Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus were an American couple known for rescuing 50 Jewish children prior to the beginning of World War II. Personal life Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus lived in the Fitler Square neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Gilbert, educated at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, was an attorney, partner of a law firm, and president of Philadelphia Records. He founded the Doyleston Legal Aid Society, was president of the Bucks County Mental Health Society, and a member of Eagleville Hospital. He also bred Guernsey cows. They sent their children to a Quaker school. Eleanor wrote about the mission that they undertook, but it was not published during her lifetime. Gilbert died in 1975 and Eleanor died in 1989. Background After Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany through the Anschluss in 1938, conditions became difficult for Jews and they lost their rights. Many people wanted to immigrate to the United States, but immigration policy was very restrictive due to the Depression and anti-Semitism. Since 1934, there were Jewish groups who tried, but failed in bringing Jewish children to the United States. They knew three Philadelphian Quaker men who went to Berlin in December 1938 on a rescue mission, but were unsuccessful. Rescue mission Gilbert developed a relationship with Assistant Secretary of State George S. Messersmith, who had served as general counsel in Berlin (1930–1934) and then in Vienna (1934–1937), to focus his efforts in Vienna to rescue the children. Gilbert thought, though, that the best effort would be to work through Berlin first to have visas that were issued but unused due to death, travel to other countries, or arrest released for the children. After meeting with Louis Levine, who originally proposed the idea, and Kraus, Messersmith issued a memo to the American embassy consul general Raymond H. Geist and the State Department officials in charges of visas about the plan. Eleanor took on fundraising and finding families who would take in the children. B’rith Sholom held fundraisers for the rescue mission. They raised $150,000 and obtained 54 signed affidavits from families who said that they would support the children. With the support of B'rith Sholom, they went to Nazi occupied Austria and rescued children between the ages of five and fourteen in Vienna before the outbreak of World War II, which required them working with Jewish leaders in their community who opposed the effort and American immigration policy that