American Individuals and Organizations Who Aided Jews

American Community Leaders Involved in the Rescue of Jews

Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States

Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong advocate for aiding and rescuing refugees during World War II.  On numerous occasions, she intervened with her husband to advocate the rescue of endangered refugees from the Nazis.  She was instrumental in founding the Emergency Rescue Committee.

Karl Frank and Joseph Buttinger appealed to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt to help provide emergency visas for Jewish refugees, particularly artists and accomplished scientists trapped in Nazi occupied Europe.  Mrs. Roosevelt intervened directly with her husband to force the US State Department to provide emergency visas.  These visas would expedite the rescue of hundreds of refugees.  Joseph Buttinger writes:

“After a short discussion Mrs. Roosevelt decided to call her husband in the White House, which she did in our presence.  [Karl] Frank and I were greatly astonished and impressed when Mrs. Roosevelt, after trying for twenty minutes to persuade her husband with reasonable arguments, ended her conversation with the following threat: ‘If Washington refuses to authorize these visas immediately, German and American émigré leaders, with the help of their American friends, will rent a ship and in this ship will bring as many of the endangered refugees as possible across the Atlantic.  If necessary, the ship will cruise up and down the East Coast until the American people, out of shame and anger, force the President and the congress to permit these victims of political persecution to land!’” [cited in Gold, 1980]

Mrs. Roosevelt kept a list of names of refugees and personally sent them to the State Department.  She lobbied Assistant Secretary of State Sumner Wells, who was sympathetic.  Mrs. Roosevelt said to Wells:  “Is there no way of getting our consul in Marseilles to help a few of these people out?” or “I would like a report as to why…?”  [Cited in Gold, 1980, xiii.]

It was because of Mrs. Roosevelt’s perseverance on this and many other refugees issues that hundreds of Jewish refugees were able to bypass the restrictive US immigration system and were issued emergency visas.

Karl Frank wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt later:  “I notice it is due to your interest that many hundreds of people have been saved.”  [Cited in Gold, 1980, xiii.]

[Feingold, 1973, pp. 116, 144-145, 150-152, 154, 241, 261.  Freidman, 1973, pp. 50, 102, 107, 110, 124, 206, 237.  Fry, Varian. Assignment Rescue. (New York: Scholastic, 1997).  Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945).  Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. xiii-iv.  Gruber, 2000, pp. 9-12, 60, 64, 184-188, 190, 201, 203, 211, 217, 231, 235, 262, 292-293. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 47, 50, 52, 94, 97.  Morse, 1967, pp. 30-31, 254-256, 295, 303-304.  Penkower, 1983, pp. 69, 117, 135, 255-256, 335n25.  Roosevelt, E., 1949.  Wyman, 1984, pp. 37, 46, 91-92, 133-134, 145-146, 148-149, 156, 159, 225, 271-273, 315, 376.  Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, War Refugee Board Papers and Files, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library (FDRL), Hyde Park, New York.]

 

Alaskan Development Committee

The Alaskan Development Committee was created to promote the idea that refugees could be successfully settled in the US territory of Alaska, and that it would be good for economic reasons to do so.  Refugees could stimulate the economy there.  This plan was supported by Interior Secretary Harold Ickes.  Committee members included:

Frank Kindon

Paul Tillich

Josef Chamberlain

Henry Slatter (wrote appeal)

(Feingold, 1970, pp. 94-99)

 

American Civil Liberties Association (ACLU)

[Morse, 1967, pp. 146-147.]

 

American Federation of Labor (AFL & CIO)

American Federation of Labor (AFL & CIO), USA, Marseilles, Vichy France 1940-1941

(Fry, 1945, pp. 7-12, 22-23, 33-34, 51, 54-56, 59, 80-81, 92-93. Marino, 1999, pp. 114-117, 134, 151, 158, 160, 186; Isenberg, pp. 12, 15-17, 74, 81, 85, 86, 97, 105; Ryan, 1996, p. 141.)

AFL National USA:

Matt Woll, vice president, USA

William Green, president, USA  [Morse, 1967, pp. 203, 258, 265, 349.]
 

Dr. Frank Bohn, Marseilles, USA, France, representative

Dr. Frank Bohn, of the American Federation of Labor, was active in the rescue of Jews in Marseilles, 1940-41.  He worked alongside the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to help save labor leaders, union officials, democratic politicians and other refugees who were being sought under article 19 by the Gestapo and the Nazis.  Varian Fry was told about Frank Bohn’s activities before he left for Marseilles.  In addition, many of these refugees had been opposition forces against the Nazi’s and had been fighting fascism’s rise in Europe since the early 1930’s.  Many of the refugees rescued by Bohn were Jews.

American foreign policy in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s had declared many of these refugees to be undesirable and did not always qualify for immigration papers.  The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had pressured Roosevelt to grant a number of emergency “visitors visas-not for permanent residence in the US.”  These temporary emergency visas would temporarily get these refugees out of danger.

Frank Bohn, like Varian Fry, was heavily involved in the illegal activity of smuggling refugees into Spain over the Pyrenees Mountains.  Bohn worked with various foreign consulates in Marseilles to obtain passports, visas and other papers.  Frank Bohn received much help from Hiram “Harry” Bingham at the American consulate in Marseilles.  Bohn was not above obtaining fake documentation and passports for his refugees.  Early on in their missions, Fry and Bohn agreed to divide their activities in the rescue of refugees.  Fry and the ERC would help artists, and Bohn would take care of labor leaders politicians and political activists.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 7-12, 22-23, 33-34, 51, 54-56, 59, 80-81, 92-93. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 114-117, 134, 151, 158, 160, 186. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 12, 15-17, 74, 81, 85, 86, 97, 105. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), p. 141.]

National Congress of Industrial Organizations War Relief Committee(CIO), USA:

Phillip Murray, USA, president

Dr. Frank Bohn, USA

 

American Friends Service Committee - Quakers

The American Friends Service Committee was instrumental in providing food, clothing and shelter for many thousands of refugees in the Vichy zone.  Headquarters were in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The AFSC had offices in Paris, Marseilles, Perpignan, Toulouse, Auch and Moutauban.

The AFSC concentrated its activities on helping to supply food to populations in the unoccupied zone of France.  Fifty percent of the AFSC aid was given to French citizens.  Much of the food relief came from the United States until March 1941.  AFSC also supplied aid to internees in French concentration camps.  The AFSC also aided Jewish refugees in leaving the Vichy zone. 

The American Friends’ Service Committee worked on a non-sectarian basis and established a very effective aid program in the French concentration camps.  They supplied food, medicine, clothing and other material to the needy refugees.  They set up libraries and schools for refugee children.  The AFSC worked particularly in the camps around Marseilles, Toulouse and Montauban.  They worked closely with OSE to save Jewish children.

Rufus Jones (USA), Leader

Clarence Pickett (USA), Chairman

Elizabeth Abegg● (1967), Berlin, Germany (1882-1957; Gutman, 1990)

David J. Blankenstaff (USA), Lisbon, Portugal (JDC Archives, NYC; HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, NYC)

Phillip B. Conrad (USA), Lisbon, Portugal (JDC Archives, NYC)

Lindsey Nobel, USA, France (Ryan, 1996, p. 151)

Howard E. Kershner (USA), Marseilles, France, 1940-1941 (Marino, 1999; Ryan, 1996, p. 151)

Roswell D. McClelland (USA), Southern France, later WRB representative, Geneva, Switzerland, 1944-1945 (Ryan, 1996, p. 151)

Henry Harvey, Vichy Representative

Burns Chalmers, Marseilles, Southern France (Halle, 1979, pp. 130, 132-138,159, 167-168, 274; Marino, 1999; Moore, 2010, p. 140; Ryan, 1996)

Gilbert Lesage, Head, Service Social des Estrangers (SSE; Moore, 2010, p. 142)

Helga Holbek● (Gutman, 2003)

Alice Resch Synnestvedt● (“Miss Resch”; Gutman, 2003)

Gerhard Schwersensky● (b. 1909; Gutman, 2003)

Ilse Schwersensky● (b. 1904; Gutman, 2003)

Mr. Heinz Hagen, Berlin (Gutman, 2003)

Celine Roth de Neufville, Southern France (Marino, 1999, p. 271)

[Morse, Arthur D. While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy. (New York: Random House, 1967), pp. 167, 253, 258, 263, 330. Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House), pp. 37. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 155, 162, 334.  Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 107, 150-151. Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945). Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 88, 91, 93, 103, 106, 122, 138, 148-157, 161, 175, 216.  Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 26-27, 40, 49, 114, 155-156, 207, 240, 245, 251, 287, 310, 404.  American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.]
 

Howard E. Kershner, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC) - Quakers

Howard Kershner was one of the principal supervisors of the American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC) in Europe.  The AFSC concentrated its activities on helping to supply food to populations in the unoccupied zone of France.  Fifty percent of the AFSC aid was given to French citizens.  Much of the food relief came from the United States until March 1941.  AFSC also supplied aid to internees in French concentration camps.  The AFSC also aided Jewish refugees in leaving the Vichy zone. 

The American Friends’ Service Committee worked on a non-sectarian basis and established a very effective aid program in the French concentration camps.  They supplied food, medicine, clothing and other material to the needy refugees.  They set up libraries and schools for refugee children.  The AFSC worked particularly in the camps around Marseilles, Toulouse and Montauban.

Herbert Katzki, of the Lisbon office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, found that the AFSC’s activities under Kershner were very effective.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945). Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 107, 150-151. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), p. 151.  Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 156.  American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.]
 

Rufus M. Jones, President, American Friends Service Committee, US Headquarters, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 

Clarence E. Pickett, Chairman

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253, 258, 263, 266.  American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.  American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Historic Archives, New York City.  HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, New York City.]
 

David Blankenstaff, Lisbon

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 207, 210-211, 215, 255.]
 

Phillip B. Conrad, Lisbon

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 49, 207, 262.  American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.  American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Historic Archives, New York City.  HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, New York City.]
 

Roswell McClelland, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC), Marseilles, later War Refugee Board (WRB) Representative, Switzerland

Ross McClelland worked with the American Friends’ Service Committee and coordinated relief efforts in the French concentration camps, including Les Milles.  McClelland was a member of the Nimes Committee.

Later, Roswell McClelland was the representative of the War Refugee Board in Geneva, Switzerland.  He was involved in numerous rescue activities, including the negotiation with SS official Kurt Becher for the release of Jewish internees in concentration camps at the end of the war in March and April 1945.  Roswell McClelland’s wife was active in the rescue of Jews in Europe.

[Gutman, Yisrael (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1990), p. 122, 157, 459, 953, 1253, 1596. Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945. (New York: Pantheon, 1984), pp. 36, 232-233, 237, 245-250, 284-286, 289, 294, 324. Morse, Arthur D. While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy. (New York: Random House, 1967), pp. 330-332, 358-359, 372-373, 381, 383. Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust.  (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 187, 191, 202, 208-211, 213, 218, 223, 234, 236, 258, 260-261, 263, 277. Hurwitz, Ariel. “The struggle over the creation of the War Refugee Board (WRB).”  Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 6 (1991), 17-31.  Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 220, 397, 404, 406, 412-415, 420, 422-424, 429-430.  American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.  American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Historic Archives, New York City.  HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, New York City.  War Refugee Board Papers and Files, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library (FDRL), Hyde Park, New York.]
 

