Like Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg, Varian Fry risked his life to rescue those targeted by the Gestapo in "the most gigantic man-trap in history." Now, more than fifty years later, the story of this neglected American hero is back in print.Varian Fry, a young editor from New York, traveled to Marseilles after Germany defeated France in the summer of 1940. As the representative of the Emergency Rescue Committee, a private American relief organization, he offered aid and advice to refugees who found themselves threatened with extradition to Nazi Germany under Article 19 of the Franco-German armisticethe "Surrender on Demand" clause.Working day and night in opposition to French and even American authorities, Fry assembled an unlikely band of associates and built an elaborate rescue network. By the time Fry left France after 13 months, he and his colleagues had managed to spirit more than 1,500 people from France, among them some of Europes most prominent politicians, artists, writers, scientists, and musicians. Their arrival in the United States significantly expanded the intellectual exodus from Europe that began when Hitler came to power, and permanently changed the face of American culture.Surrender on Demand is by turns wildly exciting, horrifying and exalting an astonishingly good book.The New York Times Book Review, April 25, 1945I have read and heard many accounts of escapes from Europebut none surpasses this restrained and factual narrative in suspense and excitementIt tells of many triumphs and some defeats; it depicts with vividness and often with humor a large number of interesting and frequently distinguished persons; it describes the endless obstacles encountered and the ingenious and constantly changing shifts and devices contrived to overcome them; and throughout it makes one feel the undercurrent of potential tragedy which too often became actual.New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review, May 20, 1945A novelist would hardly dare pack a novel with so many hair-breadth escapes.Lewis Gannett, New York Herald Tribune, 1945
