DIRECTIONS:
As you investigate Documents #1-11, answer these questions to gain a greater understanding of
each source and answer the guiding question "What was the response of the Roosevelt
Administration & the American public to the Holocaust before, during, and after WW II?"
Document #1 - United States Immigration Policy and Hitler’s Holocaust
1. What is a visa?
2. Why do you think the United States did not offer asylum to more Jewish refugees before
World War II? During it?
3. David S. Wyman in his book, The Abandonment of the Jews, reaches this conclusion:
"The Nazis were the murderers, but we were the all too passive accomplices." Do you
agree or disagree? Explain your position.
4. How did the Great Depression affect Americans’ feelings toward Jewish Immigrants?
Document #2 - MS ST LOUIS. - Voyage of The Damned
5. How did the US respond when Captain Gustav Schröder brought the US St. Louis into
Florida Waters? Why do you think President Roosevelt did not respond at all?
Document #3 - The Sharps' Journey: In Their Own Words
6. According to Martha Sharp, why was helping refugees in Prague not “as easy as simply
requesting a visa from a foreign country”?
7. What happened on March 15, 1939?
8. As on June 14, 1940, the Germans had cut off all supply lines to the South of France.
Why was it important for the Waitstill’s to deliver milk to French refugees?
9. In Summer of 1940, Waitstill was given the task to rescue a group of endangered
intellectuals. How did he successfully escort the group across the French-Spanish border?
10. During the couples second tour of duty in Portugal, what was Martha’s “project”?
Document #4 - What Were We Watching? Americans' Response to Nazism Through
Cinema, Radio, and Media (15:43 – 28:59, 33:40 – 35:24, 40:30 – 47:50, 53:05 – 55:09)
(15:43 – 28:59)
11. What was the importance of FDR’s Fireside chat on September 3, 1939?
12. In his speech, who did Charles Lindbergh blame for pushing the US towards war?
13. According to Laurent Bouzereau, prior to the United States entry into WW II, why were
film studios afraid of depicting Germans in movies?
14. How did the attitude towards portraying Germans in media shift following the United
States entry into WW II?
15. According to David Weinstein, how did radio star Eddie Cantor speak out about the
plight of Jews in Europe? What actions did Cantor take and how was he influential both
before and during WW II?
(33:40 – 35:24)
16. How did you feel after viewing this piece of United States WW II Propaganda?
(40:30 – 47:50)
17. How did director George Stevens role shift following the end of WW II? How was the
footage he shot during the war used after its conclusion?
(53:05 – 55:09)
18. According to Daniel Green, what more could the media have done to shape American
perceptions and perspectives? Was what they did enough? How does his response
highlight the importance of cultural relativism and hindsight in the 21st century in terms
of Americans perspectives of the Holocaust in the 1930’s and ‘40s?
Document #5 - The Nazi persecution of Jews and the African American freedom struggle,
Patterns of Prejudice
19. Based on this excerpt from the article, how varied was the African American response to
Jewish persecution in Europe?
20. According to the article, what did some African Americans view as “white hypocrisy”?
21. Given what you know about German discriminatory practices towards Jews in the 1930’s
and 40’s, do you think Germanys’ evolving policy toward Jews was influenced by the
treatment of African Americans [Jim Crow Laws & Segregation] in the American south?
Explain your answer.
Document #6 – Anti-Nazi Protest in New York’s Madison Square Garden.
22. This photograph was captured more than 8 years prior to the United States entry into
WW II. What does this tell you about American public’s awareness of Germany’s
mistreatment of Jews in the 1930’s?
Document #7 - How Did American Women Act? Heroism on the Home Front (20:46 –
26:50)
23. Based on the Roper Poll statistics, why do you think Congresswoman Edith Rogers
legislative bill to allow additional Jewish refugee children from Germany to immigrate to
the United States failed to pass?
24. What does the story of Jane Bomberger and her family’s response to the plight of
Marianne Winters’ family tell you about human nature?
Document #8 - Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy to John W. Pehle in Response to
German Railway Air Operation Proposal
25. According to the letter, why did Executive Director Pehle of the War Refugee Board
want to bomb railway lines between Hungary and Poland?
26. Why did the War Department turn down the idea of bombing German-controlled railway
lines?
Document # 9 - Statement by the President Regarding Atrocities of War
27. Why did President Roosevelt feel that the United States needed to issue another
statement condemning German and Japanese war crimes?
28. Who is President Roosevelt warning with statement?
29. What is the President telling German citizens to do?
Document #10 - America and the Holocaust (1:04:47 – 1:16:50 - The War Refugee Board)
30. How did Long’s testimony stall the creation of a rescue agency which would assist
persecuted Jews in Europe?
31. What was the “smoking gun” which exposed why the British Government and the U.S.
State Department were obstructing rescue of European Jews?
32. How did the State Department actively suppress information relating to the Holocaust in
Europe?
33. How was War Refugee Board’s plan to bomb the extermination facilities as Auschwitz
sabotaged by the U.S. War Department?
34. According to historian David Wyman, while the War Refugee Board provided valuable
contributions to the rescue of Jews, why was it also a great shame?
Document #11 - American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Refugee Aid [Sections
titled JDC Activities after the US Entry into World War II, JDC Activities after World
War II]
35. What methods did the JDC use to support Jews throughout Europe before the US entered
the war? During the war?
36. How did the JDC assist Holocaust survivors? What did the organization do between 1947
and 1948?
