There is a myth that pervades almost all books on American response to the Holocaust–almost every book that mentions the War Refugee Board says the same thing. The War Refugee Board was understaffed.
Actually, this isn’t true at all.
This is a list of the WRB employees as of May 27, 1944. It’s true that the WRB had a personnel ceiling, and they constantly hit that ceiling. But that doesn’t mean that only 25 (or 30, depending on what the ceiling was at a given time) people worked for the WRB. It means that 25 (or 30) people OFFICIALLY worked for the WRB.
Look at this list. Look who is not on it. John Pehle. Florence Hodel. Ira Hirschmann. Leonard Ackermann. Iver Olsen. Roswell McClelland. Robert Dexter. (In fact, NONE of the overseas representatives are counted). Why are they not on it? Because they were considered employees of other agencies. Pehle was the director of the WRB, but he was on the rolls of the Treasury Department staff, on loan to the WRB. Same with Hodel. Same with Ackermann and Olsen. Dexter and McClelland were put on the rolls of State. Hirschmann was an independent contractor.
We’re actually talking 40-ish employees at any given time, plus a lot of people working for the WRB on loan or temporarily, or officially working for other agencies but doing favors for the WRB. So understaffed? Not really.
