In the early summer of 1933, photographer Berenice Abbott attempted to raise $15,000 from one hundred prominent New Yorkers to fund a documentary interpretation of New York City in photographs. Given this was in the depth of the Great Depression, it is not surprising that the response was a stack of rejection letters. (1) One of the most noteworthy responses was that of an elderly corporate attorney in his 70s, Samuel Untermyer. He wrote, Untermyer, however, had another reason for declining to make a donation, he had only recently become the leader of a major campaign to defend the Jews of Nazi Germany. He devoted most of the remainder of his life to this campaign until he was forced to give up in 1938 because of failing health. This article seeks to reconstruct that role and the controversies that it created.
