Member or Cooperating Agencies with the Nimes Committee

Part 4: Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) through Le Chambon

Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)

USA The American Relief Center (Centre Américain de Secours; Marseilles staff and volunteers)

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945). Fry, Varian. Assignment Rescue. (New York: Scholastic, 1997). Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Fittko, Lisa, translated by David Koblick. Escape Through the Pyrenees. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991). Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980). Marino, 1999; Lowrie, Donald, The Hunted Children, 1963, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999; Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996); Hockley, Ralph M. Freedom is not Free. (2000). US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Assignment Rescue: The Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee. [Exhibit catalog.] (Washington, DC: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1997), p. 7.]

The Emergency Rescue Committee was founded in the United States in 1940 for the purpose of rescuing prominent refugees in Southern France. The ERC operated in and around the Marseilles area, 1940-1942. The Emergency Rescue Committee established its office in Varian Fry’s small hotel room in Marseille. Thinking the task would be accomplished relatively easily, Fry set out on his mission to help to save the intellectual lights of Europe. Soon, dozens, and later hundreds, of refugees poured into the office. The staff and Fry enlisted the aid of volunteers, most of whom were refugees themselves.

Several prominent members of the ERC were Jewish, including Albert (“Beamish”) Hirschmann, Gustus (“Gussie”) Rosenberg and Lisa Fittko, among others. In his 13 months in Marseilles, between August 1940 and the fall of 1941, Fry and his rescue committee were able to rescue more than 2,000 people from France.

Donald Lowrie wrote in his memoir The Hunted Children, “Of all the organizations concerned with emigration, none had a more romantic story than the Emergency Rescue Committee, later known as the American Rescue Committee. Concerned with the fate of German Socialists and members of other liberal groups after France was overrun, the Committee set up an office in Marseilles, with the avowed intention of aiding these well-known leaders to escape by any means possible. This purpose was no secret to the police, but the Committee was permitted to operate long enough to move scores of "wanted" refugees to safety. Many of the most famous names in European liberal circles profited by its ministrations. Based on the State Department's authorization of emergency visas outside the normal quota system, the Rescue Committee could help special refugees to obtain such, and then supply the material aid necessary for travel to safety.”

Daniel Bénédite, Fry’s assistant, writes of the expanding staff and its tasks in his report of November 6, 1941:

“The offices were necessarily open to all, and many who visited us were not clients but people who needed information concerning visas, and others who had to be directed to organizations better adapted to unravel their problems than we.

“These extensions of our activities made it necessary to enlarge the staff. In September six people had been able to handle the work, but by December it had become too much for fifteen. Four interviewers were not too many for the visitors who crowded our reception room. Other workers kept the clerical work up to date, sent and received cables, kept the books, paid the weekly allowances and mailed more than a hundred money orders every week.

“It was found necessary to delegate to one person the task of keeping in contact with other organizations and with the authorities to handle delicate questions better arranged personally rather than by correspondence, and to allot to another the work of preserving contact with those of our clients who were dispersed throughout unoccupied territory; and the work of the Director became so heavy that an administrative secretary was employed to relieve him.

“In order that we might be informed about all those appealing to the Centre, we formed a volunteer council of technical advisors to aid us with information concerning the importance and leanings of political and intellectual refugees.” (Danny Bénédite, Marseille, November 6, 1941, Administrative Report: The Stages of the Committee’s Development [draft], Emergency Rescue Committee, p. 4)

Bénédite, Fry’s replacement, wrote in his report that there were 46 employees and volunteers of the ERC in Marseille:

“Departures have taken from us many valuable workers hard to replace: forty-six secretaries, volunteer workers, and technical advisers served for varying periods in the Centre offices between August 1940 and August 1941. The problem of recruiting replacements is a difficult and delicate one, since staff members require special qualities of self-sacrifice and self-reliance. Our teamwork was outstanding among relief organizations in France, and inspired admiration in observers from other groups. (Danny Bénédite, Marseille, November 6, 1941, Administrative Report: The Stages of the Committee’s Development [draft], Emergency Rescue Committee, p. 12)

The people who comprised the staff of the Centre in Marseille were largely refugees themselves. Many were Jews. All of them risked their safety to stay behind and help others, when they could have escaped. They worked countless hours under adverse conditions.

There were threats of arrest, internment and even possible deportation to their deaths.

Yet the staff maintained a sympathetic and sensitive attitude toward the other refugees they were trying to help.

Bénédite wrote of the staff:

“At the same time, the Centre Américain de Secours tried to perform its task of giving assistance in a new spirit, aiming to avoid as far as possible all resemblance to a forbidding, impersonal administrative organization. It tried to avoid the pitfall of a rigid bureaucracy, not wishing to give to its protégés, disappointed in their hopes and obliged to accept an inferior mode of existence, the impression that they were dealing with people without heart, who had become blasé about individual hardships, hardened to all emotional appeal and too much concerned with the letter of the rules.

“On the contrary, we strongly urged giving each protégé the maximum of personal attention. All the workers, often themselves individuals who had fled from Paris, learned to understand their own particular clients and took a sympathetic interest in them. They kept them as well informed as possible, gave them encouragement, often taking it upon themselves to solve their difficulties and to act in their stead whenever they felt able to do so with greater competence and effectiveness. It was not always easy to find just the right word of encouragement for refugees who had for months been clinging to hopes which seemed doomed to disappointment. But we tried to make them feel they were among friends and to create as friendly an atmosphere as possible at the Centre. Among the workers there was a doctor who helped certain refugees, gave them medical advice, and recommended them to his colleagues in the profession in Marseille.

Even when people came to us for whom we could do almost nothing, we saw to it that they did not leave entirely empty-handed: if not a small sum of money, we gave them at least food or meal tickets, or we recommended tem to a committee which was better able than we to help them. Our efforts during this period reaped their reward and the results achieved furnished the justification for the growth of our activity in various directions. (Danny Bénédite, Marseille, November 6, 1941, Administrative Report: The Stages of the Committee’s Development [draft], Emergency Rescue Committee, p. 6 [insert])

Varian Fry+● (USA), Leader, organizer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France, Centre Américain de Secours. 1940-1941

In June 1940, France fell to the German army. The official armistice between Germany and France included a clause that provided for the French to surrender on demand any German refugees who had fled to France.

“All German war and civil prisoners in French custody, including those under arrest and convicted who were seized and sentenced because of acts in favor of the German Reich, shall be surrendered immediately to German troops.

“The French Government is obliged to surrender upon demand all Germans named by the German Government in France, as well as in French possessions, Colonies, Protectorates Territories and Mandates.” [Article 19, German Armistice Agreement with France]

These refugees included artists, writers, scholars, politicians, and labor leaders who were wanted by the Nazis. Among these were German, Austrian and other refugees.

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, helped publicize the need to rescue refugees in Europe.

Almost immediately, a group of American citizens formed an Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to rescue these individuals from France before they could be arrested and deported to French and German concentration camps.

Varian Fry volunteered to head the Emergency Rescue Committee. In 1940, he was sent to Marseilles, in Vichy France. He was given a list of 200 refugees and $3,000 with which to save them from the grip of the Gestapo.

“I left with my pockets full of lists of men and women I was to rescue, and my head full of suggestions on how to do it. Altogether, there were more than two hundred names on my lists, and many hundreds more were added later.” [Fry, 1945, p. xii]

After coming to Marseilles, Fry opened a refugee relief agency under the cover name of the American Center for Relief (Centre Américaine de Secour) in the Hôtel Splendide in Marseilles.

“Thus, quite apart from any sentimental reasons, I accepted the assignment out of deep political convictions.

“But the sentimental reasons were also there; and they were strong. Among the refugees who were caught in France were many writers and artists whose work I had enjoyed: novelists like Franz Werfel and Lion Feuchtwanger; painters like Marc Chagall and Max Ernst; sculptors like Jacques Lipchitz. For some of these men, although I knew them only through their work, I had a deep love; and to them all I owed a heavy debt of gratitude for the pleasure they had given me. Now that they were in danger, I felt obliged to help them, if I could; just as they, without knowing it, had often in the past helped me.

“Most of all, it was a feeling of sympathy for the German and Austrian Socialist Parties which led me to go to France in the summer of 1940, a sympathy born of long familiarity with their principles and their works.” [Fry, 1945, pp. x-xi]

Fry immediately set out to provide financial support for refugees and to secure all the necessary papers to escape France. These papers included immigration visas, transit visas and destination or end visas. The gathering of these papers was perhaps the most difficult task for Fry and his assistants in the ERC. In 1940-41, most countries had closed their borders to refugees.

“Our days began at about eight o’clock in the morning, when the first of the refugees arrived, and went on until twelve or one the following morning…In the evenings, after the last of the refugees had gone, we would have a kind of conference, going over all the cards we had made out during the day and trying t decide what action to take on each case… Our final job was to write the daily cable to New York. Generally it consisted of the names and references of applicants for United States visas.” [Fry, 1945, p. 29]

“Every morning at eight o’clock the grind would begin again, and each day it would be a little worse than the day before, with more people asking for help, more harrowing stories to listen to, more impossible decisions to make. Deciding who should be helped and who not was one of the toughest jobs of all. My lists were obviously arbitrary. They had been made up quickly and from memory by people who were thousands of miles away and had little or no idea of what was really going on in France. Some names had been put on them which ought not to have been there. Others had been left off which ought to have been on.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 30-31]

Fry’s rescue activities were in direct violation of the regulations of both the French and American governments. Fry and his volunteers organized elaborate escape routes for the refugees. The Emergency Rescue Committee forged passports, visas, exchanged money on the Marseilles black market, and organized escape routes through Spain to Portugal.

Varian Fry and the ERC relied heavily on sympathetic diplomats stationed in and around Marseilles. Of particular and important help to Fry was Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV, the American Vice Consul and head of the Visa Section at the consulate. Bingham had been providing assistance to refugees before the arrival of Fry in Marseilles in 1940. Bingham had been in violation of the Bloom-Van Nuys immigration law in his liberally issuing visas to refugees.

Fry also obtained visas from other foreign diplomatic officials in Marseilles. Among these was Consul Vladimir Vochoc, representing Czechoslovakia. Fry also was helped by a Chinese diplomat stationed in Marseilles who liberally issued him exit visas, ostensibly to Shanghai, China. Fry also worked with Mexican Consul General Gilberto Bosques, Brazilian Ambassador de Sousa Dantas, and the Siamese, Lithuanian, Cuban and Panamanian consuls in Marseilles.

Fry and the ERC worked closely with many other rescue and relief agencies in Marseilles. Among these were HIAS (Hebrew Immigration Aid Society, a division of HICEM). These Jewish relief agencies helped facilitate transportation and money for refugees. The records of HIAS speak highly of all the refugee agencies operating in Marseilles. The ERC also worked with other groups, including the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), the Mennonites, and the Unitarian Service Committee of Boston.

Fry’s activities on behalf of Jewish refugees were conducted right under the noses of the Nazi’s, the Gestapo and French police. These activities soon caught the eye of French officials and numerous protests were posted to the American consulate in Washington and France. The US State Department was fearful that Fry’s unauthorized activities would violate US neutrality and cause a major diplomatic incident. US Secretary of State Cordell Hull sent a memorandum to the American embassies in Paris and Marseilles warning them of Fry’s activities on behalf of refugees.

By early 1941, the Emergency Rescue Committee was helping between 25 and 100 refugees per day.

In 1945, Fry wrote in his autobiography of his difficulty in deciding which refugees to save:

But how could we decide whom to help and whom not, except by sticking to the lists? We couldn’t help everybody in France who needed help. We couldn’t even help every intellectual and political refugee who really needed help, or said he did. And we had no way of knowing who was really in danger and who wasn’t. We had to guess, and the only safe way to guess was to give each refugee the full benefit of the doubt. Otherwise we might refuse help to someone who was really in danger and learn later that he had been dragged away to Dachau or Buchenwald because we had turned him down. But we had one fixed rule from which we never varied: we refused to help anybody who wasn’t known to people we could trust. We weren’t taking any chances with police stooges.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 30-31]

Fry had virtually no support from the American embassy in Vichy or from the State Department in Washington, DC. In this quote, Fry talks about his passport being confiscated by the consulate.

“The weakest thing about our position was the fact that we could get no support at all from the American Embassy or the Department of State. The Department continued to take the attitude that I should go home, and the Embassy cooperated with the French police in bringing pressure on me to go.”

“In January, when my passport expired, and I went to the Consulate to have it renewed, the Consul put on a very solemn face.

“’I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘but I have instructions not to renew your passport until I’ve consulted the Department. If you’ll leave it with me, I’ll cable the department and see what they say.’

“When I went back a few days later, he told me that instead of being renewed, my passport had been confiscated.

“’I’ve had a reply from the Department about your passport,’ he said. ‘My instructions are to renew it only for immediate return to the United States, and then only for a period of two weeks. So I’m afraid I’ll have to keep it here until you’re ready to go. When you are, let me know, and I’ll get it ready for you.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 219]

The US embassy in Vichy had lied to Fry, informing him that the Emergency Rescue Committee was recalling him. He found out later that this was a ruse by the US Foreign Service.

