1940 – Rescuing Refugees on the Nazis’ Wanted List |
|||
 |
|||
« Previous |
Next » |
May 5th, 2005 - 12:03PM |
|
|
|||
 |
|
Varian Fry with fellow activists in Marseilles Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. The day has been set aside for remembering the victims of Nazi persecution. The United States Holocaust Memorial Web site notes that the Holocaust is, “not merely a story of destruction and loss. It is a story of an apathetic world and a few rare individuals of extraordinary courage.” Among these courageous individuals was Varian Fry, one of the most intriguing figures in the IRC’s history. Here’s his story as it was told in The IRC at Work newsletter: In 1940, shortly after Hitler’s Army swept through Europe and seized France, an American editor named Varian Fry settled into the Hotel Splendide in Marseilles. There he initiated a clandestine operation to rescue some of Europe’s most famous artists, writers and intellectuals who had fled to France and whose names were on the Nazis’ wanted list. Fry was on a mission for the Emergency Rescue Committee, which merged in 1942 with the International Relief Association to form the International Rescue Committee. Over the next 13 months, Fry and a team of American and French anti-Nazis helped at least 1,500 refugees, including prominent authors, artists and academics, escape from France to Spain and other safe countries. The group also provided aid to more than 2,000 other European refugees. Fry’s work would have continued had France not expelled him “for helping Jews and anti-Nazis.” Among those Fry helped rescue were Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, Nobel Laureate Otto Meyerhof and Spain's leading Catholic philosopher Alfredo Mendizabel. It was years before Fry’s exploits won the recognition they deserved. Five months before his death in 1967, France awarded him the Croix de Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. And in the years since, he has been the subject of a number of books, documentaries and museum exhibits. More information about Fry: Varian Fry Foundation Project Dates and locations for the current traveling exhibition about Fry: "Varian Fry, ASSIGNMENT RESCUE: 1940–1941" Posted By: Kathleen Sands | History Snapshots, UK & Europe Permalink |
