50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. And Mrs. Kraus

Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus never intended to become heroes. But in early 1939, as conditions were worsening for Jews living inside Nazi Germany, the Philadelphia couple embarked on a risky and improbable mission – an effort to rescue 50 Jewish children and bring them to safety in the United States. The couple faced imposing obstacles. The United States government, not to mention a vast majority of the American public, was largely indifferent to the plight of Jewish refugees seeking to escape from Adolf Hitler’s increasing persecution. America’s rigid immigration laws also made it nearly impossible to bring refugees – even children – into this country. The Krauses, who were Jewish, also had to face the risks of traveling into Nazi Germany and dealing with the Gestapo and other Nazi officials in their effort to carry out their bold rescue plan. In the spring of 1939, Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus sailed for Europe and into the heart of darkness. 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus for the first time tells the incredible story of an American couple who, against all odds, brought the single largest group of children during the Holocaust out of Nazi Germany and into the United States. In doing so, they transformed themselves from an ordinary couple into extraordinary heroes.