Reaction to the Holocaust in AmericaBy: Madeline Bross, Mohommad Ali Garada, Danielle Metivier, Brooklynn Curtis-White, Alison Veresh, and Mazen Zamzam

Mr. deZwaan-B13/7/2014

U.S. Reaction to Nazi Anti-Jewish Policies During the 1930s Before World War II Jews were being mistreated by Germany. The

Nuremberg Laws were used by the German government to oppress the Jews.

By the end of 1938 Jews were officially excluded from economic life and banned

from shops and businesses. Despite the known

mistreatment of Jews in German, Americans were against

increasing the immigration quota.

Kristallnacht: November 9, 1938. A young Jew,

Herschel Grynszpan, murdered Ernst vom Rath, a German

diplomat, in Paris on the ninth of November. That night

more than 1000 synagogues were destroyed, 91 Jews

were killed, and 30,000 Jews were placed in

concentration camps. Seven thousand Jewish

businesses were destroyed and thousands of Jewish

homes were attacked (Wright 162). The Jews had to

pay the Nazi government one billion marks for the

damage. After the Kristallnacht tragedy, Roosevelt

extended the visas of visiting Jews so they could stay in

the United States longer. The US ambassador was recalled

from Germany. Roosevelt combined the immigration

quotas of Germany and Austria so that Austrian Jews

could still immigrate.

Above: Herschel Grynszpan

Below: Ernst vom Rath

QUICK FACTS:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) served as America’s

32nd president. Roosevelt served for 12 straight years,

through the entirety of the war!

After Kristallnacht a poll was taken asking, “Should the USA take a large

number of Jewish exiles from Germany to come here to live permanently?”

Seventy five percent of the respondents said no (Wright 163). Rogers Bill 1939

proposed admitting 20,000 Jewish children into the USA above the specified

quota. There was a positive response yet an opinion poll revealed that 61% of

respondents were against the bill. The concern was that parents would

eventually follow the children during the time of high unemployment. Once

Roosevelt saw the scale of opposition he didn’t support the bill, which was

defeated in February 1939. The American public was less concerned about the

restrictions placed on Jews in Germany

because of the Jim Crow mindset that

was still apparent in the United States.

The S.S. St. Louis CaseOn May 13, 1939, The S.S. St. Louis, part of the Hamburg-America Line

(Hapag), was tied up at Shed 76 awaiting its next voyage which was to take

Jewish refugees from Germany to Cuba. On the voyage were 930 passengers

(Wright 164). Almost all were Jews fleeing from Germany. When the S.S St. Louis

arrived in Cuba, the refugees were not allowed to leave the ship. The ship

remained docked for a couple of days until it was told to leave by Cuban

Jim Crow was a fictional character who was shown as a uneducated, foolish, poor

black. Jim Crow was very popular among the white crowd at the time.

authorities. After leaving Cuban waters the ship sailed along Florida’s coast, but

the US authorities also denied the ship to dock (Wright 165).

There were several attempts to persuade the United States government to

provide refuge for the Jewish passengers, including a personal telegram from

the passenger committee on board the St. Louis to President Roosevelt, but it

received no reply.  An agreement was finally reached on June fifth that allowed

them to enter Cuba for a $453,000 bond ($500.00 per refugee), which was to

be paid the following day (Wright 165).

The American-Jewish joint distribution

committee could not meet the deadline.

After Cuba and then the United States denied these refugees entry, the St.

Louis was forced to return to Europe on June 6, 1939. Following difficult

negotiations started by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the

ship was able to dock in Antwerp, Belgium; and the governments of Belgium,

Holland, France, and the United Kingdom agreed to accept the refugees. By

1940, all of the passengers, except those who escaped to England, found

themselves once again under Nazi rule (Wright 165).

The S.S. St. Louis

Jewish refugees on deck

“Our government in Washington made no effort to relieve the desperate situation of these people but on the contrary gave orders that they be kept out of the country...” (Wright 165)

The HolocaustAfter rising to power, Adolf Hitler began

take action to complete his Final Solution, a plan

to wipe out the people he considered inferior in

order to create the “Master Race”. People who

were Jewish, Polish, mentally and/or physically ill

were among Hitler’s main targets.

Over the years, groups working for Hitler

such as the Gestapo and SS would round up

big crowds of Hitler's enemies and either kill

them or force them to move. The places

Hitler's enemies had to move to were built specifically for isolation, forced

labor, and eventually, extermination. One place that victims were sent to was

the ghettos.

Ghettos were used to isolate Jewish (and other

targeted groups) from the approved German

citizens. Eventually, all people were moved out.  

The ghettos were unsanitary, cramped, and strictly guarded by the Nazis (Wood

62-63). It was common for one’s whole family to have to live in one room.

