50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany (35 page)
Authors: Steven Pressman
Tags: #NF-WWII
149 The letter outlined: CAHJP, A/W 2003, Box 566.
CHAPTER 16
159 The memo, written by: R. C. Alexander memorandum, NARA 150.626 J/649, May 16, 1939.
160 “Referring fifty non-preference”: Hull memo to Morris, NARA, Ibid.
160 “This plan, as carried out:” Razovsky letter to Warren, NARA 150.626 J/648, May 15, 1939.
160 In his matter-of-fact reply: Warren letter to Razovsky, NARA, Ibid.
161 “It seems to me quite hazardous”: Kepecs letter to Pickett, May 29, 1939, Marion Kenworthy Papers, AJHS.
CHAPTER 17
168 Richard Friedmann never made it: Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
170 Five years earlier: “Dollfuss Sends Greeting with His Trade Mission,”
New York Times
, February 13, 1934.
170 Kuffler’s business career: “Refugee Aid Group Resumes in Vienna,”
New York Times
, November 20, 1938.
CHAPTER 18
174 Hitler himself lavishly praised:
Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany
, Stephanie Barron, Harry N. Abrams, 1991.
CHAPTER 19
182 “To those . . . who have not”: “Reich Future Closed, Jewish Leaders Warn Berlin Meeting,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, January 30, 1938.
182 In the spring of 1940: “Heinrich Stahl, Former Head of Berlin Jewish Community, Dies in Exile,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, November 29, 1942.
183 “The route over which”: “Reich Hails Ciano; Pact Signing Today,”
New York Times
, May 22, 1939.
CHAPTER 21
199 “The persons responsible”: “50 Child Refugees Here from Vienna,”
New York Times
, June 4, 1939.
CHAPTER 22
209 “An after-dinner discussion”: “50 Child Refugees Here from Vienna,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, June 4, 1939.
210 The Associated Press dispatch: “Cuba Changes Mind, May Let Refugees Land,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, June 4, 1939.
210 “Most urgently repeat plea”: NARA 837.55.
210 A telegram from the State Department: NARA, Ibid.
211 Of the 937 passengers: “The Search for St. Louis Passengers,” online exhibit, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (www.ushmm.org).
211 “No doubt you received”: Kraus letter to Engel provided by Steven Zulawski.
212 “It is a great comfort”: Ibid.
212 “It was my intention”: Kraus letter to Messersmith, NARA 150.626 J/657, June 8, 1939.
212 “I know that you must feel”: Messersmith letter to Kraus, NARA, Ibid., June 8, 1939.
CHAPTER 23
217 “While the number fifty”:
Report of Thirty-Fourth Annual National Convention
, Independent Order Brith Sholom, June 1939.
218 “As I stand before”: Ibid.
221 “The question is asked”: “Fifty German-Jewish Refugee Children (A ‘Now It Can Be Told’ Story),”
Philadelphia
Jewish Exponent
, June 9, 1939.
221 “To my knowledge”: YIVO archives, Center for Jewish History, New York City.
221 “The effect of this editorial”: Razovsky letter to Warren, NARA 150.626 J/658, June 14, 1939.
221 “My attention has been called”: Holman letter to Hull, NARA 150.626 J/656, June 8, 1939.
222 In his two-page reply: Hull letter to Holman, NARA, Ibid, June 17, 1939.
222 “At least Hitler has broken”: “Private Citizens and American Rescue: Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus and the 50 Children of Vienna,” Robert Williams, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (see footnote 38).
222 On the afternoon of June 27: A stenographer’s transcript of this and other meetings of the National Coordinating Committee can be found at the AFSC Archives in Philadelphia.
222 Kenworthy mentioned that committee members: Marion Kenworthy Papers, AJHS.
223 “Just how the children”: Balderston memo, July 16, 1939, AFSC.
224 “I think it would be worth exploring”: Pickett letter to Kepecs, July 20, 1939, AFSC.
CHAPTER 24
225 “Look at these children”: “Little Refugees Proving Good As Americans,”
New York Journal-American
, publication date unknown.
229 “Already I am a real American”: Ibid.
EPILOGUE
232 In the summer of 1940:
Who Will Take Our Children?
, Carlton Jackson, McFarland (revised edition), 2008.
232 Shortly before Congress approved: “‘Mercy’ Ship Bill Backed by Public,”
New York Times
, August 17, 1940.
233 “Mrs. Kraus is a good filterer”: “Women’s Watchful Eyes Scan City Skies for Enemy Planes,”
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin
, April 9, 1942.
American Refugee Policy and European Jewry 1933–45
, Richard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, Indiana University Press, 1987.
Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust 1933–1945
, Deborah E. Lipstadt, The Free Press, 1986.
Cecilia Razofsky and the American-Jewish Women’s Rescue Operations in the Second World War
, Vallentine Mitchell, 2008.
Challenging Years
, Stephen Wise, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1940.
Eichmann’s Jews: The Jewish Administration of Holocaust Vienna 1938–1945
, Doron Rabinovici, Polity Press, 2011 (first published in German as
Instanzen der Ohnmacht
Jüdischer Verlag Frankfurt am Main, 2000).
The Eichmann Trial
, Deborah E. Lipstadt, Schocken Books, 2011.
Eleanor and Franklin
, Joseph P. Lash, W. W. Norton and Company, 1971.
FDR and the Jews
, Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman, Harvard University Press, 2013.
