Americans and the Holocaust : a reader / edited by Daniel Greene and Edward Phillips ; published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What did the American people and the US government know about the threats posed by Nazi Germany? What could have been done to stop the rise of Nazism in Germany and its assault on Europe's Jews?

Americans and the Holocaust explores these enduring questions by gathering together more than one hundred primary sources that reveal how Americans debated their responsibility to respond to Nazism. Drawing on groundbreaking research conducted for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Americans and the Holocaust exhibition, these carefully chosen sources help readers understand how Americans' responses to Nazism were shaped by the challenging circumstances in the United States during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including profound economic crisis, fear of communism, pervasive antisemitism and racism, and widespread isolationism.

Collecting newspaper and magazine articles, popular culture materials, and government records, Americans and the Holocaust is a valuable resource for students and historians seeking to shed light on this dark era in world history.

To explore further, visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's digital exhibit, available here: https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust

Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Foreword (p. xiii)
• Preface (p. xv)
• Note on Sources (p. xix)
• Abbreviations (p. xxi)
• Timeline (p. xxiii)
• Prologue. Two Nations, 1918-1932 (p. 1)
• Adolf Hitler: Bavaria's Rebel (p. 8)
• 1 Cyril Brown, "New Popular Idol Rises in Bavaria," New York Times, November 21, 1922 (p. 9)
• 2 Raymond Fendrick, "'Heinrich' Ford Idol of Bavaria Fascisti Chief," Chicago Daily Tribune, March 8, 1923 (p. 11)
• Chapter 1 Fear Itself, 1933-1938 (p. 14)
• Illustration: Paolo Garretto, Hitler, 1932
• 1 "A Week's Vignettes of Nazi-Land," News-Week, March 25, 1933 (p. 16)
• 2 Foreign News, Germany, "WE DEMAND!" Time, July 10, 1933 (p. 20)
• Protesting the Nazi Dictatorship (p. 21)
• 3 "Wise Explains Jewry's Pleas to Garden Crowd," New York Herald Tribune, March 28, 1933 (p. 21)
• 4 Associated Press, "Mistreatment of Jewish Race in Germany Ends," Bangor (ME) Daily News, March 27, 1933 (p. 24)
• 5 United Churches of Lackawanna County (PA), petition to Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State, March 27, 1933 (p. 26)
• 6 United Press, "Nazis Start Jewish Boycott" and Associated Press, "Courts Are Cleared, Santa Cruz (CA) News, March 31, 1933 (p. 27)
• 7 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Germany Is Too Easy on Jews, Goebbels Asks Stronger Attack," Jewish Daily Bulletin, April 26, 1933 (p. 29)
• 8 Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State, "Memorandum of Conversation between Secretary Hull and the German Ambassador, Dr. Hans Luther," May 3, 1933 (p. 30)
• 9 Associated Press, "German Students Burn Books of Noted American Authors," (Boise) Idaho Daily Statesman, May 11, 1933 (p. 32)
• 10 American League for the Defense of Jewish Rights, "Resolution Adopted at the [National Boycott] Conference," June 27, 1933 (p. 33)
• Americans Assaulted in Germany (p. 34)
• 11 Associated Press, "Nazi Attacks on Americans," New York Times, October 13, 1933 (p. 35)
• 12 Sigrid Schultz, "Hitler Assures Dodd Yanks Will Get Protection," Chicago Daily Tribune, October 18, 1933 (p. 36)
• Germany's Jews in Danger (p. 38)
• 13 Foreign News, Germany, "Little Man, Big Doings," Time, September 23, 1935 (p. 38)
• 14 President Franklin D. Roosevelt to New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman regarding the immigration of German Jews into the United States. November 13, 1935 (p. 40)
• Boycott the Olympics? (p. 42)
• 15 Avery Brundage, President, American Olympic Committee, Preface to Fair Play for American Athletes, October 1935 (p. 43)
• 16 Heywood Broun, "The Olympics Merely an Opportunity for Hitler to Glorify Himself a Bit," Morning Post (Camden, NJ), October 28, 1935 (p. 44)
• 17 "The 1936 Olympic Games: An Open Letter," New York Amsterdam News, August 24, 1935 (p. 46)
• Nazis in America (p. 48)
• 18 Joseph F. Dinneen, "An American Fuhrer Organizes an Army," American Magazine, August 1937 (p. 48)
• Chapter 2 Desperate Times, Limited Measures, 1938-1941 (p. 54)
• Illustration: Herblock [Herbert L. Block], "Still No Solution," 1939
• The Refugee Crisis (p. 56)
