Nîmes Committee (Camp Committee)

Members

Members and Individuals Associated with the Nimes Committee and rescue and relief activities

(In alphabetical order)

Dr. Mussa (Moses) Abadi and Odette Rosenstock

Mussa Abadi and his fiancée, Odette Rosenstock, fled Paris in the summer of 1940 to Nice, in the South of France. The persecution of Jews in this area started in September 1943, after the Germans invaded and occupied southern France. Nice and Cannes, as well as other areas, became areas of German control. During this period, Abadi and Rosenstock began rescuing Jewish children whose parents had been deported or were in hiding. Once the children were in their protection, Abadi and Rosenstock began to look for safe hiding places to hide their charges. They were aided by the Catholic bishop of Nice, Bishop Raymond. Raymond supported the rescue efforts by opening up Catholic institutions as well as allocating a small office for Abadi to produce forged ID cards and baptismal certificates. Abadi also sought and received support from the Protestant ministers in the area as well as working with Jewish underground organizations such as the OSE and the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), which gave him financial support. Rosenstock continued to check up on the young Jews in hiding. The lives of Abadi and Rosenstock were in constant danger. Abadi and Rosenstock, and the “Marcel Network,” as they were called, are credited with saving the lives of more than 500 Jewish children.

Jay Allen, Centre Américain de Secours, The American Relief Center, Marseilles, France. Fry wrote of his friend, “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Varian Fry, unpublished manuscript for Surrender on Demand, p. 482, Varian Fry Papers, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York) [Fry, 1945, pp. 154, 155, 208; Marino, 1999, pp.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]

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

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

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, 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.]

Madeleine Barot●, CIMADE. Honored by Yad Vahsem March 28, 1988, File 3830. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Daniel “Danny” Bénédite + (France), Assistant Director, Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). 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.

[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. (Fry, 1945; Subak, 2010, pp. 114-117, 130-131, 133, 156, 159-161, 192)

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.]

Adrien Benveniste, Sixth Division, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Adrien Benveniste established a rescue network to take Jewish children to Switzerland. He worked with CIMADE. He also worked with the Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE) at 25 Rue d’Italie in Marseilles.

[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. 179. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV, † US Vice Consul in Marseilles, France, 1937-1941. Hiram Bingham was the American Vice Consul in charge of visas, stationed in Marseilles, France, in 1937-1941. Shortly after the fall of France, Bingham, against the orders and policy of his superiors, issued visas, safe passes, and letters of transit to Jewish refugees. Many visas were falsified in order to protect the refugees from internment. Bingham helped set up the contacts and issued visas for the Emergency Rescue Committee, headed by Varian Fry. Bingham also worked with other rescue operations in Marseilles, including the American Friends’ Service Committee (Quakers), the American Red Cross, the Unitarian Service Committee, the Mennonite Committee, and Jewish relief organizations. Bingham also worked with the Nîmes (Camps) Committee. He was, in part, responsible for saving several thousand Jews. Among them were many anti-Nazi activists, labor leaders, and Communists. He also rescued Jewish artists, intellectuals, writers and scientists, such as Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, André Breton, Heinrich Mann, and Jewish Nobel Prize winners. Bingham visited the concentration camps and facilitated issuing visas to Jews trapped in the Les Milles French concentration camp. In May 1941, Bingham helped the Quakers, the Nîmes Committee and the OSE rescue several hundred Jewish children by issuing US visas. These children left France in June 1941. In 1942, Bingham was transferred to the US embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the end of the war, he reported on the immigration of Nazi war criminals to Buenos Aires. He wrote numerous reports and encouraged his supervisors to report these activities to the State Department. His superiors did nothing and he resigned from the Foreign Service in protest. In 2000, Bingham was presented the American Foreign Service Association Constructive Dissent award by the US Secretary of State. In 2005, Hiram Bingham was given a letter of commendation from Israel’s Holocaust Museum. In 2006, a US commemorative postage stamp was issued in his honor.

[Fry, Varian. Assignment Rescue. (New York: Scholastic, 1997). Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 10-12, 14, 17-18, 32-33, 49, 56-57, 69-70, 83, 87-90, 147, 172, 215. Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 99-100, 196, 107-108, 117, 120, 187, 209, 231, 268, 285, 287. Isenberg, Sheila. A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry. (New York: Random House), pp. 75-76, 83, 86, 89, 125, 142, 150, 152-153, 193, 193n. 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. 130, 142, 144. 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. Wyman, David S. Paper Walls: America and the Refugee Crisis, 1939-1941. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), pp. 167-168. Varian Fry Papers, Columbia University. HICEM records, France, YIVO Archives. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 171. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives, New York City. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 171.]

Dr. René Block*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Deported and killed.

[Klarsfeld, p. 29.]

Gertrude Blumenstock-Levy*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Gertrude Blumenstock-Levy was an OSE worker at Le Masgelier children’s home. She was murdered.

