Feeding the camps :Allied blockade policy and the relief of concentration camps in Germany, 1944-1945

Historical Journal

Volumn 41, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 825-851

  Zweig, Ronald W ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 77949708621     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X98008012     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. See: Yehuda Bauer, American Jewry and the Holocaust: a history of the Joint Distribution Committee (Detroit, 1982), and Jewsfor sale? Nazi-Jewish negotiations, 1933-1943 (New Haven, 1994);
2. Richard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, American refugee policy and European Jewry, 1933-1943 (Bloomington, 1987);
3. Martin Gilbert, Auschwitz and the Allies (London, 1981);
4. Bernard Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945 (Oxford, 1979);
5. David Wyman, The abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945 (New York, 1984).
6. Martin Borszat, 'The concentration camps, 1933-1945', in H. Krausnick, H. Buchheim, M. Broszat, and H.-A. Jacobsen, The anatomy of the S.S. state (London, 1968), pp. 502-4.
7. The major exceptions were Auschwitz and Majdanek, which functioned both as centres for forced labour and mass murder.
8. For a discussion of blockade policy and the response of Allied opinion to the consequences of blockade, see Joan Beaumont, 'Starving for democracy: Britain's blockade of and relief for occupied Europe, 1939-1945', War and Society, 8 (1990), pp. 57-82. Tony Kushner discusses the effect of public opinion on Allied policy toward the fate of European Jewry in 'The rules of the game: Britain, America and the Holocaust in 1944', Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 5 (1990), pp. 381-402.
9. The most exhaustive scholarly account of the international committee during the war is Jean-Claude Favez, Vne mission impossible? Le CICR, Us deportations et les camps de concentration nazis (Lausanne, 1988). The author had access to the records of the ICRC, and presents an authoritative account of Red Cross activities during the war, and of its contacts with the Nazi regime on behalf of the internees. It does not discuss the parcel programme and blockade questions of 1944. Meir Dworzecki, 'The International Red Cross and its policy vis-a-vis the Jews in the ghettos and concentration camps on Nazi-occupied Europe', in Y. Gutman, and E. Zuroff, eds, Rescue attempts during the Holocaust (Jerusalem, 1977), pp. 71-110, is an early account based largely on published sources.
10. Ulrich Herbert, A history of foreign labor in Germany, 1880-1980 (Ann Arbor, 1990), pp. 130, 132.
11. Edward L. Homze, Foreign labor in Nazi Germany (Princeton, 1967), p. 308.;
12. Herbert, Foreign labor in Germany, pp. 138-9, 152-3.
13. Falk Pingel, 'Resistance and resignation in Nazi concentration and extermination camps', in Gerhard Hirschfeld, ed, The policies of genocide: Jews and Soviet prisoners of war in Nazi Germany (London, 1986), pp. 37-8.
14. See Peter Black, 'Forced labour in the concentration camps, 1942-1944', in M. Berenbaum, ed, A mosaic of victims: Non-Jews persecuted and murdered by the Nazis (London, 1990), p. 56.
15. 'Of the 458, 000 Jews deported to Auschwitz, some 350, 000 were gassed and 108, 000 shipped out to be deployed as forced laborers' (Herbert, Foreign labor in Germany, p. 176).
16. See, for example, the account of the Austrian Communist, Hermann Langbein, Against all hope: resistance in the Nazi concentration camps, 1938-1345 (London, 1994):
17. Jews were in an incomparably worse position in the concentration camps' (p. 325).
18. See also Pingel, 'Resistance and resignation', passim.
19. For a discussion of the conflict between ideological racism and the economic demands of the war effort, cf. Falk Pingel, Häftlinge unter SS.-Herrschaft. Widerstand, Selbsbehauptung und Vernichtung im Konzentrationslager (Hamburg, 1978), pp. 139-44.
20. In 1944, concentration camp labour represented almost 5 per cent of the German workforce (Falk Pingel, 'The concentration camps as part of the National-Socialist system of domination', in Y. Gutman and A. Saf, eds, The Nazi concentration camps (Jerusalem, 1984), p. 17).
21. See Documents relating to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross for the benefit of civilian detainees in German concentration camps between 1939 and 1945 (Geneva, 1972), and Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on its activities during the Second World War (3 vols, Geneva, 1948), III, passim.
