This page will not display properly in your browser. Internet Explorer officially went out of support in June 2022. If you're using a screen reader such as JAWS, please feel free to continue. Otherwise, please consider using another browser.
View all events 1942–1945

January 22, 1944


Creation of War Refugee Board

US president Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9417, creating the War Refugee Board (WRB). The board is tasked with the “immediate rescue and relief of the Jews of Europe and other victims of enemy persecution.”

John Pehle was appointed to act as the WRB’s first director. He immediately gathered a staff (never more than 30 people) to help run the office in Washington. General William O’Dwyer served as the director of the WRB from January 1945 until the dissolution of the board in September 1945. The board's administrative funding came from the President’s Emergency fund. Funding for relief and rescue projects came largely out of donations from private aid organizations, most of them Jewish organizations.

Thank you for supporting our work

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.