It would be easy for writer/director Mark Jonathan Harris to descend into sentimentality with his Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, but he rarely does. My tear ducts only welled up late into the documentary when personal letters were read over still images of children and parents, but that lasted only a couple of minutes. Much longer and torrents of tears could have flowed.

Kindertransport was the program that British strangers adopted to save some 10,000 children (mostly Jewish) in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia from the clutches of the evil Hitler and his Nazi death squads in 1939, just before war was declared. The reason Americans have hardly heard of the program is that Congress "compassionately" refused to adopt a program to bring 20,000 children to the U.S. The myopic excuse given was that children belonged with their parents.

There was a collective groan from the audience as this embarrassing historical tidbit was revealed. Americans can be self-righteous about crying along with Steven Spielberg's Holocaust tribute, Schindler's List, but it's shameful to think that the U.S. turned down a chance to save the lives of 20,000 children when it was aware of the perilous situation.

For those who doubt that we were aware of the peril, Into the Arms of Strangers cites the widely known Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), when Jewish synagogues, homes, and businesses were destroyed in Nazi territory. It sparked the British people to begin the Kindertransport program.

It's a little surprising to find that Hitler's government cooperated at first with the program, but Into the Arms of Strangers points out that the Nazis first felt that any means of ridding the country of its Jews was worthwhile.

Why not accept the adults? Though the Brits showed their humanitarian side, they are a practical people. They couldn't risk the economic impact of allowing the parents to migrate into the country to take away the few jobs available.

Concerned parents sent their precious children into the unknown to get away from the certain hell they were to face. They retained hopes of rejoining their children later, for Britain would allow them into the country if they had papers to prove they were either financially independent or already had employment in Great Britain.

Into the Arms of Strangers focuses primarily on four surviving Kindertransport participants. It intercuts between current interviews, still photos, and archive footage (all authoritatively narrated by Judi Dench).
It contains interviews with a surviving parent, foster parent, and a couple other people involved with the rescues. Some of the archive footage has screened previously in Night and Fog and in other well-known documentary material, but these tales are absolutely mesmerizing!.

Imagine saying your final goodbyes to your parents and going off to a strange new land to live with people you've never met. The experiences vary, depending on the individuals, and Into the Arms of Strangers puts a human face on a program that loses its vitality if you only read about it in history texts.

One woman describes herself as rather unlikable; she was moved from foster parent to foster parent until she had gone through five of them. The British people may not be known for their one-on-one warmness, but at least she found that each of these couples was willing to take in a Jewish child.

Outgoing Kurt Fuchel relates a different side to the Kindertransport program. He was rather young when he immigrated to England. Accepted lovingly into his adoptive family, he became completely attached to them, even forgetting his native German tongue. The attachment was two-way. He had another emotional challenge when his parents survived the Holocaust and re-joined their son.

In a way, he considered himself the luckiest man alive since he had two sets of loving parents; but he was also saddened to have to live his latter teen years with his real parents, who had become almost like strangers to him.

There are other stories. The characters are absolutely fascinating because they are so human and real. Their voices may occasionally crack a bit as they recall events, but they remain remarkably controlled as they describe their experiences in vivid detail.

Although we know of the Holocaust horrors from other sources, the Kindertransport is a little-known aspect that puts a personal perspective on pre-war Europe. For those who wonder why the Jews didn't leave when they knew what Hitler was up to, Into the Arms of Strangers provides a firsthand account.

Produced under the auspices of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Into the Arms of Strangers preserves some of the most poignant and effective Holocaust history ever witnessed. Into the Arms of Strangers should be seen by everyone to give these people even more purpose to their lives than is stated by one survivor who cites his family.

They say the purpose of history is to help us prevent the same mistakes. Harris' documentary establishes that the U.S. blundered hugely by not taking part in such a program when we had the chance. We can only hope and pray we won't blow it the next time. I have little confidence the government will be wiser the next time, but the odds will increase if more people experience Into the Arms of Strangers.