ABOUT TIME: THE HISTORY OF THE WAR REFUGEE BOARD by Rebecca L. Erbelding A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History Committee: Director ___________________________________ Department Chairperson ___________________________________ Program Director ___________________________________ Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: Spring Semester 2015 George Mason University Fairfax, VA About Time: The History of the War Refugee Board A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University by Rebecca L. Erbelding Master of Arts George Mason University, 2006 Bachelor of Arts Mary Washington College, 2003 Director: Marion Deshmukh, Professor Department of History Spring Semester 2015 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Copyright of this dissertation is held by the author. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’m grateful to so many people for their support of this project and of my scholarship. Though there is a stereotype that archival research is a solitary process—and, at certain points, it definitely is—the act of putting together the story of what the documents are telling us is actually quite social. Being able to talk things through with scholars of various aspects of this history and with the family members of the people I’m writing about has been so helpful and such a privilege for me. Most importantly, I want to thank all of the families of the WRB staff members (and WRB-adjacent people) for their time, patience, and willingness to engage with me. Sincere thanks go to Bennett Boskey (friend of Leonard Ackermann); George Naughton (son of Mary Harriet Bixler); Reid Blickenstaff (nephew of David Blickenstaff); Selma Milchen (daughter of Emanuel Borenstein); Robert DuBois (son of Josiah E. DuBois); Jay Weber, and the Weber and Thron families (nephew and relatives of Florence Hodel); Louise Korn Waldron (daughter of Lewis Korn); Judy Mann (daughter of James Mann); Irene McCormack Weinrot (daughter of Paul McCormack); Annie Herr McClintock (granddaughter of Daniel Reagan); Dr. James Saxon and Lucy Neher (children of James Saxon); Kenneth Sargoy (son of Milton Sargoy); and Phil Stewart (son of Ward Stewart). I would also like to thank Ruth Gruber and Henry Morgenthau, III, for granting me the opportunity to ask questions—and for Henry in particular for allowing me to use his family’s personal papers. I especially want to thank George Lesser (son of Lawrence Lesser); Iver (Jerry) Olsen, Jr. (son of Iver Olsen); and Kirk McClelland (son of Roswell McClelland). These men have shared an extraordinary amount of time, documents, and memories with me. I consider them friends and I hope they—and all the WRB families— can point to this work with pride in what their loved ones did during World War II. Engagement with other scholars with different expertise has undoubtedly made this dissertation much better. Charles King and Corry Guttstadt debated the WRB in Turkey with me; Tuvia Friling and I compared notes on the role of the Jewish Agency, of Joseph Schwartz, and of refugee movement through Turkey; László Csősz assisted me with Hungary questions; Rebecca Clifford worked with me about the difficult concept of ii enumerating rescue; Pedro Correa Martín-Arroyo talked to me about all things Spain; Clarence Ashley provided me with OSS documents and the opportunity to visit the OSS exhibit at the CIA museum; Waitman Beorn shared his expertise with me; Aomar Boum and I talked about North Africa. Meredith Hindley, who shares my research interests, assisted me on a variety of topics; and many others gave much needed support, including Natalia Aleksiun and Melissa Jane Taylor. The participants of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s November 2014 conference in Madrid on “Perpetrators, Bystanders, Victims? The Neutral Countries and the Shoah” gave me the opportunity to present some of my work and engage with scholars I’ve admired for years—particularly Yehuda Bauer—and I am grateful to Corry Guttstadt and Yessica San Román for the invitation. I would also like to single out Abby Gilbert and the members of the Treasury Department Historical Association for providing additional documents and answering questions about life inside the Treasury Department during the war. During this project, I became a better archivist and researcher by visiting fantastic repositories and using their collections. The staff of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, particularly Kirsten Carter and Sarah Malcolm, patiently pulled collections and answered a myriad of questions. (They also worked with me to put my scans of the WRB papers online for future researchers, which I hope will advance scholarship on the WRB; I am especially grateful for their efforts toward that end.) Don Davis at the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia let me open boxes to my heart’s content