Dr. Moise Blumenstock*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Dr. Moise Blumenstock was the staff physician at Le Masgelier children’s home. He was an OSE worker who avoided arrest and escaped a roundup. He joined the underground and resistance. He was murdered in June 1944.

[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. 182.]

Pastor Marc Boegner● (France; Comité Intermouvement après des Evacuees), see Pastor Marc Boegner Rescue Network, Southern France, worked with OSE, see also Committee for Action on Behalf of Refugees (Comite d’Inter Mouvement après des Evacues; CIMADE and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Honored by Yad Vashem November 26, 1987, File 2698. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Frank Bohn, American Federation of Labor, Marseille, France

[Fry, Varian. Assignment Rescue. (New York: Scholastic, 1997). Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945)

Auguste Bohny●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem July 16, 1990, File 4681. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Friedel Bohny-Reiter●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem July 16, 1990, File 4681. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Rene Borel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Rene Borel was active in saving Jews in France with Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 248. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 30.]

Ambassador Gilberto Bosques+, Mexican Consul General in Paris and Marseilles, 1939-42. Gilberto Bosques was a member of the revolutionary movement in Mexico in 1910. He served in numerous occupations, including that of journalist, educator and politician. He was appointed Ambassador at Large to France by Mexican President Cardenas. Bosques served as the Mexican Consul General in Paris and Marseilles in 1939-1942. During this time, Bosques issued hundreds of visas to refugees, including anti-Franco fighters from the Spanish Civil War. He also issued visas to thousands of Jews. Among those he helped save were artists, politicians and other refugees from Germany, Austria, France and Spain. Bosques supplied visas to Varian Fry and his Emergency Rescue Committee as well as numerous other rescue agencies. Bosques maintained two estates outside of Marseilles (formerly castles) in which he housed and fed thousands of refugees. In November 1942, Bosques and other members of the Mexican legation were arrested by French Vichy officials and Nazis. Bosques and his staff were later released and returned to Mexico. When Consul General Bosques returned to Mexico City, he was greeted by cheering throngs and a parade was held in his honor. After the war, Bosques served many years as a career diplomat in the Mexican foreign service.

[Bosques, Gilberto. The National Revolutionary Party of Mexico and the Six-Year Plan. (Mexico: Bureau of Foreign Information of the National Revolutionary Party, 1937). Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), p. 127. See Visas for Life nomination for Yad Vashem. See also news clippings. Eck, Nathan. “The Rescue of Jews With the Aid of Passports and Citizenship Papers of Latin American States.” Yad Vashem Studies on the European Jewish Catastrophe and Resistance, 1 (1957), pp. 125-152. Marrus, Michael, R., and Robert O. Paxton. Vichy France and the Jews. (New York: Basic Books, 1981). Fittko, Lisa, translated by David Koblick. Escape through the Pyrénées. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991). 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). Cline, H. F. The United States and Mexico. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953). Schuler, Friedrich E. Mexico Between Hitler and Roosevelt: Mexican Foreign Relations in the Age of Lázaro Cárdens, 1934-1940. (Albequerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1998). Bosques Saldívar, Gilberto. Gilberto Bosques Saldívar: H. Congreso del Estado de Puebla. LII Legislatura. (San Andrés Cholula, Puebla: Imagen Pública y Corporativa). Barros Horcasitas, Beatriz. “Gilberto Bosques Saldívar, adalid del asilo diplomático.” Sólo Historia, 12 (2001), pp. 74-87. Carrillo Vivas, Gonzalo, “A los 84 años del desembarco de los marines en el Puerto de Veracruz,” Bulevar, 4 (1993), Mexico. Carrillo Vivas, Gonzalo, “Poeta: Gilberto Bosques Saldívar,” Bulevar, 8 (1994), Mexico. Garay, Graciela de, coord., Gilberto Bosques, historia oral de la diplomacia mexicana. Mexico, Archivo Histórico Diplomático, 1988. Romero Flores, Jesús, Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Mexico, SEP, 1960. Salado, Minerva, Cuba, revolución en la memoria. Mexico, IPN, 1989. Serrano Migallón, Fernanco, El asilo politico en Mexico. Mexico, Porrúa, 1988. Rodriguez, Luis I. Misión de Luis I. Rodriguez en Francia: La protección de los refugiados españoles, Julio a diciembre de 1940. (Mexico: El Colegio de México, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, 2000). Salzman, Daniela Gleizer. México Frente a la Inmigración de Refugiados Judíos: 1934-1940. (Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historía, 2000). Kloyber, Christian (Ed.). Exilio y Cultura: El Exilio Cultural Austriaco en México. (Mexico: Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 2002). Von Hanffstengel, Renata, Tercero, Cecilia (Eds.). México, El Exilio Bien Temperado. (Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Interculturales Germano-Mexicanas,1995). Von Hanffstengel, Renata, Vasconcelos, Cecilia T., Nungesser, Michael, & Boullosa, Carmen. Encuentros Gráficos 1938-1948. (Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Interculturales Germano-Mexicanas, 1999). Alexander, Brigitte. Die Ruckkehr: Erzählunen und Stücke aus dem Exile. (Berlin: Wolfgang Weist, 2005). Kloyber, Christian. Österreicher in Exil, Mexico 1938-1947: Eine Dokumentation. (Wien: Verlag Deutsche, 2002).]

