Grassroots Voluntary Organizations - Aiding Dutch Immigrants in the Midwest, 1953-1956

“Grassroots Voluntary Organizations: Aiding Dutch Immigrants in the Midwest, 1953-1956” Following the Second World War, the United States Congress enacted the Refugee Relief Act, 1953-1956, in order to facilitate emigration from areas that were severely affected by the war. One of the most physically devastated areas was the Netherlands. The Refugee Relief Act (RRA) restructured the laws’ restrictions on immigration quotas, and, because of the postwar restructuring of the laws, the Netherlands greatly benefited. The Netherlands had long employed emigration as a form of population control and the restructuring of U.S. immigration laws allowed the Netherlands to send greater numbers of people out of the country. The RRA used voluntary organizations, which were usually religiously focused, to assist immigrants from Europe. The foremost voluntary organization that helped the Dutch Protestants in the Netherlands was the Church World Service. An offshoot of the Church World Service was the Reformed Church World Service which focused its attention on the Dutch Calvinists and more conservative Dutch Reformed Church adherents. The Reformed Church World Service (hereafter RCWS) worked in close contact with other voluntary and local organizations to promote and recruit people to help with immigration and resettlement. Willard Wichers was one important early contact that the RCWS made. Willard Wichers was an active promoter of all things Dutch. As head of the Midwestern U.S. Division of the Netherlands Information Service (NIS) 1 , Wichers remained knowledgeable about the postwar situation in the Netherlands and understood the country’s need for emigration as a relief for the limited resources available in the 1 The Netherlands Information Service basically was a propaganda agency which operated under the auspices of the Netherlands government. The primary task of the NIS was to provide information and news updates on the situation of the Netherlands to the Dutch-American community. There were offices in Midwestern, Pacific coast, and Eastern United States. The only surviving records of postwar immigration is in the Midwestern Division of the Netherlands Information Service, located in the Archives and Research Library at the Holland (Michigan) Museum. 2 country after the war. Not only did Wichers maintain his ties with the Netherlands, but he remained closely connected to the Reformed Church in America and other influential groups in the Midwest. Wichers’ involvement with these groups and his special position as an NIS spokesperson allowed him the opportunity to serve Dutch immigrants sponsored by the Reformed Church World Service (RCWS). Wichers, as the premiere Dutch immigration contact, oversaw the nearly insurmountable task of finding co-sponsors, jobs, and housing for thousands of Dutch immigrants who desired to come to the Midwestern United States. While the immigrants’ stories involve tumultuous transitions and laudable assimilations, the purpose of this research is to focus on the voluntary organizations and Willard Wichers’ role as facilitator for this immigrant community. Wichers, and the different organizations he was involved with, maintained a personal contact with the immigrants, promoted Dutch immigration within local communities, and helped immigrants to assimilate to American culture. The efforts of Wichers, the RCWS, and the other voluntary organizations led to a rather seamless transition into the communities in which these immigrants moved and lived, worshipped and worked. Before examining the RCWS and the other organizations, I will elucidate on the Refugee Relief Act (hereafter RRA). The RRA of 1953 began as a Cold War tactic and specifically provided preferred immigration status to those immigrants from Communist or Communist-dominated countries. The RRA, however, also sought to provide easier access in immigration to the United States for the refugee “who because of…natural calamity…is out of his usual place of abode…[and] who has not been firmly resettled”. 2 2 Roger Daniels. Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2004), 126. 3 In early 1953, the Netherlands experienced severe flooding when dams broke and almost 2,000 people lost their lives. Not only did the flooding result in the deaths of many people, but the areas that flooded would take years to be reclaimed from the sea and the sea salt would render the land unusable for farming. This “natural calamity” provided an impetus for emigration. Also, following the war, thousands of Dutch nationals who lived in Dutch colonies on Indonesia repatriated. During World War II, the Japanese controlled Indonesia and during the occupation the Dutch could not return to the Netherlands. Following the revolution against Dutch colonial authorities in Indonesia, thousands of Dutchmen repatriated to the Netherlands, which further taxed the limited resources of the Dutch government. These two events provided Netherlanders with an even greater desire for emigration. During the RRA, the Dutch were given 17,000 visas for relatives and refugees compared to the normal annual quota of 3,136 persons. 3 Under the provisions of the RRA, each Dutch immigrant case 4 , had to have an American sponsor. The sponsor took on a moral obligation to “assure that the alien will not become a public charge”, meaning that the immigrant would not seek “food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment at public expense”. 