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Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

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Into the Arms of Strangers
File:Kindertransport film.jpg
Directed byMark Jonathan Harris
Written byHarris
Produced byDeborah Oppenheimer
StarringJudi Dench (narrator)
Edited byKate Amend
Music byLee Holdridge
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
September 7, 2000 (2000-09-07) (United States)
November 24, 2000 (2000-11-24) (United Kingdom)
Running time
122 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport is the 2000 Academy Award-winning Warner Bros. documentary feature film about the remarkable British rescue operation, known as the Kindertransport, which saved the lives of over 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia by transporting them via train, boat, and plane to England. These children, or kinder, were taken into foster homes and hostels in Britain, expecting eventually to be reunited with their parents. The majority of them never saw their families again. Written and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris, produced by Deborah Oppenheimer, narrated by Judi Dench, and made with the cooperation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, it utilized rare and extensive footage, photographs, and artifacts, and is told in the words of the child survivors, rescuers, parents, and foster parents. These are the stories of those who survived with the help of others; they are stories of courage and hope; stories about the strength and resolve of children; and most astonishing, these are stories rarely heard about the impact of the Holocaust.

Interviewed subjects

The documentary relies heavily on filmed interviews in which the children of the Kindertransport (aged in their 60s and 70s at the time of the filming) recall their feelings and experiences. These interview subjects include:[1]

  • Lorraine Allard, kind
  • Lory Cahn, kind
  • Mariam Cohen, foster mother of Kurt Fuchel
  • Hedy Epstein, kind
  • Kurt Fuchel, kind
  • [Alexander Gordon], kind
  • Franzi Groszmann, mother of Lore Segal
  • Eva Hayman, kind
  • Jack Hellman, kind
  • Bertha Leverton, kind
  • Ursula Rosenfeld, kind
  • Inge Sadan, kind (Bertha Leverton's sister)
  • Lore Segal, kind
  • Robert Sugar, kind
  • Nicholas Winton, rescuer [2]
  • Norbert Wollheim, rescuer

Alexander Gordon was also one of the refugees on HMT Dunera, one of the most notorious events of British maritime history.

Reactions

An overwhelming majority of American film critics responded positively to Into the Arms of Strangers writing that it both intellectually and emotionally captures this chapter of history.[3] The film went on to win the prestigious Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[4] The film had an extremely limited theatrical release (18 theaters at its widest) and grossed $382,807 domestically.[5]

In 2014, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertranspot was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Into the Arms of Strangers". Warner Brothers.
  2. ^ "Nicholas Winton, Rescuer of 669 Children From Holocaust, Dies at 106". NYTimes.
  3. ^ "Into the Arms of Strangers, stories of the kindertransport". Rotten Tomatoes.com.
  4. ^ "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  5. ^ "Into the Arms of Strangers". Box Office Mojo.
  6. ^ http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2014/14-210.html
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