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Annotated Bibliography

Berger, Eleanor. Interview by author. Personal interview. Baltimore MD, May 6, 2019.

          My grandmother was a child during the 1940s. Because she had lived through the time of the Holocaust, I had her relay to me what it was like growing up Jewish in a time of outward anti-Semitism. She spoke fondly of her childhood, recalling a time where the war effort was in the fore-front of everyone’s mind but the Jewish fate was rarely spoken about, even in her own Jewish family. I used the testimony of my grandmother to gain firsthand insight on what the Jewish reaction to the Holocaust was directly from a person who lived through it.

Medoff, Rafael. 2016. “American Responses to the Holocaust: New Research, New Controversies.” American Jewish History, no. 3: 379. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.459349939&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Medoff addresses the political action and at times in-action of America and its Jewish population, in response to knowledge of the Holocaust. He pulls from many sources with a wide variety of criticisms of leaders of the time to help paint a picture of frustration at the lack of U.S. backing for the rescue of Jews in Eastern Europe. I used this article specifically for its discussion on Jewish activist organizations and the variety of responses they had in an attempt to save the lives of Jews overseas.

Norich, Anita. 1998. “`Harbe Sugyes/Puzzling Questions’: Yiddish and English Culture in America During the Holocaust.” Jewish Social Studies 5 (1/2): 91–110. doi:10.2979/JSS.1998.5.1-2.91

          Norich writes a fascinating article about the attitudes conveyed in Jewish literary magazines at the time of the Holocaust. Ms. Norich describes the changes in Jewish American culture and how assimilating to American culture brought many Jews further away from their Eastern European heritage. Most interestingly, she discusses the difference in Yiddish-language journals and their response to the Holocaust and their English-language counterparts. I used this article to touch on the abundance of information the Jews had on what was happening in Europe and how it caused drastically different reactions between communities. I also found it interesting that the fate of Yiddish disappearing is directly related to its relationship with Eastern European Jewry. As the culture became veiled in sadness, so did the language. It went from a cultural marker which held communities together to a reminder of horrible death and sadness.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Voyage of the St. Louis.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louisAccessed: May 7, 2019.

           This website discusses the amazing activism work the JDC did when they saved hundreds of Jews from Eastern Europe aboard the St. Louis. Although most of the passengers were eventually saved, their travels took them first to Cuba, and the United States where they were turned away. I used this moment as an example of Jewish action to save Jews even when the government would not support it.

Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945.(New York:  Random House Inc., 1984) ��

           David Wyman’s famous book speaks about the American reaction (which essentially was to ignore) to the Holocaust. He goes into great detail about American policy and disinterest in the rescue of Jews even while the administration had the opportunity to do more. I used this source for historical background on the time of the Holocaust and the anti-Semitic climate of the United States during the late 1930s-early 1940s.

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My incredible grandmother checking Israel off of her bucket list.

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Final Thoughts.

        I spoke to my grandmother on the phone the other day. I asked her what it was like to be a Jewish child in America growing up during the Holocaust. Her reply was not what I expected. She began in her usual candor: hemming and hawing about how young she was and how she couldn’t possibly remember it because it was so long ago. But then with great clarity she began to tell me beautiful specifics of her young life in the ‘40s. “We played in the street,” she said, “all of us knew about the war but nobody ever spoke about the Holocaust.”[1]My grandmother’s mother emigrated to the United States in 1917. She took a very common approach to her status as a new immigrant and moved to a very diverse neighborhood in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn as she began to assimilate. My grandmother’s childhood sounded like one of wonder speaking about how handsome the neighbor-boy Adam looked in his uniform, as he got ready to ship out overseas. She told me how everyone supported the war effort. They would buy stamps, even the kids would, and everything was saved, all in the attempt to support the war effort; tinfoil, cans, old toothpaste tubes, anything worth saving.[2]But somehow her mother saved her from the shock of atrocities being carried out on innocent people. As a young child she didn’t need to face the reality that if her mother hadn’t moved to America, she most likely would have been executed.

