Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907 – September 13, 1967) was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

from August 1940 to September 1941 that helped 2,000 anti-Nazi and

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish refugees, mostly artists and intellectuals, escape from persecution by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Fry spent "thirteen months directing a bold, high-risk, and much celebrated refugee-smuggling operation in the south of France that included an all-star cast of ''Kulturträger'' ulture carriers among them artists

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

and

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

, and writer

André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

and philosopher

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century. Her work ...

." His activities, illegal under the laws of

, contrary to the policies of the United States government, and opposed by many of the other refugee relief organizations in France resulted in his expulsion and the severing of ties with him by his organization, the Emergency Rescue Committee. He was the first of five Americans to be recognized as "

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

", an

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

given by the State of Israel to non-Jews who saved the lives of many Jews and anti-Nazi refugees during World War II.

Early life

Fry was born in New York City. His parents were Lillian (Mackey) and Arthur Fry, a manager of the Wall Street firm Carlysle and Mellick. The family moved to

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a Village (New Jersey), village in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Ridgewood is a suburban commuter town, bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown M ...

, in 1910. He grew up in Ridgewood and enjoyed bird-watching and reading. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, at 9 years of age, Fry and friends conducted a fund-raising bazaar for the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

that included a vaudeville show, an ice cream stand and fish pond. He was educated at

Hotchkiss School The Hotchkiss School is a private college-preparatory day and boarding school in Lakeville, Connecticut. It educates approximately 600 students in grades 9–12, plus postgraduates. Founded in 1891, it was one of the first English-style boardi ...

from 1922 to 1924, when he left the school due to hazing rituals. He then attended the Riverdale Country School, graduating in 1926."Ridgewood Son: Varian Fry (1907-1967)."
''Ridgewood Library''. Retrieved: March 25, 2016. An able and multilingual student, Fry scored in the top 10% of the

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

entrance exams. In 1927, as a Harvard undergraduate, he founded '' Hound & Horn'', an influential literary quarterly, in collaboration with

Lincoln Kirstein Lincoln Edward Kirstein (May 4, 1907 – January 5, 1996) was an American writer, impresario, art connoisseur, philanthropist, and cultural figure in New York City, noted especially as co-founder of the New York City Ballet. He developed and su ...

. He was suspended for a prank just before graduation and had to repeat his senior year.Gewen, Barry
"For the American Schindler, writers and artists first."
''Literature of the Holocaust'', August 6, 2004. Retrieved: March 25, 2016 Through Kirstein's sister, Mina, he met his future wife, Eileen Avery Hughes, an editor of ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'', who was seven years his senior and had been educated at

Roedean School Roedean () is a private boarding school governed by royal charter on the outskirts of Brighton, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1885 by three sisters to educate wealthy daughters and heiresses of aristocracy and industrial elites of the 19t ...

and

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. Although Fry was a closeted homosexual, according to his son James, they married on 2 June 1931.

Journalist

While working as a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for the American journal ''The Living Age'', Fry visited

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1935, and witnessed

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

abuse against Jews on more than one occasion, which "turned him into an ardent anti-Nazi". He said in 1945, "I could not remain idle as long as I had any chances at all of saving even a few of its intended victims." Following his visit to Berlin, in 1935 Fry wrote about the savage treatment of Jews by Hitler's regime in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. He wrote books about foreign affairs for Headline Books, owned by the

Foreign Policy Association The Foreign Policy Association (FPA, formerly known as the League of Free Nations Association) is an American non-profit foreign policy organization. According to the FPA, the organization aims to spread global awareness and understanding of US f ...

, including ''The Peace that Failed.'' It describes the troubled political climate following

, the break-up of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and the events leading up to

Emergency Rescue Committee

In June 1940 during World War II, the army of

defeated France. The northern and western one-half of France was occupied by Germany; the southeastern one-half, called

, remained nominally independent, but with the obligation to "surrender upon demand" all German citizens if requested by the German government. Tens of thousands of refugees from Nazi Germany, and many others from elsewhere, had fled to Vichy France, mostly ending up in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

or in one of the sordid refugee camps scattered around Vichy. The United States was still neutral in the war and maintained a diplomatic and commercial presence in Vichy France. Marseille was a beehive of refugees and British soldiers stranded after the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

. Humanitarian and relief organizations in the city included the

American Friends Service Committee The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends ('' Quaker)-founded'' organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by ...

