Khanna 1

Nav Khanna
Mr. Hawkins
World History-P, Period 1
March 21, 2016

The Holocaust was a devastating point in our World History, where one man started the
genocide of the Jewish race killing over 6 million of them. While all of this occurred in Germany
and elsewhere in Europe, some people wonder what the United States was doing at the time. At
first the U.S. did not make the right choice and limit immigration and would not let in as many
Jews as they should have. Later on this was changed and immigration became normal. Franklin
Roosevelt was horrified about the Holocaust and did his best to put an end to it. The United
States government was also asked many times to intervene and destroy death camps.

Immigration during the Holocaust for the U.S. was a huge issue. Beginning in 1940,
the United States further limited immigration by ordering American consuls abroad to
delay visa approvals on national security grounds. (Evidence 1) Very few Jews got to get
in. This was because the Great Depression caused people to look for a scapegoat which tended
to fall on anti semitism amongst other things. There was also another law passed in 1924 which
stated that immigration should be restricted. Later on, America changed this rule. In 1941, 45%
of all immigrants to the United States were Jewish. (Evidence 1) More than 200,000 Jews
found sanctuary in America. Immigration eventually stopped when Hitlers Final Solution
began. A few weeks later, on December 17, the United States, Great Britain, and ten
other Allied governments issued a declaration denouncing Nazi Germany's intention to
murder the Jews of Europe. The declaration warned Nazi Germany that it would be held
responsible for these crimes. The United States began to make the Jews problem their
problem as well defending them and promising that they would pay for their sins

Khanna 2

During the Holocaust, President Roosevelt was also going through some problems of his
own. At this time, America was going through the Great depression. All of hitlers crimes in
Germany where just adding up on a list of issues for Roosevelt and Roosevelt had always
viewed the Nazis as a threat to America. As persecution of Jews in Germany intensified
during the 1930s, however, Roosevelt did not include among his priorities an effort to
respond to the growing refugee problem that Nazi policies created. (Evidence 2) He did
not do as much as he should have to help refugees to seek sanctuary in the U.S. and felt that
his personal problems were more important. When he finally decided to solve the problems of
the growing number of refugees, he decided to not let in all of the immigrants. After Nazi
Germany initiated World War II by invading Poland, Roosevelt, like many government
officials and ordinary Americans, suspected that refugees from German-controlled
Europe were potential Axis spies, who would provide intelligence to the enemy and who,
if permitted to settle freely in the United States, would serve as a fifth column in the
event of a German or Japanese invasion. Jewish refugees were particularly vulnerable to
this perception because they were presumed to (and often did) have relatives under
German control whose lives could be used as incentive for them to spy. (Evidence 2)
There were some cases where Jews would be threatened with the lives of their families and
would be forced to become spies and Roosevelt feared that if he were to let in all of the Jewish
refugees that he would accidentally let in spies. Later on a policy was passed that began to
restrict immigration. After the entry of the United States into the war in December 1941,
Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill determined that the number one
Allied priority was to win the war, and that this was the best method to rescue Jews and
other victims of the Axis powers. (Evidence 3) Roosevelts previous policy was lifted and
began to take in all of the Jews. However, the U.S. did not make it a bug priority to save civilians
behind enemy lines.

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The United States did not know what to expect when they heard about Hitlers Final
Solution or to kill all of the Jews from Gerhart Riegner. The State Department decided that
the information passed on by Gerhart Riegner was nothing more than a "fantastic" war
rumor. (Evidence 3) Gerhart Riegner As more information about the Holocaust began to
reach America, the State Department tried its best to make sure that people did not find out
about the Final Solution. They even proposed a ban on information from Europe which lasted
two months. After the State Department confirmed reports that Hitler was planning to
murder all the Jews in territories under German control, several American Jewish leaders
including Rabbi Stephen Wise managed to arrange an audience with President
Roosevelt. (Evidence 3) This was the only meeting Roosevelt had with Jews about the
Holocaust. In this meeting the Jews explained the exact plans of the Nazis to exterminate the
European Jewish population. After the meeting Roosevelt did little to try and change. As the
Nazis began deporting Jews from Hungary to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland,
requests to bomb the deportation railways were sent to the United States. In line with its
undeclared policy not to aid in the rescue of refugees, the War Department routinely
turned down requests to bomb deportation railways. (Evidence 3) As said before the
United States never made it their priority to save all of the civilians.

In conclusion, the United States did not do as much as they should have during the
Holocaust. They did not let in many jewish refugees, they did not try to save many civilians
behind enemy lines, and tried to keep information from the public.