When I was at the Fort Ontario refugee reunion a few weeks ago, several of the refugees (and some of the other attendees from the Jewish Motorcyclists Alliance–who are awesome and it is an organization I would totally join if I were Jewish and weren’t afraid of motorcycles) asked me how the refugees were selected to come to the United States. It’s a great question and there really isn’t a good book to explain it. Ruth Gruber, the Dept of the Interior representative who became one of the chief advocates for the refugees and accompanied them on the ship that brought them to the US, had not yet departed for Europe.
Leonard Ackermann, the WRB’s rep in North Africa and Italy, wrote several great letters describing the hectic three weeks he, Capt. Lewis Korn, David Hartley (an AFSC worker), Max Perlman (a Joint worker), and Sir Clifford Heathcote-Smith (of the IGC) interviewed thousands of refugees and selected the 982 who would eventually travel to the US. This is one of his letters (and a copy of the first application form).
