Rescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust

>>

>> Man: I REMEMBER THE GERMANS

CAME.

>> THE MOB WAS SCREAMING BLOODY

MURDER.

"KILL THE JEWS."

>> WE WERE HIDING IN THE CELLAR.

>> THEY...

BROKE INTO THE STORE

AND WERE LOOTING.

>> WE WENT DOWNSTAIRS AFTER THEY

LEFT, AND THERE WAS NOTHING

LEFT.

>> I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES TO

THIS DAY.

>> WE APPARENTLY GOT A LETTER

THAT SAID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE

GERMANY.

>> WE WERE THE LAST TRAIN

OUT OF BERLIN.

>>

"WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US?"

>> Narrator: THE BEST HOPE FOR

JEWS WAS ESCAPE.

MOST OF THE WORLD CLOSED ITS

DOORS, BUT ONE FLEDGLING

NATION, THE PHILIPPINES,

DID NOT.

IN THIS TROPICAL PARADISE

THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM EUROPE,

AN UNLIKELY GROUP OF POKER

PLAYERS WERE PLANNING A RESCUE.

THESE POKER PLAYERS WERE

MANUEL QUEZON, THE COUNTRY'S

NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT;

PAUL McNUTT, U.S.

HIGH COMMISSIONER TO

THE PHILIPPINES;

AN AMBITIOUS ARMY COLONEL NAMED

DWIGHT EISENHOWER; AND FIVE

CIGAR MAKERS FROM CINCINNATI --

THE FRIEDER BROTHERS.

THEY HAD A PLAN,

A PLAN THAT WOULD SAVE MORE

THAN 1,300 JEWS FROM NAZI

DEATH CAMPS.

A PLAN FOR A

"RESCUE IN THE PHILIPPINES."

>> Woman: HOW COULD ANYBODY HAVE

KNOWN THAT IT WOULD GET TO BE

WHAT IT DID?

HOW COULD ANYBODY HAVE IMAGINED?

THAT A WHOLE NATION WOULD CLOSE

ITS EYES AND EARS?

AND YET, YOU KNOW WHAT?

I THINK IT COULD HAPPEN

ANYWHERE AGAIN.

>>

>> BEGINNING IN 1933,

ADOLF HITLER AND HIS NAZI THUGS

STEADILY TRANSFORMED FIRST

GERMANY, THEN MUCH OF EUROPE,

INTO A LIVING NIGHTMARE

FOR JEWS.

>> Woman: THEN IN 1935, THE

NUREMBERG LAWS CAME OUT, WHICH

STRIPPED JEWS OF CITIZENSHIP.

ALL OF THEIR RIGHTS WERE SLOWLY

BEING STRIPPED AWAY.

>> JEWS WERE NO LONGER GERMANS,

EVEN IF THEY HAD FOUGHT

AND BLED FOR THEIR COUNTRY

IN PREVIOUS WARS.

>> MY DAD TOOK ALL HIS MEDALS,

WHICH HAD BEEN FRAMED,

AND TOOK THEM OUTSIDE AND THREW

THEM INTO THE PYRE.

>> JEWISH HOMES WERE INVADED.

>> Woman: I WAS IN

THE CRIB STILL AND...

THE S.S. CAME.

I GUESS I WAS TAKING A NAP.

AND I WOKE UP, AND MY EYE-LEVEL

WAS THEIR BOOTS, THESE SHINY,

SHINY BOOTS.

AND I REMEMBER SCREAMING

MY HEAD OFF.

>> NAZI PROPAGANDA PRESENTED

JEWS AS TRAITORS, KILLERS,

MONSTERS.

>> Man: KIDS CAME AND THREW

STONES AT ME AND CALLED ME

"DIRTY JEW."

>> AND WORST OF ALL, THEIR

LOVED ONES COULD BE TAKEN AT

ANY MOMENT.

>> Man: THE NAZIS CAME IN,

KNOCKED ON THE DOOR, TOOK MY

FATHER OUT AND PUT HIM

INTO DACHAU.

>> THE VIOLENCE PEAKED IN

NOVEMBER 1938 WITH A HIGHLY

ORGANIZED ORGY OF DESTRUCTION

AND TERROR.

