Search - My Knees Were Jumping - Remembering the Kindertransport on DVD

Wonderful Account of a Bittersweet History

D. F. Robison | Seattle, WA United States | 05/08/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a wonderful telling of the bittersweet history of one facet of the Holocaust. Melissa Hacker does an amazing job of weaving her very personal account of being the child of a Kindertransport survivor with the larger story of the project that saved the lives of a few thousand Jewish children from the Nazi deathcamps. It just so happens that my family was friends with the Hackers in the 1970s and we even took a trip on the Rhine river together. Little did we know at the time the emotional weight that trip must have had on Ruth (Ms. Hacker's mother). But I write this as an ubiased viewer: my husband shed more tears watching this movie than I."

Interesting account of Kindertransport survivors

z hayes | TX | 12/09/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Kindertransport was the name given to the rescue mission in which mostly Jewish children up to the age of 17 were sent by their parents in Nazi Germany and the other occupied countries in Europe, such as Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc to the United Kingdom, in a desperate bid to keep these children safe from the horrors of the Third Reich. Up to 10,000 children were rescued this way, and spent the war years shuttled from one foster home to another, waiting for news of their loved ones. Sadly, only a small percentage were eventually reunited with their parents/families at the end of the war. The others found that they had lost their loved ones to the horror that became known as the Holocaust. Even though the number of children rescued through the Kindertransport may seem small, it is still significant, considering that 1.5 million Jewish children were killed under the Third Reich during WW II.

This documentary consists of a series of interviews with some of the survivors of the Kindertransport who at the time of this documentary's filming, had already reached an advanced age. The interviews are significant especially since there aren't that many films dedicated to this subject, and some of the survivor's recollections are downright harrowing, as in one lady's recalling of her abuse at the hands of one of the foster fathers. The common theme between these survivors is the sense of instability, of being frequently shuttled from one foster home to another. What I also liked about this documentary was the insightful interviews with the survivors' children - many of whom recall their own nightmares about the Nazis (based on the stories passed down to them by their parents). It shows that the horrors of the war were not confined to those who lived through it, but also the next generation. This is a compelling documentary about the Kindertransport survivors and will appeal to educators and those interested in WW II history pertaining to this subject.


"