Page 12 of The Righteous

“Did you mention Theresa?” Julia asked. “She could be a positive addition to the group. She’s not only a history professor who knows political science, but she’s Hungarian.”

Teddy’s expression changed to apologetic. “I did, but they only said they would consider it. I don’t know what Joe or John is going to say. Maybe they would want to keep the report confidential from someone who is not with the government or even a US citizen.”

“I have a permanent visa,” Theresa said. “As of two years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Teddy said. “I didn’t know. I just didn’t feel the time was right. This is such a dynamite report and it’s so top secret, but maybe I could ask them when they arrive.”

Julia put her hands on her hips. “Well, don’t get your shorts in a bundle,” she said. She was peeved. “I’ll just ask them myself.”

Teddy started to speak when the intercom buzzed. “Mr. Hartigan,” the secretary announced, “Mr. Josiah DuBois, Mr. John Pehle, and Treasury General Counsel Randolph Paul have arrived. They are gathered in the third-floor conference room, and they request your presence.”

Theresa looked at Teddy and said, “I’d better wait here.”

“Absolutely not,” said Julia. “John Pehle already knows and respects you. I’m sure they’ll welcome your input.”

Pehle, DuBois, and Paul were all seated around the conference table. A stack of typewritten reports sat in the middle of the table. It was Paul who spoke first. He looked at Julia and Theresa and said, “I don’t think I know either of you. My name is Randolph Paul.”

Teddy stepped forward. “This is Julia Powers, a member of the State Department, who served with me in Amsterdam. She is also a Distinguished Service Medal recipient.” Julia shook hands with the group.

She started to introduce Theresa, but Teddy held his hand in front of her and said, “Allow me. The other woman here is Miss Theresa Weissbach, a Hungarian citizen. She is also a permanent US resident. She is a professor of history at the University of Michigan, and she has a wealth of knowledge about Hungary. She’s well acquainted with important people in Europe, including Rabbi Wise.

” The group nodded and smiled. Teddy continued, “Julia and Theresa are here to contribute in any way they can to the content of the report. They understand that the report is classified at the highest level, and they will not speak of it outside these chambers without your prior consent.”

The introduction was well received, and Paul, Pehle, and DuBois motioned for Julia and Theresa to be seated. “We welcome your input,” John said.

Joe placed a copy of the report in front of each of the attendees, except he was short one copy.

Julia offered to share hers with Theresa.

It seemed odd to Julia that a report of this magnitude should be presented on loosely clipped typewritten pages.

The title page read, Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews .

Theresa was shocked. She covered her mouth with her hand and had to bend over to read the title twice. “ Acquiescence ?” she said incredulously. “That means ‘consent without objection,’ does it not? Do we have proof that the US acquiesced in the murders?”

“Not in writing,” DuBois replied, “but in their actions, or inactions, I should say. If you are an official agency of the government and have knowledge of refugee murders that are about to take place and you do nothing, then you are acquiescing!”

Paul tightened his lips. “You know that we are going to present this to President Roosevelt. We may have to smooth out the title a bit, but there is no doubt that the report lays blame on the State Department for doing nothing.”

Joe DuBois then invited everyone to go through the report and make notations in the margins. If there were any questions, additions, or corrections, they would discuss them.

Julia and Theresa opened the report to the first page. It began with the following statement: “ One of the greatest crimes in history, the slaughter of the Jewish people in Europe, is continuing unabated. ” Julia and Theresa looked at each other. The opening passage was tragic, but true.

The report pulled no punches in blaming the United States government for what it termed acquiescence.

“ This government has for a long time maintained that its policy is to work out programs to save those Jews of Europe who could be saved. ” The report continued in the first person with DuBois’s own words: “ I am convinced on the basis of the information available to me that certain individuals in our State Department, which is charged with carrying out this policy, have been guilty not only of gross procrastination and willful failure to act but even of willful attempts to prevent actions from being taken to rescue Jews from Hitler. ”

“Shocking!” said Julia. Theresa’s jaw was quivering. This was to be an official government document. There was no beating around the bush about who bore the responsibility.

“ Unless remedial steps of a drastic nature are taken and taken immediately, I am certain that no effective action will be taken by this government to prevent the complete extermination of the Jews in German-controlled Europe and that this government will have to share for all time the responsibility for this extermination. ”

Over the next several pages, the report went on to list the numerous failures of the State Department: failure to cooperate with private organizations, failure to fund refugee efforts, and failure to use government machinery to rescue Jews. In fact, it did the contrary.

“ The most glaring example of the use of the machinery of this government to actually prevent the rescue of Jews is the administrative restrictions that have been placed upon the granting of visas to the United States. ”

Julia nodded. “We have seen it, and we have lived it,” she said.

For those individuals who lent their support and tried to do the right thing, the report did not hesitate to praise them.

It named individuals like Congressman Emanuel Celler of New York, who opposed isolationists and called the immigration policy “cold and cruel.” Like Congressman Samuel Dickstein, who held hearings on the Child Refugee Bill, whose purpose was to save “German Jews from annihilation.” But their efforts often fell on deaf ears.

