This is the earliest article we have found on Kitchener camp – in the Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt / ‘Jewish Newsletter’, which I believe was the only German-Jewish newspaper still allowed to be published by 1939
As far as I have been able to ascertain, this was the first public announcement about Kitchener camp, which was to save so many lives: it is likely that your father or other family member will have read this, and seen a first ray of hope since arrest and incarceration in November 1938
Kitchener camp – the first announcement
Source http://digital.cjh.org:80/R/-?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=1937181&silo_library=GEN01
Leo Baeck Institute, LBI Library, 15 West 16th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011
The above article, reproduced here with kind permission, courtesy of the Leo Baeck Institute, was very kindly translated by one of our Kitchener Descendant Group members in November 2017
The original image can be found in context at the outstanding Centre for Jewish History online: http://digital.cjh.org/R/6JGDQGURKNQHQKGXHFAUTHQFV8J11G7KS7PA3FJB8QLCQU7KUE-00653?func=dbin-jump-full&object%5Fid=1937181&local%5Fbase=GEN01&pds_handle=GUEST
Translation
Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt, 20th January, 1939
The Reich Representation of German Jews in Germany (Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland) says:
Efforts of the Reichsvertretung for the promotion and acceleration of emigration have led to a transit camp being built in England for Jews from Germany, including Austria, provisionally for three thousand, finally reaching five thousand, on the site of a former barracks in Richborough (Kent). In principle, it should temporarily take in men aged between eighteen and thirty-five, and exceptionally aged up to forty-five, whose emigration is urgent and whose immigration overseas, or to Palestine, but firstly whose final destination is to Palestine, is assured by the locally responsible branches of the Palestine Office.
These offices will hand over the required questionnaire to the applicants for the most accurate completion and instruct them about the further requirements. The applicants will be forwarded to the Reichsvertretung for a decision by a specially appointed commission. The applicants will be notified immediately of the decision, which will be taken as soon as possible, while at the same time receiving the necessary further information. To avoid avoidable disappointments and not burden the work of selection unnecessarily, all applications must be omitted for which the prerequisites for admission to the transit camp, as evidenced above, are not met, especially since, in the interest of equitable distribution from the individual districts, it is understandable that only a limited number of applications can be accepted.
Furthermore, the Reichsvertretung asks to refrain from any direct correspondence and from visits and calls; as the setting up work will be delayed through this, in principle such requests cannot be answered by them.
[Note from translator: The text in the sentence below is damaged in the original, and in parts unreadable, but broadly says:]
The places in the transit camp, which become free through onward travel, shall be taken up again and again for emigration from Germany by those who meet the conditions set out.