Within weeks of assuming power in 1933, the Nazis issued a series of anti-Semitic decrees that effectively banished German Jews from public life. As a crescendo of repression and violence swept through Germany, American Jewish organizations turned their attention to the plight of Jewish children. Believing the United States would look more favorably upon juvenile refugees than adults, the American Jewish Congress, B’nai Brith, and American Jewish Committee created the German Jewish Children’s Aid in 1934 to facilitate the rescue of more than a thousand children.

After months of difficult negotiations, the government agreed children could enter the country under the regular immigration quota system provided they were placed in supervised foster homes, attended school to the age of 16, and were not gainfully employed until that age. By American law, children could only be placed with families of their own religion. The GJCA was required to post bonds for the children so they would not become dependent on public aid, arrange for payment of their travel expenses to the United States, and care for them after arrival. Cecilia Razovsky, a social worker who had vast immigration experience, was appointed GJCA director. She was assisted by Lotte Marcuse who coordinated the rescue operation with Kate Rosenheim, her counterpart at the Children’s Section of the Central Organization of German Jews in Berlin.

The first group of nine boys arrived in 1934. Although the GJCA tried to minimize press coverage, stories about the children appeared in the newspapers and the rescue operation came under immediate attack from immigration foes.

The GJCA faced many obstacles. There were few families willing to take refugee children into their homes, but even those who were eager to help faced stumbling blocks. By law, foster homes had to be able to provide a separate bed for each child and no more than two children were permitted to share a bedroom. With the United States in the throes of an economic crisis, many families did not qualify. Appeals to eligible families through Jewish publications and synagogues could have been fruitful, but they were ruled out because of fear of an anti-Semitic backlash.

Because funding proved to be a problem for GJCA, the National Council of Jewish Women assumed much of the financial responsibility for the organization, underwriting operating expenses and providing subsidies for foster families. Over $200,000 was collected from local sections including the one in San Antonio for the project. In addition, NCJW members throughout the country welcomed children assigned to their communities and checked on their welfare regularly. Even after 1941, when financial responsibility for the children was shifted to the National Refugee Service, NCJW members continued to provide money and services for children.

By the spring of 1938, 351 children had been settled in the United States, but events unfolding in Europe brought the refugee issue into sharper focus. The Nazi occupation of Austria and the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, the deportation of thousands of Polish Jews from Germany, the abysmal failure of the Evian refugee conference, and Kristallnacht created a new sense of urgency that further intensified when World War II began in September 1939.

The number and scope of Jewish and non- Jewish organizations dealing with refugee children increased during this period. Anti-immigration forces remained strong, but prominent Americans, including Eleanor Roosevelt, began to support rescue efforts. As a result, American public opinion regarding refugees, particularly children, began to soften somewhat.

Frances Perkins

Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, a strong advocate for liberalization of immigration quotas, was an effective ally in the rescue of children.

United Jewish Appeal (UJA)

American Jews created the UJA in 1939 to coordinate fundraising efforts for rescue activities in Europe. Every community, including San Antonio, was asked to contribute.

Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

A significant portion of the money collected by UJA was funneled to the JDC, which was founded in 1914 to provide overseas relief and rehabilitation. The organization began to help German Jews soon after Hitler took power. It later smuggled food and other supplies into ghettos and camps in Eastern Europe and worked with proxy organizations to provide for Jews who were sheltered in neutral countries.

The JDC also became the hub for Jewish underground activity and armed resistance. Funded entirely by Jewish philanthropy, the “Joint” provided more aid to Jews during the Nazi era than all world governments combined.

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)

The JDC worked with HIAS to help thousands of adult Jewish refugees secure passage to the United States and other safe havens. It also provided strong financial support for the rescue of Jewish children.

Vaad ha-Hatzala

The Vaad ha-Hatzala was established in 1939 by the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada to rescue rabbinic leaders and faculties and students of Eastern European Talmudic academies. It succeeded in finding refuge for 625 Polish rabbis, students, and their families in Shanghai. Approximately 125 were subsequently permitted to emigrate to the United States. The Vaad also supported Polish Jews who had fled to the Soviet Union by providing them with food, clothing, and cash.

“Even from today’s perspective, the real problem was one of choice. Who to save. . . there were so many children. How much time to spend
on one case when you knew it meant sacrificing another.”

- Allen Bonnell, AFSC

The AFSC helped bring 300 children to the Unites States from Europe in 1941 and 1942. Most of them were Jewish. Widely respected as a relief organization, the AFSC had contacts in the United States and Europe that helped surmount formidable challenges in securing American visas, dealing with the governments of Germany and Austria and providing temporary shelter for children as they traveled through France, Spain, and Portugal. The AFSC worked closely with the JDC and the U.S. Committee for the Care of Refugee Children.

“It is probably a matter of life and death for many of these children, and if this project is to be completed it must be done immediately. Changes in the situation here might make it too late at any time. I cannot too strongly emphasize the necessity for speed.”

- Howard Kershner, AFSC, Marseilles, France

National Coordinating Committee (NCC) The NCC was established in 1934 as an umbrella organization representing Jewish and non-sectarian agencies that were active in assisting refugees from Germany. Originally, NCC provided only English lessons and vocational services but later expanded its range of activities to create a resettlement division.

National Refugee Service (NRS)

Formed in 1939 following a merger of the NCC and the Greater New York Committee on Refugees, the NRS was affiliated with 25 other refugee assistance organizations. Funding for NRS was provided by the United Jewish Appeal.

United States Committee for the Care of European (Refugee) Children (USC)

Established in 1940 to ease resettlement of British children in the United States, the USC later aided children from other countries. Most of them were Jewish. The USC was supported by many prominent Americans and became one of the most influential refugee agencies in the U.S.

Kindertransport

The British initiated the Kinderstransport program in 1938, accepting 20,000 unaccompanied children from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Financial support for the British rescue effort came from Jewish and Quaker welfare organizations. The British government refused a request to allow 21,000 additional children into Palestine. Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and France also welcomed Jewish children.