Into The Arms Of Strangers is the story of ten thousand German/Jewish children who, in an effort to save their lives, were sent to Great Britain by their parents in the year before Germany and England went to war and WWII began. This process was known as Kindertransport. England agreed to accept children of up to seventeen years of age, as refugees providing they did not take jobs away from English workers.They were placed in menial and domestic jobs in foster homes, and with families who took them in as members of the family.
Into The Arms of Strangers makes extensive use of archival footage, photographs of the day and interviews with a range of individuals who experienced this time. Interviews include the parents who survived concentration camps or escaped, the now adult children who came to England and the British guardians who took the children into their homes.
The documentary begins in 1938 as conditions for Jews in Germany and annexed areas of Czechoslovakia became increasingly hostile. These hostile conditions were also implemented when Hitler invaded and annexed Austria. Many Jews believed that things would pass, but it grew increasingly clear to everyone that Jewish people were being persecuted and forced to into concentration camps. Families scrambled to immigrate to any country that would take them, but getting visas and meeting all the conditions could take months. As time went on it seemed the only hope for the time being would be to get the children out. Into The Arms Of Strangers, using interviews and archival media does and excellent job of showing conditions for Jews in Hitler’s Germany. There was no place to go except out of Germany and many families did not have the resources to get everyone out. Kindertransport was the last chance to at least save the children.
Into The Arms Of Strangers shows the human side of war and genocide as experienced by those who were there. This film is about the Holocaust but seen through the eyes of innocent children who only knew that the were being sent away by their parents to live with strangers in a far away place. The children thought they would soon be reunited with their parents. Many took on the responsibility of trying to get their parents out of Germany. Some actually succeeded in doing this. Many never saw their parents again. Others were ultimately reunited with parents they no longer knew or barely remembered after seven or more years.
Into The Arms of Strangers is a historical and social documentary that examines many issues regarding relationships in time of war; also the psychological aspects of separation and living in fear of your life constantly. Before World War II got underway the British accepted these 10,000 children but as the war went on they started arresting people as foreign aliens and deporting them to faraway places like Australia. Many of the children who were in their mid teens were now older and looked on as possible enemy aliens. Looking back this seems extremely unlikely, as they were Jews. This view changed after a time and the now adult persons were welcomed back and asked to serve in the British Military. Both men and women enlisted to fight Hitler.
Into The Arms of Strangers is a well-made documentary that should be watched by anyone interested or studying this tragic period of history. Into The Arms Of Strangers: Kindertransport are nonfiction, stories about and told by, the actual people who experienced these events. Their interviews and recollections are supported by actuality documentation including newsreel footage, photographs and other documentation.
REVIEW BY J R MARTIN Director of Emmy nominated, Wrapped In Steel, a documentary about the Industrial community on the Southeast side of Chicago and Emmy award-winning Fired-up- Public Housing Is My Home, both documentaries aired nationally on PBS. AUTHOR CREATE DOCUMENTARY FILMS, VIDEOS AND MULTIMEDIA —Also Director Documentary Course Full Sail University. See other documentary reviews by J R Martin at https://www.jrmartinmedia.com/reviews