22. United States National Archives (NA), RG 220, Hyde Park, War Refugee Board, McClelland papers, box 6o, International Red Cross, 1944, Note remise ä James, and Livingston, 24 Aug. 1943, 'Dispatch of standard food parcels to concentration camps and prisons'.
23. Report of the International Committee, III, pp. 80, 335-6.
24. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 6o, James to Mitchell, 1 Sept. 1943.
25. Ibid, James (American Red Cross, Geneva) to ICRC, 7 Feb. 1944.
26. Bundesarchiv, Berne (BB), political department, E2001 (D) 1968/74 carton 13 dossier B.55.45.25, Schwarzenberg, ICRC to de Haller, political department, Swiss government, 17 May 1945
27. Yad Vashem Archives, Duker papers, Office of Strategic Services copy of USA censorship report: Red Cross correspondence-Jean Suchard to Marc Peter, ICRC delegate, Washington, 24 June 1943.
28. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, WRB (Washington) to Berne, for ICRC, 279, 27 Jan. 1944.
29. In fact, the ICRC was not short of funding for Jewish relief projects. Jewish communities in neutral countries, and in some of the Balkan states, had been able previously to finance the purchase of relief supplies for a few of the endangered Jewish communities.
30. Pressure to do so came originally from the World Jewish Congress.
31. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 64, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, state department to US legation, Berne (for minister from WRB), no. 437, 9 Feb. 1944.
32. The 'JUS'-Judische Unterstützungsstelle für das Generalgouvernement Krakau', under the leadership of Dr Weichen. (On Weichert's relations with the German authorities, see Bauer, American Jewry, pp. 320-2.)
33. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, Schwarzenberg (ICRC, POW dept), to Daniel Reagan, commercial attaché, US legation, Beme, 29 Feb. 1944. Schwarzenberg added that 'All the Jews in Switzerland seem to have heard about money being suddenly available and they all come to us with personal claims. I am almost out of my wits and do not know how to stop this continual flow of visitors.'
34. Ibid, C. J. Burckhardt, ICRC, to US legation, Berne, 29 Feb. 1944.
35. Four main Jewish organizations were active on relief and rescue matters in Switzerland : the JDC (through its unofficial representative, Saly Mayer); the World Jewish Congress; Hehalutz/Jewish Agency;
36. Va'adat Hatzalah. Cf. Raya Cohen, 'Solidariut Yehudit Be'Mivchan: Pe'ilut Ha'Irgunim Ha'Yehudi'im Ha'Olami'im be-Genevah, 1939-1942' (Ph.D. dissertation, Tel Aviv, 1994);
37. Bauer, American Jewry; Monty Penkower, The Jews were expendable: free world diplomacy and the Holocaust (Urbana, 1983), passim.
38. Emphasis in the original (NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, C.J. Burckhardt, ICRC, to US legation, Berne, 29 Feb. 1944).
39. Resolutions calling for trans-blockade shipments to the 'starving peoples of Europe' were passed by the US senate on 15 Feb. 1944 and the house of representatives on 17 Apr. 1944 (Congressional record, vol. 90 pt 2 p. 1652 and pt 3, p. 3497).
40. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1944, 1, p. 252, Hull to Roosevelt, memo, 26 Jan. 1944.
41. Greece was an exception because it was primarily agricultural (NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in FRUS, 1944, 1, 254-5, Admiral William Leahy to secretary of state, 28 Feb. 1944.)
42. See also Beaumont, 'Starving for democracy', pp. 66-7.
43. The anti-blockade famine relief committee was not able to sway parliamentary or public opinion decisively against government policy (Beaumont, 'Starving for democracy', p. 75).
44. Within six weeks of its creation, the board arranged for licences allowing the JDC and the World Jewish Congress to send $8700, 000 to neutral countries in order to finance different rescue and relief projects.
45. Public Record Office (PRO), Cab 95/15, note by secretary of state for foreign affairs, JR (44)4, 10 Mar. 1944; discussed at meeting on 14 Mar. 1944, ibid, JR(44)ist meeting.
46. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, Churchill to Roosevelt, 8 Apr. 1944, cited in FRUS, 1944, 1, pp. 257-8.
47. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, Lord Selbome to Winflied Riefler, FEA, and special assistant to the US ambassador to the UK, 10 Apr. 1944, cited in FRUS, 1944, 1, pp. 259-60.
48. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in FRUS, 1944, i, pp. 260-1, Hull to Winant, 21 Apr. 1944.
49. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, US legation, Berne, to state dept 1366, 6 Mar. 1944.
