50. New York Times, December 18, 1942.
51. Roosevelt’s personal representative to Pope Pius XII to the Vatican Secretary of State, FRUS, 1943, vol. III, p. 775 (emphasis added).
52. Chicago Tribune, November 25, 1942, p. 4; Washington Post, November 25, 1942; New York Herald Tribune, November 25, 1942, p. 1; Baltimore Sun, November 25, 1942, p. 3; New York Journal American, November 25, 1942, p. 3; Los Angeles Examiner, November 25, 1942, p. 1.
53. New York Times, November 25, 1942, p. 10.
54. PM, November 25, 1942, pp. 1, 13, November 26, 1942, p. 12.
55. DS 740.00 116 European War 1939/694 PS/DG, as cited in Laqueur, pp. 225-227; memo, DS 862.4016/2251.
56. New York Journal American, November 24, 1942, p. 2; Washington Post, November 25, 1942, p. 6; New York Times, November 25, 1942, p. 10, November 26, 1942, p. 16.
57. New York Journal American, December 1, 1942, sec. B, p. 1; Chicago Tribune, December 1, 1942, p. 19; Baltimore Sun, December 1, 1942, p. 6; New York Times, December 2, 1942, p. 12, December 3, 1942, p. 10; New York Herald Tribune, December 2, 1942, p. 7, December 3, 1942, p. 12.
58. New York Times, December 2, 1942, p. 24; Atlanta Constitution, December 1, 1942, p. 8; Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1942, sec. II, p. 4.
59. For examples of The Christian Century ’s attitude see Christian Century, December 9, 1942, p. 1519; December 30, 1942, p. 1611, May 5, 1943, p. 548, September 8, 1943, p. 1004, September 13, 1944, p. 1045. For attitude of Christian Century on Palestine, see Hertzel Fishman, American Protestantism and a Jewish State (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1973). Martin E. Marty has written an impassioned defense of Christian Century’s editorial position during these years. He attributes its hostility to Wise to the friendship of the editor of the journal, Charles Clayton Morrison, with many Reform and “thus, anti-Zionist” rabbis. While Marty correctly cites a number of occasions when the journal did speak out on behalf of persecuted Jews, there were many other occasions when its position was ambivalent at best. Martin E. Marty, “The Century and the Holocaust,” Christian Century, April 10, 1985, pp. 350-352.
60. Christian Century, March 3, 1943, p. 253; March 10, 1943, p. 284; September 8, 1943, pp. 1004-1005, February 16, 1944, p. 205, September 13, 1944, p. 1045, September 27, 1944, p. 1113.
61. Adolf Held memorandum on “Visit to the President,” as cited in Eliyho Matzozky, “An Episode: Roosevelt and the Mass Killings,” Midstream, August-September 1980, pp. 17-19.
62. New York Times, December 9, 1942, p. 20; Washington Post, December 9, 1942, p. 18; PM, December 9, 1942, pp. 18-19; Los Angeles Examiner, December 12, 1942, p. 2; San Francisco Examiner, December 9, 1942, p. 7; Los Angeles Times, December 9, 1942, p. 5; New York World Telegram, December 8, 1942, p. 10; St. Louis Post Dispatch, December 9, 1942, p. 29; Wyman, Abandonment, pp. 73, 365, n. 50.
63. For text of declaration see Department of State Bulletin, publication 1852, vol. VII, no. 182 (December 19, 1942). New York Times, December 18, 1942, p. 1; San Francisco Examiner, December 18, 1942, p. 3; Los Angeles Times, December 18, 1942, p. 4; Washington Post, December 18, 1942, p. 10; New York Herald Tribune, December 18, 1942, p. 17; New York World Telegram, December 18, 1942, p. 28; Los Angeles Examiner, December 18, 1942, p. 16; St. Louis Post Dispatch, December 18, 1942, sec. III, p. 1; Atlanta Constitution, December 18, 1942, p. 2.
64. Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1942, p. 2; Washington Post, December 20, 1942, p. 8; St. Louis Post Dispatch, December 20, 1942, p. 9; Los Angeles Examiner, December 20, 1942, p. 22; New York Times, December 20, 1942, p. 23; New York Herald Tribune, December 20, 1942, p. 30; Chicago Tribune, December 20, 1942, p. 18, December 25, December 27, 1942.
65. Newsweek, December 28, 1942, p. 46; Time, December 28, 1942, p. 24; American Mercury, February 1943, pp. 194-203; Reader’s Digest, February 1943, pp. 107-110.
66. Edward J. Bliss, In Search of Light: The Broadcasts of Edward R. Murrow, 1938-1961 (New York: Knopf, 1967), pp. 56-57.
