Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)

The secret smuggling of 9,300 Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied Germany in the late 1930s.

Director:

Mark Jonathan Harris

Writer:

Mark Jonathan Harris

Stars:

Judi Dench, Lory Cahn, Kurt Fuchel

Won 1 Oscar. Another 6 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Judi Dench	...	Narrator (voice)
Lory Cahn	...	Herself
Kurt Fuchel	...	Himself
Eva Hayman	...	Herself
Ursula Rosenfeld	...	Herself
Lorraine Allard	...	Herself
Jack Hellman	...	Himself
Lore Segal	...	Herself
Robert Sugar	...	Himself
Hedy Epstein	...	Herself
Norbert Wollheim	...	Himself
Nicholas Winton	...	Himself
Franzi Groszmann	...	Herself
Alexander Gordon	...	Himself
Bertha Leverton	...	Herself

Storyline

For nine months prior to World War II, in an act of mercy unequalled anywhere else before the war, Britain conducted an extraordinary rescue mission, opening its doors to over 10,000 Jewish and other children from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. These children, or Kinder (sing. Kind), as they came to be known, 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.

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Plot Keywords:

national film registry | england | jew | kindertransport | 1930s | 

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Taglines:

In the nine months prior to World War II, 10,000 innocent children left behind their families, their homes, their childhood, and took the journey...

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. (german)

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

24 November 2000 (UK)

Also Known As:

Dans des bras étrangers

Filming Locations:

Waddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$32,037, 17 September 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$374,555, 17 December 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sabine Films, Skywalker, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Nicholas Winton: We did have the feeling that the position was much more urgent than anybody in London thought.

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Connections

Follows My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports (1996)

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Soundtracks

Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär
Traditional
Performed by Kinderchor des Ndr (as Kinderchor des NDR)

User Reviews

A moving documentary told by adults speaking as children

During that relatively small window of time, prior to the beginning of Hitler's conquest of Europe, when exportation rather than extermination was still the prudent solution to the "Jewish Problem", a rescue plan called the Kindertransport was begun which provided for the relocation of Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia into Great Britain. INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS is a documentary that examines the Kindertransport program through the eyes of the participants. No broad social commentary here, just remembrances of parents that had to send their kids away to a foreign land and into the arms of strangers so that they might survive the Nazi barbarians. The difficulty of having to provide a whole life's worth of instruction to children just before those devastating last goodbyes. A little girl wondering why, just after Hitler annexed Austria, none of her long-time Austrian friends showed up for her eighth birthday party. Parents desperately trying to keep the harsh reality of Nazi occupation from the innocent little people oblivious to the evil of man. And once the children were safe in Britain, their desperate attempts to get sponsors for parents left behind and for those lucky enough to be re-united with family after the war, having to say goodbye once again, only this time to broken hearted foster parents. This documentary is made more effective by snap-shots of the children, archival footage of Nazi Germany during the late 1930's ( a veritable sewer of anti-Jewish destruction and propaganda), and in this context, the painfully frightening sound effects of broken glass, trains and the voices of children singing in German, which seem strangely perverted; an unfortunate consequence which Germans should never forgive the Nazi's.