Philippine President Manuel Quezon (left) and U.S. High Commissioner Paul McNutt (right) in 1938. "Rescue In The Philippines: Refuge From The Holocaust" chronicles a real-life Casablanca, in which a high-profile group of poker buddies — including the Frieder brothers of Cincinatti, Philippine President Manuel Quezon, and U.S. High Commissioner Paul McNutt and Colonel Dwight Eisenhower — hatched an intricate international plan of rescue and re-settlement, saving 1,300 Jews from certain death in Nazi concentration camps.
Airs Sunday, May 26, 2013 at 5 p.m. on KPBS TV
Courtesy of American Public Television
The Frieders and Quezon at Mariquina Hall, April 23, 1940. The five Frieder brothers, Cincinnati businessmen making two-for-a-nickel cigars in pre-WWII Manila, together with Manuel Quezon, the first president of the Philippines, Paul McNutt, U.S. High Commissioner and an ambitious Army Colonel named Dwight Eisenhower - helped 1,200 Jews escape the Nazis and immigrate to the Philippines.
Courtesy of American Public Television
Refugees attend dinner at the Frieders' home on April 30, 1940.
Narrated by actor Liev Schrieber, the documentary chronicles a real-life Casablanca, in which a high-profile group of poker buddies — including Colonel Dwight Eisenhower — hatched an intricate international plan of rescue and re-settlement, saving 1,300 Jews from certain death in Nazi concentration camps.
"Rescue In The Philippines" tells this gripping story through interviews with historians, friends and relatives of the key participants, and first-person accounts from refugees who detail their harrowing escape from Europe and immigration to the Philippines.
"Rescue In The Philippines: Refuge From The Holocaust" recounts a fascinating, yet seldom-told, chapter in World War II history. Narrated by actor Liev Schrieber, the documentary chronicles a real-life Casablanca, in which a high-profile group of poker buddies — including Colonel Dwight Eisenhower — hatched an intricate international plan of rescue and re-settlement, saving 1,300 Jews from certain death in Nazi concentration camps.
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