67. Christian Science Monitor, December 18, 1942, p. 22. During this period the Christian Science Monitor ran a number of exclusive stories with “Somewhere in Europe” datelines which argued that the German people were experiencing a sense of “guilt” and “remorse” for the treatment being accorded to the “peoples of the occupied countries.” See Christian Science Monitor, December 4, 1942.
68. Atlanta Constitution, December 1, 1942, p. 8, December 18, 1942, p. 2, December 28, 1942, p. 16.
69. London Times, December 7, 1942; Spectator, December 11, 1942.
70. London Times, December 4, 1942, p. 3, December 5, 1942, p. 5. See also December 18, 1942, pp. 4, 8. Sharf, p. 93.
71. Foreign Office note to Cabinet Committee on Refugees, February 18, 1943, PRO CAB 95/15, as quoted in Bernard Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945, (London: Institute of Jewish Affairs, 1979), pp. 186-187.
72. Manchester Guardian, December 5, December 8, 1942; Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 1942, p. 8; London Times, December 7, 1942.
73. FRUS, 1942, vol. I, pp. 66-67.
74. Manchester Guardian, December 8, December 10, 1942; Daily Telegraph and Morning Post, December 2, December 11, 1942; Glasgow Daily Record, December 2, 1942; London Observer, December 6, December 13, December 26, 1942; Daily Mail, December 11, 1942; Evening Standard, December 14, 1942; Daily Herald, December 16, 1942; Glasgow Evening News, December 17, 1942; London Daily Herald, December 21, 1942; London Times, December 12, December 21, 1942—all as cited in Sharf, pp. 93-100. Spectator, December 11, 1942.
75. Jewish Telegraphic Agency [JTA] Daily News Bulletin, December 21, December 29, 1942.
76. Manchester Guardian, December 10, 1942; London Times, December 12, 1942.
77. New York Times, December 2, 1942, p. 24, December 18, 1942, p. 26; Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1942, sec. II, p. 4; New York World Telegram, December 11, 1942, p. 26.
78. Atlanta Constitution, December 22, 1942, p. 4; Wyman, Abandonment, p. 64. For copy of letter to members of Loyal Americans of German Descent soliciting support for ad, see August Rust-Oppenheim, December 29, 1942, DS 862.4016/2253.
79. New York Post as cited in JTA Daily News Bulletin, December 20, 1942; New Republic, December 21, 1942, August 30, 1943; Nation, January 2, January 9, February 6, February 27, March 13, June 5, 1943.
80. Information had reached Switzerland earlier regarding disappearance and executions. It had come via Stockholm from sources that Herschel Johnson, the American Consul, described as reliable. Memo, July 21, 1942, DS 862.4016/2237.
81. For the BBC’s record of wartime actions see Asa Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, vol. III, The War of Words (London: Oxford University Press, 1970); Wasserstein, p. 295.
82. Drew Pearson, “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” Washington Post, October 22, 1942. During the fall of 1942 the Allies were receiving confirmation of the murder plan from a variety of different sources. The initial sources were Jewish organizations, the World Jewish Congress office in Geneva in particular. But over the next few months the Allies also heard from other organizations and individuals. References to these communiqués are to be found in the State Department files. DS 862.4016/2242. See also Penkower, chap. 3, and Richard Breitman and Alan M. Kraut, “Who Was the Mysterious Messenger?” Commentary, October 1983, pp. 4-10.
83. Memo, DS 862.4016/2235; DS 862.4016/2238.
84. DS 740.00016 European War 1939/694, as cited in Laqueur, p. 252, n. 18; memo, December 7, 1942, DS 862.4016/2251; Wyman, Abandonment, p. 74.
85. Memos, Franklin Mott Gunther to State Department, April 19, October 3, November 2, 1941, in FRUS, 1941, vol. II, pp. 868-870; Henry L. Feingold, The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1945 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), p. 179.
86. Paul Squire to Cordell Hull, October 29, 1942, DS 860.4016/10-2942. During this period the news of “Judenrein” cities, such as Vilna, appeared in the neutral press and was reprint
ed in the Yiddish press. On September 16 the Swiss paper Die Nazion reported that the “last 14,000 Jews remaining in Vilna have recently been deported and are now ‘spurlos’ [without a trace] missing.” Louis Segal to Cordell Hull, September 23, 1942, DS 862.4016/2240.
87. FRUS 1942, vol. I, p. 66.
88. Foreign Office papers 371/30923, C 12201, folio 186, as cited in Gilbert, p. 97; John P. Fox, “The Jewish Factor in British War Crimes Policy in 1942,” English Historical Review, vol. XCII (January 1977), p. 92. In December 1942 the British Political Warfare Executive issued a number of directives to the BBC to pay particular attention to “Hitler’s plan to exterminate the Jews.” Mention was made of Treblinka, Belzec, and Sobibor as “extermination camps.” Michael Balfour, Propaganda in War: Organizations, Policies and Publics in Britain and Germany (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979), pp. 299-300. This was the first time in the war that the Nazi persecution of the Jews was made a central theme of British propaganda to Europe. Wasserstein, p. 174; Laqueur, pp. 222-223.
