In 1940, the American journalist Varian Fry, without a plan or any relevant experience, went to Marseille on behalf of the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC), a humanitarian aid organisation - hell-bent on helping at least a few hundred representatives of the European cultural elite who were stranded in Vichy France and high on the Nazis' wanted lists to escape abroad. Fry had estimated three weeks for this life-threatening mission. However, he stayed in Marseille, "the real Casablanca", for over a year. With a handful of loyal companions, he saved well over two thousand people. Author Marco Rossi writes about this true incident of an almost forgotten hero of humanity.
