Records of the War Refugee Board, 1944-1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

This collection is divided into twelve major series: (1) General Correspondence; (2) Projects and Documents File; (3) General Correspondence of Roswell D. McClelland; (4) Correspondence and Petitions Relating to the Admission of Refugees into the United States; (5) Records Formerly Classified "Secret"; (6) "Liquidation" Correspondence - Records Relating to Individual Accounts; (7) Records Relating to the Istanbul Cash Accounts; (8) Miscellaneous Correspondence Relating to Accounts; (9) Index to Board Communications; (10) A History of the War Refugee Board; (11) Paraphrases of Selected Documents; (12) Press Clippings.

War Refugee Board

The War Refugee Board was established by Executive Order 9417 on January 22, 1944, "in order to effectuate with all possible speed the rescue and relief of... victims of enemy oppression." The Board was composed of the Secretaries of State, War and Treasury, and had a small staff in Washington headed by an Executive Director. The first Executive Director was John W. Pehle, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, who served until January 27, 1945. He was succeeded by Brigadier General William 0'Dwyer, who served until the dissolution of the Board. The Board worked closely with private relief agencies in the United States, the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

For the relief of persecuted people who could not be evacuated, the Board pursued several lines of action. It negotiated with neutral countries to recognize claims of individuals that they were nationals of those countries and to demand fair treatment of them at the hands of the German Government. It arranged for the transmission from the United States of food and clothing packages to "state-less" Jews. It induced neutral nations, the Vatican, and the International Red Cross to have their representatives in German-controlled territory make more frequent visits to concentration camps in the hope of exerting a humane influence upon the men administering them; and upon its advice the United States Government issued warnings that individuals responsible for the persecution of persons under their charge would be punished.

A number of special representatives, appointed by the Department of State and having diplomatic status and the rank of special attaches, served the Board overseas. They worked through United States embassies in neutral and Allied countries and maintained liaison with the International Red Cross Committee, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees. Special Attaches on War Refugee Matters acted through U. S. Legations and Embassies in Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Great Britain, Italy, and North Africa. The Treasury Department also granted licenses to transfer funds abroad for relief purposes.

Executive Order 9614 of September 14, 1945 terminated the Board's activities and directed the Secretary of the Treasury to wind up its affairs by June 30, 1946. Upon dissolution the functions of the Board were transferred to the Treasury Department's Foreign Funds Control. A small amount of Board correspondence relating to proposed refugee shelters, and the Fort Ontario (Oswego, N. Y.) Emergency Relief shelter resides in RG 210, Records of the War Relocation Authority, in the National Archives.