Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter
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The Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, also known as "Safe Haven", located in
Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port C ...
was the first and only refugee center established in the United States during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. From 1944 to 1945, the shelter housed almost 1000 European refugees, predominantly of Jewish descent. The effort was called "Safe Haven". The refugee shelter is now the
Safe Haven Museum and Education Center The Safe Haven Museum and Education Center is a museum in Oswego, New York that tells the story of 982 mainly Jewish refugees who fled Europe in the U.S. Government "Safe Haven" program. They came to the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in ...
.


Refugee shelter creation

On June 12, 1944, the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter was established in
Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port C ...
by order of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
and was operated by the
War Relocation Authority The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...
. It was the first and only refugee center established in the United States. In August 1944, the shelter received 982 refugees of predominantly Jewish descent and of various national backgrounds, especially Yugoslavian, Austrian, Polish, German and Czechoslovakian.Marks, Edward B.
Token Shipment: the Story of America's War Refugee Shelter.
', Washington, D. C.: U. S. Govt. print. off, 1946.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter Bibliography
'


Location and history

Fort Ontario Fort Ontario is an American historic bastion fort situated by the City of Oswego in Oswego County, New York. It is owned by the state of New York and operated as a museum known as Fort Ontario State Historic Site. Geography and early history F ...
was located on 80 acres that overlooked
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
. The purpose of the fort changed multiple times throughout its history. At various points, it was a British fur trading post, then an active military post for the US Army from the war of 1812 all the way through World War II as well as a major supply depot for its whole active service, then an educational camp for people who were illiterate, before finally being closed on March 15, 1944.
Oswego, New York Oswego () is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in Upstate New York, about 35 miles (55km) northwest of Syracuse. It promotes itself as "The Port C ...
, which had benefited from the revenue that came from the soldiers at the fort, sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. to ask for the fort to be reopened. The answer was to reopen the fort as a Refugee Shelter.


Refugee camp

The
War Refugee Board The War Refugee Board, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1944, was a U.S. executive agency to aid civilian victims of the Axis powers. The Board was, in the words of historian Rebecca Erbelding, "the only time in American h ...
(WRB) was responsible for creating the camp, selecting the occupants and the overall policy until the closure of the camp on June 6, 1945. While creating and implementing their policies, the War Refugee Board always kept in mind the possible influence of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter on other, larger, refugee concerns. The
War Relocation Authority The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...
already had previous experience running a refugee camp within the United States. They had been responsible for formulating and implementing policies in the Japanese Relocation Centers. Their concerns were based solely on responding to problems of daily camp life. As such, there were sharp differences between how the two agencies thought the camp should be run. The WRA had found, while running the Japanese Relocation Centers, that in order to run a camp smoothly and prevent rebellion, policies had to be set out before the establishment of the camps. While the WRB wanted to implement camp policies gradually after the establishment of the camp in order to test public opinion and gain public support.


Immigration concerns

A big concern with the establishment of the camp was the issue of immigration. However, President Roosevelt made himself very clear that immigration laws were not going to be ignored. The refugees would merely be in the United States, not citizens of the United States. They would have no visa status. President Roosevelt also assured Congress that the Army would not permit any refugee escapes. Initially, plans were made to install spotlights along the existing 6-foot chain-link fence, as well as having 150 armed guards around the camp perimeter. Neither of these things were implemented. Because of their immigration status as "guests", the refugees would not be able to work, and they would not be allowed to travel beyond Oswego. When Germany surrendered on May 6, 1945, twenty-four days after President Roosevelt's death, the question of what to do with the camp became a pressing issue. Internment was becoming increasingly difficult to support. The problem was whether to return the refugees to their home countries or to admit them into the United States. Most of the refugees wanted to stay. In fact, 60% of them had active immigration cases pending. A subcommittee voted to close the camp, and the shelter was closed in February 1946. Some refugees chose to return to Europe, whether to find family members, or under the impression that their homes and businesses still remained as they had left them. Some were desperate to remain in the United States and not return to a country where they believed they had no future. Those from Central and Eastern Europe did not want to return to their countries that were now under Soviet occupation. Many were granted permanent or temporary status and allowed to stay in the country, sometimes ending up in the homes of family or friends. Others would later start a new life in newly formed Israel in 1948.