Maurice Brenner, General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-S), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Representative

Maurice Brenner was a prominent rescue activist and member of the General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-S) in Southern France. He was an assistant to Jules Jefroykin and secretary to Raoul Lambert. Brenner was arrested in UGIF-N offices by Nazis on September 3, 1943.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 142, 144. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 93. 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. 204, 244.]

Reverend Howard Brooks (USA), Unitarian Service Committee (USC). (Subak, 2010, pp. 103-107, 109, 113, 114, 137-138, 161, 165, 176, 194, 196, 211-212)

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.]

Eve Cahen*, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE. Deported and killed.

[Klarsfeld, p. 29.]

Leon “Alex” Chertock, Mouvement National Contre le Racisme

Alex Chertock was a leader of the Mouvement National Contre le Racisme. Chertock worked with Suzanna Spaatz and Thérèse Pierre. They organized a children’s rescue network. They worked with Protestant religious leaders in Southern France.

Madam Chavoutier

Madame Chevalley, International Migration Service. (Subak, 2010 p. 67)

Rabbi Leo Cohen, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)

Rabbi Leo Cohen, with the French Jewish Scouts, set up escape routes and guided Jews from Southern France into Spain. He was arrested and later released. He continued his work throughout the war.

[Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996).]

Marianne Cohen*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Marianne Cohen helped smuggle Jewish children from the Italian-controlled French zone in the south to Switzerland. She was betrayed, caught and deported to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.

[Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 201-202, 250. 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. 182-183. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 124.]

Victoria Cordier●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem July 16, 1990, File 3195/3. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Dr. Jean Cremer

Dr. Jean Cremer helped organize the rescue of Jews in France.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 248.]

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…”

[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]

Mr. Declereq, Belgian Red Cross

Elizabeth Dexter (USA), Unitarian Service Committee (USC). (Subak, 2010, pp. 25-28, 35, 59, 64-65, 76-78, 81-82, 100-109, 137-141, 157-159, 164, 169-171, 174-176, 207-208)

Robert C. Dexter (USA), Unitarian Service Committee (USC). (Subak, 2010, pp. 52, 54-60, 70, 71, 78-83, 90-91, 114-115, 129, 130, 131-132, 186, 187, 189, 190, 194-196)

Maurice Dubois●, and wife, Ellen, Secours Suisse aux Enfants. Honored by Yad Vashem May 2, 1985, File 3195. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Miss Elmes, American Friends Service Committee AFSC (Perpignan), Camp d’Argelès

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.

[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), Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999]

Pastor Fay, French Protestant Federation (Fédération Protestante de France), World Council of Churches

Herta Field (USA), Unitarian Service Committee (USC), Southern France wife of Noel H. Field. (Subak, 2010, pp. 85, 86, 88, 119, 120, 146-149, 151, 153, 154, 179-181, 214)

Noel H. Field (USA), Southern France. Noel Field, a Quaker, headed the Marseilles office of the Unitarian Service Committee (USC). Field had previously worked for the US Department of State and the League of Nations. The USC provided relief in the French concentration camps in Southern France, including the Rivesalt, Les Milles, Atlantique, Terminus des Ports, and Levant camps and the Marseilles reception center in Bompard. In addition, the USC ran medical clinics that employed four full-time and five part-time physicians, and three dentists. (Subak, 2010, pp. 84-86, 88, 89, 109-111, 121-122, 125-126, 148, 151-153, 164, 181, 195, 202, 214-215, 225)

Mssr. Figuière, Honorary Consul for Panama in Marseilles, 1940-41. 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.

(Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 82-83. Fittko, Lisa, translated by David Koblick. Escape through the Pyrénées. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1991), pp. 165-166.)

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, 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)

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. Honored by Yad Vashem February 8, 2000, File 8782. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

[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); Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999) ;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; Ryan 1996, pp. 39, 83, 173)

Lisa Fittko was a Jewish refugee from Austria. She and her husband, Hans (a non-Jew) fled to Southern France after the German occupation of France. Lisa and Hans volunteered to escort Jews from Marseilles into Spain. She volunteered as a guide for the Emergency Rescue Committee.

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.

[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.]

