"Living on a Sort of Island": Jewish Refugee Farmers in the American South, 1938–46

Abstract

"Living on a Sort of Island":Jewish Refugee Farmers in the American South, 1938–461 Andrew Sperling (bio) In May 1939, German-Jewish merchant David Loeb sent a letter from his temporary residence in New York requesting the opportunity to live and work on a farm in rural North Carolina. "My family," he said, "as well as myself, we should very much like to go on a farm."2 Unlike the majority of Jewish refugee farmers in the Nazi era, Loeb had prior experience in a rural environment, having worked on his uncle's cattle farm in his youth. He, his wife Helen, and their two children, Manfred and Walter, fled Bremen, Germany several months earlier and found refuge at the Manumit School in Pawling, New York. The Manumit School, a socialist boarding house, housed refugees for a brief time but was only a transitory place for the family as they searched for permanent settlement. They might have continued on to dense cities, where refugees often worked menial jobs in households, restaurants, and shops, but such employment seemed unfulfilling for middle-class professionals.3 A subset of refugees, the Loebs among them, embraced Jewish agrarianism in a region where such work promised to be formidable but rewarding. David Loeb could think of no better path toward becoming a prosperous American citizen than by rekindling his passion for the outdoors. In his letter, he emphasized the value of a diligent farm family, noting that his wife and oldest son were strong, healthy, and willing to work alongside him. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Alvin Johnson, the letter's recipient, invited the Loebs to work on the Van Eeden Settlement in rural Burgaw, North Carolina. Johnson was a Danish American economist [End Page 445] and humanitarian who had previously co-founded the progressive New School for Social Research, a private research university, in 1919. When the Nazis rose to power, Johnson recruited persecuted European scholars to study in New York as part of the New School's "University in Exile," saving their lives in the process. In 1933, the program rescued at least seven Jewish refugees and their families, but Johnson acknowledged that many more needed saving. Having observed "a growing hostility to refugees" in his country, he wondered what could be done to help Jews while also curbing antisemitic attitudes among Americans. Farming was the optimal solution. Johnson imagined that it would give Jews an opportunity to practice the romanticized "art of living off the soil," preventing a "ghetto psychology" from developing among immigrants in overcrowded cities. Most importantly, it would change perceptions people had about Jews.4 In 1939, Johnson purchased a modest one hundred acres of farmland in Burgaw from Wilmington businessman Hugh MacRae, a leader in prior initiatives to resettle Dutch immigrant families in agrarian colonies. The Dutch settlers, arriving in 1909, grappled with drainage issues that diminished their prospects. Thirty years later, Johnson reasoned that problems with the land were fixable through superior ditches. He successfully appealed to Bernard Baruch, American Jewish financier and presidential advisor, for an initial $2,500 investment in the new Jewish farm colony.5 The Loebs were among the initial settlers, and each family received ten acres and a cottage for themselves. Families would share responsibilities and equipment and primarily practice dairy and truck farming, producing fruits and vegetables to sell to the marketplace in Wilmington. The profits they earned would be put toward paying off their debts to Johnson's company, the Alvin Corporation, for resettling and housing them. When refugees were skilled enough to master farming, Johnson surmised that they would see a steady cash increase and be financially independent.6 By the winter of 1939, the Loebs were one of four German or Austrian families living on the Van Eeden farm, with more expected in the new year. David Loeb was optimistic about each family's prospects in this refugee enclave, overlooking early signs of conflict with the sincere [End Page 446] belief that "by and by, we shall become a happy group."7 The refugee farmers, who were largely middle-class urbanites, initially raised few complaints about the change in lifestyle. They began work at seven o'clock each...