Lindsley Nobel, American Friends’ Service Committee, Marseilles

Lindsley Nobel was the head of the American Friends’ Service Committee (Quakers) in Marseilles.  Nobel was a member of the Nimes Committee.

[Ryan, 1996.  American Friends Service Committee Archive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.]

 

American Red Cross, Southern France

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981, pp. 47, 85, 98-99, 155, 169, 299, 309; Marino, 1999, pp. 50, 119; Ryan, 1996]

Helped Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseilles, France, through its Director in France, Richard Allen.

Richard Allen, director

James T. Nicholson, Chairman
 

Committee to Save the Jews of Europe (Bergson Group)

The Committee to Save the Jews of Europe (the Bergson Group), originally called the Committee for an Army of Stateless Palestinian Jews, was organized by Peter H. Bergson (Hillel Kook), in June 1943.  It was headquartered in the United States.  It was one of the leading rescue advocacy organizations in the world.  Bergson called for the creation of a Jewish army of stateless and Palestinian Jews.  Bergson organized numerous rallies throughout the United States to raise awareness of the murder of Jews in Europe.  Bergson was a leading advocate for the adoption of the Biltmore Resolution in May 1942, which separated the issue of rescuing Jews from the establishing of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.  Bergson’s activities were disparaged and criticized by mainstream American Jewish organizations.  The Bergson Group was the major catalyst for the creation of the War Refugee Board under the US Treasury Department.

Senator Edwin Johnson of Colorado was nominal chairman.  Other members included Pierre van Daassen and Congressman Will Rogers, Jr.

Some of the prominent Jewish members were Samuel Merlin, executive director, Ben Hecht, co-chair, Ira Hirschman, Max Lerner, Emil Lengyel and Louis Bromfield.  These were known as “Bergson’s Boys.”

Peter Bergson (Hillel Kook), head, founder

Samuel Merlin, executive director

Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., co-chair (non-Jew)

Ben Hecht, co-chair, writer

Ira Hirschman, 1943, WRB representative, Turkey, 1944-1945

Max Lerner

Leo Danenberg, Turkey

Pierre van Passen

Emil Lengyel

Louis Bromfield

Senator Edward Johnson, Colorado (non-Jew)

[Friedman, Saul S. No Haven for the Oppressed. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1973).  Penkower, M. N. “In Dramatic Dissent: The Bergson Boys.” American Jewish History, 70/3 (March 1981), 281-309.  Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945. (New York: Pantheon, 1984).  Wyman, David S. and Rafael Medoff. A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust. (New York: The New Press, 2002).]

 

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

see American Federation of Labor (AFL & CIO), USA

[Morse, 1967, pp. 258, 349.]

 

Emergency Rescue Committee (formerly International Rescue Committee)

The Emergency Rescue Committee was founded in 1940, under the patronage of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.  It was led by George Kingdon, founder, Elmer Davis, Robert M. Hutchins, Dr. George Shuster and Dorothy Thompson.  It was funded by the Marshall Field, Rosenwald and Warberg family foundations.

[Columbia University Archives, New York; Fittko, 1991; Fry, 1945; Gold, 1980; Marino, 1999; Morse, 1967, pp. 294-295.]

Founders:

Dr. Frank Kingdon (USA), president Newark University, Methodist minister

Elmer Davis (USA), radio commentator

Dr. William Allen Neilson, president of Smith College

Mrs. Emmons Blaine, philanthropist

Dr. Robert M. Hutchins (USA), president of the University of Chicago

Dr. George Shuster (USA), president of Hunter College

Dorothy Thompson (USA), journalist, rescue advocate

Varian Fry●+, head ERC Marseilles, France, office (Fry, 1945; Marino, 1999)

Harold Oram, Spanish Aid Committee (Fry, 1945)

Ingrid Warburg (Fry, 1945)

Anna Caples (Fry, 1945)

Paul Hagen (Fry, 1945)

Alfred Barr, Museum of Modern Art, New York (Marino, 1999)

Margaret Scolari Barr (Marino, 1999)

Thomas Mann, eminent German writer (Fry, 1945; Marino, 1999)

Joseph Buttinger (Marino, 1999)

Mildred Adams, secretary (Marino, 1999)

Dr. Charles Seymour, president of Yale

Dr. Alvin Johnson, head of the New School for Social Research, New York City

Raymond Gram Swing (USA; Marino, 1999, p. 39)

The American Relief Center (Centre Américain de Secours; Marseilles staff and volunteers)

Daniel “Danny” Bénédite+, Assistant Director, ERC (Fry, 1945; Marino, 1999)

Theodora Bénédite (Marino, 1999)

Richard “Dick” Ball (Fry, 1945; Marino, 1999)

Ludwig Copperman (Louis Coppee; Jewish; Marino, 1999, pp. 299, 304, 308-310)

Miriam Davenport+ (USA; Fry, 1945, pp. 38, 39, 87, 117; Gold, 1980)

Charles Fawcett+ (Fry, 1945, pp. 37, 38, 53, 93, 108, 131, 149, 152, 153)

Lotte Feibel (Marino, 1999)

Lena Fischmann (Jewish; Fry, 1945, pp. 35, 38, 39, 42, 70, 74, 75, 79, 80, 93, 94, 100, 127, 129, 131, 133-135, 137-139, 141, 148, 149, 208, 209, 239)

Hans Fittko● (“Johaness F.”), Austria (Fittko, 1991; Fry, 1945, pp. 122-24, 133, 151, 152, 198, 200, 203)

Lisa Fittko, Austria (Jewish; Fittko, 1991; Fry, 1945)

Bill Freier+ (Bill Spira; Fry, 1945, pp. 44, 45, 123, 131, 132, 208, 238; Marino, 1999, pp. 141-142)

Jean Gemahling+ (Fry, 1945, pp. 101, 116, 122, 134, 140, 148, 151, 152, 154)

Mary Jayne Gold+, (USA; Fry, 1945, pp. 87, 101, 117, 137, 145, 146, 150, 185; Gold, 1980)

Mrs. Anna Gruss (Fry, 1945, pp. 100, 107, 149, 227, 238)

Fritz Bedrich Heine● (b. 1904; Fry, 1945, pp. 8, 10-12, 93, 168, 170-173, 189, 203, 239; Gutman, 2007, p. 104)

Lucie Heymann (Marino, 1999, pp. 267, 308-309, 317-318)

Franz “Franzi” von Hildebrand (Fry, 1945, pp. 26-28, 30, 35, 38, 39, 73, 74, 102, 239)

Otto Albert “Beamish” Hirschmann (Albert Hermant; Jewish; Fry, 1945, pp. 24-30, 35, 36, 38-48, 79, 80, 82, 87-91, 103, 104, 107-109, 111, 112, 115, 122, 125, 131-133, 150-152, 239)

Eric Lewinsky (Marino, 1999, pp. 267, 282, 322)
Heinrich Mueller (Fry, 1945, p. 189)

Heinz Ernst “Oppy” Oppenheimer (Fry, 1945, pp. 35, 36, 38, 39, 171, 172; Marino, 1999, pp. 126-127, 202, 256, 261-262)

Mrs. Margaret Palmer (Fry, 1945, pp. 154-156)

Justus “Gussie” Rosenberg (Jewish; Marino, 1999, pp. 204-205, 329, 345)

Hans Sahl (Marino, 1999, p. 202)

Paul Schmierer (Marino, 1999, pp. 267, 283, 308, 309)

Vala Schmierer (Marino, 1999, p. 267)

Dr. Marcel “Monsieur Maurice” Verzeanu (Fry, 1945, pp. 103, 151, 152, 154, 193-205, 221, 225, 228, 230, 234, 239)

Jacques Weisslitz+* (Fry, 1945, p. 238)

Charles Wolff+*, journalist (Fry, 1945, pp. 185, 219, 221, 238; Marino, 1999, p. 267)

Helped by:
Richard Allen, American Red Cross, Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 154-155, 208; Marino, 1999, p. 119)

Vincent Azéma, Mayor of Banyuls, France (Marino, 1999; Ryan, 1996)

Vice Consul Hiram Bingham IV (USA), Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 10-12, 70, 83, 87-90, 99, 147, 215)

Frank Bohn, AFofL (USA; Fry, 1945, pp. 7-12, 22, 23, 33, 34, 51, 54, 55, 56, 59, 80, 81, 92, 93; Marino, 1999)

Consul General Gilberto Bosques (Mexico), Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 59, 127, 236)

Howard Brooks, Unitarian Service Committee (USC; Fry, 1945, p. 220; Ryan, 1996)

“Carlos” (“Garcia”; Fry, 1945, pp. 196, 197, 199, 201-205, 235; Marino, 1999, pp. 274-275)

Dr. Burns Chalmers, American friends Service Committee (AFSC; Marino, 1999, p. 139)

Consul de Sousa Dantas● (Brazil), Paris (Fry, 1945, p. 128)

Gaston Defferre, lawyer, Marseilles (Marino, 1999, pp. 135, 140)

Police Captain DuBois (France), Marseilles (Fontaine, 1989, p. 151; Fry, 1945, pp. 48, 89-91, 132, 149, 150, 208)

Pinto Ferreira, Portugal (Cable from Pinto Ferreira in Vichy to Salazar, March 18, 1943, AHD, 2o P. A. 50, M. 40.  Cable from Salazar, March 27, 1943, AHD, 2o. P. A. 50, M. 40.  Cited in Milgram, Avraham. “The Bounds of Neutrality: Portugal and the Repatriation of its Jewish Nationals.” Yad Vashem Studies, 31 (2003), pp. 201-244.)

Pinto Ferreira, the Portuguese Consul General in Vichy stationed in Marseilles, protected Jews who were registered with the consulate.  Ferreira argued strongly for the protection of these Jews.  Portuguese dictator Salazar later approved the repatriation of the Portuguese Jews.

Consul Figuière (Panama), Marseilles (Fittko, 1991, pp. 165-166; Fry, 1945, pp. 82-83)

The Panamanian Honorary Consul in Marseilles was a French shipping agent by the name of Figuière.  He provided Panamanian visa stamps to refugees as a means of escaping Vichy France.  Hans and Lisa Fittko, refugees, obtained Panamanian visas from the honorary consul.  They stated in Lisa’s autobiography that he “sells” these visas for the price of a salami.  It was clear that no one was going to Panama on these visas.