         It’s most important to acknowledge that the Holocaust was brought about by an exploitation of peoples’ fears. Hitler used hatred as a tool to murder millions of people while others turned their backs. America turned its back on the Jews as they died… although there were strong voices that rang out in defiance, like the Bergson Group, in effort to secure justice for their people. Not only did Jewish groups reach out in an attempt to save refugees, but so did private citizens. One Jewish couple from Philadelphia, Gilbert and Eleanor Krausz, saved 50 children by bringing them to the United States from Vienna in 1939.[3]However, not everyone was that brave, others denied to comment, and groups like the AJC weren’t willing to tarnish their political reputations in order to make an impact and change policy.[4]

          The most lasting impact of reaction to the Holocaust that the Jews had was a questioning of their heritage. While Yiddish-speaking Jews stayed strong in certain communities as Eastern European Jewry disappeared, so did the language which tied together a people. As assimilation took hold and Jewish people began to identify as American their desire to fit in grew greater. Yiddish became associated with anguish and memories of those who had perished, and many more modern Jews chose to push the sadness aside in search of something new.[5]There were those who would fight and mourn and stop at nothing for their voices to be heard, but then there were Jews who were silent, slipping into the background not to raise attention.

[1]Berger, Eleanor. Interview by author. Personal interview. Baltimore MD, May 6, 2019.

[2]Berger.

[3]Medoff.

[4]Medoff.

[5]Norich.

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The S.S. St. Louis on its relentless voyage to rescue Eastern European refugees in 1939.

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Jewish Activism/Non-action

The Boycott

          American Jewish activism against the Nazi regime actually began much earlier than I had suspected. In the early 1930s when Hitler first came to power in Germany, Jewish organizations created a protest movement to boycott German goods. This boycott did impact Hitler’s anti-Semitic regime slightly, due to Hitler’s goal to jump-start the German economy, and his fear of the impact a foreign boycott could have. However, the extent of damage the boycott could have done to the Nazi regime with a larger support base is unknown[1].

           Surprisingly, many Jewish groups opposed the boycott. The American Jewish Committee, Bnai B’rith, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Company, all feared that if they endorsed the boycott, they would lose the support of the American government. Instead, these organizations focused their efforts on loyalty to President Roosevelt’s policy in an attempt to not be seen as “drag[ging] America into a German conflict.” A prominent leader in the Jewish community, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, originally did not support the boycott for the first seven months Hitler was in power. Thankfully, Samuel Untermyer, a successful Wall Street financer and noted advocate for Yiddish-speaking Russian Jews, persuaded Wise to change his mind.[2]These Jewish leaders show us today the importance of persistence in uniting a community to fight inhumanity.

The Voyage of St. Louis

           Another famous Jewish activist effort to rescue Eastern European Jews was the voyage of St. Louis[3]in 1939.[4]This voyage was organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Company in an attempt to gain entry into Cuba for the 930 refugees aboard.[5]Unfortunately, the passengers were denied access to Cuba, the United States, and Canada. Through diligent work done by the JDC the passengers were eventually granted entrance to Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Although the refugees lived to see another day, those in continental Europe were eventually caught in German invasions; 245 passengers from the voyage were ultimately killed in the Holocaust.[6]

Rabbi Wise and the AJC

           In August 1942, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the most prominent leader of the Jewish community and a member of the American Jewish Congress, received a letter from a representative of the World Jewish Congress in Switzerland. The contents of the letter described Hitler’s meticulous goal to wipe out all Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. Wise, who was unwaveringly loyal to the Roosevelt administration, immediately brought it to the attention of the State Department. He was told to keep the letter to himself until further notice from the government. For three months, Wise kept the information private (although some historians dispute this but have little evidence to back up their claims) while awaiting approval from the government.[7]No matter his motives, three months passed by, and the public continued to be unaware of the extent of atrocities in Eastern Europe. Three months of wasted time, that could have been used for lobbying the government with facts regarding systemic murder. In my opinion, the hesitation to publish the evidence of the Holocaust was a miscalculation. I understand that in order to gain credibility Rabbi Wise wanted to wait for verification of the authenticity of the letter. However, with millions of lives at stake, and previous knowledge of the mass murder of Jews, I believe Rabbi Wise should have taken the risk and published the letter in an effort to shed light on the evil of the Nazis. He chose to wait, and it proves the fear many Jewish leaders had of defying the President.

