Archive of correspondence between several legal and political offices seeking to rescue Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn and his family from Nazi-occupied Poland.

<<Documents relating to the flight of the Lubavitcher Rebbe from Nazi-occupied Europe to freedom in the United States. One of the most extraordinary Jewish rescues undertaken in Nazi Europe.>> Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson (1880-1950), the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, refused to abandon his community of Otwock, a suburb of Warsaw, following the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939. Samuel Kramer, chief legal counsel of Agudas Chasidei Chabad in America sought to devise a plan, along with the assistance of several legal and political officials in both America and Nazi Europe, to rescue the Rebbe and bring him and his family to the United States. Closely aided by Washington attorney Max Rhoade, Kramer successfully lobbied Robert Pell, the Assistant Secretary of State in recognizing the urgency of rescuing the revered Chassidic leader. Through Pell’s efforts, Major Ernst Bloch, an official in the Nazi military intelligence agency (Abwehr), was appointed to locate and transport the Rebbe and his family from Warsaw to Berlin and then on to Riga, where they waited for their visa approval to travel on to America. While in limbo in Riga, Kramer along with Rabbi Israel Jacobson, the Executive Director of Agudas Chasidei Chabad of America and Canada, worked tirelessly to ensure the Rebbe and his family received financial support, while simultaneously seeking to persuade the US immigration authorities that Chabad’s role in America was not only legitimate, but of vital necessity for the good of the country. Finally, on the 19th March 1940, the Rebbe and his entourage arrived in New York. Thereafter a new chapter of the storied Lubavitch-Chabad Chassidic movement was to embark. This archive contains documents and correspondence from December 1st, 1939 - January 9th, 1940, primarily between Kramer, Rhoade, Pell and Jacobson. Issues discussed include: Which members of the Schneerson entourage are to be included in the rescue. <<*>> Concern that the Russians might close the Latvian border leaving the Rebbe vulnerable as he was regarded as a Soviet counter-revolutionary. <<*>> Various plans how to travel onward from Latvia (Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, England, Cuba). <<*>> Matters relating to the rescue of “Rabbi Mendel Schneersohn and his wife, Chaja Musia Schneersohn.” <<*>> Seeking to establish the immigration status under which the Rebbe is to be rescued. <<*>> Difficulties in providing for the rebbe’s daughter Sonia and husband Mendel Horenstein (they were indeed trapped and ultimately killed in Treblinka). <<*>> The Rebbe’s library and personal possessions. <<*>> Financial matters and disputes between the attorneys.