What America's World War II leadership knew about Auschwitz
With everything going on in Geneva, I ignored most of the Holocaust Remembrance Day stories on Tuesday. This one deserves some attention. It's the story of a 19-year old who disclosed to those who were willing to listen what was going on at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. A lot of Americans still believe that their government did all that it could do to save European Jewry during World War II. Sadly, that's not the case. There were also Israelis who could have done more to save European Jewry and did not, but that's another story.
Another copy of Vrba's Auschwitz Protocols was given to Rabbi Michoel Dov Weissmandl, a rescue activist in Bratislava, who then wrote the first known appeal for the use of Allied air power to disrupt the mass murder. Weissmandl's plea to the Allies to bomb the railroad lines between Hungary and Auschwitz reached the Roosevelt administration in June.Read the whole thing.
Assistant secretary of war John McCloy responded that the request was "impracticable" because it would require "diversion of considerable air support essential to the success of our forces now engaged in decisive operations." He also claimed the War Department's position was based on "a study" of the issue. But no evidence of such a study has ever been found by researchers. In reality, McCloy's position was based on the War Department's standing policy that no military resources should be allocated for "rescuing victims of enemy oppression."
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Another copy of Vrba's Auschwitz Protocols was given to Rabbi Michoel Dov Weissmandl, a rescue activist in Bratislava, who then wrote the first known appeal for the use of Allied air power to disrupt the mass murder. Weissmandl's plea to the Allies to bomb the railroad lines between Hungary and Auschwitz reached the Roosevelt administration in June.
Assistant secretary of war John McCloy responded that the request was "impracticable" because it would require "diversion of considerable air support essential to the success of our forces now engaged in decisive operations." He also claimed the War Department's position was based on "a study" of the issue. But no evidence of such a study has ever been found by researchers. In reality, McCloy's position was based on the War Department's standing policy that no military resources should be allocated for "rescuing victims of enemy oppression."
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:13 PM
3 Comments:
An interesting deal would have been to stop allied bombing of German cities in exchange for stopping the Holocaust. There would have needed to be verification. I don't believe anyone proposed it then or that I know of since.
The point is the Americans knew but saving Jewish lives wasn't an American national interest. Today the same is true with Iran. Despite all that Ahmedinejad said this week, America is still intent upon pursuing appeasement with the mullahs. But Jews today can take independent action to safeguard their future. That is the entire point of having a Jewish State.
America knew, this is not in dispute, but so did American Jews.
The American Jewish community which has made an industry of the Holocaust was to quote Medoff, Was "Deafeningly Silent".
We can blame American pols, the pope and other shits, but if America's Jews were too busy praising the New Deal or whatever, we can't point fingers.
When Federations devote much time and money on their Holocaust Memorials, do they ever discuss the protests and the telegrams they didn't send, do they post articles from their newspapers frome 42-45 condemning the Bergsonites? Do they publish photos of their brunches in praise of FDR.
When we say never again, do we mean it?
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