(Quakers), Unitarians,

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, and seven Jewish organizations, especially HICEM whose funding came mostly from American Jews, were present to aid refugees. The Pat O'Leary Line in the city mostly helped stranded soldiers escape to Spain. On June 25, 1940, two hundred prominent people met at the Hotel Commodore in New York City and founded the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC). They raised $3,500 in contributions and in mid-July began looking for a representative to serve in Marseille. When none of the candidates seemed viable or willing, Fry volunteered and was accepted, albeit with reservations. Fry was given three tasks for what was projected to be a three-week visit to France: (1) report on conditions impacting refugees; (2), help people identified as in danger from the Nazis escape to Portugal or Morocco; and (3) identify people who would work with the ERC. The emphasis would be on rescuing the elite intellectuals and artists trapped in Vichy France. Fry remained in France for thirteen months. Fry was an unlikely choice as ERC's representative. One of the founders of the ERC, Karl Frank, said, "Send him to France, and he's dead." That being said, Fry was probably not in great danger in France. At that time, "an American passport gave most Americans abroad a reasonably justified sense of invulnerability." A biographer, Andy Marino, called Fry a " neurasthenic intellectual and expert on the ancient Greeks." His advantages were that he was an American and thus from a neutral country, spoke some French and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, would be unknown to the German

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, and might be seen by them as just-another "high-minded dumb Yank."

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt ( ; October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D ...

supported the ERC; her husband Franklin, President of the United States, less so. He had an election to win in 1940 and refugees were not his priority. Moreover, the mood of the country was contrary to the admission of more refugees. A 1938 Roper Poll indicated that only 8.7 percent of the American populace wanted the United States to increase the number of refugees permitted to enter the U.S. beyond the number in the immigration quota. Another poll taken after the anti-Jewish

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

riots in Germany, found that only 21 percent of Americans wanted more Jewish immigrants to be admitted to the U.S.

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

officials in charge of approving entry visas to refugees were often accused of being anti-Semitic and anti-refugee, but they reflected the views of the U.S. government and its people. In 1942, the Emergency Rescue Committee and the American branch of the European-based International Relief Association joined forces under the name the International Relief and Rescue Committee, which was later shortened to the

International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1 ...

(IRC). The IRC has continued into the 21st century as a nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization.

France

In August 1940, Fry arrived in

representing the ERC in an effort to help persons seeking to flee the Nazis. Fry had $3,000 taped to his leg and a list of 200 artists and intellectuals, mostly German Jews, under imminent threat of arrest by agents of the

. He worked to circumvent bureaucratic processes set up by French authorities, who would not issue exit visas. Other anti-Nazi writers,

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

artists, musicians, and hundreds of others came to him, desperately seeking any chance to escape France. Fry's organization in Marseille was called the ''Centre Americain de Secours'' (American Center for Relief). Initially, Fry relied on the experienced Waitstill Sharp of the

Unitarian Service Committee The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a non-profit, nonsectarian associate member organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association that works to provide disaster relief and promote human rights and social justice around t ...

to help him. Sharp said he spent three days orienting Fry on the techniques of semi-clandestine life. Fry's first major operation in September 1940 was in cooperation with Sharp. Four of the refugees in Marseille most likely to be deported to Nazi Germany were novelists

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...

and

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; March 27, 1871 – March 11, 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German writer known for his sociopolitical novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

Golo Mann Golo Mann (born Angelus Gottfried Thomas Mann; 27 March 1909 – 7 April 1994) was a popular German historian and essayist. After completing a doctorate in philosophy under Karl Jaspers at Heidelberg, in 1933 he fled Hitler's Germany. He followe ...

, the son of novelist

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

, and writer

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of '' The Forty ...