• 1 Associated Press, "Hitler Enters Vienna as Jews Begin to Feel Weight of Persecution," Public Opinion (Chambersburg, PA), March 14, 1938 (p. 56)
• 2 Dorothy Thompson, excerpts from Refugees: Anarchy or Organization? 1938 (p. 58)
• Sympathy without Action (p. 62)
• 3 Department of State call for international special committee on emigration aid for political refugees, March 24, 1938 (p. 63)
• 4 Gerald G. Gross, "'Yes, But-' Attitude Perils Progress at World Refugee Conference." Washington Post, July 10, 1938 (p. 64)
• 5 Foreign News, International, "Refugees," Time, July 18, 1938 (p. 66)
• In Search of Refuge: Teenage Pen Pals (p. 68)
• 6 Marianne Winter, letters to Jane Bomberger, June 6 and 29, 1938 (p. 68)
• 7 "'Hands Across Sea' Are Joined." Reading (PA) Eagle, February 5, 1939 (p. 70)
• November Pogrom (p. 71)
• 8 United Press, "Hysterical Nazis Wreck Thousands of Jewish Shops, Burn Synagogues in Wild Orgy of Looting and Terror," Dallas Morning News, November 11, 1938 (p. 71)
• 9 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, draft press statement following Kristallnacht, November 16, 1938 (p. 75)
• 10 Associated Press, "Treatment of Jews 'Shocks U.S.'," The Daily Missoulian (Missoula, MT), November 16, 1938 (p. 76)
• 11 Gallup Polls on Nazi treatment of Jews and immigration of Jewish exiles to the United States, November 1938 (p. 77)
• Admit Refugee Children? (p. 77)
• 12 John F. Knott, "'Please, Ring the Bell for Us,'" Dallas Morning News, July 7, 1939 (p. 78)
• 13 Non-Sectarian Committee for German Refugee Children, "Suffer Little Children ..." April 1939 (p. 79)
• 14 John Cecil, American Immigration Conference Board, America's Children Are America's Problem! Refugee Children in Europe Are Europe's Problem! 1939 (p. 80)
• 15 Clarence E. Pickett and Robert R. Reynolds, 'America: Haven for Refugee Children?" The Rotarian, February 1940 (p. 83)
• A Refugee Ship at Sea (p. 85)
• 16 Fred Packer, "Ashamed!" New York Daily Mirror, June 6, 1939 (p. 85)
• 17 "Refugee Ship," New York Times, June 8, 1939 (p. 86)
• 18 St. Louis Passengers' Committee, draft telegram to American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, New York City, June 1939 (p. 88)
• 19 Associated Press, "Refugee Ship Is at Antwerp," Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, June 18, 1939 (p. 88)
• Americans Who Dared (p. 90)
• 20 Associated Press, "50 Jewish Refugee Tots are Happy in New Home," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 5, 1939 (p. 91)
• 21 Martha Sharp, Unitarian Service Committee, "Memorandum: Emigration from France to the United States of America," November 26. 1940 (p. 92)
• 22 Varian Fry, Emergency Rescue Committee, foreword to Surrender on Demand, 1945 (p. 95)
• 23 Marjorie McClelland, American Friends Services Committee, letter to family July 15, 1941 (p. 97)
• Chapter 3 Storm Clouds Gather, 1939-1941 (p. 100)
• Illustration: Elmer, "War's First Casualty," 1941
• 1 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "War in Europe" fireside chat, September 3, 1939 (p. 102)
• The Foreign War and the National Defense (p. 104)
• 2 Confessions of a Nazi Spy motion picture advertisement, 1939 (p. 105)
• 3 J. Edgar Hoover with Courtney Ryley Cooper, "Stamping Out the Spies," American Magazine, January 1940 (p. 105)
• 4 Fortune/Roper Survey on a German "Fifth Column." June 1940 (p. 107)
• 5 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "National Defense" fireside chat, May 26, 1940 (p. 108)
• 6 Gallup Poll on US involvement in war against Germany, May 1940 (p. 111)
• "A Wall of Bureaucratic Measures" (p. 111)
• 7 Breckinridge Long, Assistant Secretary of State, memorandum on limiting immigration, June 26, 1940 (p. 112)
• 8 Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State, telegram to all diplomatic and consular offices, June 29, 1940 (p. 113)
• 9 Albert Einstein, letter to Eleanor Roosevelt, July 26, 1941 (p. 114)
• The Nazi War on Europe's Jews (p. 115)
• 10 Associated Press/Alvin J. Steinkopf, "A Walled Ghetto, Ruin Everywhere, Is What Writer Finds in Warsaw," Minneapolis Tribune, October 13, 1940 (p. 115)
• 11 United Press, "Nazis Decree Jews Must Wear Badge," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 1941 (p. 118)
• 12 United Press/Jack Fleisher, "Germans Crowding Millions of Eastern European Jews Into Ghettos," San Bernardino (CA) Daily Sun, November 8, 1941 (p. 119)
• Intervention or Isolation? (p. 120)
• 13 Fight for Freedom Committee, "To the President of the United States," 1941 (p. 121)
