America And The Holocaust: An Analysis

In 1937, a 17-year-old German Jew named Kurt Klein immigrated to the US to escape the growing discrimination against Jews that had become a terrible fact of life following Hitler's rise in 1933. Together with his brother and sister, who had emigrated previously, Klein worked to establish himself so that he could obtain safe passage for his parents out of Germany. America and the Holocaust uses the tale of Klein's struggles against a wall of bureaucracy to free his parents to explore the complex social and political factors that led the American government to turn its back on the plight of the Jews. In 1938, American society had its own political, social, and economic problems, including a long-standing, and rising anti-Semitism. Despite stories coming from Europe about a campaign to

More than 100 anti-Semitic organizations blanketed the US with propaganda blaming Jews for all America's ills. Businesses discriminated against Jews, refusing them jobs. Signs at private beaches bore the words "No Jews or Dogs allowed" and certain hotels and housing developments proudly proclaimed themselves "Restricted." Even the government was not immune from anti-Semitic sentiments. While the Klein’s were struggling to obtain visas from the American consulate, the State Department ordered its consuls to stall the process. But for Kurt Klein and other German-American Jews with relatives overseas, patience was a commodity they couldn't afford. By the end of 1941, the Nazis had murdered half a million Jews. Although trains regularly headed to fully operational killing centers by the spring of 1942, the "final solution" was still a well-guarded secret. That summer the State