Josiah DuBois and the War Refugee Board

Josiah DuBois, an attorney in the United States Treasury Department, entered Holocaust history with his heroic “Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of Jews” (see 2022.1.52), a sweeping incendiary attack of the State Department’s policies that effectively closed doors to Jewish refugees attempting to obtain visas, refused the release of funds for rescuing Jews, and did little to diminish the persecution and murder of European Jews by the Nazis. Several critical events together form a throughline to the eventual creation of the War Refugee Board. They include the following:

Early Intelligence Reports to The Allies 1941

By mid-summer 1941, information about the mass execution of Jews by SS death squads - the Einsatzgruppen - reached Stalin and Churchill through intelligence agents. Western allies were apprised throughout that summer. Polish resistance fighter and courier to the Polish government in exile, Jan Karski, was smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto and became a remarkable eyewitness to the starving and disease-ridden Jews held captive here, dead bodies in the street, a pervasive stench everywhere. Karski was also able to penetrate the transit camp at Isbica where, disguised as a guard, he observed Jews exposed to the elements and worked to exhaustion - gathered to be deported to concentration camps. Karski was desperate to warn the world about these atrocities: he had taken some photographs with him when he met in the oval office with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Karski delivered his account of the atrocities he observed, but he could not elicit a reaction from FDR or a statement of a willingness to help the beleaguered Jews of Europe. Indeed, FDR rose from his chair and unceremoniously walked Karski to the door. It was difficult for Karski to square FDR’s response with his popularity with Jews in the United States. Karski was no less confused by Felix Frankfurter’s response to the same information: the eminent Supreme Court Justice simply stated that he had difficulty believing Karski’s account.

See 2012.1.98 The Mass Extermination of Jews in German-Occupied Poland

The Riegner Telegram 1942

In August 1942, a critical telegram sent by Dr. Gerhart Riegner - a German Jew working in the Geneva office of the World Jewish Congress which would prove to foreshadow Hitler’s dream of “the final solution of the Jewish question.” Jews were to be gassed with prussic acid which, upon exposure to the air, caused oxygen deprivation and a painful death when inhaled. Riegner’s source was an anti-Nazi executive of a German company. Riegner contacted both the American legation in Switzerland and British consulate after the American legation in Switzerland dismissed the document as rumor. The message was ultimately conveyed to Rabbi Stephen Wise, president of both the World and the American Jewish Congresses. Rabbi Wise was informed by Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles that the message was a rumor, required verification, and should not be discussed publicly. However, Rabbi Wise did announce the contents of Riegner’s message which resulted in widespread public outrage. After November 1942, citizens were aware that Nazi Germany had a plan to murder the Jews of Europe. Eleven Allied nations denounced Hitler for the Nazi’s “bestial” policy of extermination. Reports continued of Jews worked to death in labor camps, and dying of exposure and starvation in the ever-proliferating ghettos and concentration camps. Churchill’s response to this mass murder was telling: “We are in the presence of a crime without a name.” The concept of a “Holocaust” had not yet been born.

See 2012.1.98 The Mass Extermination of Jews in German-Occupied Poland

The Bermuda Conference 1943

Jews were alarmed by Wise’s news regarding the genocide of European Jews and Jewish organizations in both the United States and Great Britain demanded governmental action. A conference was held in Bermuda where press coverage would be limited. Its purpose was to create a plan to help the victims of atrocities committed by the Nazis, but Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long made certain that the process was hobbled from the outset. The delegates decided against negotiating with Hitler for release of hostages. Representatives from the State Department had no knowledge of refugee policy. Furthermore, there was no intention of expanding immigration quotas to accommodate Jews. As well food, clothing, money or shelter were prohibited topics for discussion. The Conference was widely seen as “staged political theatre” preordained to fail the Jews of Europe, its outcome cynically predetermined by a State Department that just wanted to appease Jewish organizations for the time being. Any relief effort, so it was argued, would only slow the war effort.

