63 “I believe that this group”: Messersmith memo to Warren and Coulter, NARA, Ibid., February 7, 1939.
64 “They have approached this whole problem”: Messersmith letter to Geist, NARA, Ibid., February 6, 1939.
64 Two weeks later: Geist telegram to Messersmith, NARA 150.626 J/612, February 20, 1939.
CHAPTER 7
65 “What is American citizenship”: The text of Reynolds’s radio broadcast appears in 84 Congressional Record, p. 501, February 13, 1939.
66 “Millions of innocent and defenseless”: 84 Congressional Record, p. 1278, February 9, 1939.
66 “In Germany you have”: Rogers’s testimony before the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, U.S. House of Representatives, 76th Cong., First Session, p. 291.
67 “It is difficult to see”: This and other newspaper editorials appear in 84 Congressional Record, p. 641, February 21, 1939.
68 “It is impossible to offer”: 84 Congressional Record, p. 982, March 14, 1939.
68 A 1938 survey: Jewish Trail of Tears, Ibid, 83.
68 Even 20 percent of American Jews: Ibid, p. 84.
68 A series of public opinion polls: Jews in the Mind of America, Charles Herbert Stember et al., Basic Books, 1966.
69 “It is my opinion”: Anti-Semitism in America: 1879–1939. Harold Quinley, ed., Arno Press, 1977.
69 “All Jews are enemies”: “Kuhn Admits Aims Are Same As Nazis’,” New York Times, June 24, 1938.
70 Rabbi Stephen Wise: American Refugee Policy and European Jewry, Breitman and Kraut, 229.
70 “As heartless as it may seem”: America, Its Jews and the Rise of Nazism, Gulie Ne’eman Arad, Indiana University Press, 2000, 200.
71 Her actions, however, prompted: Fletcher memo to Hogdon, NARA 150/01 2168, January 8, 1934.
71 “My husband says”: Eleanor and Franklin, Joseph P. Lash, Norton, 1971, 576. Eleanor Roosevelt’s correspondence with Justine Wise Polier can also be found at the American Jewish Historical Society in New York City.
72 Agnes Waters, representing a group: Hearings on H.J. Res 165 and H.J. Res 168, Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Reps, 76th Congress, First Session (page number unknown).
72 “I know it must be difficult”: Ibid.
72 “Shall we first take care of our own”: 84 Congressional Record, p. 1011, March 16, 1939.
73 Instead, she casually remarked: The Politics of Rescue, 150.
74 “He says that personally” Eleanor and Franklin, 576; Polier papers at AJHS.
74 “Caroline O’Day asked me”: Ibid., p. 577; the original copy of Watson’s memo, with FDR’s notation, is at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York.
CHAPTER 8
76 Two days later: “Plans Penna. Home for Reich Children,” Evening Public Ledger, March 1, 1939.
76 A slightly longer article: “Brith Sholom Brings 50 Refugee Children Here,” Philadelphia Jewish Times, March 3, 1939.
76 “We had a telephone message”: Goldman letter to Warren, NARA 150.626 J/604.
77 In his response: Warren letter to Goldman, NARA, Ibid.
77 In the fall of 1933: Cecilia Razovsky and the American-Jewish Women’s Rescue Operations in the Second World War, Bat-Ami Zucker, Vallentine Mitchell, 2008, 31 et seq.
77 But news of their arrival: Frances Perkins and the German-Jewish Refugees, footnote 10.
78 only about one hundred children: Frances Perkins and the German-Jewish Refugees, footnote 71.
78 “We not only are not taking”: Cecilia Razovsky papers, AJHS.
78 “Since the quota waiting list”: Ibid.
78 “I am afraid there will not be”: Ibid.
79 “Persons who received affidavits”: Ibid.
81 “We saw Mr. Geist”: Clarence E. Pickett’s Journal, September–November 1938, AFSC.
82 “The Department desires you”: Hull cable, NARA 150.626 J/609A.
83 “Visas have been withheld”: Geist telegram to Hull, NARA 150.626 J/621.
