Donald Alexander Lowrie (January 29, 1889 – October 12, 1974) was an American humanitarian activist. He is best known for his work with the YMCA in France during World War II in 1940 and 1941. He helped anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees escape from Vichy France, which was dominated by Nazi Germany.
Author Susan Subak said of the rescue activities in France that "it is the small group of American Christians overseas -- the Unitarian Service Committee and their collaborators, Varian Fry and Donald Lowrie -- who risked their lives over many months living in hardship in Europe and who embodied rescue and flight."[1] Lowrie in France, who had much more international experience than most American aid workers, was effective while skirting the boundaries of legality but maintaining good relations with the governments of Vichy France and the U.S. which accorded a low priority to the fate of the refugees, especially leftists.[2][3]
Prior to working in France, Lowrie had worked with the YMCA for more than twenty years in revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union, and in Czechoslovakia. He created and led the Nimes Committee in France, an umbrella organization of 25 humanitarian organizations assisting anti-Nazi, Jewish, and other refugees. Escaping to Switzerland in November 1942, Lowrie continued his work in Switzerland and France until 1950 when he returned to the United States.