The United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. has agreed to recognize the activities of the Bergson group, also known as the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe.
The decision followed a campaign initiated by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and Israel Policy Forum president Seymour Reich. As part of the campaign, over 100 American Jewish leaders signed a petition urging the museum to include the Bergson group’s activities in its permanent exhibit, explaining that the group’s work “demonstrates the possibility of ordinary citizens taking action, through the democratic process, to bring about humanitarian action by the government. The American public, and especially young people, need to hear that message.”
The petition was signed by Holocaust scholars, Jewish leaders, former American and Israeli politicians, senior Holocaust Museum officials, and other public figures. U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi expressed support for the petition as well, saying she is “deeply proud” that her father, former Congressman Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr, took part in the Bergson Group’s activities.
‘Human Beings at $50 a Piece”
The Bergson group was founded by Peter Bergson, who was born Hillel Kook, nephew of Israel’s first Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi, Avraham Yitzhak Kook. After immigrating to British Mandatory Palestine from Lithuania in 1924, Hillel Kook helped found the Irgun, which, unlike its counterpart the Haganah, favored the use of force to retaliate to Arab attacks and drive the drive the British out of the country.He came to the United States in 1940, changing his name to Bergson and serving secretly as the Irgun’s leader in the U.S.
While his original mission was to establish a Jewish fighting force, Bergson turned his efforts to saving European Jewry after seeing an article describing the massacre of Jews in Europe. He began his campaign in 1942 in response to Romania’s offer to send its Jews to safety if the Allied forces would cover the costs. Bergson placed a large ad reading “For Sale to Humanity 70,000 Jews, Guaranteed Human Beings at $50 a Piece.” Ads went on to play a large role in Bergson’s campaign, and the Bergson group placed over 200 ads over the following two years.
The Bergson Group included several Irgun activists as well as well-known American figures, such as playwright Ben Hecht. The group’s efforts included a play, “We Will Never Die,” seen by hundreds of thousands of Americans, and a national lobbying group that called on President Roosevelt to establish an emergency rescue committee.
In 1944 Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board, which went on to save 200,000 lives. Political analysts have said that the Bergson group, which grew to include over 125,000 activists, deserves much of the credit for the board’s creation.
Coming to Grips with the Past
The Bergson group’s attention-grabbing tactics were often criticized by mainstream American Jewish leaders, some of whom asked U.S. officials to “draft or deport” Bergson. “Sixty five years ago, most mainstream Jewish leaders vehemently opposed the Bergson Group,” says Wyman Institute Director Dr. Rafael Medoff. “Today, numerous mainstream Jewish leaders joined the appeal to the U.S. Holocaust Museum to recognize Bergson’s achievements. This indicates that the American Jewish community is finally coming to grips with the mistakes that the Jewish leadership made in the 1940s.”
“The Bergson Group’s rescue campaign is a model of grassroots activism for all generations,” Medoff continues. “Ordinary citizens acting through the democratic process mobilized public opinion, pressured government officials, and changed U.S. foreign policy in the midst of a world war--all through the power of persuasion.”
The issue of including Bergon's activities in the Holocaust Museum has united leaders from across the religious and political spectrum, he adds, which shows that the desire to commemorate the Bergson group’s activities “is a simple issue of recognizing the historical record.”