PLEASE NOTE:  This film replaces our previous version of The Search + Operation Crossbow, which has been discontinued due to quality issues.

Better known by its English title, The Search, this 1948 film tells the story of a young Auschwitz survivor and his mother, who search for each other across post-World War II Europe. One oft cited feature of this film is that many of the scenes were shot amidst the actual ruins of post-war German cities, namely Ingolstadt, Nuremberg, and Würzburg. The film begins in documentary style at a railway station. Trains bring homeless children, who are taken by Mrs. Murray and other United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNNRA) workers to a nearby transit camp, where they are fed and cared for. The next morning, the children are interviewed by UNNRA officials to try to identify them and reunite them, if possible, with their families. One boy responds to all the questions with only, “Ich weiß nicht”. The boy is Karel. He grew up in a well-to-do Czech family. The Nazis deported and kille his sister and father, while the boy and mother were sent to Auschwitz. They eventually became separated. After the war, Karel survived by scavenging for food with other homeless children. Eventually, Karel encounters an American army engineer, Steve, who takes him in and cares for him. He starts teaching the boy English. Because Karel will not speak at first, Steve names him Jim.

In den Ruinen und Trümmern Nachkriegsdeutschlands irrt der tschechische Junge Karel auf der Suche nach seiner Mutter umher, der einzigen Bezugsperson die ihm noch geblieben ist. Und auch seine Mutter sucht zeitgleich verzweifelt nach einem Lebenszeichen von ihrem Sohn, den sie zum letzten Mal bei ihrer Deportation nach Ausschwitz gesehen hat. In den Trümmern einer süddeutschen Stadt wird Karel schließlich von den amerikanischen GIs Ralph Stevenson und Jerry Fisher gefunden, die den Jungen mitnehmen und umsorgen. Allerdings weigert sich der kleine Karel standhaft seinen richtigen Namen oder seine Herkunft preiszugeben.