The Holocaust and the United States
Resources for the Holocaust and the United States
View the below resources for more information on the topics covered in the three-part docuseries The US and the Holocaust by Ken Burns.
To access the electronic books, you need to be on campus and logged into MyNWACC. If you are off campus, log in with your NWACC username by clicking on My Library Account and then View Your Library Account. The physical monographs are in the NWACC Library and are available to be checked out.
- U.S. Policy During World War II: The Anti-Nazi Boycott
On March 27, the AJCongress and its allies convened simultaneous protest rallies at Madison Square Garden in New York, in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and 70 other locations. Broadcast worldwide, the New York rally had an overflow crowd of 55,000 in the streets outside and inside the Garden where AJCongress president Bernard Deutsch, American Federation of Labor president William Green, Senator Robert F. Wagner and several Christian clergy called for an immediate cessation of the brutal treatment being inflicted on German Jewry. - 1939: When Jewish refugees were turned away
Upper East Side Chabad commemorates 80 years after the St. Louis ship from Germany was denied entry to Cuba, the U.S. and Canada. - The United States and the Refugee Crisis, 1938-41 | The Holocaust MuseumBetween 1938 and 1941, there was a refugee crisis in response to Nazi Germany’s increasing antisemitic persecution and territorial expansion. Though many Americans were sympathetic to the plight of Europe’s Jews, the majority did not want to see an increase in immigration, nor did they want to see the United States become involved in World War II.
- America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference
In 1937, 17-year-old Kurt Klein emigrated to the U.S. to escape the growing discrimination against Jews following Hitler’s rise in 1933 and then worked to get his parents out of Germany. The film uses the tale of Klein’s struggles against a wall of bureaucracy to explore the complex social and political factors that led the American government to turn its back on the plight of the Jews. - Protesting Nazism | The Holocaust MuseumAmerican Jewish leaders hoped to persuade the US government to condemn the Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany but disagreed on strategy and tactics. Some favored public demonstrations and a boycott of German goods, but others advocated working quietly behind the scenes, perhaps concerned about an antisemitic backlash in the United States.
- Reporting on the TimesReporting on the Times is a short documentary film inspired by Laurel Leff's award-winning book Buried by the Times. The film explores how The New York Times handled reports of the Holocaust during World War II. It also investigates why The Times, a Jewish owned newspaper, buried more than one thousand articles in its back pages. Through interviews and testimony of a Holocaust survivor, historians, and New York Times journalists, Reporting on the Times encourages audiences to reevaluate America's reputation as "The Great Liberator." The film also asks viewers to consider the power of the press in creating change.
American Intolerance (eBook) by
Contrary to popular belief, the poor and huddled masses were never welcome in America. Though the engraving on the base of the Statue of Liberty makes that claim, history reveals a far less-welcoming message. This comprehensive survey of cultural and racial exclusion in the United States examines the legacy of hostility toward immigrants over two centuries. The authors document abuses against Catholics in the early 19th century in response to the influx of German and Irish immigrants; hostility against Mexicans throughout the Southwest, where signs in bars and restaurants read, "No Dogs, No Negros, No Mexicans"; "yellow peril" fears leading to a ban on Chinese immigration for ten years; punitive measures against Native Americans traditions, which became punishable by fines and hard labor; the persecution of German Americans during World War I and Japanese Americans during World War II; the refusal to admit Jewish refugees of the Holocaust; and the ongoing legacy of mistreating African Americans from slavery to the injustices of the present day. Though the authors note that the United States has accepted tens of millions of immigrants during its relatively short existence, its troubling history of persecution is often overlooked. President Donald Trump's targeting of Muslim and Mexican immigrants is just the most recent chapter in a long, sad history of social panics about "evil" foreigners who are made scapegoats due to their ethnicity or religious beliefs.
ISBN: 9781633884489Publication Date: 2018-10-23
Buried by the Times (eBook) by
An in-depth look at how The New York Times failed in its coverage of the fate of European Jews from 1939-45. It examines how the decisions that were made at The Times ultimately resulted in the minimizing and misunderstanding of modern history's worst genocide. Laurel Leff, a veteran journalist and professor of journalism, recounts how personal relationships at the newspaper, the assimilationist tendencies of The Times' Jewish owner, and the ethos of mid-century America, all led The Times to consistently downplay news of the Holocaust. It recalls how news of Hitler's 'final solution' was hidden from readers and - because of the newspaper's influence on other media - from America at large. Buried by The Times is required reading for anyone interested in America's response to the Holocaust and for anyone curious about how journalists determine what is newsworthy.
ISBN: 9780521812870Publication Date: 2005-03-21
The Diary of a Young Girl by
This definitive edition, featuring a new translation, is the diary as Anne Frank wrote it, containing entries about her burgeoning sexuality and confrontations with her mother that were cut from previous editions. Frank's diary is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century.
