SAFE HAVEN, OSWEGO NY

Hard to believe but Oswego, NY, on Lake Ontario, was the only spot in America where persons fleeing from the Nazi Holocaust found refuge. In 1944, after the US Army gained control of most of Italy, FDR agreed to take in 1,000 refugees. While thousands more were turned away, a lucky 982 (mostly Jews) gained passage across the Atlantic on the Henry Gibbons, a troop carrier, also carrying many brave wounded soldiers. FDR allowed these displaced individuals to come as long as they signed a paper guaranteeing that they would return to their former homes in Germany, Italy, and the Balkans at war’s end.

Refugee family disembarking

Coming from Europe aboard a US Navy troop carrier

Eleanor Roosevelt visits the Oswego Safe Haven

Imagine the fright of these refugees as the ship was met by a train to transport them to Oswego NY to reside at Fort Ontario, a deactivated military base, surrounded by fencing and barbed wire. Could this be a continuation of the Holocaust?  Their fears were assuaged by Ruth Gruber, a liaison from the Interior Department, who spoke many of their different languages. She had accompanied them from Italy all the way to Oswego, and reassured them that they would be safe here in America.

Those residing in the Fort Ontario shelter were accepted by the Oswego community. Mr. Smart, a principal, arranged for the children to attend local schools where they played and learned along with local children. Townspeople came back from church and invited refugee families for a home-hosted Sunday dinner. Residents of the camp earned some immediate cash by working odd jobs in Oswego. Adults were taught woodworking, hairdressing, and other useful skills. All learned English. After years on the run, they now could develop a cultural life and published a newspaper and put on shows and concerts. Eleanor Roosevelt, always concerned about refugees, visited to offer support.

After the war, Harry Truman voided the order that the refugees must return to Europe. After all, their homes no longer existed and America was a land of immigrants and opportunity. The US government provided buses so the refugees could cross over the Rainbow Bridge to nearby Canada. In Canada, they were provided stamped papers so they could reenter the United States on a legal path to citizenship.

Individuals from this group have made great contributions to our nation – helping develop the MRI, the Minuteman and Polaris missiles, composing music, and in other ways. Many reunions have taken place in Oswego; the Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum is a small treasure undergoing expansion. It memorializes a fascinating story of the rescue of 982 refugees who found a safe haven in Oswego during WW II.

P.S.  The Oswego story is a far cry from the way the US government had treated the ship St. Louis carrying a boatload of escaping refugees from Europe. That ship was turned back from Havana and then Miami, forcing the refugees to re-cross the Atlantic to Europe. In this “voyage of the dammed,” the passengers faced almost-certain death at the hands of Nazis whose anti-Semitic mission was to exterminate all Jews.