Surrender On Demand – Varian Fry In Nazi Occupied France
When I started to read his book “Surrender on Demand – Rescue of German Emigrants in Marseilles 1940/41” I was instantly caught by his work and stories. You get a vivid impression how Paris was at that time when it was occupied by the Nazis and how dangerous it was for refugees and enemies of the Third Reich. This article will give you some kind of book review and for any serious interested reader and collectors of documents from the “Righteous” you will get facts of Frey’s work from first hand.
Varian Fry, was an extraordinary and courageous man who, under difficult circumstances, led the most successful American rescue during the occupation of the Third Reich in France. He saved over 2,000 artists, intellectuals, philosophers and scientists trapped in Nazi-controlled Vichy, France 1940-41.
He was a man of principle and believed in man’s humanity to man. In 1935, as a journalist visiting Berlin, he saw brutality on the streets. The vision forever changed the course of his life. In 1940, he jumped at the chance, given by the Emergency Rescue Committee, to head the rescue of refugees.
Recognition for his extraordinary work came belatedly, not even from his own country. Five months before his death, France awarded him the “Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. He was awarded The Eisenhower Liberation Medal posthumously, then in 1996, Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem honored Fry as the first (until 2007) American as “Righteous among the Nations”. Since then, streets and schools and institutions both in Germany and France have been named for him. The Town of Ridgewood, New Jersey, where he was raised, has a plaque bearing his name and the local high school gives scholarships honoring him.
Upon hearing about Article 19’s “surrender on demand” the Emergency Rescue Committee emerged from a joint initiative of Paul Hagen, Varian Fry, the German Jewish immigrant Ingrid Warburg, presidents of American universities including Alvin Johnson (The New School), Charles Seymour (Yale), and Alfred Barr, first director of The Museum of Modern Art. The ERC was funded by private donors, with Peggy Guggenheim and heiress Mary Jane Gold—the latter of whom worked with Fry in Marseille—among its major supporters. Fry was hurriedly sent with $3,000 taped to his leg and a list of 200 of Europe’s most renowned artists and intellectuals who were on the Nazi’s wanted list. These individuals were persecuted because of their Jewish descent, public opposition to the National Socialists, or political activities.
Among the Nazi opponents who were rescued were Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Nobel Laureate Otto Meyerhof and Spain’s leading Catholic philosopher Alfredo Mendizabel. When Eleanor Roosevelt learned that Lion Feuchtwanger was already incarcerated, she gave the Committee her support, enlisting the aid of the State Department to send someone to Vichy France. Rescuing the intellectual and artistic elite led to the strengthening of American intellectual, artistic life and culture. Their influence is still felt today.
Marseilles, France… August 1940 – On June 22, 1940
France surrendered to Germany and the two countries signed an armistice. France was divided into a Northern Zone, which was occupied by the Germans, and a Southern Zone, which was controlled by a French government, based in the town of Vichy, that was eager to assist the Nazis. Thousands of refugees living in the Southern Zone, both Jews and anti-Nazi non-Jews, were suddenly in danger of being turned over to the Gestapo (German secret state police) and sent to Germany. Troubled by this situation, a group of American citizens formed a relief organization to help the refugees. They called it the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC).
Refugees from all walks of life heard about Varian’s mission and approached him for help. Varian was shocked to learn that thousands were unable to leave due to bureaucratic hurdles that stood in the way. He felt a responsibility to help as many people as possible. Varian rented an office and assembled a staff of American expatriates, French relief workers, and refugees. In direct opposition to the Vichy regime and the American consulate, he and his accomplices used black-market funds to forge passports and to smuggle refugees out of France; some by sea, and some by land, across the border into Spain. Varian established a legal organization, the American Relief Center, to serve as a cover for his illegal rescue work.
