Operation 7

Operation 7 is the name given to a successful attempt to smuggle fourteen Jews into Switzerland using false papers in August and September 1942. The operation was devised by Abwehr members Hans von Dohnanyi and Wilhelm Canaris, and carried out with the support of Dohnanyi's brother-in-law Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who arranged visas and sponsors for the Jews.[1] Originally, the plan included only seven Jews, but this was later increased to fourteen.[2] The operation, which involved removing the Jews from deportation lists, making them agents of Abwehr and persuading Swiss official to accept them, took over a year to plan and execute.[2]

In April 1943, the Gestapo and the arrested Bonhoeffer and Dohnanyi for their part in the scheme, which they had been alerted to because of the use of Abwehr funds in the operation.[3]

Bonhoeffer's involvement in Operation 7 was one of the pieces of evidence used by Stephen A. Wise in the petition for his inclusion in the Yad Vashem list of 'Righteous Gentiles'; this campaign was, however, unsuccessful.[1]

References
  1. Haynes, Stephen R. (2006). The Bonhoeffer Legacy: Post-Holocaust Perspectives. Fortress Press. pp. 15–18.
  2. Raum, Elizabeth (2003). Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Called By God. Continuum. pp. 127–128.
  3. Rubenstein, Richard L. (2003). Approaches to Auschwitz: The Holocaust and its Legacy. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 264–265.
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