Varian Fry● (USA), Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography. Honored by Yad Vashem July 21, 1994, File 6150. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Robert Gamzon, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), The Sixth, Council Member, General Union of Jews of France (UGIF-S)

Robert Gamzon was a French partisan commander who founded the Jewish Scout movement, Eclaireurs Israélites de France. After the Nazi occupation of France in June 1940, Gamzon used the Jewish Scout movement to help Jews in France. He helped establish children’s homes, kitchens, welfare agencies and agricultural training facilities. In the summer of 1942, Gamzon founded a secret rescue network codenamed La Sixième (The Sixth). The Sixth produced false identity documents, found homes for Jewish children and teenagers, and organized the rescue of Jews by smuggling them across borders into Spain and Switzerland. In December 1943, Gamzon founded a Jewish partisan army in the Tarn district of southwest France. Gamzon also served in the Armée Juive (Jewish Army) as a partisan leader.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 101, 102, 142, 156, 215. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 182-183. Latour, A. The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1981). Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 50-52, 55-56, 58, 62-63, 157, 190, 205, 220, 268, 290, 295-296, 298, 301, 303, 305. Michel, A. Les Eclaireurs Israelites de France pendant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale. (Paris, 1984). Pougatch, I. Un bâtisseur: Robert Gamzon. (Paris, 1971). 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. 59, 64, 172-173, 231-232, 244, 259-261, 265-266, 271, 279.]

George Garel, Garel Circuit (Network)

George Garel founded the Circuit Garel, or the Garel Circuit, an elaborate rescue network to save Jews that operated in southern France from August 1942 until the liberation of France in August 1944. Garel was a French Jew who ran a small electrical business in Lyon. By mid 1943, Garel had hidden more than 1,600 Jewish children. (See Garel Network.)

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 140-141. 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). 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. 121-122, 178. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 83-84, 93-94, 96-97, 135.]

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.

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), 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.

Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier● Honored by Yad Vashem July 15, 1981 File 1769. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography. (Subak, 2010 p. 66)

Alexandre Glasberg● (1902-1981), (France; Lyons Catholic Archdiocese), Amitié Chretienne; Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Honored by Yad Vashem June 17, 2003, File 9792. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Alexandre (André) Glasberg was a Jew born in Zhitomir, in the Ukraine. He converted and became a Catholic priest in France. In 1940, he established a charitable organization called Christian Friendship (Amitié Chrétienne). This organization was involved in the rescue and relief of Jews in southern France. Glasberg operated with the help of French Catholic Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, who was head of the Catholic Church in France. Amitié Chrétienne set up shelters for Jews who were released from the French internment camps. In the summer of 1942, Glasberg and his organization went underground. He helped to hide Jews throughout the unoccupied zone. In December 1942, Glasberg’s activities were found out by the Gestapo, and he joined the French partisan movement.

After the war, Glassberg worked with the Mossad Aliyah Bet, helping Jews emigrate to Palestine.

[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. 200, 207. 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. 113, 121-122, 244. Wellers, Z. G., A. Kaspi, and S. Klarsfeld (Eds.) La France et al Question Juive, 1940-1944. (Paris, 1981).]

Dr. Gluck*, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Dr. Gluck was an Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE staff physician at the Brout-Vernet (Allier) home. He was murdered in June 1944.

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.

[Gold, Mary Jayne. Crossroads Marseilles, 1940. (New York: Doubleday, 1980). Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), 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), 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), Ebel, Miriam Davenport. An Unsentimental Education: A Memoir by Miriam Davenport Ebel. (1999).]

Dr. Pierre Grinberg, MNCR-Southern Zone

Dr. Grinberg worked with the Swiss Red Cross and Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE to save Jewish children in Southern France.

[Rayski, p. 189.]

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.

Tony Gryn, Rescuer Guide

[Latour, A. The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1981), p. 156.]

Lazare Gurvic, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Jewish rescuer in Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants;

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

Olga Gurvic, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 29.]

Jewish rescuer in Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE

Claude Gutman*, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), La Sixième (The Sixth)

Claude Gutman was a rescue activist in Southern France. He was arrested, deported and murdered.

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 83.]

Jacques Guttman (Griffon), Nice

Jacques Guttman (Griffon) was a rescuer who was arrested.

[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. 205.]

Marc Haguenau, Haguenau Platoon, French Jewish Scouts (EIF)

Marc Haguenau was a prominent member of the French Jewish Scouts. Working in Southern France, he organized the rescues of hundreds of Jews.

[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), p. 208. 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. 262-263.]

Dr. Ilse Hamburger

Fritz Bedrich Heine● (b. 1904); Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France. Honored by Yad Vashem November 3, 1986 [October 29, 1987], File 3522. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

(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.)

Chief Rabbi René Hirschler*, president, Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA), (Bauer, 1981, Cohen, 1987, Lowrie, 1963, Paxton, 1981, Rayski, 2005)

Chief Rabbi Rene Hirschler set up a refugee aid center for Jews in the autumn of 1940. On his recommendation, the Jewish Agency created the Camps Commission.

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.

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.”

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.”

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

[Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House, 1945), pp. 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), 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), p. 142.]

Chief Rabbi Rene Hirschler, Camps Commission

Chief Rabbi Rene Hirschler set up a refugee aid center for Jews in the autumn of 1940. On his recommendation, the Jewish Agency created the Camps Commission.

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 19, 42, 45-46, 58-59. 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. 105, 111.]

