German and Austrian War Children In The Netherlands

Welcome to the DOKIN website!

Dokin is a Dutch acronym for Duitse Oorlogskinderen In Nederland (German War Children in the Netherlands). Here you will find information about the refugee children from the Third Reich who came to the Netherlands after Kristallnacht.

After Reichskristallnacht (starting November 9th, 1938), many parents in Germany and Austria decided to send their children abroad, alone.
Not many countries were willing to accept refugees. The fact that England has accepted about 8000 children is well-known and well documented. The so called “Kindertransports” from Germany to London are famous. The fact that some other European countries did accept some of the refugee children is largely unknown.
Almost 2000 children came to the Netherlands.

On this website you will find information on these children and about this period in Dutch history.
In the Children section you will find information which Miriam has collected over the years. For privacy reasons this list is split in two: the children whom she knows to have been killed in the camps or have died in other ways during the Shoah are in the Public Database, whereas the ones who did or might have survived are in the Secure zone of this website. To access this data (free of charge) you will need to request a username and password. We will personally approve the request, so this is not always done instantly.
In the secure zone you will also find the letters that Elisabeth Eylenburg wrote from Berlin to her son’s foster mother Elisa Wijsenbeek in The Hague.
In the Refugee Homes section you will find descriptions of all the homes where the refugee children were housed. Miriam has also placed some group pictures here.
In the Publications section you will find all the articles Miriam has written and that have been written about her research.
In the Links and Literature section you will find a listing of related publications and websites.

Besides two grants to help cover the expenses for the children Miriam interviewed in the US and Israel in 2011, this project has been funded by her, by devoting her time and effort to it.
Although many have contributed their time to the building of the website, the costs of hosting and certain third party involvement cannot be avoided.
If you would like to support the project please visit the Donate section.

Doordat zowel onze tijd als onze middelen beperkt zijn, bieden wij deze site alleen in het Engels aan. Onze excuses voor mensen die hier moeite mee hebben.

.הזמן והמשאבים שלנו מוגבלים, ולכן אתר זה מופיע רק בשפה האנגלית. אנו מתנצלים אם נגרמה אי נוחות מכך

If you have any questions, comments or additions please contact us at info@dokin.nl.