5 An immigrant who sought help at local, state, or federal welfare agencies, could be deported. Another part of the RRA provisions required verification of a job for the immigrant. Verification meant that the state’s employment office had to check and 3 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder: “Church World Service”. Taken from page 7 in pamphlet “84th Congress, 1st Session: House Committee Print: Refugee Relief Act of 1953, As Amended. Third Annual Report of the Administration of the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, As Amended”, February 8, 1955. B.P. Hofstede. Thwarted Exodus: Studies in Social Life IX (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1964), 3. 4 An immigrant case may mean just one immigrant or an entire family. Since the case was often assigned under the name of a male head-of-household, an immigrant case could contain up to ten or more people, depending on marital status and the number of children within the family. Visas were issued to the primary applicant which was the male head-of-household. 5 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder: “Church World Service”. Taken from page 4 in booklet “Information and Materials: Church World Service Refugee Resettlement Program”, October 1954. 4 authorize employment at a specific company or that such workers were needed in a specific region. 6 The RRA provisions also required an assurance of housing by the voluntary agencies. The RRA administration accepted “the address of a hotel, club, rooming house or tourist home as first shelter” and encouraged agencies to help find permanent living quarters for immigrants. 7 Essentially, a voluntary organization’s task under RRA regulations was to find employment for immigrants, housing, and cosponsors to help immigrants adjust to life in the U.S. While this seemed easy enough, the actual implementation of these assurances meant an enormous expense of time and energy by the voluntary organizations at the grass roots’ level. The voluntary organizations dealt with each immigrant application on a case-bycase basis. In order to understand how these voluntary organizations dealt with each case, a look at the average immigrant case is helpful. 8 The average immigrant case consisted of a male head-of-household who was between the ages of 25-34. The male heads-of-household were the primary applicants for visas. Most applicants were married and had two to three small children who were usually under ten years of age, the majority between infants and eight years old. The primary male applicants generally came from the working class and they worked in the Netherlands as clerks, mechanics, day laborers, and semi-skilled laborers. Many immigrants also were employed in the Netherlands in the service sector as cooks, hotel workers, store assistants, and bakers. In a summary of occupations of Dutch applicants 6 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder “Grand Rapids Council of Social Agencies”. Letter to Mrs. Thomas F. McAllistor from the American Branch, International Social Service, Inc. Dated February 28, 1956. 7 Ibid. 8 The following are generalities of the thousands of immigrant case files found in the Wichers’ Collection at the Holland (Michigan) Museum Archives and Research Library. At this time, these files are not catalogued into a database to provide more specific information and statistics. 5 available for sponsorship under RRA regulations, almost 26 percent of the available applicants were clerks (145 out of 563). Another 15 percent were unskilled laborers (88 out of 563) and 15 percent were semi-skilled or skilled workers (87 out of 563). Almost 17 percent had been employed in service sector positions (94 out of 563), and the rest were a mixture of professionals (47), farmers or gardeners (44), and miscellaneous other jobs (58). 9 For the most part, the immigrants came from urban environments in the Netherlands; most of the Dutch Protestants imimgrants came from Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Arnhem, and Appledorn. According to research conducted by sociologist B.P. Hofstede, the Dutch Protestant Emigration Board (Christelijke Emigratie Centrale), which assisted most of the Dutch Protestants “consist[ed] of a head office (at the Hague) and six branch offices: in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Arnhem, Enschede and Leeuwarden”. 10 It is important to note that the immigrants hailed from urban areas in the Netherlands because once they arrived in the United States most resettled in cities and towns of similar sizes, such as Grand Rapids, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois and the surrounding suburban areas, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Resettlement in similar urban landscapes helped the immigrants to adjust to a new environment. In the Netherlands, the Protestant Emigration Board handled the emigration cases of the Dutch Protestants. 11 The general goal of the Protestant Emigration Board was to 9 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder “Ada B. Huncke”. Taken from “List of Dutch Applicants Available for Sponsorship Under the Refugee Relief Act”, dated 2/16/1956. 10 B.P. Hofstede. Thwarted Exodus: Studies in Social Life IX (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1964), 84. 