IT WAS CALLED KRISTALLNACHT

BECAUSE THE GLASS FROM THE

BROKEN WINDOWS GLITTERED IN

THE STREET LIKE CRYSTAL.

>> - Man: - KRISTALLNACHT ARRIVED

AND THE S.S. GROUP, S.R. MEN,

CAME TO OUR HOUSE, CAME THROUGH

THE DOOR...

WENT TO THE BATHROOMS AND INTO

THE LIVING ROOM,

DESTROYED EVERYTHING.

>> Hershfield: FOUR OF THEM CAME

IN WITH THE DOGS.

AND I WAS TERRIBLY FRIGHTENED.

I WAS TERRIBLY FRIGHTENED THAT

THEY WOULD TAKE MY DOLLS.

>> I REMEMBER WHEN THEY

BURNED THE TEMPLE.

>> IT WAS ABLAZE

AND SURROUNDED BY THE GERMAN

FIRE DEPARTMENT, WHICH MADE SURE

THAT NONE OF THE NON-JEWISH

HOMES WERE GOING TO BE BURNED.

>> Man: I WAS ASLEEP WHEN

THE S.S...

KNOCKED ON THE DOOR.

AND IN ORDER TO GET OUT,

I WENT BACK INTO MY ROOM,

DRESSED IN THE OLDEST CLOTHES

I HAD, TOOK A STICK,

AND WENT DOWN THE STAIRS

INTO THE HALL WHERE THE MOB WAS

SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER.

AND I TOOK THAT STICK AND BROKE

A FEW, I THINK IT WAS PAINTINGS

OR MIRRORS, MYSELF UNTIL I GOT

TO THE OUT -- TO THE OUTSIDE.

>> THAT NIGHT, MY GRANDMOTHER

AND I WERE ALL BY OURSELVES.

AND, SUDDENLY, STONES CRASHED

THROUGH OUR WINDOWS.

THEN I KNEW THAT THEY WERE

AFTER US.

WE WERE HUNTED.

>> WHEN KRISTALLNACHT WAS OVER,

MORE THAN A HUNDRED SYNAGOGS

HAD BURNED.

THOUSANDS OF JEWISH BUSINESSES

WERE DESTROYED, AND TENS OF

THOUSANDS OF JEWS WERE FORCED

INTO CONCENTRATION CAMPS...

ALL IN THE PASSAGE OF

JUST ONE NIGHT.

DIPLOMATS HELD MEETINGS,

MADE SPEECHES, AND PASSED

RESOLUTIONS...

BUT LITTLE, IF ANYTHING, WAS

DONE.

>> Man: EUROPEAN JEWRY IS

REALLY GROUND TO DUST BETWEEN

TWO BIG MILLSTONES.

ONE IS

THE HATEFUL BESTIALITY OF NAZI

GERMANY, AND THE OTHER IS THE

APATHY OF THE GOVERNMENTS

OF THE WORLD.

>> IN ONE COUNTRY HALF A WORLD

AWAY, AN ESCAPE PLAN TO PROVIDE

REFUGE FOR JEWS WAS ALREADY

UNDERWAY.

6,000 MILES FROM BERLIN, THE

PHILIPPINES WAS A COUNTRY MOST

EUROPEANS KNEW ONLY FROM

POSTCARDS.

MUCH LIKE THE MOVIE

"CASABLANCA," PEOPLE LIVED BY

THEIR OWN RULES.

MOTORCARS SHARED THE ROADS

WITH HORSE-DRAWN "CARAMATAS."

COCA-COLA COEXISTED WITH

CARABAOS.

AND AT THE LEGENDARY

MANILA HOTEL, THE ELITE COULD

SIT AND SHARE A DRINK IN

AIR-CONDITIONED COMFORT.

FOR CENTURIES, MANILA HAD

WELCOMED REFUGEES.

>> Man: IT WAS REALLY

A FANTASTIC MIX OF

DIFFERENT PEOPLES --

CZECHS, POLES, LATVIANS,

LEBANESE, MIDDLE EAST --

PEOPLE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST,

INDIANS.

IT WAS A MIXTURE.

AND I THINK THAT WAS ONE THING