Purely Commentary
Proposal to U. of M.: Posthumous Honor
for Raoul Wallenberg, Great Hero of
World War II; Morse Story Recapitulated
the refugee problem and, in fact, became short-tempered and
rigid when faced with opportunities for rescue. For example, in
1940 a refugee ship carrying Jews who had escaped from France
The expose of the heartlessness of the great powers in dealing with
before the German occupation was turned away from Mexico.
the refugee problem during World War II is far from ended. The guilt
Mexican authorities ruled that the passengers' visas had been sold
of the State Department with the concurrence of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
illegally, and the Jews were ordered to return to Europe — to
Cordell Hull and many members of the State Department staff —
certain doom.
primarily Breckinridge Long and Robert Borden Reams — emerge
When the ship made a brief stop for coal at Norfolk, Virginia,
as blemishes on the record of humanitarism services previously
a delegation of American Jews, encouraged by Eleanor Roosevelt,
rendered by the United States in providing succor for those persecuted
visited HulL Among them was one of Rabbi Wise's colleagues, Dr.
in many lands for religious or political reasons.
Nahum Goldmann, the persuasive and tough-minded Zionist. Gold-
In "While Six Million Died—A Chronicle of American Apathy,"
mann, urged the Secretary to grant the refugees asylum, although
published by Random House, in which Arthur D. Morse told about the
they lacked immigration papers. Hull swung around in his chair
"acquiescence of this government in the murder of the Jews," there are
and pointed to the American flag behind him. "Dr. Goldmann,"
recorded many incidents to show how the callousness, the indifference
he said, "I took an oath to protect that flag and obey the laws
and the sheer heartlessness stemming in many instances from
of my country and you are asking me to break those laws."
prejudices came into play.
Goldmann reminded Hull that several weeks earlier a number
Morse gave full credit to the accomplishments of the War Refugee
of anti-Nazi German sailors had leaped overboard as their ship
Board which was established all-too-late by FDR, and to the heroic
departed from New York. Since the United States was not yet at
efforts of John Pehle and his associates on the WRB. But he relates
war with Germany, the Coast Guard had picked up the sailors and
this incident which is worth taking into account in the consideration
given them sanctuary on Ellis Island. Goldmann suggested that
of the events that marked the mass murder of a third of the Jewish
Hull might send a telegram to the refugees in Norfolk and ask
people:
them to jump overboard. "Surely they will not be allowed to
The War Refugee Board's demand for immediate action to
drown," he said. "The Coast Guard will pick them up and they will
rescue the remaining Jews struck deep-rooted prejudices within
be safe for the rest of the war." "Dr. Goldmann," said Hull sharply,
the State Department. A friend of Josiah DuBois' at State told him
"you are the most cynical man I have ever met."
that he had overheard a Foreign Service officer complaining: "That
Unabashed, Goldmann replied, "I ask you, Mr. Secretary, who
Jew Morgenthau and his Jewish assistants like DuBois are trying
is the cynical one — I who wish to save these innocent people or
to take over this place .. ."
you who are prepared to send them back to their death?"
"I tried to tell him you weren't Jewish, Joe," The State Depart-
Hull dismissed the delegation, refusing to shake Goldmann's
ment man said with a laugh, "but he wouldn't listen.
band; but in the end he yielded to Mrs. Roosevelt's intervention and
On one occasion Mrs. Ruth Shipley, who headed the Passover
the refugees were admitted.
