The Virginia Plan: William B. Thalhimer and a Rescue from Nazi Germany

On August 4, 2011, Robert H. Gillette delivered a Banner Lecture entitled "The Virginia Plan: William B. Thalhimer and a Rescue from Nazi Germany." Among the Jews attempting to flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s were students of the Gross Breesen agricultural institute who hoped to secure visas to America. In a bold plan, Richmond department store owner William B. Thalhimer created a safe haven for the students on a Burkeville farm. This is the remarkable history of Thalhimer's heroic rescue mission and the struggle of the refugees to make a new home in rural America. In his new book, The Virginia Plan, Robert H. Gillette narrates a saga of sacrifice, survival, and hope on two continents. (Introduction by Nelson Lankford) The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.