Varian turned his three-week mission into a thirteen-month stay. As the rescue work expanded, however, it became harder to keep it secret. Both the French authorities and the American consulate in Vichy condemned Varian’s efforts. He was detained and questioned on more than one occasion. When his passport expired, the American consulate refused to renew it. Varian stayed in France, nevertheless, and continued his rescue work. In June 1941, both the American consulate and the Vichy regime ordered Varian to return to the U.S. Ultimately, on September 6, 1941, he was deported by French authorities.
Meyerhof biography
Walter Ernst Meyerhof is the son of Professor Otto Fritz Meyerhof, a noted biochemist and physiologist, and Hedwig (Schallenberg) Meyerhof. He was born April 29, 1922, in Kiel, Germany. He had two older siblings, Gottfried (Geoffrey, b. 1916) and Bettina (b.1918). The son of wealthy Jewish merchants, Otto Meyerhof was born in Hanover and grew up in Berlin. He became a professor of physiological chemistry at the University of Kiel in 1913, and in 1923, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for “his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle.” Though their children had been baptized as Lutherans, Otto and Hedwig were forced to leave Germany in 1938. They moved to France, where Otto became director of research at the Institute de Biologie Physicochimique.
Walter left Germany for England in 1936 to continue his education, and then joined his parents in Paris in 1939 to study at the Ecole de Phisigne et Chimie. Bettina had already moved to the U.S., where she was studying medicine at The Johns Hopkins University. After the start of World War II, Walter was briefly interned as an enemy alien. Following the German invasion of France in May 1940, he and his parents fled to southern France. Walter, however, was again arrested and held first in Chambaran for one month and then in Le Cheylard from June to August 1940. He escaped with a forged demobilization document and rejoined his parents in Marseilles.
Coincidentally, the Meyerhofs ended up in the same hotel in Marseilles as Varian Fry, the American diplomat charged with rescuing refugee scholars and artists for the Emergency Rescue Committee (ECR). Though Otto Meyerhof was not on the ECR list, Fry was more than willing to help the Nobel laureate, and in September 1940, Otto and Hedwig arrived in America. Otto became a research professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. Walter, who did not have the appropriate papers, was unable to accompany his parents, but six months later, Fry helped him to secure the necessary exit visa and get to Lisbon. In April 1941, Walter sailed aboard the SS Conte Real to the United States, where he finished his education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Some facts from the book…
- Fry’s assignment was initially limited to three months but ended up with thirteen months
- The American Trade Union Federation played a significant role to convince the State Department to issue emergency visas
- American Vice Consul in France, Hiram “Harry” Bingham was a supporter of Fry
- Bingham was, in fact, the rescuer of Lion Feuchtwanger
- Fry organized mainly genuine and fake documents such as transit visas to Portugal, Spain and even Chinese and Siam visas
- The Chinese visas were issued in Chinese and had, in fact, the wording “The bearer is not allowed, under no circumstances, to enter China”
- Above fact did not matter as long the Portuguese accepted the visas (as they couldn’t read Chinese)
- Same circumstances with the Siam visas…
- Most difficult for Fry was to organize visas for stateless persons, which citizenship was revoked by the Nazis
- The French “Titre de Voyage” (some kind of refugee document) was not accepted by Spain and refugees were sent back
- Fry organized via the ERC emergency visas and the American consulate issued then usually also an “affidavit in lieu of passport” (see below)
- The Czechoslovakian Consul in France was also a supporter of Fry and issued fake passports. According to Fry’s statement these documents had a rose cover color so it must be the “Temporary passport type” of the Czech passport. These types are very rare to find for collectors
- Also in use were Polish passports from the Polish Consul in Marseilles and Lithuanian passports issued by the Italian Consul Ax-en-Provence
- Panamanian visas issued by the Honorary Consul of Panama in Marseille
- Czech Temporary passport with Siam visa
But the question remains what documents you could possibly find as collector from Fry? Maybe only internal or official ERC documents!
Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
Featured in media incl. CNN, BBC, Newsweek. Awarded by the U.S. Department of State.
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