Review: The Shelter and the Fence
The Shelter and the Fence: When 982 Holocaust Refugees Found Safe Haven in America by Norman H. Finkelstein Chicago Review Press Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Dena Bach Buy at Bookshop.org The Shelter and the Fence , a non-fiction narrative by Norman H. Finkelstein, a retired librarian, history teacher and winner of two National Jewish Book awards, richly recounts the true story of the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, NY. During World War II, the fear and distrust of refugees by most Americans almost entirely eliminated immigration. In stark contrast was Fort Ontario, the sole site in the United States that welcomed Jews escaping war-ravaged Europe. Finkelstein begins his well-researched, readable account by describing the journeys taken by many of these 982 refugees to get to Oswego. He continues with an account of the working community they built behind the barbed wire fence of the fort. Included are names, detailed stories, and archiv...