Selection and early processing in Italy

When it came to selecting the refugees who would be permitted to come to the United States, there were special criteria established by the WRB and President Roosevelt. Special Representative Leonard Ackermann along with Ruth Gruber, a reporter, traveled to Italy, to conduct the selection and then bring those selected to the port at Naples. The criteria established for the refugees were that they should be refugees for whom no other havens were available. Roosevelt also stated that the group should include mostly women and children – able-bodied men of military age would not be included – along with a couple rabbis, half a dozen doctors, and enough skilled workers to maintain the camp. Pregnant women who were in their third trimester could not be let onboard the ship because there were no facilities in the likely event the latter was to go into labor. Some women made an effort to hide their pregnancy in order to get into the ship. Refugees who had fled Yugoslavia who were communist sympathizers or had political ties to Josip Broz Tito were not allowed. Only those who swore loyalty to Yugoslavia's monarch Peter II and wanted nothing to do with Tito, Joseph Stalin and the Communist party were accepted. An abandoned mental asylum in
Aversa Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical bu ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
was used as a central collection area for the refugees. After the selection, Ackermann brought the refugees to
Naples, Italy Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, where the USAT ''Henry Gibbins'', a
troop transport A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...
ship, was waiting to join a convoy. Aside from the days waiting in the Naples port, it took 17 days for the ''Henry Gibbons'' to cross the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
. For most of the refugees, the trip was extremely uncomfortable. There were triple-tiered canvas hammocks instead of the luxury liner with beds and sheets that they were expecting. Also, they came under enemy fire soon after entering the Atlantic. As was standard procedure, the ship released black smoke to act as camouflage, but when someone forgot to open the vents, the lower decks were filled with smoke, adding to the terror of the refugees below. In addition, the mix of a normal diet and sea travel had a bad effect on those who had been used to hunger and poor nutrition. Most were sick a good portion of the journey, and some remained so for the entire time. The ''Henry Gibbons'' arrived in New York City on August 3, 1944. The refugees had to remain on the ship one last night to allow returning wounded servicemen to be removed from the other ships in the convoy and brought to hospitals. The experience of disembarking was traumatic for some of the refugees. They were subjected to the same routine performed on all returning servicemen, but without explanation, adding to their confusion and fear. They were sprayed for
delousing The treatment of human lice is the removal of head lice parasites from human hair. It has been debated and studied for centuries. However, the number of cases of human louse infestations (or pediculosis) has increased worldwide since the mid-1960s, ...
under the presence of armed guards. It was only then that they could leave on a two-day train ride for Oswego.


Life at the shelter

Upon arriving at Fort Ontario, many were surprised, scared, and angered to see that the fort was surrounded in barbed-wire topped fences. They felt that they had left Europe expecting to be brought to safety and freedom but had instead been brought to another concentration camp. It was only after explanations from staff at the fort that the refugees began to accept the fence. However, there was a lack of freedom in the camp. For the first month, the refugees were not allowed to leave the camp. Even relatives who had traveled to Oswego were not allowed to enter the camp, and they had to visit with their relatives through the chain-link fence. Some local citizens from Oswego visited the camp to welcome the newcomers, passing sweets and gifts through the fence and people from Syracuse, Utica, Tupper Lake, Sackets Harbor, Mexico, Rome, Poland, Russia, Frankfort, Ilion, Watertown and Queensbury of Jewish, Catholic or Protestant descent came to give parcels or donations of clothes, food and even toys for the children. In the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, there were 496 "units" (which are defined as either families or unaccompanied individuals). The refugees had undergone great trauma, and as a result needed to recuperate. Nearly 100 of the refugees had been imprisoned in
Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
or Dachau, which some managed to escape. Others were hidden and aided by members of Resistance groups, kindly neighbors or who made deals with
black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
smugglers and to get them to where advancing Allied Soldiers were nearby. Many of them had been refugees for 7 or 8 years, and almost all had suffered through food shortages, disease, torture and trauma. Another group of refugees were civilian internees of Italian concentration camps but were released following the Italian Armistice and told by their former guards to head south to avoid being recaptured by the Germans. Many had the hopes of joining relatives who were already in the United States. Others had different reasons for wanting to come to the refugee camp in Oswego. Some were interested in the health care that they could receive in the United States, and had come to Oswego to regain their health. Others were interested in the education system that may be available to their children. Others were looking for jobs or economic opportunities offered in the United States. However, the camp was neither aware of nor concerned with the expectations that the refugees came with. Their intention was to provide for the basic needs for the refugees, and had not intended to provide more than the basics. There was no plan for health care other than that which threatened the health of an individual or the group, and there were no plans to educate any of the child refugees although refugee children and teenagers were allowed by the town to attended local schools and tutors were allowed to come into the camp. Of the 982 refugees that lived in the refugee camp at Fort Ontario, 187 were under the age of 16, and 116 were over the age of 60. A large majority of the group was Jewish, while others were Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Greek and Russian Orthodox. Religious differences - as well as differences due to age and nationality - caused tension among the refugees in the camp. While in the camp, many complained about the loss of freedoms they encountered there. There were confiscations by
U.S. Customs The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted ...
, censorship of their mail, and they were also unable to leave the camp. In September, however, the quarantine was lifted. Residents of the camp received 6 hour passes to Oswego. Thousands of visitors poured into the camp. On September 20, 1945
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
, accompanied by Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr., visited the camp.


In media

*In 2001, CBS aired a made-for-TV film titled ''Haven'' about the refugee shelter and
Ruth Gruber Ruth Gruber (September 30, 1911 – November 17, 2016) was an American journalist, photographer, writer, humanitarian, and United States government official. Born in Brooklyn to Russian Jewish immigrants, she was encouraged to pursue her dream ...
. *In 2012, the television show ''Ghost Hunters'' conducted a paranormal investigation at the site.


References

carolegvogel.com/magazine-articles/oswego-new-york-wartime-haven-for-jewish-refugees/


External links


Records of the War Relocation Authority: Records of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (210.3.5)
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Fort Ontario Records
MS#0444, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York, NY.
Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter Collection
P-317; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

State University of New York at Oswego, Penfield Library, Archives and Special Collections. *Correspondence from a shelter refugee i
Arthur Lehmann Correspondence
AR 25381; Leo Baeck Institute, New York, NY. *Documentation of a shelter refugee's experience i
Lehmann Family Papers
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, D.C. *A personal discovery story. http://carolegvogel.com/magazine-articles/oswego-new-york-wartime-haven-for-jewish-refugees/
oswegonian.com
{{coord, 43.462372, -76.503194, region:US-NY_type:landmark, display=title Refugee camps in the United States Oswego, New York The Holocaust and the United States