64 Friday, May 21, 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Blame and the Guilt
I ! it
Dr. Israel Goldstein Reconstructs Factual Account
of American Jewry's Actions Exposing the Holocaust
.
By DR. ISRAEL
GOLDSTEIN
Until Reinhard Heydrich
and his Gestapo and
SS associates met
in the Berlin suburb of
Wannsee on January 20,
1942, no overall plan had
been formulated by the
Nazis for the systematic de-
struction of European
Jewry. Since the outbreak
of World War II, special
einsatzgruppen — mobile
units whose task it was to
conduct mass executions —
had been active as the ar-
mies of the Third Reich rol-
led onward through Eastern
Europe.
A major effort to convey
information about these
massacres had been made
by the World Jewish Con-
gress, which had listening
posts in Geneva, Stockholm
and Lisbon. The WJC con-
stantly endeavored to enlist
the aid of Allied govern-
ments, as well as Jews, in its
many rescue operations.
The Wannsee Conference
empowered "specialists,"
such as Adolf Eichmann, to
implement Hitler's
cherished "Final Solution of
the Jewish Problem."
Months would pass, how-
ever, before we received
word of this new policy and
before we could devise any
strategy for effective action.
It was only after the
war that comprehensive
accounts of the
Holocaust, describing
the behavior of the Allied
"bystanders" as well as
of the Nazis and their
Jewish victims, appeared
in print.
reports as anti-German "at-
rocity propaganda."
We knew that the Nazis
had been killing Jews in
large numbers ever since
1933, but it was hard to be-
lieve that a systematic pro-
gram of genocide was being
conducted against the Jews
of Europe.
Early in 1942, Thomas
Mann, the eminent German
writer, transmitted reports
of the mass murders in his
BBC talks from London.
But the information was
"unconfirmed," patchy, and
so horrifying that many
people dismissed it as exag-
gerated. Non-Jews espe-
cially tended to regard such
The speakers at this rally
included Governor Herbert
H. Lehman of New York,
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
and New York Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia.
Within the next few
weeks, more precise details
of the Holocaust began to
filter through to us from
across the Atlantic. On Aug.
1, 1942, the World Jewish
Congress representative in
Geneva, Dr. Gerhart
Riegner, learned that Hitler
had ordered the annihila-
tion of all Jews in Europe,
the means of destruction
being Zyklon B gas.
After checking this re-
port with his other
sources of information,
Dr. Riegner was able to
verify the basic facts re-
garding Hitler's "Final
Solution." He then sent
urgent cables to the U.S.
government and to the
World Jewish Congress
in London and New York.
Although the U.S. State
Department had already re-
ceived similar reports from.
the Polish government in
exile in London and from re-
sistance groups, it dis-
missed the information as
"fantastic" and suppressed
Riegner's disclosure.
For reasons of its own, the
State Department also in-
tercepted his cable to
Stephen Wise. By this time,
at least two- million Jews
had already perished and
the gas chambers and cre-
matoria now increased the
efficiency of Nazi mass
murder, which had hitherto
relied on crippling slave
labor, starvation and
machine guns.
On. Aug. 17, Riegner's
cable reached Sydney Sil-
verman, a Labor Member of
Parliament who was chair-
man of the British Section of
the World Jewish Congress.
After an inexplicable lapse
of some 10 days, he trans-
mitted its contents ("with
all necessary reservation as
exactitude cannot be con-
firmed") to Dr.-Wise in New
York, thus circumventing
the State Department.
Confronted by Wise,
CHAIM WEIZMANN
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT
DR. STEPHEN WISE
Mounting evidence of the
Holocaust soon dispelled
our remaining illusions.
On June 19, 1942, at a spe-
.cial press conference in
London, the World Jewish
Congress (British Section)
publicized certain grim
facts that had come to its at-
tention. Indignation ran
high in Parliament, the
churches and in the press.
Across the Atlantic,
however, press reaction
was initially skeptical
and restrained. Major
newspapers, such as the
New York Times, chose to
play down the story of
Nazi' mass murders. The
American Jewish leader :
ship thereupon under-
took the launching of an
unprecedented informa-
tion campaign in the
United States and the
Free World.
On July 21, a mass
demonstration was held at
Madison Square Garden in
New York, under the au-
spices of the American
Jewish Congress, Bnai
Brith, and the Jewish Labor
Committee. Dr. Stephen
Wise presided. Messages
were received from
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who promised
that "a day of reckoning will
surely come," and from
Great Britain's Prime
Minister Winston Chur-
chill, who stressed the con-
tribution of the Yishuv in
Palestine to the Allied war
effort.
American Jewish leaders, pression that America
including myself, to ac- had taken the initiative in
quaint us with the latest in- this matter.
formation. Some Jewish
British public opinion
groups were nervous about strongly favored a com-
concerted public action and prehensive rescue opera-
only informal discussions tion, and by Dec. 7, the Lon-
were held at first.
don Times was asking what
Dr. Wise also met with steps would be taken to pre-
U.S. Secretary of the Treas- vent Hitler's "Final Solu-
ury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., tion," since no statement of
and Supreme Court Justice any kind had yet been made
Felix Frankfurter, in the to warn the. Nazi leadership
hope that they might induce of Allied retribution.
the President to take
Ten days later, the Allied
prompt and effective meas- governments at last issued
ures.
their joirit declaration on
On Dec. 8, Stephen the wholesale destruction of
DR. ISRAEL GOLDSTEIN
Wise headed a delegation European Jewry. There was
Sumner Welles, the U.S.