• 14 Fight for Freedom Committee, "Wanted for Murder: Adolf Schicklgruber Alias Hitler," 1941 (p. 122)
• 15 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Maintaining Freedom of the Seas" fireside chat, September 11, 1941 (p. 123)
• 16 Charles A. Lindbergh, "Who Are the War Agitators?" speech delivered in Des Moines, Iowa, September 11, 1941 (p. 126)
• 17 Charles A. Lindbergh, diary excerpts, September-December 1941 (p. 130)
• 18 "Principles of America First Committee," America First Bulletin, November 22, 1941 (p. 131)
• 19 America First Committee, promotional buttons and stickers, ca. 1941 (p. 132)
• 20 Dr. Seuss [Theodor S. Geisel], "... and the wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones ..." PM (New York, NY), October 1, 1941 (p. 133)
• 21 Arthur Szyk, "A Madman's Dream," American Mercury, November 1941 (p. 134)
• Hitler in American Popular Culture (p. 135)
• 22 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Captain America, Marvel Comics, March 1, 1941 (p. 135)
• 23 "Hotzi Notzi" Hitler caricature pin cushion, 1941 (p. 136)
• 24 Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator: Final Speech, 1940 (p. 137)
• Chapter 4 America at War, 1942-1945 (p. 140)
• Illustration: Chester Raymond Miller, "We're Fighting to Prevent This," 1943
• The Double V Campaign (p. 142)
• 1 A. Philip Randolph, "The Negro and The War," Norfolk (VA) Journal and Guide, January 3, 1942 (p. 143)
• 2 James G. Thompson, "Should I Sacrifice to Live 'Half-American?'" Pittsburgh Courier, January 31, 1942 (p. 144)
• Relocating Japanese Americans (p. 146)
• 3 Executive Order 9102: "Establishing the War Relocation Authority," March 18, 1942 (p. 147)
• 4 Harry Paxton Howard, "Americans in Concentration Camps," The Crisis, September 1942 (p. 148)
• 5 Justice Frank Murphy, US Supreme Court, dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United States (1944) (p. 152)
• "United We Win" (p. 155)
• 6 Henry Koerner, "This Is the Enemy," US Office of War Information, 1943 (p. 155)
• 7 Lawrence Beall Smith, "Don't Let That Shadow Touch Them-Buy War Bonds," US Department of the Treasury. 1942 (p. 156)
• 8 Howard Liberman, photographer, "United We Win," US War Manpower Commission, 1943 (p. 157)
• 9 R. G. Harris, "Do the job HE left behind," US War Manpower Commission, 1943 (p. 158)
• 10 Norman Rockwell, "Rosie the Riveter," Saturday Evening Post, May 29, 1943 (p. 159)
• 11 Leon Helguera, 'Americanos Todos-Luchamos por la Victoria / Americans All-Let's Fight for Victory," US Office of War Information, 1943 (p. 160)
• Nazi Germany's "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" (p. 161)
• 12 Paul T. Culbertson, Department of State, Division of European Affairs, draft letter to Stephen S. Wise, American Jewish Congress, August 13, 1942 (p. 161)
• 13 Samuel S. Silverman, World Jewish Congress, United Kingdom, cable to Stephen S. Wise, August 29, 1942 (p. 163)
• 14 Associated Press, "Plan to Kill All Jews Is Revealed," Huntsville (AL) Times, November 25, 1942 (p. 164)
• 15 William Levine, letter to President Roosevelt, December 2, 1942 (p. 165)
• 16 Department of State press release of Allies' joint declaration against Germany's extermination of Jews, December 16, 1942 (p. 166)
• 17 Gallup Poll on the reported number of Jews killed in Europe, January 1943 (p. 167)
• 18 William L. Shirer, "Propaganda Front: Americans Yet to Grasp Truth of Nazi Terror," New York Herald Tribune, March 21, 1943 (p. 168)
• Pressure to Act (p. 170)
• 19 Freda Kirchwey "A Program of Inaction," Nation, June 5, 1943 (p. 171)
• 20 Ben Hecht, "'Narrators' Pitch' Written for Washington," "We Will Never Die," April 12, 1943 (p. 173)
• 21 Ben Hecht, "Ballad of the Doomed Jews of Europe," 1943 (p. 175)
• 22 Associated Press, "Rabbis Urge Agency to Aid Jewish People," Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, October 7, 1943 (p. 176)
• A "War Refugee Board" for Rescue (p. 178)
• 23 Henry Morgenthau Jr., US Secretary of the Treasury, "Personal Report to the President," January 16, 1944 (p. 178)
• 24 Executive Order 9417: "Establishing a War Refugee Board," January 22, 1944 (p. 181)
• 25 Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day: Oswego refugee shelter offers a duration home to 982 weary Europeans," Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), September 23, 1944 (p. 183)
• 26 Max Sipser, untitled illustration for Ontario Chronicle, August 2, 1945 (p. 185)
