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Lieselotte Jacks

June 1939, Berlin, Germany

Lilo is sitting on a train bound for Sweden. Her parents, Alfred and Gertrud, have remained behind in Berlin. They have done everything they could to get their daughter out of Germany and to safety. Neither she nor her parents know how long Lilo will stay in Sweden.

LIESELOTTE JACKS, or Lilo as everyone called her, grew up in Berlin. She was an only child, and in 1939 she was fifteen years old. She had finished school and was apprenticed to a milliner to learn how to sew hats.

Lilo’s parents, Alfred and Gertrud, applied for her to be one of the children permitted to leave Germany as part of the so called Children’s transport. Relatives in Gothenburg, the Wladislawowsky family, had invited Lilo to come live with them. She also had cousins in Sweden, but they lived in Stockholm.

In a large trunk Lilo and her family had packed everything she could possibly need during her time away. Carrying only a small suitcase, Lilo boarded the train. On the 6 of June 1939, she arrived in Gothenburg and moved in with her relatives at Olivedalsgatan 17.

Message from the Jewish Welfare and Youth Care Office

  Message from the Jewish Welfare and Youth Care Office

Lilo’s identity card

  Lilo’s identity card

Packing list for the trip to Sweden

  Packing list for the trip to Sweden

Lilo’s parents Alfred and Gertrud Jacks

  Lilo’s parents Alfred and Gertrud Jacks

Small suitcase

  Small suitcase