The War Refugee Board was established by Executive Order 9417 on January 22, 1944, "in order to effectuate with all possible speed the rescue and relief of...victims of enemy oppression." The Board was composed of the Secretaries of State, War and Treasury, and had a small staff in Washington, D.C. headed by an Executive Director. The first Executive Director was John W. Pehle, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury who served until January 27, 1945. He was succeeded by Brigadier General William O'Dwyer, who served until the dissolution of the Board. The Board worked closely with private relief agencies in the United States, the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Adminitration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. It attempted to find, transport, house and maintain refugees escaping from enemy territory and provide relief to refugees inside enemy occupied areas. The Department of State designated special Attaches on War Refugee Matters to U.S. Legations and Embassies in Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Great Britain, Italy, and North Africa. The Treasury Department granted licenses to transfer funds abroad for relief purposes. Upon dissolution by Executive order 9614, September 15, 1945, the functions of the Board were transferred to the Treasury Department's Foreign Funds Control. A small amount of Board correspondence relating to proposed refugee shelters, and the Fort Ontario (Oswego, N.Y.) Emergency Refugee Shelter, is in Record Group 210, Records of the Relocation Authority, in the National Archives. The records consist of incoming and outgoing corespondence, memoranda, cables, reports, petitions, vouchers, press clippings, and related papers pertaining to policies, programs, and operations of the War Refugee Board. Also included are an extensive name and subject index to the records prepared by Foreign Funds Control, and a three-volume history of the Board, prepared by the Board's staff. 46 linear feet. The records of the War Refugee Board were accessioned by the National Archives and placed in Record Group 220. On July 22, 1959, they were transferred to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. A 15-page Preliminary Inventory (No. 43 National Archives Publication 52-18) prepared by the National Archives staff in 1952, is available at the Library. There is also a 61-page folder title list available at the Library. The records are in the public domain.

Contains following large files: Licenses Private Messages Sent Requests for specific aid Requests for Aid to Jews Requests for Aid to Hungary

Two folders