See 2015.2.181 Bermuda Conference Program; 2015.2.182 Bermuda Conference Letter from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise

Peter Bergson and the Emergency Committee to Save European Jews

Peter Bergson was a Zionist activist from Palestine and a Jewish resistance leader. Frustrated with the response of the United States government to the murder of the European Jews, he used pageantry and parades to draw public attention to their predicament. He organized the Memorial Service to the Jewish Dead in Madison Square Garden in 1943. Fourteen members of Congress were able to introduce a resolution to push FDR to rescue European Jews using Sweden’s example of rescuing the Jews of Denmark from deportation to concentration camps by creating temporary housing in countries not aligned with the Nazis. The Emergency Committee had more than 125,000 members and supporters working with political parties and organizations in an effort to save the Jews of Europe.

See 2014.1.302 Memorial Service for Jewish Dead in Madison Square Garden. Also see the subcollection AID AND RESCUE: THE EXAMPLE OF DENMARK

Antisemitism in the United States State Department: Breckenridge Long and Testimony to the Foreign Affairs Committee 1943

Franklin Roosevelt essentially continued the quota system that had been operative since 1921 and 1924, allowing approximately 25,000 Germans to enter the United States every year. During the Great Depression Americans feared that immigrants would compete for scarce jobs. Polls taken at the time found that Americans held unfavorable opinions of Jews, for example that they wielded too much power or that they were attempting to provoke a war. These were themes taken up by the formidable America First Committee. Luminaries such as Henry Ford whose Dearborn Independent was a platform for his belief in an international Jewish conspiracy to control world finance; Father Coughlin whose radio broadcasts promoted antisemitic views and whose newspaper would quote Nazis such as Joseph Goebbels; Joseph Kennedy (father of JFK) who thought that the German Jews were getting what they deserved and that the United States should not be drawn into a war; and Charles Lindbergh who also spoke of Jews holding too much power, especially over media. These unpleasant men held a disproportionately large megaphone, their political and economic views extruded through their own antisemitic and pro-fascist bias.

Nor was this antisemitic animus toward Jews reserved only for adults. The Wagner-Roberts Bill - supported by Eleanor Roosevelt - was to be an American version of the heralded Kindertransport and would have brought 20,000 Jewish children under the age of 14 to the United States over the course of two years. Moreover, they would have not been counted in the existing quota system. The bill never came to a vote and died in committee.

While antisemitism ran rife in the State Department during the 30s and 40s, few were more instrumental in crippling efforts to help the beleaguered Jews of Europe than Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long, a friend of FDR. Along with willfully obstructing rescue efforts, Long dramatically restricted Jewish immigration, advising consuls to place unmanageable, arbitrary and constantly changing obstacles in the path of refugees hoping to become candidates for visas; for example, exhorting consuls in a departmental memo in June 1940 to keep revising the evidential standards of proof that applicants would not be a financial burden on the state and thus continue to “postpone, postpone, and postpone” the granting of the lifesaving visas. His claim in the Foreign Affairs Committee was that everything that could be done to save the Jews was being done and the United States had taken in 580,000 refugees since 1933. This figure was shown to be a dramatic overstatement of the true numbers reported by the New York Times and others. Long would be criticized by Congress, the media and Jewish organizations. The Senate was slated to vote on Gillette-Rogers and it was expected to pass. However, before the vote took place FDR, influenced by Henry Morgenthau, Jr., established the War Refugee Board.

Morgenthau had presented compelling evidence - based on the work of Josiah DuBois - that the State Department had willfully attempted to prevent action to rescue the Jews imperiled by Hitler. FDR declared “the policy of this government to take all measures within its power to rescue victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death . . . and to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.” Sadly, Long ensured that saving Jews being relentlessly crushed under the Nazi boot would not be a priority. Many more were allowed to perish who might have been rescued.

See 2022.1.53 Acme Press Photo of Breckenridge Long; 2019.2.197 Press Photograph of Cordell Hull with Henry Morgenthau; 2022.1.52 Press Photograph of Josiah DuBois, Jr. and Copy of His Report to the State Department

The War Refugee Board 1944

Josiah DuBois was named General Counsel of the newly formed War Refugee Board and John Pehle its executive director. The authorization of humanitarian aid and rescue operations to protect Jews began immediately. The Board worked with the Swedish government helping subsidize Raoul Wallenberg’s humanitarian efforts in Hungary; they forged IDs and protective identity documents and found safehouses to protect Jews from deportation to death camps. Possibly 100,000 Jews were saved. Thousands more were evacuated from Axis territories such as Transnistria to safer areas. They prevailed upon FDR to shelter 982 European refugees - men, women and children - at Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY where they lived behind a barb wire fence: the only camp for refugees in the United States. They released details of the mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz; its bombing, however, was not considered a military priority by the War Department.

