FDR and the Holocaust

            The early 1940s was a rough period of time throughout the world. Amidst a social and ethnic purification in Germany, millions of Jews, Gypsies, mentally handicapped, and more were put to death because of their religious beliefs or physical “shortcomings.” Concentration camps were used for mass murders and slave labor. The conditions in these camps were horrid, and many died not by execution, but by the dreadful standards of living at these camps. Disease and starvation were also rampant among the prisoners. The German’s best kept secret, very few outside the Nazi regime were aware of the atrocities that occurred at these death camps.

            Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, FDR was re-elected for his third term. One of the privileged few who knew about the death camps, FDR had the ability to stop these death camps by simply bombing the railroad tracks that took prisoners to the camps. It was well known that FDR was anti-Semitic, but it was still shocking to American citizens when it was revealed that, despite prior knowledge, nothing was done to stop the flow of prisoners into the camps. Some believe that FDR did not get involved because of strong anti-Jewish beliefs on the home front. He did not want to go against the public beliefs, so he decided not to act.

            Along with ignoring the death camps, FDR would often order immigration officers to not allow in Jewish immigrants who escaped persecution in Europe. In 1939, the SS St. Louis docked in Cuba, filled with Jewish immigrants. However, they were not allowed entrance into the United States and were forced to return to Germany. Known as the “Voyage of the Damned,” the SS St. Louis was forced to return back to Germany, where all but 365 of its passengers were executed. At first, FDR allowed Jewish immigrants to flee to the United States, but only in small numbers. By the time he had stopped, over 100,000 had emigrated to the United States. However, while knowing of the camps, he suddenly disallowed all emigrations to the United States by refugee Jews.

Despite his political prowess in office, FDR made some very critical errors during his presidency. Due to his ignorance of the Jewish plight in Europe, over 6 million were executed. These numbers could have been drastically reduced had he taken action to stop them. Unfortunately, he did not want to be looked at badly by the public eye, and did nothing. For his lack of action, he will be forever remembered not by his political successes, but by his critical flaws.

By: Yotam and Jonas