Our Project

The Erika’s Suitcase project began in 2021.  Our joint project – funded by the Scottish School Library Improvement Fund – looked at the experience of child refugees from the Kindertransport to today.  S1 and S2 pupils at Harlaw Academy and Cults Academy found out about Erika Schulhof Rybeck, a young Austrian girl who came to Aberdeen with the Kindertransport in May 1939. 

By learning about Erika's life as a refugee and through reading and reviewing books about refugees past and present, our aim was to promote empathy and challenge pupils to look beyond divisive and sensational headlines.

But how did it all begin?