The U.S. and the Holocaust

“The Homeless, Tempest-Tossed” (1942 - )

A group of dedicated government officials fights red tape to finance and support rescue operations. As the Allied soldiers advance, uncovering mass graves and liberating German concentration camps, the public sees for the first time the sheer scale of the Holocaust and begins to reckon with its reverberations.

“The Homeless, Tempest-Tossed” (1942 - )

2h 10m

A group of dedicated government officials fights red tape to finance and support rescue operations. As the Allied soldiers advance, uncovering mass graves and liberating German concentration camps, the public sees for the first time the sheer scale of the Holocaust and begins to reckon with its reverberations.

Previews + Extras

  • Not Every Jew Died in a Concentration Camp: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Not Every Jew Died in a Concentration Camp

    S1 E3 - 3m 49s

    Award-winning memoirist Daniel Mendelsohn reflects on myths surrounding the Holocaust, like how people assume every Jew died in a concentration camp or gas chamber. But that’s only part of the story – they were killed in all different manners and unimaginable ways. The tragedy is that there were millions who couldn’t be rescued, and the particularity of what happened is already being erased.

  • The War Refugee Board & Hungary: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The War Refugee Board & Hungary

    S1 E3 - 5m 59s

    In 1944, President Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board – the only government agency created by any of the Allies specifically to do what it could for the Jews still under Nazi threat. Much of the Board’s most effective work was focused on Hungary with the help of fellow diplomats from neutral nations. It was still home to some 800,000 Jews, the largest remaining population in Europe.

  • Life in Auschwitz: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Life in Auschwitz

    S1 E3 - 5m 22s

    Holocaust survivor Eva Geiringer reflects on life in Auschwitz. In 1944, Americans first learned details of the camp when three escapees meticulously documented what they’d seen. When the War Refugee Board received the report from Switzerland, they made the firsthand testimony public, and it became headline news. But Americans still couldn't grasp the scale and scope of the crime.

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