Why did much of the American public not believe stories about atrocities committed in the Nazi concentration?

Question

Why did much of the American public not believe stories about atrocities committed in the Nazi concentration camps?

(a) They did not want to be bothered with the plight of Europe's Jews

(b) they believed it was fabricated propaganda

(c) they did not want to alienate the Germans and end chances for better relations after the war

(d) none of the above

Answer 1

The answer is B. The previous poster is incorrect in his assertion that the US didn't know - it was in fact very known, and there had been articles all throughout the war in the New York Times and other papers, albeit sporadically printed and usually buried around page A17 or so. The government knew. Roosevelt knew. The State Department knew. The military knew. The higher-ups in the military even discussed bombing the rail lines to camps like Auschwitz. This was dismissed, as all such plans to help out the Jews in the camps, because "it wasn't essential for winning the war" or "it was a diversion of resources and materials". Also, the war was already on, and the US quite frankly was in it to win, regardless of what the Nazis were doing to the Jews, Romae, gays, communists, Russians, or any other group unfortunate enough to be on their hit list.

While A certainly is true, it isn't an accurate answer to this question. Caring has very little to do with whether or not you believe the truth of something. C is not true either - this was a brutal war to the finish.

B is the answer. The US had to some extent been taken in by propaganda in WWI about the evilness of the Germans. The stories coming out of England and France and Belgium were all exaggerations or fictitious during WWI. There was an incident involving some mistreated nurses, but for the most part, the Germans were not acting as barbaric as the stories made them out to be (no throwing babies in the air and catching them on pitchforks, for example.)

In WWII, many in the US did not want to get suckered again. Hence, although many stories were coming out of Europe, a lot of people refused to believe them as propaganda, and also, the Germans were seen as "good people" who couldn't possibly do such horrible things as the stories stated. It was, as historian Deborah Lipstadt put it, Beyond Belief.

Answer 2

Of course I don't believe that, every world power has done something bad at some point. However, I do believe that the U.S. has had a very short list when it comes to atrocities, much shorter than most other industrialized nations...especially when it comes to our own citizens. Now I know that many on the left believe that not coddling people from cradle to grave with entitlements is an atrocity, but I am talking about real atrocities, like genocide and things like that. Two skeletons we have in our closet are the unjustified killing of Native Americans and slavery...of course these things were done in our nations early years and in a time when people viewed the world much differently (this does not justify it, however it gives a reason behind it). Beyond that, pretty much any other perceived "bad", major thing we did could be justified...such as bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, yes it was not good killing all of those civilians, but a ground battle would have been worse and the Japanese would have fought us tooth and nail to the end. There are varying opinions on our involvement in the middle east, however some good did come out of that with the removal of Saddam Hussein. Overall, for a powerful country and a world leader, I think America has been for the most part a beacon of civility, especially compared to what some other world powers of the past have done such as Germany, USSR, and others. EDIT : Wow, now that I read your additional rants, I see that you are a left-wing conspiracy theorist loon that thinks America is evil...there is no reasoning with people like you. Really, I don't understand why people who hate this country so much continue to live here...there are plenty of other places in the world you can live, like say, Somalia...I don't think they will be too strict on immigration there, lol.

Answer 3

(b) is probably the right answer
I asked my parents, who lived in rural Nebraska and were regular readers of the local paper, what they knew. They had never seen a news report about it, so if it was disbelief, it was disbelief by the news media and government officials, not ordinary people. Not that many people read the New York times, but their stories are usually picked up by other news organizations, but these were not.
If Roosevelt had mentioned it in a radio address the information would have been publicized and everybody would have known. There have been claims that Roosevelt knew, but believed the American people would not be motivated to fight to save the Jews, so he never mentioned it as a reason to fight the war. If true, the correct answer might be (a).

Answer 4

d is the correct answer because we didnt even know about their atrocities.

Answer 5

b