“After Danny’s arrest the Consul told me the police had informed him that unless I left France voluntarily they would have to arrest me or expel me. He said he had sent the State Department a coded cablegram asking the Department to ask the Emergency Rescue Committee to recall me.

“A few weeks later he said he had had an answer. He wouldn’t show it to me, on the grounds that it was an official communication and therefore not to be seen by anyone outside the Foreign Service. But he claimed that in substance it said the Emergency Rescue Committee had agreed that I should return to the United Sates ‘without delay.’

“As I had been getting cables from the committee almost daily telling me to stay, I found this difficult to believe. But I cabled New York once again, and promptly received the reply that they had never agreed to my recall and had done everything they could to make it possible for me to stay. The Consul, they said, had ‘acted entirely on his own responsibility.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 200]

In the fall of 1941, under pressure from the French government, Fry was ordered to leave France. In his last interview before he left Marseilles, Varian Fry met with French Vichy official Rodellec du Porzic:

“’Tell me,’ I said, ‘frankly, why are you so much opposed to me?’

“’Parce que vous avez trop protégé des juifs et des anti-Nazis,’ he said. ‘Because you have protected Jews and anti-Nazis.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 224]

In his 13 months in Marseilles, between August 1940 and the fall of 1941, Fry and his committee were able to rescue more than 2,000 people from France.

Jay Allen, Centre Américain de Secours, The American Relief Center, Marseilles, France

Varian Fry wrote of his friend and associate,

“Jay Allen has been arrested by the Germans. They caught him at the demarcation line, trying to get back to the unoccupied zone. This is bad. Suppose they torture him? Will he be able to keep his mouth shut about us and our work? Or will he break down and talk when the matches are pushed up under his fingernails and the fire bites into the flesh? Saturday Freier. Yesterday Vochoc. Today Jay. They are getting the range.” (Dated “Tuesday, March 18th [1941]/Morning.”

Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 482, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York) [Fry, 1945, pp. 154, 155, 208; Marino, 1999, pp. 251-253, 255-258, 281]

“The [American] Consul thinks that Jay’s [Jay Allen’s] arrest had nothing to do with us. He was recognized in Paris and followed down to the line by secret police, who arrested him for trying to cross without permission. He will probably be in jail for several months.” (Dated “Wednesday, March 26 [1941].” Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 491, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Fry, 1945, pp. 154, 155, 208; Marino, 1999, pp. 251-253, 255-258, 281]

Daniel “Danny” Bénédite+, Assistant Director, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Daniel “Danny” Bénédite was one of Varian Fry’s most able assistants. Bénédite was a young French socialist who had previously worked to help refugees in Paris. While in Paris, he became learned in the ways of relief activities and avoiding French and Gestapo officials. In Paris, he helped German and Austrian refugees renew their residential permits and thus avoid deportation.

“Daniel Bénédite [was] a young Frenchman of the Left who had worked in the office of the Prefect of Police in Paris before the war, dictating many of the Prefect’s letters and helping to write many of his speeches. He was slight and dark and wore a small mustache, but his most conspicuous characteristic was his extreme cocksureness which his mother attributed to the Alsatian blood in her son’s veins.

“In Paris Danny Bénédite had had much to do with refugees, winning their friendship by his kindness and his readiness to renew their permis de séjour.

“Danny became my chef de cabinet, taking my place whenever I was too busy to see someone myself, and performing a hundred other tasks ably and cheerfully. When I hired him I warned him that it would only be for two or three weeks. Believing the Consul-General, I didn’t expect the police to let us operate any longer than that. Actually, his job lasted four years. In the course of that time he advanced from private secretary to leader of the underground network which rescued many of the refugees and kept many others safe in hiding after the Germans had occupied the whole of France.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 100-101]

Fry sent Bénédite to collect information on numerous visits to French concentration camps. Bénédite made extensive reports for Fry.

“To obtain the release of our protégés in the concentration camps, we decided on a campaign of pressure on the Vichy government. We sent Danny Bénédite on a trip around Southwest France, visiting the camps and writing long reports on the conditions he found. At the same time we prepared lists of the most distinguished of our clients who were interned in them.” [Fry, 1945, p. 124]

“The next morning he went down to the douane to report, as he had promised to, and he didn’t come back. By the end of the afternoon I had grown sufficiently anxious to consult a lawyer. The lawyer made inquiries, and then telephoned to say that Danny had been indicted on four counts and locked up in the Prison Chave. He was charged with illegal possession of gold, transporting gold illegally, intention of changing it illegally, and presumptive intention of diverting it to his own use. The total penalties might amount to four or five years in prison, the lawyer said.

“For a long time I hadn’t made any important decisions without first consulting Danny, and, though I frequently acted against his advice, I always considered it carefully and respected it even when I didn’t follow it. We had breakfast together in the morning, went to the office together, went home again together, dined together—did almost everything, in fact, but sleep together. It was about as close a companionship as I have ever had with anybody. To a large extent Danny had become the new Beamish, and, despite his highly critical attitude toward a part of my work, I was very fond of him.

“The worst of it was that if Danny had told the truth, I would have been arrested too. It was that I found the hardest of all to accept. Twice a day, on my way to and from the office, I passed the Prison Chave, and I thought of Danny, down there at the bottom of one of the narrow shafts of light the long prison windows must let through.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 212-213]

“After making further inquiries, the lawyer told us he thought the Ministry of Finance at Vichy might be persuaded to let Danny off with a heavy fine if the American Embassy would intervene for him. Knowing the Embassy, and its attitude toward ‘aliens’ in general, and us in particular, I had no hope whatever, but I went to the Consul at Marseille to ask him what he thought about the chances. I told him exactly what had happened, and exactly how I felt about it. Without consciously trying to, I think I must have touched something very deep in him, because he did an extraordinary thing: he went down to the douane and told them that as Danny was the employee of an American relief organization the Consulate was following his case closely and was surprised that he had not yet been brought before a magistrate.

“The next day, when I again saw the lawyer, his attitude had changed. He said that the douane had been greatly impressed by the Consul’s visit, and that the case looked much better than it had before. A few days later he got a court to issue an order to the Administration to produce Danny for a hearing, and, thanks very probably to the Consul’s visit, the douane obeyed the order. Until that time Danny had simply been arrested ‘administratively,’ without any court hearing at all.

“When the court heard the charges, it decided at once to release Danny on bail, pending the trial. But under Vichy’s methods, the douane was free to ignore the decision and keep him in prison anyway.

“All that day we waited to learn what the douane would do… Danny arrived about six o’clock, in a police car… he was free.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 213-214]

In Varian Fry’s memoirs, he discusses the fate of Danny Bénédite after he left Marseilles.

“Danny, too, is back in Paris, though it is only by a miracle that he is still alive. Some time in 1942 he joined a maquis, becoming the leader of the group. In May, 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo. Luckily, the Germans didn’t find the arms his group had been receiving by parachute, so he was not immediately shot, as he would have been if they had. Instead he was kept in prison, as a hostage. In August, however, a member of his maquis confessed, under torture, and Danny was about to be led before a firing squad when the American troops landed in Southern France and he was saved.” [Fry, 1945, p. 237]

After Fry left Marseilles, Bénédite, along with Jean Gemahling and Charles Wolff, ran the Centre Américain de Secours [American Rescue Committee]. After Gemahling’s arrest in November 1941, Bénédite took over the leadership of the ERC. He kept the Centre open until June 1942, when the French police closed it down.

The ERC operated secretly in various locations and continued to distribute funds to help refugees.

In September 1942, Bénédite was asked to set up a spy network for the OSS.

Bénédite went into hiding under a false name between January and June 1943. Bénédite set up a business as a woodcutter and charcoal maker in Haut Var. Bénédite’s business and woodcutting camp became a maquis [underground/guerrilla] center. Bénédite was arrested in May 1944 and was held in jail until August 1944. He was condemned to death by the Nazis, but escaped from confinement before the sentence of execution could be carried out.

During the liberation, Bénédite became an adjutant to the French high command of the FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur). Bénédite was awarded the Legion of Honor in June 1951.

Bénédite was a Protestant.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 100-101, 103, 116-117, 120-122, 124-127, 134, 140, 148, 149, 180, 183, 195-197, 199, 202, 204-205, 207, 209, 211-215, 217-218, 220-227, 229-232, 237-238. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 26-27, 34-35, 41, 45, 74, 203, 229-231, 237, 243, 245, 247-248, 256, 265, 271, 293, 326, 334, 336-337, 340, 357, 360, 371, 381, 383-384, 387-389. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 205, 218, 224, 227, 231, 238-239, 268, 271, 276, 279 287-288, 298, 306-307, 317-320, 328-329. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Klein, Anne. “Conscience, conflict and politics: The rescue of political refugees from southern France to the United States, 1940-1942.” Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, 43 (1998), 287-311. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 141-142.]

Mme. Theodora (Theo) Benedite-Ungemach, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

[Fry, 1945, pp. 101, 116, 117, 124, 180, 221, 228, 238. Marino, 1999; Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

Leon (Dick) Ball, Emergency Rescue Committee, 1940-41, Marseilles, France

Leon “Dick” Ball was one of the earliest volunteers for the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). Ball had been friends with Charlie Fawcett and both were in the French Ambulance Corps. Ball was born in the United States and was a US citizen. Ball was one of the most effective members of the Rescue Committee. Ball was most effective when he guided refugees out of Marseilles and over the Pyrenees. On one occasion, Ball helped guide Heinrich Mann and Golo Mann, son and nephew of Thomas Mann, and their families along with Mr. and Mrs. Franz Werfel, over the Pyrenees. These missions over the Pyrenees were extremely dangerous and Ball was able to evade being discovered or captured with his precious cargo. Ball also was able to obtain various documents and papers from various sources. He obtained false documents, exit visas and papers, even purchasing them on the black market, when necessary.

Fry said of him, in his autobiography:

“He was a rough diamond, a knight in overalls, eager to help wherever he could and whomever he could, and fond of boasting of the things he had done to help refugees and the remnants of the B.E.F. on the way down from Paris. He and Charlie claimed to have gotten quite a lot of English soldiers out before the Germans occupied the whole of the Atlantic coast of France. Ball certainly knew France inside out, and for a long time he was one of the most valuable members of our little band of conspirators. He made trips from Marseille to the frontier every other day or so, taking two or three refugees with him each time he went, and seeing that they got safely over the frontier into Spain before he started back to Marseille to get the next lot.”

Ball was most effective when he guided refugees out of Marseilles and over the Pyrenees. On one occasion, Ball helped guide Heinrich Mann and Golo Mann, son and nephew of Thomas Mann, and their families along with Mr. and Mrs. Franz Werfel, over the Pyrenees.

“On our way down to the hotel, they told me what had happened. It had been a very difficult climb, especially for Heinrich Mann, who was seventy. Ball and Golo Mann virtually had to carry him most of the way. Not that he wasn’t game. He was the gamest of the lot. It was simply that he couldn’t make the grade without help.” [Fry, 1945, p. 68]

These missions over the Pyrenees were extremely dangerous and Ball was able to evade being discovered or captured with his precious cargo.

Ball also was able to obtain various documents and papers from various sources. He obtained false documents, exit visas and papers, even purchasing them on the black market, when necessary.

“I hadn’t been back in Marseille more than a few days before someone brought us word that Georg Bernhard and his wife were at Narbonne. Bernhard was one of the three men Barrelet had told me the Gestapo was looking for. We sent Ball down to Narbonne to get the Bernhard’s and bring them back toe Marseille, with the idea of sending them through Spain as fast as we could. We hid them in one of these hotels called maisons de passé which serve, in France, one of the principal functions of tourist camps in the United States. The proprietor, thinking them just another amorous—if somewhat over-age—couple enjoying a clandestine romance, obligingly overlooked the formality of reporting their presence to the police. Their American visas were waiting for them at the Consulate.” [Fry, 1945, p. 83]

Dick Ball attempted to obtain a boat to take refugees from Marseilles to the port of Lisbon. This attempt failed. Ball had been duped by some Marseilles racketeers. Deeply ashamed, he left the ERC. Varian Fry called Ball one of his most effective operatives.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 53-54, 58, 61-64, 68, 83, 91-92, 106-110, 112-113. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 163, 173, 191-195, 235-236, 322. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 148-149, 151, 155-156, 164-171, 185-186. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House).]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 53-54, 58, 61-64, 68, 83, 91-92, 106-110, 112-113. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 148-149, 151, 155-156, 164-171, 185-186.0

Dr. Frank Bohn, American Federation of Labor, Marseilles, France, 1940

Dr. Frank Bohn, of the American Federation of Labor, was active in the rescue of Jews in Marseilles, 1940-41. He worked alongside the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to help save labor leaders, union officials, democratic politicians and other refugees who were being sought under article 19 by the Gestapo and the Nazis. Varian Fry was told about Frank Bohn’s activities before he left for Marseilles. In addition, many of these refugees had been opposition forces against the Nazi’s and had been fighting fascism’s rise in Europe since the early 1930’s. Many of the refugees rescued by Bohn were Jews.

American foreign policy in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s had declared many of these refugees to be undesirable and did not always qualify for immigration papers. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) had pressured Roosevelt to grant a number of emergency “visitors visas-not for permanent residence in the US.” These temporary emergency visas would temporarily get these refugees out of danger.

