Varian Fry: The American Schindler

By Peter Kross | World War II  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

Fry immediately accepted Hoare’s offer, with one caveat: The British had to turn up ships carrying Spanish registry themselves and take them secretly from Barcelona to Marseille. From there, Fry would help them with their plan. Hoare agreed but had one final condition: "Fry should never involve English soldiers and Italians at the same time, as this would unnecessarily compromise the English."

Fry instructed Hirschmann to get in touch with a British officer named Miles, who was in Marseille, to discuss a plan to exfiltrate a number of British soldiers over the Pyrenees. Although plans for the removal of large numbers of British soldiers from France were stymied by the arrest of several of Fry’s escapees along the French-Spanish border, the American operative still managed to get a small number of soldiers out on ships by way of North Africa via Oran, Algiers, Lisbon, Casablanca or Gibraltar, where the British had a large military contingent.

Ever since his arrival in Marseille, Fry had been under constant surveillance by both the Gestapo and the local French police. The authorities had been keeping a wary eye on him and his covert network. Pressure to interfere with his work was finally exerted by the Vichy government, and in December 1940 French police arrested Fry and a number of his associates. Fry was eventually released, but he knew that his time was running out. In January 1941 his American passport finally expired, and the American consulate did not renew it. Soon thereafter he was expelled from France, his highly successful rescue mission finally over.

Fry came back to the United States in September 1941 and resumed his career in publishing. He found a job as an editor with The New Republic magazine and wrote numerous pieces on the plight of European Jewry in the following years. In 1945 he wrote his memoirs, Surrender on Demand, in which he told of his exploits in France.

Varian Fry died at his Connecticut home in 1967 at age 59. He was never given any recognition by the U.S. government for his gallant work in Marseille. But his humanitarian exploits were recognized by the government of Israel, which accorded him the prestigious "Righteous Among the Nations" award in 1996 — an honor he shares with Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg.

This article was written by Peter Kross and originally appeared in World War II magazine. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today!

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, People, World War II

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