           As influential the work of the AJC (American Jewish Congress) was, they chose to silence the voices of American Jews, in order to protect the Roosevelt administration. Their view was that activism would be more effective if handled behind closed doors. They believed if the public were to protest or voice their opinions on the blockage of Jewish refugees, their movement would dissolve into chaos. They actively approached rabbis and implored them not to speak about the Holocaust during their sermons. They refused to sponsor rallies that were organized to bring attention to the need for rescue in Europe. They also stood by Roosevelt’s decision not to accept Jewish refugees in times of crisis.[8]It is shocking for me to learn that this important Jewish organization chose to silence the community they represented over upsetting the government. Even though Roosevelt’s administration showed complete uninterest in Jewish rescue, even at times veiled anti-Semitism, the AJC stayed loyal to them. The failure of the AJC to choose their people over their president was a mistake, one that gave up the opportunity to make more of a difference and possibly save lives.

The Bergson Group

           The Bergson Group was an important activist group for Jewish rescue at the time of the Holocaust. This group faced opposition from the AJC due to their attempts to lobby the Roosevelt administration for a rescue campaign of the Jews in Eastern Europe. It is now public knowledge that the Bergson Group played a pivotal role in the establishment of the War Refugee Board, the American agency responsible for Jewish rescue in 1944. The Bergson Group also helped save over 200,000 refugees from Nazi occupied territory, by funding the rescue mission of Raoul Wallenberg in Budapest. The Bergson Group was very vocal and active in gaining support among Jews and non-Jews alike.[9]They never stopped fighting for rescue action even in the face of an unsympathetic government. Though few records of the Bergson Group’s efforts exist, they have finally gained their rightful place in history as saviors during the Holocaust.

Hollywood and Hitler:

           In an attempt to keep access to German markets open, many Jewish Hollywood executives catered to the anti-Semitic regime in Germany by refraining from producing any anti-Nazi films and even replacing their Jewish representatives with non-Jews. The intentions of this Jewish community seemed to be cold and uncaring of the fate of their heritage being wiped out in Eastern Europe. The human aspect of systemic murder was lost on this influential group, who could have turned the platform of film into an important tool for activism. The Jewish film-making community let go of an important opportunity that could have saved lives and instead turned their backs on their brothers and sisters abroad, for personal gain.[10]

[1]Medoff, Rafael. 2016. “American Responses to the Holocaust: New Research, New Controversies.” American Jewish History, no. 3: 379. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.459349939&site=eds-live&scope=site.

[2]Medoff.

[3]Medoff.

[4]United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Voyage of the St. Louis.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louisAccessed: May 7, 2019.

[5]Medoff.

[6]United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

[7]Medoff.

[8]Medoff.

[9]Medoff.

[10]Medoff.

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Cover of the Contemporary Jewish Record an important Jewish American Journal during the Holocaust: 

Note how the contents specifically address Hitler. Jews were speaking out on the atrocities but only their own communities were avid readers.

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In time a man learns to eat his dinner sitting on a garbage dump. Right now the world is a garbage dump, and a man who is not under it has to eat if he wants to keep going.

Albert Halper (a famous Jewish literary figure) and his reaction to the Holocaust.

