UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles “In a world still trembling”: American Jewish philanthropy and the shaping of Holocaust survivor narratives in postwar America (1945 – 1953) A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Rachel Beth Deblinger 2014 © Copyright by Rachel Beth Deblinger 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION “In a world still trembling”: American Jewish philanthropy and the shaping of Holocaust survivor narratives in postwar America (1945 – 1953) by Rachel Beth Deblinger Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor David N. Myers, Chair The insistence that American Jews did not respond to the Holocaust has long defined the postwar period as one of silence and inaction. In fact, American Jewish communal organizations waged a robust response to the Holocaust that addressed the immediate needs of survivors in the aftermath of the war and collected, translated, and transmitted stories about the Holocaust and its survivors to American Jews. Fundraising materials that employed narratives about Jewish persecution under Nazism reached nearly every Jewish home in America and philanthropic programs aimed at aiding survivors in the postwar period engaged Jews across the politically, culturally, and socially diverse American Jewish landscape. This study examines the fundraising pamphlets, letters, posters, short films, campaign appeals, radio programs, pen-pal letters, and advertisements that make up the material record of this communal response to the Holocaust and, ii in so doing, examines how American Jews came to know stories about Holocaust survivors in the early postwar period. This kind of cultural history expands our understanding of how the Holocaust became part of an American Jewish discourse in the aftermath of the war by revealing that philanthropic efforts produced multiple survivor representations while defining American Jews as saviors of Jewish lives and a Jewish future. Paying particular attention to visual and material sources that both reflected and generated communal knowledge about the Holocaust, this work affirms how important the specific context of postwar America was in shaping this initial encounter. As such, American Jewish communal organizations integrated core American motifs such as thanksgiving, freedom, and hope into their narratives about Holocaust survivors, rendering stories of refuge and tragedy into accounts of survival and triumph. This work complicates historical assumptions about postwar silence and inaction by recognizing that philanthropy served as an important site of memory construction and a meaningful way for American Jews to respond to the Holocaust. iii The dissertation of Rachel Beth Deblinger is approved. Peter Baldwin Hasia R. Diner Todd Presner David N. Myers, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2014 iv Table of Contents List of Figures vi Acknowledgments vii Vita x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: A Culture of Secondary Witnessing: 27 American Encounters with Holocaust Survivors Chapter 2: Heartstrings and Purse strings: 82 American Jewish Fundraising for the Postwar Jewish World Chapter 3: Saving our Survivors: 134 Used Clothes in the Postwar Battle for Peace Chapter 4: Dear Friend: 183 Pen pal, “Adoption,” and Correspondence Programs Chapter 5: Broadcasting a Survivor Voice: 232 Radio as Advocacy Tool Conclusion: Towards a longer history of Holocaust memory construction? 276 Bibliography 288 v List of Figures Figure 1: Year of Destiny Campaign, 1948 93 (Source: Los Angeles Welfare Fund Annual Yearbook, 1948) Figure 2: “The Survivor” 97 (Source: UJA Brochure, “4 Tasks, 1 Answer,” 1947, USTC/YIVO) Figure 3: “The Pioneer” 97 (Source: UJA Brochure, “4 Tasks, 1 Answer,” 1947, USTC/YIVO) Figure 4: Lifeline to Europe 140 (Source: SOS Brochure, “Lifeline to Europe,” JDC-NY) Figure 5: A train load of survivors enroute to Israel 178 (Source: UJA 1948 Annual Report, HAFP/AJA) Figure 6: A train load of survivors leaves Germany 178 (Source: JDC Digest, December 1948, HAFP/AJA) Figure 7: Orphaned children in New York City 217 (Source: “Orphans Clothed,” Life Magazine, November 17, 1947, 57) Figure 8: Orphaned children awed by American abundance 217 (Source: “Orphans Clothed,” Life Magazine, November 17, 1947, 58) Figure 9: Hannah, the 20,000th Youth Aliyah child, in hospital bed 267 (Source: Youth Aliyah Brochure, “Ask…Hannah,” 1946, OFPA/Hadassah) Figure 10: Hannah, the 20,000th Youth Aliyah child, with flower 267 (Source: Youth Aliyah Brochure, “Ask…Hannah,” 1946, OFPA/Hadassah) vi Acknowledgments Completing this dissertation has been a long journey (through sickness and health) and I am grateful for the advisors, colleagues, friends and family who helped me along the way. David N. Myers has served as an incredible mentor, encouraging me to follow random threads of interest and pushing me to grapple with the big questions. His support was, perhaps, most valuable when he wasn’t quite convinced of my intentions. His skepticism impelled