Children of the Open Road Backdrop Blur
Children of the Open Road Poster

Children of the Open Road

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.

Top Cast

  • Jasmin Tabatabai

    Jasmin Tabatabai

    Jana Kessel

  • Andrea Eckert

    Andrea Eckert

    Theresa Kessel

  • Hans Peter Korff

    Hans Peter Korff

    Dr. Schoenefeld

  • Nina Petri

    Nina Petri

    Fräulein Roth

  • Wolf-Dietrich Berg

    Wolf-Dietrich Berg

    Heinrich Hottinger

  • Herbert Leiser

    Herbert Leiser

    Paul Kessel

  • Mathias Gnädinger

    Mathias Gnädinger

    Roger Kessel

  • Noemi Steuer

    Noemi Steuer

    Andrina Kessel

  • Johanna Karl-Lory

    Johanna Karl-Lory

    Wahrsagerin

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.

Rating

6.5 / 10
2 Reviews
0 Popular

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