Bedrich Heine, assistant to Frank Bohn, AFofL (Fry, 1945, p. 93)

Dr. Charles Joy (Fry, 1945, pp. 73, 106; Ryan, 1996)

Howard E. Kershner, American Frinds Service Committee (AFSC), Marseilles (Ryan, 1996; Marino, 1999, p. 150)

Consul Li (China), Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 82-83; Marino, 1999, p. 119)

Dr. Donald Lowrie, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Czech Aid, Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 18, 19, 80; Marino, 1999, pp. 107, 132, 137, 191; Ryan, 1996)

Emilio Lussu (alias “Monsieur Dupont”), assistant to Dr. Marcel Verzeanu (Fry, 1945, pp. 59, 60, 72,73, 109, 131, 152, 189, 190, 199-201, 204, 205, 215, 233-235, 239; Marino, 1999, p. 162)

Colonel Randolfo Pacciardi (Fry, 1945, pp. 109-112, 189, 190, 239; Marino, 1999, pp. 218, 255, 260, 276, 281-282)

Reiner (Fry, 1945, p. 42; Marino, 1999, pp. 142-143)

Vice Consul Myles Standish (USA), Marseilles (Marino, 1999, pp. 99-100, 117, 120; Ryan, 1996)

Consul Vladimir Vochoc+ (Czechoslovakia), Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 18, 19, 42, 57, 80, 82-83, 99, 208; Marino, 1999, pp. 107-108, 119, 141, 192-193)

Consul (honorary) for Lithuania+ at Aix-en-Provence (Fry, 1945, pp. 82-83, 131, 199; Marino, 1999, pp. 141, 242)

Consul of Poland, Marseilles (Fry, 1945, pp. 42-43; Marino, 1999, p. 141)

Consul of Siam+, Marseilles (Fry,1945, pp. 82-83, 99, 132)
 

George Kingdon, ERC Founder

[Columbia University Archives, New York.  Morse, 1967, pp. 294-295.]
 

Elmer Davis, ERC

[Columbia University Archives, New York.  Morse, 1967, pp. 294-295.]
 

Robert M. Hutchins, ERC

[Columbia University Archives, New York.  Morse, 1967, pp. 294-295.]
 

Dr. George Shuster, ERC

[Columbia University Archives, New York.  Morse, 1967, pp. 294-295.]
 

Dorothy Thompson, ERC

[Columbia University Archives, New York.  Morse, 1967, pp. 294-295.]
 

Varian Fry, Director, Emergency Rescue Committee, France, 1940-41

In June 1940, France fell to the German army.  The official armistice between Germany and France included a clause that provided for the French to surrender on demand any German refugees who had fled to France. 

These refugees included artists, writers, scholars, politicians, and labor leaders who were wanted by the Nazis.  Among these were German, Austrian and other refugees.

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, helped publicize the need to rescue refugees in Europe. 

Almost immediately, a group of American citizens formed an Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to rescue these individuals from France before they could be arrested and deported to French and German concentration camps. 

Varian Fry volunteered to head the Emergency Rescue Committee.  In 1940, he was sent to Marseilles, in Vichy France.  He was given a list of 200 refugees and $3,000 with which to save them from the grip of the Gestapo.

After coming to Marseilles, Fry opened a refugee relief agency under the cover name of the American Center for Relief (Centre Américaine de Secour) in the Hôtel Splendide in Marseilles. 

Fry immediately set out to provide financial support for refugees and to secure all the necessary papers to escape France.  These papers included immigration visas, transit visas and destination or end visas.  The gathering of these papers was perhaps the most difficult task for Fry and his assistants in the ERC.  In 1940-41, most countries had closed their borders to refugees.

Varian Fry and the ERC relied heavily on sympathetic diplomats stationed in and around Marseilles.  Of particular and important help to Fry was Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV, the American Vice Consul and head of the Visa Section at the consulate.  Bingham had been providing assistance to refugees before the arrival of Fry in Marseilles in 1940.  Bingham had been in violation of the Bloom-Van Nuys immigration law in his liberally issuing visas to refugees.

Fry also obtained visas from other foreign diplomatic officials in Marseilles.  Among these was Consul Vladimir Vochoc, representing Czechoslovakia.  Fry also was helped by a Chinese diplomat stationed in Marseilles who liberally issued him exit visas, ostensibly to Shanghai, China.  Fry also worked with Mexican Consul General Gilberto Bosques, Brazilian Ambassador de Sousa Dantas, and the Siamese, Lithuanian, Cuban and Panamanian consuls in Marseilles.

Fry and the ERC worked closely with many other rescue and relief agencies in Marseilles.  Among these were HIAS (Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, a division of HICEM).  These Jewish relief agencies helped facilitate transportation and money for refugees.  The records of HIAS speak highly of all the refugee agencies operating in Marseilles.  The ERC also worked with other groups, including the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), the Mennonites, and the Unitarian Service Committee of Boston.

Fry’s rescue activities were in direct violation of the regulations of both the French and American governments.  Fry and his volunteers organized elaborate escape routes for the refugees.  Fry used Austrian refugees Hans and Lisa Fittko as guides.  The Emergency Rescue Committee forged passports and visas, and exchanged money on the Marseilles black market.   

Fry’s activities on behalf of Jewish refugees was conducted right under the noses of the Nazi’s, the Gestapo and French police.  These activities soon caught the eye of French officials and numerous protests were posted to the American consulate in Washington and France.  The US State Department was fearful that Fry’s unauthorized activities would violate US neutrality and cause a major diplomatic incident.  US Secretary of State Cordell Hull sent a memorandum to the American embassies in Paris and Marseilles warning them of Fry’s activities on behalf of refugees.

By early 1941, the Emergency Rescue Committee was helping between 25 and 100 refugees per day.

Fry had virtually no support from the American embassy in Vichy or from the State Department in Washington, DC. 

The US embassy in Vichy had lied to Fry, informing him that the Emergency Rescue Committee was recalling him.  He found out later that this was a ruse by the US Foreign Service.

In the fall of 1941, under pressure from the French government, Fry was ordered to leave France. 

In his 13 months in Marseilles, between August 1940 and the fall of 1941, Fry and his committee were able to rescue more than 2,000 people from France.

Varian Fry worked with a number of important individuals in the rescue of Jewish refugees from southern France.  Fry was only the tip of a larger iceberg of courageous individuals who risked their lives and safety to help others.  They are listed below.

[Fry, Varian. Assignment Rescue. (New York: Scholastic, 1997).  Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 10-12, 14, 17-18, 32-33, 49, 56-57, 69-70, 83, 87-90, 147, 172, 215. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980).  Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 99-100, 196, 107-108, 117, 120, 187, 209, 231, 268, 285, 287. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 75-76, 83, 86, 89, 125, 142, 150, 152-153, 193, 193n. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 130, 142, 144. Hockley, Ralph M. Freedom is not Free. (2000). US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Assignment Rescue: The Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee. [Exhibit catalog.] (Washington, DC: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1997), p. 7.]
 

Miriam Davenport, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France

Miriam Davenport (Ebel) was one of the important core volunteers of the Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseilles, France, 1940-41.  She graduated from Smith College and went to study art in Paris.  While traveling from Paris, she ran into the German poet Walter Mehring in Toulouse.  Miriam Davenport helped Walter Mehring escape the Nazi’s. 

After leaving the ERC, Miriam Davenport escaped to Lisbon.  She arrived in the United States just before Pearl Harbor.  During the war, Davenport did public relations and raised money for the International Rescue and Relief Committee.  She was also active in other cultural areas. 

In 1960, Miriam taught art and French to local children in Riverside, Iowa.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 38-39, 87, 117. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 74-76, 90-91, 103-113, 138-142, 148, 152, 159-162, 167, 185, 200-201, 209, 211, 229, 238-239, 243, 259, 382-383, 394-395.  Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 133-134, 139, 145, 186-187, 202, 267, 314. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 17-18, 34-35, 38, 69, 104, 112, 117-127. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 142, 145. Ebel, Miriam Davenport. An Unsentimental Education: A Memoir by Miriam Davenport Ebel. (1999).]
 

Mary Jayne Gold, Volunteer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France, 1940-41

Mary Jayne Gold was one of the principal volunteers for the Emergency Rescue Committee, 1940-41.  She went on numerous missions to help Jewish refugees.  In addition, she financed much of the operations of the ERC.  Mary Jayne Gold was not Jewish. 

Before Fry was expelled from France, one of his last missions was to help release prisoners at the French concentration camp at Vernet.  Fry had tried in vain to get them released and sent Mary Jayne Gold on a mission.

[Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980).  Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 87, 101, 117, 137, 145-146, 150, 185. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 203-205, 229, 240, 256, 208-209, 224, 254, 279. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 142, 145. Ebel, Miriam Davenport. An Unsentimental Education: A Memoir by Miriam Davenport Ebel. (1999).]

 

Mennonite Central Committee

The Mennonite Central Committee operated an orphanage in Marseilles and distributed food and other supplies to refugee children.  They had a staff of five relief workers.

[Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 106, 150-153, 216.]

 

National Committee against Nazi Persecution and Extermination of the Jews

A pressure group was formed, headed by prominent Americans, some even associated with the Roosevelt administration.  It was created to “rally the full force of the public conscience” to promote a “sustained and vigorous action by our government and the United Nations to rescue those who may yet be saved” (New York Times, January 31, 1944).  This group included Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy, Vice President Henry A. Wallace and Wendell Willkie.

Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy, (USA)

Wendell Willkie, (USA)

US Vice President Henry Wallace, (USA)

[Feingold, 1970, p. 241.]

 

National Coordinating Committee (NCC)

The National Coordinating Committee (NCC), also known as the National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants from Germany, was established in October 1943 to help refugees emigrating from Germany to the United States. 

(American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)

The following organizations participated:
 

New School for Social Research in New York, University in Exile

Staffed by prominent European refugee scholars.

Alvin Johnson, president

[Morse, 1967, p. 294.  Zucker, 2008.]
 

President Alvin Johnson, New School for Social Research

[Morse, 1967, p. 294.]
 

Nonsectarian Committee

The Nonsectarian Committee was created in 1940 for the purpose of facilitating the movement of twenty thousand German refugee children to the United States.  The rescue action was to be supervised by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) of Philadelphia. 

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254, 258-259.]
 

Clarence Pickett, Director Nonsectarian Committee, Chairman AFSC

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254, 258-259.]
 

Herbert Hoover, Former President of the United States

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254.]
 

Alf Landon, Former Governor of New York

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254.]
 

Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254.]
 

Canon Anson Phelps Stoke, Washington, DC, Cathedral

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254.]
 

William Allen White

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254.]
 

Owen D. Young, President, General Electric Company

[Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254.]

 

Rockefeller Foundation

Supported more than three hundred refugee scholars and found positions for them in US universities.  Contributed $1,500,000 in funds.

[Morse, 1967, p. 294.]

 

Unitarian Service Committee HQ (USC)

Boston, MA, United States

The Unitarian Service Committee (USC) of Boston worked very closely with the ERC and Donald Lowrie of the YMCA.  The Unitarians provided medical supplies, food, and education to refugee children.  The distributed International Red Cross supplies.  The USC operated a clinic on the rue d’Italie in Marseilles.  Dr. Rene Zimmer, a refugee, supervised the clinic.  The USC helped distribute food, along with the Quakers.  The USC employed four full-time physicians and five part-time physicians, including three dentists, to aid refugee health concerns.  The USC shared space with OSC and other Jewish organizations that helped children.