Frank Bohn, like Varian Fry, was heavily involved in the illegal activity of smuggling refugees into Spain over the Pyrenees Mountains. Bohn worked with various foreign consulates in Marseilles to obtain passports, visas and other papers. Frank Bohn received much help from Hiram “Harry” Bingham at the American consulate in Marseilles. Bohn was not above obtaining fake documentation and passports for his refugees. Early on in their missions, Fry and Bohn agreed to divide their activities in the rescue of refugees. Fry and the ERC would help artists, and Bohn would take care of labor leaders, politicians and political activists.

Varian Fry writes of meeting Frank Bohn when he arrived for his mission in Marseilles:

“The truth was that I was at a complete loss about how to begin, and where. My job was to save certain refugees. But how was I to do it? How was I to get in touch with them? What could I do for them when I found them? I had to find the answers before it was too late, and the first person to consult was Frank Bohn. A few weeks after the French defeat, the American Federation of Labor had succeeded in persuading the State Department to grant emergency visitors’ visas to a long list of European labor leaders, and had sent Bohn over to Marseille to help them escape. He was one of two or three Americans already in France whose names had been given me, in the strictest confidence, just before I left New York. I called on Bohn the morning of my second day in Marseille. I found him in his small room on the third floor of the Hotel Splendide. When he opened the door to my knock, and I told him who I was and why I had come to France, he grabbed my hand in a great big friendly clutch and fairly yanked me across the threshold into the room. ‘Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come,’ he said, in the tones of an itinerant revivalist, pumping my arm up and down vigorously. ‘We need all the help we can get. Come in, come in. I’m so glad you’ve come.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 7]

“’Well, then,’ I said, ‘perhaps you can tell me just what the situation is and what I have to do to get my people out.’

“’Certainly, old man,’ Bohn said. ‘For most of them it’s very simple. The disorder is working in our favor, you see. The French aren’t giving any exit visas to refugees at all, and it’s even very hard for them to get safe conduct to come to Marseille and get their American visas. But the police don’t seem to be paying much attention to them, and the Gestapo doesn’t seem to have gotten around to them either. This has been a lucky thing for the refugees. It’s given them time to get away. So far we’ve found that the ordinary refugee can travel pretty safely without a safe conduct. If they have overseas visas they can get Portuguese and Spanish transit visas, and once they have these they can go down to the frontier and cross on foot.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 8]

“After talking to Bohn, I decided to alter my plans. Instead of traveling around Southern France on a bicycle, pretending to be a relief worker investigating the needs of the French people, but really locating refugees on my lists and helping them escape, I’d set up headquarters at the Splendide, as Bohn had done, and have the refugees come to me. Bohn got me a room at the Splendide like his own, and I moved down from the Suisse that same day.” [Fry, 1945, p. 12]

“Then I wrote letters to all the refugees on my lists whose addresses I had, telling them I had just arrived from the States with messages for them, and asking them to come to Marseille to see me if they could. I got more addresses from Bohn. Some of the people on my lists he had already seen himself. About others he or his assistant, Erika Bierman and Bedrich Heine, had some information. But most of them were still missing. Nobody knew where they were or what had become of them.” [Fry, 1945, p. 12]

Fry describes meeting with Vichy authorities regarding their activities in Marseilles.

“Bohn and I decided we’d have to take steps to square ourselves with the authorities or the jig would be up before the job was half finished. We had been doing our ‘underground’ work almost literally in the open. The term is always a misnomer, because ‘underground’ work is almost never really carried on under ground. Instead, it is carried on behind a screen, the screen of some ‘cover’ activity or other which is entirely innocent in itself but serves to explain the part of the work which can’t be hidden and to conceal the rest. In our case the obvious cover activity was relief work.

“When I got my appointment at the Prefecture, I took Bohn with me… At the Prefecture we were received by a high official, the Secretary-General. We told him we had come to France to help refugees in distress and asked for permission to found a small committee for the purpose.

“The Secretary General was very correct, but very frigid. He said the French authorities would welcome the committee provided it did nothing illegal. We pretended to be amazed and hurt by the suggestion that we would even think of doing anything illegal, and the Secretary-General gave us the permission we had asked for. But we felt we’d have to be very careful after that if we weren’t to land in the jug, or be expelled.” [Fry, 1945, p. 34]

Bohn and Fry discuss Bingham at the consulate and how he supports them:

It was early in the morning. My telephone rang while I was eating breakfast in my room. When I answered it, I heard Bohn’s voice at the other end of the line. He was speaking in a hoarse stage whisper.

“It’s the police, old man,” he said. “Don’t worry. We had to expect this. The Consulate will take care of us if anything serious happens. I’m going down now. You’d better look around your room and destroy your papers before they come for you. I’ll see you downstairs.” [Fry, 1945, p. 33]

The French Prefecture called to complain about the activities of Bohn, Fry and Lowrie:

“The Prefecture had also called in the American Consul and told him it was inquiet—uneasy—about the ‘activities of Dr. Bohn and Mr. Fry.’ It had also complained about Lowrie’s activities in behalf of the Czech soldiers, and had warned Vochoc not to use any more false passports. Lowrie had given up his illegal activities, and Vochoc had decided to issue no more passports.” [Fry, 1945, p. 80]

Fry talks about how he, Bohn and other persons were evading the laws of the countries with which the US maintains friendly relations:

“Then I went to the American Consulate and saw the Consul-General. He advised me to leave France at once, before I was arrested or expelled. He wouldn’t tell me what the Prefecture had said, or show me the text of the report he had cabled the State Department while I was in Spain. But he did give me the text of the Department’s reply, which contained the definite statement that ‘THIS GOVERNMENT CANNOT COUNTENANCE THE ACTIVITIES AS REPORTED OF DR. BOHN AND MR. FRY AND OTHER PERSONS IN THEIR EFFORTS IN EVADING THE LAWS OF COUNTRIES WITH WHICH THE UNITED STATES MAINTAINS FRIENDLY RELATIONS.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 81]

Under pressure from the US government, Bohn left Marseilles in October 1941.

“During all this time Bohn and I had been summoned to the Consulate almost every day to be asked when we were planning to leave France. We had also been receiving cables from our relatives, friends and employers in the United States urging us to come back. Bohn succumbed to the pressure and left Marseille at the end of the first week of October.” [Fry, 1945, p. 92]

Bohn was replaced by his chief assistant, Bedrich Heine.

“A few days after Bohn had left, his chief assistant, Bedrich Heine, the young German socialist, began coming to our little office in the rue Grignan to consult us about his people and advise us about ours.” [Fry, 1945, p. 93]

“About the time the police came to look for Mehring and the others, the prefecture called in the Consul and said it was ‘uneasy’ about ‘the activities of Dr. Bohn and Mr. Fry.’ Friedlander supposed it had had something to do with Bohn’s boat—probably the Italian armistice commission had put the screws on the prefecture to get rid of both of us. Whatever the explanation, the Consulate was bringing tremendous pressure on Bohn to persuade him to leave France, and had thrown my staff into confusion by telling them that I would never be permitted to reenter the country.” (Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 184, Box 14, Folder 1, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 7-12, 22-23, 33-34, 51, 54-56, 59, 80-81, 92-93. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 114-117, 134, 151, 158, 160, 186. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 12, 15-17, 74, 81, 85, 86, 97, 105. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), p. 141.]

Mme. E. Hené-Bohn

Marcel Chaminade, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

[Fry, 1945, pp. 102, 107, 108, 125, 221. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

L. Coppée, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Ludwig Copperman, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Ludwig Copperman took the name Louis Coppée. He was a German employee of the ERC. [Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Marino, 1999, p. 267]

Mme. A. Dalsace, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Miriam Davenport, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Miriam Davenport (Ebel) was one of the important core volunteers of the Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseilles, France, 1940-41. She graduated from Smith College and went to study art in Paris. While traveling from Paris, she ran into the German poet Walter Mehring in Toulouse. Miriam Davenport helped Walter Mehring escape the Nazi’s. After meeting Miriam, Fry states in his autobiography,

“I added her to the staff immediately. She spoke French and German as few Americans do, and her knowledge of art and artists made her very useful when we had to distinguish between the many refugees who claimed to be artists worthy of our help. When she had never heard of them, and they had no specimens of their work to show, she would tell them to go down to the View Port and make a sketch. When they brought the sketch back, she would look at it and decide right away whether they were any good or not. She also handled university professors with tact and skill…”

In 1999, just before her death, Miriam wrote of her experiences in interviewing refugees:

“These conferences marked the end of long, hard-working days. Ostensibly we were a general relief agency; no sign at the door said more than Centre Américain de Secours, a bland American aid center. When asked what we were doing, we replied that we were there to advise people on how to emigrate to America and to give financial assistance where needed—all perfectly legal. Our financial assistance was either enough to live on and/or travel on, or none; general relief cases were sent to other agencies. When we opened at eight every morning, a long, snaking queue of desperate people was already jamming the two corridors and the flight of stairs leading to our office. From eight until noon we interviewed as many as we decently could. I know that I saw some forty every day and the others saw as many. After the sacred two hours of lunch, we began our conferences in the office, stopped at seven for dinner, ate between seven and nine, and then went to Varian’s room to continue conferring. Before the next day we had to decide among us who could be helped and who not. Our day usually ended between midnight and one a.m. This went on seven days a week. The only leisure time was mealtime and, at times, that was business, too.”

In summarizing her experiences with the ERC, Davenport concludes:

“I knew then that this was a moment of rare privilege. Somehow, through a strange confluence of chance encounters and unlikely coincidences, I had been swept into a place where grief, consternation, disillusionment, and anger had become the gentle servants of justice…Our little tribe of amateurs, relying solely on brute intellect and the leadership of a reincarnated ‘Scarlet Pimpernel,’ had been successfully outwitting Hitler’s Gestapo to save the very people Nazism most feared.”

After leaving the ERC, Miriam Davenport escaped to Lisbon. She arrived in the United States just before Pearl Harbor. During the war, Davenport did public relations and raised money for the International Rescue and Relief Committee. She was also active in other cultural areas.

In 1960, Miriam taught art and French to local children in Riverside, Iowa.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 38-39, 87, 117. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 74-76, 90-91, 103-113, 138-142, 148, 152, 159-162, 167, 185, 200-201, 209, 211, 229, 238-239, 243, 259, 382-383, 394-395. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 133-134, 139, 145, 186-187, 202, 267, 314. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 17-18, 34-35, 38, 69, 104, 112, 117-127. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 142, 145. Ebel, Miriam Davenport. An Unsentimental Education: A Memoir by Miriam Davenport Ebel. (1999).]

O. de Neufville, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

M. Diamont, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

A. (Alfonso) Diaz, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

[Fry, 1945, pp. 209, 227. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

Captain Dubois, French Police Inspector, Marseilles, France

Captain Dubois was a French police inspector in Marseilles, France. Captain Dubois was an early contact with Hiram “Harry” Bingham, the Vice Consul at the US consulate in Marseilles. Dubois was introduced to Fry by US Vice Consul Bingham.

“Just before the Bouline left, Harry Bingham invited me to dinner at his villa, to meet Captain Dubois. Captain Dubois was a member of the Marseille staff of the Sûreté Nationale. Though a Vichy policeman, he was friendly to England and America, and Harry thought it would be useful for me to know him.

“It was. Dubois was the first French official I had met who was familiar with my case and willing to talk about it. When I asked him what the police had against me, he said, with a sly smile I couldn’t quite fathom, ‘Smuggling people out of the country.’

“’Anything else?’ I asked.

“’Yes, trading in foreign exchange.’” [Fry, 1945, pp. 89-90]

Dubois provided reports on police raids to Bingham and later to Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC).

“It was during the same week, I think, that Beamish and I ran across Captain Dubois, our police friend. He was having a drink with some pals in the rear of a café on the Canebière when we came in to get a late supper. After a few minutes he got up and came over to our table…

“’What do you know about the Consul of Siam?’ he asked.

“’Nothing much,’ I answered. ‘Why?’

“’Ever had any dealings with him?’

“’No,’ I said honestly, ‘none at all. I’ve met him, and heard him talk about his “possibilities”; but I haven’t tried them. Why do you ask?’

“’Well, since it’s you who tell me, I believe you,’ he said. ‘We’re going to raid him tomorrow, and I wouldn’t want you to have an histoire.’” [Fry, 1945, p. 132]

He was entirely sympathetic to the rescue activities of the various agencies operating in Marseilles. Dubois’ information helped Fry and his ERC to stay out of trouble.

“For two weeks after the Sinaïa affair I was followed by a group of eight dicks, working in shifts. I know, because Captain Dubois told me. The filature was being done by the Commissariat Spécial at the Prefecture, he said, on direct orders of the Sûreté Nationale at Vichy.

“Thanks to the tipoff, I saw to it that the flics’ [detectives’] daily reports were wholly innocuous and, after a couple of weeks, the Sûreté apparently got tired of learning where I had lunch and dinner every day and called the whole thing off. But as long as it lasted it was uncomfortable enough, and I had to be very careful what I did and whom I saw.

“As soon as I learned I was being followed, I warned everybody to be extremely careful.” [Fry, 1945, p. 150]

Eventually, Dubois was found out and was transferred to an undesirable post in Rabat, Morocco. Dubois had also been transferred for his pro-British sentiments. On one occasion, Dubois had warned the ERC of a planned police raid on the consulate of Siam, which had been supplying the ERC with visas. After Dubois’ transfer, Fry had to begin bailing people out of prison and paying bribes to French police.

