Selected Lists from the Boston Jewish Advocate

Holocaust · Survivors · Victims · Massachusetts · United States

by David Rosen

This list was published 03-Aug-1944.  Created by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the list is comprised of 285 German and Dutch Jews who were exchanged for 111 German nationals interned in the Middle East and who subsequently arrived in Palestine.  The list was forwarded by Reuben Resnik, JDC representative in the Middle East.  Many of the Jewish individuals on this list were interned in camps in Germany and the Netherlands.

This list was published 10-Aug-1944.  Also created by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the list is comprised of 571 Jewish men, women and children, representing members from 300 families who reached Palestine from southern Italy.  The individuals on the list include family members who fled to Italy before 1940 when the Nazis overran Europe.  When Italy entered the war, the Germans forced the creation of interment camps at Bari and Ferramonti in southern Italy.  After the Allied invasion of southern Italy, the JDC, through its representative Max Perlman, advanced the JDC's program in the area and the plight of the Jews in the area was eased and conditions bettered.  JDC participated in the removal program of the internees from the southern Italian camps.  The list was forwarded from Jerusalem.

This list of 984 refugees was published in three parts in three consecutive weekly issues if the newspaper, August 10, 17 and 24, 1944. The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, NY was established in the summer of 1944. Refugees were transported from Italy on a troop ship, the Henry Gibbons, arriving in New York on Aug 3, 1944. Of these, 874 were Jewish. The refugees were housed at the shelter for more than two years. The last group left in February, 1946. The list was formatted much like a US census, with a head of household/lead member first, followed by family members, and may include relatives with other surnames. When other surnames are present an explanation has been added as a comment.

The website of the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum has details: https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/fort-ontario-emergency-refugee-shelter

There is e-book that can be accessed via Google Books: “Token Shipment, The Story of America's War Refugee Shelter” United States. War Relocation Authority, Edward B. Marks http://tiny.cc/hfjjnz

This database includes 856 records; 285 records from List I (Jews Exchanged for Germans), 571 records from List II (Refugees from Europe Who Reached Palestine), and 984 records from List III (Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter).

The fields for this database are as follows:

The information contained in this database was created from three issues of the Jewish Advocate in 1944.  The Boston Jewish Advocate currently has an online site at TheJewishAdvocate.com.  David Rosen, a JewishGen volunteer, transcribed the lists.

Special thank you to Nolan Altman, Director of Special Projects - Holocaust Collection.

This database is searchable by clicking here.