, plus their family members and a few others. Determined to take the refugees to Spain and hence get them to the United States, Fry and Sharp accompanied the group to the Spanish border, and Sharp continued on with them to Lisbon. An American named Leon "Dick" Ball guided them via smugglers' foot trails across the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

to an illegal entry into Spain. Sharp was less than complimentary about Alma Werfel who crossed the border in a white flowing dress that could be seen for miles. Her "legendary appeal" was lost on him. All the party of refugees made it to the United States. Back in Marseille, despite the watchful eye of the collaborationist

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

,Brown, Nancy
"No longer a haven: Varian Fry and the refugees of France."
''Yad Vashem: The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority'', October 13, 1999. Retrieved: March 25, 2016. Fry and a small group of volunteers hid people at the Villa Air-Bel until they could be smuggled out through neutral Spain and then to the relative safety of neutral Portugal where they took ships, mostly to the United States. Some of the exiles escaped on ships leaving Marseille for the French Caribbean colony of

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, from where they might also go to the United States. Fry's most important associate was a young French Protestant named Daniel Bénédite who functioned as his

Chef de Cabinet In some Francophone countries and international organisations, a ( French; literally 'head of office') is a senior official working for a high-ranking political or administrative figure such as a government minister. They are typically responsib ...

and often his eyes and ears. Bénédite was briefly imprisoned by the French for his activities with ERC, but released through the intervention of one of the American diplomats in Marseille. American

Charles Fernley Fawcett Charles Fernley Fawcett (2 December 1915 – 3 February 2008) was an American adventurer, soldier, film actor, and a co-founder of the International Medical Corps. He was a recipient of the French Croix de Guerre and the American Eisenhowe ...

was the security guard, responsible for policing the long line of refugees waiting to be interviewed at Fry's headquarters. Fawcett also secured the release of several interned woman by claiming to be married to them. Among Fry's closest associates were Americans Miriam Davenport, a former art student at the Sorbonne, and Chicago heiress

Mary Jayne Gold Mary Jayne Gold (August 12, 1909 – October 5, 1997) was an American heiress who played an important role helping European Jews and intellectuals escape from Nazi-occupied France in 1940–41, during World War II. Many had fled there in ...

, a lover of the arts and the "good life" who had come to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the early 1930s. Gold was wealthy and financed many of the operations of the ERC.Mouli
2007, p. 174.
/ref>Riding, Alan

''

''. October 8, 1997. Retrieved: March 25, 2016. Especially instrumental in getting Fry the U.S. visas he needed for the artists, intellectuals and

political dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established Political system, political or Organized religion, religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, a ...

s on his list was Hiram Bingham IV, an American

Vice Consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

in Marseille. Bingham was personally responsible for issuing thousands of visas, many not in accordance with U.S. immigration policies. Another diplomat in Marseille was Mexican

Gilberto Bosques Saldívar Gilberto Bosques Saldívar (20 July 1892 – 4 July 1995) was a Mexican diplomat and before that a militant in the Mexican Revolution and a leftist legislator. As a consul in Marseille, Vichy France, Bosques took initiative to rescue tens o ...

who is credited with giving visas to 40,000 persons, mostly Jews, to emigrate to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. The Unitarian office in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, under the direction of Charles Joy and, later, Robert Dexter, helped refugees to wait in safety for visas and other necessary papers, and to gain passage by sea from Lisbon.Suba
2010, pp. 59, 103, 112, 148, 229–230.
/ref> The

representative in Marseille, Donald A. Lowrie was the leader of an advocacy group for refugees of 25 aid organizations in Vichy France. Lowrie obtained false passports from Czech diplomat Vladamir Vochoc for Czech refugees, including many Jews, and passed them on to Fry. In the United States, helping to secure visas for refugees, was Alfred Barr, Director of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, and his wife Margaret Scolari Barr, an art historian also working at the MoMA. The ''Centre Americain de Secours'' office in Marseille continued to function after Fry's departure in September 1941, getting an additional 300 people out of France. The Vichy government ordered the office closed in June 1942.

