Operation Texas

Last updated

Operation Texas was an alleged undercover operation to relocate European Jews to Texas, USA, away from Nazi persecution, first reported in a 1989 Ph.D. dissertation by Louis Stanislaus Gomolak at the University of Texas at Austin titled Prologue: LBJ's foreign-affairs background, 1908-1948. [1] The following are some of the key arguments of the dissertation:

Various details of Gomolak's dissertation have been cited by other historians. [2] [3] [6] In 2008, Larry Ben David began an online campaign to collect documentation to submit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem to have LBJ awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations, often referred to as a Righteous Gentile. [7]

Additional primary research on Operation Texas was done for a 1998 Houston Chronicle article [8] and a 2016 article on the aish.com website. [9]

More recently, many of the arguments of Gomolak's thesis have been disputed following extensive research by Claudia Wilson Anderson, an archivist at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. [10] [11] Although his research materials (e.g., written interview notes, interview recordings and primary documents not located in archives) could support his arguments, Gomolak has not made them available for external review. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndon B. Johnson</span> President of the United States from 1963 to 1969

Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963 under President John F. Kennedy, and was sworn in shortly after Kennedy's assassination. A Democrat from Texas, Johnson also served as a U.S. representative, U.S. senator and the Senate's majority leader. He holds the distinction of being one of the few presidents who served in all elected offices at the federal level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Bird Johnson</span> First Lady of the United States (1963–1969)

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She previously served as Second Lady from 1961 to 1963 when her husband was vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust</span> Help offered to Jews to escape the Holocaust

During World War II, some individuals and groups helped Jews and others escape the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany. Since 1953, Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, has recognized 26,973 persons as Righteous among the Nations. Yad Vashem's Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, headed by an Israeli Supreme Court justice, recognizes rescuers of Jews as Righteous among the Nations to honor non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazi Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Righteous Among the Nations</span> Non-Jews who saved Jews from the Holocaust

Righteous Among the Nations is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis for altruistic reasons. The term originates with the concept of "righteous gentiles", a term used in rabbinic Judaism to refer to non-Jews, called ger toshav, who abide by the Seven Laws of Noah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Houston Johnson</span> American politician (1914–1978)

Samuel Houston Johnson was an American businessman. He was the younger brother of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum</span> Presidential library and museum in Austin, Texas

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, also known as the LBJ Presidential Library, is the presidential library and museum of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969). It is located on the grounds of the University of Texas at Austin, and is one of 13 presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The LBJ Library houses 45 million pages of historical documents, including the papers of President Johnson and those of his close associates and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luci Baines Johnson</span> Daughter of American President Lyndon B. Johnson

Luci Baines Johnson is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the younger daughter of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndon Baines Johnson Day</span>

Lyndon Baines Johnson Day is a legal state holiday in Texas. It falls every year on August 27, to mark the birthday of U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lwów Ghetto</span> World War II Jewish ghetto

The Lwów Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto in the city of Lwów in the territory of Nazi-administered General Government in German-occupied Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac</span> Monument honoring the 36th U.S. president

Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac is located on Columbia Island, in Washington, D.C. The presidential memorial honors the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tadeusz Pankiewicz</span> Polish pharmacist and "Righteous Among the Nations"

Tadeusz Pankiewicz, was a Polish Roman Catholic pharmacist, operating in the Kraków Ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. He was recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem on February 10, 1983, for rescuing countless Jews from the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Ealy Johnson Sr.</span> American politician

Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. was an American politician, businessman, farmer, rancher, and namesake of Johnson City, Texas. He was the grandfather of U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Lyndon B. Johnson bibliography includes major books and articles about President Lyndon B. Johnson, his life, and presidential administration. Kent B. Germany in his review of the historiography noted in 2009 that Johnson has been the subject of 250 Ph.D. dissertations, well over one hundred books, and many scholarly articles. The New York Times and the Washington Post published 7600 articles on him during his presidency. Only a select subgroup are listed here, chiefly those reviewed by the major scholarly journals. Germany emphasizes the decline of Johnson's reputation:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irena Adamowicz</span>

Irena Adamowicz, was a Polish-born scout leader and a resistance member during World War II. She was a courier for the underground Home Army. In 1985, Adamowicz was posthumously bestowed the title of the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem for her activities involving providing information to a number of Jewish ghettos in occupied Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Novy</span>

Jim Novy was an Austin, Texas businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He immigrated to Texas alone as a teenager under the Galveston Plan with just a few dollars in his pocket. Soon, he became wealthy in the scrap metal business. He became a philanthropist, partial to Jewish causes. He became a patron to numerous political figures, most notably he supported the career of Lyndon B. Johnson. He became notable figure in Austin politics with his power felt as far away as the White House and Israel. He was a Mason, Odd Fellow, Shriner, Knight of Pythias, a member of the board for the Boy Scouts of America, Director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and Director of the Salvation Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry J. Middleton</span> American journalist

Harry Joseph Middleton Jr. was an American journalist, author, and library director who served as Lyndon B. Johnson's Presidential speech writer and staff assistant from 1967 to 1969. Middleton was also director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum from 1971 until 2002, and led the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation from 1993 until 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordecai Paldiel</span>

Mordecai Paldiel born Markus Wajsfeld is a lecturer at Stern College and Queens College in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family of Lyndon B. Johnson</span> Family of the 36th President of the United States

The family of Lyndon B. Johnson is an American political family related to Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States (1963–1969), and his wife Lady Bird Johnson, the second lady of the United States (1961–1963) and the first lady of the United States (1963–1969). Their immediate family was the First Family of the United States from 1963 to 1969.

References

  1. Gomolak, Louis Stanislaus (1989). Prologue : LBJ's foreign-affairs background, 1908-1948. University of Texas at Austin, Department of History, Ph.D. dissertation. OCLC   670540426.
  2. 1 2 Dallek, Robert (1991). Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960. Oxford University Press US. ISBN   0-19-505435-0 . Retrieved 2008-04-05.
  3. 1 2 3 Smallwood, James M. "Operation Texas: Lyndon B. Johnson's Attempt to Save Jews from the German Nazi Holocaust". SFA ScholarWorks. Retrieved 2015-08-31.
  4. Banta, Joseph (January 1964). "President Lyndon B. Johnson". The Christadelphian. 101: 26.
  5. Pearce, David M. "Israel: God's People, God's Land". The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  6. Smallwood, James (2012). "Operation Texas: Lyndon B. Johnson, The Jewish Question and the Nazi Holocaust". East Texas Historical Journal. 50 (2): 88–106. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  7. "Lyndon B. Johnson -- A Righteous gentile". lyndonjohnsonandisrael.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  8. Feldman, Claudia (September 27, 1998). "LBJ's Rescue Mission/ The little-known story of Lyndon Baines Johnson and friends helping Jews the Holocaust in Europe". Texas Magazine. Houston Chronicle. pp. Cover Story.
  9. Koop Kuper, Ivan (February 13, 2016). "Operation Texas: LBJ's Mysterious Mission to Save Jews". aish.com. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  10. Anderson, Claudia Wilson (2012). "Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson, Operation Texas, and Jewish Immigration". Southern Jewish History. 12. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Operation Texas: LBJ's Mysterious Mission to Save Jews". 14 February 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-13.