11 The emigration system in the Netherlands operated under three pillars essentially based on religious faith. The two primary religion-based emigration bureaus were the Central Catholic Emigration Foundation (Katholieke Centrale Emigratiestichting) and the Protestant Emigration Board (Christelijke Emigratie Centrale). Another emigration bureau was established to handle the emigration of Dutch with no religious affiliation, Dutch humanists, and more liberal-minded Dutch Reformed. This bureau was called The General Emigration Board (Algemene Emigratie Centrale) and closely aligned itself to the Dutch 6 “operate in the field of emigration and colonization in the broadest sense, and to protect the spiritual and moral as well as the social and economic interests of Protestant emigrants”. 12 In order to do that, the Protestant Emigration Board submitted the names of prospective emigrants to church councils so that the councils could keep records “of the spiritual care given to emigrants”. 13 Because of this system of religiously based emigration boards in the Netherlands, Dutch immigrants to the United States understood how important the churches’ roles were in their emigration. Also, the system in the Netherlands closely corresponded to the voluntary organization system of immigration in the United States during the RRA because so many of the organizations were faith-based. In order to immigrate to the United States, a potential emigrant had to be prescreened in the Netherlands. This process took an average of 126 days 14 and involved three aspects, which were: 1. Documents assuring his readmission to the country of his nationality…in the event he is denied admission to the United States. 2. A thorough investigation and written report concerning each applicant for a visa by an investigative agency of the United States Government. 3. Each applicant, in addition to being examined by a consular officer for his eligibility to receive a visa, is examined abroad, as well as at the time of arrival in the United States. 15 government. The two religiously affiliated boards maintained close contact with their separate churches. . For more detailed information on the specific functions of each of the three emigration bureaus in the Netherlands, please see Chapter IV, “Organized Emigration in Practice” in Thwarted Exodus. 12 Ibid, 84. 13 Ibid. 14 For more detailed information on the steps involved in the pre-screening process, please see Figure 1 in the Appendix. 15 Box 33, Netherlands Information Service Collection, Folder 64, T88-1182. From “The Refugee Relief Act of 1953: By Frank L. Auerbach, Foreign Affairs Officer in the Visa Office, Dept. of State”. Holland (Michigan) Museum Archives and Research Library. 7 In the Netherlands, the World Council of Churches field representatives registered, interviewed, and created dossiers of the Dutch Protestants who wished to immigrate to the United States. 16 The World Council of Churches forwarded the dossiers to the Church World Service. In the case of some of the Dutch Protestants, the Church World Service, in turn, would pass the dossiers on to the Reformed Church World Service. 17 Once admitted into the United States, immigrants were then examined by Immigration and Naturalization officials. Once the Reformed Church World Service received the dossiers, the RCWS would examine the potential immigrants’ paperwork to ascertain if the cases were acceptable under RCWS guidelines. The RCWS handled cases based on the immigrant’s prospective adjustment to American culture and the immigrant’s ability to adhere to the doctrines of the Reformed Church of America. The RCWS also aided Dutch immigrants who were mixed denominational couples. Their primary assistance, however, went to Protestants and more religiously conservative Dutch Reformed. Within the applications received by the RCWS, there also existed a hierarchy. Male heads-of-households between 25-34 years of age received more assistance and a greater proportion of those cases were accepted and processed. In the cases of unmarried mothers (not widows) and the elderly, the applicants had a series of stipulations they had to meet. In cases where the visa applicant was fifty years of age and older, the RCWS’s “experience [was] that many of the older persons who immigrated…suffered hardships which might have been avoided or lessened had they not 16 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder “Church World Service” found on page 3 of the booklet: “Information and Materials, Church World Service Refugee Resettlement Program, Oct. 1954. Assurances and Procedures Under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953”. 17 Ibid. 8 immigrated”. 18 Because of the Church World Service’s earlier experiences with elderly applicants, older potential immigrants who attempted to register with the CWS or RCWS were quickly discouraged. The situation was similar in the cases of unmarried mothers, who were “acceptable [when] there [was] no personality defect, the illicit relationship ha[d] terminated, the child [was] properly cared for, and there [was] some factual basis for a determination of present good moral character”.19 It is little wonder, then, why so many of the acceptable RRA visas went to male heads-of-households in the Netherlands. The RCWS’s job, after having been informed already of the potential immigrant’s good moral character and religious affiliation, was to find secondary or personal sponsors, a job, and housing for the incoming immigrant. Because of his affiliation with the Netherlands’ government, Willard Wichers was chosen by the RCWS to help aid Dutch Protestant immigrants as they came to the Midwestern United States.. By the time the RCWS established contact with Wichers, he had already testified before the U.S. Congress on the need for more visas for the Dutch under the RRA. Congress, however, set the limit at 17,000 visas. Of those 17,000 immigration visas, “15,000 [were] issued to refugees of Dutch ethnic origin” while the remaining “2,000 visas [were] issued to…close relatives of American citizens or of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence”. 