Varian Fry Institute

dedicated to Americans Who Cared
 

       Mary Jayne Gold
Mary Jayne Gold
(1909-1997)
prior to World War II

Varian Fry
Varian Fry (1907-1967)
(1942 photo by refugee Hans Namuth)

Miriam Davenport Ebel
Miriam Davenport Ebel
(1915-1999)
prior to World War II

     Charles Fawcett
Charles Fawcett
revisits Marseille in 1997


Hiram Bingham IV (1904-1988)
righteous vice-consul in 1940-41, stamp issued in May 2006

Leon ("Dick") Ball

“In all we saved some two thousand human beings.  We ought to have saved many times that number.  But we did what we could.”

                                                                         Varian Fry

In a challenging time, Varian Fry, Miriam Davenport Ebel, Mary Jayne Gold, Charles Fawcett, Leon Ball and Hiram Bingham IV, were Americans who joined with others in the U.S. and in Marseille, France, to further brotherhood from sea to shining sea...

On Jan. 26, 2006, on Holocaust Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom, Charles Fernley Fawcett was honored in the presence of Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On April 25 and on May 7, 2006, the Fry rescue mission will be honored on Yom Hashoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day at Chapman College, Orange, CA, and then at Beth El Congregation, Pittsburgh, PA, with presentations by Pierre Sauvage.  On May 23, Pierre Sauvage will be speaking and showing film clips at the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris, as part of their tribute to the Righteous.  (On May 24, there will be a presentation of the upcoming DVD of Weapons of the Spirit.)

On May 30, 2006, a stamp is being issued in honor of Hiram Bingham IV, whom Varian Fry called his "partner in the crime of saving lives."

Varian Fry in Marseille by Pierre Sauvage

Other pending Fry-related events

a project of the Chambon Foundation


Varian Fry et le Centre américain de secours par Pierre Sauvage (in French)

On Mary Jayne Gold, with excerpts from her published memoir Crossroads Marseille 1940,
which chronicles her participation in the rescue effort

Americans Who Cared and why we should care about them

Tribute to Miriam Davenport Ebel,
Varian Fry's close aide who died September 13, 1999, at the age of 84
An Unsentimental Education, Miriam Davenport Ebel's memoir of 1940

The Indomitable Lisa Fittko (1909-2005)

A Hero Of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry, a biography (2001) by Sheila Isenberg

A Quiet American: The Secret War of Varian Fry, a biography (1999) by Andy Marino
Interview with Andy Marino

Other Varian Fry-Related Resources and Internet Links

Oh You Must Not Peek Under My Sunbonnet,
the first peek at Mary Jayne Gold's delightful, still unpublished memoir of her early years

Varian Fry Exhibit

Varian Fry Photo Gallery (pending)

Chambon Foundation presentations

And Crown Thy Good: Varian Fry in Marseille,
upcoming feature documentary by Pierre Sauvage

Some of the 2,000 people helped...

Officers of the Emergency Rescue Committee

On-line video clips (pending)

Crossroads Marseillethe movie project

Varian's War, 2001 Showtime movie, which purported to be about Varian Fry

Internet Links on righteous Gentiles

America and the Holocaust—a few recommendations

Reward!  (Gratitude.)  If you knew Leon ("Dick"?) Ball,

a tough-talking lard salesman in France in the '30s who joined in the rescue effort
and may have served later in the French Resistance, please let us know!


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