Children of the Open Road

Children of the Open Road

5.0/101h 57m1992
Children of the Open Road

Overview

In 1939, after barely escaping the Nazis, a Gypsy family returns to Switzerland only to be torn apart by racial persecution in the benign guise of children's welfare. This fictionalized story of Jana, an eight-year-old Gypsy girl snatched from her parents and consigned to a life of orphanages and bleak foster homes, is based on a little-known chapter of Swiss history: From 1926 to 1972, the state-supported Pro Juventute, a children's aid foundation, forcibly removed some 700 Gypsy children from their families, in order to sever the ties with their culture and assimilate them to a "better way of life." The underlying aim was to preempt a new generation's caravans from following their nomadic traditions along Switzerland's country lanes.

Genres

HistoryDrama

Production Companies

Panorama Films (CH)
Lichtblick Film
Wega Film

Additional Information

Original Title:Kinder der Landstrasse
Original Language:German
Status:Released

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