2 Friday, December 21, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS PURELY COMMENTARY PHILIP SLOMOVITZ `The Abandonment of Jews' indicts diplomats and intellectuals in World War II Dr. Israel Goldstein Henry Morgenthau Jr. "Abandoned" seems certain to become a single, symbolic guide-word to one of the most devastating occurrences of this cen- tury: the failure to rescue Jews from the Nazi ovens. It may not be necessary to re- sort to the complete title of the revealing text by University of Massachusetts (Amherst) Professor of History David S. Wyman, who is gaining most notable at- tention for his The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941- 1945 (Pantheon Books). Prof. Wyman's study of the reac- tions to appeals for the rescue of Jews from the Nazi in- ferno is not a new presentation of facts. It is the result of the acknowledged scholar's many years of research into the records. In Dr. Wyman the process, he published numerous documentary essays on the subject. He probed Christian as well as Jewish in- volvements, and the churches do not come out so well in the studies. The U.S. State Department is a chief offender. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is among the most guilty in the indifference and the refusal to act. Deplorably Eleanor Roosevelt, while she made numerous appeals to her hus- band for some sort of action, and who sought aid in the rescue of children, to a degree shared that guilt. The author indi- cates that her attitude paralleled that of the State Department guilt in responding to appeals by insisting that the war must be won before the rescue tasks could be attended to. Great Britain emerges equally, if not more guilty, and the shutting of Palestine's doors to refugees is major in the accusation of failure when the rescuing should have been pursued. But there also is the list of the courageous who would not be silent, who demanded action, who organized and spoke for the emergency rescue movements. There were the Jewish activists, and also the complacent and the indifferent. Abba Hillel Silver, Stephen S. Wise, the Bergson Group and its Committee for a Jewish Army, the World Jewish Congress are the unforgettable in the struggle. Per- Claps the most shocking example of failure to act is ascribable to Judge Samuel Rosenman, who was FDR's speech writer and among his chief advisers. Contrary to these were the consistent efforts of Secre- tary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., who devoted his own and his depart- ment's efforts to every means of assistance available. Morgenthau kept pressing President Roosevelt for awareness of what was transpiring. In contrast, Rosenman obstructed. Even in matters involving the War Elanor Roosevelt Refugee Board, which was finally or- ganized in spite of serious obstacles in the path of Morgenthau and the WRB's chief administrator, Ira Hirschmann, Rosen- man interfered and created difficulties in rescue efforts. Wyman provides these facts about Rosenman: As special counsel to the President, Samuel Rosenman had frequent contact with Roosevelt, who relied heavily on him for ad- vice on Jewish' matters. But Rosenman considered the rescue issue politically sensitive, so he consistently tried to insulate Roosevelt from it. For instance, when Morgenthau was getting ready to urge the President to form a rescue agency, Rosenman ob- jected. He did not want FDR in- volved in refugee matters, al- though he admitted that no one else could deal effectively with the problem. Rosenman also argued that government aid to European • Jews might increase anti-Semitism in the United States. The President, his Administra- tion, and his advisers were not the only ones responsible for Ameri- ca's reaction to the Holocaust. Thus, Rosenman's negative attitude interfered with the positivism of Morgen- thau and Hirschmann and gave comfort to the venom of Breckenbridge Long, who, in charge of the visa section of the State De- partment, was responsible for the closing of America's doors to the Nazi victims. The honor roll of the saintly in Chris- tian ranks who spoke out for rescue, who demanded action, who were consistent in their efforts, is most impressive. They are topped by Reinhold Niebuhr, the eminent theologian whose labors for justice com- menced during his ministry in Detroit, and Dorothy Thompson. They are referred to numerous times in the Wyman record. Dr. Wyman does not make any men- tion of Dorothy Thompson's adoption of a critical attitude toward Zionism, whose ranks she left after having devoted a number of years in its behalf. She was crit- ical of what she believed was an emphasis by Zionists on creating a haven in Pales- tine rather than the maw task of rescuing