# The Guardian's Wartime Travels

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Harry Liedtke, The Guardian's Wartime Travels, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> The wartime travels of Shoghi Effendi
> Compled by Harry Liedtke
> 
> It   is   an    almost     forgotten         episode      in   Baha’i   history
> that the Guardian left Haifa for England 9 months after the beginning of
> World War II, returning half a year later from a 24,000 kilometer danger
> fraught journey across the Mediterranean and through war torn France, a
> month long voyage on a U-boat infested Atlantic Ocean and an expedition by
> land across the full length of East Africa.
> 
> In Chapter 9 of “The Priceless Pearl,” Ruhiyyih Khanum vividly describes this
> extraordinary odyssey and hints at some of the reasons for the Guardian’s
> decision to leave the Holy Land. She writes: “Shoghi Effendi was the keenest
> observer of political events and kept abreast of all happenings. His intelligence
> and analytical faculties did not permit him to lull himself into any false
> complacency, induced by the rather childish idea people sometimes have of
> what "faith" means. He well knew that to have faith in God does not mean one
> should not use one's mind, appraise dangers, anticipate moves, make the
> right decisions during a crisis.”
> 
> For a student of history it is important to juxtapose the Guardian’s moves
> against the political and strategic developments that were taking place at that
> time. A time line of events which follows should be of help. From the time that
> he became Guardian, right through to May 1937, Shoghi Effendi had
> expressed the highest hopes for Germany’s Baha’i community. He had called it
> “the standard bearers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Europe” and repeatedly
> referred to Germany as a “promising country.”
> 
> When in May 1937 the Baha’i Faith was outlawed in Germany, it must have
> been a big blow to his high hopes and when in August of 1939 Germany made
> an alliance with the Soviet Union, he suddenly saw not one, but two super
> powers aligned against the Baha’i Faith. When this odious alliance continued
> even after the outbreak of war, the Guardian clearly foresaw that the
> combined resources of Germany and the Soviet Union could overwhelm the
> rest of Europe, and with it the isolated British protectorate of Palestine. There
> was the forlorn hope that the island fortress of Great Britain may be able to
> resist the onslaught and remain a sanctuary.
> But everything stayed strangely quiet on the western front after the Nazis and
> the Soviets had gobbled up Poland, until in early April 1940 this so-called
> ‘phony war’ turned real and threatened the rest of Europe with the invasion of
> Denmark and Norway, followed by the quick conquest of neutral Luxemburg,
> the Low Countries and with the simultaneous, unstoppable blitzkrieg into
> France. Only then must Shoghi Effendi have decided to leave the Holy Land to
> protect a divinely decreed Guardianship.
> 
> It had been decided two months earlier that Ruhiyyih Khanum’s father Mr.
> Sutherland Maxwell should in his weakened condition leave Montreal and
> join his family by crossing the Atlantic in a neutral vessel. His New York
> departure on the Italian liner SS “Rex” was on the day the Netherlands
> surrendered and the Guardian and his wife were leaving Haifa. It became the
> last North Atlantic crossing by a civilian ocean liner. Italy’s neutrality would
> have made their return to Haifa across the Mediterranean still possible should
> England refuse to issue an entry visa. As it turned out, it was Mr. Maxwell’s
> daughter who won the consular approval for entering England, instead of
> them eventually getting interned in Italy as enemy aliens. Mr. Maxwell’s
> presence in turn proved to be providential when it was his friendship with
> Canada’s High Commissioner in London which secured their sea passage to
> South Africa. Here it should be noted that the Guardian had hoped that a
> personal intervention by his old friend Lord Lamington would expedite a
> British residency visa. However, Lord Lamington, 80 years old, was in failing
> health. He died that same year on September 16 at his estate in Scotland.
> A Timeline of World Events
> vs. a Timeline of the Guardian’s Travels
> 
> March 11–13, 1938 Germany annexes Austria in the
> ‘Anschluss’.
> September 29, 1938 Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and
> France sign.. the Munich agreement which forces the
> Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland
> including the key Czechoslovak military defense
> positions to Germany.
> March 14–15, 1939 Under German pressure the Slovaks
> declare their independence and form a Slovak Republic.      Prior to 1940 the Guardian and
> The Germans occupy the rump Czech lands in violation
> of the Munich agreement, forming Protectorate of            Ruhiyyih Kamum stayed in Haifa
> Bohemia and Moravia.
> while Mr. Sutherland Maxwell
> March 31, 1939 France and Great Britain guarantee the
> integrity of the borders of the Polish state.               and Mrs. May Maxwell were
> April 7–15, 1939 Fascist Italy invades and annexes
> Albania.                                                    living in Montreal.
> August 23, 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
> sign a nonaggression agreement and a secret codicil
> dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
> September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland, initiating
> World War II in Europe.
> September 3, 1939 Honoring their guarantee of
> Poland’s borders, Great
> September 17, 1939 The Soviet Union invades Poland
> from the east.
> September 27–29, 1939 Warsaw surrenders on
> September 27. The Polish government flees into exile
> via Romania. Germany and the Soviet Union divide
> Poland between them.
> November 30, 1939–March 12, 1940 The Soviet Union
> invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The
> Finns sue for an armistice and have to cede the
> northern shores of Lake Lagoda and the small Finnish
> coastline on the Arctic Sea to the Soviet Union.
