About The OTC
The One Thousand Children designates over 1,000 Jewish children who were rescued from Nazi Germany and Nazi-occupied or threatened European countries, and came directly to the United States in 1934-1945. They came unaccompanied, leaving behind their parents, most of whom did not survive the Holocaust.
The organization One Thousand Children, Inc., was incorporated in 2000. It was conceived and organized by an enterprising individual, Iris Posner and a colleague Leonore Moskowitz. They became curious as to what role the United States played in rescuing children. The only information available on the subject at the time was Unfulfilled Promise, a book written by researcher Dr. Judith Baumel (Denali Press, Juno, Alaska 1990). While initially it was thought that only 1,000 such children reached the United States, with research lead by Posner and Moskowitz it appears that perhaps 1,400 children arrived.
The mission of the organization was to "discover" and locate OTC children and the individuals and organizations that made rescue and resettlement of the OTC children possible and to make this story part of the fabric of the world's historical record. OTC identified 1,400 OTC children and located about 600 of them; established an extensive website www.OneThousandChildren.Org , conducted and supported scholarly research and publication.
In addition to the collection now at YIVO, there are OTC artifacts are at the National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH). In 2002, Posner and Moskowitz, through OTC, organized an International Conference of OTC Children and Rescuers. Here many "children" first realized they were part of a piece of history. In 2004, a unique anthology was published: "Don't Wave Goodbye," edited by Philip Jason and Iris Posner (Greenwood), It presents over three dozen memoirs, documents, and photographs of OTC'ers, their rescuers, and second generation OTC'ers, and provides many first-person accounts of this unknown OTC story of tragedy and triumph.
In 2013, the records of One Thousand Children, Inc. ceased its formal activities and transferred its records and website to the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
Watch a video featuring Iris Posner, the founder of the OTC »
Read "The Story of the One Thousand Children" by Iris Posner »