Artists After the Escape: Judith Kerr — flight as an adventure

Judith Kerr (r) and her older brother Michael grew up in Berlin. The children of well-known theater critic Alfred Kerr enjoyed a lot of freedom. Their mother, Julia, was a pianist who composed at home. On the way to school, Judith would often buy colored pencils that she used to draw stories of her adventures with friends. Math and reading didn't interest her.

Judith's father was an outspoken opponent of National Socialism. Starting in 1932, he had his own weekly show on German radio. When the Nazis started threatening him, Alfred and his wife hid that fact from the children. At Christmas that year, Judith and her brother were permitted to go to the cinema for the first time ever, but they did not realize that, beings Jews, they were in danger.

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler, leader of the NSDAP, was named Chancellor of Germany. Radical political changes got quickly underway. The Kerr family lived in a pretty suburb outside of Berlin-Grunewald, where the children remained mostly unaware of the changes. However, they sensed their parents' unease. Judith Kerr later titled her young adult novel "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit."

In February 1933, Alfred was bedridden with a bad flu. The Nazis had taken power, and Berlin was swarming with the party's security troops. As the first wave of arrests began, union members and regime opponents were persecuted. Alfred Kerr luckily received a tip-off that his passport was going to be confiscated. In the night of February 15, at the last moment, he fled over the border to Prague.

Judith and her brother kept silent about their father's escape. Their mother secretly started to pack suitcases, including Judith's childhood drawings (above). On March 5, 1933, the day before the federal election in which the Nazis would win the most votes, the family boarded a train for Switzerland. There, they met Alfred. For the Kerr children, the journey into exile seemed like an adventure.

As a Jewish author, the Nazis had long set their sights on Alfred Kerr. On May 10, 1933, a public book-burning event took place in front of Berlin's Humboldt University. It was organized by the German Student Union. Jeering masses threw works by Alfred Kerr into the flames, as well as books by other writers such as Heinrich Mann and Franz Werfel.

Judith was nine years old when her sheltered childhood came to an end and her family had to escape. The family's resources were depleted, and they had to leave everything behind that was dear to them. "The piano was gone, the drapes, the toys, even the stuffed pink rabbit," Kerr later wrote. In Paris, the Kerr family finally found a furnished apartment.

As with all Jewish families, the Nazis expropriated the Kerrs' possessions, leaving the family impoverished in exile. But Judith (r, with brother and mother) still enjoyed being a refugee. "Paris was wonderful," she later wrote. However, her father could hardly feed the family from his writing. Tight on money, the Kerrs left Paris and headed to London, landing at a shabby emigrant hotel in 1936.

The Second World War broke out on September 1, 1939. After Nazi air attacks on London, Britain suddenly classified Judith and her parents as "friendly enemy aliens." The Jewish emigre family experienced strong solidarity from the British population. "People were so good to us, so brave. After all, we were German," Judith Kerr recalled. She developed patriotic feelings for her new home.

Thanks to a scholarship, Judith began studying at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1946. Occasional work as a drawing teacher and an editor at the BBC enabled her to become independent of her parents. Her mother also worked occasionally as an interpreter for the Americans, including at the Nuremberg trials. In 1947, Judith Kerr (r) received her passport as a proud new British citizen.

Judith Kerr wrote children's books. "The Tiger Who Came to Tea" was published in 1968, "Mog the Forgetful Cat" followed in 1970. Both books were wildly successful. Her husband, whom she met at the BBC, helped her with the text. She drew all her illustrations by hand, using only colored pencils and an eraser. Even at age 80 (above), she continued to draw and create stories for children.

Children around the world read and love Judith Kerr's books with their uplifting and refreshing stories. Her most famous book is "When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit," a classic of emigre literature for kids and adults alike. The book is part of a trilogy of novels that tells her own family's refugee tale. In 1974, the "German Youth Book Prize" honored her for the work.

Germany was Judith Kerr's favorite place to do author readings. She regularly visited her old hometown of Berlin to present her books, such as in 2016 (above) with her story "Mr Cleghorn's Seal." Despite being over 90 years old, her energy enchanted the literature festival's audience, which included many refugee children.

Judith Kerr lived in her adopted country for over 80 years. "I have become very happy in England," she said cheerfully in German. She never lost her childhood Berlin accent. In a TV interview for the DW documentary "After the Escape," Kerr told her tale of flight and life as an emigrant in London — memories that she also left to posterity in her books. She died on May 22, 2019, at the age of 95.