Safe Haven Museum and Education Center

Safe Haven Museum and Education Center in Oswego tells the story of 982 mainly Jewish refugees who fled Europe under the U.S. Government’s Safe Haven program. They arrived at the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in August 1944, brought from Italy but drawn from other parts of Europe.

The program was the only official American effort to rescue Jewish refugees from the Holocaust during the Second World War. The refugees were housed at Fort Ontario behind barbed wire with no official status, and were told they would be returned home after the war. In the end, due to political pressure, they were allowed to stay in the United States.

What to Know

• The museum tells the story of 982 refugees who came to Oswego in 1944.
• It is located in Oswego, the Lake Ontario port city where Fort Ontario sits.
• The program was the only official U.S. rescue effort of its kind.
• The refugees were ultimately allowed to remain in the United States.
• Safe Haven Museum and Education Center is a member of the Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce and featured by Visit Oswego County and Visit Syracuse.