12 The Erroneous Antisemitism Against Jewish People in the United States during World War ll

In 1939, the Nazi’s started invading Europe under Hitler’s ruling. Some individuals of Jewish decent were lucky enough to flee before the total over ruling of Hitler and escape genocide from the Holocaust. The refugees decided to flee to other countries, the United States being one of those countries. The United States was hesitant on allowing infiltration of Jewish refugees due to the United States wanting to stay neutral during the war that was raining terror on the rest of the world. The Great Depression started in 1929, which also sparked nerves on if there would be enough supplies for not only the American citizens but any incoming immigrants as well. Although, the United States set new strict immigration laws into place not allowing immigration from Eastern or Southern Europe, there was still a handful of Jewish refugees that were seeking asylum in the Midwest.

The immigration restrictions the United States placed on Europe caused more damage than good. The United States government sent out polls to the American people asking if America should allow Jewish refugees into our borders and allow them to seek shelter in the states. The American people voted against allowing refugees into our country, the majority favored no, counting as 61%, over the other 30% voted in favor of bringing refugee’s into their homes. 9% of the participants voted that they had no opinion overall. The MS St. Louis was a ship carrying refugees from Germany whom were escaping from persecution, but the US denied the ship approval of making landfall. Fortunately, a program was created called “The German-Jewish Children’s Aid Society in America”. This allowed children to be shipped to New York on the SS New York and be housed in an orphanage like facility. They were placed with new “families” eventually that allowed them to have a sense of normalness again. The board for the program started setting up these facilities throughout the United States. Detroit, Michigan was another heavy populated base/camp of “The German-Jewish Children’s Aid Society” for the Jewish refugees. Benno, a Jewish refugee child, part of the German-Jewish Aid Society was shipped to Detroit from New York. Benno said, “We arrived to Detroit to be greeted by our new family. Ernest (brother) and I were to be with the Rosenberg’s who immediately became Uncle Robert and Aunt Ella.” (Benno) These camps came as a safe haven for the refugees due to the fact their ethnic group was under genocide in Germany. Despite having to uproot from their homes and their livelihoods, the refugees found a sense of freedom and a unique opportunity for an education. The children were taught English from tutors whom spoke in German, which made it easier for the children to learn in their own language. The sense of having family broken apart was unfortunate but it was a safe alternative to split up and immigrate at different times than all at once. Some families were lucky enough to reunite when the adults were able to immigrate into the United States as well.

Iowa was another sister state for helping refugees during the war committed to using the “American Friends Service Committee” as a shelter. The program was made for children to have a safe place to live during the war. Edith Lichtenstein Morgan-Froehlig, was an Jewish refugee whom fled Europe for America by crossing the Atlantic during the war. Edith’s father, was a judge, did not vote in favor of the Nazi party, and was then placed on house arrest because of his political stance. Considering this, her family was in great danger. Due to the immigration policies the United States placed, applying for a visa was an extremely long wait time, and with her family being tracked there was no time to wait in Germany for a different sequence of events. She mentions that her family was lucky enough to survive, and be allowed to hunker down in Iowa at the Scattergood hostel despite the negative outlook the Jews were carrying. Edith remembers that people were nice to her family and she was surprised by this. People welcomed them even though they technically weren’t supposed to be in the United States and they were well taken care of. “We enjoyed it greatly. It was a lot freer than the city, and there was no danger, people were kind to us… I don’t remember experiencing the kind of things people complain about nowadays, discrimination and such.” (Edith Lichtenstein Morgan-Froehlig)

John Pehle, a lawyer from Omaha, Nebraska helped save countless lives during the war all while breaking the law secretively. Pehle felt deeply for the refugees and felt it was his duty to act upon the immigration crisis the United States was attributing to. Pehle put forth a enormous amount of money towards relief organizations to save as many Jewish lives as he could. Pehle broke many laws such as laundered government money to help move refugees across seas and out of Europe territory faster and effortlessly but at the same time, he saved a number of lives due to his law breaking and unfaithfulness to the system. If it was not for Pehle’s selflessness, the death toll from the Holocaust may have been much higher. As mentioned, the American citizens’ feared crime would wreck the United States by bringing in refugees. “He built support for a refugee camp in the United States – then, as now, many Americans worried that refugees would bring crime and danger to U.S. shores.” Experts believe that Pehle saved anywhere between 10,000 refugee lives to 100,000 due to his efforts. A famous quote from Pehle relating back to the refugees that was found in a book says “I have literally shuddered at the results of this attitude in Europe where millions have been slaughtered merely because they happen to share an ancient religion and cultural heritage.” (John Pehle)

During these times, anti-Semitism was on the rise all over the world because many did not want to get involved. The Holocaust mixed with the ending of the Great Depression and the start of World War ll was a mixture no one wanted to deal with. Yet, there were good Samaritans whom used their power and their own privilege in the Midwest to help those who needed most. Although, the United States shut down European immigration almost entirely, there was still a way to help those whose lives were in critical danger. The Midwest and the people of the Midwest showed great courage and were able to uphold the integrity of the Jewish refugees. In our lesson, CR 4, we had the chance to read “Education Denied: Indiana University’s Japanese American Ban 1942-1945”. Due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the United States entrance into the war, Japanese students faced discrimination solely based on their ethnicity. The stance of blaming a whole ethnicity group for the wrongdoing of a few individuals is bigotry. Therefore, even though the United States tried to stop Jewish refugees from seeking American asylum, there were people behind the scenes helping them through these hard times.

Works Cited:

“80 years ago, Scattergood took in refugees fleeing Nazis.” (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thegazette.com/subject/news/80-years-ago-scattergood-hostel-took-refugees-fleeing-nazis-wwii-west-branch-cedar-county-edith-lichtenstein-morgan-froehlig-20190627?template=amphtml

Hansen, Matthew,  (2019, February 6). “An Omahan saved countless Jews during the Holocaust, then faded into oblivion.” Retrieved from https://www.omaha.com/archives/hansen-an-omahan-saved-countless-jews-during-the-holocaust-then/article_357296fc-cd60-563a-a221-8c18456c5c9a.html

United States Refugee Poll: Retrieved from https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=t2nZDaQY&id=5F654F4821D942B4C41809638A8F7F74CE644BC0&thid=OIP.t2nZDaQYKeHu4f2m2g19IQHaEK&mediaurl=http://toronto.citynews.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/sites/10/2015/11/jewishchildren16x9.jpg&exph=614&expw=1092&q=united+states+poll+for+jewish+refugees&simid=608026347769298981&selectedIndex=5&ajaxhist=0

“Welcome to Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.” (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.michjewishhistory.org/