Safe Haven commemmorates the Holocaust survivors who escaped to Britain via this Essex port. Judi Herman shares her experience of the sculpture's big reveal

There was a delightful low-key hubbub on the coach I boarded in north London, all set to take us to Harwich, Essex, where a new monument to the Kindertransport was to be unveiled. The ‘kinder’ who arrived in this country in the late 1930s may be in their 80s and 90s now, but their high spirits and energy are youthful still.

I spoke several passengers, not all of whom arrived via Harwich, though all sharing similar stories of the bewilderment, fear – and even excitement – of finding themselves en route to an unknown destination, separated unnaturally from their distressed parents. That they have all made good in their new homes is down to their resilience and the kindness of strangers – many Jewish, but also of other faiths and none.

Like so many of the children, Bob and Ann Kirk, who met and fell in love as teenagers after the war at a youth club for survivors, are still ‘ganze machers’ (Yiddish to mean ‘notably active’ or ‘successful’) in their Liberal Jewish community and beyond, especially in raising Holocaust awareness. Bob, who was 14 when he left home, remembers the tension when the border police searched his luggage and the relief of crossing into Holland and being met by “lovely ladies on the platform with sandwiches, biscuits, chocolate and big smiles”. Only-child Ann shares how the two unmarried sisters, with whom she went to live at the age of 10, gave her a great start in life by sending her to South Hampstead High School, a real centre of excellence.

Francis Wahle left his mother in Vienna in 1939. Only after the war did he find letters that expressed her anxiety. I should call him Father Francis, for although he had four Jewish grandparents (the Nazi definition of a Jew required just three), he was brought up Catholic and is now a priest. “My father converted in 1911,” he explains, before donning his dog collar to leave the coach.

The terrific local Tendring Brass Band open proceedings at the quayside ceremony, where an expectant crowd has gathered. Harwich’s mayor, Councillor Ivan Henderson, welcomes us and introduces the speakers, including Mike Levy, Chair of Harwich Kindertransport Memorial and Learning Trust, who realised the importance of this arrival point of the Kindertransport and took on the huge task of planning the memorial to keep alive its memory for future generations. Sculptor Ian Wolter is also due to speak, an award-winning local artist who created another Essex monument to refugees, The Children of Calais, in the market town Saffron Walden.

Safe Haven, the stunning bronze statue, is unveiled by Dame Stephanie Shirley, who travelled on the Kindertransport herself as a child and made an outstanding contribution to the life of the country that took her in. Her pioneering work founding an all-woman software company is matched by her tireless philanthropic activity.

“This historic memorial, linked with an educational programme, will be a permanent tribute to all refugees, migrants and asylum seekers,” she declares. As she pulls off the cover, there’s an audible gasp. The bronze figures of five children disembarking from ship to shore stand proud, caught in motion and all with clear feelings of apprehension and expectation.

With the formal proceedings over, I join the crowds surging around Wolter’s statue. “I want children to climb inside,” the sculptor tells me. He has left space between the young figures for this very purpose. I also get to meet six-year-old Libby Elad, youngest of the child models, who confides how hard it was to keep still for so many sittings. It was not in vain.

By Judi Herman

Safe Haven is situated at Harwich Quayside, Essex, CO12 3HH. For further info, visit kindertransport-memorial.org.

Look out for Judi Herman’s podcast on JR OutLoud soon, where you can hear more from the survivors and guests she met.