Jordyn Libow
Holocaust Essay
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president of the United States, he immediately made a good impression on Americans, leading him to be the longest serving president of the United States. He was a great orator and very appealing to the common many; he strived to inspire everyone and to be fair to all. He created the new deal, with numerous programs that helped the people who were hit the hardest from the depression, in order to hopefully to bring America back to its previous state of superior economics. However, Roosevelt’s genuine concern for the people affected and grandiose efforts to reverse the Great Depression were unfortunately not paralleled in his efforts, or lack thereof, in regards to the Holocaust or to helping the people affected by it. America barely got involved with the Holocaust, while there were actions that they undoubtedly could have taken to at least try to lessen the horrific effects. While it is evident that FDR was a successful, accomplished president, his lack of efforts towards the Holocaust are definitely not considered among his achievements; he refused Jewish refugee immigration and declines andy call for help and took minimal efforts to help the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, even though he had adequate knowledge on the atrocious truths of the event and realities of the camps.
Some claim that the US was not really aware of how bad the Holocaust was and therefore it shouldn’t have been their job to get involved, however it is evident through documentation that Franklin Delano Roosevelt knew about all of the tragic events and dehumanization that the Jews were being forced to suffer through. On November 9-10th, 1938, Nazis increased their persecution, discrimination, and outright abuse towards the German and Austrian Jewish people, which was known as Kristallnacht, or the “Night of the Broken Glass.” Over just a few hours, 815 shops, 171 homes, and 76 synagogues were destroyed. 36 Jews were murdered, and 36 more were severely injured. About 20,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This is the utter affliction that FDR knew about, but continued to allow occur. The day after Kristallnacht, Missy LeHand, Roosevelt’s private secretary received a letter from a longtime FDR adviser Benjamin V. Cohen, which reiterates an urgent message from Rabbi Stephen Wise, a prominent leader of the American Jewish community describing first hand reports of Kristallnacht. Cohen says in the letter, “Just received authentic information that German situation is far worse than you know from press stop. Not supposed to reveal details in cable stop, among arrested Jews scores murdered…I thought I should bring it to the president’s attention, although I imagine that he has already received much more detailed information from the state department.” This both suggests that FDR should have been passed on this information from his secretary, but he also should have likely already heard about this from many other connections. It was highly possible that he was notified of Kristallnacht from many different sources. While this was one of the first major times FDR was made aware of the dangers of the Holocaust, it certainly wasn’t the last. Throughout the war, he received information about the Nazis doings to the Jews from many people, including the State Department, Treasury Department, his personal network of informants, and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). On March 17, 1943, he received a report from the OSS regarding a further upsurge in Nazi violence, which stated, “The new Nazi policy is to kill Jews on the spot rather than to deport them to Poland to face extermination there.” As shown, he was given many very specific updates on the progress of the Holocaust, the horror of which should have been enough to inspire him to help out the victims and try to stop the perpetrators.
Even when Jews reached out to America and Roosevelt for help, advice, and possibly hospitality, the United States did not even come close to welcoming them with open arms. On May 13, 1939, 3 months prior to WWII, the SS St. Louis, which was a ship containing 937 German Jews trying to flee Nazi persecution in Germany with the destination of Cuba. Unfortunately, the Cuban government decided to change their policy that let other ships successfully make the same journey and no longer let refugees enter. The ship’s passengers cabled the White House for assistance, but they were referred to the State Department, demonstrating the US government’s lack of priority for this issue. The next year, FDR stated in a news conference that he thought there was a possibility that the Jewish refugees could be Nazi spies and that when the US came into the war, Roosevelt’s government placed more importance in military victory than saving the Jewish people's lives. This is selfish behavior and a lame excuse for why FDR didn’t want to let the Jewish people in. Some say that the US couldn’t handle the influx of Jewish immigrants, and this was certainly a valid concern during the Great Depression. However, some private organizations and altruistic people had made it clear that they were definitely willing to support Jewish refugees. America’s refusal to accept Jewish immigrants prior to the war was was justified, however it was no longer accounted for once war broke out and they knew of Hitler’s awful intentions. The federal government did not even have to increase immigration quotas. They just should have filled the ones already in place. However, instead of this simple act of aid, the government surrenders to the anti-Semitic beliefs of many Americans and Congress. Roosevelt, many claimed, was more concerned with getting reelected than with the humanitarian needs of endangered Jews.
In addition, if not just lending a helping hand for the Jews who escaped and had nowhere to go, some argue that the US could have taken much more aggressive actions to help all of the victimized Jews. The military definitely could have used a multitude of strategies to stop or somewhat decline the progress of the murdering at Nazi concentration camps. US pilots could have bombed the rail lines transporting the Jews from concentration camp to concentration camp, or in other words to their deaths. In 1944, Jewish leader Jacob Rosenheim wrote to Henry Morgenthau, Franklin Roosevelt’s secretary of the treasury, “This slackening of the process of annihilation could be achieved by paralyzing the rail-road traffic…through which the deportation-trains pass… By such a procedure, precious time would be won and thousands of human lives preserved." In fact, US bombers were ordered to bomb factories only the distance of a few miles away from Auschwitz, though they were told to ignore the concentration camp. If only the US had taken military action against Auschwitz, camps would be inoperable, sparing a vast amount of Jewish lives. To continue the horrific genocide, Nazis would have to go through a lot of trouble, using up precious time and resources, diverting them from their military campaign against Allied forces.
Even an ineffective effort to stop the murdering of the Jews in the concentration camps would be a powerful symbol, representing their opposition to the Holocaust. The US is one of the most developed, strong, and powerful democracies of the world, and because of this they had the moral obligation use everything they have to try and put a halt to the disgusting, dehumanizing tragedy that was the Holocaust. Instead, the US, lead by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ignored any notifications of the terrible progression of murdering and slaughter during the Holocaust and made zero strong efforts to end the Nazi persecution. FDR outright hindered all efforts to aid Jewish refugees by not accepting immigrants, even after he heard of the Nazi plan to exterminate all the jews in Europe. It is evident that the US government simply lacked the political will to make the Jewish slaughter crisis a high priority. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s reputation as a president should surely be tarnished due to his lack of efforts to slow down or halt the extermination of Jews during the Holocaust, as well as his refusal of escaping German Jewish immigrants, despite his evidential knowing of all of the abominable discrimination that occurred during the Holocaust.