> April 9, 1940–June 9, 1940 Germany invades Denmark            "DEPARTURE South America by wish of beloved
> and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the              Guardian!" May Maxwell heralded the news, and on
> attack; Norway holds out until June 9.                        January 24th 1940 on board the SS Brazil she left New
> May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 Germany attacks western            York, with many a heart in East and West speeding
> Europe—France and the neutral Low Countries.                  swiftly after her. "Although in body I am sailing away,
> Luxembourg is occupied on May 10; the Netherlands             yet my deep love and spirit will be as close to you as it
> surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May           always is, and that is a nearness which can never be
> 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by        described in words."
> which the Germans occupy the northern half of the             March 1, 1940 May Maxwell dies in Buenos Aires The
> country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern        Guardian invites Sutherland Maxwell to live in Haifa
> France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy   May 15, 1940 Guardian left Haifa on aquaplane for
> is established.                                               Italy. On the same day Mr. Maxwell sailed from New
> May 15 1940 German breakthroughs through                      York as the SS “Rex” took five days for the crossing to
> Ardennes and at Sedan                                         Genoa.
> May 26 - June 4, 1940 The Evacuation of Dunkirk               May 20, 1940 The SS “Rex” arrives in Genoa from New
> June 10, 1940 Italy declares war against France and           York. Drive back to Rome to obtain British landing
> England.                                                      permit.
> June 14, 1940 The fall of Paris                               May 25, 1940 Entering France at Menton en route to
> June 21, 1940 Italy invades southern France.                  Marseille.
> July 13, 1940 Bombing starts of British coastal airfields.    June 2, 1940 Depart St. Malo arrive Southhampton next
> Southampton not bombed until November.                        morning.
> August 1, 1940 German directive to gain air superiority       July 28, 1940 Leaving England for South Africa aboard
> intensifies bombing attacks on Channel traffic and            the SS ‘Capetown Castle’
> England’s south coast.
> The most precarious part of the journey would have been the sea voyage to
> Italy. The route may have led 1,000 km from Haifa to Heraklion on Crete and
> from there a further 800 km to Reggio. Since a hydrofoil of early vintage, - “A
> small and smelly Italian aquaplane with water sloshing around under the
> boards our feet rested on as if we were in an old row-boat” - had a speed of at
> most 50 km per hour, their uncomfortable sea voyage must have taken some
> 36 hours.
> 
> The land route from Reggio to Rome would have been a further 700
> kilometers, plus 500 kilometers from Rome to Genoa. It seems incredible that
> in five days they travelled 1,800 kilometers by sea and 1,200 kilometers by
> road in order to meet Sutherland Maxwell in Genoa, especially at a time when
> Italy only had narrow, two-lane roads. Equally hairy must have been their
> 1,800 kilometer trip from Rome to the port city of St. Malo on the Channel
> coast.
> 
> France was collapsing all around them and roads were jammed with millions
> of refugees. Anything that had wheels was blocking traffic. Quite apart from
> these dangers and the unimaginable stress connected with the trip, there were
> four other incredible key events that in the end enabled them to return to
> Haifa.
> 
> A look at the timeline shows that one of those frequent Atlantic spring storms
> could have easily delayed the SS “Rex” and scuttled their plans to drive back
> to Rome to obtain that all important passport stamp and still make it across
> the French border before Italy declared war on France. This event closed that
> exit for good. The same is true if it had taken the British consul any longer to
> make up his mind and affix his magic stamp. With Italy at war against both
> France and England, there would have been no more hydrofoil to return them
> to British controlled Palestine. They would have been interned in Italy as
> enemy aliens. As it turned out, they made it across the border to France with
> just two weeks to spare.
> 
> The next challenge was to travel in under a week through utter chaos and
> blocked roads 1,300 kilometers from Melton on the Riviera to St. Malo. Next, it
> was almost too good to be true that on June 2, when the historic troop
> evacuation of Dunkirk was in full swing and pressed into service every
> available vessel regardless of size, a ship was there to take them overnight
> across the English Channel just days ahead of Hitler’s army.
> The final unreported hurdle that threatened their return to Haifa was a
> directive to the Luftwaffe issued on August 1, 1940. It ordered the
> establishment of air superiority along the British Channel coast in preparation
> of ‘Operation Sea Lion,’ code name for the invasion of England. The SS
> ‘Capetown Castle’ left Southampton on July 28, just three days before German
> bombing and strafing attacks put an end to all civilian shipping out of British
> Channel ports. Risking U-Boat attacks, ‘Capetown Castle’ took them 7,900
> nautical miles to Durban. As all flights to Khartoum were booked solid by the
> military, the Guardian and his wife set out on their 9,000 kilometer safari
> back to Haifa and left Mr. Maxwell in Durban where he waited for weeks to get
> on a plane. After an arduous trek through the length of East Africa the
> Guardian and his wife arrived at Khartoum. As they were resting late one
> evening on the hotel terrace, a small group of air travelers arrived. Among
> them was Sutherland Maxwell. The timing had been perfect.
> 
> The SS Rex, commissioned in 1931, was Italy’s premiere Luxury Liner. Her
> trip with Sutherland Maxwell on board turned out to be her last Atlantic
> crossing. SS Rex was kept moored near Trieste for the duration of the war. In
> September 1944 the ocean liner was sunk by the Royal Air Force after she was
> hit by 123 rockets.
> 
> _______________
>
> — *The Guardian's Wartime Travels (Used by permission of the curator)*