In the 1920s, the International Children's Home in Ivanovo was established, "Interdom", which took in the children of foreign revolutionaries who had come to the USSR with their communist parents or refugees from other countries, such as Spain. The institution still existed in the 1980s when this film was shot.
In the 1920s, the MOPR (International Organization for Aid to Fighters of the Revolution) was founded, which enjoyed great popularity in Russia. At the MOPR congress in Moscow, it was decided to take in the children of foreign revolutionaries in Russia. The film uses newsreels showing this congress, the founding of the "Interdom" in Ivanovo, the development of the premises, the first residents, and tells, with the help of other film newsreels from the 1920s and 1930s, the story of many children who came from Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, and China.
When children from Spain arrived in the USSR, the authorities opened "Children's Home No. 8" in Leningrad for these little Spanish refugees. School work, moments of rest, New Year's carnival, a trip to the Crimea to the Artek camp... This is how the last pre-war year filled up. With the outbreak of war, many former pupils of these homes had to go to the front; some ended up in occupied territories and were later taken to Germany, or met their deaths.
The war ended, but not for all of them. The Chinese children were sent back to China (among those repatriated was Mao's son). At the time of the "Cultural Revolution", a tragic fate awaited them. And in the 1980s, the Interdom was still operating and housed children from Chile, El Salvador, Paraguay, Palestine and other countries.
Special Jury Prize at the Leipzig International Film Festival in 1983.
