‘The Windermere Children’ regain their lives in the wake of World War II

A new feature-length dramatization of a remarkable true story about hope in the aftermath of the Holocaust called “The Windermere Children” premieres on Arizona PBS on Sunday, Apr. 5 at 9 p.m. The 90-minute film is based on the powerful first-person testimony of orphaned survivors who rebuilt their lives in the U.K. following World War II.

WATCH: “The Windermere Children”

The story follows a group of child Holocaust survivors who are transported to the Calgarth Estate by Lake Windermere, England in August 1945. Carrying only the clothes they wear and a few meager possessions, they bear the emotional and physical scars of all they have suffered.

Child psychologist Oscar Friedmann is charged with looking after the children. He and his team of counselors, including art therapist Marie Paneth, philanthropist Leonard Montefiore and sports coach Jock Lawrence, have four months to help the children begin to heal and reclaim their lives. They learn English, play football, ride bikes, attempt to integrate with the locals and express their trauma through painting. Haunted by nightmares, they yearn for news of their loved ones from the Red Cross, but in the absence of relatives, the children find family in each other.