50 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany (36 page)

selection interview, 126

Berg, Alfred, 159, 238

Berg, Charlotte, 159, 187–88, 238

Berlin

American consulate in, 100–101, 140, 142–43

children in, 181–82, 185–88

exit strategy.
See
exit strategy (emigration)

as Gil’s initial stop, 100–102

Jewish population in, 33

“Jews Forbidden” signs, 143–44

sightseeing, 140–41

Billikopf, Jacob, 97, 99–100

Blücher Palace, American Embassy in, 140

B’nai B’rith, 77

borders, sealing of, 8

Brandenburg Gate, 140

Braun, Johanna

about, 24

after the rescue mission, 238–39

outlook on rescue mission, 177

placement with Gil & Eleanor, 229–230

on taxi to train station, 175

Braun, Karoline, 24, 25, 239

Braun, Martha, 24

Braun, Max, 23–24, 25, 239

Braun, Robert

about, 23–25

after the rescue mission, 238–39

anti-Semitic school experiences, 42

on Gil’s altercation with the SS officer, 181, 185–86

placement with Gil & Eleanor, 229–230

recollections of travel, 177

on selection interview, 126

on spoiled food dump at sea, 196

on taxi to train station, 175

on U.S. customs, 208

on visa obstacles, 50

on Yiddish/Hebrew music, 189

Braunwasser, Inge, 227, 239–240

Britain

Jews, admission of

passengers on
St. Louis
, 211

unaccompanied children, 67, 232, 258

policy toward Palestine, 170–71

war declaration, 216

Brith Sholom

as American volunteer reliability, 254

annual convention, 217, 231–32

Collegeville setting, 213

emergency meeting of, 75–76

founding of, 16–17

Kraus (Solomon), role in, 16–17, 20

as rescue mission sponsor, 4–5, 53

reunion, 239–240

vitality of, 21

brutality.
See
Nazis

Buchenwald concentration camp, 43, 216, 244

Budapest

as getaway, 155–58

Jewish population in, 33, 157

Bürkel, Josef, 40

vandalism of, 38

Camp Kitchener, 194–95

Catholic Church, anti-Semitism and, 31

Celler, Rep. Emanuel, 70

Celler-Dickstein proposal, 70

Central Bureau for Jewish Emigration (Zentralstelle fur Jüdische Auswanderung), 40–41, 144

Chagall, Marc, 174

Chamberlain, Neville, 67

Child Adoption Committee of the Free Synagogue, 78

children

attitudes toward Kraus/Schless, 191

baggage for, 165–66

behavior of, 195

in Berlin, 181–82

in Collegeville setting, 208–10, 213–15, 225–230

custody transfers, 147

departure details, 165–66

documentation for, 145–46

farewell reception, 168

head tax for, 153

illness, 158–59

immigration law challenges, 9

interviews at American Embassy, 186–88, 190

letter writing, 214–15

money from parents, 165–66

newspaper coverage of, 199, 201

ocean passage

pitfalls, 166

reservations for, 144

tickets, proof of, 153

travel, 192–97, 199–201

ongoing contact with, 233

physical exams for, 143, 186–88

placement of, 225–230

relatives in U.S., 202

selection process

consulate lists, 83, 105, 106, 124

IKG role, 257

interviews, 125–28, 136

sponsors for, 10

travel preparations for, 143

See also
unaccompanied German children, admission of

children’s rescue measure.
See

Wagner-Rogers bill

Ciano, Galeazzo, 183–84, 185

Collegeville setting, 5, 208–10, 213–15, 225–230

complicity in genocide, 251

concentration camps

about, 41

arrests and, 43, 46–47, 48

blueprints for, 231

deaths

Friedmann, Richard, 168n

Roth, Hermann, 216, 244

Seligsohn, Julius, 101n

Stahl, Heinrich, 182n

specific camps

Auschwitz, 168n, 251, 259

Buchenwald, 43, 216, 244, 259

Dachau, 43, 49, 50, 125, 176

Izbica, 248

Sachsenhausen, 101n, 144

Sobibor, 248, 253

Theresienstadt, 168n, 182n

visas and, 50

Wiesel on, 259

Congress

anti-immigration sentiment in, 63, 65, 72–73, 221–22, 253

Celler-Dickstein proposal, 70

Wagner-Rogers bill.
See
Wagner-Rogers bill

Coughlin, Father Charles, 69

Coulter, Eliot, 63–64

Cuba, Jewish refugees and, 210–11

currency restrictions, 158, 165–66, 259

custody transfers, 147

customs inspections

German, 191–92

U.S., 201, 203

Czechoslovakia, Nazi takeover, 117

Dachau concentration camp, 43, 49, 50, 125, 176

danger in rescue missions, 252

deaths after arrests, beatings, 47, 48

See also
concentration camps

“degenerate art” (entartete kunst), 120, 174–75

Democratic political convention, unruly, 14–15

dental care for children, 190, 209

detention center, Nazi, 120

Dickstein, Rep. Samuel, 70

Dix, Otto, 174

Dodd, William, 140

Dollfuss, Engelbert, 170

Drei Husaren restaurant, 131–32

Duke of Windsor.
See
Edward VIII (King of England)

