50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus

The film depicts the mission of the Kraus couple, who decided in 1939 to travel to the Third Reich and return to the USA with their 50 children.

This task was very difficult, and not only because of the danger of migrating to Nazi Germany. At that time, many ultra-right-wing organizations, both anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic, were active in the USA. Politicians were not interested in bringing in refugees, and even Jewish communities in the USA were reluctant to conduct rescue missions, wishing to avoid inflaming social tensions. And the administration created difficulties.

The film shows how, with enormous dedication, Mr. Kraus found a legal loophole and then implemented his plan. It is worth emphasizing that the film avoids mawkishness. It's clearly emphasized that the mission was successful because the Krause family was wealthy, but also because most German officers didn't make much of a fuss. Some were happy to issue passports to get the children off their records, while others didn't even seem to share the Nazis' anti-Semitic obsession. The film is enriched by testimonies from several surviving children.

50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. And Mrs. Kraus (2013) was written and directed by Steven Pressman, with narration by Alan Alda. The Kraus family were highly assimilated Philadelphia Jews, who were very successful and wealthy, but otherwise unexceptional.

In 1939, for reasons that are never completely clear to us--or maybe to them--they decided to rescue 50 Jewish children from Nazi Germany. As you might guess, the obstacles to this project were immense. Gilbert Kraus, aided by his wife, went to Germany--risky for them personally--and brought the children out safely.

What's fascinating is that the Krause's didn't do anything of that magnitude before or after this extraordinary event. Krause conceived of it, carried it out, and then went back to his law practice and his upper-class life.

The movie celebrates this amazing event, made even more amazing by the fact that nothing preceding it or following it marked out the Kraus family for particular distinction. They didn't even talk much about the event afterward. They just did it, and they saved 50 lives.

We saw this movie in the Dryden Theatre at the exceptional Rochester Jewish Film Festival. It will work well on the small screen. It's worth seeing.

True courage is an unexplainable commodity. Gilbert and Eleanor Krauss paid attention to the news of Hitler's activities through 1938, the latest being the November Kristallnacht atrocity, the deaths of more than 30 Jews, the destruction of a thousand synagogues, and the incarceration of 30,000 Jewish men two days. Certainly, the cooperation of German and Austrian civilians with the Nazi soldiers in those couple of days made the future prospects of the remaining Jews very dim. Enter a Jewish attorney and his wife in Philadelphia (perhaps further inspired by their association with a Quaker church) who concocts a scheme to fetch fifty children from Jewish families in Vienna. He must go there to do this. My eyes tear up while trying to imagine what it took to believe, not only in the possibility of success of such a venture, but that he would survive a foray into such a violent, anti-semitic nightmare. Steven Pressman and Liz Perle's wonderful documentary is a fascinating examination of pressing-on in the face of frightening odds. See it.

This is an HBO film. Steven Pressman, who is married to Liz Perle--a granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, has made his first movie about Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus of Philadelphia who in January of 1939 decided to attempt the rescue of 50 Jewish children from Austria. This is only months after the Nov 10, 1938 Kristallnacht--Night of Broken Glass. This at a time of fervent anti-Semitism in America, a time when letting foreigners into America was frowned upon; a time when President Roosevelt, while encouraging that quota for immigration be fulfilled, the quota were not to be extended. The local Philadelphia Jewish Council thought the idea dangerous--Jews going into Nazi Germany could very well mean not getting out of Nazi Germany.

In the end, through the prodding of American embassy personnel and Nazi functionaries visas for 50 Jewish Children were obtained. This means the children had to leave brothers and sisters and parents for an unknown adventure for a guaranteed life of safety. Mr. Pressman had found 9 of 50 children--now in their 80s, and their observations and recollections make for very moving testimony of what was involved, of what being Jewish in Vienna meant after the Anschluss in 1938. The movie records with archival footage and home movies of events that occurred from May to June of 1939 when the children actually left Europe for the safety of America.

Alan Alda gives a very low key narration, Mammie Gummer as the voice of Eleanor Kraus was equally low key. No histrionics here. The musical score by Marco D'Ambrosio was especially moving enhancing the tone of mourning the entire episode represents.

There is always something moving about orphans and those who rescue orphans. Whether it is "Father Flanagan's Boy's Town," "Orphan Train" which recorded the transport of New York abandoned waifs being transported by train to the West to find families; or the KinderTransport of Jewish Children in Nazi occupied Europe to British families--the story always touches the heart strings. This documentary is an excellent addition to that heart rending story.

Hamlet says: "There is a divinity that shapes are ends, rough-hew them how we will." I always suspect, orphans know exactly what those words mean.

A must watch, and so glad that this was brought to light. An example of average people doing amazing things that will resonate for a long time in history. This film is more relevant every year now as we seem to so easily slip back into that mind set with events going on now.