There were a number of Jewish volunteers who worked in the Unitarian Service Committee’s office in Marseilles.  In addition, the USC cooperated with many Jewish rescue organizations and operations in and around Marseilles.

There were 16 persons who worked in the committee office in France.

Waitstill Sharp and Martha Sharp, from the Boston OSC office, helped distribute milk to Jewish refugee children.

The USC helped expedite about 100 immigration cases.

The USC also helped former Spanish republican soldiers who were fleeing Spain.

The USC oversaw the establishment of a kindergarten at the Rivesaltes camp and relief operations at Les Milles, Bompard, Atlantique, Terminus des Ports, and Levant.

References:

Archives and Manuscripts

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Archives. New York City.

Anderson, Paul B. Papers. University of Illinois Archives, Chambagne-Urbana, Illinois.

British Secret Intelligence Service. MI-6 Records. Public Records Office, Kew Gardens, London.

Dexter, Elisabeth Anthony, and Robert Cloutman Dexter. “Last Port of Freedom.” Unpublished manuscript. Multiple drafts, undated. Elisabeth Anthony Dexter Papers, Box 16. John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Dexter, Elisabeth Anthony, and Robert Cloutman Dexter. Papers. John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Dexter, Lewish A. “A Memoir of Elisabeth Anthony Dexter: Social Background and Personal Meaning of a Type of Feminist Research,” 17 pp. Undated, unpublished manuscript, in the author’s possession.

DiFiglia, Ghanda. “To Try the Soul’s Strength: A Woman’s Participation in the History of Her Time.” Unpublished manuscript. 1998. Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Box 43, Folder 104, John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Ebel, Miriam Davenport. Papers. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.

Eliot, Samuel Atkins. Papers. Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard University Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Feuchtwanger, Lion. Memorial Library. Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Fisera, Joseph. Archive. U.S. Hololcaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.

Fry, Varian. Papers. Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York City.

Joy, Charles Rhind. Papers. Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard University Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Lewis, J. F., “The Unitarian Service Committee.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, 1952.

Long, Breckinridge. Papers. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Lowrie, Donald A., and Helen O. Lowrie. Papers. University of Illinois Archives, Champagne-Urbana, Illinois.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Federal Bureau of Investigation. Office of Strategic Services. State Depaertment. State Department Decimal Files. Washington, DC, and College Park, Maryland.

Roosevelt, Eleanor. Papers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York.

Sharp, Martha and Waitstill. Collection. John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Skidmore College. Archives, Saratoga Springs, New York.

Unitarian Service Committee. Records. Audiovisual Records. Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard University Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Records. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Institutional Archives: Assignment Rescue. Oral History Archives. Photo Archives. Washington, DC.

USC Archives, Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University, Boston, MA

War Refugee Board. Archives. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library, Hyde Park, New York.

Published Works

American Labor Conference on International Affairs. “Guide to the American Labor Conference on International Affairs Records, 1939-1950,” Taminent Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library.

Baker Memorial Issue. The Tech. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1950.

Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1939-45. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981, pp. 161-162, 207, 240.

Bazarov, Valery. “Schmolka and Stiener: The Return of the Heroes,” Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. www.hias.org/who_we_are/120stories/116Schmolka.pdf

Bénédite, Danny. La Filiere Marseillaise: Un Chemin Vers la Liberté Sous L’Occuption. Paris: Clancier Guenaud, 1984.

Brooks, H. L., Prisoners of Hope: Report on a Mission. New York: L. B. Fischer, 1942. 

DiFiglia, Ghanda. Roots and Visions: The First Fifty Years of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Cambridge, MA: Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, 1990.

Feuchtwanger, Lion. The Devil in France: My Encounter with Him in the Summer of 1940. New York: Viking Press, 1941.

Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. New York: Random House, 1945, pp. 73, 74, 80, 102, 106, 220, 239.

Genizi, Haim. American Apathy: The Plight of Christian Refugees from Nazism. Ramat-Gan, Israel: Bar-Ilan University, 1983.

Genizi, Haim. “Christian Charity: The Unitarian Service Committee’s Relief Activities on Behalf of Refugees from Nazism, 1940-45.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 2, no. 2 (1987): 267-76.

Henry, Richard. Norbert Fabian Capek: A Spiritual Journey. Boston: Skinner House Books, 1999.

Howe, Charles A. For Faith and Freedom: A Short History of Unitarianism in Europe. Boston: Skinner House Books, 1997.

Lewis, Flora. Red Pawn: The Story of Noel Field. Garden City NY: Doubleday and Company, 1965.

Lewis, James Ford. “The Unitarian Service Committee.” PhD Diss., University of California, 1967.

London, Louise. Whitehall and the Jews, 1933-1948: British Immigration Policy, Jewish Refugees, and the Holocaust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Lowrie, Donald A. The Hunted Children. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1963.

Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999.

Morse, Arthur D. While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy. New York: Random House, 1967, pp. 167, 334.

Pittet, Genevieve. “Passages de frontiers.” In Quelques Actions des Protestants de France: En Faveur des Juifs Persecutes Sous L’Occupation Allemande 1940-1944. Paris: CIMADE, 1945.

Romanofsky, Social Service Organizations, pp. 692-698. 

Ryan, Donna. “Vichy and the Jews: The Example of Marseille, 1939-44.” 2 vols. PhD diss., University of Maryland, 1984.

Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.

Sanger, Clyde. Lotta and the Unitarian Service Committee Story. Toronto: Stoddard Publishing, 1986.

Weill, Joseph. Le Combat d’un Juste. Bron: Cheminements, 2002.

Wischnitzer, Mark. Visas to Freedom: The History of HIAS. Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1956.

Wyman, Paper Walls; Ryan, 1996; Subak, Susan, Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers who Defied the Nazis, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2010

Zeitoun, Sabine. L’Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE) sous L’Occupation en France. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1990.


Unitarian Service Committee, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

William Emerson, Chairman, Unitarian Service Committee

Seth Gano, Vice Chairman, Unitarian Service Committee (Subak, 2010, p. xxiv)

Percival Brundage, Vice Chairman (Subak, 2010, p. 30)

Edward Witte, Treasurer, member Board of Directors (Subak, 2010, p. xxiv)

Frederick Eliot, member Board of Directors (Subak, 2010, pp. 26, 35, 136, 164, 177, 190, 266n2))

Dr. Winfred Overholser, member Board of Directors

Marion Harris Niles, office manager, USC Office, Boston (Subak, 2010, pp. 81, 108)

Mrs. Campbell, Boston office (Subak, 2010, p. 108)

Ray Bragg, Treasurer, USC Boston office (Subak, 2010, pp. 138, 164, 177, 224-225)

Unitarian Service Committee (Le Comité Unitarien pour le Secours), Marseilles, France, see also the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), Marseilles, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Marseilles, Czech Aid, Marseilles

Noel H. Field (USA), Southern France

Noel Field, a Quaker, headed the Marseilles office of the Unitarian Service Committee (USC).  Field had previously worked for the US Department of State and the League of Nations.  The USC provided relief in the French concentration camps in Southern France, including the Rivesalt, Les Milles, Atlantique, Terminus des Ports, and Levant camps and the Marseilles reception center in Bompard.  In addition, the USC ran medical clinics that employed four full-time and five part-time physicians, and three dentists.  (Subak, 2010, pp. 84-86, 88, 89, 109-111, 121-122, 125-126, 148, 151-153, 164, 181, 195, 202, 214-215, 225)

Herta Field (Subak, 2010, pp. 85, 86, 88, 119, 120, 146-149, 151, 153, 154, 179-181, 214)

Reverend Dr. Howard Lee Brooks (USA), France (Brooks, 1942; Subak, 2010, pp. 103-107, 109, 113, 114, 132, 137, 138, 157-158, 161, 165, 176, 177, 194, 196)

Dr. René Zimmer, head USC Marseilles clinic, see René Zimmer Rescue Network (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 87, 103, 105, 109-112, 125, 148, 156-159, 164, 173-175, 181, 191, 194-195, 198, 209)

Fanny Zimmer, wife of Dr. René Zimmer (Subak, 2010, pp. 105, 111, 158, 191)

Reverend Waitstill Sharp●, (USA), Southern France, Czechoslovakia

Waitstill and Martha Sharp represented the Unitarian Service Committee in the Marseilles area.  They helped distribute relief supplies and medicine to needy refugees.  They also helped Spanish Civil War refugees as well as Jews who were interned in the French camps.  In 1940, the Sharps helped save a number of Jewish children by taking them to Spain.  They were helped by American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV.  They were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel in 2006.  (Subak, 2010, pp. 1-24, 28-29, 33-36, 38, 47, 50-52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 66-67, 76, 94, 97, 172, 213-215)

Martha Sharp●, (USA), France, Czechoslovakia

Waitstill and Martha Sharp represented the Unitarian Service Committee in the Marseilles area.  They helped distribute relief supplies and medicine to needy refugees.  They also helped Spanish Civil War refugees as well as Jews who were interned in the French camps.  In 1940, the Sharps helped save a number of Jewish children by taking them to Spain.  They were helped by American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV.  They were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel in 2006.  (Subak, 2010, pp. 2, 9-24, 30-32, 41, 52-53, 55, 60-65, 68, 76, 94-95, 119-120, 134-137, 177-178, 210, 214, 237)

Reverend Dr. Charles Rhind Joy (USA), France (Subak, 2010, pp. 52, 54-60, 70, 71, 78-83, 90-91, 114-115, 129, 130, 131-132, 186, 187, 189, 190, 194-196)

Robert C. Dexter and wife, Elizabeth Dexter (USA), WRB representative, Portugal, 1944-1945 (Subak, 2010, pp. 25-28, 35, 59, 64-65, 76-78, 81-82, 100-109, 137-141, 157-159, 164, 169-171, 174-176, 207-208)

Isaac Weissman, Portugal (Jewish)

Franzi von Hildebrand, assistant to Dr. Charles Joy (Fry, 1945; Subak, 2010, pp. 249n1)

Dr. Olmer (Jewish), OSE, Marseilles clinic

Dr. Wolf, pediatrician, OSE, Marseilles clinic (Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Dr. Joseph Weil (Jewish), OSE, Marseilles clinic (Ryan, 1996; Subak, 2010, pp. 86-88, 119, 145, 179-181, 201, 203, 204)

Dr. Richard Baer (Jewish), physician, USC medical staff (Subak, 2010, pp. 141, 143)

Mr. Raptopoulos (Ryan, 1996)

Madam Rene Lang, children’s teacher in Rivesaltes internment camp, supervised 12 workers in camp (Ryan, 1996; Subak, 2010, pp. 88, 155, 197)

Aba Scerbac (Jewish; Subak, 2010, p. 141)

Dr. Zina Minor (Jewish; Subak, 2010, pp. 87-88, 155)

Hedwig Himmelstern (Subak, 2010, pp. 141-143)

