The Holocaust: Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany

The Holocaust was a mass murder of about six million Jews by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany that took place over a span of 12 years. The purpose was to wipe out what were considered “inferior” races and social groups, meaning they were not as common or normal to the Nazis. Beginning in 1933, the feeling of anti-semitism, or hatred of Jews, was very immense for Hitler and his Nazis, so the practice of persecution was put into effect. The title Holocaust was given to this event because it means “destruction by fire,” and the inferior groups were being sacrificed and killed through concentration camps and death sentences (Greenfeld 3). Actions needed to be taken in order to guide the targets of Nazi Germany to safety, but it was not a priority for
American government at the time. Contrary to the belief that the United States provided all it could to rescue the victims in the Holocaust, the United States ultimately failed to do so and could have aided more through organizing greater efforts and programs during World War II, being less strict with immigration policies, and taking more action after the war. As news of the destruction of the Jews in Germany was spreading throughout America, United States officials felt pressured to respond, but little action was taken to organize efforts and programs. The first report of the tragedy surfaced in late 1941, and in July 1942 there was a large rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City to protest Hitler’s atrocities, but it took until late 1942 for the United States government to fully acknowledge the issue. United States and British officials met in Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss solutions to wartime refugee issues, but after two weeks, no significant proposals erupted from this conference. The American Jewish Congress had suggested a number of proposals, but the delegates rejected all of them. (Bauer, et al). In these proposals, representatives of the American Jewish Congress advised that the United Nations should “(1) make negotiations with the Axis Powers through neutral governments to permit the exit of Jews from Axis-occupied countries, (2) create temporary and permanent Sanctuaries for the Jews, and (3) feed those sections of the Jewish population in occupied Europe who will not be permitted to leave” (Wise, et al). Many Jewish Americans considered this to be a cruel mockery and they reacted with public indignation. They accused the people of America, the President, Congress, and the State Department of being accessories to the crime and that they should share in Hitler’s guilt due to the lack of effort in rescuing the Jewish refugees (Bauer, et al). The United States government’s failure of organization of greater efforts and programs is a main contributor to the way they could have aided more in the rescue of the victims during the Holocaust. Along with the reluctance to provide any resolutions to the Holocaust refugee crisis, people of the United States also seemed to minimize the importance of the catastrophe.
When the State Department received a report of the Nazis’ policy to annihilate all Jews in existence in Europe, the department officials declined to pass on the report to the President of the World Jewish Congress, Stephen Wise, who was its intended recipient. Later that month, Wise actually received the news via British channels and he did not get permission from the State Department to publicize the information until three months later (“The United States and the Holocaust”). This delay in publicizing the news of the destruction of the Jews may have contributed to the lack of sufficient, prompt assistance of the United States in saving the refugees. In addition to this delay, the United States press also minimized the gravity of the Holocaust because they did not publicize reports of Nazi atrocities with full or noticeable placement. The nation’s leading newspaper, the New York Times, ordinarily understated the murder of the Jews in its news coverage. The London Daily Telegraph published an article in the summer of 1942 on what was happening, and the World Jewish Congress even learned in that same year about the Nazi plan to eliminate all Jews. United States’ officials felt the pressure to respond, but an insignificant amount of action was taken (Glick 20). Despite the fact that the New York Times did
place the news of the Allies condemning the mass murder of European Jews on its front page, it released the more specific and important information on page ten, which significantly minimized its importance (“The United States and the Holocaust”). Overall, the citizens, government, and press of the United States were undoubtedly portraying the Holocaust as less severe than it actually was by delaying their actions. Although the initial failure of organization of greater rescue programs and the minimized importance of the Holocaust that occurred during the time may have slowed the rescue of the victims, the United States did eventually establish a few institutions for assistance.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the United States president at the time, was under both domestic popular pressure and pressure from officials in his own cabinet. He issued Executive Order 9417 on January 22, 1944, and this order established a War Refugee Board (“The United States and the Holocaust: Rescue Attempts”). This board was established to rescue Jews and provide relief for victims of the war and it also appointed people that deemed qualified for the rescue missions (Glick 40). The departments of State, Treasury, and War were to “execute the plans, programs and measures formulated by the board as well as to supply the board with information and assistance,” as commanded by Roosevelt. In the summer of 1944, the Fort Ontario Refugee Center at Oswego, New York, was instituted by the War Refugee Board to facilitate rescue of the endangered refugees. The most remarkable achievement of the board was the rescue mission in German-occupied Hungary where diplomats such as Raoul Wallenberg, Charles Lutz, and others demonstrated monumental efforts to rescue tens of thousands of Budapest Jews from deportation (“The United States and the Holocaust: Rescue Attempts”). Even though there was a great amount of Jews that were
saved due to the War Refugee Board, this number is miniscule compared to the number of Jewish lives that were taken in the German killing centers, which was between five and six million out of nine million Jews (Whitcomb). Before the establishment of the War Refugee Board, however, the American authorities did not initiate any action in aiding in the rescue of the victims in the Holocaust, and by the time it actually was established, four-fifths of the total amount of Jews who would eventually be killed in the Holocaust were already dead (“The United States and the Holocaust: Rescue Attempts”). Therefore, the War Refugee Board was the primary endeavor of the United States that did provide a safe haven for some of the victims of the Holocaust, but the amount saved was still minimal in comparison to the amount of people lost in the tragedy.