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The American Press and the Holocaust

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The American Press and the Holocaust ClassroomFocus Social Education 59(6), 1995 ©1995 National Council for the Social Studies This month, Classroom Focus features two Holocaust-related lessons by Paul Wieser, on the U.S. Press and the Holocaust, and on Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1942. Also included are maps by George F. McCleary, Jr., Darin T. Grauberger, and Michael G. Noll, and a chronology of the Holocaust by Stephen Feinberg. The American Press and the Holocaust Paul Wieser a result of planned annihilation was Jews received some attention in U.S. placed at the bottom of page 6 of the newspapers. Until the second half of The treatment accorded by Chicago Tribune and given thirteen lines. 1942, the outside world knew little about the American press to the destruction The story was treated similarly by other the gas chambers and extermination of the Jews during World War II can be major papers. Many readers probably camps. There were no satellites to pro- best described as a “sidebar,” the name missed this story and similar ones pub- vide aerial photographs, no portable TV given by journalists to a story that is an- lished well inside the paper. Those read- cameras yet in existence. But there were cillary to the main story. The press cov- ers who did see it had cause to assume a few people willing to risk their lives to erage of the Nazi persecution of the that the editors did not really believe it; unveil the Final Solution. Jews paralleled U.S. government policy had they believed it, a reader might have One person willing to take a risk was on refugee rescue, which was not treat- assumed, they would have accorded it Jan Karski, a courier from the Polish un- ed as an issue of primary importance. more prominent placement. derground to the Polish government-in- The behavior of the press reflected the From the beginning of the Nazi exile in London. Karski had been inside United States’ attitude of “rescue regime, the press in the U.S. generally the Warsaw Ghetto in August 1942 in through victory.” It was relatively rare failed to take Hitler’s prewar and, in cer- the midst of the deportations, and in for more than the isolated paper to call tain cases, wartime threats against Jews September inside Belzec, one of the six for action to assist Jews. seriously. Unfortunately, after the out- death camps in Poland. Karski’s vivid Information about the “Final Solution” break of World War II, all too many report to the Polish government-in-exile and the systematic destruction of the people compared reports of the Nazi had some impact. On December 10, the Jews, was available from 1942, long be- treatment of Jews to stories about Ger- Polish government-in-exile issued a note fore the end of the war. In spite of Nazi ef- man atrocities in occupied Belgium and to the Allied governments describing in forts to carry out mass murder in isolated northern France during World War I, detail the process of destruction being areas and to swear participants to secrecy, claims that turned out after the war to utilized by the Germans and of their in- executioners themselves talked, and occa- have been invented by Allied propagan- tent to exterminate all the Jews of sional witnesses to mass shootings even dists. As a result, there was much skep- Poland. On December 17, the United more so. Underground organizations, par- ticism about reports of Nazi mass States, Great Britain, and ten Allied gov- ticularly Jewish and Polish, made great ef- killings. Another factor was that a great ernments-in-exile issued a joint declara- forts to let the world know what was hap- many Europeans were suffering under tion denouncing Nazi implementation pening and what would occur if the Nazis brutal Nazi occupation, and it was not of “Hitler’s oft-repeated intention to ex- were not halted. The information was always easy to see that the Nazi had dif- terminate the Jewish people in Europe.” sometimes partial and even contradictory, ferent policies for different peoples. This statement was the first time the but there were enough stories from When Jews pressed outsiders to recog- United States government had made or enough sources that the outside world nize the growing tragedy for their peo- participated in a declaration about Nazi should have been able to discern a pattern ple, unsympathetic observers could per- mass killings of Jews. by 1942. The Nazi regime was doing ceive this as a request for special favors By the end of the year, the six exter- what Hitler had promised. from the Allies. mination camps had streamlined and ac- Practically no aspect of the Holocaust The stakes of the military conflict celerated the Final Solution to the point remained unknown by 1945. Some of were so high that many Allied