Controversy

Fry was shunned by most of the refugee aid organizations in Vichy France, especially after a cable in September 1940 from

U.S. Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevel ...

: The priority of the United States in Vichy France was not facilitating the emigration of refugees to the U.S. John Hurley, a diplomat at the U.S. Consulate in Marseille, advised Fry to return home and the ERC in New York called him back. He responded by justifying his program and saying that he needed to stay in Marseille until a replacement arrived. He stayed another year. To Fry, the other refugee organizations were too law abiding, while they regarded him as a threat to their refugee aid programs and their attempts to build a working relationship with the American diplomats and Vichy officials to obtain visas and exit permits. HICEM, the well-funded and large Jewish organization, was wary of Fry as he was of them. He considered HICEM too sectarian. Apparently referring to Fry and the atmosphere at the Villa Air-Bel, Unitarian Charles Joy, said caustically that "working with refugees was not a parlor game." Fry was forced to leave France in September 1941 after officials of both the Vichy government and the State Department objected to his covert activities. He then spent more than a month in

before returning to the United States in October. In January 1942, the ERC fired him. "Unfortunately, your attitude since returning to this country have made it inadvisable for us to continue your connection with the Committee," read the dismissal letter.

Refugees aided by Fry

Among the problems of Fry and his associates was the character of some of the refugees. Author Marino said the artistic and intellectual refugees handled by the ERC were like "herding cats...these were arrogant Germans who were used to having servants and ordering people around. And they'd suddenly been thrust into a position where it was the opposite, and they were the supplicants, and they were the people who depended on others for their lives, not just employment and food." Charlie Fawcett, one of Fry's associates, commented similarly: "They wouldn’t listen to you. They thought, 'We were so famous, nobody will do anything to us.' Some of them said that! 'The French wouldn’t dare to do anything to us—there’s world opinion.' World opinion—can you imagine that? Let me tell you, world opinion wasn’t standing behind them much in those days." The selection of those deeded eligible for ERC help among many tens of thousands of refugees was a brutal process, consisting of interviews and the personal knowledge of Fry and his associates. Fry later admitted that mistakes were made in deciding who received and who was denied help. The ERC staff was leery of anyone not known to them as he or she could be a police spy. Among those aided by Fry and the ERC, and also often aided by other refugee organizations, were: *

Jean Arp Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (; ; 16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter and poet. He was known as a Dadaist and an abstract artist. Early life Arp was born Hans Peter Wilhelm Ar ...

*Hans Aufricht * Hans Bellmer *Georg Bernhard *

Victor Brauner Victor Brauner (, also spelled Viktor Brauner; 15 June 1903 – 12 March 1966) was a Romanian painter and sculptor of the surrealism (art), surrealist movement. Early life He was born in Piatra Neamț, Romania, the son of a Jewish timber manufac ...

*Camille Bryen *De Castro ("Secretary of the Faculty of Science at the University of Madrid") *

and his wife

Bella Rosenfeld Bella Rosenfeld Chagall (, ) (14 December 1889 – 2 September 1944) was a Jewish Russian writer born in Vitebsk, Russian Empire, nowadays Belarus, and the first wife of painter Marc Chagall. She was the subject of many of Chagall's paintings i ...

*Frédéric Delanglade *

Óscar Domínguez Óscar M. Domínguez (aka Oscar Dominguez, Oscar Domínguez Palazón, Oscar Manuel Domínguez Palazón, O. Domínguez, Oscar Manuel Domínguez) (3 January 1906 – 31 December 1957) was a Spanish-born French surrealist painter, commercial artist ...

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

*Heinrich Ehrmann *

*Edvard Fendler *

Leonhard Frank Leonhard Frank (4 September 1882 in Würzburg – 18 August 1961 in Munich) was a German expressionist writer. He studied painting and graphic art in Munich, and gained acclaim with his first novel ''The Robber Band'' (1914, tr. 1928). When a Be ...

