WWII: ESCAPE FROM NAZI EUROPE, 1940

Last updated June 2009

In 1940, American Export Lines discontinued its 4 Aces Mediterranean routes and placed the 4 Aces into service on Lisbon to New York sailings. For two years, until America entered the war, the "4 Aces" played an important humanitarian role transporting thousands of persons who were fleeing Nazi Europe through the Marseilles to Lisbon escape route.

Emergency Rescue Committee

In May 1940 a German attack on France surprised and quickly overwhelmed the unprepared French defense forces. Within weeks, on June 25, German troops occupied Paris, the French capital, and the government surrendered. Leaders of a new French government signed an armistice with Germany. France was divided into two zones. The Germans occupied the larger northern portion and the entire Atlantic coast. The French government retained control over the southern portion of the country. Its capital was the town of Vichy.

Western Europe, 1940, Major Escape Routes

France's swift collapse before Hitler's armies came as a shocking blow to the United States and Great Britain, but it also alarmed activists who were concerned about refugees in Europe. In 1940, a group of these concerned activists met in New York and organized the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) to help refugees displaced by the war. The committee felt strongly that the Immigration Act of 1924 and its restrictive quotas would prevent needy refugees from coming to the United States, and they were particularly concerned about the status of refugees in Vichy France, who could be surrendered to Nazi authorities at any time. With the government refusing to open its borders to increasing numbers of immigrants, private organizations like the ERC took on the job of helping Jews and non-Jews gain safe passage to secure locations.

Refugees flee to Marseilles

Varian Fry

Varian Fry (1907-1967) was an American journalist who helped anti-Nazi refugees escape from France.

Varian Fry

After Germany invaded France in June 1940, the Emergency Rescue Committee, a private American relief organization, sent Fry to France to aid anti-Nazi refugees who were in danger of being arrested by the Gestapo (German secret state police). In Marseille, Fry's network of accomplices forged documents and created clandestine escape routes. He offered aid to antifascist refugees, both Jews and non-Jews, threatened with extradition to Nazi Germany under Article 19 of the Franco-German armistice (the "Surrender on Demand" clause).

Fry stayed in France for 13 months. He was under constant surveillance and was, more than once, questioned and detained by authorities. He established a legal French relief organization, The American Relief Center, and worked behind its cover using illegal means--black-market funds, forged documents, secret mountain passages, and sea routes--to spirit endangered refugees from France.

Fry's efforts resulted in the rescue of some 2,000 persons, including such distinguished artists and intellectuals as Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Franz Werfel, Lion Feuchtwanger, and Heinrich Mann. His covert activities angered officials of both the U.S. State Department and Vichy France and in September 1941, he was expelled from France.

Shortly before Fry's death, the French government awarded him the Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur. It was the only official recognition he received in his lifetime. Fry died unexpectedly in 1967 while revising his memoirs. He left behind a wealth of written and photographic materials that document his experiences in France. ASSIGNMENT: RESCUE, the version of his memoirs Fry rewrote for young readers, was published shortly after his death.

In 1991, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council awarded the Eisenhower Liberation Medal to Varian Fry. In 1994 he was also honored by Yad Vashem as a "Righteous Among the Nations" for his rescue activities.

WWII: ESCAPE FROM NAZI EUROPE, 1940

Emergency Rescue Committee

Western Europe, 1940, Major Escape Routes

Refugees flee to Marseilles

Varian Fry

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