Roosevelts Secretary of State. reassured them that the antiJewish violence in Germany was over. Throughout the 1930s. America turned away Jewish refugees from Germany. The permitted quota of Immigrants from Germany was 25.957 per year. This quota never came close to being filled. In 1936. only 6.642 Immigrants were admitted under the quota. in 1937. only 11.536 were admitted. According to Deborah Lipstadt. author of the important book "Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust." this shortage of immigrants was "due not to any lack of applicants. but to the many roadblocks placed In their path by State Department immigration officers." Mr. President. to say that this was a failure of policy wouldbe a tragic understatement. It was nothing short of a devastating blow to the future of European Jewry. And this policy persisted even after the dimensions of the Holocaust began to be known in the allied countries. In June 1941. the State Department issued a ruling that Jewish refugees who had relatives In Nazi concentration camps could not be admitted to the United Stateson the grounds that they might be spies for the Nazi enemy. In June 1942. newspapers all over the world featured headlines about the exterminations taking place in Europe. From the London Times: "Massacre of JewsOver 1.000.000 Dead Since the War Began." From the Atlanta Constitution: "1.000.000 Jews Killed by Nazi Treatment." Six months later. the State Departments specialist on Jewish issues was still reassuring Congress that the reports were unconfirmed. Thanks in large part to the pressure of Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau. Franklin Roosevelt in January 1944. established an agency called the War Refugee Board to help organize the rescue of European Jews. But officials in the State Department urged Cordell Hull to weaken the War Refugee Boardon the grounds that Hitler might embarrass and inconvenience the Allies by flooding them with unwanted Jewish immigrants. Mr. President. are we not capable of learning from the past?
Identified stereotypes
Jewish refugees are portrayed as potential Nazi spies.