The writer, journalist and humanitarian Varian Fry lived in this Ridgefield house in the 1950s. He was so shocked by the Nazis' treatment of Jews in the lead-up to WWII that he raised money and started an organization to help hunted Jews get out of Germany and France and eventually to the United States.
Fry is credited with helping 2,000 Jews escape, including painter Marc Chagall, sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, painter-poet Max Ernst, and writer Hannah Arendt. An organization Fry formed is a predecessor to International Rescue Committee, a leading nonsectarian, nongovernmental international relief and development organization that still operates today.
Quite a legacy to have left the world.
ReplyDeleteGee, thank you. I hadn't heard of him.
ReplyDeleteHe did great humanitarian work. He also lived in a beautiful place. Thank you for the positive history lesson.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great person.
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