Recent arrivals
The Boston Committee for Refugees does what it can
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"ISAAC BIRNBAUM, age 53, retail tobacco and clothing merchant. (speaks no English whatever)"
Boston
Of the American-Jewish self-help groups assisting Jews in leaving Europe and rebuilding their lives in the United States, the Boston Committee for Refugees was the first. Established in 1933, it consisted entirely of volunteers. Under the leadership of Walter H. Bieringer and Willy Nordwind, the Committee chiefly endeavored to obtain affidavits for would-be immigrants and see to it that they would find employment upon arrival in the U.S. Since the Great Depression, the State Department had orders to keep people “likely to become a public charge” out. It was of great importance to ensure the livelihood of the refugees. The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany and the colossal failure of the Évian Conference on Refugees reinforced the urgency of helping the desperate asylum seekers. On August 26th, 1938, the Committee’s Acting Executive Secretary sent Bieringer a list of recent arrivals in need of placement.
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SOURCE
Institution:
Leo Baeck Institute – New York | Berlin
Collection:
Willy Nordwind Collection, AR 10551
Original:
Box 1, folder 38
Source available in English