*Giuseppe Garetto *Oscar Goldberg *

Emil Julius Gumbel Emil Julius Gumbel (18 July 1891, in Munich – 10 September 1966, in New York City) was a German mathematician and political writer. Gumbel specialised in mathematical statistics and, along with Leonard Tippett and Ronald Fisher, was instrum ...

* Hans Habe * Jacques-Salomon Hadamard * Konrad Heiden *

Jacques Hérold Jacques Hérold (born Herold Blumer; 10 October 191011 January 1987) was a prominent Surrealism, surrealist painter born in Piatra Neamț, Romania. Biography Considered one of the most important late-period Surrealism, Surrealist painters, Hér ...

Wilhelm Herzog Wilhelm Herzog (12 January 1884 in Berlin – 4 April 1960 in Munich), alias Julian Sorel, René Kestner and Junius III, was a German publisher, historian of literature and culture, dramatist, encyclopedist, and pacifist. Life He studied economi ...

* Berthold Jacob * Heinz Jolles * Erich Itor Kahn * Fritz Kahn *

Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (, ; ; ; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest, and was educated in Austria, apart from his early school years. In 1931, Koestler j ...

Siegfried Kracauer Siegfried Kracauer (; ; February 8, 1889 – November 26, 1966) was a German writer, journalist, sociologist, cultural critic, and film theorist. He has sometimes been associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. He is notable for ...

Wifredo Lam Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by ...

Jacqueline Lamba Jacqueline Lamba (17 November 1910 – 20 July 1993) was a French painter and surrealist artist. She was married to the surrealist André Breton. Biography Lamba was born in the Paris suburb of Saint-Mandé, on 17 November 1910 (contrary to at ...

Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in t ...

*Lotte Leonard *

Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss ( ; ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a Belgian-born French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair o ...

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Lithuanian-born French-American Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, domi ...

Alberto Magnelli Alberto Magnelli (1 July 1888 – 20 April 1971) was an Italian modern painter who was a significant figure in the post war Concrete art movement. Biography Magnelli was born in Florence on July 1, 1888. In 1907 he started painting and, ...

Alma Mahler Alma Mahler-Werfel (born Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler; 31 August 1879 – 11 December 1964) was an Austrian composer, author, editor, and socialite. Musically active from her early years, she was the composer of nearly fifty songs for voice ...

* Jean Malaquais *

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

* Valeriu Marcu *

André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (; 4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brus ...

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*Alfredo Mendizábal *

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Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer ( , ; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls ( , , ) or simply Ophuls, was a German and French film director and screenwriter. He was known for his opulent and lyrical visual style, with heavy use of trac ...

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* Remedios Varo *

* Kurt Wolff and Helen Wolff *

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(Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze) * Ylla (Camilla Koffler)

Back in the United States

Fry wrote and spoke critically against U.S. immigration policies particularly relating to the fate of Jews in Europe. In a December 1942 issue of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', he wrote a scathing article titled: "The Massacre of Jews in Europe".Paldie
2011, p. PT94.
/ref> Other American refugee workers with experience in Europe, acknowledging that Fry's program in France had been effective, recruited him in 1944 to provide guidance to the Roosevelt administration's late-breaking refugee rescue program, the War Refugee Board. Fry published a book in 1945 about his time in France under the title ''Surrender on Demand'', first published by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, 1945. (Its title refers to the 1940 French-German armistice clause requiring France to hand over to German authorities any refugee from "Greater Germany" the Gestapo might identify, a requirement Fry routinely violated.) A later edition was published by Johnson Books, in 1997, in conjunction with the U.S. Holocaust Museum. In 1968, the US publisher Scholastic (which markets mainly to children and adolescents) published a paperback edition under the title ''Assignment: Rescue''. After the war, Fry worked as a journalist, magazine editor and business writer. He also taught college and was in film production. Feeling as if he had lived the peak of his life in France, he developed ulcers. Fry went into psychoanalysis and said that "as time went on, he grew more and more troubled." Fry and his wife Eileen divorced after he returned from France. She developed cancer and died on May 12, 1948. During her hospital convalescence, Fry visited her and read to her daily. At the end of 1948 or early 1949, Fry met Annette Riley, who was 16 years his junior. They married in 1950, had three children together, but were separated in 1966, possibly owing to his irrational behavior, believed to have been a result of

manic depression Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks, and in some cases months. If the elevated m ...

