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Reposted by duckLenin/Big Iron On His Kliff

Jacob Geller

@jacobgeller.com

The US Holocaust Museum currently has an exhibit called "Americans and the Holocaust" in which it repeatedly highlights how America failed to respond to the clear and obvious crisis that was happening to European Jews. And yet, to compare this to other historical events is "unacceptable"?

It was very difficult to immigrate to the United States. In 1924, the US Congress passed the Johnson-Reed Act in order to set limits on the maximum number of immigrant visas that could be issued per year to people born in each country.

These quotas were designed to limit the immigration of people considered “racially undesirable,” including southern and eastern European Jews. After 1938, only 27,370 people born in Germany could immigrate to the United States each year.

Potential immigrants to the United States had to collect many types of documents, including proof of identity, police certificates, medical clearances, tax documents, a ship ticket, and exit permits prior to obtaining a visa. Most also had to find an American financial sponsor who had the resources to guarantee they would never become a burden on the United States.

The US government made no exceptions for refugees escaping persecution, and did not adjust the immigration laws in the 1930s or 1940s. The waiting lists for US immigrant visas grew as hundreds of thousands of Jews attempted to flee Europe.

The St. Louis
On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner MS St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba, carrying 937 passengers, most of them German Jews. When the ship arrived in Havana, the passengers learned that the landing certificates they had purchased were invalid, and the Cuban government forced the St. Louis to leave its harbor. As the ship sailed toward Miami, passengers sent telegrams to loved ones and public officials in the United States pleading for assistance. But they did not have entry visas, and the US government did not allow the passengers to land.

What Happened to the St. Louis Passengers?
After the St. Louis passengers failed to find refuge in the Western Hemisphere, the ship sailed back to Europe. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee aid organization worked with the US State Department to persuade four countries—Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium—to admit the passengers. One year later, many of the refugees found themselves living under Nazi occupation again, after Germany invaded multiple western European countries. Of the 937 St. Louis passengers, 254 were murdered in the Holocaust.

In early 1943, US State Department officials blocked reports about the mass murder of Jews from reaching the United States. Some at the State Department wanted to avoid any increase in public pressure to aid Jews and thought that if the American people did not have information about the atrocities, they would not protest.

In April, US and British representatives met in Bermuda to discuss the possibility of assisting European Jews. Neither country, however, intended to loosen its restrictive immigration policies or to actually take any decisive rescue action.

Congressional Hearings
In November 1943, a group of congressmen, influenced by activist Peter Bergson, introduced bipartisan resolutions in the House of Representatives and Senate calling for President Roosevelt to create a government commission to rescue Europe’s Jews. In secret testimony before Congress, Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long declared that the State Department already had admitted 580,000 refugees, a claim soon publicly proven false.

Treasury Department Investigation
At the same time, US Treasury Department staff investigated the State Department’s delays and obstruction in sending relief into Europe to aid Jewish refugees. They discovered that State Department officials had deliberately suppressed reports about the murder of Jews. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. agreed to present their findings to President Roosevelt.

January 27, 2026 at 1:24 PM

Reposted by duckLenin/Big Iron On His Kliff

Jacob Geller

@jacobgeller.com

The best time to make comparisons to the Holocaust is *before* they start throwing people in concentration camps. We're already too late for that. Why teach about history if you're not willing to do this? Why remember it at all?

January 27, 2026 at 1:30 PM