Mrs. Kirbach, teacher, Bompard (Ryan, 1996)

Dr. Ilse Hamburger, teacher, Bompard (Ryan, 1996)

Madam Chavoutier (Ryan, 1996; Subak, 2010, p. 67)

Dr. Mendel, physician (Subak, 2010,  p. 155)

Dr. Landsmann, physician (Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Dr. Karp (Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Margot Stein, relief worker Hotel Bompard, Marseilles (Subak, 2010, pp. 109-124)

Herta “Jo” Tempi, USC office, Paris (Subak, 2010, pp. 198-200)

Unitarian Service Committee, physicians and surgeons, Marseilles, France

Dr. René Zimmer, head USC Marseilles clinic, see René Zimmer Rescue Network (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 87, 103, 105, 109-112, 125, 148, 156-159, 164, 173-175, 181, 191, 194-195, 198, 209)

Dr. Zina Minor (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 87-88, 155)

Dr. Mendel (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Dr. Richard Baer (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 141, 143, 155)

Dr. Karp (USC Archives; Subak, 1020, p. 155)

Dr. Landsmann (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Dr. Joseph Weil (Jewish; USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 86-88, 119, 145, 179-181, 201, 203-204; Weil, Joseph, Le Combat d’un Juste, Bron: Cheminements, 2002)

Dr. Carcassonne, surgeon (Subak, 2010, p. 191)
 

Unitarian Service Committee, Lisbon, Portugal

References:

Dexter, Elisabeth Anthony, and Robert Cloutman Dexter. “Last Port of Freedom.” Unpublished manuscript. Multiple drafts, undated. Elisabeth Anthony Dexter Papers, Box 16. John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Dexter, Elisabeth Anthony, and Robert Cloutman Dexter. Papers. John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

Dexter, Lewish A. “A Memoir of Elisabeth Anthony Dexter: Social Background and Personal Meaning of a Type of Feminist Research,” 17 pp. Undated, unpublished manuscript, in the author’s possession.


Reverend Charles Joy, manager (Subak, 2010, pp. 55-61, 74)

Robert Dexter, manager, replaced Charles Joy (Subak, 2010, pp. 105-106)

Elizabeth Dexter, wife of Robert Dexter (Subak, 2010, pp. 105-106)

Martha Sharp●

Mary Jane Gold (Fry, 1945; Subak, 2010, pp. 115-116)

Pipa Harris (Subak, 2010, pp. 105-106)

Aurora Ramos, secretary (Subak, 2010, pp. 105-106)

Yugoslav Goldstajn and wife (Subak, 2010, pp. 105-106)

Max Hoffman, refugee (Subak, 2010, pp. 106, 160, 170)

Ninon Tallon (Subak, 2010, pp. 54-55, 74)

Reverend Howard Brooks (Subak, 2010)

Walter Meyerhoff (Jewish), son of refugee Dr. Otto Meyerhoff (Subak, 2010, pp. 46-47, 76-79)

Heinrich Müller, refugee, former staff of Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), made head interviewer for refugees in USC office in Lisbon (Subak, 2010, p. 90)

Rene Dorian, wife of Heinrich Müller, volunteered in USC office (Subak, 2010, p. 90)

Unitarian Service Committee (American Unitarian Association), Prague, Czechoslovakia (Subak, 2010, p. xx)

Helped Jews leave Czechoslovakia after the German occupation in 1938.  Waitstill and Martha Sharp set up an office to facilitate successful emigration.  They employed a number of young Czech Jews to operate the office.  They processed hundreds of Jewish refugees.  They succeeded in having Jews released from jails by obtaining letters from the American consular offices in Prague.  One consul, Consul General Irving Linnell, was particularly helpful to the Unitarians.

Robert Cloutman Dexter (d. 1955), helped found Unitarian Service Committee (USC; Subak, 2010, pp. xi-xxiv)

Elizabeth Anthony Williams Dexter (d. 1972; Subak, 2010, pp. xi-xxiv)

Norbert Capek, head Unitarian Church, Prague, Czechoslovakia (Subak, 2010, pp. xxi, 10-13, 22-24, 244n3, 244n36)

Waitstill Sharp● (Subak, 2010)

Martha Sharp● (Subak, 2010)

Richard Wood, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Subak, 2010, p. xxii)

Alice Masaryk (Subak, 2010, pp. 4, 14-16)

Unitarian Service Committee Kindergarten Program (USC Archives; Subak, 2010)

Madam Lang, head (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 88, 155)

Madam Monteil (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Madame Haber+, medical secretary, deported with her husband (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, p. 155)

Vivette Herman Samuel (Jewish), OSE, Rivesaltes camp (Subak, 2010, p. 120)

Jacqueline Levy (Jewish), OSE, Rivesaltes camp (Subak, 2010, p. 120)

Helped by (individuals):

Varian Fry●, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC; Centre Americain de Secours), Marseilles

Donald and Helen Lowrie, YMCA, Czech Aid, Nimes Committee

Danny Benédite, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC; Centre Americain de Secours), Marseilles

Paul Schmierer, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), Marseilles (Subak, 2010, pp. 147, 149, 156, 159-161)

Dr. Jourdan*+, courier for USC, arrested, executed (Subak, 2010, p. 200)

Czech Consul Vladimir Vochoc, Marseilles (Ryan, 1996; Subak, 2010)

French Consul, Portugal (Subak, 2010, p. 62)

Marshal Field III, Chicago, department store owner, provided financial assistance tor efugees and guarantees to US State Department (Sharp, p. 25; Subak, 2010, p. 62)

Frederike Zweig (Jewish refugee), helped fellow refugees escape France to Portugal, then to Mexico (Subak, 2010, p. 65)

Frank Boh, American Federation of Labor (AFofL), Marseilles, helped secure the release of refugeesstuck at the Spanish border for the Unitarian Committee (Subak, 2010, p. 74)

Vivette Herman (Jewish), volunteered to work in USC school for Jewish children in Rivesaltes French camp (Samuel, 2002; Subak, 2010, p. 120)

Jacqueline Levy (Jewish), French Jewish refugee, worked in USC children’s schools in Rivesaltes French camp (Samuel, 2002; Subak, 2010, p. 120)

Joseph Schwartz, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee representative, Lisbon, Portugal; supported USC rescue and relief activities in France and Portugal (JDC Archives, NYC; Suabak, 2010, p. 124)

Helped by (groups):

Emergency Rescue Committee (Centre Americain de Secours), Marseilles

Joint Committee of the International Red Cross (Subak, 2010, p. 125)

Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Marseilles

American Friends Service Committee, Marseilles (Subak, 2010)

International Migration Service

Madam Chevally (Lowrie, 1961, p. 87)

Nimes Committee (Lowrie, 1961; Ryan, 1996; Subak, 2010)

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HICEM), New York, London, had 80 aid workers in Marseilles (YIVO Archives, NYC; Subak, 2010)

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Marsielles, supported rescue and aid with funds and support (JDC Archives, NYC; Bauer, 1981; Subak, 2010)

Secours Suisse (Subak, 2010)

Ouevre Secours Enfants (OSE; Subak, 2010)

Czech Aid (Subak, 2010, p. 129)

 

U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children (USCOM), USA

Superseded Non Sectarian Foundation for Refugee Children

The US Committee for the Care of European Children was a non-sectarian organization founded in 1940 in the United States as a coordinating group to help save European refugee children.  Its purpose was to provide asylum for children in the United States for the duration of the war.  The organization tried to obtain permission for 70,000 refugee children to emigrate from Europe.  It worked closely with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which underwrote costs to save Jewish children.

[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Historic Archives, New York City, Files 343-344.  Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 206. American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Feingold, 1970; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, p. 1263; Morse, 1968; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008]

Eleanor Roosevelt (USA), honorary chair, First Lady of the United States of America

Clarence E. Pickett, Founder

Marshal Field III (USA), President, philanthropist

Robert Lang (USA), Executive Director

Joseph Alsop (USA), journalist

Raymon Clapper (USA)
 

Eleanor Roosevelt, Co-Chairperson

[Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library (FDRL), Hyde Park, New York.  Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 206.]
 

Marshal Field, III, Philanthropist

[Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 206.]
 

Raymond Clapper

[Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 206.]
 

Joseph Alsop, Journalist

[Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 206.]

 

Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), United States

Active in France, Czechoslovakia, Portugal, established (in U.S.) in 1851

Dr. Donald Lowrie worked for the North American and later the world service of the YMCA.  Lowrie worked with a number of other relief agencies in the French internment camps.  He helped set up the YMCA relief activities in the unoccupied zone of Vichy.  He worked closely with Czech diplomat in Marseilles Vladimir Vochoc to distribute illegal passports. Later, Lowrie helped Jews escape the French Foreign Labor Battalions by setting up a protected area.  Lowrie also obtained visas from other diplomats, including Cambodian, Portuguese and Mexican.  These documents helped Jewish refugees flee to Switzerland.  Lowrie also helped with an attempt to rescue Jewish children who lost their parents when they were deported in 1942.

Lowrie coordinated the work of a number of relief agencies present in the internment camps and directed aid to the neediest individuals.  Along with Tracey Strong, he set up YMCA relief headquarters for the Unoccupied Zone on the rue Pythéas.  He personally oversaw the distribution of nonmaterial aid from the North American YMCA, such as books and musical instruments.  Like Varian Fry, Lowrie also engaged in clandestine and illegal activities with a group called Czech Aid.  He worked with the Czech consul Vochoc to distribute illegal passports and to set up the Château de la Blancherie on the outskirts of Marseille.

Lowrie also obtained forged Cambodian, Portuguese, and Mexican visas to help refugees into Switzerland, for Swiss authorities sometimes admitted foreigners with visas for other destinations.  He made contact with the first underground organizations, which he later claimed appeared during the summer of 1941, and worked with Abbé Perceval, prior of the Dominican monastery in Marseille that hid Jews.  To avoid incurring greater suspicion from government authorities, Lowrie carefully avoided the temptation of exchanging money on the “grey market,” an activity that brought much trouble to Varian Fry, and made only legal exchanges, although he did admit to sometimes obtaining his funds from illegal sources.  Lowrie’s best-known efforts, however, occurred in connection with a large-scale American attempt to rescue Jewish children abandoned when their parents were deported in 1942.

In November 1940 Lowrie helped set up the Coordination Committee for Relief Work in Internment Camps, commonly called the Nîmes Committee, because its monthly meetings were held there.  The committee of twenty-five agencies devoted itself to relief work, primarily in the internment camps but also on behalf of individuals in Marseille.  The Nîmes Committee collectively made reports on camp conditions, which Vichy must have taken seriously, because André Jean-Faure, the government’s camp inspector, attended all meetings.  Whether Vichy actually took notice of committee suggestions, perhaps as a concession to public opinion, or simply intended to keep track of the committee’s activities is unclear.”

