The Abandonment Of The Jews
Encyclopedia
The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, published in 1984, is a book by David S. Wyman
, former Josiah DuBois professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wyman is currently the chairman of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
, turned down proposals that could have saved hundreds of thousands of European Jews from death in German concentration camps; for example, by refusing asylum to Jewish refugees and by failing to order the bombing of railway lines leading to Auschwitz
. In the same time, most Jewish leaders in America and in Palestine
did almost nothing to pressure these governments to change their policy. Some American newspapers, including the New York Times, are said to have under-reported or buried reports off their front pages, and not just for reasons of anti-Semitism, as the Times was owned by Jews, who may have wanted to not appear as Jewish advocates in their coverage.
Wyman examines the documents suggesting that the U.S. and British governments turned down numerous proposals to accept European Jews. The issue was raised at a White House
conference on March 27, 1943 of top American and British wartime leaders, including President Roosevelt, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull
, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
, presidential advisor Harry Hopkins
, and the British Ambassador to Washington, Lord Halifax
. Hull raised the question of having the Allies offer to accept 60,000 to 70,000 Jews from Bulgaria, a German ally.
Wyman writes that, because of a combination of anti-Semitism and an unwillingness to act on any proposal not of direct strategic value, thousands and possibly million of Jews died who might otherwise have been saved.
remains unresolved.
) note that large number of Jews were saved and argue that even more could have been saved.
and William D. Rubinstein represent this school of thought.
David Wyman
David S. Wyman is the author of several books on the responses of the United States to Nazi Germany's persecution of and programs to exterminate Jews....
, former Josiah DuBois professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Wyman is currently the chairman of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.
Wyman's Argument
The Abandonment of the Jews argues that American (and British) political leaders during the Holocaust, including President RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, turned down proposals that could have saved hundreds of thousands of European Jews from death in German concentration camps; for example, by refusing asylum to Jewish refugees and by failing to order the bombing of railway lines leading to Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
. In the same time, most Jewish leaders in America and in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
did almost nothing to pressure these governments to change their policy. Some American newspapers, including the New York Times, are said to have under-reported or buried reports off their front pages, and not just for reasons of anti-Semitism, as the Times was owned by Jews, who may have wanted to not appear as Jewish advocates in their coverage.
Wyman examines the documents suggesting that the U.S. and British governments turned down numerous proposals to accept European Jews. The issue was raised at a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
conference on March 27, 1943 of top American and British wartime leaders, including President Roosevelt, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during much of World War II...
, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
, presidential advisor Harry Hopkins
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
, and the British Ambassador to Washington, Lord Halifax
E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, , known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, during which he held several senior ministerial posts, most notably as...
. Hull raised the question of having the Allies offer to accept 60,000 to 70,000 Jews from Bulgaria, a German ally.
Wyman writes that, because of a combination of anti-Semitism and an unwillingness to act on any proposal not of direct strategic value, thousands and possibly million of Jews died who might otherwise have been saved.
Counter-arguments
Wyman's arguments have been challenged by other researchers, most notably by James H. Kitchens III, and by William D. Rubinstein, whose book The Myth of Rescue: Why the Democracies Could Not Have Saved More Jews from the Nazis argues that the Western powers had a creditable record of accepting immigrants and that effective allied action against the Extermination Camps was not possible. The Auschwitz bombing debateAuschwitz bombing debate
The issue of why Auschwitz concentration camp was not bombed by the Allies during World War II continues to be explored by historians and Holocaust survivors....
remains unresolved.
Examples where Jews were saved from the Axis countries
On the other hand, many historians (e.g. Dr. David KranzlerDavid Kranzler
Professor David Kranzler was a researcher and historian specializing in those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. He was born in Germany on May 19, 1930. To avoid imminent danger from the Nazis, his family fled to the United States in 1937...
) note that large number of Jews were saved and argue that even more could have been saved.
- For example the Papal Nuncio's intervention in 1942 was a key factor in stopping the deportation trains from Slovakia for about two years.
