America Views the Holocaust, 1933-45 : A Brief Documentary History

by Robert H. Abzug

Were Americans the heroic liberators of Nazi concentration camp victims in 1945, or were they knowing and apathetic bystanders to unspeakable brutality and annihilation for a dozen years? Historians have long debated what the United States knew about Hitler’s gruesome Final Solution, when they knew it, and whether they should have intervened sooner. Wrapping historical narrative around 60 primary sources — including news clippings, speeches, letters, magazine articles, and government reports — Abzug chronicles the unfolding events in Nazi Germany while tracing the resurgence of anti-Semitism and tightening immigration policies in the United States. He relies on the American journalistic sources through which U.S. citizens read about events in Europe to provide students a real context to understand Americans’ horror when they realized that the reports of the Holocaust were not exaggerations or fabrications. An epilogue examines the complexity of historical interpretations and moral judgments that have evolved since 1945. Useful apparatus includes photographs, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, and an index.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, War

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent source of first hand documents from this era, ones which are not usually seen in popular print.
This was written for academic use, perhaps as required reading for History or Sociology courses, so the preface to each chapter contains not only very informative background information but loaded questions and "note this" and "see how they thought"s. I found I needed to read those prefaces with a large grain of salt so that I could draw my own conclusions.

[LA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primary source reader; good diversity of items.

[Kristopher Swinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something like a 3.6.

Without a doubt, this treats the tragedy sympathetically. It still frustratingly refrains from "confront[ing] the various questions that have been raised in useful depth and complexity" (112), choosing in the end to say that the debate over Allied complacency and/or action has come full circle (213). Considering the format of the book (i.e., original source readings), perhaps we shouldn't expect much in the way of deductions anyhow. Occasionally, and confusingly, Abzug tosses out questions that sound geared toward one of his history classes, preparatory to a sampling.

I perused the readings with intellectual delight and emotional strain. However, of all possible choices, is this what coalesced? I might have wished for more eyewitness accounts--and I don't buy into revisionistic, Jew- or America-hating beliefs that such don't exist en masse. If such testimony didn't drift in until after 1945, we could have used the editor's explanation to that effect.

It almost seemed like some of the apologetic (moderating in reaction to reports of the time) pieces were thrown in on purpose to offset the sensational, creating a false sense of balance.

Regardless, this remains a worthwhile read.

[Jeff Koslowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the inclusion of the numerous primary sources is extremely helpful to the historian, I feel that Abzug didn't sell me enough on his thesis that the United States should have done more sooner to help those in Concentration Camps (much of the book deals in anti-Semitism and not as much with the other groups targeted by the Nazis). It comes with a lot of retrospective analysis and comes up short in efforts to prove conclusively that the Allied Powers should have abandoned all aspects of its war plan and instead jumped right into Europe, and liberated the prisoners while the general public still couldn't believe what was happening despite the accounts Abzug has published.

If you are reading just the primary sources, you will enjoy the book and get a lot out of it. If you are wondering why nobody did anything about the Holocaust sooner, this book unfortunately misses the mark.

[Amanda Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.00/5.00