 Sourced From: Norich

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American Jewish Culture: The Literary Communities’ Reaction

After learning about the crisis of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe, and trying to understand the reasons the American general population showed little support to those persecuted by the Nazis, I must ask; How aware were American Jews of the situation overseas, and what was their reaction at the time? To understand the American Jewish reaction some knowledge of the Jewish culture of the time needs to be had. Jews who had emigrated from Eastern Europe before the war, or to escape the growing anti-Semitism, brought with them the language of their heritage. Yiddish was the main form of communication of the Jewish population from Eastern Europe and a strong signifier of their culture. As time went on, Jews (especially those who were born in America) began to adapt to English, diversifying the culture away from their “old country” roots. The Jewish culture in general has very strong ties to academia stemming from the commitment to Torah study. This academic tendency led to the publication of many Jewish journals in English and in Yiddish, providing lasting evidence of the knowledge the Jews had of Hitler’s actions and their reactions toward it.[1]

           Firstly, it is important to note that many scholars believed that “American Jewry” was “rooted in the air,” meaning that the culture was not truly grounded by location or by its people. Yiddish was still a factor keeping Jews tied to each other and to their heritage, but as assimilation to American trends and standards grew more popular, Yiddish would begin to disappear, only remembered by deeply isolated sects and as a language of historical and cultural study. Yiddish has become the most direct connection to the European Jewry that was wiped out by Hitler. The common nostalgic view of “true yiddishkeyt” (immersion in Jewish culture) that disappeared from Europe due to the Holocaust has also mostly disappeared from modern America and is only acknowledged now as a preservation of the destroyed roots of an ancient heritage. From the study of old Jewish journals, it has been found that no single culture bonded all Jews in America. There was a combination of responses from those of Jewish heritage; chosen language, political affiliation, and religious commitment all altered individual responses to the actions of the Nazis. One thing is clear; Any person who picked up a journal focusing on Jewish issues from 1938-1944 would have been fully aware of the atrocities occurring in Europe.[2]

           The Contemporary Jewish Record took careful steps to ensure they reported on news from around the world in their publications. It started as early as September of 1938 when they reported on the large numbers of homeless refugees who were not being taken in by other countries, to September of 1939 when they reported that 358 patients were killed in a Jewish hospital bombarded by German forces. They published the terrifyingly escalating conditions for Jewish safety straight from Polish sources in early 1940, stating: “There is no parallel to the brutalities which are being inflicted on Jews in this region.” Jewish journals made an extensive effort to keep their readers aware of the fate of their brothers across the ocean. Although the acknowledgement of the horror was there, little political action seems to have been affected. Jewish scholars insisted in their writings on the need to preserve the Jewish culture and create an environment that could welcome refugees. This is most clear in Yiddish literature, the contents of which focused on the mourning and consolation of Jewish survivors. This may have been the key to the death of Yiddish as it became a “yortsayt kultur” (a culture that commemorated deaths). In English-language Jewish journals, the response to the Holocaust varied in an extreme way. After the war many Jewish writers, who wrote in English, shied away from speaking about the Holocaust and even felt alienated from their Jewish culture. After experiencing the annihilation of millions of their people overseas, many felt as though their pasts had been lost and sought an existential understanding of the events that unfolded. A sense of survivor guilt spread across the more assimilated Jews, while a deep sense of despair echoed through Yiddish writings. However, the attitude that the Holocaust had changed the meaning of being Jewish permeated through all Jewish groups.[3]

[1]Norich, Anita. 1998. “`Harbe Sugyes/Puzzling Questions’: Yiddish and English Culture in America During the Holocaust.” Jewish Social Studies 5 (1/2): 91–110. doi:10.2979/JSS.1998.5.1-2.91.

[2]Norich

[3]Norich

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From the shores of Coney Island, Looking out into the sea, Stands a kosher air-raid warden, Wearing V for victory, Who chants: Let those Christian saps, go fight the Japs, In the uniforms we made. So, it’s onward into battle, Let us send the Christian slobs, When the war is done and Victory won, All us Jews will have their jobs.

