Wartime Wednesday: The War Refugee Board

 

Wartime Wednesday: War Refugee Board

Dozens of government agencies were created in America during World War II, but according to historian Rebecca Erbelding, the War Refugee Board (WRB) is “the only time in American history that the US government founded a non-military organization to save the lives of civilians being murdered by a wartime enemy.”

After significant publicity, pressure, and public outcry, President Roosevelt created the WRB on January 22, 1944 by Executive Order 9417. The board was composed of the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and War, and led by Director John Pehle, an attorney and assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury. He reported directly to President Roosevelt. On paper, the organization was limited to a maximum staff of thirty, but through “detailing” employees from other agencies, that number ultimately rose to seventy by the summer of 1944.

Responsibilities of the WRB were primarily to 1) rescue, transport, and relieve victims of enemy oppression, and 2) establish havens of temporary refuge for such victims. By coordinating activities and

programs with foreign governments through diplomats, international refugee and rescue organizations, and resistance groups, and setting up bases in neutral countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, and Turkey, the WRB was able to finance operations and communicate with individuals in enemy territory. An estimated $20M funded the board’s activities.

Efforts included obtaining blockade clearances for food shipments by private relief organizations that were distributed by the International Red Cross to prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. In North Africa refugee camps were set up, and safe haven was provided in Palestine, Switzerland, and Sweden. In August 1944, the Fort Ontario Emergency Relief Shelter was created in Oswego, New York to house refugees who would return to their countries after the war ended (provided the Allies were successful).

Some sources indicate that the WRB may have used its influence to rally European countries into action such as Hungary’s cessation of deportation of its Jews to Auschwitz in July 1944. Subsequently, the board funded diplomat Raoul Wallenberg’s rescue mission to Budapest where it is through his actions protected tens of thousands of Jews.

It is unknown exactly how many Jews were saved by the WRB’s work because of the clandestine nature of its activities; however, historian David Wyman gives an estimate of 200,000. The WRB itself indicated they may have saved “tens of thousands.” However, many it was, WRB Director Pehle commented years later that their results were “too little, too late” compared to the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust.

With the war’s end, Executive Order 9614 was issued abolishing the WRB on September 15, 1945.

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Eye of the Beholder: An Apron Strings Tea Tale

Shunned for his appearance, a disfigured veteran encounters acceptance and love where he least expects it.

Left with physical and emotional scars after the Great War, Hank Drake has been shunned by polite society as the Ugly Duckling. Fine by him. He’d much rather be alone. Until he meets the kind proprietress of a tea stand at New York’s World’s Fair who isn’t repulsed by his appearance. Can he hope for acceptance…or even love?

Grace Sutton has no interest in marrying and is tired of her parent’s snide comments that she’s still single on the eve of her 40th birthday. After she loses her job thanks to budget cuts, she decides it’s time to follow her dream of feeding others. Armed with Mrs. Canfield’s cookbook, she opens a refreshment stand at the World’s Fair unaware how one man will turn her life upside down and upset the apple…er, tea cart.

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Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Refugee_Board
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-9417-establishing-war-refugee-board
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/war-refugee-board
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-war-refugee-board
https://archives.jdc.org/topic-guides/jdc-and-the-u-s-war-refugee-board-1944-45/

Photo Credits:

Newspaper: National WWII Museum

Children: JDC Archives

Father and Daughter at Fort Ontario: US National Archives