Atrocities of WWII
War crimes are considered as violations of international humanitarian law that are instated in both treaty and customary versions.
The Geneva Convention obliges states to criminalize such violations via national legislation.
The Holocaust stands for the mass abuse and murder of six million Jews instigated by authorities of the Nazi Germany. The driver of this process was anti-Semitism, which Adolf Hitler and his supporters promoted. According to ideology, the Jews were the cause of political and economic problems, so they had to be exterminated. The extermination of an entire ethnic group was carried out from 1933 to 1945 on the territory of Europe and was carried out through death camps, executions, and deportation to ghettos.
The First Reaction of the United States
Only in 1942 American publications began to write about the horrors of the Nazi regime towards the Jews. The U.S. State Department received an intelligence document from a member of the World Jewish Council in Switzerland. However, officials considered it a rumor. Three months later, U.S. government officials confirmed that the atrocities committed against the Jews were true. Jewish groups throughout several Allied countries conducted protests and vigils, and on December 17, 1942, the U.S. and Allied states issued a Declaration on Atrocities.
Strategic Approach of the USA
Americans were fully informed about the atrocities that were taking place in Europe. Newspaper columns were filled with news of murders and abuses. Americans went to demonstrations and signed petitions. However, the anti-Nazi campaign was not successful, and the main reason for this was the harsh foreign policy of the USA. Namely, the entry of refugees and immigrants was prohibited. Moreover, the United States of America had no intention of intervening in the war until the end, and this determined its course of neutrality until a certain time.
In response to public pressure, the U.S. government nevertheless took specific actions to protect Jews. First, on January 22, 1944, Roosevelt issued an executive order establishing the War Refugee Board. American troops freed massive concentration centers, such as Dachau and Mauthausen. In 1948, 200,000 displaced people entered the country. However, not everyone was fully aware of the scale of the tragedies and that mass extermination of people was possible. The U.S. Parliament adopted new immigration rules that limited the entry of refugees into the country. In the 1940s, the United States did not have a stable refugee policy, and they were forced to endure difficult trials to escape. Although the U.S. rescued about 200,000 Jewish refugees, the number could have been higher. However, the USA has long followed the policy of neutrality and isolation.
The Role of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Holocaust
The U.S. public was not ready and did not realize until the end the seriousness and horror of the situation of the Jews during the Second World War. It left its mark on the features of U.S. foreign policy in this matter. America sought neutrality and in no way wanted to become a part of this war. And so, the rescue of the Jews was never the primary goal of this conflict. Anti-Semitism was not only present in Nazi Germany but also in the USA. Segregation based on ethnic characteristics has always existed in America, and no one hid it. Thus, although the United States allowed many refugees to enter their country, for them, this process was challenging due to prohibitions and restrictions based on American anti-Semitism.