Eva Lassman Memorial Writing contest: The Holocaust: The American Response and Its Options

Jesse R Scholz, a sixth-grader at North Pines Middle School, won second place in the middle school division of the Eva Lassman Memorial Writing Contest. Here is his essay:

Introduction

The Holocaust refers to an event from January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, to May 1945 when the war in Europe officially ended. The Holocaust is when Jews, disabled people, and others that were thought to be inferior to the Aryan race were killed by being gassed, burned to death, starved and other means.

Social

In World War I, newspapers where fooled into thinking that atrocities were happening in Europe, so during World War II they were more cautious about reporting such things. World War II newspaper writers were careful about what was put in the newspaper because they did not want to give false or misleading information. Most Americans didn’t learn about the Holocaust until Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s press conference on Nov. 24, 1942, but it still was back-page news. Many Americans thought “charity begins at home,” so they did not think that helping people from other countries was a priority. Because of the Great Depression, Americans did not want immigrants to come to their country and possibly take their jobs. The stereotypes of Jews were not favorable. One such stereotype was that Jews controlled banks, and other financial institutions and influenced society through financial means. Father Charles E. Coughlin and William Dudley Pelley promoted anti-Semitism, a form of racism, in the United States. Jewish groups pushed back by having rallies and pageants presenting the problems in Europe to the American public.

Economic

Americans thought we lacked the resources to accommodate immigration. America was coming out of the Great Depression, and Americans remembered how hard it was to feed their families because of the lack of jobs. It was because of their fears that quotas were put on immigration. The number of immigrants allowed into the United States was limited from 25,957 German citizens in the 1920’s to only 35,576 immigrants from all countries in 1932. People were afraid immigrants would take their jobs or become a burden to the country. If an immigrant was lucky enough to be a part of the number allowed, they needed a sponsor who had to sign an affidavit of support, so the immigrant would not be a burden to the government.

Political

The State Department was headed by Breckinridge Long who was influenced by anti-Semitism, and slowed down the immigration of European Jews. The State Department objected to plans to allow Jewish immigrants here and obstructed the Treasury Department from licensing organizations dedicated to bringing Jews to America. Under President Roosevelt two meetings were held to discuss the problem of the immigration of European Jews. The first conference was the Evian Conference held in France on July 6-15, 1938. At that conference, no country wanted to take in the immigrants, so nothing was done. The second meeting was the Bermuda Conference which was held April 19-30, 1943. The decision of this conference was that the war needed to be won, then the fate of the immigrants would be decided at that point. Also during this time, the Wagner-Rogers Child Refugee Bill was introduced in the United States Congress, however the bill failed. Roosevelt encouraged other countries to take in the Jews, while deflecting criticism of U.S polices of not taking refugees. Finally, the War Refugee Board was established in 1944. This was a first step, but the board was unable to influence other departments to help disable or destroy concentration camps.

What America could have done

The United States could have increased the number of immigrant quota to allow refugees into the country. The immigration process could have been streamlined for refugees by giving them preferred status, or not required a sponsor for financial support. There was a time when Roosevelt threatened Germany about war crime prosecution. The United States could have created economic sanctions or a blockade, putting “teeth” into the threat. When the Allied Powers ceded the Sudetenland to Germany, it was known that the Jews were being expelled. At that time, a deal could have been made securing the safety of the people. The War Refugee Board could have been given more power, to allow it to coordinate with other departments to bomb concentration camps. Newspaper could have let the public earlier when it became public that there were death camps in Europe. When it was found that Breckinridge Long was keeping information from President Roosevelt, he could have been fired for withholding the information. In 1942, when the United States joined the Allies, it is estimated that two million people were already killed in concentration camps. If the United States had pushed any of these solutions, it is possible that many more people could have been saved.

Conclusion

We learned from the Holocaust, what people can do to each other. We found that there are people that follow orders without question; that ordinary people can do terrible things. We also learned that people are also capable of doing good things too. Inaction is what is the enemy of us all. Genocides have occurred since the Holocaust: Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, and Cambodia. We must not be silent.