so I could examine the AFSC’s work during the war—which is a goldmine for future scholars. The staff at the Library of Congress’s Manuscript Division and the staff at NARA pulled reel after reel and box after box for me with smiles on their faces; the archivists at Bowdoin College welcomed me on a wet summer day. I was fortunate last year to be able to visit the Safehaven Museum and Education Center at Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY. They have a wonderful museum and an eager staff; I am also grateful for the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance (particularly the Hillel’s Angels, the Yids on Wheels, and the Schul Boys) for their support of the Safehaven Museum and for prompting my trip to Oswego. The staff of the Harry Ransom Center sent me important records at the last minute. Tamar Zeffren at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives is, on top of being a friend, a fantastic archivist and promotor of the Joint’s important role in this story. I am lucky enough to work at the best museum in the world, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Access to the Museum’s collections and library made the research for this dissertation much easier, but the support and assistance of my colleagues iii made it better. Thank you to everyone who answered questions, debated and discussed, read sections, suggested new resources, and stopped me from being overwhelmed. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Steve Luckert, Peter Black, Ryan Farrell, Ashley Scutari, Michelle King, Vincent Slatt, Megan Lewis, Vanda Rajcan, Jo-Ellyn Decker, Victoria Barnett, Suzanne Brown-Fleming, Dr. Sidney Davidson, Judy Cohen, Suzy Snyder, Kyra Schuster, Gretchen Skidmore, Jen Ciardelli, Lindsay Mcneill, Lindsay Zarwell, Jane Klinger, Scott Miller, Henry Mayer, Danny Greene, Brad Bauer, Aleksandra Borecka, Jeff Carter, Julie Schweitzer, Grace Cohen Grossman, Diane Saltzman, and Rachel Wimberley. David Neumann assisted me with translations of German; Joan Suttin and Jon Fee provided me much needed comfort during the difficult early research. I am immeasurably grateful to the people in my life who gave me the time, space, and encouragement with this project. John Lillard and Tracy Fisher were my school cohort from the beginning of grad school and I try to be worthy of them as friends and scholars. Suzanne Adams Brou, Eli Adams, and Haley Adams gave me a lot of love when I was embarking on the project, for which I am grateful. Corie Tarbet and the Tarbet/Carson family were very important in the early years of this program; their support was, and is still, greatly appreciated. Jeff McClurken has always been an enthusiastic supporter of me and of my work; I could not have done this without his example. Emily Langer cheered me on and was willing to celebrate even minor accomplishments with me; I’m so happy she is my friend. My professors at George Mason University and the members of my committee—Dr. Marion Deshmukh and Dr. Martin Sherwin of George Mason, and Dr. Joseph Bendersky of Virginia Commonwealth University—provided excellent feedback; I appreciate their faith in me. I’m also thankful for all the small things that made the long research and writing phases more bearable. The creators of the Papers software program (Mekentosj) gave me the tool to sort through more than 150,000 pages—thank you! Kaldi’s Coffee Shop in Silver Spring, MD, not only makes the best coffee and pastries but was a welcoming place to work. The creators of bingeable television shows—like Top Gear and House Hunters—and podcasts—like MBMBAM, Sawbones, and many others—provided the auditory backdrop of most of my note-taking. My family has always supported me, even after I said I wanted to be a historian, and even after I forced them to look at history flash cards with me and created my own lending library. I’m grateful to the Coleman and Boyd families for overlooking how often my computer was out during family holidays and for being excited about this book. I iv hope Roberta would have liked it. The Wetmore family always encouraged me— particularly Catherine Delesky, who read the early chapters and Natalie Wetmore, who helped me research the role of the Red Cross. My grandparents—Bruce and Lois Erbelding and Leonard and Kathleen Delesky—always supported my historian tendencies. I wish you could have read this, but I know you were always proud. My parents, Bruce and Beth Erbelding, have been constant cheerleaders, and my siblings and their families—Andy, Debbie, Madison and Carter Erbelding, and Laura and Matt Bechtler—gave me places to stay and lots of love, even when they could not understand why this research was taking so long. Most importantly, more than anything, I want to thank my best friend and husband, Ron Coleman. He helped immeasurably—with the research, with daily life, with keeping me happy, safe, sane, and loved.