20 The majority of applicants, then, had no familial connections in the United States. It is because of this lack of familial connections in the U.S. that the voluntary organizations became so important to the future success of the immigrants. The RCWS 18 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder “Church World Service” found on page 2 of document “Church World Service: Refugee Resettlement Program, Selection Policy” Revised April 12, 1955. 19 Ibid. 20 Box 33 Netherlands Information Service Collection, Folder 64, T88-182. “The Refugee Relief Act of 1953: By Frank L Auerbach, Foreign Affairs Officer in the Visa Office, Dept. of State”. 9 provided initial endorsements for the applicants, but in order to find jobs and housing for them, the RCWS worked closely with other organizations in cities and states in the midwestern United States and also within the RCA churches. Wichers’ connections and involvement with the Reformed Church, which was the guiding church of the RCWS, and with the voluntary organizations gave him the advantage of being able to organize and steer Dutch immigrants into certain jobs, cities, and churches. Wichers’ involvement in these organizations became key to the success of the RRA Dutch immigrants. Some of the more influential state and city organizations were the Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program, the European Refugee Committee located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Netherlands Pioneer and Historical Society located in Holland, Michigan. 21 Willard Wichers was involved in each of these groups and held an important role in the successes of each organization. Each committee and organization had specific goals that they tried to meet. The Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program focused on finding employment for Dutch refugees. The European Refugee Committee expended its resources on finding housing, personal sponsors, and jobs as well as helping immigrants assimilate to the new culture. And, the Netherlands Pioneer and Historical Society, headed up by Wichers himself, processed the paperwork and communicated with the RCWS to insure the successes of the newly arriving Dutch Protestant immigrants. These three separate organizations were linked together by the RCWS and that link kept each organization from interfering with the tasks and responsibilities of the other organizations, and when one organization proved weak in a particular area, Wichers stepped in and offered guidance and direction. 21 There were several other voluntary organizations that helped Dutch immigrants during the RRA years, but these organizations were the primary ones which provided assistance to the Dutch Protestants. 10 Willard Wichers became the primary “go-to” person in the interactions of all these organizations. His initial responsibilities were to the Netherlands Information Service, but the NIS was closely aligned to the Netherlands Pioneer and Historical Society (NPHS)in Holland, Michigan. The NPHS became a paperwork processor for the Dutch Protestants’ case files and kept information on all incoming Dutch immigrants, regardless of religious affiliation. It is through the NPHS records that each Dutch immigrant who came to the United States during the RRA years can be tracked to the extent of place of origin, place and date of arrival, place of residency in the U.S., employment, and family information. 22 While the NPHS kept careful track of all incoming Dutch immigrants, their foremost concern was for the Dutch Protestants. The Reformed Church in America maintained a large number of churches throughout the Midwest, with the majority in Upper Illinois and Southwestern Michigan. Since the RCWS fell under the control of the Reformed Church in America and because the RCA churches were concentrated in Illinois and Michigan, the immigration of Dutch Protestants centered in these two states. While remaining secular, the Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program also sought help from the Reformed churches in Illinois because it needed cosponsors to help immigrants adjust to American culture. In April of 1956, Executive Secretary for the Governor’s Committee, Ada B. Huncke, asked Wichers if he “would be good enough to let me know…if you have any individuals or groups in Chicago or 22 Most of the Dutch immigration case files and manifests for passenger ships of Dutch immigrants are unprocessed and are labeled in boxes under “Emigration/Immigration”, “Refugee Relief Act”, and “1953 files” in the Wichers Collection. Currently, there are four boxes containing information on case files, manifests, and organizations which worked with Dutch immigration during the Refugee Relief Act. I plan to work with these files to concentrate on placement within the U.S. based on religious affiliation. Thus far the records indicate that Dutch Reformed and Dutch Calvinists settled in the Midwest. Dutch Catholics settled on the East Coast, most notably in New York City and in upper-state New Jersey. Nondenominational and non-religious Dutch mostly settled on the West Coast of California. 