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Roosevelt Allowed 982 Jewish Refugees from Europe into U.S. in 1944

(New York Times) Keren Blankfeld - The troop ship U.S.S. Henry Gibbins sailed from Italy to New York in the summer of 1944, carrying hundreds of wounded soldiers and close to a thousand Jewish war refugees. After arriving, the refugees were ordered to strip and were sprayed with DDT, then sent by train to Fort Ontario in Oswego, N.Y., an hour north of Syracuse, to the only refugee center in the U.S. during World War II. It is the single example of the U.S. sheltering people fleeing the Nazis. Those who arrived had to sign statements agreeing to return to Europe when the war ended since they were in the U.S. under no official immigration quota, with no legal status. Yet a vast majority had nothing to return to. In late 1945, despite most Americans' disapproval, President Truman directed that the Fort Ontario war refugees be given visas.
2020-09-17 00:00:00
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