How Did The Holocaust Affect America

After the Holocaust (1930-1940’s), America underwent a drastic cultural and social change. The Holocaust, although occurred overseas sent shock waves through American culture, changing the way we lead our daily lives. America was drastically changed in the wake of the tragic events that transpired in Germany. The Holocaust, although being an international event, had a profound impact on American Culture, affecting its stance of interventionism, and our willingness to bring certain immigrants to our country. The widespread immigration to America that followed the Holocaust also provided a jolt to our culture, as the immigrants provided new facets of our society. To fully understand how the Holocaust affected America, a more general understanding

This is because during the Holocaust, America had restrictive immigration policies in place, which made it difficult for Jewish immigrants to come here for safety. We had a quota restriction in place that only allowed 25,957 Germans to enter the country each year (History.com). As a result of the Great Depression, the government became even more restrictive on immigration, as they wanted to ensure that the people that are already here would be helped. This is made evident by the fact that in 1932 the United States issued only 35,576 immigration visas (History.com). That is not for just the Germans that is total. So at a time where millions of people were going under prosecution, and were being slaughtered by the masses, the American government turned a blind eye, and did very little to help. There was also public support to restrict immigration of persecuted Jews. This public support stemmed from a growing sense of nativism, and anti-Semitism (history.com). As the Holocaust went on, the Government eventually eased some of the restrictions put in place, allowing more people to come over. This was too little, too late though, as millions had already been killed, and many were still unable to emigrate. Had American immigration policy not been so restrictive, the Holocaust may have not been as

Even though Jewish Americans make up less than 3% of the country's people, their impact and significance has been substantial. Jews were sympathetic to the plights of the Blacks, because they felt similar persecution, so they marched with Dr. King (forward.com). Henry Kissinger is a diplomat and political scientist who came to America to flee Nazi persecution. He later served as National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State. He helped to formulate American foreign policy during the “Cold War” (nobelprize.org.). Jewish scientist Albert Einstein came to America, because of the rise of the Nazis in Germany. He is regarded as one of the premier minds in history, and his work is still vital today (nobelprize.org.) Michael Kuritz came to the US from Hungary, and went on to direct “Casablanca”, which is often regarded as one of the greatest films of all time (imdb.com). Robert Capa was a Jewish immigrant to America, who is credited with redefining war photojournalism. He is also credited with creating the idea of grouping together generations by name (Generation X), (icp.org). Jews have had a profound effect on our culture, whether it is scientifically, politically, artistically, or cinematically. As Vice President Joe Biden stated “The truth is that Jewish heritage, Jewish culture, Jewish values are such an essential part of who we are that it’s fair to say that Jewish heritage is American