Synopses & Reviews
The companion to the Academy Award(r) winning feature documentary from Warner Bros.
For nine months before the outbreak of World War II, Britain conducted an extraordinary rescue mission. It opened its doors to over 10,000 endangered children-90 per cent of them Jewish-from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. These children were taken into foster homes and hostels in Britain, expecting eventually to be reunited with their parents. Most of the children never saw their families again.
Into the Arms of Strangers recounts the remarkable story of this rescue operation, known as the Kindertransport. It contains stories in their own words from the child survivors, rescuers, parents, and foster parents. The stories are heartbreaking, but they are also inspiring. These are the stories of those who survived with the help of others; they are stories about the strength and resolve of children; and most astonishing, these are stories not yet heard about the Holocaust.
Review
"An important work that contains first-hand testimonies of an experience that only a few books have addressed, much less captured."—
Chicago Tribune"Wonderfully moving . . . a noble story, beautifully told."—The Daily Mail (London)
"Harris, an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker (The Long Way Home), and television producer Oppenheimer tell the story of the Kindertransport, a rescue mission undertaken by the British that saved 10,000 predominantly Jewish German, Austrian, and Czech children from the Nazi regime. In a series of Studs Terkel-style interviews, they relate the stories of 18 children, foster parents, and organizers of the transport. The text is arranged chronologically, with each section telling the story of one person to illustrate how the rescue mission worked, from the events preceding the children's departure for England to their lives today. This is an effective and compelling way of preserving history. Although much has been written already about the transport, the diversity of the participants' experiences gives a better feel for this amazing rescue and makes for especially fascinating reading."—Library Journal
About the Author
Mark Jonathan Harris is a two-time Academy Award(r) winner, most recently for the 1997 Best Feature-Length Documentary,
The Long Way Home. He is a professor and former chair of the Production Department of the USC School of Cinema/Television, a journalist, and the author of five award-winning children's novels.
Deborah Oppenheimer is the president of Mohawk Productions, a production company at Warner Bros. She is the executive producer of the television programs, The Drew Carey Show and Norm. Her mother was a Kindertransport survivor.