USHMM: "Through Executive Order 9417 on January 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board (WRB), tasked with the 'immediate rescue and relief of the Jews of Europe and other victims of enemy persecution.' An independent government agency under the Executive branch, the WRB operated until President Harry S. Truman closed it with Executive Order 9614 on September 15, 1945. After World War II, the WRB's first director, John Pehle, described the board as 'little and late' in comparison to the enormity of the Holocaust. In the War Refugee Board’s final report, the staff estimated that they saved tens of thousands of lives, and aided hundreds of thousands more."
This archival treasure brings into the light of day the correspondence between the
• International Commitee of the Red Cross, Geneva/Switzerland
• War Refugee Board, Washington/USA
• American Embassy, Ankara/Turkey
• Secretary of State, Washington/USA
• Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, Executive Council of the Joint Distribution Committee, Lisbon/Portugal
• World Jewish Congress, New York/USA
including these two most comprehensive reports:
Travel Report by Charles Kolb, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative stationed in Romania, on his journey to Transnistria between December 11-21, 1943.
Report of the Situation of the Jews in Transnistria, January - April 1943, by the World Jewish Congress.
Courtesy: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