11 elsewhere in Illinois who would serve as sponsors for your Dutch refugees”. 23 Two weeks later Wichers responded by sending a list of thirty-nine RCA churches in Illinois along with addresses and contact persons at each church. 24 When the need arose for individual sponsors to help newly-arrived immigrants settle into American life, the Governor’s Committee lacked the connection to the RCA churches within the state. It was Wichers’ connections to the RCA that helped provide the needed sponsors. Once the issue of co-sponsors was settled by the involvement of the Illinois RCA churches, the Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program concentrated its efforts on finding employment for the Dutch refugees. In letters to Wichers’ office, Ada Huncke listed the available job positions open to refugees in Illinois. The majority of job offers were for skilled and semi-skilled industrial workers and engineers and draftsmen. 25 But, the situation of the 1950s’ Netherlands called for emigration of unskilled laborers, clerks, and service sector workers, not for emigration of engineers and draftsmen. In a letter from the American Branch of the International Social Service confirmed this by writing that, “people who are in great demand, like stenographers, tool and die makers and domestic workers, can get job assurances…unfortunately, we have had very few [visa applications for immigrants with] these occupations”. 26 In Illinois, however, the need for skilled laborers remained strong. Letters from the Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program during the months of April and May, 1956, begged for skilled workers, specifically any who were engineers, mold and pattern-makers, tool and die 23 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder “Ada B. Huncke”. Letter to Gertrude Ponstein, secretary to Willard Wichers, from Ada B. Huncke, dated April 26, 1956. 24 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection, Folder “Ada B. Huncke”. Letter to Ada B. Huncke from Wichers’ office, dated May 11, 1956. 25 Please see Appendix, Table 1. 26 Box 103 Folder “Grand Rapids Council of Social Agenices” Copy of letter sent to Mrs. Thomas F. McAllister, dated February 28, 1956 from American Branch, International Social Service, Inc. 12 makers, and for those who were experienced in printing processes. Wichers, at his office in Holland, Michigan, combed through files of Dutch Protestant immigrants in order to fill the vacancies that Ada Huncke enumerated. It was Wichers’ job, as head of the Netherlands Pioneer and Historical Society, to find the right immigrants for these jobs. Ada Huncke feared that if Wichers could not provide the skilled refugees for each job offer, then “the reputation of the Illinois Committee and the whole refugee program will suffer”. 27 The refugee program, however, did continue and immigrants filled other vacancies in industry, as well as some of the positions for which Miss Huncke needed workers. While the Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program concentrated its efforts on finding jobs and left the area RCA churches to find sponsors, the European Refugee Committee committed itself to finding individual sponsors and housing, as well as helping immigrants to function in American society. Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the European Refugee Committee originally formed just after World War II to aid Dutch refugees. 28 As other immigrant refugees came into Michigan, the committee aided them also, but its focus remained on Dutch Protestants. Each Dutch refugee that the European Refugee Committee sponsored received a brochure entitled “Welcome to Michigan” and the Committee assisted the immigrants from the moment they arrived. One Committee member described the duties of the Committee to the immigrant as follows: First we must locate an apartment…beds, blankets, beddings must be delivered, coal ordered, gas and 27 Box 103 Folder “Ada B. Huncke”. Letter to Wichers’ office dated September 5, 1956. Grand Rapids, Michigan and the greater Grand Rapids metropolitan area has a long history of Dutch settlement stretching back to the 1850s when the first Dutch settlers arrived and established churches in Holland, Zeeland, Drenthe, Vriesland, Bauer, and Grand Rapids. 