“Captain Dubois, our friend and protector in the Service de la Surveillance du Territoire, has been ordered to Rabat. For him it is a demotion; for us it is a calamity a serious loss. He generally managed to warn us of impending police raids before they happened. Now we have no one we can count on for that.

Dubois thinks he is being sent down to Morocco as a kind of punishment because he is pro-British and pro-American. (Dated Wednesday, April 2 [1941], Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 499, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 89-91, 132, 148-150, 208. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 333. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 147, 173, 209. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 209-210, 238-239, 277.]

Charles “Charlie” Fawcett, Emergency Rescue Committee, Centre Américain de Secours, Marseilles, France

Charles Fawcett was a volunteer and organizer of the rescue activities of refugees in Marseilles. Fawcett was one of several young Americans in Marseilles who had volunteered in the American Volunteer Ambulance Corps before the armistice of June 1940. Fawcett was originally from Georgia. He volunteered with the ERC to process refugees and to guard the door to the offices of the ERC in the Hôtel Splendide.

“The opening of the office made the crowds of frantic refugees who came to us for help larger than ever. We had to get someone to handle the traffic in the waiting room and outside in the hall and stairs. There were several young Americans in Marseille who had served in the American Volunteer Ambulance Corps before the armistice. We picked out one of them as doorman and reception clerk. His name was Charles Fawcett, but everyone in Marseille called him Shar-lee.

“Charlie was a youngster from the South—Georgia, I think—who had been doing ‘art’ work in Paris before the war. I put that word in quotation marks because as far as I could see Charlie’s conception of art consisted of drawings of pretty girls, preferably nude. He had many feminine admirers, and there was always at least one of them in the office as long as he worked for us. Most of the time it was a young Polish girl named Lili. Charlie was so chivalrous about Lili that he was actually trying to get her husband up from North Africa, where he was stranded, so the two could be together again.

“As a doorman, Charlie had one great drawback. He couldn’t speak anything but English, and most of the refugees didn’t speak any English at all. But his ambulance-driver’s uniform awed the over-insistent ones, and his good nature cheered the depressed among them. If few understood what he said, none disliked him. In fact, I think he was probably the most popular member of the staff.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 37-38]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 37-38, 53, 93, 108, 131, 149, 152-153. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. New York. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 163-164, 168, 173, 232, 257-258, 309. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 86-88, 103, 106, 213, 131-132, 139-140, 144, 192, 199, 202, 209, 217, 261. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House).]

Mlle. C. Feibel, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Lotte Feibel, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France, (Marino, 1999)

Mlle. J. Fialin, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseille, France,

Lena Fischmann, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Lena Fischmann was a volunteer organizer and administrator for the Emergency Rescue Committee. Lena Fischmann was a prominent Jewish member of the Emergency Rescue Committee.

Fry recalls, in his memoirs:

“Meanwhile my work had grown so that I had to get more help. Besides callers, I had begun to get letters from all over the unoccupied zone appealing for help, many of them from the concentration camps. An American relief worker whom I asked to recommend a secretary sent me Lena Fishman. Before the occupation, Lena had worked in the Paris office of the Joint Distribution Committee—the great agency which distributes the funds of the various American Jewish charities to the functional organizations which spend it. Lena was vivacious and ebullient, like her Polish ancestors. She could take shorthand with equal ease in English, French and German, and she spoke and wrote Russian, Polish and Spanish as well.

“By this time Beamish’s work was keeping him out most of the day, so Lena took his desk. With great difficulty we managed to buy a typewriter—for an astronomical price—and Lena wrote answers to the letters all day and typed the cables every night. She also took a hand at interviewing and was generally useful, especially in calming the excited.

“…She was always mixing languages. At the end of the day, when she was about to go, she would take out her compact and say, ‘Je fais ma petite beauté, and I leave you.’

“She was the best-natured secretary I’ve ever had. She would work all day and half the night, under the most difficult and trying circumstances, and then bounce in again the next morning, fresh and bright, ready to begin another day.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 34-35]

Andy Marino describes how Lena found her way to the ERC:

“Lena’s story of transit to the secret city was another hair-raising tail. Before the war she had worked in Paris at the Liaison Committee for the High Commissioner for Refugees, and continued to help the stateless until the Germans were at the point of entering Paris, when she fled with four friends in the direction of Bordeaux. When she arrived there, the American consulate gave Lena, who said she was Polish, a particularly stiff refusal to her request for a visa.”

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 35, 38-39, 42, 70, 74-75, 79-80, 93-94, 100, 127, 129, 131, 133-139, 141, 148-149, 208-209, 239. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 157, 197, 201, 225, 264. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 132-133, 139, 182, 185-187, 202, 228-231, 235, 338-339. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House).]

Hans Fittko● (“Johaness F.”), Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Hans and Lisa Fittko led many refugees over the various escape routes from Marseilles into Spain. The Fittko’s were recruited by Varian Fry. The route they took over the mountains was called the “F” route, after Fittko. They would trek across the Pyrenees, sometimes several times a week. More than 100 refugees were rescued in this manner.

Fry writes in his memoirs about the Fittko’s:

“It was in this period that Beamish and I organized and perfected the ‘F’ route. Johannes F[ittko] was a German social democrat who had smuggled underground workers in and out of Germany across the Dutch border before and during the war. At our request, he and his wife went down to Banyuls, near Cerbère, and took rooms in a house on the outskirts of the town. They could do this because they had beautiful French identity cards, made for them by the little Austrian cartoonist, Bill Freier. The cards made [Fittko] and his wife French citizens from the forbidden zone, where no Frenchman could go to check up on their credentials.

“In Banyuls… [Fittko] and his wife established themselves as French refugees who could not return to their homes. They applied for and received the small weekly allowances the Pétain government granted such persons. They became friendly with their neighbors. They worked in the vineyards. Often they took jobs in fields near the frontier. On weekends they walked in the hills, studied the trails and observed the habits of the frontier guards. When they knew every footpath intimately, they gave us a prearranged signal, and we began sending the clients down to them.

“So that the clients might not risk arrest on the way, we usually provided them with Freier identity cards. So that no police agent could present himself to [Fittko] as a client and discover our system, we also gave each of our departing protégés half of a torn strip of colored paper. On the end of each strip there was a number. [Fittko] had the other half, with the same number on it. If the numbers agreed, and the two pieces of paper fitted each other perfectly, he knew that the person was what he represented himself to be.

“[Fittko] had already explained to his neighbors in Banyuls that he had many French friends he intended to invite when he got settled. They were, he said, like him, refugees from the forbidden zone, and, like him, unable to rejoinder leurs foyers—rejoin their hearths—as the official phrase had it. They would enjoy a reunion with old friends from the same district or town. The neighbors were sympathetic and welcomed the refugees as they would have welcomed any French citizens driven from their homes by the Germans. They readily offered them work in their fields.

“Dressed as farm laborers, or country people on a holiday, [Fittko]and the clients would go out in the early morning, carrying their few possessions in colored handkerchiefs or string bags, as though they were loaves of bread and bottles of wine for lunch. Sometimes they would work in the fields all day. At other times they would go straight to the hills for a picnic. After dark, [Fittko] would come back to Banyuls alone. If asked, he would explain that his friends had had to return unexpectedly to their temporary homes in other towns. Generally he wasn’t even asked; he did his work so skillfully that no one was suspicious of him.

“In the course of about six months [Fittko] passed more than 100 people over the frontier this way. Not a single one of them was ever arrested, or even questioned by the police.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 123-124]

The story of Hans and Lisa Fittko’s escape from Marseilles eloquently describes the plight of refugees. Hans and Lisa Fittko were Austrian refugees. Hans was Christian and Lisa was Jewish. They were both wanted by the Nazis.

“In the apocalyptic atmosphere of 1940 Marseille, there were new stories every day about absurd escape attempts; plans involving fantasy boats and fictitious captains, visas for countries not found on any map, and passports issued by nations that no longer existed. One got used to hearing via the grapevine which sure-fire plan had fallen apart like a house of cards that day.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 105]

“Governments of all countries seemed to be involved in this ‘era of new decrees,’ issuing commands and instructions, revoking them, first enforcing and then lifting them again. In order to get through, one had to learn to slip through the cracks and loopholes, using every trick and stratagem to slither out of this labyrinth, which was continually taking on new configurations.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 113]

“Faut se débrouiller: one must know how to help oneself, to clear a way out of the debacle—that’s the way one lived and survived in France back then. Faut se débrouiller meant: buy counterfeit food stamps, scrounge milk for the children, obtain some—any—kind, of permit—in short, manage to do or obtain what didn’t officially exist. For many that also meant to do or obtain such things by means of going along with officialdom, by collaborating. But for us, the apatrides, everything we did revolved around avoiding the concentration camps, not falling into the hands of the Gestapo.” [Fittko, 1991, pp. 113-114]

Lisa Fittko, in her book, discusses her plans to cross the border through the Pyrenees. In it, she discusses the mayor of Banyuls, Monsieur Azéma.

“We’d heard about people who in the meantime had gotten across to Spain; in Banyuls, the last town before the border, there was a mayor, Monsieur Azéma. He was a Socialist, and was able and willing to help the emigrés.

“So first of all I had to make cautious contact with him and, if possible, with other local residents favorably inclined toward the emigrés. Everything clicked surprisingly fast, although conditions had recently become more difficult; the usual route via the border town Cerbère was now closely watched and must be avoided. But Monsieur Azéma revealed a safe and secret smuggler’s route to me; he called it la route Lister. General Lister of the Republican army had used it for his troops during the Spanish Civil War.

“Maire Azéma insisted that the emigrés themselves should organize the border crossing, thus making sure that the new route would also be known to and used by those who came after. ‘Perhaps one day I will no longer be here,’ he said. Also it was quite imprudent for so many refugees to be reporting to him at the mairie. Not until later did I understand just why he’d figured on disappearing some day: he was known to the authorities for his activities during the Civil War. It would be best (he said) if someone could remain here in Banyuls for a time, to help the refugees over the Pyrenees.

“’I can provide you with housing and food-ration cards temporarily.’ He said, and took a few cans of milk and vegetables from a crate under his desk. ‘Pour le bébé,’ he added.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 101]

Fittko continues:

“First I’d gone down to the harbor and gotten into conversation with several dock workers. One of them took me to the union shop steward. Without asking many questions, he seemed to understand what it was all about. He had advised me to look up the mayor in Banyuls-sur-Mer, Monsieur Azéma. He was the man, as I had already been told in Marseille, who would help me to find a safe route for my family and friends who wanted to cross the border.

“’He’s a wonderful man, this Mayor Azéma,’ I continued telling Benjamin. ‘He spent hours with me working out every detail.’” [Fittko, 1991, p. 104]

“The only really safe route that still remained, declared the mayor, was la route Lister. That meant that we had to cross the Pyrenees farther west, where the mountain crests were higher and thus the climb more strenuous.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 104]

In this quote, Varian Fry, of the ERC, and Frank Bohn, of the AF of L, recruit Hans and Lisa Fittko to be guides and to lead refugees over the Pyrenees into Spain. Hans and Lisa had just led Walter Benjamin over the Pyrenees. Despite the fact that they were wanted refugees and in danger, they agreed to stay on and lead these dangerous border crossings.

“Fry came right to the point (we learned later that Bohn didn’t understand French): Yes, it had to do with the border crossing. They knew that now it was difficult and that I had guided Benjamin over a new route. There were still many emigrés waiting whom the Centre had supplied with papers. Would I help these people, or better, would both of us help them?

“’Yes, certainly,’ I answered. ‘I can sketch and describe the route to you.’ Indeed, that was precisely our intention, that the information be passed on to those who came after.

“Fry said that he and his friend Bohn had actually thought differently about it. In order to rescue hundreds of the imperiled it was vital to have the border crossing organized, with a take-off point and guides who knew the mountains; someone must be there who had experience in this border project.

“Really, it was almost too good to be true. Then the new committee would help us with our border plans? Did they have capable coworkers? Whatever the case, they wanted to come up with the money needed to keep people there for a time.

“Fry and Bohn whispered a few words in English. Then Fry cleared his throat like someone who was about to make a speech: ‘That’s exactly what we want to talk to you about. The money is no problem; this all centers around finding the right person with border experience, someone who is prepared to do the job and on whom we can depend.’ He hawked again. ‘We’ve been told that both of you have brought people and anti-Nazi literature across the German border. Would you, for a few months—?’

“’We?’ said Hans. ‘No, that’s impossible.’

“’No,’ I echoed Hans, ‘we can’t afford to do that. Now that we finally have our papers, we must see if we ourselves can get across the mountains and out of France.’

“’Or, if that’s not feasible, we’ll hole up somewhere before the rest of the country is occupied.’ Hans paused. ‘Oh, maybe for a short time we can break someone in there.’ He looked at me. ‘What do you think?’

“I nodded. ‘The best thing would be if a Frenchman could be found…’

“’I promise you,’ Fry said, ‘that if you remain here during the border project, we will help you get out.’ [Fittko, 1991, pp. 118-119]

The F-Route was named after the Fittko’s.