Call Number: DS 135 .N6 F73313 1995ISBN: 0385473788Publication Date: 1995-02-01
FDR and the Jews (eBook) by
Nearly seventy-five years after World War II, a contentious debate lingers over whether Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned his back on the Jews of Hitler's Europe. Defenders claim that FDR saved millions of potential victims by defeating Nazi Germany. Others revile him as morally indifferent and indict him for keeping America's gates closed to Jewish refugees and failing to bomb Auschwitz's gas chambers. In an extensive examination of this impassioned debate, Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman find that the president was neither savior nor bystander. In FDR and the Jews, they draw upon many new primary sources to offer an intriguing portrait of a consummate politician-compassionate but also pragmatic-struggling with opposing priorities under perilous conditions. For most of his presidency Roosevelt indeed did little to aid the imperiled Jews of Europe. He put domestic policy priorities ahead of helping Jews and deferred to others' fears of an anti-Semitic backlash. Yet he also acted decisively at times to rescue Jews, often withstanding contrary pressures from his advisers and the American public. Even Jewish citizens who petitioned the president could not agree on how best to aid their co-religionists abroad. Though his actions may seem inadequate in retrospect, the authors bring to light a concerned leader whose efforts on behalf of Jews were far greater than those of any other world figure. His moral position was tempered by the political realities of depression and war, a conflict all too familiar to American politicians in the twenty-first century.
ISBN: 9780674050266Publication Date: 2013-03-19
Guarding the Golden Door by
The federal government's efforts to pick and choose among the multitude of immigrants seeking to enter the United States began with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Conceived in ignorance and falsely presented to the public, it had undreamt of consequences, and this pattern has been rarely deviated from since. As renowned historian Roger Daniels shows in this brilliant new work, America's inconsistent, often illogical, and always cumbersome immigration policy has profoundly affected ourrecent past.Immigration policy in Daniels' skilled hands shows Americans at their best and worst, from the nativist violence that forced Theodore Roosevelt's 1907 "gentlemen's agreement" with Japan to the generous refugee policies adopted after World War Two and throughout the Cold War. And in a conclusion drawn from today's headlines, Daniels makes clear how far ignorance, partisan politics, and unintended consequences have overtaken immigration policy during the current administration's War on Terror.Irreverent, deeply informed, and authoritative, Guarding the Golden Door presents an unforgettable interpretation of modern American history.
Call Number: JV 6483 .D354 2004ISBN: 9780809053438Publication Date: 2004-01-15
Poland and the Holocaust in the Polish-American Press, 1926-1945 (eBook) by
Contrary to the common notion that news regarding the unfolding Holocaust was unavailable or unreliable, news from Europe was often communicated to North American Poles through the Polish-language press. This work engages with the origins debate and demonstrates that the Polish-language press covered seminal issues during the interwar years, the war, and the Holocaust extensively on their front and main story pages, and were extremely responsive, professional, and vocal in their journalism. From Polish-Jewish relations, to the cause of the Second World War and subsequently the development of genocide-related policy, North American Poles, had a different perspective from mainstream society on the causes and effects of what was happening. New research for this book examines attitudes toward Jews prior to and during the Holocaust, and how information on such attitudes was disseminated. It utilizes selected Polish newspapers of the period 1926-1945, predominantly the Republika-Gornik, as well as survivor testimony.
ISBN: 9781476670522Publication Date: 2020-07-09
The United States and the Nazi Holocaust by
The United States and the Nazi Holocaust is an invaluable synthesis of United States policies and attitudes towards the Nazi persecution of European Jewry from 1933 right up to the modern day. The book, which includes 20 illustrations, weaves together a vast body of scholarly literature to bring students of the Holocaust a balanced, readable overview of this complex and often controversial topic. It demonstrates that the United States' response to the rise of Nazism, the refugee crisis it provoked, the Holocaust itself, and its aftermath were-and remain to this day-intricately linked to the ever-shifting racial, economic, and social status of American Jewry. Using a broad chronological framework, Barry Trachtenberg navigates us through the major themes and events of this period. He discusses the complicated history of the Roosevelt administration's response to the worsening situation of European Jewry in the context of the ambiguous racial status of Jews in Depression and World War II-era America. He examines the post-war decades in America, and discusses, over a series of chapters, how the Holocaust, like American Jewry itself, came to move from the margins to the very center of American awareness. The United States and the Nazi Holocaust considers the reception of Holocaust survivors, post-war trials, film, memoirs, memorials, and the growing field of Holocaust Studies. The reactions of the United States government, the general public, and the Jewish communities of America are all accounted for in this integrated, detailed survey.
Call Number: D 804.45 .U55 T73 2018ISBN: 9781472567185Publication Date: 2018-02-08
World War II, 1939-1946 (eBook) by
Defining Documents in American History:World War II, 1936-1947 Provides readers with a new, interesting way to study the impact of World War II on American history. Through in-depth analysis of important primary documents from 1936 to 1947, readers will gain new insight into the causes, issues and lasting effects of this pivotal time in American history. This title offers a broad range of historical documents on important authors and subjects in World War II research. Written by historians and experts in the field, this resource examines a wide array of primary source documents with an in-depth critical analysis. Articles begin by introducing readers to its historical context, followed by a description of the author's life and circumstances in which the document was written. Defining Documents in American History: World War II is centered on the following themes: US in World Politics & the Causes of WWII American Participation in World War II Daily Life of a Soldier & Military Conditions Daily Life of a Soldier & Military Conditions Military Preparation and much more! A historical timeline and bibliography of important supplemental readings will support readers in understanding the broader historical events and subjects in the period. An introduction for each of the major subjects covered in the title considers the significance of document analysis for students and educators.
ISBN: 9781619257375Publication Date: 2015-08-30
