Among the Jews attempting to flee Nazi Germany before
World War II were the students of Gross Breesen Institute, young men and women trained in agricultural sciences in hopes of securing visas and a refuge. Across the Atlantic, the Jewish community of
Richmond, Virginia, looked to the Third Reich with growing unease, and in a bold plan, department store owner William B. Thalhimer created a safe haven for the students on a Burkeville farm. This is the remarkable history of Thalhimer’s heroic rescue mission and the struggle of the refugees to make a new home in rural America. Robert H. Gillette narrates an untold saga of sacrifice, survival and hope on two continents.
Background Information
World War II was fought between the Allies and the Axis powers between 1939 and 1945. Richmond, Virginia, loated on the fall line of the James River, is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia and served as capital of the Confederate States during the Civil War.