“Fry believed it would be best if the committee let the new border project have a free hand in supplying the refugees with funds for the journey, each according to need. ‘When you have the new crossing route organized,’ he said, ‘what did you call it? La route—from now on let’s call it The F-Route. We can and will come up with financial support.”

“That all sounds reasonable, I thought, but what does he mean by ‘F-Route’? He was acting as if we’d already consented.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 120]

An entry in Lisa’s diary:

“1 November

“This week we brought people across three times, and twice the week before. Hans wrote to Fry in Marseille: ‘it’s going well with us, our friends have had no trouble…we take delight in mountain-climbing but we don’t want to overdo it, and possibly go on outings not more than twice weekly…the people around here will think we’re crazy if we continually go scrambling around in the mountains.’

“Each evening before, we sit down with the refugees and go over all the details: don’t speak until we’re in a safe area; carry nothing, don’t attract attention; how to talk your way out of it if something goes wrong. We describe the crossover to them in order to allay their fear of the unknown. We repeat with them what they have to do on the Spanish side: descent, customs post, entry stamp (take note: it’s called entrada), train to Portugal.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 126]

“The mayor of Cerbère (the French border town), Monsieur Cruzet, is a Socialist and ready to help; besides, he owns a transport firm. His business partner is the mayor of Port-Bou, the Spanish border town.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 127-128]

“Hans has ridden to Cerbère to work things out with Cruzet. He really shouldn’t do it without valid papers, for there’s a train inspection between Banyuls and Cerbère, and sometimes the Armistice Commission comes sniffing around. But, plainly, one of us must go, so Hans is off with the new assistant he’s meanwhile annexed, young Meyerhof, the eighteen-year-old son of the physiologist. His parents crossed the border some time ago but he’s lacking some papers, so he sits around here looking lonesome and forlorn. Monsieur Azéma related the story with great relish, how he, Monsieur le Maire de Banyuls, carried the youngster’s mother, the wife of the Nobel Prize-winner Meyerhof, from France to Spain piggyback because the path along the cemetery wall was too difficult for her.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 128]

“We brought the Groetzsches from Sopade across okay, it just went rather slowly; they’re not so young anymore. They relayed greetings from Fritz Heine—a succession of his friends are now arriving with United States visas.” [Fittko, 1991, p. 130]

“Monsieur Azéma, our elected mayor, has been quietly removed from office and replaced by a man from the Pétain government. The new mayor is some collaborationist official who isn’t even from this region. They’re being replaced everywhere, Socialist mayors especially, not to mention Communist ones.

“Azéma hasn’t been seen since. He’s no longer on the beach nor at the harbor as before, where he used to greet and converse with people now and then like an ordinary citizen.

“Now I remember how he’d said at the beginning: ‘Perhaps one day I’ll no longer be here.’” [Fittko, 1991, p. 133]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 122-124, 133, 189, 198, 200, 203. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Fittko, Lisa. Escape through the Pyrénées. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991). Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 256, 264, 288, 327, 375. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 84-86, 156, 166, 193-195, 198, 241, 245-246. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House, 1945). Klein, Anne. “Conscience, conflict and politics: The rescue of political refugees from southern France to the United States, 1940-1942.” Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, 43 (1998), 300-302. Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 83, 173.]

Lisa Fittko, Austria (Jewish) see Hans Fittko, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France, Fittko, 1991; Fry, 1945)

Bill Freier+ (Bill Spira) Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Bill Freier was an early volunteer for the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). Freier was an able and extremely competent artist who was able to forge necessary documents and especially various official stamps.

Freier had been one of the most popular cartoonists in France before the war and, according to Fry:

“he went through the usual experiences: internment in a concentration camp, escape, flight to Marseille. He was a likable little fellow, and he seemed, and I’m sure was, a perfectly honest young man who wanted to help his fellow refugees and at the same time make enough money to keep alive. Freier had a girl-friend named Mina with whom he was deeply in love. They were hoping to get married and go to America together, and I guess he needed money for Mina’s support as well as his own. He was a very skilled draftsman, and he could imitate a rubber stamp so well that only an expert could have told it had been drawn with a brush. He used to buy blank identity cards at the tobacco shops, fill them in, and then imitate the rubber stamp of the Prefecture which made them official. I think he used to charge us only twenty-five francs—fifty cents—for the finished job. We made extensive use of his services, as did many other people. We also added him and his fiancée to the list of our clients, and cabled New York to ask the committee to get them visas.” [Fry, 1945]

Bill Freier was arrested by the French police.

“The police surprised him with all his [Freier’s] identity-card-forging paraphernalia around him. Though we hired a lawyer to defend him, we had little hope of being able to get him off, and every reason to believe that the finger of suspicion would point to us.” [Fry, 1945, p. 132]

Freier was arrested, but survived the war.

Fry wrote of Freier, in an unpublished portion of his Surrender on Demand manuscript:

“I have been to the Prefecture about Freier. They were very cold, asking superciliously why I was particularly interested in him: ‘Pourquoi est-ce que vous vous y intéressez tellement?’ I didn’t like that question, or the way it was put. Though Freier had begun to forge papers for his friends before I ever met him, and I was only one of his customers, I can’t afford to show an unusual interest in his case. I am afraid he will have to stay in Vernet until his visa arrives.” (Dated “Wednesday, March 19 [1941],” Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 483, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 44-45, 123, 131, 132, 208, 238. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 141-142, 148, 155, 242, 267, 345. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House).]

N. Friedlander, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Jean Gemahling+ Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Jean Gemahling was one of the principal volunteers with the Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseilles. He staffed the office and participated in numerous dangerous missions.After Fry’s forced departure from France, Bénédite, Wolff and Gemahling ran the ERC. Gemahling was arrested in November 1941. Gemahling was active in the resistance movement and founded Service de Renseignements de Combat (Information Service of Combat—Combat was one of the early Resistance groups). It was later called Services de Renseignements du Mouvement de la Libération Nationale (MLN). The MLN became one of the chief resistance groups in both zones of France.

“Still another new recruit to the staff was Danny’s war comrade, Jean Gemahling, a blue-eyed, flaxen-haired youth from Strasbourg…Jean was a Catholic—at least, he had been born a Catholic. His father had been professor of history at the University of Strasbourg, and Jean had been educated at an English boarding school. He spoke English extremely well, though with a slight French accent, discernible under the English public schoolboy’s intonation. In Paris he had been a research chemist. Why, I could never find out, for he seemed to have very little interest in chemistry, and a great deal in the arts. In our office in Marseille he started as an interviewer but quickly graduated to other and more dangerous tasks. He was very quiet, and strongly inclined to blush furiously when spoken to, but in the course of time he displayed a courage and a devotion to duty as he saw it which many far rougher men would have had difficulty matching.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 101-102]

In 1945, Varian Fry published his memoirs. In it, he discusses the fate of Jean Gemahling.

“We have now accounted for all the members of the staff who remained in France, and for most of our co-conspirators. Jean was arrested for his underground activities only three months after I left—apparently the police had been observing him for a long time—but he was released on bail a few months later, and immediately disappeared. He was arrested once and perhaps twice subsequently, but both times he got away.” [Fry, 1945, p. 237]

After Fry’s forced departure from France, Bénédite, Wolff and Gemahling ran the ERC. Gemahling was arrested in November 1941.

Gemahling was active in the resistance movement and founded Service de Renseignements de Combat (Information Service of Combat—Combat was one of the early Resistance groups). It was later called Services de Renseignements du Mouvement de la Libération Nationale (MLN). The MLN became one of the chief resistance groups in both zones of France.

Jean Gemahling became one of the heads of this important intelligence network.

Gemahling was arrested twice and was imprisoned for six months.

For his activities, he was made an officer of the Legion of Honor.

Jean Gemahling was not Jewish.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 101-102, 116, 122, 134, 140, 148, 151-152, 154, 164-165, 180-181, 184, 192-195, 198, 202, 205, 210, 214, 218, 221, 225, 228, 230, 237. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 203-204, 229, 238-239, 243, 245-246, 265, 271, 299, 322, 326, 335-340, 357, 371, 383, 390-391. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 205, 213, 224, 271, 274, 287, 317-320.]

Mary Jayne Gold+, (USA); Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Mary Jayne Gold was one of the principal volunteers for the Emergency Rescue Committee, 1940-41. She went on numerous missions to help Jewish refugees. In addition, she financed much of the operations of the ERC. Mary Jayne Gold was not Jewish. Before Fry was expelled from France, one of his last missions was to help release prisoners at the French concentration camp at Vernet. Fry had tried in vain to get them released and sent Mary Jayne Gold who completed the mission.

In his autobiography, Fry speaks of Mary Jayne Gold’s mission to release the men at Vernet:

“We had sent letters to the commandant in the name of the committee, and Bingham had sent him letters and telegrams in the name of the Consulate—all to no avail. There were only two things left to try: escape, and feminine wiles. Escape from Vernet was extremely difficult. Because it was the camp of the “undesirables,” Vernet was more closely guarded than any other concentration camp in France. It was surrounded by a high, barbed-wire fence, and the section where Paul’s friends were interned had a second barbed-wire fence inside the first. The sentries were old soldiers, armed with rifles. They were held personally responsible for all escapes, and their instructions were to shoot to kill. Feminine wiles were safer, and we had a made-to-order charmer in the person of Mary Jayne Gold. The gregarious Miriam had met Mary Jayne at Toulouse. Young, blonde and beautiful, she was one of those fabulous Americans who used to live in France in the good old days. In Paris she had had a large apartment and a Vega Gull low-wing monoplane, in which she used to toot around Europe, flying to Switzerland for the skiing and to the Italian Riviera for the sun. At the outbreak of the war, she had presented the plane to the French government. It would have been hard to find a better person for the job we had in mind. Miriam spoke to Mary Jayne and Mary Jayne said she was willing. A few days after my return from Lisbon, she went to Vernet, saw the commandant, and succeeded where everybody else had failed. Accompanied by two soldier guards, the four men were allowed to come to Marseille and take their American visas.”

They eventually got visas from Harry Bingham at the American consulate and were able to escape to Lisbon.

In addition, Mary Jayne Gold lent money for the rescue of refugees. Miriam Davenport wrote in her autobiography:

“As the days wore on, I became more and more depressed by the number of endangered people who deserved help but were unknown to the old-boy network; recommendations made in New York fixed our conditions for giving assistance. We had our “first list” of some two hundred names which was augmented from time to time by others approved in New York. When I told Mary Jayne about this problem, she understood immediately and wanted to help right the wrong. But how? She had already decided to postpone going home but she was, herself, running out of funds. Most of her money was blocked in the States. More could be had only by dealing in a black market where she had no connections. She offered to give the Committee $3,000 to help those not recommended by New York provided we could also help her to get sufficient money for her personal needs. Varian bristled and refused outright to have anything to do with this proposal when I put it to him… Hermant, who had witnessed this scene, later took me aside and said, ‘Take me to your friend. I’ll help her.’ He was as good as his word and, in a very short time, the Centre Américain de Secours was some 330,000 francs richer. The money was specifically earmarked for those not on the New York lists. I called the new arrangement the “Gold List” and supervised its disbursements until I left Marseilles. One of those who was so helped, Karol Sternberg, has just retired from directing the International Relief Committee in New York, a descendant of our old outfit. Mary Jayne more than repaid Hermant’s kindness by later running a successful errand for him to get some men released from a high security concentration camp.”

[Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980). Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 87, 101, 117, 137, 145-146, 150, 185. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 203-205, 229, 240, 256, 208-209, 224, 254, 279. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), pp. 142, 145. Ebel, Miriam Davenport. An Unsentimental Education: A Memoir by Miriam Davenport Ebel. (1999).]

Mrs. Anna Gruss, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Anna Gruss was a faithful volunteer and senior administrator at the Emergency Rescue Committee in Marseilles. She stayed with the Rescue Committee until the very end.

“Thus, when Lena [Fischmann] left for the frontier, I replaced her with a new secretary named Mrs. Anna Gruss, a queer little gnome about four and a half feet tall, with a good heart, a sharp tongue, an immense capacity for work, and the virtue of genuine innocence of our undercover work. If Mrs. Gruss realized what we were doing, she never let on to it. When Lena came back from Cerbère, I took her back on the staff, and she stayed until she left France for good, the following Spring.” [Fry, 1945, p. 100]

In Fry’s memoirs, he extols his faithful secretary Anna Gruss.

“Mrs. Gruss, my gnome-like secretary, turned out to be a heroine. Throughout the long years of the total occupation she worked in our underground, helping to get money to the refugees or guide them to the frontier.” [Fry, 1945, p. 238]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 100, 107, 149, 227, 238. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 213, 328.]

Fritz Bedrich Heine● (b. 1904); Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Fry, 1945; Gutman, 2007, p. 104) Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

Stephen Hessel, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

“Stephen Hessel is also leaving soon. He has his American visa, and he thinks his commanding officer in the Deuxième Bureau will give him a passport and exit visa.” Dated “Villa Air-Bel, Sunday, February 9 [1941], Morning.” (Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 421, Box 14, Folder 1, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

Lucie Heymann, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Lucie Heymann was one of the replacements for Lena Fischmann. She was office manager for the ERC.