Division, called John Pehle and asked in all seriousness if the
Roosevelt usually ignored Hull in the shaping of foreign policy
board employed any Americans. The bewildered Pehle replied
and did not invite him to the principal wartime conferences. To
that his staff was entirely American and asked the reason for the
add to his problems, Hull felt that the President encouraged Under-
question.
secretary Sumner Welles to go over his head, and he admitted to
"Well, I've never read cables like those your people send,"
associates that he spend sleepless nights worrying about this
she said. "They just aren't worded like our cables."
erosion of his prestige. But even those who considered Hull- an
Mrs. Shipley was right. In place of the weak, apolegetic
intellectual liability found him a kind man. Anyone who mentioned
appeals sent sporadically by Breckinridge Long and his associates,
the possibility that anti-Semitism might be at the root of his
the new directives were urgent and uncompromising. Furthermore,
seeming indifference toward the Jews was told quietly that Mrs.
they were not limited to the belligerent nations. The board chal-
Hull was a Jewess.
lenged all the moral forces which had remained silent in the face
How often the latter defense was offered — by the prejudiced who
of Nazi murder. Among them was the International Committee of claimed immunity by virtue of a mixed marriage! Even Stalin could
the Red Cross. The official history of the War Refugee Board, resort to it because his wife was Kaganovich's sister. There were
which recently was classified "secret," notes that "The board so many others — in Russia, Germany, the high places in the govern-
also appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross time ments of many nations for whom a Jewish mate was an excuse for
and time again to take direct and aggressive action to obtain
humanitarian treatment for the helpless minorities being persecuted I either inaction or for harmful acts — all part of a hoax in a world of
Episodes in World War II: State Department
Prejudices, FDR, British Expedience Policies
By Philip
Slomovitz
pest, a center of Wallenberg's res-
cue activities, on Jan. 13, 1945, and
was taken to a Moscow prison. The
balance of the story of his martyr-
dom is yet to be told. But Morse's
revealing book devotes some 12
pages to the Wallenberg record of
heroic activities. In the course of
his description of Wallenberg's la-
bors Morse wrote:
"For generations the name Wal-
lenberg has been identified with
Swedish statesmen, bishops, diplo-
mats, military and financial lead-
ers. Raoul was the son of a young
naval officer who had died three
months before his son's birth.
Reared by his beautiful, cultivated
mother, he was a special favorite
of his grandfather Gustav, who had
served as Swedish minister to Ja-
pan and Turkey. Under Gustav's
tutelage, Raoul developed a world
view, traveling extensively in Eu-
rope and the Middle East. Skilled
in languages, he combined a subtle
sense of humor with a highly de-
veloped sense of compassion. Af-
ter earning an honors degree in
architecture from the University
of Michigan, Raoul reverted to the
family interest in finance and went
to work for a bank in Haifa, Pales-
tine. Here he first glimpsed Jews
in flight from Hitler. This recollec-
tion was reinforced by his experi-
ence in the early 1940s as foreign
representative of a Stockholm ex-
port-import firm. His visits to Ger-
man-occupied Europe and business
trips to Budapest in 1942-43 evoked
vivid impressions of Nazi brutal-
ity. These were heightened by his
friendship with a Hungarian Jew-
ish partner.
"Wallenberg's combination of
pragmatic and Idealistic qualities
were brought to the attention of
Iver Olsen, the War Refugee
Board's representative in Stock-
holm. At this time Olsen was seek-
ing to implement the board's sug-
gestion that Sweden increase its
diplomatic delegation in Budapest.
Simultaneously a movement had
developed within Sweden for a pro-
gram to aid the destitute Hun-
garian Jews. Enlisting the support
of the Swedish Foreign Ministry,
King Gustaf V and Jewish organ'.
zations within Swede n, Olsen
played an essential if unobtrusive
role in the most dramatic lifesav-
ing operation of the war. There
was no overt American involve-
ment. Instead, Wallenberg was
given full diplomatic accredita-
tion as third secretary of the
Swedish legation in Budapest. He
was assigned to organize a special
department responsible for the
protection and relief of Jews. To
finance this ambitious effort the
War Refugee Board authorized Ol-
sen to transmit to the neutral Wal-
lenberg a first installment of ;100,-
000 in Joint Distribution Commit-
tee funds. As a further extension
of its unorthodox diplomacy, the
board provided Wallenberg with a
list of corrupt Hungarian passport
officials, undercover anti-Nazis, and
others who could be of assistance.
