Varian Fry

 

When you stay neutral in the midst of oppression, you are only siding with the oppressor. in the 30s and 40s, it was clear that Jews were very much oppressed by the Nazis. It was clear for Varian Fry, an American Journalist who, while visiting Germany, witnessed the horrible treatment of Jews. 

Varian Fry already had a history of helping other people, setting up small fundraisers for the American Red Cross at a tender age of 9 (This was during World War 1). By the 30s, he was a Harvard Graduate and a writer for the New York Times.  While on assignment in Germany for another publication, The Living Age, he witnessed Hitler's SA assaulting Jews on the Street. He vowed that he would not stay on the sidelines. He published numerous books denouncing the Nazis and Nazism in the years leading up to the war.  With the Fall of France, Fry helped set up the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), a group that aimed to rescue endangered intellectuals from Occupied Europe.  Needing a person on the ground, Fry volunteered to be sent to France to lead their efforts there. He arrived in Marseille in August 1940 and immediately went to work. With $3000 and a list of prominent people wanted by the Gestapo, he rented a villa and set up a team that will help facilitate the escape of refugees.  They would help them secure train tickets to the Spanish border, and provide them with the necessary documents. If they were unable, they would guide them across the Pyrenees illegally.  His activities, however, were not as low-key as you would think, and he was under constant surveillance by the Vichy French Government. Eventually, he was forced to leave the country. On his return to the US, he did not stop reporting about the atrocities in Occupied Europe. He guided the Official US Government effort to rescue refugees from Europe. Eventually, he was forced to leave the country. On his return to the US, he did not stop reporting about the atrocities in Occupied Europe. He guided the Official US Government effort to rescue refugees from Europe. In his later life, he became a school teacher in Connecticut. He died in 1967, and shortly after he was awarded the Croix de Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur, the French highest award of Merit. He was also named a "Righteous Among the Nations," an Israeli award for now-Jews who risked their lives for the victims of the Holocaust.  His efforts saved over 4000 people from the Concentration Camps.

lesson-once oppressed jews now become oppressors against Palestinians when they made the country Israel in the middle east.no oppression is justified under any circumstances.