“Lucie Heymann, our new office manager, pleases me very much. She is a very civilized and cultured woman, and she gives the office an air of distinction it has always previously lacked. I confess I even like the way she comes into my office every morning to shake hands and say, Bonjour, patron.’

“Her daughter, Isabelle, is also working with us now.” (Dated “Thursday, February 27th [1941].” Varian Fry, unpublished draft of Surrender on Demand, pp. 456, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Marino, 1999, [Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

Franz “Franzi” von Hildebrand, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

One of Varian Fry’s original volunteers and most able helpers was Franz “Franzi” von Hildebrand. Hildebrand originally was from a prominent Catholic family in Austria. He had already gained much experience working for a relief refugee agency in Paris. He held a Swiss passport, which helped provide important cover for his activities. Working with Fry, he helped process hundreds of refugees who came to the Hôtel Splendide in Marseilles. Hildebrand spoke many languages and was invaluable in helping to interview the many refugees who came for help. Hildebrand would prepare reports on the refugees and transmit these applications to the ERC’s New York office. The ERC New York office would then petition the State Department for exit papers. Hildebrand’s father, Professor Dietrich fon Hildebrand, was a refugee himself hiding in Marseilles and was in danger of extradition.

Fry wrote of Hildebrand in his autobiography in 1945:

“Franzi had two other useful qualities besides being a Catholic. He had worked with an Austrian committee in Paris, and so he knew how a relief committee should be run. He also knew many of the non-socialist refugees and could advise me about them. I could get all the advice I needed about the socialists from Beamish and Paul Hagen’s friends, but I depended on Franzi and his father to tell me about many of the others” (pp. 26-27).

Hildebrand did much of the interviewing, along with Fry and Albert Hirschmann. In his autobiography, Fry writes:

“For a while Beamish [Hirschmann], Franzi [Hildebrand] and I handled all the work. There was a small writing table and a flat-topped dressing table, with mirror attached, in my room. We used the writing table as an interviewer’s desk and unscrewed the mirror from the dressing table and used it as a second interviewer’s desk. Beamish sat at one table and Franzi at the other. I usually sat on the edge of the bed, or stood up. The refugees waited in the corridor outside my door, and we let them in one at a time. I’d talk to them a little first, and then, if there seemed to be any chance at all that they were one of “our cases,” I’d pass them on to Beamish or Franzi, who would take down their names and addresses and other information about them on ordinary white file cards.”

If the refugee had no papers, or was not in possession of a proper passport, Hildebrand would arrange with Hiram Bingham at the US consulate in Marseilles for an Affidavit in Lieu of Passport. This valuable document, provided liberally by Vice Consul Bingham, was absolutely necessary in helping establish legitimacy of refugees trying to leave France.

Hildebrand was an able assistant to Varian Fry for the entire existence of the ERC’s mission in Marseilles. The work was extremely dangerous and he could have been arrested at any time for his activities.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 26-30, 35, 38-39, 73-74, 102, 239. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 122-123, 214. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House).]

E. Hirschberg, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Otto Albert “Beamish” Hirschmann, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France (Albert Hermant; Jewish)

Otto Albert Hirschmann was one of Varian Fry’s principal aides in the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). Hirschmann was a German Jewish political refugee. He left Berlin just after Hitler came to power, on his 18th birthday. Hirschmann had been active in the democratic socialist opposition to the Nazis. In the fall of 1939, Hirschmann found himself in Paris. After war was declared, he joined the French army. After the fall of France, he deserted the French army and took the name of Albert Hermant. Fry called Hirschmann “Beamish” because of his broad smile.

According to Fry’s autobiography,

“Beamish had had a good deal of experience with underground work already, and, despite his youth (he was only twenty-five), he was a veteran anti-fascist with two wars to his credit. He had fought in the Spanish Republican army for nearly a year, and had then signed up for service in the French army.”

Fry later adds:

“Beamish soon became my specialist on illegal questions. It was he who found new sources of false passports when the Czech passports were exposed and couldn’t be used any more. It was he who arranged to change and transfer money on the black bourse when my original stock of dollars gave out. And it was he who organized the guide service over the frontier when it was no longer possible for people to go down to Cerbère on the train and cross over on foot.”

“Beamish had three problems to crack. One was to find new sources of passports; the second was to provide a supply of identity cards; and the third was to discover ways of getting fairly large sums of money into France without having the authorities know we were getting them or where they were coming from.

“The Czech passports were working all right, but we felt it was risky to send too many people through Spain with them.” [Fry, 1945, p. 40]

Beamish also obtained Lithuanian visas from a consul at Aix-en-Provence.

“It was these three problems that Beamish was working on. He solved them all. He got Polish passports from the Polish Consul in Marseille, and Lithuanian passports from the Lithuanian Consul at Aix-en-Provence. He also found a way of sending men to Casablanca who wouldn’t go through Spain under any circumstances.” [Fry, 1945, p. 41]

“Beamish made an arrangement with one of the army officers to buy some demobilization orders for refugees. The price was reasonable enough—200 francs an order, or about $5.00. With each order, the officer supplied detailed information about the regiment the refugee was supposed to have been a member of, the names of all the officers, the place and date of mobilization, the engagements the regiment had been through, its losses, and so on. Once he had memorized this information, the refugee could pass any sort of superficial examination. All he needed, besides an ability to speak fluent French, was a private’s uniform, and you could buy uniforms for practically nothing from the soldiers who had been demobilized in Marseille. We sent several refugees to Casablanca this way. It wasn’t until October that the officer who had been selling the demobilization orders was arrested and court-martialed.

“Beamish also discovered an Austrian refugee named Reiner who sold everything—demobilization orders, French identity cards, passports and forged exit visas. He seemed to be on good terms with the Czech and Polish Consulates. In fact, he could get Czech and Polish passports à volonté—and also French identity cards…” [Fry, 1945, p. 42]

In addition to his work in guiding refugees over the frontier, Hirschmann did much of the interviewing of refugees, along with Fry and Franzi Hildebrandes and addresses and other information about them on ordinary white file cards.”

“For a while Beamish, Franzi and I handled all the work. There was a small writing table and a flat-topped dressing table, with mirror attached, in my room. We used the writing table as an interviewer’s desk and unscrewed the mirror from the dressing table and used it as a second interviewer’s desk. Beamish sat at one table and Franzi at the other. I usually sat on the edge of the bed, or stood up. The refugees waited in the corridor outside my door, and we let them in one at a time. I’d talk to them a little first, and then, if there seemed to be any chance at all that they were one of “our cases,” I’d pass them on to Beamish or Franzi, who would take down their names and addresses and other information about them on ordinary white file cards.”

Hirschmann also made contacts with the French underground and the Marseilles mafia for exchanging money on the black market, which was very dangerous work.

The French government was now tightening the vice on the ERC.

“One day toward the middle of the month, two plainclothesmen came into my office, showing their badges. When I asked them what they wanted, they said they were looking for ‘un nommé Hermant.’ Fortunately Beamish was still out of town, so I told them he had resigned his job several weeks before. When I asked them why they were interested in him, they said there were some serious charges against him.

“’Probably a dirty de Gaullist,’ on of the plainclothesmen said. ‘If you see him again, let us know.’

“I solemnly promised I would.

“When Beamish got back to Marseille, I told him the story, and he decided the time had come for him to leave France. We took a sad leave of one another, and he set off to see [Fittko] at Banyuls. A few days later I learned that he had reached Lisbon safely.

“I felt peculiarly lonely after he left. I suddenly realized how completely I had come to rely on him, not only for solutions to the most difficult problems, but also for companionship. For he was the only person in France who knew exactly what I was doing, and why, and was therefore the only one with whom I could always be at ease. With everyone else I had to pretend, sometimes more, sometimes less; with Beamish and Beamish alone I could be perfectly candid and natural. After he left I was completely alone, and I felt my solitude as I had never felt it before.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 150-151]

Beamish told Fry:

“I’ve always thought that what we did for the refugees in France resembled the obligation of soldiers to bring back their wounded from the battlefield, even at the risk of their own lives. Some may die. Some will be crippled for life. Some will recover and be the better soldiers for having had experience of battle. But one must bring them all back. At least one must try.” [Fry, 1945]

Hirschmann arrived in the United States in 1941. He was two years at the University of California at Berkeley.

He served in the US army from March 1943 to December 1945 in North Africa and Italy.

After the war, he became a noted author and expert on economics.

Hirschmann was Jewish.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 24-30, 35-48, 79-82, 87-91, 103-104, 107-109, 111-115, 122, 125, 131-133, 150-152, 213, 239. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 155-156, 158-159, 160-162, 169, 200, 204, 206, 209-211, 227-229, 231, 235, 243, 246, 256, 264, 288, 392. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 77-81, 120-122, 127-128, 136, 139, 142-143, 145, 156, 158-159, 165, 167, 185, 192-194, 202, 209, 218, 223-224, 241-246. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House). Ryan, Donna F. The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille: The Enforcement of Anti-Semitic Policies in Vichy France. (Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois Press, 1996), p. 142.]

M. Kokoczinski, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

K. Landau, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Eric Lewinsky, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Erich Lewinsky was a highly qualified volunteer and himself a refugee. Lewinsky took responsibility for many of the ERC cases.

[Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Marino, 1999, p. 267, 282, 322]

A. Marck

Walter “Baby” Mehring

[Fry, 1945, pp. 38, 48-50, 52, 74, 80, 83, 84, 92, 102, 111, 173, 174, 209. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

Heinrich Mueller, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Heinrich Mueller, a former worker in the German underground, was a volunteer with the ERC.

“Received a message from Lisbon today, in reply to my toothpaste letters to Heine. Heine has left for England, but Müller opened the letters and sent the answers by a Portuguese businessman. He says that Aufricht wasn’t able to get the salvos conductos, and that people arriving in Portugal with false transit visas are in a very difficult position and are likely to be arrested and sent back to Spain. But in very special cases he can take care of them. Lussu?” (Dated “Monday, June 9 [1941].” Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 581, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Fry, 1945, p. 189. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Marino, 1999, pp. 194, 275.]

H. Namuth, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Heinz Ernst “Oppy” Oppenheimer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Heinz Oppenheimer was instrumental in keeping the records for the ERC. He was important in creating accounting methods that would protect the ERC from police scrutiny and save them money in the exchange process in Marseilles.

“We had given away so much money without keeping proper records that we hardly knew where we stood. Franzi used to keep the money in a rubber-lined toilet bat. Whenever we took something out of the bag, we would put in a slip of paper. At night Franzi would take the bag home with him, so the police wouldn’t find it if they made a surprise visit to my room in the early morning. But we needed someone to set up our books and keep proper records for us.

“It was Heinz Ernst Oppenheimer who took over that job, as an unpaid volunteer. He was a German-Jewish production engineer who had run a relief committee in Holland after Hitler came to power and had been sent on a mission to the United States by the French Ministère d’Armement just before the war. For months he worked away on our books, disguising the illegal expenses in various ingenious ways and preparing beautiful statistical charts, all utterly legal and aboveboard. Instead of entering the grants to departing refugees as ‘travel expenses,’ which would have implicated us 9in illegal departures, he put them down as ‘living expenses.’ It was also illegal to 0pay out dollars, but we had to pay travel expenses in dollars, because francs couldn’t be changed in Spain. Oppy translated all the dollar payments into francs before entering them in the books. Thanks to him, we were always ready for the police.

“After the frosty little talk at the Prefecture, I went to a Marseille lawyer and had him draw up papers establishing the Centre Américain de Secours. It was Oppy who chose the name.

“‘Ça fait bien français,’ he said.” [Fry, 1945, p. 36]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 35-39, 171-172. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), p. 157. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 126-127, 202, 261-262.]

K. Oppenheimer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Mrs. Margaret Palmer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

[Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Fry, 1945, p. 154-156; Marino, 1999, 251-252]

Mlle. A. Pouppos, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Justus “Gussie” Rosenberg, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Miriam Davenport and Mary Jayne Gold “adopted” 13-year old “Gussie” Rosenberg. He quickly became a volunteer at the ERC and was extremely efficient in his activities. Rosenberg was a foreign Jew, and therefore was at extreme danger of being arrested by Vichy officials.

“Gussie left the Emergency Rescue Committee sometime in June 1941 and attempted to cross into Spain with the hope of reaching England. He was caught by the French Security Guards and thrown into prison in Pau, but eventually he was let go because of his youth. He established contact with a Resistance group in Grenoble; he was arrested in a general roundup of foreigners and placed in a transient concentration camp whose inmates were to be deported. A few hours before the transport was to leave, Gussie feigned severe abdominal pains diagnosed by the camp physician as peritonitis. Taken off to a nearby hospital for an emergency operation, he escaped on a bicycle placed in the courtyard by his underground colleagues forty-eight hours after surgery. Upon recovery, his first assignment was to assume the identity of a French boy and hang around wherever German soldiers gathered, eavesdrop on their conversations, and report them to intelligence center. His information, combined with that coming from other sources, gave the Resistance and hence their allies some idea of German troop movements.” [Gold, 1980, pp. 393-394]

During the war, Rosenberg served with a small guerrilla unit near Valence. He eventually became a volunteer with the US 36th Infantry Division as a liaison officer scout. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded several times. He was cited for gallantry in action.

