The documentary “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus” explores the previously untold story of a Jewish couple from Philadelphia who risked their lives to save the largest group of children allowed into the United States at the time.
Blending historical footage, personal photographs, interviews with nine surviving members of the 50, and narration by Alan Alda and Mamie Gummer (reading from the memoir of Eleanor Kraus — the “Mrs.” of the movie’s title), the film reveals the Krauses battling bureaucracies abroad and at home and racing against the clock to get the children out of Vienna as atrocities escalated in 1939.
The Krauses’ efforts might have remained a footnote lost to history had filmmaker Steven Pressman not read the unpublished memoir written by Eleanor, who died in 1989, 14 years after her husband, Gilbert.
Marking the 81st anniversary of the children’s arrival in the United States and presented in conjunction with the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, Pressman is screening the film today, June 3, at 4 p.m. PT via Facebook Live, followed by a Q&A. Register here.
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