Undersecretary of State, that was received by an emotional scene in the
President Roosevelt at Holit se of Commons, where,
asked him not to pub-
the White House. He was in reply to a question by
licize the ghastly details
until they could be "ver- handed a memorandum Sydney Silverman, British
ified." This meant that entitled Blue Print for Foreign Secretary Anthony
almost three months . Extermination, and ex- Eden confirmed the worst
would elapse before the pressed shock at its con- reports of the Holocaust.
A dramatic eyewitness
salient facts could be tents, although the in-
formation had already account of the mass slaugh-
made known to the
come to his notice.
ter had been brought from
American public.
Roosevelt promised that Eastern Europe by Jan
At the same time, on Oct.
7, President Roosevelt an- the U.S. government and Karski, a non-Jewish
the United Nations would liaison officer of the Polish
nounced his administra-
take all steps necessary to underground in Warsaw.
tion's readiness to help es-
halt the Nazi program of Before escaping to London,
tablish an international
genocide.
he had smuggled himself
commission for the investi-
Extraordinarily enough, into and out of the Warsaw
gation of Nazi war crimes.
as Morgenthau was to' re- Ghetto and. the Belzec death
Generally speaking, the
late, the president had just camp in Poland.
Allied governments were by
come up with a fantastic
This testimony was
no means eager to' facilitate
scheme for the removal of presented to Roosevelt,
rescue attempts by the
Arabs from Palestine to Anthony Eden, and
World Jewish Congress or
other independent Jewish some other part of the Mid- _ Jewish leaders in Britain
dle East, and for their re- and the United States,
bodies, or even to emphasize
placement by Jewish refu- but the heroism dis-
the fact that Nazi atrocities
gees. He anticipated the played by Karski (now a
were primarily directed
possibility of Jews becom- professor at Georgetown
against the Jewish people.
Until the final stage of ing the majority and of University's School of
Palestine gaining its inde- Foreign Service in Wash-
World War II, indeed, obs-
pendence under Christian ington, D.C.) has only
tacles were placed in our
and Jewish auspices. It was been acknowledged in
way by unsympathetic offi-
one of many unrealistic recent years.
cials. Henry Morgenthau,
Apart from horrifying
Jr., then U.S. Secretary of dreams.
the Treasury, later accused
Earlier in the year, statistics, he brought a des-
certain State Department President Roosevelt had perate appeal from the
bureaucrats of suppressing
indicated that the United doomed Jews of Warsaw: if
the flow of information
States would join its Allies the Allies did not threaten
in setting up a War Crimes German people with mass
about the Holocaust so as to
prevent an outraged Ameri-
Commission, but the U.S. reprisals and if they did not
can public from forcing Administration deferred agree to ransom Jews from
their hand.
clarifying its position from the Nazis, Jews in the Free
World should stage a
June until October 1942.
The man responsible
As a result of British hunger strike to arouse
for much of this deliber-
pressure, both gov- universal concern.
ate obstruction, it ap-
As president of the World
ernmental and public,
pears, was Assistant Sec-
Roosevelt finally an- Jewish Congress, Dr.
retary of State Brecken-
nounced his decision on Stephen Wise had estab-
ridge Long, whom
Oct. 7, leaving the im-
Morgenthau charged
with blatant anti-
Semitism.
Editor's note: Dr. Israel Goldstein, former
By November 1942, how-
world chairman of the Keren Hayesod who settled
ever, an' overwhelming
in Israel 20 years ago after a half-century of lead-
mass of affidavits and
ership in American Jewish ranks, recounts in this
eyewitness testimony had
revealing article the reactions in this country to
reached Sumner Welles. He
the Nazi horrors which led to the Holocaust.
called Dr. Wise to Washing-
Dr. Goldstein takes into account the blame
ton on Nov. 24 and told him
now expressed in charges that American Jews
that the facts ascertained
failed to act firmly in organizing the necessary
were even more appalling
actions against Hitlerism. The guilt is partly de-
than Dr. Riegner's. August
nuded in this account which was first published
report had led them to sup-
in the Jerusalem Post and is now presented here
pose, and that Hitler had
by special arrangement with Dr. Goldstein.
given orders for the destruc-
The author of this article is a former president
tion of European Jewry to
of the Zionist Organization of America, the
be completed by the end of
Jewish National Fund of America, the American
the year. Accordingly,
Jewish Congress and the Synagogue Council of
Sumner Welles now
America. He was the organizer of the Jewish Con-
authorized Stephen Wise to
ciliation Court of America and is the author of a
release the full story to the
full-length volume describing the functions and
American press.
history of that court. His memoirs will soon be
Meanwhile, Dr. Wise had
published by Herzl Press.
summoned a - number of
.