Between adult narrator and narrated child: autobiographical writing by former members of the kindertransporte

This essay uses several autobiographical texts by former members of the Kindertransporte to discuss the tension between institutional history and personal life stories in relation to a number of issues present in these texts. Authenticity, group identity, the cultural construct of the ‘child’ concept and the fragmented self are examined within the framework of Holocaust memoir writing and cultural and autobiographical theory. The essay argues for a multidimensional analysis of such autobiographical texts to reach a wider audience within and outside Holocaust studies.