Papers of the War Refugee Board
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A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Holocaust Era Research Collections PAPERS OF THE WAR REFUGEE BOARD Part 1: Correspondence and Reports Files, February 1944–September 1945 A UPA Collection from Cover: Passport photograph of Raoul Wallenberg (1912–1947), June 1944. Holocaust Era Research Collections PAPERS OF THE WAR REFUGEE BOARD Part 1: Correspondence and Reports Files, February 1944–September 1945 Project Editor Robert E. Lester Guide compiled by Martin Schipper A UPA Collection from 7500 Old Georgetown Road • Bethesda, MD 20814-6126 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data United States. War Refugee Board. Papers of the War Refugee Board / project editor, Robert E. Lester. p. cm.—(Holocaust era research collections) “The documents reproduced in this publication are among the federal records in the custody of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York”—Cip t.p. Contents: Pt. 1. Correspondence and reports files, February 1944– September 1945. ISBN 1-55655-888-0 1. World War, 1939–1945—Refugees—Sources. 2. World War, 1939– 1945—Civilian relief—Sources. 3. United States. War Refugee Board. 4. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library—Archives. I. Lester, Robert. II. Title. III. Series. D809.U5 U55 2002 940.53'086'91—dc21 2002030422 CIP The documents reproduced in this publication are among the federal records in the custody of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. No copyright is claimed in these official U.S. government records. Copyright © 2006 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-888-0. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Scope and Content Note ............................................................................................ vii Source Note ................................................................................................................. xi Editorial Note .............................................................................................................. xi Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. xiii Reel Index Reel 1 Ackermann, Leonard E.–American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Evacuation of Children from France) .............................................................. 1 Reel 2 American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Miscellaneous)– Budgets—National War Fund .......................................................................... 4 Reel 3 Budgets—National War Fund cont.–Committee on Special Refugee Problems: Projects........................................................................................... 10 Reel 4 Common Council for American Unity–German Extermination Camps [Requests] ........................................................................................................ 13 Reel 5 German Extermination Camps [Requests] cont.–Embree, William L. .................. 14 Reel 6 Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe (Proposed Projects for the War Refugee Board)–Exhibits: Foreign Economic Administration.................................................................................. 16 Reel 7 Exhibits: Foreign Economic Administration cont.–Frankel, Hilde ......................... 18 Reel 8 Free Currency Sent Into Enemy Territory [Currency Transfers]–House [of Representatives] Resolutions ..................................................................... 19 Reel 9 Hungarian-American Council of Democracy–Issuance and Reissuance of U.S. Visas ........................................................................................................ 23 iii Reels 10–13 Issuance and Reissuance of U.S. Visas cont. ..................................................... 25 Reel 14 Issuance and Reissuance of U.S. Visas cont.–Kunst, Sophie ............................ 30 Reel 15 Labor League for Human Rights–Mann, James H................................................ 33 Reel 16 Marateck, Jacob–Palestine................................................................................... 38 Reel 17 Palestine Certificates–Postwar Punishment of Axis War Crimes ........................ 41 Reel 18 President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees–Private Messages Sent: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee [Telegraphs] ................. 44 Reel 19 Private Messages Sent: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee [Telegraphs] cont.–Private Messages Sent: Save the Children Federation [Telegraphs] ................................................................................... 46 Reel 20 Private Messages Sent: Selfhelp of Emigres from Central Europe, Inc. [Telegraphs}–Relief in Czechoslovakia ........................................................... 49 Reel 21 Relief in Finland–Requests for Specific Aid .......................................................... 52 Reel 22 Requests for Specific Aid cont.–Sheerin, Charles W. .......................................... 61 Reel 23 Sherbowski, D.–Unitarian Service Committee...................................................... 68 Reel 24 United Committee of South-Slavic Americans–War Refugee Board, Vol. 1 ......... 72 Reel 25 War Refugee Board, Vol. 1 cont.–Weekly Reports—1944, Vol. 1 ........................ 76 Reel 26 Weekly Reports—1944, Vol. 1 cont.–World Jewish Congress, Vol. 1 ................. 77 Reel 27 World Jewish Congress, Vol. 1 cont.–History of the War Refugee Board with Selected Documents, Vol. 1 ..................................................................... 78 iv Reel 28 History of the War Refugee Board with Selected Documents, Vol. 1 cont.– History of the War Refugee Board with Selected Documents, Vol. 3 .............. 80 Reel 29 History of the War Refugee Board with Selected Documents, Vol. 3 cont. ....................................................................................................... 81 Wallenberg, Raoul—Material................................................................................. 81 Projects and Documents, Vols. 1–2 ..................................................................... 81 Principal Correspondents Index ............................................................................... 83 Geographic Index ....................................................................................................... 105 Subject Index............................................................................................................... 115 v SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE Established by executive order within the Executive Office of the President on January 22, 1944, the War Refugee Board (WRB) was intended to combat the Nazi campaign of persecution and extermination of people because of their race, religion, or political beliefs. This microfilm collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, indexes, and related papers pertaining to the board’s policies, programs, and operations. Included are publications and pamphlets issued by private rescue organizations, copies of submission slips prepared by the Office of Censorship containing information taken from intercepted communications relative to refugee organizations, and minutes of meetings of the Advisory Committee on Refugees and Displaced Persons. Origin and Composition of the WRB Executive Order No. 9417, which authorized the WRB, declared: “It is the policy of this Government to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.” The board was composed of the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, and the secretary of war and was made directly responsible to the president. John W. Pehle, assistant to the secretary of the treasury, was appointed executive director of the board. Upon his resignation on January 27, 1945, he was succeeded by Brigadier General William O’Dwyer, who served as executive director until the board’s dissolution. Special representatives served the board in the strategic areas of Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Great Britain, Italy, and North Africa. These representatives were accorded diplomatic status and designated as special attachés on war refugee matters to the respective U.S. legations or embassies. The board operated with a Washington staff that never exceeded thirty employees, utilizing to the extent possible the personnel, supplies, and services of the State, War, and Treasury Departments. Functions of the WRB The functions of the board included “the development of plans and programs and the inauguration of effective measures for (a) the rescue, transportation, maintenance and relief of the victims of enemy oppression, and (b) the establishment of havens of temporary refuge for such victims.” The board enlisted the cooperation of foreign governments and international refugee and rescue organizations in carrying out these functions. The strategic neutral countries of Switzerland, Sweden, and Turkey were of particular importance, vii serving as bases of operation for the rescue and relief program. The Vatican rendered invaluable assistance both as a channel of communication into enemy territory and as a means of rendering direct aid to the persecuted in Nazi hands. The board obtained the cooperation of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross in rehabilitating and resettling refugees, finding