What took the US so long to step in when they knew what was going on in the concentration camps in Germany ?

Answer 1

The United States never "stepped in" to stop the Holocaust. When asked why nothing was being done the Allies official policy answer was by ending the war as soon as possible the atrocities would stop if they existed. At no point did the United States Government or the British government recognize a Holocaust existed in fact even after the liberation of the camps and trials in Nuremberg official the Federal government state that the Holocaust was a fact.
One belief is the fear in the US and England of a mass immigration of refuges Remember prior to WW2 we were isolationists, and allowing the deaths to continue would reduce the refuges to a more manageable number. No answer has ever been given officially why when bombing factories right next to concentration camps no attempt was made to destroy the ovens and rail systems.

Answer 2

Let's get past the point of America not caring, nor did any other ally.

What could we have done differently?

It's not like launching a cruise missile like we have today. It was lumbering bombers with limited range and no fighter protection. Most camp were beyond the conventional "fly-drop bombs-fly back" thinking. Many of the camps were past the point of no return. Russia had a deep suspicion of these types of raids as several were tried during the war with very limited success. Having fuel available for surviving planes, landing in Russian territory, was just part of the problem.

Now the question begs, what to bomb. We have 100 to 500 bombers loaded up with their several thousands pounds, what to drop them on. Railroads come to mind, but these are easy to repair. Bomb the camp, maybe kill more people than even Germans can. It's not like they had bomb shelters. If a bomb landed within 500 feet of the target, it was a hit. Not like putting the bomb in a window that we have today.

See the problems with this. It's a hard decision, but use the resources you have to end the war as quickly as possible. It's not about immigration or how a country feels about a group of people. It's about killing an enemy with all the means you have available.

Answer 3

Depends on what you mean by "step in." As another answer stated, the majority of Americans were isolationists and what happened in Europe was their problem, not ours. Once war was declared against Hitler in December 1941, then we had a long way to go to get to the camps. There were suggestions about bombing them (or at least the slave labor factories nearby) but since most of the camps were in Poland they were too far away for bombers based in England. Plus, intelligence certainly was not available on any clear picture of what buildings might be factories and what buildings might not.
Given the poor record the US has shown in getting involved recently in places like Sudan or Darfur, or only late getting into the Balkans, and our international social conscience now is probably greater than it was then, just the knowledge of the camps wasn't sufficient justification for entry into the war.

Answer 4

I guess winning the war, leaving Germany a pile of rubble and defeating the Germans wasn't good enough? I think you may be asking is why didn't we conquer the German's sooner? But even that question is a little out of context, as the Allies went about the invasion of the Atlantic Wall and the Eastern Front as fast as they could...although i see that the Red Army stopped just short of Warsaw during the Polish uprising, causing more Poles to die than there should have.

Some people wonder why the railways leading into Auswitz weren't bombed. I have to believe that the extent of the state-sponsored genocide was not known and that the few reports that did get out were too fantastic to believe.

Answer 5

the thing was that the US did not know what was going on. the nazis kept very secret. they would burn human remains so there would be no evidence of their crimes. the US was not aware of the brutality of the concentration camps until they conquered the nazis and were actually able to see the concentration camp and all the prisoners inside. the US joined the war because japan attacked and then germany declared war on the US.

Answer 6

When did we know? How long did it take. Remember, you have the benefit of hindight. They were living in the now. Germany was a closed society. Plus Germany had the best army in the world, at the time. We were, at best, a second rate power. There was just not a lot we could do about it until we got into the war and then we nearly got beaten.

Answer 7

the united states had held a traditionally isolationist policy since george washington's neutrality proclamation in 1797. they prided themselves on being able to be successful without intervening in foreign wars. Also, they traded with both Germany and Britain, so going into war would cost them a major trading partner. The united states knew what was going on, but peace loving president wilson and a hesitant congress, which eventually had 56 dissenting votes in declaring war, did not want to send millions of americans overseas to get killed,.

Answer 8

I don't remember where I heard this but the stories about what was going on in the concentration camps sounded so outrageous that no one here believed them to be true. It wasn't until our troops got to Europe that we really knew what was going on.

Answer 9

Americans didn't want to get involved in foreign wars. They didn't care about the Jews. Many thought that the Jews were just communists and troublemakers. Until Pearl Harbor, Americans wanted to just be left alone.