Figure 1.--The United States after the German invasion, refused to deal with Dutch authorities under German control and moved the legation to London. Througout the German occupation, the United States worked with the London-based Dutch Governmnt-in-exile. Some Dutch people managed to get to America. Here is a Dutch anatomist who managed to get him and his family to America. He received his doctorate and medical degrees from the University of Amsterdam in 1938 and served as a medical officer in the Dutch Army for a year. We are not sure just how he managed to get on this ship to America, but he subsequently had a long and destinguished career at the University of Chicago. The press caption read, Photo shows Dr. and Mrs. Peter de Bruyn of Amsterdam Holland with their two children, Aneke 7 years and Yolande ? years old. Dr. de Bruyn received an invitation from the University of Chicago last October [1940] and accepted and has been trying since then to leave. He is on his way to teach at that University." The photograph was archived in April 1941, but we are not sure when it was taken.

President Roosevelt engaged in a great deal of personal diplomacy and for a time relied on Summer Welles who he appointed Under-Secretary of State. He sent Wells on a diplomatic mission to Europe before the War (August 1938). He spent 5 days in the Netherlands which was besiged with refugees from NAZI oppression. The Embassy and Consulate General wanted nothing to do with the refugees. The Consul General in Amsterdam was Frank C. Lee. It was the Consulate in Rotterdam that was given resoonsibility for issuing visas to the United States. Limiting visa work to the Rotterdam Consulate was of increasing the difficulty for visa applicates. The State Department sent U.S. Foreign Service Inspector O. Warren to the Consulte General to assist with refugee cases. He then went on to Cologne, Germany. The State Department put obstacles in place for refugees. Especially Jewish refugees. Emigration visas were limited by law. There was some flexibility for temporary visas, but the State Department created obstacles. The applicants had to prove that they could return to their country of origin once the temprary visa expired. This of course was impossible for Jewish applicants who were mostly German. It was obvious at the time, especially after Kristallnacht (November 1938) that they could never return to NAZI Germany from which they had fled. Germany invaded and the Dutch Army surrenderd (May 1940). The Queen and some Dutch officials escaped to Britain and set up a Goverment-in-exile (GIE). The United States was at the time still neutral. American diplomats stayed on 2 months. Unlike France, there was no attempt to deal with the Dutch Government under German occupation. The difference was that the French signed an armistice with the Germans and American diplomats saw some value in working with the resulting Vichy regime. The United States closed its legation to The Hague (July 15, 1940). American diplomats quickly reopened the legation in London near the Dutch GIE (August 15, 1940). The Japanese after Pearl Harbor targeted the major Dutch colonial possession, the oil-rich Dutch East Indies (April 1942). British and american aid proved inefectual. The U.S. legation to the Netherlands was elevated to the status of an embassy when Minister Anthony J. Drexel Biddle Jr. presented his new credentials as Ambassador to the GIE in London (May 8, 1942). The United States during the War supplied over $250 million (much larger in current dollars) to the Dutch in Lend Lease aid. This was the fourth largest amount to European countries after Britain, the Soviet Union, and France. The amount was relatively small because as the Netherlands was occupied, there was no way of forming a substabtial military force to fight the Germans. The U.S. Embassy was reopened in The Hague (August 1945). The new Ambassador Stanley Hornbeck oversawthe transition from London.

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Created: 2:47 PM 9/28/2016
Last updated: 2:47 PM 9/28/2016