”50 Children”-Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus
In 1938, Germany annexed Austria and perpetrated Kristallnacht which caught the attention of a Jewish fraternal organization called Brith Sholom which recruited a wealthy couple to go to Vienna and rescue Jewish children. Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus were from Philidelphia and they gathered 50 affidavits from their friends to travel to Vienne in 1939. When they arrived they interviewed different families who were on the waiting list for US immigration visas and with the help of Robert Schless, a physician who went with them, they chose 50 children to come back with them.
The US state department in Berlin and Vienne helped them get passports and visas for all the children, once they arrived in the US in 1939, the children were housed in the Brith Sholomville camp in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Most of the children were reunited with their parents once they immigrated but others were less fortunate. They were able to stay with foster families and the Kraus' kept two children themselves.
Although they were very successful, many Jewish organizations like the German Jewish Children’s Aid (GJCA), were worried that they had overstepped the bureaucratic process as they had a budget of $150, 000 to care for 50 kids. However, after being investigated by the Children's Bureau, they found that the children were all being treated well and the Kraus' could keep their kids.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-immigration-of-refugee-children-to-the-united-states
The US state department in Berlin and Vienne helped them get passports and visas for all the children, once they arrived in the US in 1939, the children were housed in the Brith Sholomville camp in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Most of the children were reunited with their parents once they immigrated but others were less fortunate. They were able to stay with foster families and the Kraus' kept two children themselves.
Although they were very successful, many Jewish organizations like the German Jewish Children’s Aid (GJCA), were worried that they had overstepped the bureaucratic process as they had a budget of $150, 000 to care for 50 kids. However, after being investigated by the Children's Bureau, they found that the children were all being treated well and the Kraus' could keep their kids.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-immigration-of-refugee-children-to-the-united-states
This is kind of similar to Schindler, and its good to hear about some positivity and human kindness during the holocaust. How did they select the children they would bring and which ones they would leave behind? I feel like that would be the hardest decision its basically who would live and who would die. I wonder how old the kids were, if they were teenagers or very young kids. It would be easier for young kids to assimilate into the culture and also not be as traumatized by what they went through.
ReplyDeleteGood blog post! I was interested more into how the 50 children were actually sleected to be brought to America and I found that there was in fact a long selection process for the children. Hundreds of parents and children showed up to apply to have the children selected for the rescue. The children selected, 25 girls and 25 boys, were the ones considered most resilient to be separated from their family, whom they might not see again. They had to say goodbye to their families in Vienna and were not able to say wave to them fromt he trains due to fears that the waving could be interpreted as the Nazi salute and could result in their arrests.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Eleanor_Kraus
Great blog post! I thought Schindler was the only one that got to save Jews , but it's really interesting to know that these people were able to save these children. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to choose which kids to save and take with them. I also imagine that it must've been really hard for the parents to say goodbye to their children and although they would be safe it must have been really hard to let them go because they don't know if they would ever see them again.
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