Complex social and political factors shaped America's response to the Holocaust, from Kristallnacht in 1938 through the liberation of the death camps in 1945. For a short time, the U.S. had an opportunity to open its doors, but instead erected a "paper wall," a bureaucratic maze that prevented all but a few Jewish refugees from entering the country. When do you think the government should have become involved in helping the Jews and what should it have done? What were the factors that prevented the government from helping Jewish refugees enter the country?
21 comments:
I believe that as soon as the anti-semitism became extreme in countries under Nazi regime that the US should have stepped in. As a prominent country who stood as a haven for those oppressed by authority, America should have stuck by their morals and made immediate action to help the Jews. Instead they did that exact opposite. Instead of trying to help the Jews or just remaining neutral, the US made it almost impossible for Jews to immigrate. This made me extrememly angry. My great-grandfather and his brother were the only ones in their family that were able to migrate from Lithuania to New York during the Holocaust. Due to financial reasons and the strict imigration regulations, the rest of the family was stuck in Lithuania. Out of a large family, only about four of them survived and their extended family now lives in Israel. My uncle made a website www.gitkind.com, that documents all of this.
I think the U.S. should have helped the Jews a lot sooner than they did. Jews were treated horribly even before Krystallnacht in 1938. U.S. should have opened their doors to Jews before that terrible night. However, letting in thousands of people is not as easy as it seems. American government officials have to put Americans first when it comes to making laws. They were concerned with job availability and other economic and population problems. The U.S. made laws also based on discrimination. They should have helped Jews, especially Jewish children. If they had, they could have saved millions of lives.
I think the us government should've gotten involved sooner then they did but the reason I think they didn't was because they didn't want to go to war with Germany like France and Poland did especially cause World War One just ended not too much earlier. Also there were groups of Americans that agreed with hitler and what he was doing which probably put a hault on the Americans going to Germany as well.
I think that the United States government should have become involved as soon as it was brought to their attention that Jews were being treated unfairly. We saw in the film that what was happening in Europe was very well-documented in the US newspapers, and clearly the US knew how severe it was becoming and to how popular anti-semitism was becoming. I believe that the US could have stopped the Nazis by allowing Jews to enter their country and not creating a wall. The factors that prevented them from doing this could be the fear of a significant rise in population, which could ultimately lead to less jobs and less resources.
The government should of been involved helping Jews a lot sooner then they werebecuase the U.S knew what was happening to them and I am shocked they allowed that to happen. That was a horrible thing they did, they watched Jews lives be ruined and did very little. The U.S should at least allow more Jews in the country then they did and at least give them a place to go. Even though it will cost them money, they can't just sit there and watch people being killed. The reason why the U.S government hesitated to bring Jews in was because they feared them taking American jobs. That may be true but it is in humane to let them die.
I believe that the United States government should have allowed Jews to come into the country as soon as they have learned how extreme anti-semitism became. I understand that allowing Jews into the country meant that it would cost more money and would have cost Americans jobs, but that is no where as important as thousands of lives. However, I do think that other countries could have gotten involved to help give the Jews a place to go. I understand that this is a complicated manner for the U.S because the government has to look at the best for Americans and then decide what the best plan of action is.
I think that the American government should have stepped in immediately after they discovered the severity of the anti-semitism. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of innocent lives could have been saved if America had allowed more and easier immigration for those who needed to escape the Nazi's. It made me incredibly sad and angry to see the way that the United States went about rejecting the majority of the immigrants. I think that America should have assisted the Jews much earlier than they did.
Personally, I think the government should take necessary paths to helping the Jewish refugees and provide them shelters. Looking at what Hitler has done to the innocent Jewish refugees, I felt so angry and upset about the government’s actions. Why should the government prevent all but a few Jewish refugees from entering the country? American government should step in and really think about how much the Jewish refugees have suffered in Germany. Most Americans did not recognize the moral imperative of Jewish immigration and they view that Jewish refugees will hinder the development of economy. For example, many Americans feared that needy immigrants would take precious jobs and placed added strain on the already burdened economy. At this time, the United States came out of the worst economic depression and jobs were scared and Americans did not compete with cheap foreign labors. American government was also afraid that Jewish power would overwhelm in the United States.
I believe that the United States should have began helping the jews the minute they learned about what was happening to them by Germany. I was really surprised about the amount of antisemitism and how quickly it spread within the United States. I believe this is what prevented the Jews from entering the United States the most. The American people continued to make it harder and harder for the jewish to enter until it was nearly impossible. The US should have tried to eliminate anything that supported anti-Semitism as well as making attaining a visa much easier.
The U.S definitely should have opened its doors and helped the Jews sooner considering they were fighting against the Jews' main oppressors. Although the U.S was not aware of the extent that Jews were being discriminated, I think they should have simplified the immigration process for Jews so that they could have a place of refuge. It seemed like the U.S was indifferent to the Jews' situation. They did not go through any measures to truly help them, but they were not physically discriminating them like in Nazi Germany.
