Kino and Kinder is the history of my family and those they helped (1880 - 2020) reconstructed using contemporary dairies, manuscripts, memories of the Kinder, photographs and research in Vienna, Brno, London and Windermere.

In 1915 my grandmother Paula’s family bought a cinema in Vienna that she ran with her sister. The Palast Kino was a success. Following the Anschluss, the cinema was confiscated in 1938. My grandmother sent her son, Peter, to safety in England before fleeing herself—a penniless refugee. She then became a matron at hostels in Tynemouth and Windermere, caring for girls evacuated by the Kindertransport.

The girls, as old women, described the rise of antisemitism during their childhood, their distress at leaving their families as young children, and adjusting to hostel life in a new country.

Peter was interned on the Isle of Man and Canada before becoming the first enemy alien to serve in the Royal Navy and intelligence. Few of the family left behind in Vienna in 1938 survived.

The Kinder went on to have careers, many married and had children and grandchildren as they spread across the globe. They remained in contact with one another and my grandmother throughout their lives.

Dr Vivien Sieber is a biologist who trained in plant genetics. After ten years of biomedical research, she began lecturing in genetics. Her interests moved into academic development, learning technology and information literacy. During her career Vivien worked in universities in Manchester, London, Oxford and Surrey.

Although Vivien has published many peer-reviewed journal articles on her research, Kino and Kinder is her first book. Since retiring she is learning to make pots and has written Kino and Kinder.