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Local Events Calendar
Refugee Shelter 75th Anniversary Commemorative Event
September 3, 2019
Time: 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Host/Presenter: Fort Ontario State Historic Site / Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum
Location: 1 E. Fourth St., Oswego, NY, 13126
More Information: https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/20/details.aspx
The OPEN HOUSE event at Fort Ontario State Historic Site and the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum commemorates the 75th anniversary of the 3 September 1944 Open House at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter, the only camp for victims of the Holocaust located in the United States during World War II.
In 1944 the Open House celebrated the end of the 30-day Quarantine imposed on the Fort Ontario refugees upon their arrival by ship in NYC on 3 August 1944. For the first time since the refugees arrived at Fort Ontario, the Shelter was opened to Oswego residents and others to enter and observe refugee living conditions and activities. The Open House also marked the beginning of a pass system enabling refugees to leave the Shelter on a short term basis.
From 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM the Open House will include daytime self-guided walking tours of the former Shelter using 1944-46 photographs and plans, and free admission to the old stone fort and the Safe Haven Holocaust Refugee Shelter Museum on E. 7th Street. From 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM the old stone fort will open for a program of evening speakers, music, refreshments, and sky lantern launch.
