Before the War, 1935-1941
• Before America's entry in the war, which options to respond to the increasing persecution of Jews in Germany and later in German occupied Europe presented themselves to the United States?
• Please describe the ever-worsening ostracism, persecution and murder of Jews of Germany and Europe and then show what informed American responses or lack thereof.
• Which parts of the American society called for harsher measures against Germany such as boycotts of German products or of the Berlin Olympics, and which segments of American society urged the US government to stay out of any confrontation with Nazi Germany and close the doors to refugees?
• Bearing in mind our own difficulties in finding a meaningful response to current conflicts such as in Syria, how do you evaluate America's actions towards Nazi terror in this phase?
Sources:
Please make sure to engage the text often. As a rule of thumb, you should have at least 6 quotes/references, engaging at least three different primary sources from our book) and also see the grading rubric and the study guide on Learning Studio. You can also include other sources (for example from scholarly websites such as Germany History in Images and Documents at http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/ (Links to an external site.) for extra credit, but please bear in mind that this should be in addition to sources taken from ‘America views the Holocaust’.
In-text citations: At the end of the sentence include the author name, year of publication and page number.
For introduction: (Abzug 1999, 3). For sources in the book (Germany: Jews Begin to Feel a Soft Spot in the Iron Heel 1999, 59)
Footnote at the bottom of the page:
For the introduction: Robert Abzug, “America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945. A Brief Documentary History” (Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s 1999), p. 3.
For sources in the book: “Germany: Jews Begin to Feel a Soft Spot in the Iron Heel. Newsweek, September 28,1935” in: Robert Abzug (ed.), “America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945. A Brief Documentary History” (Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s 1999), p. 59.
For a source with an author: Ernest Lee Jahncke, “Letter to Count Henri Baillet-Latour, November 25, 1935”, in: Robert Abzug (ed.), “America Views the Holocaust 1933-1945. A Brief Documentary History” (Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s 1999), p. 63.