Rabbi Schneersohn’s Rescue
The rescue of Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, spiritual leader of a major denomination of Chassidic Judaism, is achieved thanks to the Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees, established by the Évian Conference.
In the negotiations between the Intergovernmental Committee and the German regime in summer 1939, the lead negotiators, Robert T. Pell from the US and Helmuth Wohlthat from Germany, have agreed to assist one another with prominent cases. Pell asks Wohlthat for just such assistance with Rabbi Schneersohn, who is stranded in German-occupied Warsaw and threatened with death.
In turn, Wohlthat calls upon Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Wehrmacht intelligence service. In large part due to the Nazis’ policies towards Jews, Canaris has become an opponent of the regime and is involved in schemes to overthrow it. He orders Major Ernst Bloch, an officer in his division, to track down Rabbi Schneersohn in his Warsaw hideout and guide him to safety.
Joseph Isaak Schneersohn, ca. 1940
Since 1920, Rabbi Schneersohn has been spiritual leader of the Lubavitcher Chassidic denomination known as Chabad, based in Lyubavichi, in western Russia. After imprisonment by the Soviet secret police, the Rebbe moves to Riga, Latvia, in 1927 before relocating the headquarters of his movement to the Warsaw suburb of Otwock. There, in autumn 1939, the German occupation of the city catches him by surprise.
Chabad.org / Wikimedia Commons
Robert T. Pell to Raymond H. Geist, October 3, 1939
The Rebbe’s followers in the United States and numerous prominent American Jews appeal to the State Department to rescue him. Robert T. Pell then requests that Raymond H. Geist, the US Consul and First Secretary in Berlin, ask his former German negotiating partner Helmuth Wohlthat to facilitate the Rebbe’s evacuation to Riga.
National Archives, College Park, MD
Ernst Bloch, ca. 1938
Major Ernst Bloch, who was seriously injured in World War I, has Jewish heritage himself, but retains his post in the Foreign/Defense Division despite the “Aryan clause” that had been instituted in the German military
Dr. Maria Obenaus, Berlin
Wilhelm Canaris, ca. 1940
Canaris has just returned from a visit to Warsaw, where he was dismayed at the destruction wrought by the German Luftwaffe. He sends Bloch on a mission to locate Rabbi Schneersohn in Warsaw and guide him to safety.
Dr. Winfried Meyer, Berlin
Alexander C. Kirk to Robert T. Pell, November 11, 1939
The US Diplomatic Mission in Berlin sends regular cables from Berlin and Warsaw to Washington. Initially, Major Bloch only determines that the house in Warsaw where Rabbi Schneersohn has been staying was destroyed in the bombardment of late September 1939.
National Archives, College Park, MD
Alexander C. Kirk to Robert T. Pell, December 22, 1939
In mid-December 1939, a lead from the US enables Major Bloch to find Schneersohn in his new hiding place and transport him to Riga via Berlin.
National Archives, College Park, MD
US Diplomatic Mission in Riga to the Department of State, March 18, 1940
In Riga, the rabbi and his immediate family are issued US entry visas for religious leaders. On March 7, 1940, they sail from Gothenburg on the Drottningholm, a Swedish steamer. When they arrive in New York City on March 19, Rabbi Schneersohn is greeted by thousands of overjoyed followers. Six days later, he thanks US Secretary of State Cordell Hull and President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his rescue.
National Archives, College Park, MD
Rabbi Schneersohn’s arrival in New York, March 19, 1940
Chabad Media Center, Brooklyn, NY
Joseph Isaac Schneersohn to Cordell Hull, March 25, 1940
National Archives, College Park, MD