Mme. R. Rosenthal, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Hans Sahl, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

“Another friend, Hans Sahl, the German poet, who has been my adviser on German writers, artists and musicians from the very beginning, is hoping to get his exit visa and his Spanish transit visa next week: if he does, he’ll leave too.” Dated “Villa Air-Bel, Sunday, February 9 [1941], Morning.” (Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 421, Box 14, Folder 1, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Fry, 1945, p. 187; Marino, 1999, p. 202; Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers.]

Paul Schmierer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Paul and Vala Schmierer were hired by Varian Fry to work in the ERC.

Vala Schmierer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Paul and Vala Schmierer were hired by Varian Fry to work in the ERC.

Mlle. M. Soïfer, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

K. Sternberg, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Captain Treacy, worked in conjunction with the Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France, 1940-1941

Captain Treacy, with the French underground, helped rescue British soldiers and refugees.

“The next day I introduced Jean [Gemahling] to Treacy, and he continued to work with the British as long as we had anything to do for them. His enthusiasm never lagged, but he took his duties so seriously that whenever he thought he had made a mistake he went into a depression, and I had difficulty restoring his self-confidence. He was my first introduction to the type of young French patriot of whom the underground and the maquis were later formed. In the course of his work for the British he also had a good deal to do with helping refugees escape, and he always performed his work with a conscientiousness that was almost excessive.” [Fry, 1945, p. 152]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 133, 152, 164. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), p. 259.]

E. Urbach, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Dr. Marcel “Monsieur Maurice” Verzeanu, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

“A few days before he want, I decided to divide his work between Jean Gemahling and Dr. Marcel Verzeanu (‘Maurice’). One night after dinner at the Villa Air-Bel I called Jean up to my room and told him what I had been doing for the British. Jean had always seemed more or less listless and indifferent about his work at the office, but I knew that he was strongly pro-British and utterly disgusted with the goings-on at Vichy. But I wasn’t prepared for the strength of the reaction I got to my revelation. Jean’s face lighted up as though I had just told him he had inherited a million dollars, and he looked at me as though I were a combination of General de Gaulle and his best girl friend. When I asked him whether he was willing to run the risk of working with me for the British, he blushed furiously and gave a kind of gasp.

“‘Willing!’ he said, in his slightly French version of an English public schoolboy’s accent. ‘There’s nothing in the world I’d rather do!’

“He told me then that ever since the armistice he had been looking for a way to get to England and join de Gaulle. But if he could help the British in France, he said, he would stay. I told him how great the risks were—the maximum penalty was death—but it didn’t faze him at all.

“’I might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,’ he said.” [Fry, 1945, pp. 151-152]

“Maurice, our Rumanian doctor, had already had something to do with the illegal departure of refugees even before Beamish left, but afterward he took charge of it. He established relations with [Fittko] at the frontier, and later with this successor, S____. He organized a whole network of underground workers—the ‘invisible staff’ as we called it—managed the secret funds, found new hiding places, directed the movement of refugees from one place to another, and provided them with false passports and visas. When everything else failed, he worked closely with Emilio Lussu in building up an underground railroad all the way to Lisbon. He fancied himself as quite a dog with the ladies, and, superficially, he often seemed to take his work rather lightly. But I soon discovered that the impression was a false one.” [Fry, 1945, p. 152]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 103, 151-152, 154, 156, 193-205, 221, 225, 228, 230, 234, 239. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 230-231, 234, 243, 245, 265, 278, 293, 296, 305, 325-326, 337-338, 354, 357, 359, 371, 383, 393. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 205, 213, 242, 271-275, 308-309, 345, 351.]

Mlle. E. Weil. Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Jacques Weisslitz+* Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Fry learned the Jacques Weisslitz and his wife had been deported to Germany. Fry had tried to get visas for them in 1942, but was unable. The US State Department refused to give the Weisslitz’s the piece of paper that would save their lives. He was arrested and killed.

“Still another of our collaborators, a Frenchman by the name of Jacques Weisslitz, was sent to Poland, like Freier. His wife was sent with him. The State Department had refused them visas.” [Fry, 1945, p. 238]

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), p. 238. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 267, 329.]

Arthur Wolf+* Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

[Fry, 1945, pp. 80, 191-195, 197, 198, 200-202, 238; Marino, 1999, pp. 186, 246, 266, 273-275, 283, 286, 301-303, 329]

Charles Wolff, journalist Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France

Wolff was a journalist from Paris and a friend of Konrad Heiden. Wolff worked with Jacques Weisslitz and helped take care of many of the refugees who had fled from the Strasbourg region.

Mary Jayne Gold ERC member writes of Wolff:

“Charles directed the Refuge for Alsatian Intellectuals, who were lodged in our Villa Air-Bel during the last phase of the Emergency Rescue Committee. As a journalist, his official duty was to handle the Committee’s relations with the press. When the Committee was forced to close down in June of 1942, he carefully hid its files and documents and joined the underground.

“There he became engaged in an ‘information service’ (espionage), relaying information back and forth between the French and Spanish Resistance, the latter consisting of an anarcho-syndicalist group. In the spring of 1944 he was denounced by a comrade who had been questioned under torture. Thus, delivered to his executioners, he died of a burst lung under the blows of his countrymen, the Milice, known as the French Gestapette. It was August 15, 1944, the day of the Allied landing in Provence.

“Danny wrote to Varian, a few months after the Liberation: ‘…He is one of our comrades who will not have seen the day of our victory.’” [Gold, 1980, pp. 395-396]

“Since the police reproach us with helping only Jews and foreigners (it isn’t quite true, of course, but it wouldn’t help us much to single out the non-Jewish French we do help), we have decided to enlarge our activity by aiding some of the refugees from Alsace and Lorraine. Charles Wolff has joined the staff and will be in charge of this branch of the work. We haven’t enough money to do anything on a very large scale, so we are going to limit what we do to ‘intellectuals’—doctors, lawyers, journalists, etc. The staff seems to think that even this will raise our credit with the authorities.” (Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Fry, 1945, pp. 185, 219, 221, 238. Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York. “Liste des Collaborateurs Ayant Fait Partie du Staff du ‘Centre Americain de Secours’ Dupuis sa Fondation,” 2/9/41, Varian Fry Papers. Gold, 1980, pp. 74-76, 376, 383, 395-396; Marino, 1999, p. 267]

Helped by:

Richard Allen, American Red Cross, Marseilles, (Fry, 1945, pp. 154-155, 208; Marino, 1999, p. 119)

Vincent Azéma, Mayor of Banyuls, France, (Fry, 1945, Marino, 1999; Ryan, 1996)

Vice Consul Hiram Bingham IV (USA), Marseilles, (Fry, 1945, pp. 10-12, 70, 83, 87-90, 99, 147, 215)

Frank Bohn, American Federation of Labor (USA), (Fry, 1945, pp. 7-12, 22, 23, 33, 34, 51, 54, 55, 56, 59, 80, 81, 92, 93; Marino, 1999) see above

Consul General Gilberto Bosques and Staff (Mexico), Marseilles, (Fry, 1945, pp. 59, 127, 236)

Howard Brooks, Unitarian Service Committee (USC), (Fry, 1945, p. 220; Ryan, 1996)

“Carlos” (“Garcia”; Fry, 1945, pp. 196, 197, 199, 201-205, 235; Marino, 1999, pp. 274-275)

Slavomir Brazk, Czech Aid, Centre d’Aide, Czechoslovakian Relief Center, Marseilles, 1941 (affiliated with YMCA), (Lowrie, 1963)

Dr. Burns Chalmers, American friends Service Committee, (AFSC; Marino, 1999, p. 139)

Consul de Sousa Dantas●+ (Brazil), Paris, (Fry, 1945, p. 128)

Gaston Defferre, lawyer, Marseilles, (Marino, 1999, pp. 135, 140)

Police Captain DuBois (France), Marseilles, (Fontaine, 1989, p. 151; Fry, 1945, pp. 48, 89-91, 132, 149, 150, 208)

Pinto Ferreira, Portugal

(Cable from Pinto Ferreira in Vichy to Salazar, March 18, 1943, AHD, 2o P. A. 50, M. 40. Cable from Salazar, March 27, 1943, AHD, 2o. P. A. 50, M. 40. Cited in Milgram, Avraham. “The Bounds of Neutrality: Portugal and the Repatriation of its Jewish Nationals.” Yad Vashem Studies, 31 (2003), pp. 201-244.)

Pinto Ferreira, the Portuguese Consul General in Vichy stationed in Marseilles, protected Jews who were registered with the consulate. Ferreira argued strongly for the protection of these Jews. Portuguese dictator Salazar later approved the repatriation of the Portuguese Jews.

Consul Figuière (Panama), Marseilles, (Fittko, 1991, pp. 165-166; Fry, 1945, pp. 82-83)

The Panamanian Honorary Consul in Marseilles was a French shipping agent by the name of Figuière. He provided Panamanian visa stamps to refugees as a means of escaping Vichy France. Hans and Lisa Fittko, refugees, obtained Panamanian visas from the honorary consul. They stated in Lisa’s autobiography that he “sells” these visas for the price of a salami. It was clear that no one was going to Panama on these visas.

Bedrich Heine, assistant to Frank Bohn, American Federation of Labor, (Fry, 1945, p. 93)

Dr. Charles Joy, (Fry, 1945, pp. 73, 106; Ryan, 1996)

Howard E. Kershner, American Frinds Service Committee (AFSC), Marseilles, (Ryan, 1996; Marino, 1999, p. 150)

Consul Li (China), Marseilles, (Fry, 1945, pp. 82-83; Marino, 1999, p. 119)

Dr. Donald Lowrie, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), Czech Aid, Marseilles, (Fry, 1945, pp. 18, 19, 80; Marino, 1999, pp. 107, 132, 137, 191; Ryan, 1996; Subac, 2010)

Emilio Lussu (alias “Monsieur Dupont”), assistant to Dr. Marcel Verzeanu, (Fry, 1945, pp. 59, 60, 72,73, 109, 131, 152, 189, 190, 199-201, 204, 205, 215, 233-235, 239; Marino, 1999, p. 162)

Colonel Randolfo Pacciardi

(Fry, 1945, pp. 109-112, 189, 190, 239; Marino, 1999, pp. 218, 255, 260, 276, 281-282)

Reiner, (Fry, 1945, p. 42; Marino, 1999, pp. 142-143)

Vice Consul Myles Standish (USA), Marseilles, (Marino, 1999, pp. 99-100, 117, 120; Ryan, 1996)

Vratislav Stula Czech Aid, Centre d’Aide, Czechoslovakian Relief Center, Marseilles, 1941 (affiliated with YMCA), (alias “Thurmond; Czechoslovakia; Lowrie, 1963)

Consul Vladimir Vochoc+● Czech diplomat, arrested and escaped (Czechoslovakia), Marseilles, issued many visas to refugees.

Awarded Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem for saving Jewish lives.

(Fry, 1945, pp. 18, 19, 42, 57, 80, 82-83, 99, 208; Marino, 1999, pp. 107-108, 119, 141, 192-193)

Consul (honorary) for Lithuania+ at Aix-en-Provence, (Fry, 1945, pp. 82-83, 131, 199; Marino, 1999, pp. 141, 242)

Consul of Poland, Marseilles, (Fry, 1945, pp. 42-43; Marino, 1999, p. 141)

Consul of Siam+, Marseilles, (Fry,1945, pp. 82-83, 99, 132)

Sponsors of the Emergency Rescue Committee (Comité de Patronage)

This list was generated from the papers of Varian Fry. It was drawn from a list of patrons (sponsors), friends and associates of Fry. It was also drawn from the letter of the Centre Américain e Secours, dated October 1941.

(Varian Fry Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York)

M. le Pasteur Marc Boegner, 10 Rue Claude Broussou Nieves

M Léon Brunschwicg, II Rue Irma Moreau, Aix-en-Provence (B du R)

M. Pablo Casals, 103, Route Nationale, Prades (P.O.)

M. Blaise Cendrars

M. Victor Combarnous, Président du Syndicat de la Presse Quotidienne Marseillaise, 22 Rue Haxo, Marseille

Mme. Marie Cuttoli, c/o Mrs. Steward Walker 823, Lexington Avenue N.Y.C.

M. André Demaison, c/o Editions Arthaud, Grenoble [also listed as: 24 Route des Gardes, Bellevue (S & O)]

Georges Duhamel, c/o “Le Figaro”, Vichy

M. L. O. Frossard, c/o “Le Mot d’Ordre”, 54 Rue Grignan, Marseille

M. André Gide, Hôtel Adriatic, Nice [also listed as: “La Messagière”, Cabris (A.M.)

M. Jean Giraudoux

Mme. Wanda Landowska, c/o E.R.C. 122 East 42 Street, N.Y.C. [also listed as: 1 Bld. Lassus, Banyuls-sur-Mer (P.O.)]