Jules “Dika” Jefroykin (1911-1987), Jewish Zionist Youth Movement (MJS), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), General Union of French Jews (UGIF-S)

Jules Jefroykin was a prominent Jewish rescue and resistance leader in Southern France. Jefroykin, along with Simon Levitte, founded the Jewish Zionist Youth Movement (MJS) in the winter of 1941-1942. Jefroykin participated with the Jewish Combat Organization and was instrumental in smuggling Jewish children and youths from France into Spain. Jefroykin was also the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s representative in France, and along with Maurice Brener, was responsible for funding rescue activities, which were considered illegal.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 142, 144-145. Avni, H. “The Zionist Underground in Holland and France and the Escape to Spain.” In Rescue Attempts during the Holocaust. Proceedings of the Second Yad Vashem International Historical Conference, edited by Y. Gutman and E. Zuroff, pp. 555-590. (Jerusalem, 1977). Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981). Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 60, 114. Latour, A. The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1981), pp. 24-25, 88, 98, 117, 124-127, 170-173, 190, 205, 253. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 68-69, 102, 166, 220, 235, 257-259, 263-264, 287-288, 295. 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. 68, 244, 271.]

Dr. Charles J. Joy (USA), Unitarian Service Committee (USC). (Bauer, 1981 p.162; (Subak, 2010, pp. 52, 54-60, 70, 71, 78-83, 90-91, 114-115, 129-132, 186, 187, 189, 190, 194-196)

Gaston Kahn, Committee d’Assistance aux Réfugiés (CAR), Council Member, General Union of French Jews (UGIF-S)

Gaston Kahn was active with CAR in saving Jewish refugees. He replaced Raoul Lambert after his arrest in July 1943. In December 1943, Kahn barely escaped arrest by the German forces. Kahn worked with Raphael Spanien. Kahn was an active Council Member of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 96-97. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 121. 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. 61, 231, 253.]

Rabbi René Samuel Kapel, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-S)

Rabbi René Samuel Kapel worked with the General Union of French Jews in Southern France in the Gurs camp. He warned Jews and was a relief activist.

Herbert Katzki (USA), American Joint Disribution Committee (JDC), Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA) Member of the Executive Committee of the Nîmes Committee.

Herbert Katzki was active throughout France in helping Jewish refugees. He was a rescue advocate who helped organize rescue and relief actions. Katzki worked out of the JDC office in Lisbon, Portugal.

Katzki was also instrumental in trying to implement the Europa Plan.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 143, 167. American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Archives. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 41, 43, 61, 156, 158-160, 163, 169-170, 179, 211, 240, 264, 331, 372-374. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 26, 41, 44.]

Necdet Kent, Consul for Turkey in Marseilles and Grenoble, France, 1942-45. Necdet Kent was the Vice Consul for the Turkish Republic stationed in Marseilles, France, in 1942. He was later promoted to the rank of Consul and remained in Marseilles until 1945. When Nazi Germany occupied France in 1940, many Jewish Turks and others fled to unoccupied Vichy France. During the period of 1942-45, Kent issued numerous Turkish certificates of citizenship to Jewish refugees, preventing them from being deported to Nazi murder camps. On one occasion, Kent boarded a deportation train bound for Auschwitz with Jews loaded on cattle cars. Kent stopped the train and had the Jews released.

(Shaw, Stanford J. Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey’s Role in Rescuing Turkish and European Jewry from Nazi Persecution, 1933-1945. (New York: New York University Press, 1993), pp. 64-66, 79, 95-96, 132-134, 148, 332, 341-344.)

Howard Kershner American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Mrs. Kirbach

Théo Klein, Leader, Sixth Division, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), Former President, CRIF

Théo Klein established a rescue network to take Jewish children to Switzerland. He worked with CIMADE.

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 147. 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. 179, 231, 257-258.]

Joseph Kogan, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Joseph Kogan directed the Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE children’s home at Brout-Vernet. He was arrested with two children.

Raymond Raoul Lambert, Leader, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-S), CAR, Member of the Executive Committee of the Nîmes Committee

Raymond Raoul Lambert was a community leader and a leader of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 11, 19, 53-57, 60-67, 83, 112-130, 157-163, 166-167, 169-171, 173, 176-177, 179-180. 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. 57, 59-64, 140, 158-159, 178, 222, 224, 231-232, 253, 309-310, 334n6.]

Mademoiselle Renee Lang (France)

Denise Lévy, French Jewish Scouts (EIF), La Sixième (The Sixth)

Denise Lévy was a leader of the French Jewish Scouts in Southern France. She helped make and distribute IDs and ration papers to help Jews survive.

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 150.]

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]

Princess Lieven, American Friends Service Committee, AFSC/Quakers. (Bauer, 1981)

Georges Loinger, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Georges Loinger smuggled Jewish children from France into Switzerland. Loinger was a member of OSE (Oeuvre De Secours Aux Enfants; Children’s Aid Rescue Society).

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), 79, 136, 137, 210, 211, 215. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 195, 201-202. 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. 182. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 84, 96, 104-106, 112, 117, 124.]