There were a number of Jewish volunteers who worked in the YMCA.  In addition, the YMCA cooperated with many Jewish rescue organizations.
(Ryan, pp. 148-149.  Lowrie, Donald, The Hunted Children. New York: Norton, 1963.  Romanofsky, Social Service Organizations, pp. 758-764.  Leo Baeck Institute Archives.  Subak, Susan, Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers who Defied the Nazis, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2010)

Donald A. Lowrie, (USA), Southern France

Dr. Donald Lowrie worked for the North American and later the world service of the YMCA.  Lowrie worked with a number of other relief agencies in the French internment camps.  He helped set up the YMCA relief activities in the unoccupied zone of Vichy.  He worked closely with Czech diplomat in Marseilles Vladimir Vochoc to distribute illegal passports. Later, Lowrie helped Jews escape the French Foreign Labor Battalions by setting up a protected area.  Lowrie also obtained visas from other diplomats, including Cambodian, Portuguese and Mexican.  These documents helped Jewish refugees flee to Switzerland.  Lowrie also helped with an attempt to rescue Jewish children who lost their parents when they were deported in 1942.

(Donald L. Lowrie Papers, University of Illinois Archives, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945). Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 107, 132, 137, 191. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), p. 148-149, 152, 167, 216.  JDC Archives, New York, NY; Subak, Susan, Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers who Defied the Nazis, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2010, pp. 33-35, 39-44, 51, 53, 61-68, 81, 84, 86, 88, 93, 105, 141-144, 152, 153, 157)

Helen Lowrie, (USA), Southern France

(Subak, Susan, Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers who Defied the Nazis, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 2010, pp. 34-35, 40, 53, 60, 62-64, 152-153, 157, 181-182)

Tracy Strong, (USA), Southern France

Tracy Strong was a member of the Young Men’s Christian Association headquarters in the French unoccupied zone.  He worked with Donald Lowrie with the YMCA in distributing aid.  Strong was involved in illegal activities with Czech diplomat Vladimir Vochoc.  He helped distribute illegal passports and documents on the outskirts of Marseilles. (Ryan, 1996, p. 148; Subak, 2010, p. 243n30)

Helped by:

Vladimir Vochoc+, see Czech Consulate, Marseilles, France

Dr. Joseph Weill, physician, worked closely with Donald Lowrie on behalf of Jewish children (Subak, 2010, pp. 179-181)

Noel Field, Unitarian Service Committee (USC), Marseilles, France, Geneva, Switzerland

Helped smuggle refugees and found hiding places for them. (Subak, 2010, p. 181)

Genevieve Pittet, CIMADE, France

Led and supervised successful escape routes from France to Switzerland.  Worked with YMCA office in Geneva.  (Pittet, 1945)

Joseph Fisera (Lowrie, 1963; Subak, 2010)

 

Other Organizations

CCR, see American Committee for Christian German Refugees
 

African Resettlement Plan (Feingold, 1970, pp. 92, 102-105, 107)

Bernard Baruch
 

Alaskan Resettlement Corporation for Refugees, est 1939
 

Alvin Corporation, USA

Dr. Alvin Johnson, USA
 

American Center of PEN, USA
 

American Christian Committee for Refugees (ACCR), USA (Refugee Scholar Fund; Freudenberg; Lazare, 1996, p. 27; Moore, 2010, p. 129)

            Dr. Cabert
 

American Committee for Christian German Refugees (ACCR), USA, established February 1934 (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976, pp. 164-220; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

American Committee for Émigré Scholars, Writers and Artists, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976, pp. 164-220; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

American Committee for the Guidance of Professional Personnel, USA
 

American Committee for the Protection of Minorities, USA (Feingold, 1970, p. 24)
 

American Committee for the Relief of Victimized German Children, USA (Zucker, 2008, pp. 31-32)
 

American Committee to Save Refugees, USA
 

American Congregationalist, USA (Moore, 2010, p.145)
 

American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976, pp. 164-220; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

American Friends of Czechoslovakia, USA (Moore, 2010, pp. 26, 382n132)
 

American Friends of German Freedom, USA (Marino, 1999, p. 40)

Harold Oram

Reinhold Niebuhr, chairman
 

American Labor Party (Feingold, 1970, p. 8)
 

American Polish Relief Fund, War Refugee Funding, Poland, Lithuania

H. Foster Anderson (Lithuania)
 

American Red Cross, Poland (Gutman, 1990)

William MacDonald (USA)
 

American Relief Centre (Centre Américain de Secours), see Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France
 

American Relief Organizations in Spain, established and recognized April 1943 (Bauer, 1981, pp. 207, 210-211, 255; JDC Archives NYC)

 David J. Blinkenstaff (AFSC, JDC)

Dr. Paul Block, Assistant
 

Austrian Institute (Österreichische), New York, NY, USA (Gutman, 2007, pp. 10-11)

Worked with Bnai Brith and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) to get Austrian Jews visas toenter the United States.  Helped Austrian emigrees in the US.

Irene Harand● (b. 1901), founder, deputy chairperson, World Association against Racial Hatred and Genocide, editor , “Justice,” wrote “So or So: The Truth about Antisemitism,” “His Struggle”
 

Bergson Group, see Committee to Save the Jews of Europe
 

Bulgarian American Committee, New York City, USA
 

Centre Américain de Secours (American Relief Centre, Marseilles), see Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)
 

Coordinating Foundation, USA 1939, see also Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (IGCR)

Paul van Zeeland (former Prime Minister of Belgium)
 

Emergency Committee for European Jewish Affairs
 

Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Physicians, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Medical Scientists, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Scholars, USA, University in Exile (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)

Dr. Alvin Johnson
 

Federal Council of Churches, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Davie, 1947; Genzini, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

Federal National War Fund, established August 1943, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Davie, 1947; Genzini, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981)
 

German Emergency Committee, USA, supported by: American Friend Service Committee (AFSC)
 

Hover Committee, USA

Gilbert Redfern, in Lithuania
 

Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton University, New Jersey (Feingold, 1970, pp. 132, 138, 194)

Abraham Flexner
 

Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (IGCR), USA, HQ London, est July 1938. See also The Coordinating Foundation (Feingold, 1970, pp. 37-40, 42, 89, 115-116, 124; Morse, 1967, pp. 43, 52, 56, 59-61, 67, 74, 94-95, 214-215, 218-219, 228-231, 233, 236, 241, 244-248, 250-251)

The Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (IGCR) was founded during the Evian Conference in Evian, France, in 1938.  It remained largely inactive until it was revived during the Bermuda Refugee Conference in 1943.  Its purpose was to aid refugees who were forced to emigrate from Germany and Austria due to religious persecution, political persecution or for reasons of racial origins.

George Rublee, (USA), head

Herbert Emmerson, Great Britain
 

International Commission for the Assistance of Spanish Child Refugees, Perpignan, France, established in February 1939 by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to help children of Spanish Republican soldiers who fled to Southern France; also helped Jewish refugees; worked with ORT and OSE as well; see also American Friends Service Committee, France (Moore, 2010, p. 139)
 

International Committee for the Assistance of Child Refugees, USA (Bauer, 1981, p. 156)

Dr. Howard Kirschner, USA
 

International Migration Service (Zucker, 2008, pp. 12, 13, 67, 119)
 

International Refugee Organization (IRO; Gutman, 1990, pp. 379, 389, 1540)
 

International Relief Association, USA, established 1933
 

International Rescue and Relief Committee, USA, merged with the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), NY, in spring of 1942 (Marino, 1999, p. 318)
 

International Rescue Committee, USA, established 1940, later Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), USA (Fry, 1945; Marino, 1999)

Elmer Davis, USA

Robert M. Hutchins, USA

Dr. George Shuster, USA

Dorothy Thompson, USA (Feingold, Henry. The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1944. (New Brunswick, NJ:(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), pp. 23, 60.  Thompson, Dorothy.  Refugees, Anarchy or Organization. (New York: Random House, 1938).  Thompson, Dorothy.  Let the Record Speak.  (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1939).  Thompson, Dorothy.  “Refugees, A World Problem,” Foreign Affairs, XVI (April 1938).  Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945. (New York: Pantheon, 1984), pp. 63-64, 172, 263, 320.)

Dorothy Thompson was a famous journalist who wrote numerous articles regarding the plight of refugees during World War II.  She generally raised consciousness abut refugees and has been credited with being the catalyst for the Evian conference in 1938.
 

Labor League for Human Rights, USA
 

League of Nations, American Delegation, Geneva, Switzerland

Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (Jewish and other), Geneva

James Grover McDonald, (USA; Breitman, Richard, Advocate for the Doomed, 2007.  London, L. Whitehall and the Jews, 1933-1948: British immigration policy, Jewish refugees and the Holocaust, pp. 83-84. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). Gutman, Yisrael (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1990), pp. 204, 455, 954-956, 1187, 1237. Feingold, Henry. The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1944. (New Brunswick, NJ: (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), pp. 14, 18, 25-26, 31, 52, 76, 80, 92, 127, 139, 142, 144-147, 152, 156, 160, 162-164, 213, 286.  Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945. (New York: Pantheon, 1984), pp. 45-46, 315. Morse, Arthur D. While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy. (New York: Random House, 1967), pp. 148, 160, 167-168, 171, 187-190, 205, 209, 211, 295-296, 303. Penkower, Monty Noam. The Jews Were Expendable: Free World diplomacy and the Holocaust.  (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983), pp. 69, 113, 248, 250.  His papers were donated to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.)

McDonald became the Chairman of the Foreign Policy Association in New York in 1919.  He served the Association until 1933.  At that time, McDonald was appointed as head of the newly-created League of Nations Office of High Commissioner for Refugees in Germany.  His appointment as an American Commissioner to the League was ironic, since America did not belong to the world organization.  His efforts on behalf of Jewish refugees found little support in either the US State Department or the British or French Foreign Offices.  Throughout the war, McDonald supported the rescue of refugees through immigration to the United States.  These policies were continually opposed by the State Department.  After the war, he was appointed the first American Ambassador to Israel, a position he held until 1951.
 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Corporation, Loews Inc., New York, NY, donated $1,000,000 for refugee relief and rescue of Jews (Gutman, 2003)
 

National Committee for Refugee Musicians, USA, established 1938 (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)

Mark Brunswick, chairman
 

National Committee for Resettlement of Foreign Physicians, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)
 

National War Fund, USA
 

Nimes Committee, Nimes Coordination Committee (Comité des Camps Nimes), France, 1940-1945 (American Friends’ Service Committee Archives, Philadelphia, PA; Nimes Committee Archives, Leo Baeck Institute, NYC; USHMM, Washington, Philadelphia; Unitarian Service Committee Archives, USHMM, Washington, DC; YIVO Archives NYC; Bauer, 1981, pp. 161-164; Fry, 1945, pp. 18, 19, 80; Gourfinkel, 1953; Lazare, 1996, p. 294; Lemalet, 1993; Lowrie, 1963; Marrus & Paxton, 1981, pp. 162-163, 260, 261, 267; Rayski, 2005, pp. 107, 341n15; Ryan, 1996, pp. 90, 148-149, 152, 163, 167; Samuel, 2002)

The Nîmes Coordinating Committee, also known as the Camps Committee, was established in Toulouse, France, in November 1940.  It was created as an umbrella organization of 25 refugee organizations to help coordinate the relief efforts in the French concentration camps in the Southern Zone.  The Camps Committee provided food, medicine, clothing to the beleaguered refugees trapped in the French-run concentration camps.  The conditions in the camps were abysmal, and the mortality rate in some cases reached 10% annually.  The Nîmes Committee was run by a number of refugee and relief agencies, including the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), headed by Donald Lowrie, the American Friends’ Service Committee (Quakers), the Unitarians, under Dr. Charles J. Joy, the American Red Cross, Secours Suisse, French Red Cross, Secours National, CIMADE, SSAE and Amitié Chrétienne.