M. André Lhote, Gordes (Vaucluse)

M. Aristide Maillol, Sculpteur, Banyuls sur Mer (P.O.)

M. Henri Matisse, “La Regina” [Hôtel Regina], Cimiez, Nice (A.M.)

M. Emmanuel Mounier, Boite Postale 62, Lyon Terreaux (Rhône)

Comte Wladimir d’Ormesson, Ambassadeur de France, 7 Rue Alphonse Fauchier, Lyon (Rhône)

M. Paul Paray, Hôtel Beauvau, Rue Beuvau, Marseille

Comtesse Pastré, Château Pastré, Montredon, près Marseille

M. Georges Pernot, Conseiller National, c/o “Le Mot d’Ordre”, 54 Rue Grignan, Marseille

M. Emile Ripert, Professeur à la Faculté d’Aix, Marseille

Mme. Françoise Rosay, “La Rustica”, Clarens (Suisse)

M. Jean Schlumberger, Hôtel du Caire, Rue Beauvau, Marseille [also listed as: La Messagière, Cabris (A.M.)

M. Dunoyer de Segonzac

M. Edmond Vermeil, 6, Boulevard Pasteur, Montpellier (Hérault)

Friends of the Emergency Rescue Committee (Comités Amis)

(Varian Fry Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York)

M. Howard Kershner, Directeur, American Friends Service Committee, 29 Bd. d’Athènes, Marseille

M. Wood, Délégué des Quakers Américains, 3 Rue Porte du Moustier, Montauban (T. et G.)

Miss Bleuland van Oordt, Délégué des Quakers Américains, 26 Bd. Bonrepos, Toulouse

M. Donald Lowrie, Directeur Y.M.C.A., 1 Rue Pythéas, Marseille

Monsieur le Pasteur Toureille●, Aumônier Général des Réfugiés Protestants, Cournon-Terral (Hérault)

M. Carré de Malberg, Présdt. Gal. du G.E.R.A.L., Préfecture de Clermont-Ferrand (P. de D.)

M. Henri Chavet, Présdt. du Groupement des Expulsés de la Moselle, 8 Rue Malesherbes, Lyon

M. E. Bardou, Présdt. du G.E.R.A.L. du Gers, Maison de l’Agriculture, Auch

M. le Député Elsaesser, Délégué du G.E.R.A.L. de Nice 16, Ave. Villemont, Nice

M. Klein, Présdt. de la Section Locale du G.E.R.A.L. St. Junie, 7 Ave. du Mal Petain

M. le Présdt. du G.E.R.A.L. de l’Hérault, 16 Place de la Comédie, Montpellier

M. Grell, Sec. gal. du G.E.R.A.L. de la Dordogne, 2 Rue Antoine Godaud, Périgueux

M. Chalte, Secrétaire du G.E.R.A.L., 22 Bd. Soustre, Digne (A.M.)

M. Joseph Fega, Conseiller National, Présdt. Départemental du G.E.R.A.L., 23 Allées Lèon Gambetta, Marseille

M. J. Crépieux, Vice-Président Départemental du G.E.R.A.L., 23? Allées Leon Gambetta, Marseille

M. Marcel Schmidt, Présdt. Departemental du G.E.R.A.L., Toulouse (Hte. Garonne)

M. Dammert, Présdt. du G.E.R.A.L. du Gard, 19 Rue Briconnet Nîmes

M. le Sénateur Francois, Directeur du Comité de Sécours Belge, 62 Rue St. Ferreol, Marseille

M. Schah, Directeur de la H.I.C.E.M., 425 Rue Paradis, Marseille

M. le Directeur du Comité d’Assistance aux Réfugiés (C.A.R.), 58 Rue de la Joliette, Marseille

M. le Directeur du Comité d’Assistance aux Réfugiés (C.A.R.), 1 Rue des Chaussetiers, Clermont-Ferrand (P. de D.)

M. le Directeur du C.A.R. de Limoges, Comité de l’Accueil Francais, 32 Rue du Clocher, Limoges

M. le Président du C.A.R. de Lyon, Comité de Secours aux Réfugiés, 12 Rue Ste. Catherine, Lyon

M. le Président du C.A.R. de Montauban, c/o Quakers Américains, 3 Rue Porte du Moustier, Montauban

M. le Président du C.A.R. de Montpellier, Comité des Réfugiés, 14, Rue Marceau, Montpellier

M. le Président du C.A.R. de Nice, 2 Bd. Victor Hugo, Nice

M. le Président du C.A.R. de Pau c/o Rabbin Bauer, 36 bis Ave Gaston Phoebus, Pau

M. le Président du C.A.R. de Toulouse, Union des Sociétés de Bienfaisance, 39 Rue des Couteliers, Toulouse

M. le Président de l’O.R.T., 21 Place Alexandre Labadié, Marseille

M. le Président de l’Union O.S.E., 12 bis Rue Jules Ferry, Montpellier

M. le Président du Cartel Suisse de Secours aux Enfants, 77 Rue du Taur, Toulouse

M. l’Abbé Scolardi, Office des Emigrés Slaves et Orientaux, 43 de Breteuil, Marseille

M. le Président de le Croix-Rouge Polonaise, 79 Rue Paradis, Marseille

M. le Directeur du Foyer “La Paix”, 3 Rue de Turenne, Marseille

Monsieur le Directeur du Secours National, 143 Rue Paradis, Marseille

M. Charles Joy, European Director, Unitarian Service Committee, 15 Rue Fortia, Marseille

Mme. Long-Landry, Directrice Internationale du Service Social d’Aide aux Emigrants, 4 Rue Stanislas Torrendts, Marseille

Miss Phelan, Directrice, Service Social d’Aide aux Emigrants, 4 Rue Stanislas Torrendts, Marseille

M. le Directeur de l’Armée du Salut, 190 Rue Félix Pyat, Marseille

Mrs. Lowrie, Directrice de la Croix-Rouge Américaine, 1 Rue Beauvau, Marseille

Madame la Présidente de la Croix-Rouge Française, 11 Rue Lafon, Marseille

Le T.R.P. Prieur des Dominicains, Couvent de St. Lazare, 35 Rue Edmond Rostand, Marseille

M. le Directeur de l’Office Central des Oeuvres, 67 Rue Paradis, Marseille

M. le Directeur de la Rockefeller Foundation, Bureau de Marseille, 18 Rue Colbert, Marseille

M. le Président de l’Union Suisse des Comités de Secours, Lavaterstrasse 37, Zurich, Suisse

Mlle. Nina Gourfinkel, Comité d’Assistance à la Population Juive frappée par la guerre, 34 Rue Alfredde Musset, Lyon

M. le Directeur de l’Agence des Prisonniers de Guerre, 11 Rue Lafon, Marseille

M. Isaï Nahum, 11 bis Avenue de la Malsence, Pau (B.P.)

M. l’Abbé Glasberg, 9 Rue André Chevrier, Lyon

Msr. Delay, Evèque de Marseille

M. le Président de l’Association des Volontaires Etrangers, 306 Rue d’Endomme, Marseille

M. et Mme. Modigliani, Hôtel Luxembourg, Nîmes (Gard)

M. René Gounin, Directeur du “Mot d’Ordre”, 54 Rue Grignan, Marseille

M. Charles Vildrac, La Maison Blanche, St. Tropez (Var)

European Student Relief

French Committee in Aid of Jewish Refugees (ORT)

French Jewish Scouts (EIF)

French Protestant Federation (Fédération Protestante de France)

Pastor Fay (World Council of Churches)

French Red Cross

Maurice DuBois●, and wife, Ellen, Toulouse, Fance

(Gutman)

Elenore DuBois, wife

(Gutman)

French Student Christian Association

General Union of French Jews

(Union Générale des Israélites de France; UGIF), North, South

On November 29, 1941, the French Jewish Council (UGIF) was established. This organization was established as a go-between between the Nazi occupying forces and the Jewish community. The Jewish community in the unoccupied zone of the south argued over the legitimacy of this organization and if they should participate with them.

The UGIF-North tried to protect Jews from racial laws and eventual deportation, with limited success. The UGIF distributed food and aid to many of the Jews of Paris. In addition, they liberated several hundred Jewish children from the Drancy transit camp. It was severely criticized by Jewish organizations.

The UGIF-South was established in January 1942 and began to fully function by May 1942. Unlike UGIF-North, it was active in rescue and relief operations throughout the war. It worked within the French concentration camps and tried unsuccessfully to intervene with French and Nazi officials to prevent the deportation of some Jews. The OSE and the EIF functioned under the aegis of the UGIF-South and succeeded, using illegal means, in saving some Jews by taking them from the camps. The UGIF-S encouraged Jews in the unoccupied zone to escape to the Italian zone, where they had limited protection until September 1943.

UGIF-South Concil Members (unoccupied France):

Ramond-Raoul Lambert, leader

Albert Levy, leader

Wladimir Schah (HICEM-France)

Raphael Spanien (HICEM-France)

Gaston Kahn (CAR)

Andre Lazard

Laure Weill

Robert Gamzon (French Jewish Scouts; EIF)

Maurice Brenner (Social Inspector, Lambert’s Secretary), JDC Rep.

Jules Jefroykin (Social Inspector, JDC Rep.)

Raymond Geissman, leader (Sept. 1943)

Professor Fernand Carcassonne (Sept. 1943)

Georges Edinger

Jérémie Hemardinquer

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987). Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 52-53, 63, 68-69, 71-76, 80-90, 93-101, 103-107, 112-115, 117-123, 125-130, 131-132, 138-140, 149-153, 156-184, 186-189. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). Marrus, Michael, R., and Robert O. Paxton. Vichy France and the Jews. (New York: Basic Books, 1981), pp. 109-112, 118, 248-249, 266-267, 295, 301, 306, 308, 321, 330, 336-337. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005).]

Hebrew Immigrant Aid and Sheltering Society (HIAS-HICEM), USA

The HIAS-ICA offices in Marseilles had 77 workers. Working closely with the Joint and numerous rescue and relief organizations, it helped thousands of Jewish refugees escape. Its primary mission was to help procure documentation for refugees and arrange for numerous sailings of rescue ships from Portugal. At least 22 HIAS-HICEM activists/rescuers were killed.

Dr. James Bernstein, European director, Lisbon, Portugal

Ilja Dijour, secretary, Lisbon, Portugal

Edouard Oungre, co-director, Paris

Vladimir Shah, co-director, Brussels, Belgium

Raphael Spanien, co-director, Spain, Lisbon, Portugal, Casablanca

Alexander Trocki, co-director

Abraham Amram, Lisbon, Portugal

Professor Moses B. Amzalak

Marguite Dreyfus*

M. Frangeort*

Izerliss*

Jean Jacob*

Joskite Jacob*

Marie Kotowicz*

Natan Kramarz*

Suzanne Lotterman*

Marcel Meyer*

M. Parascou*

I. Rosengarten*

S. Sambor*

M. Scharff

R. Volteger*

HICEM (HIAS-ICA), Paris, France:

Vladimir Shah, representative until late 1939

Edouard Oungre, representative, 1940, Paris, Marseilles.

HICEM (HIAS-ICA), Marseilles, France

[Ginzberg, Eli. Report to American Jews on Overseas Relief, Palestine and Refugees in the United States. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942). Uneasy Asylum: France and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1933-1942. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1999), pp. 123, 123n, 149, 165, 132, 252, 305, 335, 336, 337. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 147-149. Ginzberg, Eli. Report to American Jews on Overseas Relief, Palestine and Refugees in the United States. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942), pp. 161-164, 167-169, 178-179. Marrus, Michael, R., and Robert O. Paxton. Vichy France and the Jews. (New York: Basic Books, 1981), pp. xv, 114-115, 147, 163-164, 167, 247n, 248, 310. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), p. 112. YIVO, HICEM Historic Archives, New York City.]

Edouard Oungre, co-director

Vladimir Shah, co-director

Raphael Spanien, co-director

Alexander Trocki, co-director

Interfaith Committee on Refugees, France

Established December 1938

Cardinal Verdier

Pastor Marc Boegner●

Grand Rabbi Israel Lévi

Francois Mauriac

Jacques Hellbronner (Jewish)

Professor Robert Debré

International Commission for the Assistance of Spanish Child Refugees

Perpignan, France, established in February 1939 by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to help children of Spanish Republican soldiers who fled to Southern France; also helped Jewish refugees; worked with ORT and OSE as well; see also American Friends Service Committee, France

(Moore, 2010, p. 139)

International League Against Antisemitism (LICA)

Ligue Internationale contre l’Antisemitisme)

The International League Against Antisemitism (LICA) was founded in 1927. After the Nazi takeover in Germany in 1933, LICA advocated a strong response against the Nazi persecution of Jews. They lobbied to allow immigration of German Jewish refugees to France.

In 1937, LICA changed its name to the International League Against Racism and Antisemitism (Ligue Internationale contre l’Racisme et l’Antisemitisme).

LICA operated as a clandestine organization during World War II, and its members participated in rescue activities.

[Caron, Vicki. Uneasy Asylum: France and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1933-1942. (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1999), pp. 68, 82, 88f, 96, 105, 192, 189, 229, 313. Rayski, Adam. The Choice of Jews Under Vichy, Between Submission and Resistance. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press and US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 2005), pp. 19-20, 64, 301.]

International Migration Office

Le Chambon sur Lignon

Town of Haute Loire Province, Southern France, see also CIMADE (Comité Intermouvements Auprès des Évacues), AFSC, USC, YMCA, Czech Aid, etc. (Gutman, 2003; Halle, 1979; Ryan, 1996, pp. 11, 160, 220) See Le Chambon Sur Lignon.