The board described one Hun-
garian contact as a lawyer who for
a number of years very skillfully
played the role of an ardent Nazi
and anti-Semite with the objective
of helping distressed or endan-
gered Jews and liberals."
"Prior to Wallenberg's departure,
King Gustaf sent Admiral Horthy
a personal message urging hu-
manitarian treatment for the Jews.
The deluge of telegrams from
world leaders shook the regent,
who expressed his apprehension
to his German masters. Suddenly
everyone seemed concerned about
the Jews.
"Wallenberg arrived in Budapest
early in July. The Swedish minis.
ter, Carl Ivan Danielsson, had al-
ready begun the rescue effort by
issuing six hundred provisional
passports to Jews who had pow
sonal or commercial ties to Swe-
den. Wallenberg expanded this
scheme radically. He printed a
protective passport of his own elab.
so viciously by the Germans. For many months, however, request !bewilderment!
Will Morse's "While Six Million Died" serve as a warning against
after request from the board met with the answer that the Germans I
would not permit the proposed action." Officials of the Red Cross practices that lack realism, at the State Department, in the White
House, in our embassies and the consular corps? It is doubtful. Expedi-
pointed out that they had no legal power to force the Germans to ence still rules the day. That's why the former president of the World
improve the treatment of the Jews. By international convention the Bank (Eugen R. Black) can speak, in Cairo, of Arab resentment of
Red Cross was concerned solely with the treatment of prisoners of the United States and "real trouble in the Arab world" without major
war and interned civilians. Internees were defined as citizens of consideration to the urgent need for peace. That's why we become so
a belligerent nation trapped within an enemy's borders after the easily embroiled in Far Eastern warfare rather than worldwide peace.
outbreak of war. They were guaranteed treatment comparable to There are genuine searchers for peace and for good will among the
that of prisoners of war. But the Germans had branded the Jews nations but they are stymied by policies that delay amity. While Morse's
as Schultzhaftlinge, persons in protective custody. According to the revelations are indictments of American policies in World War II, it
Nazi they were stateless, and were treated as common criminals. is to be hoped that the truth will serve as a guide against the perpetua-
The Red Cross had directed a number of weak inquiries to tion blind tactics in world affairs. We are too often on the brink of war
the Germans about their treatment of the Jews but had never to permit anything other than resort to justice and quest for peace.
pressed the issue. They feared that excessive indignation would
cause the Germans to cancel their arrangements for the civilized
care of war prisoners and conventional internees. The spokesmen The Raoul Wallenberg Chapter of Heroism
of the International Red Cross turned away complaints about their
In July of 1956 and again in February of 1957, the name of Raoul
apparent neglect of the Jews with the somewhat familiar argument Wallenberg, the Swedish hero of the Second World War, who risked his
that they could not interfere in the internal affairs of a belligerent life to rescue Jews, figured prominently on the front pages of Detroit
nation. After all, the Red Cross served all mankind impartially. newspapers. It began with the search for Wallenberg's whereabouts
John Pehle and the War Refugee Board did not accept this and the eventual revelation that Wallenberg had died in a Soviet jail.
explanation. On March 23, 1944, the board prepared a message to Then Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko announced that Wallen-
the Red Cross proposing that it urge Germany and its satellites to berg died in 1947 of a heart attack. Details of Wallenberg's tragic
place Jews and other concentration camp inmates on a status equal experiences in Russia still are lacking, but the story of his courage has
to other prisoners'. If this was rejected the Red Cross should become a matter of public record and again is being revised in Arthur
demand the right to ship and distribute food packages to inmates Morse's "While Six Million Died."
of the German camps.
