Language:
English
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
Leo Baeck Institute Year Book
Angaben zur Quelle:
43 (1998) 287-311
Keywords:
Fry, Varian,
;
Emergency Rescue Committee, USA
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Jews History 1939-1945
;
Jewish refugees
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Rescue
Abstract:
After the French capitulation in June 1940, thousands of refugees from Germany and German-occupied areas residing in southern France were still waiting for visas to the USA. Three days after the Franco-German armistice, the Emergency Rescue Committee was formed in the USA, aiming to provide emergency visas to these refugees, some of whom were in French detention camps. The establishment of the ERC took place at a time when anti-alien, anti-communist, and anti-Jewish moods were at their peak in the USA. Varian Fry, an ERC worker, traveled to Marseille in the fall of 1940 to organize escape routes for the refugees. He immediately perceived both the Vichy government's reluctance to let refugees go and the USA's reluctance to let them in. Attempting to circumvent these obstacles, Fry was forced to establish a clandestine escape route and even to resort to forgery of documents; thus he was in conflict with the American administration. In August 1942 the Marseille bureau of the ERC was closed. Many of the refugees rescued by the ERC were detained in the USA as "communists" or "enemy aliens".
Note:
On the Emergency Rescue Committee established in 1940 in the U.S. and the activities of Varian Fry.
DOI:
10.1093/leobaeck/43.1.287
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink