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REACTION TO
THE
HOLOCAUST IN
THE AMERICAS
OLIVIA GABEHART
HEYJIN KIM
JESSICA LORD
UNITED
STATES
ADMISSIONS OF
IMMIGRANTS INTO U.S
• US State Department policies made it very difficult for
refugees to obtain entry visas
• The new American attitude was influenced by the
economic hardship brought on by the Depression, which
intensified a sense of isolationism and xenophobia
• The number of entry visas was limited by the
Department's implication of a restrictive Immigration Law
passed by the US Congress in 1924
• Despite many obstacles, however, more than 200,000
Jews found refuge in the United States from 1933 to 1945,
most of them before the end of 1941
PUBLICATION OF GENOCIDE
WITHIN AMERICA
• During the era of the Holocaust, the American press did
not always publicize reports of Nazi atrocities in full or
with prominent placement.
• As the magnitude of anti-Jewish violence increased in
1939-1941, many American newspapers ran descriptions
of German shooting operations, first in Poland and later
after the invasion of the Soviet Union.
• However, the ethnic identities of the victims were not
made clear and it was placed on the page 6 of the
newspaper.
RESCUE
•During World War II, rescue of Jews and others targeted by Nazi
Germany was not a priority for the United States government. Nor
was it always clear to Allied policymakers how they could pursue
large-scale rescue actions in Europe.
•Because of pressure from the public, U.S. and British
representatives resulted on the “Final Solution” conference in
late 1942 to find solutions to wartime refugee problems.
•Neither government initiated rescue programs and no
significant proposals emerged from the conference.
•After increasing pressure from the public, as well from Treasury
Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Roosevelt issued the order to
establish a War Refugee Board directly under the order of the
president and funded by the president’s emergency fund.
•By the time this War Refugee Board was established four-fiths
of the Jews that would be killed in the Holocaust were already
dead.
OPVL!
by the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S
OPVL: ANSWERS
O: the origin is this is a poster issued by the Jewish War
Veterans of the U.S., calling for a boycott of German goods.
P: The purpose is to show the Americans that were trying to
help those being affected by the Holocaust. From overseas,
the most the public could do was boycott German goods, to
hurt German industry.
V: The value of the source is to show historians how the
public wanted to help the victims of the Holocaust.
L: The limitation of the source is that it is very biased
towards rescuing the Jews, due to the fact that Jewish War
Veterans published it.
CANADA
CANADA’S REACTION
TO THE HOLOCAUST
Anti-Semitism
• Anti-Semitism (racial hatred toward Jews) originated from the
German propaganda
• Frederick Blair, the director of the Immigration Branch until
1943, was extremely anti-Semitic and established stricter
immigration laws to limit the number of Jews coming into
Canada (“one is too many”)
• The Canadian Union of Fascists spread anti-Semitism
throughout Canada
• The French Canadian nationalists in Quebec were extremely
anti-Semitic, because their culture was threatened by other
foreigners (including Jews)
CANADA’S REACTION
TO THE HOLOCAUST
Anti-Semitism (continued)
• The Roman Catholic Church was also anti-Semitic and gave
anti-Semitic sermons
• Jews were “the bacillus of secularism, materialism, Communism,
and internationalism”
• Canadian citizens openly showed anti-Semitic views
• A boycott of Jewish goods, “Do you want to be poisoned? Buy your
food from Jews”
• Many stores prohibited Jews
• Even when the brutality of concentration camps was revealed after
the war, 60 % of Canadian citizens still refused to allow the entrance
of Jewish refugees
CANADA’S REACTION
TO THE HOLOCAUST
Denied entry
•Due to Anti-Semitism, economic depression, increased rate
of unemployment in Canada, the Holocaust was not the main
concern during the war
• Canada only admitted 5000 Jewish refugees
Country
Number of Jewish refugees brought in:
United States
200,000
Palestine
125,000
Britain
70,000
Argentina
50,000
Brazil
27,000
China
25,000
Bolivia and Chile
14,000
CANADA
5,000
CANADA’S REACTION
TO THE HOLOCAUST
Denied entry (continued)
• The St. Louis incident – St. Louis
Ocean Liner carrying 907 Jews
arrived at Canada in hopes of
escaping Germany; however, the
Canadian government did not
allow them to enter Canada.