• 27 Correspondence between John W. Pehle, Executive Director, War Refugee Board, and John J. McCloy, US Assistant Secretary of War, November 8 and 18, 1944 (p. 186)
• Witnesses to the "Final Solution" (p. 188)
• 28 Jan Karski, "'To Die in Agony ...'," Story of a Secret State, November 1944 (p. 189)
• 29 War Refugee Board, introduction to German Extermination Camps-Auschwitz and Birkenau, November 1944 (p. 193)
• 30 Associated Press, "Cabinet Members Submit Report on Nazi Extermination Camps," Billings (MT) Gazette, November 26, 1944 (p. 194)
• 31 Gallup Polls on the number of murders in Nazi concentration camps, November 1944 (p. 196)
• 32 "Genocide," Washington Post, December 3, 1944 (p. 197)
• April 12, 1945 (p. 198)
• 33 "Roosevelt Dead at Warm Springs," Washington Post, April 13, 1945 (p. 199)
• 34 US Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, telegram to General George C. Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff, April 19, 1945 (p. 200)
• 35 Edward R. Murrow, CBS Radiobroadcast from Buchenwald, April 15, 1945 (p. 201)
• "Victory" in Europe (p. 203)
• 36 Boris Artzybasheff for Time, May 7, 1945 (p. 204)
• 37 Images from "Atrocities," Life, May 7, 1945 (p. 205)
• Postscript (p. 209)
• The International Military Tribunal (p. 209)
• The New Refugee Crisis (p. 211)
• 1 President Harry S. Truman, "Immigration to the United States of Certain Displaced Persons and Refugees in Europe," December 22, 1945 (p. 211)
• 2 Gallup Poll on admitting more European refugees, December 1945 (p. 214)
• Acknowledgments (p. 215)
• Further Reading (p. 217)
• Permissions (p. 221)
• Index (p. 223)

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

On March 8, 1923, the  Chicago Daily Tribune  newspaper made its first mention of the "Bavaria Fascisti Chief" Adolf Hitler. Reporter Raymond Fendrick of the paper's Foreign News Service noted three particulars about Hitler: his fervent antisemitism, especially his admiration for the antisemitic American automaker Henry "Heinrich" Ford; his 6,000-man force of militarist "shock troops"; and his rising reputation as an outspoken nationalist. But for most of the remaining 1920s, Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi) German Workers' Party remained on the fringes of German politics, and American press coverage about them was at best sporadic. Only during the early 1930s, as the Great Depression ravaged the world's industrial nations, did some Americans begin to pay attention to the meteoric rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany and to ask questions about its possible significance.   Americans and the Holocaust: A Reader  includes a sampling of the information available to Americans about the Nazi persecution and murder of European Jews between 1933 and 1945.   Presented in relatively strict chronological order, the selections intend to prompt readers to consider three essential questions in confronting this history:  What did Americans know?" "When did they know it?" "What did they do with that knowledge?  We urge readers to continually push against hindsight from their 21st-century knowledge about the Holocaust. We seek to show the ways the US government and American people responded to Nazism by wrestling with the rationales behind their actions and inactions in the context of the moment, which was defined by economic crisis, fear of communism, and widespread views that were isolationist, antisemitic, anti-immigrant, and racist.    These sources also help to overturn the incorrect but commonly held assumption that Americans had little access to information about Nazism during the 1930s and 1940s. Even if it was not always front-page news, information about discrimination against Jews was available to the US government as well as the American public. But the contemporary responses to this information show that the real threats of Nazism and the murderous nature of the regime towards Jews were not comprehended. The relatively wide gap between information and understanding--an essential theme here--directly influenced how Americans responded to Nazi Germany and, eventually, to its annihilation of six million European Jews.   A second animating theme at the heart of this book is the gap between many Americans' disapproval of the Nazi regime's treatment of Jews and a will to action among the American people and within the US government to help Jewish victims. The sources included here reveal actions both taken and not taken, especially as some Americans debated whether to provide refuge for those persecuted by the Nazi regime. In doing so, we challenge overly simple, inaccurate statements such as:  Americans didn't do anything to respond to Nazism  while also raising an additional critical question:  What more could have been done?    