Let me introduce you to two Americans, husband and wife, who left their children behind in Massachusetts to rescue strangers in Europe as World War II began. Risking incarceration and most likely death at the hands of the Nazis, they operated in secret to help Jews, dissidents, and children escape from Czechoslovakia before the Second World War – the wife managed the details in Prague while the husband traveled the continent raising money to fund their efforts. And then, as the situation in Europe got worse, the husband and wife returned home to their children and their congregation, safe in the United States after saving hundreds of people.

Until they decided to return to Europe in June of 1940, as a vast majority of the world's countries were involved in World War II. Martha and Waitstill Sharp sacrificed much to defy the hate spreading over Europe and risked everything to fulfill their mission. In the end, while it was simply impossible to save everyone, they did everything in their power to rescue as many people from Nazi concentration camps and certain death.

Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, and his wife Martha, a social worker, spent six months in Prague in 1939 and after narrowly escaping arrest and returning to the United States, the couple traveled to Lisbon and southern France to give out food, and to help Jews and intellectuals escape. Martha was even able to organize a transport of children to the United States, which became a model for later transports of child refugees. Martha and Waitstill Sharp were heroes of the Holocaust who sought ways to help fugitives escape from Nazi terror, Jews and non-Jews alike. And for Martha Sharp in particular, this wartime service was one step in a lifelong calling to humanitarian work and public service.

The Sharp's story, hidden history that has remained long forgotten, is the story of an American couple determined to risk their lives so that hundreds could live & a grave humanitarian crisis caused by Nazi Germany's obsession with power.

For the rest of Martha and Waitstill Sharp's story, please check out the audio link provided for EPISODE SIXTEEN of our podcast, Hidden History: An Odyssey Through Time -

LISTEN NOW: Two of a Kind: How Americans Martha & Waitstill Sharp Defied a Dictator

Tune In With Your Favorite Platform!

Images and Documents

Martha Ingham Dickie, 1919 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Formal studio portraits of Martha Ingham Dickie, 1926 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha standing arm in arm with Waitstill Sharp, 1927 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Waitstill and Martha Sharp at the christening of their son, Hastings, 1932 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Wellesley Hills Unitarian Church where Waitstill Sharp served as the minister, 1934 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha Sharp and her baby girl, Martha, 1936 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Portraits of Martha & Waitstill Sharp from an unknown newspaper, published before they left for Europe on a relief mission with the Unitarian Service Committee (Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Waitstill and Martha Sharp standing in the doorway of Hotel Pariz in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1939 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha and Waitstill Sharp, 1939 (Courtesy of Yad Vashem).

Martha Sharp and her two children, 1939 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Martha Sharp in Portugal, 1940 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha and Waitstill Sharp sitting next to a window, looking out, 1940 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha Sharp at a milk distribution center near Marseilles, France, 1940 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Refugees in France, photographed by Martha Sharp, 1940 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Sixteen children, four women, & two men part of the Children's Emigration Project of the Unitarian Service Committee in France organized by Martha Sharp (standing back row, 3rd from left), Dec. 1940 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Chart created by Martha Sharp of institutions in small towns in southern France that cared for children, the name of the director, number of children, and types of supplies needed (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Cover page of a booklet written by Martha Sharp about her work to bring children from southern France to America (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha Sharp standing in the middle. Mother holding baby to the left and a nurse weighing a baby to the right, France 1940 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

The Sharp children, Hastings and Martha, 1944 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Portrait of Waitstill Sharp, 1944 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Martha Sharp and her daughter, 1945 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Waitstill Sharp and his two children, 1945 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Czechoslovakian Order of the White Lion, IV Class medal presented December 5 1946 to Martha & Waitstill Sharp. Decoration awarded to foreign civilians for aid liberating Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Martha Sharp, headshot from 1946 (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Newspaper clippings from Martha's political campaign, 1946 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

The Sharp family, 1947: Martha, Hastings, Waitstill, Martha (Courtesy of PBS.org).

Certificate posthumously awarded to Martha & Waitstill Sharp by Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations" for their work during World War II in Europe (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Round medal in wooden box posthumously awarded to Martha and Waitstill Sharp by Yad Vashem, June 2006 (Courtesy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown University).

Reading Material

Many who sought a safe haven from persecution during the 1930s and 1940s found their efforts thwarted by the United States’ restrictive immigration quotas and the complicated, demanding requirements for obtaining visas. Public opinion in the United States did not favor increased immigration, resulting in little political pressure to change immigration policies. These policies prioritized economic concerns and national security.

Learn more below:

Resources

• Subak, Susan. Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers Who Defied the Nazis. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010.)

• Martha and Waitstill Sharp Collection, Brown Digital Repository, Brown University Library.
• Interview with Martha Dickie Sharp Cogan by Barbara Anton on September 29 and 30, 1987 in Providence, Rhode Island: https://www.brown.edu/initiatives/pembroke-oral-histories/sites/brown.edu.initiatives.pembroke-oral-histories/files/transcripts/pemb000304_1.pdf
• https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/defying-nazis-sharps-war/
• https://www.ushmm.org