Le Journal

Shortly before World War II began, British citizens realized Jewish families were in danger and launched an effort to save as many children as possible. The historic effort known as Kindertransport, the people who made it possible and the children saved are the subject of the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights’ current special exhibition, Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of War, now on view through Feb. 15. “It speaks to the power of individuals. People from all different religious groups in Great Britain worked together to convince the government to pass this act to let an unspecified number of children in,” said Mary Pat Higgins, the museum’s President and CEO. “Because of their efforts, in a nine month period, almost 10,000 children were spared.” The British people and refugee organizations pushed the British government to expand immigration quotas to allow Jewish children to flee the looming war. From Nov. 9-10, 1938, the Nazi regime instigated a wave of terror throughout the Jewish community in Germany and Austria, burning more than 1,400 synagogues, vandalizing Jewish-owned businesses, breaking into Jewish people’s homes and assaulting, imprisoning and killing Jewish people. The event was immortalized as Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass, and it signaled a horrifying reality about the looming war for Europe’s Jewish population. “It was inevitable,” Higgins said. “After Kristallnacht, it became clear the Jewish people were not safe, and they needed to get to safety.” Thanks to the efforts of British individuals and refugee aid organizations, the British government eased its immigration quotas to allow an unspecified number of unaccompanied minors under the age of 17 to enter Great Britain from Germany and German-annexed territories. British citizens agreed to sponsor the children, providing care and education while they were separated from their parents. The Kindertransport story is not simply a European event. This exhibition highlights the stories of five survivors who eventually made their homes in North Texas: Leonore “Lola” Braunsberg Eldodt, Berthold “Bert” Romberg, Margarete “Magie” Romberg Furst, Charles Schwarz, and Susanne “Susie” Levy. “They were saved because of the Kindertransport. They and their family members would not be with us if not for these people bravely standing up to their government and saying, ‘We have to change our immigration quotas to save these children,’” Higgins said. The exhibition features letters between parents and children. The exhibition tells the story of the Kindertransport through personal artifacts and survivors’ testimonies, from the parents’ wrenching decision to send their children to Great Britain to the survivors’ post-war life. “For me, the most important part of the Kindertransport is trying to imagine what these parents were going through,” Higgins said. “There are statements talking about that decision and there are letters from parents to their children and from children to parents that help us understand that. I think they were all incredibly brave, the parents and the children.” One of the suitcases in the exhibition might have been as large as the child carrying it. “One of them is really big. It just makes you think the parents were trying to send them off with as much as they possibly could because that was all their worldly possessions at that point,” Higgins said. Most of the Kindertransport children’s parents were murdered during the Holocaust. The North Texas survivors describe how they built a new life. “We are learning constantly from the survivors of the Holocaust and of other genocides about the incredible power of resilience, how they were able to go on with their lives, have the courage to move to a new country and really completely start over and live the American Dream,” Higgins said. The exhibition also explains the failure of the Wagner-Rogers bill, a measure that would have allowed 20,000 unaccompanied child refugees from Germany…

A Washington state man is believed to be the first person to die from a rare strain of bird flu, but state health officials said Friday the risk to the public is low. The man, an older adult with underlying health conditions, was being treated for a bird flu called H5N5 after becoming seemingly the first known human infected by the strain, according to a statement from the Washington State Department of Health. The man from Grays Harbor County, about 78 miles (125 kilometers) southwest of Seattle, had a backyard flock of domestic poultry that had been exposed to wild birds, health officials said. “The risk to the public remains low,” the statement from state health officials said. “No other people involved have tested positive for avian influenza.” Health officials said they will monitor anyone who came in close contact with the man, but “there is no evidence of transmission of this virus between people.” Health & Science Nov 20 Without evidence, CDC changes messaging on vaccines and autism Health Nov 19 A new, potentially severe flu variant is spreading in the U.S. Watch for these symptoms Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement about the infection that said no information would suggest “the risk to public health has increased as a result of this case.” H5N5 is not believed to be a greater threat to human health than the H5N1 virus behind a wave of 70 reported human infections in the U.S. in 2024 and 2025. Most of those have been mild illnesses in workers on dairy and poultry farms. The distinction between H5N5 and H5N1 lies in a protein involved in releasing the virus from an infected cell and promoting spread to surrounding cells.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that found Texas’ 2026 congressional redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump likely discriminates on the basis of race. The order signed by Justice Samuel Alito will remain in place at least for the next few days while the court considers whether to allow the new map favorable to Republicans to be used in the midterm elections. The court’s conservative majority has blocked similar lower court rulings because they have come too close to elections. The order came about an hour after the state called on the high court to intervene to avoid confusion as congressional primary elections approach in March. The justices have blocked past lower-court rulings in congressional redistricting cases, most recently in Alabama and Louisiana, that came several months before elections. The order was signed by Alito because he is the justice who handles emergency appeals from Texas. Texas redrew its congressional map in the summer as part of Trump’s efforts to preserve a slim Republican majority in the House in next year’s elections, touching off a nationwide redistricting battle. The new redistricting map was engineered to give Republicans five additional House seats, but a panel of federal judges in El Paso ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the civil rights groups that challenged the map on behalf of Black and Hispanic voters were likely to win their case. If that ruling eventually holds, Texas could be forced to hold elections next year using the map drawn by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2021 based on the 2020 census. Texas was the first state to meet Trump’s demands in what has become an expanding national battle over redistricting. Republicans drew the state’s new map to give the GOP five additional seats, and Missouri and North Carolina followed with new maps adding an additional Republican seat each. To counter those moves, California voters approved a ballot initiative to give Democrats an additional five seats there. Congress Aug 21 How redistricting is done and why it could give parties an edge in 2026 elections politics Aug 30 The battle for partisan advantage has some states drawing redistricting maps The redrawn maps are facing court challenges in California, Missouri and North Carolina. The Supreme Court is separately considering a case from Louisiana which could further limit race-based districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. It’s not entirely clear how the current round of redistricting would be affected by the outcome in the Louisiana case.

The University of North Texas at Dallas will host a large Thanksgiving food distribution Saturday morning, Nov. 22. The North Texas Food Bank, UNT Dallas, Tom Thumb/Albertsons, and global clothing retailer UNIQLO are partnering for the drive-through event, which begins at 9 a.m. on the UNT Dallas campus at 7300 University Hills Blvd. It is open to the public and does not require an income qualification. Organizers initially planned to serve 500 vehicles, but increased capacity after seeing higher demand. “We started getting a lot of buzz and [UNT Dallas] asked us to increase to a thousand so that’s what we’re prepared to do tomorrow,” said Enrique Rodriguez, who manages social services assistance programs for the North Texas Food Bank. “We’re going to feed 1,000 families tomorrow (well, 1,000 cars), so that really equates to 4,000 families.” Each vehicle will receive a turkey and about 60 pounds of nutritious food. In addition, volunteers from UNIQLO will distribute HEATTECH thermal clothing as part of the company’s Heart of LifeWear initiative. Rodriguez said the organization expects to see many families in need for the first time, still struggling in the aftermath of the recent 43-day government shutdown. “People are still hurting right now,” he said. “The cost of food is still up. People have been having to decide whether they were going to pay bills or buy food during that tumultuous time.” To receive food, participants will need to provide their name, ZIP code, and the number of people in their household. No income verification is required. “This is what we do—500 events in the community,” Rodriguez said. “Tomorrow happens to be the big one at the UNT Dallas campus.” The North Texas Food Bank has also secured an additional 15,000 turkeys that will be distributed to its 500 partner agencies in the days ahead. For more information or to find a food pantry nearby, visit: ntfb.org/get-food-assistance.