After the War, DuBois continued as Deputy Chief Counsel for War Crimes in the case against I.G. Farben, the chemical conglomerate utilizing Jewish slave labor at Monowitz-Auschwitz III. I.G. Farben owned part of the company that manufactured Zyklon B, the gas pellets used to murder Jews in concentration camp gas chambers.

See 2014.1.46 One of 982 Jewish Refugees at Fort Ontario, Dorrit Blumenkranz Samples a Hot Dog; 2022.1.52 Press Photograph of Josiah DuBois, Jr. and Copy of His Report to the State Department.

--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966

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Acme Press Photo of Breckinridge Long

2022.1.53

Man seated with hand placed on papers on desk.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Acme Press Photo of Breckinridge Long after his nomination by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as United States’ Ambassador to Italy. He would be Assistant Secretary of State from 1940-1944. Long was known for his restrictive immigration policies and obstruction of initiatives to save Jews.
Press Photograph of Cordell Hull with Henry Morgenthau

2019.2.197

Black and white photograph of three men in suits (Henry Morgenthau, Arthur de Sousa Costa, Cordell Hull) in front of three other men, none looking at camera. Back of photo includes “U.S. – BRAZIL SIGN FINANCIAL TREATY”

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Cordell Hull with Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, 1937.

Cordell Hull was Secretary of State under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in facilitating the creation of the United Nations. He was also instrumental in refusing any action that might have helped Jews persecuted by the Nazis.

When Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. recommended that passengers aboard the refugee ship SS St. Louis be allowed to debark with temporary tourist visas, Hull rejected the idea, citing the technicality that the passengers had no return address, thus consigning them to the fate of having to return to Europe where many would be murdered by the Nazis. When French and German government officials complained about the rescue activities of Varian Fry, Hull demanded that Fry return stateside immediately. When Fry refused, Hull had his passport revoked. Indeed, Eleanor Roosevelt had to circumvent Hull to help Jews board the Portuguese ship SS Quanza and receive visas. Roosevelt’s State Department under Hull and his assistant Breckinridge Long ensured that saving Jews being slowly crushed under the Nazi boot would not be a priority. Many more were allowed to perish who could have been rescued.
Postcards from Copenhagen, Denmark to Tel Aviv on the Eve of German Occupation

2020.1.7a-d

a: Postcard with purple printed text and Danish stamps at top. Another stamp reads "Palestine. Passed by Censor." Address and message written in black ink. Message continues on opposite side.

b: Postcard with purple printed text and stamps. Stamp at bottom right designates letter has passed through censor. Message is handwritten in black ink and continues on opposite side.

c: Postcard with printed purple text as well as purple and blue stamps at top and two black ink stamps. Address handwritten in black ink. Typewritten message on opposite side.

d: Postcard with printed purple text as well as blue, black, and purple stamps and two black ink stamps. Purple stamp at bottom right indicates postcard has passed through censor. Address and message handwritten in black ink. Handwritten message continues on opposite side.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Postcards from Copenhagen, Denmark from W. Reichert to family member Dr. E. Reichert living in Tel Aviv. All messages are in Hebrew. Mr. Reichert discusses the family in Poland; contact with the Red Cross in Sweden; attempts to get ALIYAH certificates; reports on relatives who escaped to Lwow; use of a Christian Polish maid who was free to travel in occupied Poland; aid parcels sent; and more. All cards with Palestine censor handstamp. Interestingly, Mr. Reichert in Copenhagen writes that: “There is no fear of Nazi invasion, since Denmark is just like Sweden…” In just a few months, on April 9, 1940, the Germans invaded Denmark.

Ironically, Mr. Reichert was not entirely incorrect. After the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940, the Danish government was granted some autonomy in running domestic affairs. The Nazis were reluctant to make a major issue of the “Jewish Question” at that time, in great part because they saw the Danes as fellow “aryans”, as Mr. Reichert naively supposed. Thus, the standard measures reproduced in occupied countries to humiliate and subjugate Jews did not occur in Denmark, e.g., Jews having to wear the Star of David as a means of identification and humiliation. Nor did they have to register property and other assets, give up their homes and businesses, etc. Denmark’s Jewish community was even able to go to synagogue and hold services. More remarkably, King Christian was outspoken in his support of a Jewish community integrated into Danish society and consequently opposed their persecution.