50. Ibid, Schwarzenberg to Reagan, 23 Mar. 1944
51. Ibid, Schwarzenberg to Reagan, 27 Mar. 1944. The US legation informed the state dept that it 'strongly recommended' accepting the ICRC's request (Harrison to state dept, No. 2031, 1 Apr. 1944).
52. The goods in question were 60 cases of apple jam and 100 cases of green peas (ibid, W.J. Sullivan (commercial attaché, British legation), to Reagan, 22 Apr. 1944).
53. Ibid, Harrison to state dept, no. 2726, 29 Apr. 1944;
54. US embassy, London, to state dept, no. 97, 29 Apr. 1944.
55. Ibid, Foreign Office (FO) to British legation (MEW for Sullivan), no. 1634, 5 May 1944.
56. W. N. Medlicott, The economic blockade, general series, history of the Second World War, UK civil series (2 vols, London, 1952), 1, pp. 223 and 226; 11, pp. 280-1;
57. Beaumont, 'Starving for democracy', p. 73.
58. Medlicott, Economic blockade, II, pp. 517, 520
59. Ibid, pp. 510-15.
60. Ibid, p. 612 (emphasis added).
61. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in FRUS, J 944, 1, pp. 263-4: memo of Dingle Foot-Stettinius meeting on blockade and relief, 8 June 1944;
62. ibid, pp. 268-70, Dingle Foot to assistant secretary of state Berle, 13 June 1944.
63. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, 1944, state dept to legation, no. 2198 (for McClelland from WRB, no. 54), 28 June 1944.
64. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, Schwarzenberg to Reagan, US legation, 13 Mar. 1944.
65. For a discussion of World Jewish Congress-ICRC relations during the war, see Penkower, The Jews were expendable, ch. 8; Favez, Une mission impossible?, pp. 206-11.
66. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in FRUS 1944, I, pp. 1039-40, state dept to Harrison (Berne), 29 Apr. 1944.
67. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, Max Huber to Harrison, 12 May 1944, sent to Washington in legation dispatch no. 8203, 17 May 1944. Significantly, Huber also forwarded copies of this correspondence to the Swiss government, with a request for Swiss support for the committee's position (BB, political dept, E2001 (D) 1968/74 carton 13 dossier B.55.45.25).
68. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in FRUS 1944, 1, pp. 261-3, Hull to Winant, 27 May 1944.
69. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, cited in FRUS 1944, 1, pp. 272-7, Hull to Winant, 1 July 1944. The FO agreed to establish a joint Allied committee to consider the American proposal, and the discussion continued into 1945. The rapid advance of the Allied forces and the liberation of occupied territory in western Europe removed the urgency of this question, and it quickly merged with the discussions on United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration relief activities in liberated areas.
70. BB, political dept, E2001 (D) 1968/74 carton 13 dossier B.55.45.25, Schwarzenberg to Kullmann, 17 Apr. 1944. (A copy of this letter was sent to the Swiss political dept (the ministry of foreign affairs), where its circulation was strictly limited.)
71. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, 1944, McClelland to state dept, no. 3877 (for WRB), 17 June 1944.
72. Ibid. In the final accounting of the goods sent to the camps on account of the earlier S$100, 000 scheme, which had been designed to benefit primarily Jewish internees, most of the foods purchased could not have been intended for the use of the starved internees. The shipments included large quantities of, inter alia, foie gras, paté Hongraise, paté de lièvre. Presumably these too were designed to facilitate the agreement of camp commanders to any parcel distribution. (NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, Boehringer (ICRC) to McClelland, 26 Sept. 1944, final summary report of the use made of the S$1oo.ooo 'en faveur de réfugiés et déportés juifs'). One eye-witness of the liberation of Buchenwald recorded: 'It was amusing to see how hastily the camp officers cleared their rooms of empty Red Cross boxes as the front approaches, so the Americans would not come to the obvious conclusions when they saw them' (David Hackett, ed, The Buchenwald report (Boulder, 1995), p. 96).
73. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, Stettinius to US embassy, London (no. 2663 to Berne), 3 Aug. 1944.
74. Ibid, Livingston (British consul general, Geneva) to Elting (US consulate, Geneva), 9 Aug. '944
75. Ibid, Schwarzenberg to McClelland, 21 Aug. 1944;
76. McClelland to WRB, nos. 7365-6, 6 Nov. 1944. Approximately 50 per cent of the parcels were distributed to named prisoners, and the rest were delivered in bulk.
