TL; DR: Políticas discriminatórias contra os judeus vieram muito antes dos campos da morte, e os EUA estavam bem cientes dessas políticas em meados dos anos 30. O governo dos EUA tomou conhecimento do internamento de judeus logo depois que essa política foi promulgada também. A existência de campos de extermínio chamou a atenção dos governos aliados em 1942, o mais tardar, mas não se acreditou plenamente a princípio. Na época dos desembarques na Normandia, porém, muitos cidadãos comuns dos EUA - especialmente judeus americanos - estavam bem cientes dos rumores sobre tais instalações.
Antes do holocausto:
Os EUA estavam cientes da opressão e brutalidade dos nazistas em relação aos judeus logo depois que Hitler assumiu o poder.
In 1933, new German laws forced Jews out of their civil service jobs, university and law court positions, and other areas of public life. In April 1933, laws proclaimed at Nuremberg made Jews second-class citizens. These Nuremberg Laws defined Jews, not by their religion or by how they wanted to identify themselves, but by the religious affiliation of their grandparents. Between 1937 and 1939, new anti-Jewish regulations segregated Jews further and made daily life very difficult for them. Jews could not attend public schools; go to theaters, cinema, or vacation resorts; or reside or even walk in certain sections of German cities.
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Os EUA e as outras futuras potências aliadas fizeram pouco para se opor aos primeiros sinais de políticas antijudaicas na Alemanha nazista.
In 1933 the Nazi Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler legally gained power in
Germany, and it did not take long for the persecution of Jews to begin. On April 7, 1933,
the Reichstag, under Hitler’s influence, adopted the Restoration of the Professional Civil
Service Law that dismissed non-Aryans from governmental positions.
This restoration
of this act was more significant than it appeared because the Civil Service decree
included bankers, lawyers, railroad and hospital workers, medicine, law, schools,
universities, and the arts. The Nazi intent of these laws was to eliminate Jewish influence
in Germany.
Not long after the Nazis implemented the Civil Service laws in Germany the first
significant protest against Jewish mistreatment came from the American Jewish Committee. This was a committee developed to protect the rights of Jews, and they
asked the American government to properly investigate what was happening in
Germany.
The American Jewish Congress began protests and had a strong membership
and following that would help inform the rest of the country of the worsening conditions
in Germany. For the United States to protest another country’s treatment of its citizens
during the era of segregationist Jim Crow laws was somewhat hypocritical. The United
States had no basis to criticize another country for racial injustice when it practiced
similar discrimination of certain races of people. Nonetheless protests began and
Christian groups, such as the American Christians, made public protests against Nazi
anti-Semitic acts with the support of influential public figures such as Alfred E. Smith,
Newton D. Baker, and John W. Davis.
Slowly information about Nazi anti-Semitic acts
began to filter into the United States. The State Department after hearing of these
allegations asked the American Embassy in Berlin to investigate these accusations. The
embassy liaison reported that there was good indication that the Nazis were hiding
something.
When the Germans were questioned on this issue of Jewish mistreatment,
the Nazis claimed this anti-Semitic rhetoric and attacks were isolated incidents and they
were in process of being stopped. This was very early in Hitler’s regime and the true
magnitude of his hatred of Jews was not yet identified. Ranking United States
government individuals probably knew that Hitler inherently disliked Jews because of his
biography Mein Kamp, but there was no precedent of Jewish genocide to use as a guide
to future events.
Throughout 1933 reports of Jewish mistreatment at the hands of the Nazis kept
surfacing. H.R. Knickerbocker, who was the New York Evening Post correspondent in
Berlin, reported in April 1933 that an undetermined number of Jews had been killed, or
fled, or been deprived of their livelihood in the Reich.
In this Newsweek article Mr.
Knickerbocker made two interesting observations. The first was that he did not
understand why the Nazis had such hatred for the Jews, and secondly he concluded that
the Germans were envious of Jewish accomplishments in Germany. These two conclusions would prove to be very astute in the years that followed, yet few people in
the United States seemed to understand what was happening to the Jews in Germany.
From the everyday citizen to the higher powers in the government this hatred was not
fully understood until it was too late. The Nazis under Hitler’s leadership ignited the
hidden anti-Jewish attitudes of gentiles in Germany. Hitler was a master orator and he
convinced the German citizens that the Jews were the reason that Germany lost World
War I and fell into economic despair in the 1920s.
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A maneira mais fácil para outros países ajudarem os judeus da Alemanha era aumentar as cotas de imigração, mas isso não era politicamente viável por muitos anos, porque o mundo - incluindo os EUA - permaneceu atolado na Grande Depressão, e o sentimento público foi concentrou-se em encontrar emprego para os cidadãos americanos em detrimento de todas as outras preocupações. Além disso, o anti-semitismo foi desenfreado em Europe e os EUA na época, então a simpatia pelos judeus de A Alemanha foi bastante difícil de encontrar.
Many German and Austrian Jews tried to go to the United States but could not obtain the visas needed to enter. Even though news of the violent pogroms of November 1938 was widely reported, Americans remained reluctant to welcome Jewish refugees. In the midst of the Great Depression, many Americans believed that refugees would compete with them for jobs and overburden social programs set up to assist the needy.