In 1943, however, the Nazi military government of Denmark declared martial law, a state of emergency was declared, and citizen arrests occurred. Danish military and police were taken over by the Nazi authorities. Hitler approved a proposal to commence deportation of the Danish Jews. George Duckwitz, a German naval attaché and member of the Nazi party, warned non-Jewish Danes of the planned deportations. The response was as swift as it was remarkable, and involved the combined efforts of Jewish community leaders, the Danish underground, Danish authorities and citizens: doctors, blue collar workers, priests, policemen and others worked to protect their fellow Danish citizens. On October 1, 1943 operations occurred to move the Jewish population of Denmark in fishing boats, ferries, rowboats and kayaks to Sweden. Danish boats ultimately ferried some 7,300 Jews across the waterway to neutral Sweden. As a consequence of this remarkable rescue operation to save Denmark’s Jews, 99 percent of Danish Jews were saved from persecution and certain death. Only 470 Jews were seized by the Nazis – most of whom were not Danish citizens- and deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto. Only 120 Danish Jews died during the Holocaust.
Press Photograph of Josiah DuBois, Jr. and Copy of His Report to the State Department

2022.1.52

Man seated at desk with pencil in hand

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

DuBois' exposure of the State Department’s willful suppression of news about the Holocaust in Europe, and the relentless obstruction of opportunities for rescue of Jews, led to the creation of the War Refugee Board of which DuBois was general counsel. Dubois' original report is in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library.
Breckinridge Long Signed Letter on U.S. Department of State Letterhead, with Embossed Crest

2016.1.18

Typewritten letter to Mr. Basil O'Connor, singed by Breckinridge Long.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Long sends his thanks to Basil (Doc) O'Connor, FDR's law partner and close personal advisor, for a congratulatory note regarding Long's recent appointment as Assistant Secretary of State. Long's responsibilities in his new role included overseeing immigration policy, including the admission to the United States of refugees from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. However, Long obstructed rescue efforts, restricted immigration of European refugees - especially Jews - seeking to avoid persecution and murder in Europe, and falsified figures of refugees actually admitted to the United States. He forbade consuls to accept information from unofficial sources on what was in fact happening to the Jews in Europe under Hitler. Josiah DuBois, Jr.'s heroic exposure of Long's obstructionist efforts to deny American visas to Jews led ultimately to his demotion in 1944. It is estimated that under Long's tenure, 90 percent of the quota places available to these immigrants were never filled, placing 190,000 people in jeopardy who might have been saved from the Nazi atrocities. Long retired to his Laurel, Maryland, Georgian Manor house where he bred horses, rode to hounds and was an active participant in Southern Maryland society.
Censored Envelope from Denmark

2014.1.217 &.218

Envelope Front: White envelope with a typewritten address, four purple postage stamps, a red and a black hand stamp, and several pencil markings.Envelope Back: Typewritten return address, red hand stamp and tan censor tape.Letter: Typewritten letter in English on white paper. Includes a signature in black ink.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter mailed just weeks before the mobilization to ferry the Jews of Denmark to Sweden, eight days before Hitler approves of planned deportation.
Censored Letter from Denmark to Germany

2014.1.223

Front: A white postcard with a printed return address and address typewritten in blue ink. Includes one red, one maroon, and one green postage stamp, a blue sticker, as well as one red and two black hand stamps.Back: A message typewritten in blue ink with a signature in black ink.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: A letter sent one year after occupation by Germany.
The Mass Extermination of Jews in German-Occupied Poland

2012.1.98

Cream-colored pamphlet titled, "The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland" with red text. Interior includes information written in English.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

A document addressed by the exiled Polish government to the governments of the United Nations in 1942. The pamphlet is concerned with the mass extermination of Jews in German-occupied Poland, and the Nazis’ “fresh horrifying methods” of extermination. The Polish government in exile was first to reveal in November 1942, through its courier Jan Karski, the atrocities committed by the Nazis and the existence of concentration camps.
Wehrmacht Censored Envelope from Denmark to Switzerland

