Eva Paddock’s Story: Rescue from the Holocaust

In this lesson you can explore Eva Paddock's story and reflections, learn about the Kindertransport, and consider what this rescue effort reveals about the possibilities and limits of saving Jews during the Holocaust.

Alongside the historical background, you will find free teaching materials that help you present Eva’s experiences to your students through a timeline, film clips, poems, photographs, and ready-to-use classroom activities.

By combining an individual testimony with the broader context of escape and rescue, these resources support students in developing historical understanding, empathy, and a sense of hope.

Timeline

Photogallery

Other lessons

Lesson

The Fate of Jewish Children

Lesson

Teaching history through individual stories

Lesson

The Different Ways Jews Were Helped during the Holocaust

Eva Paddock's story

31 December 1935 – Born in Proseč, Czechoslovakia
Eva Paddock (née Fleischmannová) was born into a Jewish family in Proseč, then part of Czechoslovakia.

1938 – Move to Prague
When Eva was two and a half years old, her family moved to Prague.

March 1939 – Father flees Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia
After the German occupation to avoid capture Eva’s father escaped first to Berlin, then via Brussels to the United Kingdom.

July 1939 – Kindertransport from Prague to Britain
Shortly before the outbreak of war at around 3½ years old, Eva and her sister Milena were sent on the last Kindertransport train from Prague to England, part of the rescue organized by Nicholas Winton.

1939–1940 – Life with the Radcliffe family in England
In England the sisters were looked after by the Radcliffe family, who originally planned to host only one child but chose to keep both.

1940 – Mother arrives in Britain; family reunited
In spring 1940 Eva’s mother Sonia successfully reached England via Norway, and the family was reunited — a rare outcome for Kindertransport children.

1945 – End of World War II
Eva, her sister, and both parents survived the Holocaust; many extended family members did not.

Late 1940s – British citizenship
After the 1948 communist coup in Czechoslovakia, the family decided to remain in England and later naturalized as British citizens.

1950s–1960s – Marriage and international life
In 1952 Eva met her future husband Jim Paddock, an English architect.

1970s-2000 - Professional life
Teacher, teacher trainer, curriculum developer.

NOW – Public testimony and Holocaust education
Eva Paddock lives in the United States and actively speaks to schools, universities, and memorial events about Kindertransport and Holocaust survival.