| On August 5, 1944, 982 war refugees - mostly Jews who had escaped from Hitler's death camps - arrived in Oswego, New York.
Ruth Gruber was the American appointed to guide the refugees from Italy to the US: "War and Holocaust raged. For years, refugees seeking to enter the United States were told: 'Sorry, the quotas are filled.' Now at last, the U.S. was opening its gates to nearly 1,000. Politically, the refugees had no status. They came in outside the rigid immigration quotas. They were not prisoners of war. They were not legal immigrants with legal visas. They were not boat people. They were guests of President Roosevelt, who assured Congress they would be sent back to their homes in Europe when the war ended. Working as Special Assistant to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, I was selected to fly to Europe on a secret mission and escort the refugees to America. Ickes told me: 'You're going to be given the rank of simulated general.' I blurted in disbelief: 'Me? A general?' He explained: 'If you're shot down and the Nazis capture you as a civilian, they can kill you as a spy. But as a general, according to the Geneva Convention, they have to keep you alive.' It took days in Air Force planes to reach Naples where the 982 were already chosen. The government officials making the selection chose families and survivors with skills that could help run a camp in America. The first priority was refugees who had been in concentration camps and escaped. The 982 were put aboard the Army transport ship Henry Gibbins with 1,000 wounded soldiers returning to hospitals in the States." Links: |
