Refugee children from France wait to board the SS Mouzinho, sailing from Lisbon to New York

Jewish children wait to sail aboard the SS Mouzinho to the United States, a joint effort of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and HICEM, the JDC-supported Jewish overseas emigration association. Because Lisbon remained one of the only neutral escape routes off the continent, JDC moved its European headquarters from France to Portugal in 1940, following the Nazi invasion of France. Under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Schwartz, the Lisbon office became the hub of JDC's wartime relief program and its unending efforts to facilitate Jewish flight from Europe.