Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport is a 2000 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 Great Britain. These children, or Kinder in German, 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.

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

The film was released on DVD and VHS on August 28, 2001 by Warner Home Video.[1][2]

Interviewed subjects

The documentary features 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:[3]

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.[5] The film went on to win the prestigious Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[6] The film had an extremely limited theatrical release (18 theaters at its widest) and grossed $382,807 domestically.[7]

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 for all time in the National Film Registry.[8]

Watching the film inspired W. G. Sebald to write his last novel Austerlitz, in which the protagonist undergoes a journey of discovering his own childhood deportation on the Kindertransport.[9]

See also

References
  1. Jimenez, John (June 28, 2001). "Warner 'Explorations' Promo Goes Back to School With History Theme". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2001. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  2. "Warner Home Video Releases Oscar-Winning Docu-Feature 'Into the Arms of Strangers' on Aug. 28". hive4media.com. May 29, 2001. Archived from the original on June 5, 2001. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  3. "Into the Arms of Strangers". Warner Brothers. 2001.
  4. McFadden, Robert D. (July 1, 2015). "Nicholas Winton, Rescuer of 669 Children From Holocaust, Dies at 106". The New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  5. "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport". Rotten Tomatoes.
  6. "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport". The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2008.
  7. "Into the Arms of Strangers". Box Office Mojo.
  8. "Cinematic Treasures Named to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. December 17, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  9. Sebald, W. G. (2006). "An Act of Restitution". In Bigsby, C. (ed.). Remembering and Imagining the Holocaust: The Chain of Memory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 25–114. ISBN 978-0-51148-609-8.
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