Beatrice Wellington | |
|---|---|
.BW.gif) Beatrice Wellington (before 1948) | |
| Born | Beatrice Gonzales 15 June 1907 Canada |
| Died | 1971 |
| Occupation | Social activist |
| Known for | Helping refugees escape from Nazi-controlled Europe escape |
Beatrice Wellington (15 June 1907 – 7 April 1971), also known as Beatrice Gonzales, was a Canadian who worked to evacuate refugees from Czechoslovakia during the early stages of the occupation of that country by Nazi Germany in the months leading up to World War II. She headed the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC) in Prague from April 1939 to August 1939, coordinating the efforts of many humanitarian organizations to help refugees flee Czechoslovakia. Wellington was questioned at length by the Gestapo on several occasions. She was successful in getting the German occupiers of Czechoslovakia to give exit permits to many refugees. In danger of arrest, she resisted the calls of the BCRC in London for her to depart Czechoslovakia and remained there until August 1939, leaving only a month before the beginning of World War II.[1][2][3]
- ^ "Prague Peace Trail". praguepeacetrail.org. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ Brinson, Charmian; Dove, Richard (2014). "Part II: Secrets, Lies and Misinterpretations, Chapter 14 About the most dangerous of all these organisations: The Czech Refugee Trust Fund". A Matter of Intelligence: MI5 and the Surveillance of Anti-Nazi Refugees, 1933–1950. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780719090790.
- ^ Subak, Susan Elisabeth (2010). Rescue and Flight: American Relief Workers Who Defied the Nazis. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803230170.