Donald Lowrie, World Service of the YMCA, American Friends of Czechoslovakia, Head of Nîmes Committee; Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA); (Bauer, 1981, Cohen, 1987, Lowrie, 1963, Paxton, 1981, Rayski, 2005)

Headed the Nimes Committee, which was comprised of at least twenty-five aid and rescue organization in Southern France. This was one of the largest rescue networks in Europe.

Mrs. Donald Lowrie, Director of the American Red Cross in Marseille, wife of Donald Lowrie, (Bauer, 1981, Cohen, 1987, Lowrie, 1963; Paxton, 1981)

Roswell McClelland, (USA), American Friends Service Committee, AFSC/Quakers, War Refugee Board (WRB). (Bauer, 1981 pp. 397, 404, 406, 412-415, 420-425, 429-430, 432, 440)

Major aid and rescue activist American Friends Service Committee, AFSC/Quakers, and the War Refugee Board (WRB) representative. Did five years of rescue and relief work in Italy, France and Switzerland.

Marjorie McClelland, (USA), American Friends Service Committee, AFSC/Quakers, (Bauer, 1981) see above

Wife and rescue activist with Roswell McClelland, American Friends Service Committee, AFSC/Quakers,

Walter “Baby” Mehring Emergency Rescue Committee, (ERC), [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.]

Dr. Joseph “Jomi” Millner, Secretary General, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-S)

Joseph Millner served as head of the Health Section of the UGIF-S (Third Directorate) in France. In the summer of 1942, he supervised 1,200 children in 12 homes. Millner and the UGIF-S worked with the Quakers in freeing Jewish children from the French internment camps.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 99, 101-102. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 153, 245, 248-249, 263. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 40. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). 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. 61, 180-182, 350n13. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 87.]

M. Millner, Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

liaison with CAR

Alain Mosse, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE), Garel Network

Alain Mosse worked with the Oeuvre De Secours Aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) and with the Garel Network in saving Jewish children. Despite the dangers of being arrested and deported, Mosse kept an official office open in Chambery. On February 8, 1944, the Nazis raided his office and took Mosse and some of his volunteers to Drancy, and then to Auschwitz.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 248, 250. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 142. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). 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. 180.]

Heinrich Mueller, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France. Heinrich Mueller, a former worker in the German underground, was a volunteer with the ERC.

[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.]

Rose Naëf●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem May 7, 1989, File 3195/1. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Lindsey Nobel (USA), American Friends Service Committee, AFSC/Quakers

Professor Dr. David Olmer, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South), Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Professor David Olmer worked with Raoul Lambert of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South) to try to help stop the deportation of Jews in the Northern and Southern zones by appealing to French leaders.

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 64-67, 126. 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. 26, 61.]

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.

[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

William Oualid, Organization for Rehabilitation and Training of Jews (ORT)

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 46, 64-67. 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. 61, 67.]

Edouard Oungre, HIAS-ICA Officer, Paris, Marseilles

The HIAS-ICA office, under Edouard Oungre, closed after the Nazi occupation and moved to Bordeaux, then to Marseilles, opening in October, 1940.

Miss Phealan (USA), International Migration Service, Director of the Service Social d’Aide aux Émigrants (SSAE; Society for Aid to Immigrants), Treasurer of the Nîmes Committee

Thérèse Pierre, Mouvement National Contre le Racisme

Thérèse Pierre was a leader of the Mouvement National Contre le Racisme. Pierre worked with Alex Chertock and Suzanna Spaatz. They organized a children’s rescue network. They worked with Protestant religious leaders in Southern France

Anne Marie Im Hof Piguet●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem July 16, 1990, File 3195/2. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Emmanuel Racine, Southern France

Emmanuel Racine was a rescue activist in Southern France.

[Klarsfeld, p. 28. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 124.]

Mila Racine*, Zionist Youth Movement (MJS)

Mila Racine smuggled Jewish children from France into Switzerland as part of the MJS (Mouvement Jeunesse Sioniste; Zionist Youth Movement). Mila Racine was caught, and was murdered.

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 161-162. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 201-202. 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. 182. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 124.]

Mr. Rapopoulos

Frederic Reymond●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem December 22, 1997, File 7882. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Luis I. Rodriguez, Mexican Ambassador to France, 1939-1940. Luis I. Rodriguez was appointed the Mexican ambassador to France by President Lazaro Cardenas. Together with Consul General Gilberto Bosques, he presented numerous letters of protest regarding the horrendous conditions inside the French internment camps. These camps housed thousands of former Spanish Republican soldiers and Jewish refugees who were considered by the French government to be enemy aliens. Later, Rodriguez and Bosques presented formal complaints to the Vichy government regarding the deportation and murder of Jews. Rodriguez left France at the end of 1940, leaving Bosques in charge.

(Rodriguez, Luis I. Misión de Luis I. Rodriguez en Francia: La protección de los refugiados españoles, Julio a diciembre de 1940. (Mexico: El Colegio de México, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, 2000). Salzman, Daniela Gleizer. México Frente a la Inmigración de Refugiados Judíos: 1934-1940. (Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historía, 2000). Kloyber, Christian (Ed.). Exilio y Cultura: El Exilio Cultural Austriaco en México. (Mexico: Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 2002).)

