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The Florida Holocaust Museum: History, Heritage and Hope Permanent Exhibition

U. S. Response to the Holocaust

Many German and Austrian Jews tried to go to the United States, but could not obtain visas. Americans remained reluctant to welcome Jewish refugees, even though news of the violent pogrom of November 1938 was widely reported. With the Great Depression draining the American economy, many Americans believed that refugees would compete with them for jobs and overburden social programs set up to assist the needy.

Politics & Compassion

America's elected officials were well aware of the many atrocities that were being committed by the Nazis. Public opinion, however, would dictate the U.S. government's actions for many years. Antisemitism, isolationism, and economic fear kept the United states from doing more to help those who were persecuted in Europe's population.

It has not been easy for us Americans to adjust ourselves to the shocking realities of a world in which the principals of common humanity and common decency are being mowed down by the firing squads of the Gestapo.
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, October 30, 1941

When Franklin Roosevelt took the oath of office in March of 1933, the United States was in the midst of the worst depression in its history. A strict quota system limited entry of immigrants to the United States according to their country of origin. American law at the time did not include any special provisions for admitting refugees fleeing persecution, so after the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, German Jews were denied entry unless they met the strict quota.

Antisemitism in the U.S. reached a peak between 1938 and 1945. Sixty percent of Americans polled in the 1930s thought Jews had "objectionable qualities," nearly half believed Jews had "too much power" in the United States, and as many as 10 percent said they would sympathize with an antisemitic campaign. The country favored a position of neutrality and isolationism.

It was this atmosphere that so deeply affected the action (or inaction) of the American government at the time. While it seems clear to many that the United States should have done more to save Europe's Jewish population, it is unknown how the majority of Americans would have responded to such an effort.

The US was not alone in its reluctance to let Jews emigrate. President Franklin D. Roosevelt organized the international Evian Conference on the shore of Lake Geneva in France to discuss the refugee crisis, and although 32 nations attended, little was accomplished. Only Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic were willing to accept Jewish refugees, and then only because they were paid reparations to do so.

Listen to Arthur Meier describe his family’s struggle to emigrate to the United States in 1939 in the clip above.

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NYC March, 1933
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was Secretary of the Treasury for President Franklin Roosevelt, and was also a close friend and trusted advisor. The highest-ranking Jewish member of the administration, he was often critical of the government's lack of action regarding the fate of Europe's Jewish population. He once observed that "... when you get through with it, the [State Department's] attitude to date is no different from Hitler's attitude." In 1944, after receiving a report outlining the complacency of the U.S. government regarding the murder of the Jews, he convinced FDR to establish the War Refugee Board, which would eventually be responsible for saving the lives of more than 200,000 people in the closing months of the war.
Roosevelt's Cabinet, 1933
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, an American reform rabbi and Jewish political leader who was a strong proponent of the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. As early as 1942, Wise met with President Roosevelt to report the existence of the Final Solution. One of the founders of the World Jewish Congress, Rabbi Wise was present at the Bermuda Conference in 1943 and presented "A Program for the Rescue of Jews from Nazi Occupied Europe," which included a six-point plan which included an agreement by Great Britain to open Palestine for Jewish refugees. Unfortunately, division in the American Jewish community led to Rabbi Wise's inability to present a strong, unified voice to the government.
Audio File 125 - US Response to the Holocaust
Jews March in Chicago