Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr. and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust (Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies) by Rafael Medoff

Shofar Supplements in Jewish Studies

by Rafael Medoff

Well, let's face it. There's no question in my mind that some of the people over there [U.S. State Department]—whose names are in my book—were actually just plain anti-Semitic. It's just that simple. There's no question according to the transcript of Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., during a tape-recorded interview conducted for the Harry S. Truman Library, 1973. Blowing the Whistle on Genocide tells the story of Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., a young treasury department lawyer who risked his career to alert the world to the Holocaust. As Nazism rose in Germany, many countries refused to allow Jewish immigration. The United States, spurred on by the America First Committee, wanted to remain neutral during the early days of World War II. Anti-Semitic influences kept the United States from filling its quotas for refugees, supposedly to keep Nazi spies out of the country. DuBois exposed the inequities in America's refugee policy and forced the United States government to take action to rescue the displaced Jews. Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., was a different kind of hero of the Holocaust. He was not a rescuer, and he did not shelter refugees. He was a whistle-blower and opened the eyes of the global community to Nazi atrocities.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an invaluable resource for students and researchers of America's response to the Holocaust. It contains rare transcripts of interviews with members of the Treasury Department in FDR's administration. These interviews are put in context for the reader by Medoff's short introductions to each chapter. The interviews reveal that thanks to members of the Treasury, pressure was placed on FDR to create an agency to help the Jews that would not be under the jurisdiction of the State Department.

Josiah DuBois was an important member of this team and the author of the report entitled "The Acquiescence of this Government in the Murder of the Jews," which he presented to his boss, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. The report, reprinted in this volume, shows State Department officials deliberately obstructed Jewish rescue. Thanks to a Jewish political action committee led by Peter Bergson, Congress was getting ready to pressure FDR to do something. Morgenthau used his good relations with FDR to convince him that DuBois' report was going to create a scandal, though he noted "the tide was with me" thanks to the attitude in Congress.

The book goes on to describe the work of the War Refugee Board--the new government agency created by FDR to help Jewish refugees--in the words of those who ran it. Many of these men were Treasury Department employees and few were Jewish. Since many of the interviewees have since passed away, having their comments on their work in this short volume is priceless. If you want to know how and why America finally decided to help Jews during the Holocaust, read this book.