Americas and the Holocaust

1. Americas and the Holocaust

2. Quick background of the Holocaust • Jews were forced into ghettoes and required to wear the Star of David • Nazi plan was to exterminate all 11 million Jews in Europe • SS (Schutzstaffel)guards began to round-up Jews for “evacuation”

3. Concentration Camps • Concentration and Death camps were mostly in Poland • 2 reasons • Extermination could be hidden form German people • Most of Europe’s Jews lived in Eastern Europe • Arrival at camps brought two choices for SS guards • Those who were strong enough were sent to work • Those who were not sent to work, were sent to die in gas chambers

4. Gas Chambers • Victims were killed in “showers” It took 15 minutes for Zyklon B to work • After the 15 minutes the bodies were searched for hidden valuables and gold tooth fillings were removed • After this the bodies were cremated • The SS could kill up to 10,000 people daily with little trace left

5. Targets of the Holocaust • In USSR, SS would round up Jews and have them dig huge trenches and then mow them down with machine guns • In Kiev alone, over 30,000 Jews were massacred in one day • Jews were not the only targets • Homosexuals, political prisoners, mentally handicapped, Russian prisoners of war, gypsies were also targeted

6. Who Helped? • What was done to help these victims? • There were many individuals who helped • There were few governments that stepped in • Denmark smuggled most of its Jews to neutral Sweden • Hungary and Italy attempted to protect their Jewish community

7. WHAT DID THE USA DO? • The US was slow to act on behalf of European Jews in need of a place to flee. • As early of 1942 there were public reports of the atrocities taking place against the Jews and other “undesirables”. • Despite this knowledge the US used no military strategies to eliminate the camps or its supply lines • Jewish immigration was tied up with extended bureaucratic delays.

8. In response to Hitler’s Final Solution • In a December 13, 1942 radio broadcast listened to by millions, popular newsman Edward R. Murrow described • “a horror beyond what imagination can grasp . . . there are no longer ‘concentration camps’—we must speak now only of ‘extermination camps.’”

9. Condemning Hitler • On December 17, 1942, the United States joined ten other Allied governments in issuing a solemn public declaration condemning Nazi Germany’s “extermination” of the Jews. • The American Congress and the British Parliament stood in silence on that date to mourn what was happening to the Jews and pray for the strength needed to defeat the Nazis.

10. Roosevelts Reaction • Roosevelt believed that the surest way to stop the killing of innocent civilians was to defeat Hitler’s Germany as quickly and decisively as possible. • Critics say that FDR’s “win the war” approach did not address the possibility that significant numbers of Jews could be rescued.

11. Us takes action • In 1944 Roosevelt set up the War Refugee Board • “It takes months and months to grant the visa and then it usually applies to a corpse,”- Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr.

12. War Refugee Board (WRB) • FDR established the War Refugee Board to help rescue and assist the many people who were condemned to death camps. • It relocated many refugees in need, although it was late in inception. • It saved 200,000 Jews and 20,000 non-Jews, however 1 million still died • This action was seen as “too little, too late”.

13. Critics argue that if FDR had acted earlier, and more boldly, even more lives could have been saved. Read through the documents and answer the following question based on your understanding of the information: Analyse the main factors that led to FDRs establishment of the WRB.

14. CREATE AN ESSAY OUTLINE • PAPER 3 Practice • Remember to address all aspects of the markbands. • Assess the effectiveness of US policy in relation to European Jews before and during the Second World War.