Cohen, Jack

Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter

In June 1944, the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter was established in Oswego, New York by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was operated by the War Relocation Authority, a government agency. In August 1944, the shelter received 982 refugees of predominantly Jewish descent and of various national backgrounds, especially Yugoslavian, Austrian, Polish, German and Czechoslovakian. Because of their immigration status as “guests,” the refugees could not work, and they could not travel beyond Oswego. Upon release many were granted permanent or temporary status. The shelter was closed in February 1946.

B’nai B’rith, Coordinating Committee of Fort Ontario, and Jack Cohen

The Department of the Interior requested that B’nai B’rith help provide recreational and religious facilities at the shelter. This was carried out by the War Service Activities Department of B’nai B’rith and the Upper New York State Council of B’nai B’rith and its local lodges. Jack Cohen, Secretary of B’nai B’rith Zerubbabel Lodge No. 53 in Rochester, was appointed as the local B’nai B’rith representative to the Coordinating Committee for Fort Ontario. The Coordinating Committee was established to coordinate efforts by different organizations to give aid and provide services for the shelter refugees, and the committee was composed of Jewish institutional representatives from Buffalo, Oswego, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Jack Cohen oversaw much of B’nai B’rith’s donations, as well as the dispersal of materials to U.S. Veterans hospitals once the shelter closed. Items donated included furnishings, arts and crafts materials, religious equipment for congregations and the chapel, and athletic equipment.

Mosco Tzechoval

Rabbi Mosco Tzechoval (also known as Moses Checkoval or Czechoval) was a spiritual leader at the shelter. Tzechoval had formerly been the director of Yeshivath Etz Chaim Talmudical Seminary in Heide-Antwerp, Belgium.

References

B'nai B'rith -- Accounts and Bills, 1944-1946; Box 1, Folder 2.

B'nai B'rith -- Distribution of Equipment from Fort Ontario, 1946-1947; Box 1, Folder 4.

"Token Shipment: The Story of America's War Refugee Shelter," [1946]; Box 1, Folder 19.

Tzechoval, Mosco -- Biographical Materials, 1944-1946, 1960; Box 1, Folder 20.

From the guide to the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter Collection, 1944-1947, 1960, 1975, (American Jewish Historical Society)