20
Friday, July 22, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
LARRY FREEDMAN
Orchestra and Entertainment
647-2367
New Gi-uber Volume Describes FDR's 'Guests' in 1944
NEW YORK — For most
of World War II the emigra-
tion to the U.S. of millions of
desperate Europeans, Jews
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and non-Jews, was denied
by powerful isolationists,
labor-unionists and anti-
Semites in Washington,
D.C. Deaf to the pleading of
the refugees and their sup-
porters, these people
pointed self-righteously to
America's rigid immigra-
tion laws, even as trains
roared toward Auschwitz.
Finally, in June 1944,
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt circumvented
their objections by inviting
1,000 refugees to the U.S. as
temporary guests of the
government. Ruth Gruber,
special assistant to Secre-
tary of the Interior Harold
Ickes, journeyed to Italy to
escort the refugees to their
temporary home at Fort On-
tario in Oswego, N.Y.
In "HAVEN: The Untold
Story of 1,000 World War II
Refugees" (Coward-
McCann), to be published
next month, Gruber rec-
reates the dramatic series of
events which led to
Roosevelt's unprecedented
invitation. She also cap-
tures the spirit of the men,
women and children who
proved their courage on
both sides of the Atlantic —
in Europe fighting Nazis
and in the U.S. fighting to
create new lives.
Initially an observer of
her charges, Gruber soon
became emotionally in-
volved in their struggles
to adapt to life in the U.S.
The friendships she
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formed, still intact today,
and her experience as a
foreign correspondent
provide Gruber with a
unique perspective.
Gruber's first-hand ac-
count opens in June 1944
with Roosevelt's an-
nouncement. With the aid of
Ickes, Gruber snagged the
job of escorting the refugees
across the Atlantic. She was
given the rank of simulated
general in case her
eastward-bound plane was
shot down and she was
taken prisoner.
By the time Gruber ar-
rived in Italy, several men
had already accomplished
the heartbreaking task of
selecting the chosen few
from over 3,000 applicants
in the Naples area. Those
selected — 982 men, women
and children from 18 coun-
tries (874 Jews, 73 Roman
Catholics, 28 Greek Or-
thodox and seven Protes-
tants) awaited her on board
the Liberty Ship henry Gib-
bins.
Gruber, an expert lin-
, guist, quickly established
commications with her
charges. Equally impor-
tant, she made friends with
the ship's other passengers,
wounded and battle-
shocked soldiers from Anzio
and Cassino, who were ter-
rified that the presence of
the refugees might provoke
an enemy attack.
It was a very special
crossing for the Henry
Gibbins; still fearful of
gnawing hunger, refu-
gees stuffed down enor-
mous meals and secreted
food in their pockets, and
practiced their first halt-
ing words of English at
deck classes taught by
Gruber. Lurking Nazi
U-boats and planes pro-
voked real fear among
refugees and soldiers
alike. The high point of
the voyage was a refugee
talent show featuring the
leading baritone of the
Yugoslav National Op-
era.
Gruber came to under-
stand the true nature of Hit-
ler's intenticnis during the
two-week crossing, when
she listened to and recorded
the refugees' tales of perse-
cution, torture, death and
flight. Her notes on the ref-
ugees' experiences, passed
to Ickes and then to
Roosevelt, • provided
America with eyewitness
evidence of the enormity of
Hitler's crimes.
Arriving at Fort Ontario,
a former Army post, the ref-
ugees were stunned to dis-
cover they were to live in an
internment camp fenced
with barbed wire. The shock
of internment was almost
offset by the warm welcome
of the native Oswegans.
Girls and boys exchanged
gifts through the linked
fence and tunneled escape
holes out of sight of the gate
guards. Organizations from
nearby cities arrived with
donations of shower cur-
tains and clothing.
The town generously
opened the doors of its
school system to the chil-
Ruth Gruber took this photograph of President
Roosevelt's "guests" waving to the Statue of Liberty
as they arrived in New York on Aug. 3, 1944.
dren, teenagers and young
adults deprived of education
by the chaos of war.
As the months passed,
Gruber turned her atten-
tion to the fate of the ref-
ugees. Each one had
signed papers agreeing
to return to Europe after
the war. Would they be
forced to return to their
pillaged homelands and
confront the ghosts of
dead friends, relatives
and neighbors?
Alongside her inspira-
tional account of the refu-
gees, Gruber relates a
shocking story of State De-
partment delay and subter-
fuge, of vitally important
cables purposely suppressed
and buried in governmental
red tape. She pieces to-
gether the essential contri-
butions of Ickes, Secretary
of the Treasury Henry
Morgenthau Jr. and Rabbi
Stephen Wise in bringing
the 982 to safety.
"HAVEN" also details
the substantial contribu-
tions the refugees made to
the communities where
they settled. About his
adopted homeland, one ref-
ugee comments, "Only a
foreign-born can under-
stand the nature of the
trunk of the tree on which
he's grafted. Only a
foreign-born can truly ap-
preciate what America is."
Gruber, a foreign corre-
spondent, has covered the
story of refugees since the
end of World War II for the
New York Herald Tribune
and other publications. She
has made 33 trips to the
Middle East covering the
flight of refugees into Israel
from Yemen, Iraq, North
Africa, Poland, Romania
and the Soviet Union.
She is the author of 12
books, six of them on Israel.
Her "Raquela: A Woman of
Israel" won the National
Jewish Book Award as the
best book on Israel in 1978,
and became a selection of
the Reader's Digest Con-
densed Books Book Club.
Druze Demand Israel Aid
Their Brethren in Lebanon
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Israel's long standing
"blood bond" with its Druze
population appeared to be
threatened this week con-
tinued fighting between
Druze and Christians in
Lebanon. Young leaders of
Israel's Druze community
warned that this might
happen because of the Israel
army's alleged failure to
protect Lebanon Druze.
The Druze, a non-Arab
Moslem group, have always
been loyal to the Israeli
state, serve in the army and
hold positions in govern-
ment. But that relationship
became strained since Is-
rael's invasion of Lebanon
in June 1982, and particu-
larly since fighting broke
out between Israel-backed
Christian Phalangist and
Druze villagers in the
Israel-occupied Shouf
mountains.
Druze speakers at a press
conference said hundreds of
Israeli Druze wanted to des-
ert to Lebanon to help their
brethren who, they said,
were facing annihilation.
Spokesmen demanded that
Israel get the Phalangists
out of the Shouf Mountains,
open the road to Druze vil-
lages, return the villagers'
weapons and pay repara-
tions for Druze orchards and
vehicles damaged in recent
weeks.
They also demanded an
inquiry into the "treat-
ment of the Lebanese
Druze by various secu-
rity branches" of the Is-
raeli forces in Lebanon.
Reporters were told that
Druze officers serving in
Lebanon were invited to re-
sign two months ago if Is-
raeli policies conflicted with
their loyalty to their Druze
brethren in Lebanon. The
officers were reportedly told
that Israel was about to or-
ganize a Christian
Lebanese army headed by
Maj. Saad Haddad.
New TAU Chair
TEL AVIV — The Jaime
Constantiner Chair in
Jewish Education at Tel
Aviv University was inau-
gurated recently during the
annual meeting of the uni-
versity's board.
The new chair will focus
on improving the quality of
Jewish education in both Is-
rael and the Diaspora
through the evaluation of
current techniques and the
introduction of new mate-
rials and innovations in the
teaching process.
Barney Ross was born
Barney Rasovsky.