83 One day later: Warren memo to Messersmith, NARA, Ibid.
CHAPTER 9
89 A few months earlier: “Wilson to Depart from Reich Today,” New York Times, November 16, 1938.
93 “They are sailing, I believe”: Messersmith cable to Geist, NARA 150.626 J/625A.
CHAPTER 10
97 The dinner service began: I am grateful to Robert Braun for providing an original dinner menu from the Queen Mary, dated April 9, 1939.
99 Billikopf for many years: Billikopf Papers, AJA.
100 Its popular bar: In the Garden of Beasts, Larson, 225.
101 Geist was a man of imposing: The Virginia Plan, Robert Gillette, The History Press, 2011, 30, et seq.
101 “Now that I cannot work”: Cecilia Razovsky papers, AJHS.
101 Julius Seligsohn’s wife: “Dr. Seligsohn, Outstanding Jewish Leader in Germany, Dies in Concentration Camp,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, April 30, 1942.
103 “You must walk past”: Report of Thirty-Fourth Annual National Convention, Independent Order of Brith Sholom, June 1939.
104 “The visa section is in a state”: Wiley memo, NARA 124.63/98, March 22, 1938.
104 “We hear constantly”: Wiley cable to Messersmith, NARA 124.633/261, March 19, 1938.
104 “The object is not”: Messersmith memo to Hull, NARA 150.01/2458, November 13, 1936.
CHAPTER 11
113 “Never before had Chancellor Hitler”: “Hitler Becomes Citizen of Danzig,” New York Times, April 21, 1939.
115 “France is not the only place”: “Parisians Blame It All on Hitler,” New York Times, April 23, 1939.
CHAPTER 13
134 Hammond was later accused: Bureaucratic Response to Human Tragedy, Taylor, 255 et seq.
135 “We can delay”: No Ordinary Time, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Simon & Schuster, 1994, 173.
137 “You will remember”: Geist letter to Messersmith, NARA 150.626 J/649, May 4, 1939.
137 “I pointed out that”: Geist letter to Messersmith, NARA 150.626 J/649, May 4, 1939.
137 Two days after Geist: Morris cable to Geist, NARA 150.626 J/649, May 6, 1939.
CHAPTER 14
143 About 50,000 Jews: In the Garden of Beasts, Larson, 57–58.
CHAPTER 15
146 “I am genuinely delighted”: I am grateful to Steven Zulawski for providing me with a copy of Gil’s letter to the parents.
149 The letter outlined: CAHJP, A/W 2003, Box 566.
CHAPTER 16
159 The memo, written by: R. C. Alexander memorandum, NARA 150.626 J/649, May 16, 1939.
160 “Referring fifty nonpreference”: Hull memo to Morris, NARA, Ibid.
160 “This plan, as carried out:” Razovsky letter to Warren, NARA 150.626 J/648, May 15, 1939.
160 In his matter-of-fact reply: Warren letter to Razovsky, NARA, Ibid.
161 “It seems to me quite hazardous”: Kepecs letter to Pickett, May 29, 1939, Marion Kenworthy Papers, AJHS.
CHAPTER 17
168 Richard Friedmann never made it: Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
170 Five years earlier: “Dollfuss Sends Greeting with His Trade Mission,” New York Times, February 13, 1934.
170 Kuffler’s business career: “Refugee Aid Group Resumes in Vienna,” New York Times, November 20, 1938.
CHAPTER 18
174 Hitler himself lavishly praised: Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany, Stephanie Barron, Harry N. Abrams, 1991.
CHAPTER 19
182 “To those … who have not”: “Reich Future Closed, Jewish Leaders Warn Berlin Meeting,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 30, 1938.
182 In the spring of 1940: “Heinrich Stahl, Former Head of Berlin Jewish Community, Dies in Exile,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 29, 1942.
183 “The route over which”: “Reich Hails Ciano; Pact Signing Today,” New York Times, May 22, 1939.
CHAPTER 21
199 “The perso
ns responsible”: “50 Child Refugees Here from Vienna,” New York Times, June 4, 1939.
CHAPTER 22
209 “An after-dinner discussion”: “50 Child Refugees Here from Vienna,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 4, 1939.