77. Ibid, US legation, Berne to state dept, no. 8169, (McClelland to WRB), 16 Dec. 1944.
78. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-1944, McClelland to state dept, no. 8044 (for WRB no. 280), 9 Dec. 1944; no. 8169, 6 Dec. 1944.
79. Ibid, state dept to US legation, Berne, no. 4314 (to McClelland, no. 302), 22 Dec. 1944.
80. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross-Jewish relief, report of meeting, 8 Jan. 1945.
81. See his marginal comment on no. 4314 (n. 66)
82. See documents in NA, RG 107, papers of John McCIoy: general correspondence. NA, RG 218, joint chiefs of staff, box 357, CCS 383.7, CCS 713/1, 2 Nov. 1944.
83. Duker papers (July edition); and NA, RG 260, OMGUS, CAD, POW, and DP branch, box 156 (Oct. edition).
84. See Handbook for military government (prior to defeat or surrender), 20 Dec. 1944: 'The majority of internees are German political offenders and Jews, but there are also a number of ordinary criminals, military delinquents, and non-Germans' (Eisenhower Library, Bedell Smith collection, box 36).
85. NA, RG 331, SHAEF, adjutant general's division, executive section, decimal 383.7-1, box 97, SHAEF administrative memo no. 39: displaced persons and refugees, 18 Nov. 1944.
86. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, Jan-Mar. 1945, McClelland to state dept, no. 1056, 16 Feb. 1945.
87. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, Stettinius to US legation, Berne, no. 127 (from WRB, no. 356), 9 Jan. 1945. The legation was instructed to 'urge that continued efforts be made from now on to keep the surviving victims of Nazi persecution alive during the coming stages of hostilities in Europe'.
88. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, Jan.-Mar. 1945, McClelland to state dept, no. 455, 22 Jan. 1945.
89. PRO, WO 106/4286, 17 Feb. 1945, Norton (British legation, Berne) to FO, no. 292.
90. McClelland was informed of the Swiss-ICRC talks by Schwarzenberg on 27 Feb. 1945 (see his marginal comment on NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, McClelland to state dept, 1217, 27 Feb. 1945).
91. NA, RG 331, SHAEF, office of chief of staff, sect, general staff, decimal 383.6/13, box 88, memo on trucks for hauling Red Cross supplies from Switzerland into Germany, 24 Feb. 1945.
92. John Pehle resigned as executive director of the board on 28 Jan. Brigadier-general O'Dwyer, on leave from the US Army, was the district attorney for King's County, New York, before replacing Pehle.
93. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, minutes of the 5th meeting of the WRB, 20 Feb. 1945. Secretary of treasury Henry Morgenthau chaired the meeting which was attended by secretary of war Henry Stimson, assistant secretary of war John McCIoy, acting secretary of state J. C. Grew, assistant secretary of state James Dunn, and George Warren (state dept adviser on refugees and displaced persons).
94. PRO, FO 1049/26, ICRC Geneva to ICRC delegations and Allied governments, no. SH520, 22 Feb. 1945.
95. See Amitzur Ilan, Bernadette in Palestine, 1948 (London, 1989), pp. 25-47.
96. These negotiations are recounted in the sources cited in n. 1 above.
97. NA, RG 220, box 60, International Red Cross, SHAEF G-2 memo: transport of POW supplies inside Germany, 5 Apr. 1945.
98. NA, RG 331, SHAEF, office of chief of staff, sect, general staff, decimal 383.6/13, box 88, air ministry, Whitehall, UK to air staff, no. AX339, 6 Mar. 1945.
99. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, McClelland to state dept, no. 1722, 22 Mar. 1945.
100. NA, RG 59, 840.48 refugees, Mann and McClelland to O'Dwyer (in Paris), no. 1519, 29 Mar. 1945.
101. Ibid, Katzki and McClelland to state dept (for O'Dwyer), no. 2421, 25 Apr. 1945.
102. Ibid, McClelland to state dept (for O'Dwyer), no. 2550, 1 May 1945.
103. NA, RG 220, McClelland papers, box 60, International Red Cross, Apr.-June 1945, state dept to McClelland (from WRB), no. 1763, 10 May 1945.
104. Report of the international committee, III, pp. 335-40.
105. See Bob Moore, 'The western Allies and food relief to the occupied Netherlands, 1944-1945', War and Society, 10 (1992), pp. 97-118.