Into the Arms of Strangers - Stories of the Kindertransport

original title:
Into the Arms of Strangers - Stories of the Kindertransport
other titles:
(Kindertransport - In eine fremde Welt)
country / year of production:
original length:
122 min. , color
premiere:
USA: 7 September 2000
based on:
Mark Jonathan Harris. Into the Arms of Strangers. Stories of the Kindertransport. New York: Bloomsbury, 2000.
producer:
cinematographer:
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cast (role):
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plot synopsis:
The "Reichskristallnacht" opened the eyes of the world to the brutal methods of the Nazis against the Jewish population. The British government recognized the comming genocide and acted quickly and unbureaucratically. Already in December 1938, shortly after the "Progromnacht", Jewish children immigrated to England. The Nazis accepted the transport until to the beginning of World War II in 1939. On this way 10.000 of 1,5 million children were saved. The children were not allowed to say good bye to their parents at the train station, not to cause any puplic opinion because of the sentimental szenes. Just with a suitcase and 10 Reichsmark they arrived in England and were absorbed very differently: In foster families, as servants or in camps. Only after the end of the war they got to know, that their parents died in Auschwitz. The grown up children of that time tell their stories about the escape from Germany and their experiences in exile in this documentary.
literature:
Josef Lederle. "Kindertransport - In eine fremde Welt". In: Film-Dienst 53 (2000), 24, 32-33.

Anne L. Fox/ Eva Abraham-Podietz. Ten thousand children. True stories told by children who escaped the Holocaust on the Kindertransport. West Orange: Behrman House, 1999.
remarks:
Homepage: http://www2.warnerbros.com/intothearmsofstrangers/

Won the "Oscar" as "Best Documentary" in 2001.
availability:
VHS, DVD, CD