me to work harder and his recent concession that technology plays a role in this study is immensely fulfilling. I am deeply appreciative to have an advisor who cared about my personal well-being in addition to my academic pursuits and his insistence that I find a community in LA has changed my life profoundly. In both formal and informal ways, Sarah Stein has altered the trajectory of my dissertation project and my career. I have been honored to play any role in her work and fortunate to find the world of Digital Humanities through these projects. Similarly, without the guidance and support of Todd Presner, I might still be out in the wilderness of Digital Humanities. Participating in his ongoing research has challenged my thinking about Holocaust testimony and taught me how to approach my work thoughtfully, theoretically, and intentionally while remaining open to experimentation and unknown possibilities. I have been incredibly lucky to have the support of so many more mentors at UCLA that improved my work and enriched my life in LA. Ivan Berend welcomed me to UCLA and guided me through the early, confusing years of graduate work; Richard Hovannisian was kind enough to let me teach with him for five years and I am a more compassionate teacher because of it; Sharon Traweek always challenged me to expand my work in exciting ways; and Peter Baldwin has been a valuable reader and committee member throughout this adventure. Hasia Diner’s vii encouragement to pursue the study of early postwar Holocaust memory was immeasurably significant at the beginning of this journey and her critical eye and guidance have been essential ever since. My work benefited tremendously from many short-lived reading groups and long-term friendships. I would like to thank Leslie Waters, Claire Gilbert, Caroline Luce, Alma Heckman, Jason Lustig, Liora Halperin, Rebecca Dufendach, Joanna Silva, Nathan Kurz, Markus Krah, and Ronit Stahl for sharing their reading lists as well as their feedback and support. I would like to especially thank Carrie Sanders and Anat Mooreville, who read more than one draft of each chapter and often helped me find my way back to the central questions of Holocaust memory and narrative construction. I also want to thank Allen Loeb for his lawyerly approach to editing and Dan Pecchinino for serving as my PhD spirit guide and sparring partner. The regular meetings of David Sabean’s graduate seminar also provided an opportunity for productive criticism in addition to a valuable lesson in talking shop while eating pasta. I have been fortunate to present portions of my work at numerous conferences, but two stand out for me as significant moments in my scholarly development. First, I want to thank Eric Sundquist for inviting me to participate in my very first academic conference; presenting a paper at the 2009 Myth of Silence conference, more than anything else, revealed the stakes of my project and set me on the path towards to this dissertation. Second, Noah Shenker invited me to participate in the Aftermath Conference at Monash University in the summer of 2013, a conference that felt like a coming of age moment for me. Support from Monash University and the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies allowed me to travel to Melbourne, Australia to participate in the intensive and inspiring event and this dissertation is unquestionably better because of it. viii This work has also been greatly improved by fellowships at the American Jewish Archives, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. At each institution, I was guided by enthusiastic and sympathetic archivists and staff members, and I am grateful to them all. Several experiences stand out from the months of research: Vincent Slatt translating a Polish instruction manual from a postwar Children’s Home; Jude Richter generously reading a draft of chapter four and discussing it’s possible connection to the USHMM Remember Me project; Susan Woodland walking me through the complexities of the Hadassah Archive; and Kevin Proffitt allowing me to scan the World Jewish Congress collection in the back room of the AJA. I offer special thanks to Lorin Sklamberg, who digitized almost a dozen radio programs and dug up the audio-cassettes of a dozen more that had been buried in the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Recorded Sound. Additional support for my research has come from the Skirball Cultural Center, Temple Emanuel (Woodcliff Lake, NJ), the Monash Family, the 1939 Club, the UCLA History Department, Graduate Division, and Center for Jewish Studies. I could not have made it through the ups and downs of graduate school without the love and support of my family. Thank you to Ron and Judy, Jon and Ali, and Josh and Molly for their interest in my work and continued encouragement. And, to my parents, who have always been my biggest cheerleaders. They helped me find value in this pursuit at each step along the way and for that I am eternally grateful; each little win felt bigger through their enthusiasm.