. Fry died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

and was found dead in his bed on September 13, 1967, by the

Connecticut State Police The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is the state police and highway patrol of the U.S. state of Connecticut, responsible for statewide traffic regulation and law enforcement, especially in areas not served by (or served by smaller) municipal police ...

. He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York with his parents. Fry's papers are held in

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Published works

;Author * ''A Bibliography of the Writings of Thomas Stearns Eliot'', Hound & Horn, 1928 * ''Headline Books'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1938. * ''War in China: America's Role in the Far East'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1938. * ''Bricks Without Mortar: The Story of International Cooperation'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1938; 1939 * ''The Peace that Failed: How Europe Sowed the Seeds of War'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1939. * ''Surrender on Demand'', New York: Random House, 1945; Johnson Books, 1997 * ''To Whom it May Concern'', 1947. * ''Assignment Rescue: An Autobiography'', Scholastic Inc., 1968; 1970; 1993; Four Winds Press, 1969; Madison (Wisconsin): Demco, 1992 ;Co-author * Popper, David H., Shepard Stone and Varian Fry, ''The puzzle of Palestine'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1938 * Goetz, Delia and Varian Fry, ''The Good Neighbours: The Story of the Two Americas'', The Foreign Policy Association, 1939 * Fry, Varian and Emil Herlin, ''War Atlas: A Handbook of Maps and Facts'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1940 * Wolfe, Henry Cutler, James Frederick Green, Stoyan Pribichevich, Varian Fry, William V. Reed, Elizabeth Ogg and Emil Herlin, ''Spotlight on the Balkans'', New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1940

Legacy

* 1967 - The government of France recognized Fry's contribution to freedom making him a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur., the only honour in his lifetime, awarded at the French Consulate in New York * 1980 -

's 1980 book titled ''Crossroads Marseilles 1940'' sparked an interest in Fry and his efforts. * 1991 - The United States Holocaust Memorial Council awarded Fry the Eisenhower Liberation Medal. * 1994 - Fry became the first United States citizen to be listed in the

at Israel's national Holocaust Memorial, award by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

."Varian Fry."
''United States Holocaust Memorial Museum'', January 29, 2016. Retrieved: March 25, 2016. * 1997 - Irish film director David Kerr made a documentary entitled ''Varian Fry: The America's Schindler'' that was narrated by actor Sean Barrett. * 1998 - Fry was awarded the "Commemorative Citizenship of the State of Israel" on January 1, 1998. * 2001 - Fry's story was also told in dramatic form in the 2001 made-for-television film '' Varian's War'', written and directed by

Lionel Chetwynd Lionel Chetwynd (born January 29, 1940) is a British-American screenwriter, director and producer. Life and career Lionel Chetwynd was born to a Jewish family in Hackney, London, the son of Betty (née Dion) and Peter Chetwynd. His family move ...

and starring

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. For his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Cannes Film Festival Award for B ...

and Julia Ormond. * 2002 - On the initiative of Samuel V. Brock, the U.S.

Consul General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

in Marseille from 1999 to 2002, the square in front of the consulate was renamed ''Place Varian Fry''."History."
''Consulate General of the United States'', Marseille, France. Retrieved: February 8, 2014. * 2005 - A street in the newly reconstructed East/West Berlin Wall area in the Berlin borough of ''Mitte at Potsdamer Platz'' was named ''Varian-Fry-Straße'' in recognition of his work. * 2005 - A street in his home town of

