[Refugee children, brought to New York by the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children (USCOM) on the S.S. Serpa Pinto, salute the American flag, Jewish children's home, New York]

These Jewish refugee children arrived in the U.S. under the auspices of the U.S. Committee for the Care of European Children (USCOM) on the S.S. Serpa Pinto, a Portuguese liner used by multiple Jewish organizations to transport refugees from Lisbon to New York. USCOM evacuated Jewish refugee children from western Europe, despite strong congressional opposition. Vishniac photographed the children saluting the American flag outside a Jewish children’s home. Throughout the 1940s, American Jewish social service organizations provided assistance to recent immigrants. Some, including New York’s Educational Alliance, incorporated flag waving and saluting exercises as a component of their Americanization and education efforts, which later became controversial.