Then, they had to go back to
Europe where most of them died • The government believed
that the way to stop the
in concentration camps.
Holocaust was to defeat
Germany rather than
admitting Jewish refugees
LATIN
AMERICA
IMMIGRATION
Latin American countries accepted most immigrants
before the Nazi power took over Germany
• Between 1933 and 1945, only about 84,ooo Jewish refugees were accepted
into the countries, less than half the number of immigrants from previous
years.
• Immigration of other foreigners was also cut down in number
In response to this, many immigrants began to use illegal
channels to enter Latin America
ANTISEMITISM
There was growing animosity for the Jewish people
• Many resented that the refugees that were allowed in the country to work
in agricultural areas began to drift into cities, taking jobs and making the
citizens worry over economic competition among the people
• Some of the Latin Americans of German descent were also influenced by
Nazi ideology and the belief in racial purity
The governments began to crack down on immigration
o Anti-immigration parties were formed
o Media began strong campaigns against immigration
o In the late 1930s new immigration laws were created that greatly
decreased the number of immigrants allowed
o Argentina went from79,000 to 24,000
o Brazil went from 96,000 to 12,000
BLOCKED BORDERS
Cuban authorities blocked passage of ships carrying Jewish
refugees at the docks before they could enter the country
o The St.Louis, when it docked in Havana in May 1939, had most of it’s
passengers denied entry
o The Orduña, the Flandre, and the Orinoco
were also not allowed to let their passengers
off the ship, but were turned around
After November 1941,Germany
banned Jewish emigration from
any German controlled territories
BLOCKED BORDERS
CONTINUED……
The Dominican Republic, however, was more open to allowing the
Jewish refugees to relocate there
o President Rafael Leonidas Trujillo offered to admit up to 100,000 Jewish
refugees to the Dominican Republic
o Donated land in Sosuá for a Jewish agricultural settlement
o Though the Republic only admitted 645 Jews from 1938 to 1945 and
Sosuá only had 476 residents, over 5,000 visas were given to European
Jews
In Bolivia over 20,000 Jews were admitted into the
country, mostly thanks to Mauricio (Moritz)
Hochschild, a German-Jewish mining magnate who
controlled one-third of Bolivia's mineral production
and had political ties to Bolivian President Germán
Busch
OVERALL
CONTRIBUTION TO
JEWISH AID
More than 20,000 Jewish refugees immigrated to Latin
America between 1947-1953
Many aimed to go to Argentina, where around 4,800
Holocaust survivors ended up
Others ended up in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama,
Costa Rica, and other countries
ANALYSIS
Refugees aboard the "St. Louis" wait to hear whether Cuba will grant them entry. Off the coast of
Havana, Cuba, June 3, 1939.
— National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md
WORKS CITED
"A Look Back at Canada’s Anti-Semitic History: Frederick Charles Blair ." fight hatred. The Jabotinsky
International Center, n.d. Web. 2 Nov 2012. <http://www.fighthatred.com/historical-events/countryguides/411-a-look-back-at-canadas-anti-semitic-history-frederick-charles-blair>.
Bélanger, Claude. "Why did Canada Refuse to Admit ." The Quebec History Encyclopedia. Marianopolis
College, n.d. Web. 2 Nov 2012.
<http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/readings/CanadaandJewishRefugeesint
he1930s.html>.
Lucas, Sarah. "The Holocaust." Canada and World War 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov 2012.
<http://worldw2.tripod.com/id16.html>.
"The United States and the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, 11 2012. Web. 5 Nov 2012.
<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005182>.
Wyman, David, and Charles Rosenzveig. The World Reacts to the Holocaust. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1996. Web.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=U6KVOsjpP0MC&printsec=frontcover>.