The warm early morning sunshine flooded through the windows of the synagogue in Golders Green. Dressed in her best A-line skirt and matching navy jacket, Nancy smiled gratefully as the rabbi handed her a cup of tea and tried not to wince as she sipped it.
The inside of the rabbi’s office was bare and unyielding, Nancy thought as she sat on a hard-backed wooden chair. She glanced to her right and saw Temperance perched on the edge of her own chair, hands clasped and legs folded at the ankle. She looked so serious, Nancy thought. As if the lives of these children rested in her hands.
Nancy turned back to the rabbi and saw he was still reading through their plans. As she watched him her palms felt clammy. This meant so much. Together with Temperance and Renee she had been working on ideas for the past few days, thinking up plans of how she could help them remain in school and, most of all, how they could be loved. Despite Bill Cain and Edna, Nancy had always found the Palais to be a family – she wanted the Jewish children they took in to feel just the same. She wanted the Palais to be what she had found – a home away from home, a family away from family.
‘What you’re offering to do is very generous,’ Rabbi Damberg said, peering at the front desk manager over the top of his glasses.
Nancy shrugged her shoulders, not wanting emotion to get in the way of the importance of what she had to say. ‘These kids need help and I want to give it.’
Temperance nodded in agreement, the delicate and stiff chignon Nancy knew must have taken her ages to style, barely moving as she did so. Nancy hadn’t realised how good it would feel to have Temperance’s help. When Nancy asked her, she had thought she was the one doing the favour, giving the girl a distraction away from the demands of her home life. But the moment Temperance said yes Nancy knew she would be an asset.
Nancy felt she and Temperance had a lot in common. They were both outsiders and both, consciously and subconsciously, looking for a chance to belong. Nancy knew this was just how the children who had arrived on the Kindertransport would feel.
The rabbi looked up from Nancy’s plans and gave her a broad smile.
‘As you know, it’s getting harder and harder to get the children out of the occupied countries.’
Nancy gulped and nodded. ‘I know.’
‘You have agreed to sponsor some of the children’s passage?’
Nancy nodded again. ‘And give as many as we can everything they need.’
‘And you say you can house a couple of the children too? Give them a family?’ the rabbi asked.
‘We want them to find a family at the Palais.’
The rabbi drummed his fingers against his desk. ‘I’m just not sure the Palais is the right place for children. That, and your husband is away fighting.’
‘Against the Nazis,’ Nancy said firmly, ‘trying to make the world a safer place from the very people that wish to persecute us.’
The rabbi scratched his chin before he spoke. ‘I think what you want to do is very commendable. We cannot find enough homes for Jewish children that come to the country in this way, frightened, lost and alone.’
‘But—’ Nancy said, wanting to get to the point.
‘I have spoken with the various agencies running the Kindertransport scheme.’ The rabbi continued as if Nancy hadn’t spoken. ‘We are expecting there to be one final train next month, after that we do not think we will be able to save any more children and get them out of harm’s way.’
At the thought Nancy’s blood ran cold. There was just one more train. One more chance to save families like Rosa’s.
‘Then we would very much like to do all we can. Whether that’s food, lodging or work, we want to help,’ Temperance added.
Nancy smiled at her, grateful that she had said all that needed to be said.
The rabbi too looked pleased.
‘You seem to have quite the team at the Palais,’ he said kindly.
‘We do,’ Nancy agreed. ‘We’re a helluva team.’
The rabbi raised his eyebrow at the blasphemy but chose to let it go.
‘All right,’ he said, getting to his feet and indicating the meeting was over. ‘I’ll talk to the committee and discuss children we think would be suitable.’
‘We understand,’ Nancy said.
The rabbi shot her a smile. ‘I’m sure you do, but I have concerns about the Palais. Is there anyone I could talk to that’s family? Your mother-in-law perhaps. She is a regular at synagogue.’
The rebuke wasn’t lost on Nancy.
‘Yes, she has been terribly impacted by the plight of the Jewish children,’ Nancy said carefully.
‘So she supports this idea?’ the rabbi asked.
‘I believe Mrs Goldstein wants to help all children,’ Temperance put in smoothly. ‘As do I. At the Palais I found somewhere I could be myself, grieve in my own way after I lost my father and come to terms with my new life. Any child would be lucky to find the same.’
At that Temperance fell silent and Nancy felt a burst of love for her colleague and her quick thinking. Turning to the rabbi and seeing the way he was looking at them all now, Nancy had a funny feeling Temperance might have been the one that had convinced the rabbi the Palais was the perfect home from home.