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E:
Like most other countries, the United States did not welcome Jewish refugees from Europe. In 1939, 83% of Americans were opposed to the admission of refugees.3 In the midst of the Great Depression, many feared the burden that immigrants could place on the nation’s economy; refugees, who in most cases were prevented from bringing any money or assets with them, were an even greater cause for concern. Indeed, as early as 1930, President Herbert Hoover reinterpreted immigration legislation barring those “likely to become a public charge” to include even those immigrants who were capable of working, reasoning that high unemployment would make it impossible for immigrants to find jobs.
While economic concerns certainly played a role in Americans’ attitudes toward immigration, so too did feelings of fear, mistrust, and even hatred of those who were different. Immigration policies were shaped by fears of communist infiltrators and Nazi spies. Antisemitism also played an important role in public opinion.
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Por esses motivos, muitos historiadores corretamente afirma que outros países europeus , e os EUA, compartilham parte da culpa pelo holocausto.
Durante o holocausto:
Em 1940 , os relatórios sobre Auschwitz em particular estavam chegando em Londres, via Resistência polaca e governo polonês no exílio.
Em 1942, o governo polonês no exílio apresentou um documento descrevendo o extermínio em massa de judeus na Polônia ocupada. Não foi o primeiro desses trabalhos que eles produziram, mas foi o primeiro a se tornar público.
Note to the Governments of the United Nations - December 10th, 1942
Ponizszy dokument informuje wszystkie Narody Zjednoczone o exterminacji Zydow polskich i europejskich przez Hitlerowcow na terenach okupowanych.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The purpose of this publication is to make public the contents of the Note of December 10th, 1942, addressed by the Polish Government to the Governments of the United Nations concerning the mass extermination of Jews in the Polish territories occupied by Germany, and also other documents treating on the same subject.
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Uma semana depois, o New York Times cobriu o jornal:
ALLIES CONDEMN NAZI WAR ON JEWS; United Nations Issue Joint Declaration of Protest on 'Cold-Blooded Extermination' 11 ALLIES CONDEMN NAZI WAR ON JEWS
December 18, 1942
WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 -- A joint declaration by members of the United Nations was issued today condemning Germany's "bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination" of Jews and declaring that "such events can only strengthen the resolve of all freedom-loving peoples to overthrow the barbarous Hitlerite tyranny."
- NY Times
Aqui está o texto completo da Declaração Conjunta da ONU:
"The attention of the Belgian, Czechoslovak, Greek, Jugoslav, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norwegian, Polish, Soviet, United Kingdom and United States Governments and also of the French National Committee has been drawn to numerous reports from Europe that the German authorities, not content with denying to persons of Jewish race in all the territories over which their barbarous rule has been extended, the most elementary human rights, are now carrying into effect Hitler's oft-repeated intention to exterminate the Jewish people in Europe.
From all the occupied countries Jews are being transported in conditions of appalling horror and brutality to Eastern Europe. In Poland, which has been made the principal Nazi slaughterhouse, the ghettos established by the German invader are being systematically emptied of all Jews except a few highly skilled workers required for war industries. None of those taken away are ever heard of again. The able-bodied are slowly worked to death in labor camps. The infirm are left to die of exposure and starvation or are deliberately massacred in mass executions. The number of victims of these bloody cruelties is reckoned in many hundreds of thousands of entirely innocent men, women and children.
The above-mentioned governments and the French National Committee condemn in the strongest possible terms this bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination. They declare that such events can only strengthen the resolve of all freedom-loving peoples to overthrow the barbarous Hitlerite tyranny. They reaffirm their solemn resolution to insure that those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution, and to press on with the necessary practical measures to this end."
- Wikipedia
Em maio de 1943, uma conferência Allied in Bermuda decidiu não aumentar as cotas de imigração nos EUA e no Reino Unido para países europeus. Judeus fugindo da ocupação nazista, efetivamente condenando muitas pessoas à morte nos campos. Na semana seguinte, o Comitê Sionista Americano para um Exército Judeu publicou um artigo no New York Times, denunciando a decisão:
A essa altura, a reação inicial dos Aliados - descartando os relatos de extermínio em massa como propaganda polonesa - era insustentável. No ano passado, os serviços de inteligência dos aliados haviam sido interceptando e decodificando os comunicados da polícia alemã detalhando os registros de ingestão e morte de muitos campos de concentração . Essas mensagens interceptadas são conhecidas como Decodificação do Campo de Concentração de Bletchley Park .
O gato estando fora do saco, a imprensa mainstream começou a relatar as políticas nazistas de extermínio em massa com mais freqüência depois de 1943.
Conclusão:
Teria sido possível para um cidadão / soldado médio dos EUA permanecer inconsciente do holocausto, mas quase todo mundo teria conhecimento da perseguição nazista aos judeus em 1944, e muitos teriam ouvido pelo menos
alguns rumores ou relatos de extermínio em massa. Os judeus americanos teriam sido muito mais conscientes dessas histórias e provavelmente tratariam os nazistas como seus inimigos em um nível profundamente pessoal - muito mais do que os gentios americanos, que se opunham mais ao Japão do que à Alemanha.