Introduction
The Holocaust is known as one of the darkest episodes in human history. It was act of genocide that was committed by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and his allies during World War II. It is estimated that around six million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany during this time (Snyder, 45). Jews and other races and groups such as Russians, Poles Slavs, Communists, homosexuals and POWs were also included in this mass murder. The genocide took place in several phases. The first phase is the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 in Germany, which isolated the Jews from the rest of German civil society. One example of a law in this set is the nullification of a marriage between a Jew and a German (Friedlander, 47-49). Afterwards, Jews across Germany and across the conquered territories of Germany were herded into concentration camps and ghettos. Living conditions in these camps and ghettos were very poor, and many Jews and other victims already died from illness and malnutrition. Finally, the execution of the Jews took place in gas chambers in these concentration camps. Executions via shooting were also conducted in the concentration camps (Friedlander, 49).
This short paper will look at the response of the United States to the Holocaust and examine the reasons why such a response took place.
The first set of responses by the United States to the Holocaust could first be seen just prior to the outbreak of World War II. Hatred for the Jews in Germany was already in full swing by this time. Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass in November of 1938 ushered in the period of persecution for Jews in Germany. Many windows of homes owned by Jews as well as Jewish business establishments and synagogues were smashed with rocks thrown by German citizens. There were around 91 Jewish deaths, and some of the buildings were also burned (Gilbert, 13-15). Jewish American leaders in the United States lobbied for the issuance of visas to Jews in Germany who wished to escape to the United States. Initially, the American leadership refused to take in additional Jewish immigrants fleeing Nazi Germany. This was because the United States itself was recovering from the Depression, and many were afraid that the additional immigrants would be a financial burden on the American government. Many applications for visas from Jews were initially turned down (Wright, e-book). Then things appeared different in 1939 when the Germans annexed Austria. As Jewish citizens in Germany became Jewish refugees in Europe, President Roosevelt organized the Evian Conference in 1938. This conference was held in Evian, France, and was well-attended. A total of 32 countries were represented in this conference. However, there were no positive results as no nation wished to accept the large influx of German and Austrian Jews into their territories (Wells, 6-8). The United States, however, relaxed its immigrant quotas to accommodate Jewish immigrants, and by 1941, about 45% of all the immigrants entering the United States were Jewish immigrants coming from Europe (Holocaust Encyclopedia: The United States and the Holocaust).
The second phase of the American response to the Holocaust occurred during the course of the Second World War itself. From late 1939 to late 1941, it is said that the reason why there seemed to be no response from America on the plight of the Jews is that any news about the situation of the Jews was clouded by the news on the war itself. The Fall of France, the battles in the Atlantic, and the German invasion of the Soviet Union were what topped the newspaper and radio reports in the United States. Add to this the conflicting reports of Jewish casualties being sent to ghettos, no one in all honesty was interested in the plight of the Jews during the early stages of the war. In 1939 there was a press report that a quarter million Jews were killed, and then later on, the same news agency reported that only a tenth of the original number was the correct number of casualties. To add to this problem, there were no Western reporters in Germany or in the annexed areas to provide the first-hand accounts in the United States (The New York Times: The Holocaust in American Life). With no accurate first-hand accounts coming from American reporters in Germany or in the other German-occupied territories in Europe, very little was known about the plight and suffering of German, Austrian, Polish and other Jews in Europe. Without any accurate stories and accounts, there was also no concrete or official response on the part of the American government or coming from the American people. It appeared as if the Jews and their difficult plight was largely ignored by the American leadership and the American public in general.
The Jews in America themselves were said to be divided over the issue. As early as in 1933, when Hitler first rose to power in Germany, Jewish American organizations came together to form the Joint Consultative Council (JCC) to coordinate activities in the face of the Nazi regime. They agreed to unite, but disagreed just about everything else. There was an organization who wished to hold demonstrations, while others wanted a boycott of German-made products. Eventually the JCC lost steam and the movement was at its end in 1936 (Marrus, 855). This disunity among the Jewish organization and communities in the United States also contributed to the lack of a response to the events of the Holocaust on the US mainland.
The third part of the response of America to the Holocaust was to win the war in the Pacific and in Europe at all costs. This response is based on the idea that if the Second World War was won by the Allies, then Hitler would be destroyed, and all of programs, to include the Holocaust) would all come to an end. Unfortunately, the wartime policy of the United States did not include the rescue of Jews from the concentration camps and other ghettos in Nazi Europe (My Jewish Learning: America and the Holocaust). By 1942, there were reports reaching the President of the United States that the mass murder of Jews in the ghettos and the concentration camps was ongoing. The United States then was fighting the Second World War in two separate theaters – the Pacific Theater against Japan, and in Europe against Germany (also an ally of Japan). From all angles, and looking at the readings on the Second World War and the Holocaust, it may be concluded that the rescue of the Jews who were victims of Nazi Germany was not a main objective in the Second World War. It was only during the end of the war that the American troops were finally able to enter the concentration camps. It was during this time that the world came to know about the scope and extent of the Holocaust, and how Hitler implemented his so-called “Final Solution” in order to exterminate all the Jews from Europe.
Conclusion
Perhaps the only “favorable” reaction of the United States to the Holocaust is that of buthe United States relaxing its visa quotas in order to accept Jewish immigrants coming from Europe. However, this was not to continue for a long period of time as many Americans were afraid that the new immigrants would cause an unnecessary burden on the coffers of the United States, whose economy was just recovering from the last Depression. In general, there was no positive response from the United States in terms of conducting rescue operations. There were no activities conducted to save the lives of those who were imprisoned in the ghettos and in the concentration camps. Unfortunately, many Jews in these ghettos and camps began to see their deaths as a way to end their misery and transition to a new life.
The United States saw its victory in the Second World War as the only way to end the Holocaust. This was what the United States prioritized throughout the war. The only sad thing is that while the United States and its allies were busy ending the war in Europe and in the Pacific, millions of European Jews and other groups of people isolated by Nazi Germany were made to suffer and die in the ghettos and in the concentration camps. The Jews in the United States were not united and were unable to initiate any action that would lead to the rescue of those in the ghettos and camps. One could say in the end that beyond the acceptance of Jewish immigrants from Europe into the US was the only positive response; otherwise there was none.
Works Cited
Friedlander, Saul. Nazi Germany and the Jews. NY: Harper Collins. 2009. Print.
Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy. London, UK: Collins Publishing. 1986. Print.
Glazer, Susan. America and the Holocaust. 2016. Web. 13 March 2016.
Marrus, Michael. The Nazi Holocaust. London: Meckler. 1989. Print.
Novick, Peter. The Holocaust in American Life. 1999. Web. 13 March 2016.
Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. NY: Basic Books. 2010. Print.
Wells, Allen. Tropical Zion: General Trujillo, FDR and the Jews of Sosua. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2009. Print.
Wright, John. Access to History for the IB Diploma. 2010. Web. 13 March 2016.
