They Saved Lives

They Saved Lives by Adritch Manning
A review by Pierre Long on the Guardian website, May 5th, 2014

When 28 year old Archibald “Archie” Lavanche arrived in Stockholm in the winter of 1940, he felt as though his years of service and dedication were progressing to even bigger things. Having served proudly in the National Salvation Front during the Second American Civil War, he would parlay his war service and New Orleans bourgeois aristocratic wealth (born from plantations pre-Slaver’s war and later sugar) into a prolific career as a businessman in American Havana and later a congressman. His appointment as consul-general felt like another step. Potentially to greater ambassadorships, and greater positions in the government.

It helped that the position was good. With great access to the King and Queen, he would soon fall into the higher echelons of Swedish society. “I had lunch in the Stockholm Palace every day,” he wrote in his 1971 memoir. “I would dine with King Gustav at Drottningholm. I would regularly meet members of Hallgren’s cabinet in the finest hotels. I attended the Nobel Prize Ceremony.”

However, his priorities changed a few weeks into his appointment. A young man suddenly burst into the embassy.

“All he had was a black coat, covered in snow. He waited in the embassy before someone finally helped him. He said that he was German and Jewish. The police were sending Jews back to Germany. He was very scared. I just knew he was telling the truth. Instinctively, I saw the fear in him, the sadness as he described his parents being forced from their home. It was genuine.”

Lavanche gave the young man, Herman, an education visa for the University of Havana. But the young man’s fear stayed with the consul. A few days later, he was walking when he saw a family of five being arrested. The parents were being separated by the police from their young children as they were being taken. “I still see the face of that little girl as she cried, even 30 years later.”

Soon, in spite of a lengthy visa process and the consternation of the State Department, Lavanche would quietly begin issuing not only visas, but full American passports to the Jews who came to the Americuban Embassy, fleeing the increasingly oppressive Swedish government and their Nazi allies. Over the course of his career, he would issue 600 visas to Jewish refugees. However, in later years, he was modest over the affair.

“I was doing my duty as a Christian. When people are in danger, I can’t stand by and do nothing. If I had the power, I would use it.”

Archie would become one of the three subjects of They Saved Lives: How American Havana Diplomats Defied Orders and Helped Save 1500 Jews from the Shoah , by Aldritch Manning. The other two followed the same path: Harold Stevens, stationed in a remote consulate in the dystopian Iron Guard Romania [1] and Joseph Santini in Italy. Together, they would save 1200 Jewish by issuing visas. This would not only save the lives of these refugees, but would expand the Jewish community in American Havana. The descendants of the rescued live in American Havana to this day.

The book goes deep into these daring rescues and the political climate around them. The struggle over whether American Havana would side with the Axis would color the attitudes of the very State Department the three men served. Breckenridge Long, an admirer of Mussolini and Hitler, became Secretary of State as part of one of MacArthur’s numerous purges, and would actively refused Jewish refugees not only by restrictive policies, but often by misleading testimony and active sabotage. Similarly, the National Salvation Front flirted frequently with antisemitism, frequently and constantly implying that Jews were behind communism and the Russian and American Revolutions, and many prominent Americuban politicians (including Vice President Charles Coughlin and Secretary of the Interior Alvin Owsley) were openly anti-semitic.

This climate, combined with the climates in the countries in question, would have consequences. Harold Stevens, who saved 543 Jews in the midst of the brutal Iron Guard government, was dismissed from his position immediately and ended up living in poverty for decades before finally being recognized for his service shortly before his death in 1980, while Santini fought demands for his firing (ultimately staying in his position until Cuba declared war in 1942). By fortune of his influence, Archie would also stay in his position, and after Long’s ouster in 1942, he would become an advisor to new Secretary of State Claire Boothe, who would expand the visa program and streamline immigration (which would allow for greater economic recovery in the post-war period).

Of course, there is an inherent issue in proudly serving the MacArthurist dictatorship, and none of the subjects ever renounced or rejected it, in spite of the hurdles they face. The book does not shy away from these, from Stevens having been a member of the KKK and a speechwriter for notorious war criminal Theodore Bilbo to Santini’s close ties with the Mafia to even Archie admitting to having been a staunch segregationist and having been an isolationist as a congressman.

Yet, in spite of these flaws, the men’s heroism shines through, and serves as a part of the story of the Second World War that deserves more attention. The weakest part of the book is the rushed final part, exploring the lives of Levanche, Stevens, and Santini after the war, as well as the lives of those they saved. Levanche became an advisor and eventually Assistant Secretary of the Interior for MacArthur’s last term, before writing his memoirs and his death in 1984. Stevens would work as a clerk for one of the men he rescued, though would be honored with the Congressional Medal of Freedom in 1980 thanks to lobbying from those rescued thanks to him. After being recalled from Italy, Santini would not return to government service, instead volunteering to fight in Brazil, eventually declared MIA somewhere in the Amazon in 1944 and officially declared dead in 1952 (though honored for his service and later his charitable actions).

Overall, the book is an excellent look into the underreported story of three diplomats who saved lives and whose influence is felt today, with statues of all three adorning Havana today.

[1] Originally created by Bookmark1995 (Reds fanfic) *[WPA]: Works Progress Administration *[NBI]: National Bureau of Investigation