Many people often ask if the Allies knew about the persecution of Jewish people and whether they could have done something to stop it. While information did reach the Allies about these acts little action was taken to stop it.
Information was easily attainable before World War II as many countries had journalists and other sources of media stationed around the world, this was also the case in Germany. However once the war began all journalists were forced to leave Germany and so information was harder to obtain. This resulted in the Allied Forces knowing very little about what the Nazis were doing inside their own country to political prisoners and other prisoners of war. The knowledge that the mass murder of Jewish people was happening did not reach the Allies until 1942 when a spy in Poland managed to take the information to England. It wasn’t until later in 1942 that this information reached the public when the American Government contacted Jewish religious leaders in America.
The Allies did not respond very quickly to the information provided by the polish information and it wasn’t until January 1944 that the War Refugee Board was established. Its primary function was to receive reports
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Resources were put forward in military combat but not for Refugees. Some public groups pushed for their government to admit more refugees but Britain said it would only admit a very small number and the United States accepted no Refugees at all. The United States refused boats with Refugees to arrive in America and they were sent back. Public groups protesting for rescue of the political prisoners in Germany were dismissed and the governments always insisted that there weren’t enough resources to transport refugees. The Allied command also insisted that their aircraft were not able to destroy railways or camps because they couldn’t fly far enough or be accurate