George S. Messersmith: Diplomat of Democracy
, Jesse H. Stiller, University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
, Erik Larson, Crown Publishers, 2011.
Jewish Life in Philadelphia 1830–1940
, Edited by Murray Friedman, Ishi Publications, 1983.
The Jews of Vienna 1867–1914: Assimilation and Identity
, Marsha L. Rozenblit, State University of New York Press, 1983.
Memoirs of a Maverick Publisher
, J. David Stern, Simon & Schuster, 1962.
The Politics of Rescue
, Henry L. Feingold, Rutgers University Press, 1970.
Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald 1935–1945
, edited by Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg, Indiana University Press, 2009.
The Setting of the Pearl: Vienna under Hitler
, Thomas Weyr, Oxford University Press, 2005.
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, Judith Tydor Baumel, Denali Press, 1990.
Vienna and the Jews 1867–1938: A Cultural History
, Steven Beller, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
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, Marjorie Perloff, New Directions Books, 2004.
EPIGRAPHS:
Chapter 1: Woman walking past “Jude” window (Getty Images)
Chapter 2: Gil and Eleanor Kraus (Courtesy of the Kraus family)
Chapter 3: The Beller family (Courtesy of Paul Beller)
Chapter 4: Girls presenting flowers to Hitler (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 5:
New York Times
headline (
New York Times
)
Chapter 6: Brith Sholom camp (Courtesy of Brith Sholom)
Chapter 7: Cover of Wagner Rogers bill (National Archives and Records Administration)
Chapter 8: “Don’t Buy From Jews” poster (Unsourced)
Chapter 9: Eleanor Kraus alone on house steps (Courtesy of the Kraus family)
Chapter 10: Man surrounded by Nazi soldiers (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 11: IKG index card files (PerlePress Productions)
Chapter 12: Man getting shoeshine with Hitler poster (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 13: Men walking past Nazi soldier (Filmarchiv Austria)
Chapter 14: Café scene in Berlin (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 15: Kay Lee and mother, with other mothers and children (Courtesy of Kay Lee)
Chapter 16: German passport (United States Holocaust Memorial)
Chapter 17: Ship passenger tag (courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 18: Smiling girls saluting Nazi soldier (Corbis Images)
Chapter 19: SS soldier (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Chapter 20: Postcard of
SS Harding
(Courtesy of Steven Keller)
Chapter 21: Children waving at Statue of Liberty (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 22: Children playing leap frog (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 23: Gill Kraus reading to children at camp (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
Chapter 24: Girl dancing inside circle of children at camp (Courtesy of Robert Braun)
ENDPAPERS:
Children on boat (PerlePress Productions)
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
Admon, Kurt.
See
Roth, Kurt
adoption, prohibition of, 226
affidavits
about, 10
approval of, 143
completion of, 93
contents of, 83–85
Kuffler (Edith), request for, 171
legalities of, 62
personal information in, 12, 83
ridicule of, 134–35
success with, 223
Aid Association of German Jews (Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden), 101
Albert V (archduke of Austria), 31
Alexander, R.C., 155, 159–160
Ambrose Light (floating station), 199
American Coalition of Patriotic, Civil and Fraternal Societies, 77
American Embassy
in Berlin, 100–101, 140, 142–43, 186–88, 190
Vienna consulate, 103–5, 135–36, 137, 160, 169–171
visas.
See
visas
American Friends Service Committee
aborted/failed rescue attempt, 5–6
encouragement of Brith Sholom plan, 81–82
post-rescue evaluation, 223, 224
American isolationism, public policies and, 254
American Jewish Committee, 70, 77
American Jewish Congress, 17, 70, 77
Amram, David, 228
Amram, Emily, 228–29
Amram, Marianne, 228
Amram, Philip, 228–29
Amsterdam, banking in, 100
Anhalter Bahnhof (Berlin train station), 139
Anschluss
Austria, annexation, 7–8
Vienna
before, 23–33
Hitler’s takeover, 35–43
after, 102–3, 116–17, 119–124, 132–33, 214
anti-immigration sentiment
in Congress, 63, 65, 72–73, 221–22, 253
public, 67–70, 72, 73, 258
anti-Semitism
in Budapest, 157
Catholic Church and, 31
Habsburg monarchy opposition to, 24
Holman and, 222n
Nazi brutality and, 8–9
paradox of, 61
park benches and, 36
public opinion and, 68–70, 232
public policies and, 254
State Department and, 56
Viennese history of, 31–32, 33
Woolworth department stores and, 58–59
arrests
in Berlin, 101n, 144
in Germany, 48
in Vienna, 8–9, 39, 43, 45–46, 47, 49
art exhibition hall (Kunstlerhaus), 174–75
Auschwitz concentration camp, 168n, 251, 259
Austria
anti-Semitism, history of, 31–33
currency restrictions, 158, 165–66
German annexation of, 7–8
See also
Anschluss; Vienna
Austro-Hungarian Empire, 26, 32, 33
Axis-occupied territory, rescue risks, 251, 252
Balderston, Robert, 223
Balfour Declaration (1917), 170–71
banned art, 174
Belgium, passengers of the St. Louis, 211
Beller, Leo, 31, 229, 237
Beller, Mina, 31, 229, 237
Beller, Paul
about, 31
after the rescue mission, 237–38
on Anschluss, 49–50
on lifestyle before Nazi occupation, 23
placement of, 228–29
relatives in U.S., 202