Page after page, the report listed failures and inactions and, worse, acts by certain American political leaders to prevent Jewish rescue.

The first section of the report focused on one such situation when the State Department failed to act upon warnings from the World Jewish Congress.

It was titled “World Jewish Congress Proposal to Evacuate Thousands of Jews from Romania and France.” It went on to describe the five-month-delayed response, between March 13, 1943, and December 15, 1943, placing the delay squarely on the shoulders of Breckinridge Long, assistant secretary of state.

The second section was titled “Suppression of Facts Regarding Hitler’s Extermination of Jews,” and it named those who delayed or changed the wording on cables and reports to omit the damning information from being known, once again including Breckinridge Long.

At the end of the report, Julia and Theresa read the final paragraph: “ If men of the temperament and philosophy of Long continue in control of administration of immigration, we might as well take down the plaque from the Statue of Liberty and black out ‘the lamp beside the golden door.’ ”

The group sat in silence trying to digest the accusations. Some grammatical errors were corrected, one word was exchanged for another, and the report’s title was changed, eliminating the term acquiescence .

“What happens now?” Julia asked.

“That’s up to Secretary Morgenthau,” Pehle answered. “He’ll review the contents, and if he approves of them, and I’m quite sure he will, then he’ll set an appointment with the president and deliver it. The rest is up to FDR.”

“There are a number of things the president can do,” DuBois said, “but we are hoping he will set up a separate agency of government to oversee the refugee problem and provide assistance in whatever way we can.”

“Does that mean sending people into Europe?” Theresa said.

“I don’t know if that’s possible at this time,” Pehle responded. “We have no forces there; the borders are all closed. Perhaps smuggling people in with false identities—is that what you’re saying? What would they do once they’re in?”

Theresa shrugged. “Maybe channel funds to the refugees in some way? Maybe food or medicine? I would be willing to go over there and do that.”

“Terri, are you nuts?” Julia said. “Then you would become a refugee yourself.”

“That is a noble proposition, Terri,” said Teddy, “but you can’t go over there now.

There is no way for you to enter the country, no place to stay, and Julia is right, you’d become a target yourself.

You could best serve your family by assisting from this side of the Atlantic.

Besides, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves.

We don’t know what FDR is going to do when he sees the report.

I’m sure that Secretary Morgenthau will meet with the president very soon. ”

Three days later, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, the ranking Jewish official in the president’s inner circle, met with FDR at the White House.

The report, which was now titled Personal Report to the President , had been cleaned up and some of the damning language was more restrained.

Even so, it was still a forceful, accusatory document.

After the meeting, Secretary Morgenthau returned to Treasury to report that he was confident that no time would be wasted in effectuating the report.

And he was right. Within a week, on January 22, 1944, the president signed Executive Order 9417 establishing the government agency known as the War Refugee Board. The order was printed on a single page and signed by the president, granting sweeping and powerful authority to the board.

Order 9417 began with the following preamble:

Whereas it is the policy of this Government to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war;

Now, Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and in order to effectuate with all possible speed the rescue and relief of such victims of enemy oppression, it is hereby ordered as follows:

The order went on to list the responsibilities and powers of the board, which would answer to no one but the president.

The board was to take “ all effective measures for (a) the rescue, transportation, maintenance, and relief of the victims of enemy oppression, and (b) the establishment of havens of temporary refuge for such victims. ”

So that there would be no mystery about the cooperation of the State Department, the order was explicit.

“ The State Department shall appoint special attachés with diplomatic status, on the recommendation of the Board, to be stationed abroad in places where it is likely that assistance can be rendered to war refugees. Additionally, the State Department, the War Department and the Treasury Department are authorized to accept the services or contributions of any private persons, private organizations, State agencies, or agencies of foreign governments in carrying out the purposes of this Order. ”

The order provided that the board would appoint an executive director and concluded by stating, “ The Board shall be directly responsible to the President in carrying out the policy of this Government, as stated in the Preamble, and the Board shall report to him at frequent intervals concerning the steps taken for the rescue and relief of war refugees. ”

“You see,” said Theresa, “the order said, ‘The War Department and the Treasury Department are authorized to accept the services or contributions of any private persons .’ Well, I am a private person. I want to contribute. There has to be a way.”

Teddy answered, “You’re right and we will find a way, but here in America, not in Hungary. This order is a first of its kind and everything that we have wished for. No longer will humanitarian proposals die at the State Department.”

Teddy was right. Never before had a US agency been created for the sole purpose of aiding “victims of enemy oppression” regardless of their citizenship, nationality, or religion.

In its charter, the War Refugee Board (WRB) would be responsible for devising and carrying out programs for the rescue and relief of victims of Nazi persecution.

American diplomats worldwide were instructed to enforce all WRB policies.

The original members of the board were Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, and Secretary of War Henry Stimson.

The president allotted $1 million in federal funds for administrative purposes, but virtually all other funding for the board’s work would have to come from private sources.

John Pehle was appointed as executive director of the WRB.

Teddy, Julia, and Theresa knew they would be part of the effort, in whatever way they could contribute.