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.
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.