When the Wallenberg story first emerged as an historic occurrence
What is it exactly that caused Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was 12 years ago, it became known that Wallenberg was an honor student
considered such a humanitarian, to ignore all appeals for help for the in the college of architecture and design at the University of Michigan.
people that was doomed to death by Hitler? Why did he fail to act even Prof. Ralph Hammet recalled him as a "bright, charming boy." There
when Henry Morgenthau Jr., as Secretary of the Treasury, challenged were recollections' of him by a classmate, a Detroit architect, Corne-
the outrageous policies of the State Department? FDR had the frequent lius L. T. Gabler. Mrs. Jean Hebrard of Ann Arbor, wife of a U-M
pleas in support of legislation to admit refugee children, among others professor of architecture, said he was "a charming, serious young man
from none other than his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. He always responded who was unusually bright."
with the veto and his NO mars his otherwise significent record of
As a result of our reference to Wallenberg in the earlier review
elevating this country's internal needs. Eleanor Roosevelt herself
of Morse's "While Six Million Died," another of Wallenberg's class-
explained his attitude. In her book, "This I remember," she had written:
mates, Sol King, the prominent Detroit architect, chairman of the
"While I often felt strongly on various subjects, Franklin
board of Albert Kahn Associates, called to relate about his friend-
frequently refrained from supporting causes in which he believed,
ship with Wallenberg during his student days and to suggest
because 'of political realities."
a tribute in honor of the now world-famous U-M graduate who dis-
Just as the British resorted to "expedience" in refusing to come
played so much courage during the last war. Perhaps, King states,
to the aid of Jews by opening Palestine's doors for them, so FDR was
their alma mater will give due recognition to a great hero during
moved by "political realities!"
the sesquicentenniel year. Those who take cognizance of one of the
This commentator recalls the pre-World War II years when appeals
very great humanitarian efforts in defiance of Nazism may wish
were showered upon Cordell Hull to open America's heart to the
to join in this task.
millions who were chosen for destruction by the Fuehrer. The Secretary
One
of the stories about Wallenberg in the Detroit News during the
of State was a guest here at a political meeting. Your commentator
went to see him. He asked Simon Shetzer to accompany him. As we search for Wallenberg's whereabouts in 1956—when the charge of mur-
der
was
first
leveled at the USSR and before Gromyko announced that
walked up to the speakers' rostrum, a strong arm man appeared and
was ready to throw us out bodily. But I reached Hull and posed a Wallenberg had died of a heart attack 10 years earlier, gave this
question regarding the urgency of assistance to the hordes who were account of the Swedish hero:
"Wallenberg, wealthy, socially successful and with a brilliant
condemned to sufferings and eventual death. The reply was the usual
career in architecture ahead of him, volunteered to go to Budapest
one — that his department was doing all that is possible. We soon
to save the doomed Jews. Although a Christian, he was motivated
learned that it was nothing and now the records reveal that it was
by a deep desire to serve the Jews as a segment of humanity in
obstruction.
distress.
For instance, in Morse's revealing volume we also have a record
"A leader in the Swedish Red Cross, Wallenberg disdained
of a meeting with Jewish leaders. It was when a refugee ship stopped at
normal diplomatic channels and performed his heroic rescues by
our shores and Dr. Stephen S. Wise and a group of associates went to
issuing false passports to the terrified Jews and by resorting to
plead for their admission. Morse explains that Hull, "over 70, a hand-
other devices perfected in the underground channels of espionage.
some, stooped Tennessean whom Roosevelt had selected for his political
"One of his breathtaking tricks, it was reported, was to pose
rather than diplomatic-prowess .. . was an effective bridge between
as a high Nazi official, halt a trainload of Jews bound for a death
Roosevelt and the conservative senators, whose support the President
(Continued on Page 48)
camp
and brazenly order their release. This trick was successful
required . . ." The incident of the Jewish leaders' plea is described as
THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS
a
number
of
times
before
it
was
discovered."
follows in Morse's "While Six Million Died:"
Wallenberg reportedly was arrested by the Russians in Buda- 2—Friday, Febrvary 23, 1961 , •
Hull had neither the time nor the conviction to go deeply into
•
•
•