Children of the Open Road

Children of the Open Road 1992 Directed by Urs Egger Kinder der Landstrasse

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.

Countries Austria , Germany , Switzerland

Production Countries Austria , Germany , Switzerland

Language German

Spoken Language German

Gneres Drama , History

Production Companies Wega Film , Lichtblick Film , Panorama Films (CH)

Release Date 1 January 1992

117 mins