Figure 1.-- Busy Buddies was a small group organized organized by 45 American Jewish ladies. They raised money to support Jewish children in two French orphanages after World War II. Here are two Jewish children that survived the Holocaust. Busy Buddies was supporting them and others in French orphanages. They were brought to America to tell their stories. The press caption read, "War Orphans Arrive for a Visit: Two European war orphanns are greeted on arrival by Pan American World Airways Clipper from London , Oct. 20, at LaGuardia Field, New York, by Mrs. Magda Bierman, of New York, president of Busy Buddies, Inc. an American charitable organization. The orphans, Charles Karo (wearing beret) and Irena Guttman, both eight, will make a ten-day tour Eastern United states under the sponsorship of Busy Buddies to describe conditions in Europe. Airline stewardeses Anne Maries Dickinson, Forest Hills, N.Y. , and Richmond , Va. aids the youngsters." The photograph was dated October 20, 1947. The children and their families were victims of the NAZI Holocaust. Notice how the editor refers to them as war orphans, not mention of them being Jewish and Holocaust survivors.

Busy Buddies was a small group organized organized by 45 American Jewish ladies. They raised money to support Jewish children in two French orphanages after World War II. To help raise money, the brought two of the orphans to America (figure 1). The children told their heart-rending stories at luncheons and parties and helped raise money for the orphanage effort. The children were very young, only 8 years old. We are not sure of the children's nationality, but they are probably German. A lot of foreign Jews had fled to France before the German World War II invasion and thus trapped there. Many parents managed to hide their children before they themselves were rounded up by the French police and Germans. The children are Irena/Irene Guttman and Charles Karo. Irena's parents were deported to German concentration camps in Poland and murdered. Charle's father was murdered and his mother starved to death. We are not entirely sure just how much they understood about what had happened to them and their parents. And thus we are not sure just what the children said in these events. While a small effort, Busy Buddies is an example of many such efforts organized by churches, synagoues, and charitable efforts around the country. Individual efforts like this were characteristic of the American relief effort. A Life magazine article described how the children got 'gifts from friends here and help for their friends abroad'.

Sources

"Orphans clothed: They get gift from friends here and help for ther frunds avroad," Life (November 17, 1947).

Created: 6:20 AM 4/12/2016
Last updated: 6:21 AM 4/12/2016