Could the U.S. have done more to help during the Holocaust?

Answer 1

This is an interesting question... Yes and no. The US did know about the prospects of a Holocaust before it actually became one, so did the rest of the European nations, including the Jews themselves. Apparently, everybody was hoping that the Third Reich would die out by itself as a movement or have a change of heart and see the value of Jews in their society. It was too late by the time Hitler was firmly in power and exercising it.

The Holocaust was not an overnight event. It had a start and a systematic progressive movement that had eventually wiped out entire Jewish communities.

From beginning to end, the US and other nations had equal responsibility for not doing more and ignoring the depth of the problem. The Jews did not quickly try to remove themselves from harm's way. In the end, Jews paid the price. That is not to say that the Jews deserve it. In the first place, systematic destruction of a particular race, religion or creed should not be condoned ever.

Answer 2

Four people have given good answers -- Paulq, Rocketpastsix, BarB and Yupchargees.
Yes, the governments of most countries knew what was taking place under the Nazi regime but decided to ignore the situation, both before the start of the war and during the war.
Many of the nations such as Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia restricted the inflow of Jewish refugees prior to and during the war instead of increasing the intakes.
During the war the allies could have bombed the crematoriums more that they did while keeping away from the inmate huts. They could have also bombed the railway tracks close to the extermination camps restricting the inflow of victims.
They could have also made the fact known to the general public which would have increased the pressure upon the Nazi regime, and may have brought more nations into the fight in coalition with the allies.

Answer 3

The World could have done a better job. Rumors of what Hitler was proposing and doing was so outrageous that nobody really believed it.

I believe it was the people of Germany who bear the greatest blame for not putting a stop to it. German citizens ignored it.

However, many countries in Europe also ignored what was happening during the war. All of Germany's allies in the war knew what was happening and were complicit.

And, the U.S. turned away ships loaded with Jewish refugees fleeing nazi occupation in the early part of the war when Hitler was actually letting Jews leave.

We have short memories, however... Look at the genocide and slaughter in Rwanda, Darfur, Somalia and other areas in the world. Nations of the world are ignoring it, once again.

Answer 4

It's all about money, after all. The Jewish population was extremely talented at making money--good buisinessmen, as it were. That left the natives--the Germans--to become annoyed at the unequal distribution of wealth; and a psychopath like Hitler to lead them in helping to eliminate the competition in a tragedy that has effected the history of our world. And for what?? There will always be "haves" and "have nots" Even the actions of Hitler could not change that. The war in Iraq is a modern-day parallel yet without a real "goal"--eliminate "terrorism"?? Too broad a topic to be covered by bombs launched and lives lost. A quote from somewhere...."And God wept....".....

Answer 5

You should be asking......could the whole world have done more? What amazed me is how they led all those people to slaughter and they went quietly. It proves if you turn the other cheek, your dead for sure. Had we turned the other cheek over 9/11, where would we be right now? That's some food for thought.

As far as America goes, we have helped so many country's through the years and the thanks we have got is a kick in the teeth. France is a good example of that.

Answer 6

YES! Oh boy, there is so much more that we could ave done!

But you see, Hitler was crazy! He was a liar and a theif. You see, he would make deal and such, but then back stab them! No one had any idea how dangerous he would be! When he made arrangments with other countries, he would turn his back, gain control, and bam!

With the U.S., however we didnt want any problems with the anixed countries. Even thought we knew what was going on, we would have been screwed. But we did end up ending the war when the attack on Pearl Harbor occured. That was when everythign was ending.....

Answer 7

Roosevelt tried to get more Jewish people brought to this country. But do you realize the number of prisoners of war from the German, Italian, and Japanese that were brought to this country? Huge amount of POW's were allowed to stay after the war and these were all one time enemies of the United States. Some were allowed on farms and married American citizens and got their citizen ship that way.

But yes, we could have took in more during the Holocaust but there were many people opposed in all the Allied countries.

Answer 8

No one truly knew the depths of this atrocity at that time.

There was reluctance even among Europeans to challenge Hitler in the face of rampant, fierce conquest.

Popular opinion in the U.S. was to allow the brutally disgusting man have his way.

I will never understand why Americans continue to accept toturous devils bent on world domination or genocide, when instead they fault the good leaders attempting to protect them.

Answer 9

Yes, starting with allowing Jewish refugees to come here. Many were sent back to Europe because no "civilized" country would let them in. We also could have bombed rail lines to slow them down a lot. That would have saved a lot of lives.

Answer 10

not much no. althought we knew about them, especially the big ones, there was not much we could do to stop it. i hate when people ***** that we could have bombed the rail lines to auschwitz, but in all honesty no we could not, because the bombing was so inaccurate that inadvertently we would have bombed the camp itsself, killing more jews, thus helping hitler.

like one poster said, we could have raied the limit on the amount of jews we allowed in but in all honesty how could that have helped, if they were not allowed to get out in the first place? all that would have come from raising the limit would have just made us look like a better country.