human beings. This is a story in itself. Be- fore her death, Meyer Weisgal. who be- friended her deeply, said she was ready to renege on that defection. The important factor here is that Prof. Wyman made it a point, in his prefatory introduction to his significant work, to espouse Zionism and to set forth his credo: I have written not as an in- sider. I am a Christian, a Protes- tant of Yankee and Swedish de- scent. But I have advocated a Jewish state for a very long time, and I would undoubtedly have Franklin D. Roosevent Judge Samuel Rosenman backed the Zionist movement dur- ing the World War II era had I been old enough to be involved in politi- cal affairs. Today I remain strongly pro-Zionist and I am a re- solute supporter of the State of Is- rael. My commitment to Zionism and to Israel has been confirmed and increased by years of study of the Holocaust. I look upon Israel as the most important- line of defense against anti-Semitism in the world. Had there been a Jewish state in the 1933 to 1945 era, it would be much less painful today for all of us to confront the history of Euro- pean Jewry during World War II. A final comment; then a ques- tion. The Holocaust was certainly a Jewish tragedy. But it was not only a Jewish tragedy. It was also a Christian tragedy, a tragedy for - Western civilization, and a tragedy for all humankind. The killing was done by people, to other people, while still other people stood by. The perpetrators, where they were not actually Christians arose from a Christian culture. The bystand- ers most capable of helping were Christians. The point should have been obvious. Yet comparatively few American non-Jews recog- nized that the plight of European Jews was their plight too. Most were either unaware, did not care, or saw the European Jewish catas- trophe as a Jewish problem, one for Jews to deal with. That ex- plain's, in part, why the United States did so little to help. Would the reaction be differ- ent today? Would Americans be more sensitive, less self-centered, more willing to make sacrifices, less afraid of differences now than they were then? In the list of rescue promoters are many of prominence. U.S. Senator William Langer of North Dakota was challenging. He made the needs for human action a major devotion in his appeals to his fellow Senators. When the Bergson Group and its Committee for a Jewish Army were criticized, Harry S Truman, then U.S. Sen- ator from Missouri, resigned from the committee membership. Later he re- deemed himself, as President, with action to permit the nearly 1,000 Jewish refugees kept at Camp Oswego to remain in this country — an act rejected by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Noteworthy in the list of the consis- tent and devoted in the army of rescue ad- vocates was Michigan's U.S. Senator Homer Ferguson. He is mentioned by Wyman numerous times. This is most re- vealing and heartening, because Ferguson had not been known or judged in so com- passionate a role by his Michigan con- Homer Ferguson stituents. When he ran successfully for re- election in 1936, he followed the Republi- can line of speaking critically of F.D.R's Jewish advisers. With such tactics in his attacks on the Democratic President, he was suspected of prejudice. Judge Harry B. Keidan confronted him with the comment: "You know me, Homer, as a life-long fellow Republican. What you are doing on the radio is outrageous. You are an anti- Semite. I'll vote against you." This story of Ferguson's prejudice was related in The Jewish News Purely Commentary, of Dec. 24, 1982. Prof. Wyman's record absolves Ferguson and enrolls him in the human ranks of activists during World War II. Frank Murphy, who served with dis- tinction as mayor of Detroit, governor of Michigan and justice of the U.S. Supreme Court among other important national positions, shared with Senator Ferguson the identification with the justice-seeking forces who consistently demanded action protecting Jews from Nazism. One of the most courageous acts in res- cue efforts receives attention in the Wyman account. He pays honor to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish hero who served as a one-man mission to Hungary and re- scued at least 20,000 Jews from imminent death in Auschwitz, some crediting him with having saved close to 100,000 Jews. The ill-fated, over-rated, often de- scribed as shameful Bermuda Conference, which proved a farce in rescue efforts, was especially condemned by Dr. Israel Golds- tein, the American Jewish leader who now resides in Jerusalem and recently retired from the world presidency of the Keren Hayesod. In his position at the time, in 1943, as president of the Synagogue Coun- Continued on Page 20 Reinhold Niebuhr