28 13 electricity ordered turned on. We have to get volunteers to meet these people at the [train] station, buy the basic groceries, and take them to their house. We have to provide a place for them to be entertained for the first meal in Grand Rapids in someone’s home, [to] have some kind of welcome. Then we have to help them get a job interview and arrange for a volunteer to take them there. They have to get a social security card and go to the employment service center. Volunteers are also needed to help the wife go shopping, help her get furniture, etc. If there are children in the family who do not speak English, we arrange…to have [a volunteer] take the children to school the first morning, introduce them to the principal and see that they are enrolled in the right classes…we have to keep in contact with the family, follow-up, and be sure they do not need further help. 29 In order to meet all of these needs, oftentimes the European Refugee Committee assisted immigrants through the help of co-sponsors. An agency, such as the European Refugee Committee signed sponsorship assurances for the immigrants, but individual or small group sponsors were desperately needed for the Dutch immigrants throughout the RRA years. Under the RRA, an individual sponsor took on a “moral obligation of good faith” to aid refugees in finding housing and work, but the European Refugee Committee often found housing and work for the immigrants. Essentially, then, the individual sponsor’s job became one of helping the immigrant to adjust to American culture. Even though an individual sponsor did not assume financial responsibility for an immigrant, the appalling lack of sponsors suggests that either the sponsorship entailed much more than establishing a “big brother” demeanor to the immigrant, or that the potential sponsors were unaware of the needs of the incoming refugees. In the early months of 1957, as the last of the Dutch refugees trickled in, the European Refugee 29 Box 103 Wichers’ Collection Folder “Grand Rapids Council of Social Agencies”. From “Minutes of Meeting of the European Refugee Committee, Thursday, November 8, 1956” page 3, Mrs. McAllister’s Report. 14 Committee reported that eight refugee families were to arrive on “February 16…[and] we have only one co-sponsor for February…[and] for March we have one co-sponsor”. 30 This lack of available co-sponsors meant that the Committee had to rely upon volunteers from its own community, namely the nearby city of Grand Rapids’ Central Volunteer Service and Young Women’s Christian Association. 31 Wichers was a member of the European Refugee Committee and when he became aware of the lack of co-sponsors, he drew on his connections in the RCA once again. Each RCA church had been given opportunities to assist Dutch refugees, but assistance did not begin in great numbers by RCA churches until mid-June of 1956. At that time the RCA’s General Synod met at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Hope College’s campus was just a short stroll from Wichers’ office and in June of 1956, during the Synod meetings, Wichers passed out dossiers to church pastors and spread the word about the urgent need for co-sponsors. One of Wichers’ primary contacts in the RCWS was Bert Brower. Brower held the position of secretary-treasurer of the RCWS and during the Synod meeting in June of 1956, Brower joined Wichers in passing out dossiers and in pushing church pastors to select immigrants for possible co-sponsorship. In the RCWS’s report for 1955 to the General Synod, Brower and other committee members were “sad to report…[that the] repeated appeals [for co-sponsors]…through direct letters, presentations at Classes and other group meetings, and through the columns of the Church Herald” yielded results that 30 Box 103 Wichers Collection Folder “Grand Rapids Council of Social Agencies”. Taken from “European Refugee Committee report, Feb. 5, 1957” page 1. 31 Ibid. 15 “were very disappointing”. 32 The RCWS Committee went on to push church leaders to “act quickly before it is too late”, since the Refugee Relief Act expired on December 31st of 1956. 33 Wichers and Brower’s appeals to the Reformed Church leaders worked. By the end of June 1956, several churches and church groups began to actively seek information on immigrants who still needed co-sponsors. By the beginning of July, dozens of dossiers and information sheets on available immigrants were being issued from Wichers’ Netherlands Pioneer and Historical Society. The Netherlands Pioneer and Historical Society, headed by Wichers, continued throughout the RRA years to compile face-sheets and dossiers on immigrants in an effort to disseminate information from a central office. Only through the efforts of Wichers and his staff at the NPHS did the Dutch immigrants’ cause reach groups capable of assisting them. The Illinois Governor’s Committee for the Refugee Program, the European Refugee Committee, and the Reformed Church World Service could not have worked as efficiently as each did without the leadership and knowledge of Wichers and the organization of the immigrant files by the NPHS. Wichers remained the premiere Dutch immigration contact for both the voluntary organizations and also for the immigrants themselves. Hundreds upon hundreds of letters in the immigrant case files at the Holland Museum Archives and Research Library express the appreciation and sincere reverence that many immigrants gave to Wichers. Wichers’ reliance on the Midwestern voluntary organizations was a key factor in providing jobs, housing, and help with assimilation to 32 “The Acts and Proceedings of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Regular Session of the General Synod of The Reformed Church in America, Convened in The Chapel, Hope College, Holland, Mich. June 1956” on page 156 “Reformed Church World Service Committee Report to General Synod, June 1956”. Vol. XLI No. II., (Somerville, NJ: Somerset Press, 1956). 33 Ibid. 16 the roughly 17,000 Dutch immigrants who received visas between 1953 and 1956. Wichers remained the contact to the immigrant himself while the voluntary organizations operated as contacts within the communities into which the immigrants settled. 17