Shortly after the Second World War, a group of five thousand young children from Austria were sent to host families in Portugal to recover from the violence of war.

For most of them, this meant a heavenly stay: they were taken in by wealthy families in sunny villas with domestic staff. The contrast with their circumstances at home and the huge differences between rich and poor in Portugal at that time made a deep impression on the Austrian preschoolers.

Filmmakers Susana de Sousa Dias and Ansgar Schaefer collected a large amount of images from that period from countless photo albums and archives. Carefully composed sound effects reinforce the impressive atmosphere in which this relatively unknown story is told.

Off-screen, the former guest children recall memories of that overwhelming, sometimes blissful but in any case confusing period – for both host parents and children. After about ten months, they were put back on the boat to Austria like parcels, with labels around their necks.

With an introduction by René Duursma
Introduction by René Duursma, Image & Sound Coordinator and AV Collection Manager at the Groninger Archives.
Language: English