Stars: Judi Dench

Director: Mark Jonathan Harris

Summary: The story of the children who were sent by their parents from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia to the safety of England in 1938 and 1939. Years later survivors and people involved remember those days...

INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS, the stunning, heartrending documentary feature directed by Mark Jonathan Harris and narrated by Judi Dench, details the rescue of 10,000 German, Austrian, and Czechoslovakian Jewish children just prior to the outbreak of WWII. A labor of love for producer Deborah Oppenheimer, whose mother was part of the kindertransport, the documentary combines powerful testimonies from now elderly--kinder--with rare archival film footage. Following the Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938, a mission began to remove Jewish children to the only nation willing to harbor them--England. Parents lucky enough to secure their children places had the heartbreaking task of packing a single suitcase and putting their child on a train, promising to follow soon after. Most of the parents, however, died in Hitler's concentration camps. In England, the kinder were faced with new problems--living with strangers who spoke another language, while simultaneously missing and feeling abandoned by their parents. Recounting their compelling, gut-wrenching stories, the pain is still raw for the elderly kinder--but they are survivors in every sense of the word. Their fortune, though traumatizing, is underscored by the film's final, sobering statistic: 1.5 million children perished during the Holocaust.

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Winner of the 2001 Oscar for Best Documentary, Into The Arms Of Strangersattempts to expose and understand one of the forgotten travesties of WWII. While the evacuation of British children during the Second World War has become the stuff of legend, the rescue of 10,000 Jewish children from Germany is less well known. This programme of "kindertransport" was to provide a vital escape route to England for many children, but would also leave many heartbroken families behind to face an uncertain future at the hands of the Nazis. Told mainly in the first person by those who made the journey, this American produced documentary is a moving testament to the most innocent victims--one and a half million children perished in the Holocaust.

We may have become used to tales of Nazi's brutality in the 21st century, but it is always shocking to see the emotions that still run deep for those who experienced and survived these events first hand. As the story--narrated by Dame Judi Dench--unfolds it becomes clear that although the kindertransport was one of the great humanitarian efforts of the 20th century it was not without its flaws, none more so than the internment and repatriation of many of the evacuees that followed once war with Germany was declared. A very real historical document, Into The Arms Of Strangersis highly recommended for those looking to delve a little deeper into the travesties of War. --Phil Udell

Aspect Ratio:	1.33 Full Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary, Berlin Premiere, London Premiere, Interview With Richard Attenborough, Other Interviews And Memorabilia, Scene Access, Trailer, Interactive Menus
Subtitles:	Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian
Year:	2000
Release Date:	March 18, 2002
Runtime:	122 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 018872
Keywords:	World, Arms, Stories, War, General, Into, Strangers, Military, Documentaries, Biographies, Kindertransport
Genre:	Documentaries & Biographies