2014.1.224

Front: A white envelope with a typewritten address. Includes one purple and three red postage stamps, two black hand stamps, one blue sticker and censor tape, as well as purple and red pencil markings.Back: Includes censor tape as well as one purple and two red hand stamps.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: In approximately two weeks from the date of this letter, Denmark was to ferry most of its Jews to safety in Sweden.
Memorial Service for Jewish Dead in Madison Square Garden

2014.1.302

Front: A pair of oversize tablets with the Ten Commandments on them are in the background of a large group of people. The group appears to be armymen and civilians, consisting of both men and women, stand in a row with the flags of allied nations behind them. There is a table with three chairs, the men in those chairs facing towards the Ten Commandments. Below them are a group of cantors dressed in all white with hats and tallis on, singing. Back: A glued-on news release describing the event in faded paper. New York, N.Y.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Wire photo with message verso: New York, N.Y.- The stirring spectacle "We will never die," was presented tonight in Madison Square Garden as a memorial for the 2,000,000 murdered Jewish civilians of Europe. Here, during the final scene, cantors sing the Jewish memorial song for the dead. Credit Line (ACME). 3-9-43
Bermuda Conference Program

2015.2.181

Grey cover with black printed text in English.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Program for the Bermuda Refugee Conference concerning a proposal “For the Rescue of Jews;” see also the related letter (copy) from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, co-chairman of the Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish affairs, to Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles (2015.2.182). By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Nazis intended to liquidate European Jewry. Jewish groups in the United States and United Kingdom beseeched their governments to take defensive action. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, president of both the American and the World Jewish Congresses, wanted to help ease the plight of German Jews through boycotting German goods and increasing emigration from the Third Reich. His pleas to Franklin Delano Roosevelt were largely ignored, and there was little interest among non-Jews in doing anything to help European Jews. As the news of the "final solution" became increasingly apparent, the American Jewish Committee joined with seven other organizations to form the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs. This group submitted a proposal to the Bermuda Conference. With Jewish groups in both United States and Britain demanding their respective governments to arrive at potential solutions to help the Jews living under German occupation, the two governments met together at Hamilton, Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss this topic. The American presentation was led by Princeton University President Dr. Harold W. Dodds. However, with neither the U.S. willing to lift immigration quotas, nor the British willing to remove prohibitions on Jewish refuge in Palestine, the Bermuda Conference was not able to save a single Jew.
Bermuda Conference Letter from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise

2015.2.182

Three typed pages on American Jewish Congress Letterhead.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Letter (copy) from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, co-chairman of the Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish affairs, to Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles concerning the Program for the Rescue of Jews (see 2015.2.181). By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Nazis intended to liquidate European Jewry. Jewish groups in the United States and United Kingdom beseeched their governments to take defensive action. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, president of both the American and the World Jewish Congresses, wanted to help ease the plight of German Jews through boycotting German goods and increasing emigration from the Third Reich. His pleas to Franklin Delano Roosevelt were largely ignored, and there was little interest among non-Jews in doing anything to help European Jews. As the news of the "final solution" became increasingly apparent, the American Jewish Committee joined with seven other organizations to form the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs. This group submitted a proposal to the Bermuda Conference. With Jewish groups in both United States and Britain demanding their respective governments to arrive at potential solutions to help the Jews living under German occupation, the two governments met together at Hamilton, Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss this topic. The American presentation was led by Princeton University President Dr. Harold W. Dodds. However, with neither the U.S. willing to lift immigration quotas, nor the British willing to remove prohibitions on Jewish refuge in Palestine, the Bermuda Conference was not able to save a single Jew.
Danish King Reported Prisoner in Own Castle

2014.1.216

Front: A black and white photograph of a man in uniform with other soldiers behind him.Back: A pasted sheet of information from International News Photos.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Wire photo verso, International News, of “King Christian of Denmark...arrested and interned in his own castle...This followed a wave of strikes and general sabotage throughout the country. Reports also stated that a part of the Danish Navy had been scuttled...other Danish warships escaped...by fleeing to…Sweden." In just one month from this date, the Danish people would work to move its Jewish citizens out of the country to Sweden, and away from the inevitable deportations to German death camps.
Postcard from Denmark Written on Rosh Hashana