Adolf Hitler’s targets during the Holocaust were people who were:

• Jewish• Polish• Slovac• Mentally/physically ill• Gypsies/Romanies• Homosexuals• Communists• Social democrats• Socialists

“This is what happened. This is the moment. This is what must be remembered.” –Ben Cosgrove; LIFE magazine editor

Many Jewish people arrived via cattle car pulled by train. These cars were cramped and unsanitary; thousands died on the way.

After the ghettos, people were moved into concentration camps. In

concentration camps, people were sorted into bunkhouses, given cramped

wooden frames for beds, and were made to do hard labor (Wood 104).

Prisoners of these camps did not receive much

to eat, and guards were cruel, shooting or

beating up prisoners (Wood 105).

These camps also served a deadlier purpose: to kill as many of Hitler’s

enemies as possible. Daily, people who were weak or tired would be rounded

up and herded into gas chambers that were masked as shower rooms. Gases

such as Zyklon B (poison) would be dropped through the ceiling, killing those

inside. (Wood 109) Large crematoriums (ovens) were

used to burn the bodies. This awful event continued

until 1945 when Germany started losing the war and

Allied forces found and put a stop to the camps.

These Polish children were each numbered and photographed after t h e i r a r r i v a l a t Au s c h w i t z concentration camp, one of the most infamous camps from the Holocaust.

U.S. Responses to Nazi Policies During the War

The United States became involved in World War II the same way it had

become involved in the First World War. As in

World War I, President Woodrow Wilson had a

mindset for the United States to embrace

isolationism and remain neutral.

This worked until Japan bombed a U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,

on December seventh, 1941, killing and injuring thousands (Wright). America

declared war on Japan, an ally with Germany, and officially entered World War II.

In turn, Germany declared war on the U.S., leading to major conflicts, one of the

largest issues being the Holocaust.

After the Holocaust many European Jews came to the U.S. to escape the

remaining Nazi supporters (Wright).  America did not have a limit on the

number of immigrants coming from Europe, but after the amount of people

entering increased, a quota system was established where only a certain

number of people were allowed to enter at a time (Wright). Franklin Delano

Isolationism- belief that a country should not become involved with o t h e r c o u n t r i e s : n o t m a k i n g agreements with other countries; usually to prevent further conflict

Buchenwald’s “Children’s Block 66” (a special barracks for children) camp survivors after liberation

Roosevelt came out and said that what Hitler was doing was unethical and

should be put to an end, but the US was unable to make many drastic

measures.

After Hitler’s continued use of the

concentration camps, America finally

stepped in to finally bring the Holocaust

to an end. The U.S. military gradually

weakened the German army so they may

free the people in the camps. By this

point the United States had strengthened its home front workforce by hiring

several women to build military weapons. With the increase of weapons

production the U.S. gained the upper hand in the war.

Hitler committed suicide on April 30th of 1945 by shooting himself in the

head (Wright). This officially ended the war with Germany, though conflicts with

Japan still lasted and recovery would take several more years.

Holocaust:

9 November 1938-early May

1945

Recovery continues for several

years.

Works Cited

Ed. Ronald M. Smelser. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. pxvii-xx.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Macmillan Reference USA, COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale

Wood, Angela G. Holocaust: The Events and Their Impact on Real People. New York: DK, 2007.

Print.

Wright, John. Access to History for the IB Diploma: The Second World War and the Americas

1933-45. London: Hodder Education, 2013. Print.

Pictures Citations

Section 1: U.S. Reaction to Nazi Anti-Jewish Policies During the 1930s

Section 2:

Section 3: The Holocaust

Bourke-White, Margaret. “Prisoners gazing out of Buchenwald…” Life Behind the Picture: The

Liberation of Buchenwald, 1945. LIFE Magazine. TIME. 2013. Web. <http://

life.time.com/history/buchenwald-photos-from-the-liberation-of-the-camp-april-1945/

#7>.

Bourke-White, Margaret. “Prisoners at Buchenwald…” Life Behind the Picture: The Liberation

of Buchenwald, 1945. LIFE Magazine. TIME. 2013. Web. <http://life.time.com/history/

buchenwald-photos-from-the-liberation-of-the-camp-april-1945/#5>.

“Auschwitz.” Auschwitz and Justice. World Without Genocide. 2012. Web. <http://

worldwithoutgenocide.org/auschwitz-and-justice>.

Section Four: U.S. Reaction to Nazi Policies During the War

“Woman’s Job Advertisement.” Women in WWII At a Glance. The National World War II

Museum of New Orleans. Web. <http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/

for-students/ww2-history/at-a-glance/women-in-ww2.html>.

“Liberation of ‘Children’s Block 66’.” Liberation of Nazi Camps-Photographs. United States

Holocaust Memorial Museum.