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jim-jakesdad
Reviews
50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus (2013)
The Courage of The Krausses (and Dr. Schless)
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.