Herman F. Reissig memorandum

Herman F. Reissig (1899-1985) was a pastor in the United Church of Christ. During the Spanish Civil War, he was affiliated with the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, which in 1939 joined forces with the American Medical Bureau to Save Spanish Democracy to form the Spanish Refugee Relief Campaign (SRRC). The SSRC dedicated itself to the rehabilitation and resettlement of Spanish refugees, and Reissig served as its executive secretary. The committee later allied itself with Varian Fry’s Emergency Rescue Committee. The Herman F. Reissig memorandum, dated May 15, 1941, describes the SS Alsina’s departure from Marseille in January 1941 carrying more than 500 refugees en route to the United States and Latin America, its detention in Dakar by the Vichy government, Reissig’s unsuccessful efforts to work with the Vichy, British, and American governments to find a solution for the refugees, and cables received from refugees aboard the Alsina describing their confusion and anxiety.