‘It saved my life’: Kindertransport veterans unveil statue at Essex port

Harwich memorial commemorates rescue of 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children from Nazi regime

The last time Dame Stephanie Shirley, 88, stood on the quayside in Harwich, she was a frightened five-year-old called Vera Buchtal.

The girl had just stepped off a boat that brought her and hundreds of other Jewish children to the UK from the horrors of Nazi Europe. Shirley was back at the Essex port on Thursday to unveil a Kindertransport memorial statue commemorating the rescue of 10,000 unaccompanied children.