89. Arthur D. Morse, While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy (New York: Hart, 1967), p. 33; Laqueur, pp. 226-227.
90. Wasserstein, pp. 181-182; Balfour, pp. 303-304. The British were also concerned about the effect that a declaration would have on postwar policy, particularly in relation to the punishment of war criminals. In order to avoid some of the problems which had arisen in connection with punishment after World War I, they did not want to make a public declaration commiting the government to punishment until they were sure such a policy would be put into effect. Fox, passim.
91. Foreign Office Papers 371/34551, as cited in Laqueur, pp. 83, 245, n. 18.
Chapter 9
1. Manchester Guardian, February 16, February 17, 1943; Christian Science Monitor, February 16, 1943, p. 9; Los Angeles Times, February 15, 1943, p. 3; Washington Post, January 17, January 24, 1943, February 14, 1943, p. 2, February 15, 1943, p. 2; New York Times, January 15, January 27, 1943. In mid-January additional information was sent to Stephen Wise by Gerhart Riegner, the Swiss representative of the World Jewish Congress, via the State Department. Riegner opened his report with the statement “Poland mass executions now confirmed by different sources,” and then went on to describe a steadily worsening situation in various parts of Europe. Special Gestapo agents had been sent to Berlin and Holland to speed up deportations as those in Vienna were nearly completed. Memo, DS 862.4016/2256a.
2. Los Angeles Times, February 15, 1943, p. 3; Washington Post, February 15, 1943, p. 2.
3. Collier’s, February 27, 1943, pp. 29-33; New York World Telegram, February 11, 1943, p. 15; Christian Science Monitor, February 16, 1943, p. 9.
4. Washington Post, February 15, 1943, p. 2; Los Angeles Times, February 15, 1943, p. 3; New York World Telegram, February 15, 1943, p. 13; Atlanta Constitution, February 15, 1943, p. 18; New York Times, February 14, 1943, p. 37.
5. Christian Science Monitor, March 4, 1943, p. 11.
6. Ibid.
7. Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1943, pp. 3, 7; Washington Post, March 19, 1943, p. 2, March 21, 1943, p. 2; Manchester Guardian, March 20, 1943; Los Angeles Times, March 20, 1943, Sec. II, p. 4; New York Herald Tribune, March 21, 1943.
8. Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1943, p. 7; New York Herald Tribune, March 2, 1943, p. 1; Christian Science Monitor, March 2, 1943, p. 7; New York Journal American, March 2, 1943, p. 1; Newsweek, March 15, 1943, p. 36; Time, March 8, 1943.
9. Though they often attracted large crowds, some numbering as high as 20,000, the paucity of editorial comment they generated disappointed the organizers. Stephen Wise to Dear Editor, March 9, 1943, World Jewish Congress papers, U185/3, as cited in David S. Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), pp. 89, 367, n. 43, 368, n. 60.
10. New York Herald Tribune, February 22, 1943, p. 16; Los Angeles Times, February 22, 1943, p. 8; Philadelphia Inquirer, February 23, 1943, p. 15; New York Times, March 10, 1943, p. 10; Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 23, 1943, p. 12, as cited in Wyman, Abandonment, pp. 86-87, 367, n. 33.
11. New York Times, March 10, 1943, p. 12, April 13, 1943, p. 17; Newsweek, March 15, 1943, p. 36; Christian Science Monitor, March 10, 1943, p. 2; Miami Herald, April 17, 1943, p. 10A; Wyman, Abandonment, pp. 91-92.
12. New York Times, March 3, 1943, p. 22, March 4, 1943; New York Herald Tribune, March 3, 1943, p. 18, March 4, 1943, sec. II, p. 3; New York Sun, March 3, 1943, p. 20; Nation, March 13, 1943, pp. 366-367; New York Post, March 6, 1943, p. 21.
13. FRUS, 1943, vol. 1, pp. 144-145.
14. Christian Century, March 3, 1943, p. 253, March 10, 1943, p. 284; Contemporary Jewish Record, February 1943, pp. 235-236; Free World, March 1943, pp. 196-197; America, March 13, 1943, p. 630; Christian Science Monitor, March 11, 1943; American Mercury, February 1943, pp. 194-199; Reader’s Digest, February 1943, pp. 107-110; Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1943, sec. II, p. 4.
