Existing comment:
January 22, 1944
War Refugee Board Established
"We have talked. We have sympathized. We have expressed our horror. The time to act is long past due."
-- John Pehle, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, January 15, 1944
The establishment of the War Refugee Board (WRB) marked the first time the US government adopted a policy of trying to rescue victims of Nazi persecution. The WRB coordinated the work of both US and international refugee aid organizations, sending millions of dollars into German-occupied Europe for relief and rescue. Its representatives abroad pressured neutral nations to provide diplomatic aid to Jews and recruited Swedish businessman Raoul Wallenberg to help save thousands of lives in Budapest, Hungary.
The War Refugee Board's final report estimated that it rescued "tens of thousands" of people and assisted "hundreds of thousands" more. |