Into the Arms of Strangers : Stories of the Kindertransport - Softcover

Mark Jonathan Harris; Deborah Oppenheimer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074755269X ISBN 13: 9780747552697

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2001

Synopsis

In November 1938, international public opinion was shocked by the news of Kristallnacht - the anti-Jewish pogrom that led to the burning of synagogues and the first mass arrests of Jewish men. Twelve days later, the British government implemented an imaginative plan, known informally as the Kindertransport, which allowed many children to leave the horrors of the Nazi regime and find temporary refuge within British families and hostels. By the time war was declared in September 1939, this brave undertaking had saved 10,000 lives. This book, based on the Academy Award-winning feature documentary of the same name, reveals what it was like to grow up in the shadow of the Nazi threat, to escape danger and fear, but also to leave family and friends, perhaps for ever. It is poignantly told in the words of those directly involved.

About this title

Review

Between December 1938 and the outbreak of war in August 1939, some 10,000 children, the vast majority of them Jews, from Germany, Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia were evacuated to Great Britain. The stories of 18 witnesses to this Kindertransport--children, parents, and rescuers--are recounted in Into the Arms of Strangers.

These first-person accounts are woven into a loose narrative of life before the Nazi era, the transport, and life in their new homes. The editors wisely remain in the background, allowing the survivor testimony to shine through. Their experiences were diverse: some stayed behind, such as Norbert Wollheim, a Kindertransport organizer who refused a number of chances to escape from Germany, knowing that if he did, the transports would be stopped. Lory Cahn was actually on a train when her father pulled her off; he was unable to let her go. Those who made it to England found challenges of their own: some remained in hostels for the remainder of the war; some were taken in by families to work as cheap servant labor; still others were taken in by loving families, but then had to deal with "survivor's guilt."

Years after the war, Vera Gissing asked her foster father why he and his family had taken her in. He answered, "I knew I could not save the world. I knew I could not stop the war from starting. But I knew I could save one human life." Into the Arms of Strangers is a moving tribute to this remarkable event. --Sunny Delaney

About the Author

Deborah Oppenheimer, whose mother was a Kindertransport survivor, is an Executive TV Producer at Warner Bros. Pictures. Mark Jonathan Harris is a writer and director, whose last film, The Long Way Home (1997), won an Academy Award for the Best Feature Length Documentary.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 074755269X
• ISBN 13: 9780747552697
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 303