15. Newsweek, March 8, 1943, p. 40.
16. Christian Science Monitor, March 19, 1943, p. 18 (emphasis added).
17. JTA Daily News Bulletin, March 10, 1943; Contemporary Jewish Record, June 1943, pp. 276 ff.; memo, DS 862.4016/2290.
18. Wyman attributes the lack of press interest in the resolutions to the fact that they were so feeble. New York Times, March 10, 1943, p. 12, March 19, 1943, p. 11; Wyman, Abandonment, p. 95.
19. London Times, January 25, 1943; The (London) Observor, February 7, 1943; Bernard Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945 (London: Institute of Jewish Affairs, 1979), pp. 186-187; Christian Science Monitor, March 21, 1943, p. 1; Henry L. Feingold, The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1945. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), p. 177.
20. In an aide-memoire to the State Department the British Embassy acknowledged that His Majesty’s Government, while well aware of the problems of rescue, could not “make a merely negative response to a growing international problem [which was] disturbing the public conscience.” The British Embassy to the Department of State, January 20, 1943. FRUS, 1943, vol. I, p. 134. See also Chargé d’Affaires Matthews to Secretary of State, February 20, 1943. FRUS, 1943, vol. I, pp. 138, 403-404.
In addition to these persistent demands to know what was being done to help the Jews, there was also a growing interest in England regarding the punishment of war criminals. As John Fox has demonstrated, the two issues were clearly linked in the mind of the British government. John P. Fox, “The Jewish Factor in British War Crimes Policy in 1942,” English Historical Review, vol. XCII, no. 362 (January 1977), pp. 82-106.
21. Washington Post, February 14, 1943, p. 2, February 15, 1943, p. 2, February 28, 1943, p. 4; Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1943, p. 3, February 28, 1943, p. 3; New York World Telegram, February 15, 1943; Atlanta Constitution, February 15, 1943; Christian Science Monitor, February 16, 1943. Compare with English press: London Times, February 13, 1943; Daily Mirror, February 15, 1943; Daily Herald, February 15, 1943; Manchester Guardian, February 17, 1943.
22. Manchester Guardian, February 16, 1943.
23. Wasserstein, pp. 186-187.
24. Secretary of State Cordell Hull to President Roosevelt, March 23, 1943. FRUS, 1943, vol. I, pp. 146-147.
25. FRUS, 1943, vol. I, p. 139.
26. FRUS, 1943, vol. I, pp. 137, 145.
27. New York Times, April 19, 1943, p. 18; New York Herald Tribune, April 19, 1943; New York World Telegram, April 21, 1943, p. 30.
28. Nation, March 13, 1943, pp. 366-367.
29. From the very outset of discussion of some form of a meeting, caution was voiced about “the danger of raising false hopes.” FRUS, 1943, vol. I, pp. 134-137, 174; Feingold, p. 190ff.; New York Journal American, April 19, 1943, p. 6.
30. San Francisco Examiner, April 14, 1943, p. 3.
31. New York Journal American, April 19, 1943, p. 6; New York Times, April 20, 1943, p. 1.
32. Martin Gilbert, Auschwitz and the Allies (New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981), p. 281; St. Louis Post Dispatch, April 22, 1943, p. 3; New York World Telegram, April 19, 1943, p. 15.
33. Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 1943, p. 7.
34. Memorandum by Harry Hopkins on meeting between Roosevelt, Hopkins, Hull, Welles, Eden, Halifax, and Strang on March 27, 1943, in Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1948), p. 717.
35. New York Journal American, April 27, 1943, p. 8; State Department Bulletin, vol. VIII, no. 386 (April 26, 1943), as cited in Feingold, pp. 196ff., 336, n. 101.
36. Los Angeles Times, April, 18, 1943, sec. II, p. 4, April 27, 1943, sec. II, p. 4. During the war Roosevelt often barred reporters from covering his overseas conferences. Sometimes when reporters were allowed to attend, their access was severely restricted. Reporters were particularly upset when they were denied the right to report on events of “little security concern.” Graham J. White, FDR and the Press (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), pp. 44, 169, n. 30, n. 31.
37. Christian Science Monitor, April 19, 1943, p. 1; New York Times, April 20, 1943, p. 1.
38. New York World Telegram, April 19, 1943; New York Journal American, April 23, 1943; Christian Science Monitor, March 31, 1943, p. 1. Five correspondents were officially accredited by the State Department to be present in Bermuda during the conference. They included Robert Edward Vivain (Reuters), H. O. Thompson (United Press), Richard Massock (Associated Press), Ida Landau (Overseas News Agency), and Lee Carson (International News Service). FRUS, 1943, vol. I, p. 152; Christian Science Monitor, April 26, 1943, p. 1, April 30, 1943, p. 8.
Beyond Belief Page 40