2014.1.226

Front: Tan postcard with black printed postcard lines and writing in pencil. Includes two black hand stamps.Back: Message written in pencil.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: Letter written a day after Jews had been warned about the German intention to begin deportations from Denmark. With Sweden agreeing to grant asylum to the Jews of Denmark, the Danes began the rescue effort to smuggle them out.
One of 982 Jewish Refugees at Fort Ontario, Dorrit Blumenkranz Samples a Hot Dog

2014.1.46

Front: An image of a young girl, Dorrit Blumenkanz, holding a hot dog. Back: Typewritten information about image.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

From information attached to this International News Photos wire photo verso: Six-year-old Dorrit Blumenkanz is one of 982 Jewish refugees from Vienna finding shelter at Fort Ontario in Oswego, N.Y. Refugees were assured that “whenever there is a knock at your door, it will be a friendly one.”

Dorrit would eventually settle in the United States, marry and have children. But it would not surprise anyone who sees this press photo to learn that she would go on to a career as a restaurateur in New York, initially specializing in desserts based upon culinary delights she remembered from her youth in Vienna and Italy, but ultimately developing a successful restaurant, bakery, and catering company.
First Day Cover: Israeli Commemoration of 30th Anniversary of Rescue of Jews in Denmark

2012.1.122

White envelope with red and blue illustration of the Star of David and Swedish flag. Titled, "30th Anniversary of the rescue of the Jews in Denmark.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash: One of the most remarkable events in the annals of the Holocaust is the rescue of Jews by Danes. Danish boats ferried some 7,300 Jews across a waterway to neutral Sweden to avert a Nazi deportation, an unprecedented feat carried out by Danes to protect Danish citizens. After the German occupation of Denmark in April, 1940, the Danish government was granted some autonomy in running domestic affairs. The Nazis were reluctant to make a major issue of the “Jewish Question” at that time, in great part because they saw the Danes as fellow “Aryans”. Thus the standard measures reproduced in occupied countries to humiliate and subjugate Jews did not occur in Denmark, such as having to wear the yellow star, register property and other assets, give up homes and businesses, etc. The Jewish community was even able to go to synagogue and hold services. More remarkably, King Christian was outspoken in his support of a Jewish community integrated into Danish society and consequently opposed their persecution. In 1943, however, the Nazi military government of Denmark declared martial law, a state of emergency was declared, and citizen arrests occurred. Danish military and police were taken over by the Nazi authorities. Hitler approved a proposal to commence deportation of the Danish Jews. Ferdinand Duckwith, a German naval attache-and Nazi-warned non-Jewish Danes of the planned deportations. The response was swift, if uncoordinated, and involved the combined efforts of Jewish community leaders, Danish authorities and citizens. On October 1, 1943 operations occurred to move the Jewish population of Denmark in fishing boats, rowboats and kayaks to Sweden. Jews were hidden in cars on ferries to Sweden. In consequence, 99 per cent of Danish Jews were saved from persecution and certain death. Only 470 Jews were seized by the Nazis-most of whom were not Danish citizens- and deported to the Thesienstadt ghetto. Only 120 Danish Jew died during the Holocaust.
George F. Duckwitz

2015.2.77

Black and white photograph of a dower-looking man in glasses, with his dark hair slicked back, wearing a three-piece suit and tie. The tie has a pearl pin in it, and is askew. Back: Pasted sticker naming Duckwitz a West German personality. Beneath a black handstamp giving copyright to Camera Press.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

Press photograph of George F. Duckwitz (1904-1973). Duckwitz had been a German businessman who joined the Nazi Party in 1932. He was eventually assigned to the German embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, as an attaché. After 1942 Duckwitz worked with Werner Best, the Gestapo leader in Copenhagen. The latter informed Duckwitz about an intended roundup of Danish Jews to occur on October 1, 1943. After a failed attempt to stop the deportations through official channels in Berlin, Duckwitz flew to Sweden and prevailed upon the Prime Minister in Stockholm to receive Danish Jewish refugees. Back in Denmark Duckwitz was able to inform - through an intermediary - the chief Rabbi of the Danish Jewish community about the intended deportations. Word spread and resulted in sympathetic Danes organizing the escape of over 7000 Jews in boats to Sweden under the nose of the Nazis. At great personal risk to himself, in giving advance warning to the Jewish community of Denmark about the planned deportations of Jews, Duckwitz enabled the people of Denmark to help most of its Jews escape in boats to Sweden. He was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1971 for his efforts on behalf of Jews.