govern- where it had already claimed perhaps the information about specific killings, ment officials and citizens felt com- more than three million Jews. Scattered and about hundreds of thousands of pelled to focus all efforts and concern Jewish resistance inside and outside the deaths, was published in the Western on that task. They paid little attention ghettos had begun, but resistance orga- press, although not in complete or dra- to anything else that might complicate nizers often had limited support from matic form in most of the major Ameri- winning the war as quickly as possible. the Jewish community, very few arms, can newspapers, with facts often under- Finally and perhaps most importantly, and limited or poor relations with non- stated or qualified by cautious editors. there was the psychological barrier: Jewish partisans. And the governments Significant information was often buried what the Nazis were doing was not of the United States and Great Britain on the inside pages of newspapers. For only logical and unprecedented, but lit- were barely ready to recognize what instance, the June 1942 announcement erally inconceivable to many. was happening, and not prepared to do that two million Jews had been killed as As 1942 went on, the mass killings of much about it. SE Reprinted from the October 1995 issue of Social Education C1 ClassroomFocus By mid-1943 the news of the perse- groups. However this activity can easi- each group will report their findings to cution of the Jews was regarded as an ly be adapted for students working the class. A teacher-led discussion may “old story,” and therefore most newspa- independently. then focus on the following points: pers carried it on their inside pages. Students will be working with copies ■ Do you think the American people, of pages from newspapers. The news- from simply reading the daily news- Bibliography paper editions recommended for this paper, had enough information so as Breitman, Richard. “The Final Solution 1942”. In lesson are the editions of The New York to realize the Holocaust was actually Fifty Years Ago: In the Depths of Darkness. Wash- ington, DC: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Muse- Times, and in one case, the New York taking place? um 1992, 9-13. Herald Tribune. listed below. (Editions of ■ Why did news of the Holocaust sel- Breitman, Richard, and Alan M. Kraut. American the Times and Tribune are on microfilm dom appear on the front pages? Refugee Policy and European Jewry, 1933-1945. ■ Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, in most university libraries and many lo- How did local coverage differ from 1987. cal libraries. Teachers may, however, national coverage? Laqueur, Walter. The Terrible Secret: An Investiga- wish to adapt the lesson by using other tion into the Suppression of Information about Hitler’s “Final Solution.” Boston: Little, Brown, sources, including local newspapers.) All Student Instructions 1980. these editions contain Holocaust-relat- You have received copies of specific Lipstadt, Deborah E. Beyond Belief: The American ed news articles. Some appear on the pages from a 1942 edition of The New Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933- 1945. New York: The Free Press, 1986. front pages, and some on inside pages. York Times and/or the New York Herald Wyman, D. The Abandonment of the Jews: America Once the teacher has identified the Tribune. All contain Holocaust-related and the Holocaust, 1941-1945. New York: Pan- makeup of the student groups, each news items. Follow the directions be- theon Books, 1984. group will be given a set of newspaper low and answer the questions as they articles. The recommended sources are appear. Lesson Plan the Times editions of July 2, 1942 (pp. 1 1. Read through the pages you have Title: The American Press and the & 6); July 23, 1942 (pp. 1 & 6); July 29, been given and locate any news Holocaust 1942 (pp. 1 & 7); and November 25, items that relate to the Holocaust. Goal: Through the reading and study 1942 (pp. 1 & 7). The article from the Briefly summarize these articles. of newspapers, students will come to a Tribune dates from the November 25, 2. On what pages did you find news of realization of the importance of primary 1942 edition, pages 1 & 10. These edi- the Holocaust? What other kinds of sources to historical research. Specifical- tions contain several items of interest. A articles appeared on that page? What ly, they will attempt to determine the front-page article in the Times (July 2), message does this convey to you extent of knowledge the American pub- for example, reported the governor of about how newspaper editors/pub- lic could have had about the destruc- New York giving up tennis and donating lishers perceived the Holocaust? tion of European Jewry from simply his playing shoes to the scrap rubber 3.
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