A Parodied Marine Hymn. Sourced From: Wyman, 11

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America and their Jewish Attitude

American Policy Regarding the Jews:

The climate in the United States from 1933-1941 was one of restriction. Many Americans opposed allowing refugees into the country. Fearing that more immigrants would take the jobs of Americans was the main argument in their call to limit Eastern Europe immigration. As the Jews and others who were persecuted by the Germans attempted to flee, America kept their borders tightly shut and instituted very strict quotas. American nativism was thriving and fueling the xenophobic fears of Americans toward refugee “outsiders” entering the country. As the war raged on in Europe many bills were brought before Congress in an effort to enlarge the quotas for refugee entry; all were shut down. A poll in 1943 showed that 78% of Americans believed allowing more Eastern European refugees fleeing the war into the country would be a “bad idea.”[1]

American Anti-Semitism and Propaganda:

America was known at the time as a humanitarian country which aimed to help the less fortunate and intervene in the maltreatment of others by a corrupt government. Why then did America refuse to acknowledge the atrocities happening in Eastern Europe by their largest enemy and refrain from taking any measures to save the Jews from their Nazi oppressors? The answer is quite simple: Wide-spread anti-Semitism. In a series of popular opinion polls taken from 1938-1946, it was shown that Jews were perceived as “greedy and dishonest” by over half of the American population. Separate surveys from 1938-1945 showed that 35-40% of the American population would  approve of an anti-Jewish campaign. With such a strong negative opinion of the Jews, it was easy for anti-Semites in Congress, such as, Representative John Rankin, to exploit such hatred and block legislation that could help Jewish refugees, and spout hate speech calling certain Jews “that little kike.” In the early 1940s anti-Semitic propaganda flooded the nation, with magazines such as The Cross and the Flag, supported by preacher Gerald L.K. Smith. Anti-Semitic sentiment spread across the country, stating that Jewish boys refrained from joining the ranks of the war effort and would stay on the home front to steal patriotic young mens’ jobs. This hateful rhetoric led to outbreaks of violence and vandalism against Jews and their property in North Eastern metropolises like New York and Boston from 1941-1944.[2]While the Jews in Europe faced mass annihilation, the Jewish population in America faced the desecration of their synagogues, cemeteries, and stores while their children were beaten by school-yard bullies in the name of anti-Semitism.

[1]Wyman, 6-9

[2]Wyman, 9-15

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The entrance to Auschwitz extermination center. Meaning: “Work sets you free.”

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Background of the Holocaust

In order to begin to understand the American Jewish population’s reaction to the mass execution of their kin in Eastern Europe, it is important to realize the scope of the Nazis’ extermination plans. The process began in 1941when the Nazis decided to invade Russia. As troops entered the USSR and began to fight the Soviets, trailing closely behind was a special force called the Einsatzgruppen; their directive was to exterminate the Jewish population in the Nazis’ newly occupied territory. From June through December 1941 roughly 500,000 Jews were rounded up and murdered in mass shootings carried out by the Einsatzgruppen. The atrocity in Eastern Europe did not stop there. The Einsatzgruppen provided a second sweep of their USSR occupied territory, ending in 1942 with the extermination of 900,000 more.[1]

The targeted murders in soviet territory were only the beginning of the meticulously planned extermination of the Jewish people in Eastern Europe. At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, German officials mapped out what they would call “the final solution to the Jewish question.” From 1941-1944 the Nazis poured immense resources into six specially designed “extermination centers.” Along with the mass deportation of millions of Jews, this caused the Germans to divert necessary equipment and money for the war effort into an imperative of Jewish annihilation. Although the Germans were facing a labor shortage of four million people by 1944 ,the Germans were willing to weaken themselves in the war in order to carry out their priority goal: the Final Solution.[2]

From 1942 through 1944 approximately three million Jews were murdered in the extermination centers the Nazis built in Poland. Killed by firing squad, starvation, illness, suffocation in specially built carbon monoxide “gas chambers,” and a myriad of other atrocities. I would like to take a moment of silence to honor those who were killed and respect the fortitude of those who survived. I will remember the names of the places where the innocent were murdered: Chelmno, Belzec, Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibor, and Auschwitz.[3]May we mark the name of Adolf Eichmann, who was responsible for the meticulous extermination, for retribution. May we never forget the blind eye America turned toward the Jewish people as they faced annihilation. May we never allow this to happen to any people ever again.

[1]Wyman, David S. The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941-1945. (1984) Random House Inc. (pages 3-4)

[2]Wyman,  4-5

[3]Wyman,  4-5