The Nîmes Committee worked closely with both the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and HIAS, who helped support the operation.

There were two prominent Jewish American organizations that participated in the rescue and relief activities with the Camps Committee.  They were HICEM and the JDC.  Herbert Katzki and Joseph J. Schwartz, of the JDC, negotiated with French officials to alleviate the conditions in the camps and gain the release of refugees.

Dr. Donald Lowrie (USA), head (Fry, 1945; Lowrie, 1963; Ryan, 1996, pp. 148-149, 152, 167, 216)

American Friends of Czechoslovakia, USA (Lowrie, 1963)

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; Quakers), USA

Clarence E. Pickett, (USA), executive director

Rufus Jones, (USA), chairman

Philip Conrad, (USA)

Henry Harvey, (USA)

Howard Kershner, (USA), Southern France

Roswell M. McClelland, (USA), Southern France

Majorie McClelland, (USA), Southern France

Lindsley Nobel, (USA), Southern France

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), USA

Herbert Katski, USA

Joseph Swartz, USA

Morris Troper, USA

Joseph C. Heyman, USA

Jules Jefronkin (Jewish)

Maurice Brenner (UGIF-South) (Jewish)

Joseph Croustillon

Shlomo Steinhorn (Jewish)

American Red Cross (ARC), USA

Richard Allen (USA)

Czech Aid (Ryan, 1996, p. 148)

Donald Lowrie (YMCA)

Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), USA

Varian Fry● (USA)

Hebrew Immigrant Aid and Sheltering Society (HIAS-HICEM), USA

Edouard Oungre (Jewish)

Mennonite Central Committee, USA

Unitarian Service Committee (USC), USA (Brooks, 1942)

Reverend Howard Lee Brooks, USA (Brooks, 1942)

Robert C. Dexter, USA

Elizabeth Dexter, USA

Noel Field, USA

Herta Field, USA

Dr. Charles Joy, USA

Martha Sharpe●, USA

Waitstill Sharpe●, USA

Dr. René Zimmer, Health Committee (Jewish)

World Service of the Young Men’s/Women’s Christian Association (YMCA/YWCA), Marseilles office, headquarters USA; see also Czech Aid, Marseilles

Dr. Donald Lowrie (USA), head, Nimes Committee, Czech Aid

Helen Lowrie, Nimes Committee

Individuals:

Dr. Donald Lowrie (USA), head of the YMCA, head of Czech Aid, head of the Nîmes Committee

Richard Allen (USA), American Red Cross

Reverend Howard Brooks (USA), USC

Robert C. Dexter (USA), USC

Elizabeth Dexter (USA), USC

Noel Field (USA), USC

Herta Field (USA), USC

Varian Fry● (USA), ERC

Dr. Charles Joy (USA), USC

Roswell McClelland, (USA), AFSC/Quakers

Marjorie McClelland, (USA), AFSC/Quakers

Lindsey Nobel (USA), AFSC/Quakers

Martha Sharpe● (USA), USC

Waitstill Sharpe● (USA), USC Pastor Toureille (France)
 

Non-Sectarian Committee, USA (Morse, 1967, pp. 253-254, 258-259)

The Nonsectarian Committee was created in 1940 for the purpose of facilitating the movement of twenty thousand German refugee children to the United States.

President Herbert Hoover, former President of the United States

Cardinal Mundelein, Chicago

Cannon Anson Phelps Stoke, Washington Cardinal

William Allen White

Owen D. Young, President, General Electric Company

Clarence Pickett, Director Nonsectarian Committee, Chairman AFSC

Alf Landon, Former Governor of New York
 

Non-Sectarian Committee for German Refugee Children, USA, supported by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)
 

Non-Sectarian Foundation for Refugee Children, USA, supported by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)
 

Non-Sectarian Foundation for German Refugee Children, USA. Est.1940 (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)
 

The Oberlaender Trust of Philadelphia, USA
 

Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilition Operations (OFFRO), USA

Founded 1942, Affialiated with US State Department

Govenor H.H. Lehman, Director
 

Placement Committee for German and Austrian Musicians, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)
 

President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees (PACPR), USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Historic Archives, New York City; Breitman; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Feingold, 1970, pp. 25-26, 35, 69, 81, 86, 92-94, 98, 110, 112, 139-141, 144-145, 147-148, 155, 157;  FDR Library and Stephan Wise Papers, Goldfarb Library, Brandeis University; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Morse, 1967, pp. 204, 295-296; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Penkower, 1983, pp. 115, 248, 360n9; Ross, 1981; Wyman, 1984, pp. 37, 47, 54, 111, 125, 129, 1330134, 198, 263, 315, 411.Zucker, 2008)

The President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees (PACPR) was established in 1938 by American refugee advocates to keep President Roosevelt informed on refugee and relief issues.  From 1938-1941, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the American Jewish Congress underwrote the cost of PACPR.  After 1941, they paid for the administration costs.  PACPR was the only refugee rescue program run by the US established during this period of the refugee crisis in Europe.

James Grover McDonald (USA), chairman, former League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Hamilton Fish Armstrong (USA), editor Foreign Affairs

Paul Baerwald (USA), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; JDC (Jewish)

Bernard Baruch, (USA)

Reverend Samuel McCrea Cavert (USA), secretary, Federal Council of Churches

Professor Joseph Chamberlain (USA), Columbia University, NY, NY

Basil Harris

Louis Kennedy

Patrick Malin (USA)

Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel, Archbishop of New Orleans, LA.

Wm. E. Speers (USA), treasurer

James M. Speers (USA)

Myron Taylor (USA), envoy to Hoy See (Vatican)

George Warren (USA), executive secretary

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (USA; Jewish)
 

President’s Committee on War Relief, Founded March, 1941, President’s War Relief Control Board

Joseph E. Davies, (USA), Chairman

Charles P. Taft, (USA) Member

Fredrich P. Keppel, (USA) Member
 

Quakers, see American Friends’ Service Committee
 

The Refugee Economic Corporation (REC),  USA,  Established , 1934

Charles J. Liebman, (USA), founder, 1937

Felix Warburg, (USA), 1934 -1937
 

Representation in Spain of the American Relief Organizations, US Embassy, Madrid, Spain, established 1943 (JDC Archives, NYC; HIAS-HICEM Archives, YIVO, NYC; USC Archives, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA)

David Blickenstaff, Head

American Friend Service Committee (AFSC), Quaker, (USA)

American Jewish Joint Dist. Committee (JDC), (USA)

Unitarian Service Committee (USC), (USA)

War Relief Services of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, (USA)
 

Self-Help of Emigrés from Central Europe, USA (American Committee for Christian German Refugees, 1945; Close, 1953; Davie, 1947; Duggan & Drury, 1948; Genizi, 1976; Genizi, 1983, pp. 96-136; Gutman, 1990, pp. 32-33, 1065-1066; Nawyn, 1981, pp. 159-181; Ross, 1981; Zucker, 2008)
 

Spanish Aid Committee, USA (Marino, 1999, pp. 38-39)

Harold Oram

Varian Fry
 

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA; Gutman, 1990, pp. 1538-1540; Woodbridge, 1950)

Govenor H.H. Lehman (USA), Director General, January 1, 1944 to March 31, 1946

Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, (USA), Director General, April 1, 1946 to December 31, 1946

Lowell W. Rooks, Director General, January 1, 1947 to September 30, 1948
 

United States of America Department of the Interior

Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, 1933-1946

Ruth Gruber, (USA), Rescuer, Oswego Project
 

United States of America Department of Labor (Zucker, 2008, pp. 1, 10-13, 15, 33-38, 41, 42, 46, 50, 65, 157, 170)

Francis Perkins, secretary
 

United States of America

US Senate

Guy M. Gillette

US House of Representatives

Joseph Balwin

Emmanuel Celler

Samuel Dickstein

Will Rodgers, Jr.
 

United States Embasssies/Consulates

Embassy,Vienna, Austria

Embassy, Berlin, Germany Legation Consulate

First Secretary Dr. Raymond Herman Geist

Embassy, Sofia, Bulgaria

Ambassador Franklin Mott Gunther

Embassy, Vatican (Holy See)

Ambassador Myron Taylor

Harold Tittman

Embassy, Istanbul, Turkey

Ambassador Laurence A. Steinhardt, 1943-1945

Consul Ira Hirschmann, 1944-1945 (WRB representative)

Embassy, Stockholm, Sweden

Minister Herschel V. Johnson Johnson

Financial Attaché Ivar C. Olson (WRB representative)

Embassy, Geneva, Switzerland

Vice-Consul Howard Elting Jr.

Embassy, Vichy France

H. Pinkney Tuck

Consulate, Marseilles, France

Vice-Consul Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV, 1937-1941

Vice Consul Myles Standish, 1937-1941

Consulate, Tangiers

 Rives Childs

Helped by:

General Orgaz
 

Wallenberg Mission, Budapest, Hungary, see also Swedish Legation, Budapest, 1944-1945

(Anger, 1981; Asaf, 1990, p. 107; Bierman, 1969; Braham, 1981, pp. 788, 840, 845, 849, 850, 853, 1085-1091, 1130, 1132; Breitman, 1987, pp. 212-219; Gutman, 1990, pp. 1588-1591; Lévai, 1948, pp. 231, 355, 364-365, 369, 371, 378-379, 381-383, 391, 405-407, 410-411, 413-414; Lévai, 1948/1988; Levine, 1998, pp. 247, 265-266, 277; Skoglund, 1997; Wallenberg, 1995; War Refugee Board Papers and Files, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library (FDRL), Hyde Park, New York; Werbel, 1982; Yahil, 1983, pp. 7-54)

Raoul Wallenberg volunteered as a civilian employee of the American War Refugee Board in 1944.  He was credentialed as a diplomat by Sweden and arrived in Budapest on January 9, 1944.  His mission was to save as many Budapest Jews as possible.  Raoul Wallenberg redesigned the Swedish protective papers.  Wallenberg issued Swedish diplomatic papers to thousands of Hungarian Jews.  He prevented the Nazis from deporting and murdering Jews in the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.  With his staff of Jewish volunteers, Wallenberg rescued thousands of Jews who were being forced on death marches.  He also established dozens of safe houses throughout Budapest.  He tirelessly protected the safe houses from Nazi and Arrow Cross raids.  In January 1945, Raoul Wallenberg was arrested by the Russians and disappeared. He was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel in 1963.  In 1981, Wallenberg was bestowed the title of honorary citizen of the United States, at that time, an honor reserved only for Winston Churchill.  In addition, he has been honored all over the world for his life-saving activities.  After 60 years of investigation, his whereabouts or fate in the hands of the Soviet Union has never been proven.

