Sold – Eleanor Roosevelt Praises the Contributions of Recent Immigrants to the War Effort

The Aufbau was a German language newspaper founded in 1939 by Ludwig Wronkow to serve the large community of mainly Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and German-speaking areas of Czechoslavokia. When the Second World War broke out, it did what it could to harness the talents of these refugees for the war effort, and to acclimate its readers to life in a new country.  Wronkow wrote to the First Lady, and she responded approving of his work, praising the immigrants, and expressing gratitude for the contributions they were making to the U.S. in the war.

Typed Letter Signed on White House letterhead, Washington, March 12, 1943, to editor Wronkow. “…I am glad that Aufbau is acting as an intermediary between the non-citizen of today and the citizens of this country whom they must really know and who must know them. Under many handicaps, I think the people who have come to this country during the last few years have done a great deal to help the government, not only through the promotion of war bond and stamp sales, but with the knowledge of conditions in other countries and of the economic and military situations, which must mean a great deal to the government of this country. I am particularly glad that you are making an effort to help these new arrivals to deal with problems, which for us in this country are strange enough to be difficult, without the adaptation necessary when one must deal with new methods of procedure. It is most important to everybody to have gardens where they can grow and preserve as much food as they can for their own use and to help out on rationing, and to be useful perhaps to other people in the community as well as to the individual family which does the work. A paper such as yours can do so much to lessen the difficulties in this war situation and I want to congratulate you on the efforts you are making and to wish you great success.”

Mrs. Roosevelt shows great sensitivity and empathy for the plight of immigrants in this letter. As importantly, her high praise for them and recognition of their contributions provides a lesson in an aspect of the war that receives inadequate attention – how patriotic new arrivals (Einstein is the most famous example) helped bring victory.