Focusing on action and inaction opens this narrative to include many actors--governmental leaders and elected officials, faith leaders, grassroots organizations, culture makers, journalists, "ordinary" people--who faced critical choices about when and how to act, or not to act, in response to Nazism during the 1930s and 1940s. Reading sources that capture these multiple and diverse voices within the context of their times advances our understanding of the range of Americans' responses to Nazism. Excerpted from Americans and the Holocaust: A Reader All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This compilation of source materials opens the door to the Holocaust for students who may not appreciate the US's reluctant move from isolationism to entry into WW II. During this time, refugee problems emerged as Jews sought to flee Germany after 1933. People justified keeping the US at arm's length from European conflicts, primarily out of fear of further deepening the Great Depression. The America First Committee also built a significant base of support given its appeal to xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Editors Greene (Newberry Library and Northwestern Univ.) and Phillips (formerly, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) provide numerous examples of Americans' failure to appreciate Hitler's pledge to murder Europe's Jews, even after Kristallnacht (1938), evidenced by the tragic fate of the Jews aboard the MS St. Louis. Through various written and visual sources, readers can appreciate the war against religious and racial persecution coming home when confronting the treatment of African Americans and American-born Japanese citizens. These significant, readily identified minority groups accelerated the demand for equality in the face of the US's pledge to end dictatorship. This collection highlights how slowly Americans were to recognize the dangers of state-sponsored racial bigotry within their own borders. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and undergraduates. --Jeffrey Kleiman, University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point

Kirkus Book Review

A collection of writing from the 1920s to 1945 describing America's reaction to Nazism. Greene, president and librarian at Chicago's independent Newberry Library, and Phillips, former director of exhibitions at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, have assembled this book from research for the 2018 exhibition celebrating the museum's 25th anniversary. Countless books have been written about the Holocaust and Nazism, many of them more focused and less dry than this one. Readers of this collection will learn a great deal, but its major market will be university-level students and scholars seeking out specific, handy references for further research and study. In this story, the villain goes down in flames, but there is no happy ending, few heroes, and a great deal of unedifying behavior from almost everyone, world leaders to average Americans. An obscure agitator during the 1920s, Hitler was flamboyant enough to attract American journalistic attention, all unflattering. After 1933, when he assumed power, vivid descriptions of his abuse of Jews filled the media. Americans overwhelming disapproved of Nazi treatment of Jews: 94% according to a 1938 Gallup poll. But, sadly, when asked if the U.S. should allow more Jewish exiles into the country, 72% said no. Many of the official reports from the 1930s tell dismal stories. Though numerous organizations and individuals helped victims of Nazism, American immigrant officials stuck to the strict rules. In one report, it shows that even Germany's official quota was never filled. The World War II material here reveals that the Holocaust was no secret. Ghastly reports appeared in popular magazines, governments warned Germany of retributions but took no action, and military leaders insisted that winning the war was the best way to stop the Nazis. Popular postwar histories extol America's compassion, but the story this book tells is more nuanced--and dispiriting: A 1945 Gallup poll revealed that 5% of Americans approved admitting more refugees. An anthology for those who relish primary source material about the era. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.