, was renamed ''Varian Fry Way''.Boroson, Rebecca Kaplan
"Catherine Taub: 'A hometown hero'."
''Jewish Standard.'' June 7, 2013. Retrieved: March 25, 2016. * 2007 - On October 15, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives honored Varian Fry on the 100th anniversary of his birth."House Resolution 743, 2007 - Honoring Varian Fry on the 100th anniversary of his birth."
''House of Representatives'', United States. Retrieved: February 9, 2014. *2019 - Julie Orringer's historical novel ''The Flight Portfolio'' is a fictionalized account of Fry's life and experiences in Marseille, which merges real events and historical characters with invented elements. The invented elements include a clandestine love affair and intrigue surrounding the plot to rescue a fictional young physics genius. *2021 - Dara Horn's '' People love dead Jews'' devotes a lengthy chapter, ''On rescuing Jews and others,'' to the life and legacy of Varian Fry. *2023 – ''

Transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

'', a streaming television series based on Orringer's ''The Flight Portfolio'', is released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

; Cory Michael Smith plays Varian Fry. PlaceVarianFryInMarseille

References

Bibliography

* Gold, Mary Jayne. ''Crossroads Marseilles, 1940''. New York: Doubleday, 1980. . * Grunwald-Spier, Agnes. ''The Other Schindlers: Why Some People Chose to Save Jews in the Holocaust''. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2010. . * Isenberg, Sheila. ''A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry''. Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse, 2005. . * McCabe, Cynthia Jaffee. "Wanted by the Gestapo: Saved by America – Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee", pp. 79–91 in Jackman, Jarrell C. and Carla M. Borden, eds. ''The Musses Flee Hitler: Cultural Transfer and Adaptation 1930-1945''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1983. * Marino, Andy. ''A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. . * Mattern, Joanne. ''Life Stories of 100 American Heroes''. Vancouver: KidsBooks, 2001. . * Mauthner, Martin. ''German Writers in French Exile, 1933-1940''. London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2007, . * McClafferty, Carla Killough
''In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry''.
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2008. . * Moulin, Pierre. ''Dachau, Holocaust, and US Samurais: Nisei Soldiers First in Dachau?''. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2007. . * Paldiel, Mordecai. ''Saving the Jews: Men and Women who Defied the Final Solution''. Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publications, 2011. . * Richards, Tad. ''The Virgil Directive''. New York: Fawcett, 1982. . * Riding, Alan. ''And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-occupied Paris''. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010. . * Roth, John K. and Elisabeth Maxwell. ''Remembering for the Future: The Holocaust in an Age of Genocide''. London: Palgrave, 2001. . * Schwertfeger, Ruth. ''In Transit: Narratives of German Jews in Exile, Flight, and Internment During 'The Dark Years' of France''. Berlin, Germany: Frank & Timme GmbH, 2012. . * Sogos, Giorgia. "Varian Fry: "Der Engel von Marseille". Von der Legalität in die Illegalität und zur Rehabilitierung", in Gabriele Anderl, Simon Usaty (Hrsg.). "Schleppen, schleusen, helfen. Flucht zwischen Rettung und Ausbeutung". Wien: Mandelbaum,2016, S. 209–220, . * Strempel, Rüdiger, ''Letzter Halt Marseille - Varian Fry und das Emergency Rescue Committee'', in Clasen, Winrich C.-W./Schneemelcher, W. Peter, eds, ''Mittelmeerpassagen'', Rheinbach 2018, * Strempel, Rüdiger, ''Varian Fry: Der Amerikaner, der Europas Künstler rettete / The American Who Rescued Europe's Artists'' (German-English) CMZ Verlag, Rheinbach 2023 * * Sullivan, Rosemary. ''Villa Air-Bel''. New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 2006. . * Watson, Peter. ''The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Century''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. .

External links

Varian Fry Institute

* ttp://www.varianfry.dk/ Varian Fry, The American Schindler by Louis Bülow
Varian Fry, his activity to save Jews' lives
during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, at

website
Finding aid to the Varian Fry papers at Columbia University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Varian American male journalists 20th-century American journalists American Righteous Among the Nations American Protestants Journalists from New York City Protestant Righteous Among the Nations Emergency Rescue Committee Hotchkiss School alumni Harvard University alumni People from Ridgefield, Connecticut People with bipolar disorder 1907 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers Riverdale Country School alumni Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Knights of the Legion of Honour