210 The Associated Press dispatch: “Cuba Changes Mind, May Let Refugees Land,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 4, 1939.
210 “Most urgently repeat plea”: NARA 837.55.
210 A telegram from the State Department: NARA, Ibid.
211 Of the 937 passengers: “The Search for St. Louis Passengers,” online exhibit, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (www.ushmm.org).
211 “No doubt you received”: Kraus letter to Engel provided by Steven Zulawski.
212 “It is a great comfort”: Ibid.
212 “It was my intention”: Kraus letter to Messersmith, NARA 150.626 J/657, June 8, 1939.
212 “I know that you must feel”: Messersmith letter to Kraus, NARA, Ibid., June 8, 1939.
CHAPTER 23
217 “While the number fifty”: Report of Thirty-Fourth Annual National Convention, Independent Order Brith Sholom, June 1939.
218 “As I stand before”: Ibid.
221 “The question is asked”: “Fifty German-Jewish Refugee Children (A ‘Now It Can Be Told’ Story),” Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, June 9, 1939.
221 “To my knowledge”: YIVO archives, Center for Jewish History, New York City.
221 “The effect of this editorial”: Razovsky letter to Warren, NARA 150.626 J/658, June 14, 1939.
221 “My attention has been called”: Holman letter to Hull, NARA 150.626 J/656, June 8, 1939.
222 In his two-page reply: Hull letter to Holman, NARA, Ibid, June 17, 1939.
222 “At least Hitler has broken”: “Private Citizens and American Rescue: Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus and the 50 Children of Vienna,” Robert Williams, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (see footnote 38).
222 On the afternoon of June 27: A stenographer’s transcript of this and other meetings of the National Coordinating Committee can be found at the AFSC Archives in Philadelphia.
222 Kenworthy mentioned that committee members: Marion Kenworthy Papers, AJHS.
223 “Just how the children”: Balderston memo, July 16, 1939, AFSC.
224 “I think it would be worth exploring”: Pickett letter to Kepecs, July 20, 1939, AFSC.
CHAPTER 24
225 “Look at these children”: “Little Refugees Proving Good As Americans,” New York Journal-American, publication date unknown.
229 “Already I am a real American”: Ibid.
EPILOGUE
232 In the summer of 1940: Who Will Take Our Children?, Carlton Jackson, McFarland (revised edition), 2008.
232 Shortly before Congress approved: “‘Mercy’ Ship Bill Backed by Public,” New York Times, August 17, 1940.
233 “Mrs. Kraus is a good filterer”: “Women’s Watchful Eyes Scan City Skies for Enemy Planes,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 9, 1942.
Bibliography
American Refugee Policy and European Jewry 1933–45, Richard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, Indiana University Press, 1987.
Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust 1933–1945, Deborah E. Lipstadt, The Free Press, 1986.
Cecilia Razofsky and the American-Jewish Women’s Rescue Operations in the Second World War, Vallentine Mitchell, 2008.
Challenging Years, Stephen Wise, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1940.
Eichmann’s Jews: The Jewish Administration of Holocaust Vienna 1938–1945, Doron Rabinovici, Polity Press, 2011 (first published in German as Instanzen der Ohnmacht Jüdischer Verlag Frankfurt am Main, 2000).
The Eichmann Trial, Deborah E. Lipstadt, Schocken Books, 2011.
Eleanor and Franklin, Joseph P. Lash, W. W. Norton and Company, 1971.
FDR and the Jews, Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman, Harvard University Press, 2013.
George S. Messersmith: Diplomat of Democracy, Jesse H. Stiller, University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, Erik Larson, Crown Publishers, 2011.
Jewish Life in Philadelphia 1830–1940, Edited by Murray Friedman, Ishi Publications, 1983.
The Jews of Vienna 1867–1914: Assimilation and Identity, Marsha L. Rozenblit, State University of New York Press, 1983.
Memoirs of a Maverick Publisher, J. David Stern, Simon & Schuster, 1962.
The Politics of Rescue, Henry L. Feingold, Rutgers University Press, 1970.
Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald 1935–1945, edited by Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg, Indiana University Press, 2009.