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. 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.

Hans Sahl, Emergency Rescue Committee, Marseilles, France.

[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.]

Alice Salomon, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Alice Salomon was a volunteer rescuers and director of La Verdière children’s home in the Marseilles area. The home was raided by the Nazis and Salomon and forty of the children were deported to Drancy in Paris.

[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. 180. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 42, 86, 78-82, 120-121, 125.]

Andrée Salomon, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Andrée Salomon worked with Julien Samuel in the Limoges sector of the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society). Salomon helped Jewish children escape from France to Spain.

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 40, 42, 44, 70, 169, 174, 175. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 132, 166, 186-187, 288.]

Nicole Salon-Weill, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Nicole Salon-Weill was a Jewish social worker who operated with the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) in southern France. Salon-Weill, along with Huguette Wahl, was caught by the Nazis hiding children and transporting them to the southern zone of France.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 245, 253. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 156. 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. 180.]

Mr. Salsman, UCJG

Chief Rabbi Israel Salzer, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South)

Chief Rabbi Israel Salzer worked with Raoul Lambert of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South) to try to help stop the deportation of Jews in the Northern and Southern zones by appealing to French leaders.

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 126.]

Samborsky, YMCA, Polish Red Cross

Julien Samuel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Julien Samuel worked with the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) in southern France. Samuel was arrested by the Nazis and deported.

Samuel survived the war and became a Jewish leader for French Jewry.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 162, 245, 247, 250. Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 13-14, 25, 27, 33, 35. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 67, 199. 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. 59, 181, 244. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), pp. 92, 129, 118-122.]

Vivette Samuel, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Vivette Samuel was a volunteer with the Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE) at the Rivesaltes French concentration camp.

[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. 109. Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).]

M. Scharff, HICEM

Rabbi Henri Schilli, military chaplain, Adge and Argeles concentration camps.

Henri Schilli was a military chaplain at Adge and Argeles concentration camps in France. He warned Jews. He was also a relief activist.

[Samuel, Vivette. Rescuing the Children: A Holocaust Memoir. (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), p. 32.]

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.

Joseph J. Schwartz, American Joint Disribution Committee (JDC). Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA) (Bauer, 1981, Cohen; Marrus, 1981; Paxton; Rayski, 2005,)

Chief Rabbi Isaïe Schwartz, Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA) (Bauer, 1981, Cohen; Marrus, 1981; Paxton; Rayski, 2005,)

Vladimir Shah, HIAS-ICA-HICEM, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-South)

Vladimir Shah was a HIAS-ICA-HICEM representative in Paris until late 1939. Shah was then sent to Brussels, Belgium to set up the BEL-HICEM office in October 1939. Shah was also a member of the council of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 115, 118, 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, 179.]

Martha Sharp●, (USA), France, Czechoslovakia. Waitstill and Martha Sharp represented the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) in the Marseilles area. They helped distribute relief supplies and medicine to needy refugees. They also helped Spanish Civil War refugees as well as Jews who were interned in the French camps. In 1940, the Sharps helped save a number of Jewish children by taking them to Spain. They were helped by American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV. They were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel on September 26, 2005. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography. (Subak, 2010, pp. 2, 9-24, 30-32, 41, 52-53, 55, 60-65, 68, 76, 94-95, 119-120, 134-137, 177-178, 210, 214, 237)

Reverend Waitstill Sharp●, (USA), Southern France, Czechoslovakia. Waitstill and Martha Sharp represented the Unitarian Service Committee (USC) in the Marseilles area. They helped distribute relief supplies and medicine to needy refugees. They also helped Spanish Civil War refugees as well as Jews who were interned in the French camps. In 1940, the Sharps helped save a number of Jewish children by taking them to Spain. They were helped by American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV. They were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel on September 26, 2005. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography. (Subak, 2010, pp. 1-24, 28-29, 33-36, 38, 47, 50-52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 66-67, 76, 94, 97, 172, 213-215)

Suzanne Spaak, Mouvement National Contre le Racisme (MNCR)

Suzanna Spaatz was a leader of the Mouvement National Contre le Racisme. Spaatz worked with Alex Chertock and Thérèse Pierre. They organized a children’s rescue network. They worked with Protestant religious leaders in Southern France.

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 123. 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. 189, 308, 352n49.]

Raphaël Spanien, HIAS-ICA, HICEM, General Union of Jews of France (Union Général des Israeliets de France; UGIF-South)

Raphaël Spanien was a HICEM representative in France, the co-director of the HIAS-ICA office, and a member of the council of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South). He intervened to rescue Jews with Gaston Kahn in Southern France.

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), pp. 115, 121, 147-149. Ginzberg, Eli. Report to American Jews on Overseas Relief, Palestine and Refugees in the United States. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942), pp. 179-180.]

