At first, Ilse and I wanted to emigrate to Palestine. We went to the ‘Palästinaamt' [Palestine Office, which processed entry permits for Palestine] on the corner of Marc Aurel Strasse and Vorlaufstrasse [in the 1st district] and submitted all the documents. Unfortunately, it cost money and my mother didn't have much left. Her pension had become smaller and smaller, and I didn't have money either. My mother complained because it cost so much money. At the Palestine Office they told us that there was an agricultural school outside Tel Aviv for which we could register.

After we left the office, my friend and I went for a walk through a small park at the Kai. Mrs. Maurer and Heinzi came up to us and she said, ‘Go to the Jewish community at once; they are organizing a Kindertransport to England.' This was after 10th November 1938. I said to her, ‘I don't have any papers with me.' But Mrs. Maurer had already been to see my mother and had collected my papers. My mother didn't come along because she didn't see well; she had glaucoma. Back then there was no operation for it. Mrs. Maurer went to the Jewish community with us and registered us for the transport to England. We had to undergo a medical examination. That was an attempt to select [the right] people.