Raoul Wallenberg●+ (1912-?)
 

War Relief Services of The National Catholic Welfare Conference, USA

 

US Citizens

Leonard E. Ackerman, War Refugee Board (WRB) Field Representative, North Africa
 

Jane Addams, Rescue Activist

[Morse, 1967, p. 146.]
 

Joseph Alsop, Emergency Committee to Save the Children of Europe, Journalist

[Friedman, 1973, pp. 110, 237.]
 

Hamilton Fish Armstrong, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

Paul Baerwald, American Jewish Committee (AJC), President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

Bernard Baruch, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)

[Friedman, 1973, pp. 45, 50, 91, 229, 239.]
 

Professor Charles A. Beard

[Morse, 1967, p. 146.]
 

David Blankenstaff, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC) Representative, Lisbon, Portugal
 

Dr. Frank Bohn, American Federation of Labor (AFL) Representative, Marseilles
 

Louis Bromfield, Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe (Bergson Group)

[Morse, 1967, p. 76.]
 

Howard Brooks, Unitarian Service Committee (USC)
 

Van Wyck Brooks, Writer, Editor, Rescue Activist

[Morse, 1967, p. 76.]
 

Joe E. Brown, Comedian

Supported the Wagner-Rogers immigration bill.

[Morse, 1967, p. 265.]
 

Samuel McCrea Cavert, Federal Council of Churches in America, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

Joseph P. Chamberlain, Chairman, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR), Chairman, National Coordinating Committee (NCC)
 

Raymond Clapper, Emergency Committee to Save the Children of Europe
 

Phillip B. Conrad, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC) Representative, Lisbon, Portugal
 

Miriam Davenport (Ebel), Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) Volunteer, Marseilles
 

Elmer Davis, US Headquarters, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)
 

Professor John Dewey

[Morse, 1967, pp. 194-195.]
 

Dr. Robert C. Dexter, War Refugee Board (WRB) Field Representative, Portugal
 

Josiah E. Dubois, Jr., War Refugee Board (WRB)
 

Herbert Emerson, Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (ICR)
 

Marshal Field, III, Philanthropist, Emergency Committee to Save the Children of Europe
 

Noel Field, Supervisor, Unitarian Service Committee (USC) of Boston
 

Varian Fry, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) Field Representative, Marseilles
 

Senator Guy M. Gillette, Iowa, Rescue Advocate
 

Frank P. Graham, President, University of North Carolina

Supported the Wagner-Rogers immigration bill.

[Morse, 1967, pp. 265-266.]
 

William Green, President, American Federation of Labor (AFL)
 

Basil Harris, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

William Randolph Hearst, Newspaper Publisher

[Morse, 1967, p. 76.]
 

Ben Hecht, Co-Chairman, Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe
 

Ira Hirschmann, War Refugee Board (WRB) Field Representative, Turkey
 

Herbert Hoover, Former US President, Non-Sectarian Committee, Rescue Advocate
 

Robert M. Hutchens, US Headquarters, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)
 

Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, Rescue Advocate
 

Alvin Johnson, President, New School for Social Research in New York, University in Exile
 

Rufus M. Jones, President, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC)
 

Dr. Charles Joy, Unitarian Service Committee (USC) Field Representative, Southern France
 

Herbert Katzki, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)
 

Edgar Kaufman, Philanthropist, Community leader, Rescue Advocate, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

[Freidman, 1973, pp. 46, 237.]
 

Louis Kennedy, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

Howard Kershner, Leader, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC)
 

Frank Kingdon, Emergency Committee to Save the Children of Europe, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)

[Morse, 1967; Wyman, 1984.]
 

Max Kohler, Founder German-Jewish Children’s Aid Committee

Max Kohler founded the German-Jewish Children’s Aid Committee in 1934.  It relocated several hundred Jewish children to the US through the Department of Naturalization and Immigration.

[Friedman, 1973.]
 

Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, New York City, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) 1943-1947, Major Rescue Advocate
 

Alf Landon, Former Governor of New York, Non-Sectarian Committee
 

Governor Herbert Lehman, New York

[Feingold, 1970; Friedman, 1973; Morse, 1967; Wyman, 1984.]
 

Dr. Henry Smith Leiper, Secretary, Federal Council of Churches

Supported the Wagner-Rogers immigration bill.

[Morse, 1967, p. 262.]
 

Emil Lengyel, Co-Chairman, Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe
 

Max Lerner, Co-Chairman, Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe
 

Marjorie McClelland
 

Roswell McClelland, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC) Field Representative, Southern France, War Refugee Board (WRB) Field Representative, Switzerland
 

James Grover McDonald, Commissioner for Refugees, League of Nations, Chair of the President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR), Leading US Rescue Activist, 1933-1945
 

James Mann, War Refugee Board (WRB) Field Representative, Great Britain
 

Henry Morgenthau, US Secretary of the Treasury
 

Cardinal Mundelein, Non-Sectarian Committee, Chicago
 

Lindsley Nobel, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC) Representative, Marseilles, France
 

Ivar Olsen, War Refugee Board (WRB) Field Representative, Sweden
 

Randolph Paul, War Refugee Board (WRB)
 

John Pehle, Chairman, War Refugee Board (WRB)
 

Clarence E. Pickett, Chairman, American Friends’ Service Committee (AFSC)
 

Quentin Reynolds, Journalist

Supported the Wagner-Rogers immigration bill.  Witnessed and wrote about persecution of Jews in Germany.

[Morse, 1967, pp. 252, 266-267.]
 

Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., California, Member, Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe

Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., co-sponsored refugee bills.  He was the son of comedian Will Rogers.
 

Eleanor Roosevelt, US First Lady

[Morse, 1967.]
 

George Rublee, Chair, Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (ICR)
 

Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

Dr. George Shuster, US Headquarters, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)
 

Shards
 

Martha Sharp, Unitarian Service Committee (USC) Field Representative, Southern France
 

Waitstill Sharp, Unitarian Service Committee (USC) Field Representative, Southern France
 

Rabbi Abba Silver, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)
 

James Spears, President’s Advisory Committee for Political Refugees (PACPR)
 

Cannon Anson Phelps Stoke, Washington Cathedral, Non-Sectarian Committee
 

Dorothy Thompson, Rescue Advocate, Journalist, USA

[Feingold, 1970, pp. 23, 60.  Morse, 1967, pp. 122, 168, 203, 232, 294.  Penkower, 1983, p. 210.  Wyman, 1984, pp. 63-64, 172, 263, 320.]
 

Paul Tilich, Alaska Development Committee
 

Pierre van Paassen, Co-Chairman, Emergency Conference to Save the Jewish People of Europe
 

Oswald Garrison Villard

[Morse, 1967, p. 146.]
 

Lillian Wald, Rescue Activist

[Morse, 1967, p. 146.]
 

Felix Warburg, Philanthropist, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Founder of the Refugee Economic Corporation in 1939
 

William Allen White, Non-Sectarian Committee
 

Rabbi Stephen Wise, American Jewish Congress, World Jewish Congress
 

Owen D. Young, President, General Electric Company, Non-Sectarian Committee

 

US Governors

Governor Herbert Lehman, New York

Governor Herbert Lehman was the leader of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), 1943-1947.

[Friedman, 1973, p. 239; Morse, 1967, p. 189.]
 

Governor Alfred E. Smith, New York

[Morse, 1967, p. 113.]

 

US Legislators

Congressman Sol Bloom, New York

[Sol Bloom Papers, New York Public Library.  Morse, 1967, pp. 51, 55-56.]
 

Congressman Charles A. Buckley, Bronx, New York

[Feingold, 1970, p. 94.]
 

Congressman Emanuel Cellar, New York

[Emanuel Cellar Papers, US Library of Congress; Morse, 1967, pp. 90, 136, 174, 206-207, 334-335.]
 

Congressman Samuel Dickstein, New York, Chairman, House Immigration Committee

[Morse, 1967, pp. 136-137, 265-268.  Columbia Oral History Collection, New York City.]
 

Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr., New York

[Morse, 1967, p. 113.]
 

Senator Guy M. Gillette, Iowa, Co-Chair, Committee for an Army of Stateless and Palestinian Jews

[Morse, 1967, p. 76.]
 

Congressman Frank Havenner, California

Supported major bill in Congress.  Introduced Alaska Development Bill to use Alaska as a haven for Jewish refugees.

[Feingold, 1970, p. 95.]
 

Senator William H. King, Utah

Supported major bill in Congress.  Introduced Alaska Development Bill to use Alaska as a haven for Jewish refugees.

[Feingold, 1970, p. 95.]
 

Congressman Hugh McRae, Carolina

Supported the Wagner-Rogers immigration bill.

[Morse, 1967.]
 

Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, Massachusetts

[Morse, 1967, p. 253.]
 

Congressman Will Rogers, Jr., California

[Morse, 1967, p. 94.]
 

Congressman Adolph Sabath, Illinois

[Morse, 1967, p. 207.]
 

Senator Robert F. Wagner, New York

[Morse, 1967, pp. 113, 253-258, 268.]

 

State Legislators, US

State Senator Alfred M. Cohen, Ohio

National leader of B’Nai Brith; AJA Cincinnati.

 

US Religious Leaders (Non-Jews)

Reverend Samuel McCrea Cavert, Federal Council of the Churches of Christ, President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees (PACPR)

[Morse, 1967, pp. 295-296.]
 

Reverend John Hayes Holms

[Morse, 1967, p. 146.]
 

Bishop William T. Manning, New York, Protestant

[Morse, 1967, p. 113.]
 

Bishop Francis J. McConnell, New York, Catholic

[Morse, 1967, p. 113.]
 

Cardinal Munelein, Chicago, Illinois

[Morse, 1967, p. 262.]
 

Reinhold Niebuhr

[Morse, 1967, p. 146.]
 

Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel, President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees (PACPR)

[Morse, 1967, pp. 293-294.]
 

Bishop Bernard Sheil, Chicago, Illinois

[Morse, 1967, p. 262.]

 

US Church Groups

The Federal Council of Churches of Christ

Dr. Henry Smith Leiper, Secretary.

[Morse, 1967, pp. 203, 262.]

 

Members of the US Bar Association

The following members of the New York Bar Association protested the dismissal of Jewish Judges and banning of Jewish lawyers in Germany.  The petition was signed and delivered to the US State Department on May 20, 1933.

John W. Davis

Charles C. Burlington

Samuel Seabury

Bainbridge Colby

Henry W. Taft

Elihu Root

Charles Evans Hughes, Jr.

Joseph H. Choate, Jr.

Paul D. Cravath

Robert T. Swaine

Grenville Clark

James W. Gerard and others

[Morse, 1967, p. 117.]