Myles Standish, US Vice Consul in Charge of Visas, Marseilles, France, 1940. Myles Standish, like Hiram Bingham, issued visas to Jewish and other refugees seeking to escape France to Portugal. He was active in the rescue of Lion Feuchtwanger from a French-German internment camp in 1940. After his assignment in Marseilles, Standish took a position with the War Refugee Board finding escape routes for refugees in Europe.

(Fry, Varian. Surrender on Demand. (New York: Random House). Marino, Andy. A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), pp. 99-100, 120. FDR Library War Refugee Board Archives, 1944-1945. JDC Archives, NYC. Feuchtwanger, Lion, The Devil in France: My Encounter with Him in the Summer of 1940, Viking, 1940.)

Sebastian Steiger●, Le Secours Suisse. Honored by Yad Vashem March 11, 1993, File 3195/4. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Mr. Stevenson (USC), American Friends Service Committee, AFSC (Marseille), Camp Les Milles, Secretary of the Nîmes Committee.

Joseph Schwartz Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA)

Chief Rabbi Isaïe Schwartz, Central Commission of Jewish Assistance Organizations (Commission Central des Organizations Juives d-Assistance; CCOJA)

Alexander Trocki, HIAS-ICA, Marseilles

Alexander Trocki was the co-director of the HIAS-ICA office in Marseilles.

[Ginzberg, Eli. Report to American Jews on Overseas Relief, Palestine and Refugees in the United States. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1942), p. 179.]

Mr. Vaucher, Institute of Health Research, Health Committee

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

[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.]

Henri Wahl, Sixième

Henri Wahl, of Sixième, hid approximately 850 Jewish children in the Tarn et Garonne area.

[Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 74-76, 79, 82, 83, 155-156.]

Huguette Wahl, Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Huguette Wahl operated with the Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants (OSE; Children’s Aid Rescue Society) in southern France. Wahl, along with Nicole Salon-Weill, was caught by the Nazis hiding children and transporting them to the southern zone of France.

[Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), pp. 245, 251-253. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), p. 72.]

Dr. Julien Weil (Jewish), Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE, Comité Central d’Assistance aux Oeuvres Isräêlites en France

Dr. Joseph Weill (1902-1988), Children’s Aid Rescue Society (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

Dr. Joseph Weill was a Jewish physician to the French Jewish Children’s Aid Rescue Society (OSE). He reported on the wartime persecution of Jewish children to American humanitarian organizations. He set up rescue operations in southern France and organized groups to place children into hiding. Weill fled France in May 1943. He worked from Switzerland after leaving France. He is credited with helping to save more than 4,000 Jewish children.

[Adler, J. The Jews of Paris and the Final Solution. (New York, 1987), pp. 96, 99. Bauer, Yehuda. American Jewry and the Holocaust. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1981), p. 153, 161, 243, 245-246. Latour, A. (transl. Irene R. Ilton). The Jewish Resistance in France, 1940-1944. (New York, 1970/1981), pp. 40, 42, 52, 63, 67, 69, 128. Lazare, Luciene. Rescue as Resistance: How Jewish Organization Fought the Holocaust in France. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), pp. 127, 131, 157, 165-166, 186, 188-191, 194, 200, 331n14. 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. 105, 113-114. Samuels, pp. 33-34, 38, 42, 75-77, 83-84, 93-94, 104, 125, 158.]

Laure Weill, General Union of French Jews (Union Général des Israelites de France; UGIF-South)

Laure Weill was an active council member of the General Union of French Jews (UGIF-South).

[Cohen, R. I. The Burden of Conscience: French Jewish Leadership during the Holocaust. (Bloomington, 1987), p. 131.]

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.

[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.]

Dr. Wolf, Children’s Aid Rescue Society, (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants; OSE)

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.

[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]

Fanny Zimmer, wife of Dr. René Zimmer. (Subak, 2010, pp. 105, 111, 158, 191)

Dr. René Zimmer (Jewish), Unitarian Service Committee (USC), Health Committee, see René Zimmer Rescue Network. (USC Archives; Subak, 2010, pp. 87, 103, 105, 109-112, 125, 148, 156-159, 164, 173-175, 181, 191, 194-195, 198, 209)

Individuals who Aided the Nîmes Committee in the Rescue of Individuals in Southern France:

Vice Consul Hiram Bingham IV (USA), Marseilles

Frank Bohn, AFofL (USA)

Consul General Gilberto Bosques (Mexico), Marseilles

Howard Brooks, Unitarian Service Committee (USC)

Consul General Luis Martins de Sousa Dantas● (Brazil), Paris. Honored by Yad Vashem June 2, 2003, File 9667. See Appendix E for Yad Vashem biography.

Police Captain DuBois (France), Marseille

Pinto Ferreira, Portugal

Consul Figuière (Panama), Marseille

Dr. Charles Joy

Howard E. Kershner, American Frinds Service Committee (AFSC), Marseille

Consul Li (China), Marseille

Vice Consul Myles Standish (USA), Marseille

Consul Vladimir Vochoc+● (Czechoslovakia), Marseille

Consul (honorary) for Lithuania+ at Aix-en-Provence

Consul of Poland, Marseille

Consul of Siam+, Marseille