Edict of Tolerance, 32

education in Vienna

after vom Rath’s murder, 46

anti-Semitism in, 41, 42, 51

Jewish school, 30

private lessons, 26

public schools, 28

Schubert Schule, 25

Edward VIII (King of England), 120–21, 132, 158

Eichmann, Adolf

bureaucratic maze of, 150, 152–53

Hammond on, 133

Jewish exit goals, 39, 40

Einhorn, Samuel, 218–19

emigration.
See
exit strategy (emigration)

Engel, Emil, 161–63, 211

English Channel crossing, 100

English lessons, 194, 195, 214

entartete kunst (“degenerate art”), 120, 174–75

Ernst, Max, 174

Esther (Eleanor’s sister), 111

Evening Public Ledger
, on rescue project, 76

exit strategy (emigration) of European Jews

in Berlin, 101–2, 143, 182, 257

in Vienna, 150, 167, 170

of the Gestapo, 38–39, 40–41, 133, 144

Nazi, 7

expulsion of Jews, 31–32

extermination camp, Sobibor, 248

F. W. Woolworth department stores, 58–59

Fannie (Eleanor’s sister), 112

farewell reception, 168

Federation of Jewish Charities, 79, 83

Final Solution, 43, 216, 232

financial support for children, 10, 127–28

Fineshriber, William, 19

Fletcher, C. Paul, 71

Follmer, Cyrus, 143, 187–88

France

Paris, 115–16

passengers of the St. Louis, 211

war declaration, 216

Franz Josef, Emperor, 26

Franz Josef I, Emperor, 29

Freud, Sigmund, 37

Friedmann, Richard

dinner invitation from, 167–68

at dinner party, 162–63

fate of, 168n

German passports, assistance with, 150–53

Friedrich II, Emperor, 31

funding for rescue project, 6, 76

Galicia, migration from, 26, 32

Gallup poll, 232

Galveston News
, on quotas, 67–68

Gavin, Mary, 112

Geist, Raymond

contributions of, 254–55

feasibility confirmation, 64

Hitler birthday wishes, 113

list of children refused visas, 83

meeting with, 101–2, 142–43

Messersmith, correspondence with, 137, 212

during Reichstag address, 118

State Department cable to, 62–63, 93

as sympathetic employee, 59, 89, 254–55

Gellert spa, 158

genocide, concept of, 251, 257

German American Bund, 69–70, 70n

German customs inspections, 191–92

German Jewish migration, 14

German-Jewish Children’s Aid, 76–77, 221, 224

Gestapo

exit paperwork, approval of, 150–53

exit strategy focus.
See
exit strategy (emigration)

Geist’s communication with, 137

headquarters of, 39, 120

IKG shutdown, 39

Das Jüdische Narchrichtenblatt
, transmittal through, 144

as omniscient force, 121

ghettos, Jewish, 31–32, 43

Goebbels, Joseph

as art exhibition organizer, 174

Kristallnacht and, 46, 47

Quaker rescue delegation and, 6

Reichstag address and, 118

Goldman, Blanche, 76–77

Göring, Hermann, 38, 47, 132

Great Depression, unemployment/immigration and, 68, 70, 72

Greenfield, Albert, 15–16, 18, 21

Greenfield, Carlotta, 4, 10

Grynszpan, Herschel, 45–46

Gundel, Karoly, 157

Gundel restaurant, 157

Haber, Fritz (Fred), 240

Haber, Henry, 240

Habsburg monarchy, Jewish loyalty to, 24

Halote, Gerda, 240

Hammond, Ogden, Jr., 133–34, 134n

Hart, Parker, 134

Hayes, Helen, 72

head tax, 153

Hebrew music, 189

Hebrew Orphan Home, 78

Hennings, Richard, 232

Herman, Heinrich, 29, 240–41

Herman, Kurt

about, 29

after the rescue mission, 240–41

on arrival, 200–201

Hitler’s motorcade and, 41–42

on the
President Harding
, 189, 192

at the train station, 175

on visa obstacles, 50

Herman, Martha, 29, 41–42, 241

Heydrich, Reinhard, 46

Hilfsverein, 143

Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden (Aid Association of German Jews), 101, 181–82

Himmler, Heinrich, 132

Hitler, Adolf

art exhibition, praise of, 174

birthday celebration, 113

dining room portrait, 122

Holman on, 222n

hotel preferences, 120

paintings for museum, 150, 150n

Reichstag address, 118

shop windows with likeness, 123

in Vienna, 8, 37

Hitler Youth organization, 38, 42

Hodgdon, A. Dana, 56

Hohenthal, Theodore, 136

Holman, Rufus, 221–22, 222n

Holocaust

indifference, excuses for, 257–58

lives lost in, 211

rescue dangers, 252

statistics, 251

See also
concentration camps

Hoover, Herbert, 70

Horcher, Otto, 132

Hotel Adlon, 100, 182, 184–85

Hotel Bristol, 102, 120–21, 156

Hotel Majestic, as Gil’s home, 18

Hotel Metropole, Gestapo headquarters at, 39, 120

Höttl, Wilhelm, 40–41

Houghteling, James, 73

Houghteling, Laura Delano, 73

Hull, Cordell

Holman’s letter to, 221–22

immigration law changes, opposition to, 70–72

Messersmith’s memo to, 58

request for list of children, 82–83