Children of the Open Road (1992)

Plot Summary

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.

Full Cast & Characters

Jasmin Tabatabai

Jana Kessel

Andrea Eckert

Theresa Kessel

Hans Peter Korff

Dr. Schoenefeld

Nina Petri

Fräulein Roth

Wolf-Dietrich Berg

Heinrich Hottinger

Herbert Leiser

Paul Kessel

Mathias Gnädinger

Roger Kessel

Noemi Steuer

Andrina Kessel

Johanna Karl-Lory

Wahrsagerin

Director & Crew

Where to Watch Children of the Open Road Online

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