America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference takes a look back at the Holocaust and how American leadership responded during this time.

Years before Ken Burns explored the U.S. and the Holocaust in a multi-part documentary series, Martin Ostrow did the same in a feature-length episode of American Experience. Ostrow’s exploration of America’s deceit and indifference first takes a look at Kurt Klein‘s story. He immigrated to America in 1937 but his parents stayed behind at the time. The Nazi campaign to force Jews out of Germany had progressed to a climax by 1938 with Kristallnacht.

Klein mentions how both him and his siblings left Germany first. They were hoping to establish themselves to where they could afford to help their parents come over. In the nation’s capital, President Franklin D. Roosevelt blasted the Nazis. Jewish-Americans held rallies in support of their European brethren. But would the president do more than just issue statements? The American consulate was besieged in November 1938 to where it wouldn’t be another 2.5 years before they could immigrate to America. It was an unfortunate downside of the American immigration laws after the Immigration Act of 1924. Doors were largely closed because of the depression.

Newcomers needed an American sponsor promising that immigrants would not become a public charge. Otherwise, they would not be allowed to obtain a visa for entrance. The Klein children took whatever jobs they could get in hopes of bringing their parents to America.

In as much as antisemitism was bad in Germany, it wasn’t much better in the US. Ruth Fein and Sophie Weinfeld discuss their experiences with employment. Weinfeld mentions what happened after she told her employer that she didn’t attend a church. A 1939 Roper poll reported that 53% felt Jews are different and should be restricted, 39% felt that Jews should be treated like everyone else, and another 8% didn’t know. Jews were restricted in so many ways.

America and the Holocaust points out that one government agency where antisemitism was terrible was the State Department. They were a major factor in controlling immigration and allowing passengers off of boats. One boat whose passengers tried to find a haven in the US was the SS St. Louis. Unfortunately, the ship was forced back to Europe and many passengers ended up being murdered during the Holocaust. America did whatever it could to postpone the granting of visas. Kurt Klein’s parents were among those who were declined visas.

“The State Department probably had a greater degree of antisemitism than others, particularly in the immigration section,” said former Treasury Department employee Edward Bernstein. “Their attitude was, ‘If we’re patient, we find that the problems of the Jews in Germany are not really life-threatening.'”

Britain restricted immigration to what was then British Mandatory Palestine. It wasn’t good news for Jews trying to leave Europe, especially with America having already closed its doors. Had American immigration been better, maybe more Jews would have survived. When FDR campaigned for his 1940 re-election, he didn’t promise help for Jewish refugees. Despite this, he received 90% of the Jewish vote. The American policies made it difficult for Klein to understand why his parents couldn’t join their children.

As 1941 gave way to 1942, things would become progressively worse. America and the Holocaust explains that Kurt Klein’s parents were able to book passage on a ship in December 1941. However, their visas had yet to be approved by America. America finally entered the war as a result of Pearl Harbor. Back in Germany, the Nazis were transporting Jews to the east.

Rabbi Stephen Wise received a letter from another contact in London with the bad news. The fact that the State Department suppressed the news from Gerhart Reigner is just all the more infuriating. Rather than alert Rabbi Wise, they chose to put pieces together slowly. It was upsetting while watching the Ken Burns doc and it was no less upsetting while watching Against the Tide. By November 24, 1942, Rabbi Wise went public at a press conference, reporting on the Nazi plans to exterminate the Jews of Europe. Around the same time, Kurt Klein was drafted into the U.S. Army.

Klein’s parents were reported to an unknown destination in Europe two and a half months before the State Department finally decided to issue visas. Rabbi Wise met with the president but the president’s response was not as strong as it could have been. Jewish activists–including Peter Bergson, the subject of Moriah Films’ Against the Tide–took it upon themselves to take action. Bergson recruited Ben Hecht into his efforts as was Congressman Will Rogers Jr. The congressman recalls some of the ads purchased in order to spread awareness.

“He wrote simple, direct, declarative sentences that went straight to the point,” Rogers Jr. recalls. “The Ben Hecht ads did more than any single event to stimulate the Americans that wanted to save Jews to save the Jews.”

The campaign soon moved from the newspapers pages to the stages, starting with the star-studded performance of We Will Never Die in New York. The production went on tour throughout the US, including an invite-only crowd in Washington, DC. The ads and productions were pivotal in forming an outcry. Both the American and British governments sent a delegation to Bermuda. The conference didn’t go as hoped since they couldn’t come to a decision. The Jewish community had their hearts broken.

“It made us feel, once and for all, that all was lost,” recalls Arnold Forster, a longtime attorney who worked for the ADL.

Jan Karski had been an agent for the Polish government in exile. He met with President Roosevelt in 1943 to discuss efforts. Unfortunately, British and American leaders rejected any pleas for action.

Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau was a Jewish member of FDR’s cabinet. Morgenthau uncovered the State Department’s obstruction.  Meanwhile, 400 Orthodox rabbis arrived in the capital days before Yom Kippur to present a petition to the president. The petition called for the establishment of a special government agency. Unfortunately, mainstream Jewish leaders opposed these efforts and the petition was ignored. This didn’t stop the Bergson Group from finding legislators willing to file legislation. Rep. Rogers Jr. was one of those who sponsored legislation. Back at Treasury, Morgenthau’s staff discovered the shocking information about licensing.

Why didn’t the administration move rapidly? Rogers Jr. felt they were tangled up elsewhere and couldn’t deal with saving Jews. Under-Secretary of State Breckinridge Long lied about the number of Jews who were brought to America. It only got worse from thereon out when Treasury consulted with the British. It turns out that there was a fear of Jews being released. Beyond that, information about extermination was actively being suppressed. The Treasury report indicting the State Department was presented at the White House in January 1944. Days later, Executive Order 9417 created the War Refugee Board. David Wyman explains that it was a convergence of two fronts that forced FDR into action.

Kurt Klein describes his memories of what he saw late in the war as Americans were liberating Volary, in Czechoslovakia. “What greeted me inside was a scene of utter devastation.” It was upon liberating Volary that Klein met the woman who would become his wife, Gerda Weissmann Klein. In 1946, Klein received word that his parents were deported to Auschwitz.

America and the Holocaust touches on a number of things that the Ken Burns documentary touches on–except for various recollections, it doesn’t present anything that we didn’t already know. Of things not featured in the Burns doc, the main thing it brings to the table is Kurt Klein’s story. Towards the end, the film discusses the one proposal to bomb the railroad lines at Auschwitz. Oil refineries were targeted instead. America could have and should have done better.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Martin Ostrow
NARRATOR: Hal Linden
FEATURING: Kurt Klein, Herbert Katzki, Harvey Stoehr, Viola Bernard, Arnold Forster, Ruth Fein, Sophie Weinfeld, Arthur Hertzberg, Edward Bernstein, John Pehle, David S. Wyman, Will Rogers Jr., Max Lerner, Leona Zarsky, Jan Karski

PBS aired America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference as part of American Experience on April 6, 1994. Grade: 4/5

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