was that age. By sharing his legacy through the generations, Benno can be sure that his compelling story will never be forgotten.
“It was true, we were leaving.”
I think this quote is especially important for the characters in the book, Benno and Heinz. In the book, Benno and Heinz are moved around, from people’s houses to convents to orphanages to hostels and apartments. They never stay at one place for long, and are always disappointed to have to be dragged along to the next place. It shows that their lives were full of disappointment, and they could never get their hopes up too high, in case something came along and popped them. They lived their adolescent lives full of insecurity, never knowing what turn their mixed-up lives would take them. This phrase sums up what their lives were like, bitterness and disappointments, never knowing what will happen next.
This book was very powerful, one of the most powerful books that I’ve read. The amazing stories of Benno and Heinz’s determination and courage were very moving. I was very surprised that Benno’s hardest times were not in fact the escape, it was living in and put of different kinds of homes that brought the more difficult, stressful times. I was also introduced more to how events and things like the Kristallnacht and the Kindertransport affected people, instead of just learning about what they were. If I could ask Benno two questions about his amazing and difficult journey (I will be able to!), I’d ask him, “Has telling your story over the years gotten any easier, or is it just as difficult as the first time?”. I’d also ask him, “What was your biggest message that you wanted to get across when this book was written?”. This has been a very cool and fun project we have been working on, and I hope we will be learning more about the Kindertransport this year.