The Setting of the Pearl: Vienna under Hitler, Thomas Weyr, Oxford University Press, 2005.
Unfulfilled Promise: Rescue & Resettlement of Jewish Refugee Children in the United States 1934–1945, Judith Tydor Baumel, Denali Press, 1990.
Vienna and the Jews 1867–1938: A Cultural History, Steven Beller, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
The Vienna Paradox: A Memoir, Marjorie Perloff, New Directions Books, 2004.
List of Illustrations
EPIGRAPHS:
Chapter 1: Woman walking past “Jude” window (Getty Images)
Chapter 2: Gil and Eleanor Kraus (Courtesy of the Kraus family)
Chapter 3: The Beller family (Courtesy of Paul Beller)
Chapter 4: Girls presenting flowers to Hitler (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 5: New York Times headline (New York Times)
Chapter 6: Brith Sholom camp (Courtesy of Brith Sholom)
Chapter 7: Cover of Wagner Rogers bill (National Archives and Records Administration)
Chapter 8: “Don’t Buy From Jews” poster (Unsourced)
Chapter 9: Eleanor Kraus alone on house steps (Courtesy of the Kraus family)
Chapter 10: Man surrounded by Nazi soldiers (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 11: IKG index card files (PerlePress Productions)
Chapter 12: Man getting shoeshine with Hitler poster (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 13: Men walking past Nazi soldier (Filmarchiv Austria)
Chapter 14: Café scene in Berlin (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 15: Kay Lee and mother, with other mothers and children (Courtesy of Kay Lee)
Chapter 16: German passport (United States Holocaust Memorial)
Chapter 17: Ship passenger tag (courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 18: Smiling girls saluting Nazi soldier (Corbis Images)
Chapter 19: SS soldier (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 20: Postcard of SS Harding (Courtesy of Steven Keller)
Chapter 21: Children waving at Statue of Liberty (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 22: Children playing leap frog (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 23: Gill Kraus reading to children at camp (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 24: Girl dancing inside circle of children at camp (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
ENDPAPERS:
Children on boat (PerlePress Productions)
Index
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
Admon, Kurt. See Roth, Kurt
adoption, prohibition of, 226
affidavits
about, 10
approval of, 143
completion of, 93
contents of, 83–85
Kuffler (Edith), request for, 171
legalities of, 62
personal information in, 12, 83
ridicule of, 134–35
success with, 223
Aid Association of German Jews (Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden), 101
Albert V (archduke of Austria),
31
Alexander, R.C., 155, 159–160
Ambrose Light (floating station), 199
American Coalition of Patriotic, Civil and Fraternal Societies, 77
American Embassy
in Berlin, 100–101, 140, 142–43, 186–88, 190
Vienna consulate, 103–5, 135–36, 137, 160, 169–171
visas. See visas
American Friends Service Committee
aborted/failed rescue attempt, 5–6
encouragement of Brith Sholom plan, 81–82
post-rescue evaluation, 223, 224
American isolationism, public policies and, 254
American Jewish Committee, 70, 77
American Jewish Congress, 17, 70, 77
Amram, David, 228
Amram, Emily, 228–29
Amram, Marianne, 228
Amram, Philip, 228–29
Amsterdam, banking in, 100
Anhalter Bahnhof (Berlin train station), 139
Anschluss
Austria, annexation, 7–8
Vienna
before, 23–33
Hitler’s takeover, 35–43
after, 102–3, 116–17, 119–124, 132–33, 214
anti-immigration sentiment
in Congress, 63, 65, 72–73, 221–22, 253
public, 67–70, 72, 73, 258
anti-Semitism
in Budapest, 157
Catholic Church and, 31
Habsburg monarchy opposition to, 24
Holman and, 222n
Nazi brutality and, 8–9
paradox of, 61
park benches and, 36
public opinion and, 68–70, 232
public policies and, 254
State Department and, 56
Viennese history of, 31–32, 33
Woolworth department stores and, 58–59
arrests
in Berlin, 101n, 144
in Germany, 48
in Vienna, 8–9, 39, 43, 45–46, 47, 49
50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany Page 25