Varian Fry

Varian Fry (varianfry.dk)

My hero is an unknown person, but not unimportant. My hero is Varian Fry. He is my hero because he pushed the boundaries of what one man can do. He also chose to do the right thing by helping Jews in concentration camps. He did this knowing he would face disgrace coming home to his own country, America, because at that time the United States wanted to keep an alliance with France, who was controlled by the Nazis. The U.S. was not willing to support Fry since he was just one man to do a huge job and could ruin their alliance with France. This is his story.

Varian Fry had a kind father who was a stockbroker with very little spare time. He was did not always know what Varian was up to and Fry was often getting into mischief. Fry always had a cheerful personality and was very much a jokester.

Varian Fry in Marseille

Varian Fry was accepted into Harvard where he majored in writing and teaching, but he got suspended. His dad was still unaware of Varian's actions, but the school was very unhappy with him. One report said that Varian even gave presentations in front of his class wearing only his underwear.

Varian Fry was a journalist in Germany in 1937. He saw the inhumane treatment of the Jews in the Nazi camps and decided to do something about it. He got his chance in 1940 in the form of a United States government sponsored rescue project. “Project Rescue” was created to protect and rescue more than 200 important people in art, writing, music and physics.

Fry rescued around 25 well-known artists who were either in the Nazi camps or were going to be put into one. They included the likes of Marc Chagall, Max Ernst and Jacques Lipchitz. He rescued approximately 30 writers like Wilhem Herzog, Heinrich Mann and Andre Breton. Fry rescued nine musicians including Heinz Jolles, Siegried Kracauer, Wanda Landowska, Lotte Leonard and Alma Mahler. He also rescued nine physicists including people like Heinrich Ermann, Emil S. Gumbel and Bruno Strauss. The U.S. government sent Fry with a list of people to rescue, $3000 and a passport. A group of devoted friends also went with Fry. The government put a time limit on Fry, saying he had one month to rescue the people on the list, which they thought was more than enough time. It took Fry less than a month to rescue the people on the list.

Fry arrived in Germany and set up an undercover business called the Centre Americain de Secours. Fry spread the word that his business was a charity for the sick and homeless, while secretly running a highly dangerous and illegal business to help people escape from the Nazi camps. Fry spent his first three weeks in Germany finding, protecting, and rescuing the people on the list. However, the names on the list given him were not the only ones in the Nazi camps. When Fry went into the camps he heard the praises from those being rescued, but he also heard the screams and the pleading cries of those who were desperate to be rescued. Varian stayed focused on his mission and forced himself to do the job he was told to do and save as many Jews as he could. If he had stayed any longer to save any more prisoners, he risked getting caught.

(varianfry.dk)

While Varian worked to rescue people he also became more and more tortured because of the people he was not able to help. He finally rescued the 200 people on his list. Fry was then abandoned by the U.S. and told to stop his efforts.

When describing how it felt to rescue humans from death in the concentration camps, Varian Fry once said, “There is so much excitement, you don’t feel the fear. It’s like a huge wave of adrenaline.”

Word eventually got around that there was an American who was willing and able to help Jews. Fry was hit with over 15,000 phone calls per month asking him to save their loved ones or themselves. The Nazis also heard the news and began a manhunt for Fry.

Fry stayed for a year trying to save Jews. He finally got kicked out of the country. He immediately rushed home to find that his wife had divorced him and that the U.S. wouldn’t let him enlist in the army. He was booted off the Emergency Rescue Committee. Fry fell into a huge decline, sometimes teaching at colleges, and sometimes writing, but he was never his old self again. Finally, Fry developed an ulcer and then died from a cerebral hemorrhage.

My hero is Varian Fry, the unknown American Schindler. He was absolutely extraordinary, and his life’s work stretches far beyond regular courage. He was valiant, strong and firm in his opinion. Varian Fry is my hero because he was definitely a symbol of hope for the Jews. Not only was he a symbol of hope, but he was also valiant, courageous, and brave. He was definitely selfless, because he risked his life for a lot of people. He was also very trustworthy. My hero is Varian Fry and I hope he will be known in the world for the incredible efforts he made to save so many lives during one of the most devastating times in the history of the world.