Into The Arms Of Strangers

Black and white, 35mm
USA, 2000, 117 min
Section: Intolerance

Synopsis

A testimony relating the story of Jewish children participating in the rescue transports who fled Nazi terror. The film is based on authentic accounts from those involved in the evacuation of Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia at a time when, in observance of the Nuremberg laws, the systematic extermination of non-Aryan inhabitants was under way. One of the protagonists remembers the anti-Jewish pogroms of the Krystallenacht in November 1938. Some describe the dramatic scenes at the railway stations, others recall the depressing procedures at the German-Dutch borders. This mosaic also features the former British stockbroker Nicholas Winton whose ingenious scheme for the rescue of endangered children from the Protectorate was the subject of the Czech feature film All My Loved Ones (1999). Harris’ document points to one of the key chapters in 20th century history and grows into a broader statement about the consequences of injustice unleashed into a world of monstrous ideology.

About the director

Mark Jonathan Harris graduated from Harvard university and began as a journalist. He has been making documentaries since the mid-1960s and has written a number of stories, children’s books and a screenplay for the feature film Come the Morning (1993) by director Michael Sajbel. He lectures at the University of South California. Documentaries: Foreigners (1968) and The Homefront (1985). The short film The Redwoods (1967) and the feature-length documentary The Long Way Home (1997) about Jews who survived the concentration camps, were awarded Oscars. He also won an Oscar for Into the Arms of Strangers.