When Jews needed to flee the Holocaust, they found a haven in the Philippines. Now they’re repaying the debt.
By Danny Pins
Wall Street Journal
By Danny Pins
Wall Street Journal
Manila
GRATEFUL DEBT: Alex Frieder (seated, in white) with Jewish refugees in 1940. 3 Roads Communication
As millions of Filipinos gather to celebrate Christmas this week—decorating streets with festive star-shaped lanterns called parols and traditional crèches called belens—they will also recall lost loved ones and the devastation wrought last year by Typhoon Haiyan. They may likewise note the outpouring of aid that arrived to help after the storm. For many who contributed, this was an act of humanitarian mercy. For me, it was also about repaying a decades-old debt to this Catholic-majority country.
My mother and grandparents were among the more than 1,300 European Jews offered safe haven from the Nazis by Philippine President Manuel Quezon in the late 1930s. The Philippines was then an American protectorate, and the rescue effort resulted from cooperation between Quezon, the family of Manila-based Jewish cigar manufacturer Alex Frieder, U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippines Paul V. McNutt and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), a global relief agency that aids Jews and others in danger.
This little-known chapter in World War II history was told in a 2012 documentary, “Rescue in the Philippines,” but was also given new life in November 2013, when Jewish and Israeli aid organizations mobilized to support hundreds of thousands of Filipinos devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.
One week after the storm made landfall, I set off from Israel, joining my JDC team to assess our emergency work—delivering food, fresh water, shelter supplies, medicine and medical equipment—and ensure that the needs on the ground were met.
The significance of helping the very country that had saved my family years before was not lost on me. Nor was it lost on my 82-year-old mother. As I packed my bags, she told me how proud she was and wished she could tag along “in my suitcase” to help in any way she could.
As I moved with my team through Manila to Cebu and Panay, I imagined myself as my grandfather, who worked for two years as a salesman traveling across the Philippines selling grooming supplies to support his family. We packed and delivered food and medical supplies alongside Filipino volunteers. While surveying damage to a collapsed school, we interacted with local parents and handed out toys to children. I was touched by the children’s bright faces, their willing embrace of strangers and their enthusiasm to play once again. Surely this is what my family experienced after their journey from Germany to Asia, hungering for normalcy.
From rebuilding classrooms to restoring local fishing businesses, providing medical services and facilitating disaster preparedness, our staff, volunteers and local partners worked to improve the lives of those who lost everything. Dennis Almorin, a fisherman on Lat-Asan island, scraped by on a borrowed boat and donations after Haiyan rendered his family homeless. Today he is back to work in a new boat supplied by one of our livelihood programs. Like my grandfather who received a small loan from the JDC to begin his business in Manila, Mr. Almorin is reclaiming his livelihood and dignity.
But Mr. Almorin is one of the lucky ones who have made a faster recovery than initially expected. Others still face grave difficulty, and at candlelight vigils, photo exhibitions and community gatherings marking Haiyan’s anniversary last month they vented their sadness, remembered loved ones and rejoiced in the resilience of their country. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 800,000 people in Haiyan-hit areas have suffered trauma over the past year, and 80,000 require further treatment for conditions such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.
For my mother and grandparents, solace came through family and social connections among fellow refugees. They created supportive communities to care for one another.
And so we’ve worked to train Filipino community leaders to address emotional duress and enable survivors to lean on one another—which they did when the latest storm, Typhoon Hagupit, struck on Dec. 8. In a response far more sophisticated than in the days before Haiyan, early-warning systems sounded, fishermen secured boats in safe areas and evacuation centers stocked supplies.
There’s still more to be done. About 20 typhoons make landfall in the Philippines each year. Additional investments in psychosocial support and emergency preparedness are still needed. These could mean the difference between people who just survive and those who thrive and expertly aid their neighbors in times of need.
I see the distinction in my mother. After leaving the Philippines in 1949 at the age of 18, she moved to the U.S., then to Israel, and worked for 15 years as an early childhood educator serving scores of community centers. She never forgot the Philippines and its people, who offered her life in the face of extermination.
Today I am proud to repay some of her debt—and now to wish a warm Maligayang Pasko, or Merry Christmas, to my Filipino friends and partners, with sincere gratitude and a passionate dedication to build anew for coming generations.
Mr. Pins works for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
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