America's+Response+to+the+Holocaust

C. Clark
 * America’s Response to the Holocaust **

Proud Americans frequently boast about our antics of “liberty and justice for all”, but despite our dedication to freedom, America frequently finds itself turning a blind eye to human rights violations in other locations of the world. The Holocaust is just an example of when America turned its face away from one of the most horrific accounts of genocide in world history. While millions of Jews were being systematically murdered in Europe, Jews worldwide issued cries for help. The United States did not respond to these cries until they had turned into cries of mourning for the six million lives lost. The paradox of American ideology- of portraying ourselves as a country of liberty and justice, while ignoring one of the greatest atrocities of mankind, was caused by a variety of selfish reasons. The U.S. failed to prevent the holocaust because of denial and ignorance of the situation, current anti-Semitism in the U.S. and an economy whose wounds were still healing following the great depression.

The U.S. government has claimed that our lack of response in the early stages of the holocaust was because we were unaware of the situation. The U.S. was slightly ignorant of the severity of the persecution of Jews in Europe, but to say they were completely unaware is inaccurate. In July of 1941, the New York Yiddish dailies reported that thousands of Jews have been massacred by Nazi soldiers. This is the beginning of reports claiming Nazi atrocities, and many more were published over the next four years as the death toll began to rise. On August 8th 1942 Gerhardt Reigner, a world Jewish congress representative, receives information of the Nazis final solution: to exterminate 11 million Jews in Europe. Reigner informs the U.S. consulate of this plan. President Roosevelt warns Nazi Germany and fellow axis powers that “perpetrators of war crimes would be tried after their defeat and face fearful retribution”. So how could the government say they were unaware of the war crimes being committed? FDR had indeed been informed and even issued responses. Ignorance was a slight contribution, but denial was a greater reason for our abandonment. January 1943, the state department receives information from Switzerland that reveals at one location in Poland at one location in Poland 6,000 Jews are being killed a day. About a month later the state department requests that the legation in Switzerland stops sending reports about the genocide to private persons in the United States. There is significant evidence to prove that the American denial of horrendous war crimes. This denial is outrageous and hypocritical. Though many argue that the U.S. had too little information, our government is not guiltless because the information that was provided was horrifying.

Another factor that greatly contributed to our minimal response to the holocaust was because of anti-Semitism in American society. During the 1930’s and 40’s anti-Semitism was on the rise and became increasingly common in the United States government and among popular public figures. Jews had been stigmatized by Americans and the American government since they began immigrating here in the 1800’s. In congress, anti-Semitism was the explanation for the controversy over refugee immigration at the start of WWII. For example, in June of 1941 congress passed a bill cutting refugee immigration by 25 percent of the original quotas, and denied the entrance of 930 Jewish refugees aboard the S.S. St. Louis to America, forcing them to return to Europe facing an almost certain death. Representative John Rankin was very well known in congress for his blatant anti-Semitism and frequently bashed the Jewish community. Another public figure was a notorious anti-Semite was Reverend Charles Coughlin. Reverend Coughlin was born in 1891 and was ordained as a catholic priest in 1916. Coughlin began broadcasting catholic services on the radio in 1927, and they became an immediate success. His speeches were often repetitious and rambling and consisted of bigoted rhetoric, which attracted an audience of lower-middle class Americans all over the U.S. A fan of reverend Coughlin’s later recalled that; “when he spoke, it was a thrill like Hitler”. Though over the years his speeches became increasingly prominent with attacks on the Jews. In the summer of 1938 Coughlin published a version of “The Protocols of the elders of Zion”, originally a Russian piece of propaganda promoting anti-Semitism. Coughlin hinted in his publication accusations of Jewish control over American finances and plotting to seize control over the world. These accusations made by Coughlin shocked Jewish leaders. One of the most hateful speeches Coughlin delivered was in response to “Kristallnacht” or “the Night of Broken Glass”. Coughlin began by questioning, “Why is there persecution in Germany today?” and responded that “Jewish persecution only followed after Christians were first persecuted.” A New York Times correspondent in Germany referred to Coughlin as ‘the hero of Nazi Germany’. How can someone call themselves a man of god, but support retaliation and feel no empathy when informed of atrocities committed against mankind, Christian or not. These ideas of anti Semitism in our government and among public figures had a large impact on American society and culture. Public polls taken from the 1930’s and 40’s showed that anti-Semitism was frighteningly present in American society. The results found that over half of Americans perceived Jews as being greedy and dishonest. Another poll concluded that 35-40 percent of the American population were prepared to accept an anti-Jewish movement. In some cities in the United States, anti-Semitism was so severe it resulted in physical violence. In New York and Boston attacks on Jewish youngsters were not uncommon and gangs often vandalized Jewish places of worship. Though, the most common kind of anti-Semitism in America at the time was passive anti-Semitism. This meant that most Americans probably didn’t feel provoked to harm a Jew, but they had strong negative feelings towards the Jewish community. Jews were often looked down upon by society and viewed as inferior; therefore, Americans lacked concern for the Jews in Europe and issued a minimal response that was greatly delayed. If only Americans conquered their prejudice, millions could have been saved. Although America could have done many things to help prevent the holocaust, the United States was not entirely ready to make any financial commitments. Following the great depression, the American economy was in shambles and millions became unemployed. It was not until 1939 that the economy began to rise after ten grueling years of hardship in American society. The war in Europe established many trading opportunities with the United States, and the demand for workers in the American industry grew, thus creating a surplus of jobs for formerly unemployed citizens. America’s wounds from the great depression were finally starting to heal. But as life started getting better for Americans through out the country, the violence in Europe escalated, and many Jewish lives were being taken as many others faced persecution, desperately searching for a safe haven. America had once been a location immigrants could escape to and start a new life, but as the U.S. began to come out of the great depression, American politicians were reluctant to allow large sums of immigrants in that could possibly take Americans jobs. The U.S. government was just simply not prepared to carry the burden of refugees until it had fully recovered from the great depression.

Denial, Ignorance, prejudice and economic instability were all contributions to our abandonment of European Jews and other minorities during the holocaust. Despite the fact that in the end, six million people lost their lives due to American apathy, we still haven’t learned our lesson. Today, an estimated 400,000 people have been murdered in Darfur, Sudan. It is recognized by the United States government as a genocide, yet so far we have sent no aid. If we put aside our selfishness, we could help save millions of lives, just as we should have done sixty years ago.

links: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/

[|http://www.remember.org/guide/wit.root.wit.res.html 

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