SAINTS AND LIARS

A study of American aid workers and their efforts to “move targeted people beyond German reach” in World War II.

Dwork, a prolific historian of the Holocaust, turns her attention here to rescue operations and their principals in the desperate effort to secure safe passage for people endangered by the Third Reich—Jews, to be sure, but also leftists, intellectuals, and other opponents of the regime. As Dwork notes, these operatives had numerous motives driving their work: Some sought adventure; several went beyond their brief to save people for reasons of emotional and personal connection, and not necessarily by the book. The theater of humanitarian operations shifted before and during the war: When the Nazis began their occupation of Sudetenland, Jews fled en masse to the Baltic republics; when the Soviets and Germans began to fight there, Shanghai became an important destination; when the U.S. entered the war against Japan, Lisbon became what was called “Europe’s sole window to the west.” Personalities and ideologies enter the picture in Dwork’s account; it’s surprising to read of the pitched rivalries among Unitarians and Quakers, who had somewhat different missions: “The Unitarians pursued a militantly prodemocratic political program, proved willing to engage in illegal transactions, and did not blink at covert operations. The Quakers, by contrast, pursued a militantly humanitarian project, embraced pacifist neutrality, and were punctiliously law-abiding.” Whatever the differences, both camps enjoyed successes and failures, as did Jewish relief organizations, and all were central in helping refugees negotiate “the obstacle course of affidavits, entry visas, exit visas, transit visas, train tickets, and ship tickets” and offering psychological as well as material support. It’s difficult to draw practical lessons for modern humanitarian efforts from Dwork’s narrative, save that for the most part the principal players never lost sight of their missions even as they faced increasingly difficult odds in saving even a fraction of the imperiled.

A contribution to the literature of humanitarian aid as well as the Holocaust.