Foreigners in Warsaw during World War II. Passports and false papers, internment, exchange and extermination

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34096/hyg.n7.16815
Keywords: Holocaust, Warsaw Guetto, Foreign Laws, Internment, Exchange

Abstract

This paper presents the research findings of a comparative study on the experiences of foreign Jews and Polish dual nationals who were in or passed through Warsaw during World War II. The focus is on Argentines and Americans, briefly referencing those from other countries. It covers both genuine citizens, holders of false papers, and their immediate family members. It analyzes the similarities and differences in the evolution of their treatment after the German occupation and their confinement in the Warsaw Ghetto until the onset of its liquidation (Grossaktion). It also describes the changing policies adopted by the Germans towards these foreigners, which were based on the neutral or belligerent status of the countries they were or claimed to be citizens of. In the case of holders of false papers, it mentions some networks and methods of obtaining them.

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Author Biographies

Marcia Ras, Universidad de Buenos Aires / Museo del Holocausto de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Marcia Ras is a historian and researcher at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Latin American Studies and Research (INDEAL, FFyLL), a lecturer in research seminars at the University of Buenos Aires, and an associated researcher at the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum, where she contributed to the design of content for its new permanent exhibition. She was a fellow at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI), The Holocaust Research Institute (HRI), and the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris. Currently, she is writing her doctoral thesis, which explores the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims with Argentine citizenship. She is the Director of the FiloCyT FC-19-021 Project “Miradas, experiencias y posturas argentinas frente al Tercer Reich, la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el Holocausto”.
Samara Rose Angel, Brookings Institution, Estados Unidos
Samara Rose Angel holds a BA in History, graduating cum laude from Yale University. She currently serves as a Senior Research Assistant at the American think tank, the Brookings Institution. Previously, she was a Robert C. Bates Graduate Research Fellow in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she conducted independent research and writing on contemporary history and her family history. Her primary research areas include foreign Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish migration to Argentina, current US politics, and the American human rights movement of the 1960s.

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Published
2025-03-10
How to Cite
Ras, M., & Angel, S. R. (2025). Foreigners in Warsaw during World War II. Passports and false papers, internment, exchange and extermination. Historia & Guerra, (7), 46-78. https://doi.org/10.34096/hyg.n7.16815
Issue
No 7 (2025): Enero-Junio
Section
Dossier: El Tercer Reich, la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el Holocausto

Copyright (c) 2025 Marcia Ras, Samara Rose Angel

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