- Protection papers handed out from SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
by Jewish rescuers George MantelloGeorge MantelloGeorge Mantello, born György Mandl or Mandel was a Jewish diplomat who, while working for the Salvadoran consulate in Geneva, Switzerland, saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by providing fictive Salvadoran citizenship papers and rescued tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands...
and Recha SternbuchRecha SternbuchRecha Sternbuch , a Swiss woman of Polish heritage, an important Holocaust era Jewish rescuer.Recha Sternbuch was the wife of Yitzchak Sternbuch, a businessman in Montreux, Switzerland...
saved large numbers. - Rabbi Solomon SchonfeldSolomon SchonfeldRabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld was a British rabbi who is heralded as one of the most remarkable, yet least known of the Holocaust heroes.Schonfeld studied at the yeshiva in Nitra, Slovakia...
arranged refuge for many hundreds of Jews in Britain. - In the USA persistent pressure on the Roosevelt administration by Hillel KookHillel KookHillel Kook , also known as Peter Bergson , was a Revisionist Zionist activist, politician, and prominent member of the Irgun.-Early life:...
and his rescue group led to establishment of the War Refugee BoardWar Refugee BoardThe War Refugee Board, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1944, was a U.S. executive agency created to aid civilian victims of the Nazi and Axis powers...
. One if its actions was support of the Wallenberg mission to Budapest. David Wyman and Rafael Medoff credit the War Refugee BoardWar Refugee BoardThe War Refugee Board, established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in January 1944, was a U.S. executive agency created to aid civilian victims of the Nazi and Axis powers...
with the rescue of over 200,000 (including 120,000 in Hungary, in part because of the Wallenberg mission). - Twenty four hours after receipt George MantelloGeorge MantelloGeorge Mantello, born György Mandl or Mandel was a Jewish diplomat who, while working for the Salvadoran consulate in Geneva, Switzerland, saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by providing fictive Salvadoran citizenship papers and rescued tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands...
publicized what has now been called the Wetzler-Vrba ReportVrba-Wetzler reportThe Vrba-Wetzler report, also known as the Vrba-Wetzler statement, the Auschwitz Protocols, and the Auschwitz notebook, is a 32-page document about the German Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland during the Holocaust...
included in the Auschwitz ProtocolVrba-Wetzler reportThe Vrba-Wetzler report, also known as the Vrba-Wetzler statement, the Auschwitz Protocols, and the Auschwitz notebook, is a 32-page document about the German Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland during the Holocaust...
. This triggered a major grass roots protest in Switzerland, with about 400 glaring headlines protesting against Europe's barbarism and its Dark Age in the twentieth century. Publication of the report also triggered Sunday sermons in Swiss churches expressing deep concern over the fate of Jews and there were various street protests. This led to Churchill, Roosevelt and other world leaders threatening Hungary's ruler Horthy, who stopped the transports carrying 12,000 Jews a day to Auschwitz. - The lull in deportations enabled the Wallenberg mission and also rescue by many others in Budapest, such as Carl LutzCarl LutzCarl Lutz was the Swiss Vice-Consul in Budapest, Hungary from 1942 until the end of World War II. He helped save tens of thousands of Jews from deportation to Nazi Extermination camps during the Holocaust. He is credited with saving over 62,000 Jews...
, Monsignor Angelo Rotta, Giorgio PerlascaGiorgio PerlascaGiorgio Perlasca was an Italian who posed as the Spanish consul-general to Hungary in the winter of 1944, and saved thousands of Jews from Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.-Early life:...
, the Spanish legation, the Zionist Youth Underground in Budapest and "put rescue in the air" empowering ordinary citizens to act on behalf of the remnant of Hungary's Jews. - After controversial negotiations between Rudolf KastnerRudolf KastnerRudolf Israel Kastner was a Jewish-Hungarian journalist and lawyer who became known for facilitating the departure of Jews out of Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust...
and Adolf EichmannAdolf EichmannAdolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
, a train carrying some 1,700 Hungarian Jews was sent to Bergen-BelsenBergen-Belsen concentration campBergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
concentration camp in return for money and gold and freed at the end of 1944. - There were many other successful rescue initiatives and also many more which some argue could have succeeded if Churchill and Roosevelt had received more public pressure. With ships packed with refugees, such as the St. Louis and refugee ships headed for Palestine were turned back it is difficult to make a case for the thesis that rescue was not possible. (References to books and views on various Web pages, for example David KranzlerDavid KranzlerProfessor David Kranzler was a researcher and historian specializing in those who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. He was born in Germany on May 19, 1930. To avoid imminent danger from the Nazis, his family fled to the United States in 1937...
, Hillel KookHillel KookHillel Kook , also known as Peter Bergson , was a Revisionist Zionist activist, politician, and prominent member of the Irgun.-Early life:...
, Chaim Michael Dov WeissmandlChaim Michael Dov WeissmandlChaim Michael Dov Weissmandl was a rabbi and shtadlan...
).
Impossibility of greater effective rescue
There are noted Holocaust historians who have a different view, and state that rescue was not possible. Gerhard WeinbergGerhard Weinberg
Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of World War II. Weinberg currently is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a member of the...
and William D. Rubinstein represent this school of thought.