Saints and Liars: The Story of Americans Who Saved Refugees from the Nazis

by Deborah Dwork

A gripping history that plumbs the extraordinary stories of American relief and rescue workers during World War II.


Saints and Liars recounts the remarkable story of Americans who went abroad to offer relief and stayed to rescue people targeted by the Nazi regime. Deployed by US organizations to Prague, Vilna, Shanghai, Marseille, and Lisbon, they gathered necessities for refugees’ survival while trying to find them safe havens. Renowned historian Debórah Dwork tracks these rescue workers’ heroic deeds as she lays bare the moral questions they encountered and their unpredictable and constantly changing circumstances. Among the group was the first female overseas representative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee who, sent to Shanghai, negotiated with enemy Japanese to protect the refugee community. There was also the Unitarian couple aiding undocumented people—Jews, antifascists, and artists—in Lisbon while serving as American secret agents. Drawing on a deep well of archival documents, including recently discovered letters, diaries, and memos, Dwork chronicles both the tragedies rescue workers witnessed and the amazing successes they achieved.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust, World War II, Politics, War, Audiobook

256 pages, Hardcover

Published January 14, 2025

About the author

A renowned historian of Holocaust, Dwork is the Rose Professor of Holocaust History and Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the Department of History, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Rick Rapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is disturbing on so many levels. It details the work of various Americans in roles of assistance to refugees (especially Jews) during WWII in Marseilles, Shanghai, Lisbon, and Vilna. It notes the capricious nature of these people in deciding whom to help. It elaborates on the endless red tape that desperate people had to encounter. It relates successes, but more often failures to assist. Their efforts were sabotaged by petty jealousies and insecurities, by gender politics, and by just bad luck. One difficult thing about the book for me is that the stories are rife with acronyms referring to various relief organization. Acronyms are a huge impediment for me and I can't keep them straight...eventually i don't even try. I'm sure that hampered my understanding of cases and difficulties in the book. But the most disturbing thing is that the United States has now taken on the role of the aggressor formerly filled by Germany, with arbitrary decisions, prejudices, and motives deciding the fates of far too many refugees and citizens alike. People just don't learn, and evil is all too common.

[Book Club of One · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deborah Dwork is an American historian who has specialized in the history of the Holocaust, and is the Founding Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. Throughout Dwork's career, she has published several in-depth studies for many university presses. All this to say, Saint and Liars: The Story of American Who Saved Refugees from the Nazis should be a competent and clearly written exploration of humanitarian aid work carried out by Americans to rescue the stateless religious and political refugees from Germany. The fact that the book is neither of those things, are among some of the frustrations with this too brief work.

Our narrative focuses on five cities (Marseille, Lisbon, Prague, Vilna and Shanghi) and the individuals or couples who were assigned to them to do the work of the Quakers, Unitarians or the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. This could be running kitchens, funding travel or more focused efforts to save a certain number of children. Each chapter explores each city and the agent(s) dispatched to the location, ostensibly for a specific year, from 1939 to 1943, but this only seems an organization conceit as the chapters try to summarize the ebbs and flows of that city and the changing nature of the war and the winnowing of options. For each figure we get a brief biography, how and why they reached the city, their humanitarian work and often the internecine squabbling among aid organizations. Where women led the efforts, Dwork also discusses the gender disparities in both pay and respect.

Dwork had a wealth of materials to draw from, often including excerpts from letters or reports. Each chapter concludes with a summary of the highlighted agent's life. But instead of going in-depth, the narrative only touches on particular high points: especially fraught or challenging missions, the constant need for funding or continual efforts to be granted a higher level of authority. The reader doesn't get much of a sense for what life was like for the refugees or stateless outside of snapshots in the establishing of the setting or the number of peoples who directly benefited from this work.

Saints and Liars should be a book useful to scholars of world war II, especially those looking to research or learn more about the humanitarian efforts to aid the enemies of the Nazis, but it doesn't offer enough depth. It focuses on the roles of luck and a strong sense of purpose for the agents, but without addressing the humanitarian aid by US organizations was in opposition to a national policy of anti-immigration and isolationism.

Readers looking to learn about the complexities of refugees seeking an escape during world war II would be better served by Transit by Anna Seghers.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 I'm a nonfiction reader but this was just too dry to keep my attention.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Saints and Liars’ was not what I expected, but it still was quite informative and easy to follow regarding refugee aid during WWII. While I am used to adventurous tales of rescue during the era, fictional and otherwise, this book focused on the documented lives of those administering aid. Debórah Dwork shares thorough accounts of key Americans who forsook their safety, prosperity, and peace of mind in order to provide critical passage and stable conditions for as many as possible, predominately Jews. Though I appreciate the level of detail given to recounting the personal struggles of these aid workers, I did not care to read about so much inter- and intra-organizational conflict. I am glad it was an audiobook because I probably would not have been as compelled to finish if I couldn't multi-task during those parts.

If you enjoy reading historical accounts of sacrificial aid workers and appreciate learning about the organizational politics they had to face, then I recommend this audiobook to you. Alexandra Cohler was a strong narrator throughout.

Special thanks to RBmedia and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this audiobook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Jim Bogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prof. Dwork looks at Americans who set out to aid refugees in war ravaged Europe and Asia during WWII. She highlights a number of places and protagonists. The title comes from the workers’ need to bend if not break rules to get people out. This is a period and area in which Dwork is an expert; there are many stirring anecdotes and details.
But this reader comes away a bit unsatisfied; the jumping from area to area dilutes the stories and leaves us wanting more local details. The heroes and heroines appear and disappear too fast.
Also somewhat distracting is Dwork’s constant reminders of the difficulties of being a woman in the (to her) highly sexist world of the thirties and forties. She has a point, but the degree of focus calls for a different book.
So a lot of interesting information, but Dwork has done better.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shares the stories the stories of selected individuals and couples who worked tirelessly to save those facing Nazi and Allies persecution. It gives great insight into the lengths and effort it took to get children and adults to safety. It also showed their struggle on what was the best criteria to use when selecting those to be saved. The book also details some of the heart wrenching conditions that people lived under while awaiting a chance to be saved. You also realize that despite the efforts made only a small number could be saved. I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway.

[Tori DeFazio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook Saints and Liars. 

Through extensive research by historian Deborah Dwork, Saints and Liars tells the true story of Americans who put their safety and lives on the line to protect the (primarily Jewish) refugees. While this research was interesting and extensive, I wish we learned more about the aid workers and the refugees; it seems like a lot of information is missing or was added in a confusing way. 3 stars.

[Debbie Poland MacAvoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read and interesting. I didn't fall asleep, maybe because the topic of helping refugees was less dry than battle specifics (the 2 books I tried to listen to but DNF, because I couldn't stay awake).

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic, but could have been better written. The main point seemed to the intra- and inter-organization political battles of American relief workers overseas during WWII. This was not presented as the theme in the promos or book descriptions.

[Bakerpat · Rating 2 out of 5]

The material in this book is compelling, however the author's writing style is dry. I liked her organization, with each American's story in their own chapter vs. historical which might have been too confusing.

[Shandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read if you are interested in learning about the subject matter.

[Joe McMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellmore 940.5318 new. Episodic as titled. Worth finishing.

[Linda Kayata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read too much like a textbook.