Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport
2000 film documentary directed by Mark Jonathan Harris
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport is a 2000 documentary film about the British rescue operation known as the Kindertransport, which saved the lives of over 9,000 Jewish and other children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Danzig 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.
The film received numerous accolades, including winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The film was released on DVD and VHS on August 28, 2001, by Warner Home Video.
In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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:
Lorraine Allard, Kind
Lory Cahn, Kind
Mariam Cohen, foster mother of Kurt Fuchel
Hedy Epstein, Kind
Kurt Fuchel, Kind
Abrascha Gorbulski, Alexander Gordon, Kind, Dunera Boy, British Army Sergeant (1941-1948)
Franzi Groszmann, mother of Lore Segal
Eva Hayman, Kind
Jack Hellman, Kind
Bertha Leverton, Kind
Ursula Rosenfeld, Kind
Inge Sadan, Kind (Bertha Leverton's sister)
Lore Segal, Kind
Robert Sugar, Kind
Nicholas Winton, rescuer
Norbert Wollheim, rescuer
Alexander Gordon was also one of the refugees on HMT Dunera, one of the most notorious events of British maritime history.
Reactions
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport has an approval rating of 92% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 36 reviews, and an average rating of 7.68/10.
The public source identifies “Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport” as 2000 film documentary directed by Mark Jonathan Harris. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Arms, Strangers and Stories.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1225068. VIAF identifies the subject as 192615168. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000, 2001, 2014 and 1941.
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