Safe! Care of European Children

Two Jewish child refugees disembark safely in New York in this powerful WWII poster. They are conspicuously without parents, their identification cards worn around their necks, and their only possessions in their hands. In spite of this, we are reminded that most importantly they are now "safe!" from the dangers of persecution in Europe.

The United States Committee for the Care of European Children was founded in 1940 by Eleanor Roosevelt and Louis Weiss, and their main goal was to try to rescue Jewish children refugees from the war in Europe. Since America was technically neutral until they entered the war in 1941, the organization was able to operate within Vichy France during the Nazi occupation and also assisted in rescuing many children from England during the Blitz. It was a quasi-government funded organization that relied on both donations as well as government funds.