What were the factors that prevented the government from helping Jewish refugees enter the country?
The government should have become involved in helping the Jews as soon as Jews tried to immigrate to America and other lands. They should have realized there was a problem in Germany that they could help solve. They should have done something before hearing the reports about the atrocities committed by the Nazis. What the government should have done is lower their restrictions on immigration and let Jews and other refugees into the country. They could have been given at least some form of work, no matter the pay, that would not take away too much from then-current Americans while helping the Jews. They especially should not have turned away the ship carrying the Jewish children.
There was a growing sense of antisemitism that played a role in preventing the government from helping the Jews because the leading officials felt pressured to help keep the Jews out. This illuminates the idea that people tend to ignore people when they need help because they think it is not their problem; a genocide is the problem of the whole world and not just an individual country and people should help others when they ask for it because being human is all about helping others and treasuring life.
I think that the US government should of helped soon as they were aware of what was going on. I know that they were probably afraid of the outcome of what would happen to them , but no one ever deserves to be left helpless. I was appalled at how the U.S just watched it happen, especially because we "always try to help everyone." We are like the police of the world now a days but in these circumstances we let other countries control what we should do. Because of this terrible decision of not helping the jews tons of people lots their lives. A lot of these people could have been saved and had a much better life but we chose not to help soon enough.
I was really surprised that the United States did not help the situation sooner. restricting immigration and not letting the Jewish people in left many people hopeless and to die. I believe the United States should have also done something about the Nazis within America a lot sooner than they did. Letting something continue and being a bystander does not solve the problem itself. I believe if you think something is morally wrong you should try to fix it as soon as you can.
I think that the United States government should have intervened on behalf of the Jewish people as soon as the extremity of Anti-Semitism was realized. Even before the violence against the Jews in Germany began, there were clearly laws enacted to restrict them; it should have been clear to the US government that the Jewish people needed help. The American government struggled to let people in not because of money, but because of the Anti-semitism in the US. It wasn't as present as it was in Germany, but there was still racism in America. Another problem they had was the sense of nativism and Americans wanting to keep immigrants out of America. However, people should have stepped up and advocated for the Jews because it could have saved thousands of lives.
The country was not eager to help the Jews because not only were the citizens anti-Semitic, but they were also anti-immigrant. People were upset that immigrants were "taking jobs" away from the American people for decades so they instilled a set of very strict immigration laws to prevent entry. The US should have instituted an exception for the Jews who were seeking refuge, especially the ones on St. Louis who basically made it here. Other countries were resistant for similar reasons. Most countries were anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and were not looking to change their minds just yet. I think the government should have allowed more Jews to be able to have entry visas into the country instead of being picky and limiting the amount because the Jews needed refuge; they weren't just entering to "steal jobs" away. It was even worse that what was happening was well-documented in the US because then people were purposely ignoring the issue.
I think that the idea of antisemitism prevented the goverment from helping. During thst time period it was not just Germany that disrespected the Jews. As we saw in the film, the Jews had no where to go, including amaerica. I think that even though the majority of the population haed the Jewish race, the goverment shoud have helped them becuase america was all for protecting rights and decacracy, and In Germany thier rights were being taken away.
The Government should've started helping the jews after Kristallnacht, it should've let more German Jews into the country instead of restricting their access. Although the people of the US would not have liked it, it would've been better for the world. I understand why the US shut its doors, but they should've opened their doors for jews because it was the right thing to do.
I think that as soon as Kristallnacht occurred, the government should have immediately pushed to change its immigration policies. Before that night, people had only heard the Nazis condemn the Jews. It was simply a lot of talk. But, after "the night of the broken glass," it suddenly became reality. The entire world could see the actions that the Nazis were taking actions against the Jewish race. I think that at that point, there is no question the US government should have done something. Roosevelt himself condemn the Nazis actions, but he took no action against the Nazis - mainly because of public opinion. The US government was scared of going against the public opinion, which was heavily anti-semitic in the 1930s. I think the public opinion was the main factor that barred government action.
I think that the US government prevented Jews from entering in an attempt to maintain a neutral opinion throughout Europe. The US lead by Roosevelt who condemned the Nazi ways from the start should have immidiately taken action, but did not because of the effect it would have on his reputation due to the public opinion. Even in the US many people agreed with many Nazi policies. TheUS should have got involved as early as possible because that would have been the only way to put a stop to the Nazi acts. After Kristallnacht it was almost too late too put an end to the madness. The US needed to get into the action much earlier, and Roosevelt's fear of the public was the main factor that the US did not.
I think that the U.S government should have tried helped the jews as soon as antijewish laws were passed in Germany. As soon as peoples freedom of religon was beening surpessed it should have been the duty of the American government to allow any and all jews immigrants passage into America or atleast not limit the immigration to such a large extent.I understand that they were trying to remain neutral and that there was antisemitisism at the time but the American governement should have look passed it and helped out a people in need.
I was absent for this class.
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