Convergence
Stop 1: Surrealist artists flee Europe
The events leading up to World War II in Europe had a direct influence on the East End story. A young Harvard-educated American journalist, Varian Fry (pictured far right), had witnessed Nazi atrocity against Jews and decided to join the Emergency Rescue Committee, an agency headquartered in Marseille, which helped thousands escape Vichy France, especially artists and writers.
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- The Emergency Rescue Committee office in Marseilles, 1941
The Emergency Rescue Committee office in Marseilles, 1941; left to right, Max Ernst, Jacqueline Breton, Andre Masson, Andre Breton, and Varian Fry. Photograph courtesy Musee Cantini, Marseilles, France