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Daniel Mendelsohn: When I was
a small child,
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00:00:44,251 --> 00:00:46,460
5, 6, 7, 8,
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00:00:46,494 --> 00:00:50,878
we would visit
my grandpa and his wife
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down in Miami Beach.
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My grandfather was one
of 7 siblings.
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5 immigrated to the States
in the early twenties.
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They would gather
together their old pals,
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and some of them would
get very emotional
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when they saw me
because they said I bore
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an uncanny resemblance to
my great uncle Shmiel Jaeger.
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I felt haunted by this guy
because people looked at me
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and they thought of him.
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We had pictures of Shmiel
and Ester, his wife,
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and these girls as they
grew up in a provincial town
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in Eastern Poland
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because all through the 1920s
they were sending pictures
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as the girls were growing up.
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So we had pictures of them,
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and on the back
of every picture,
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my grandfather always wrote,
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"Uncle Shmiel killed
by the Nazis,"
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or, "Aunt Ester killed by
the Nazis."
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So I always wondered,
"Why are there no stories
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00:02:05,504 --> 00:02:07,403
about these people?"
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In open defiance
of the Versailles Treaty,
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00:03:00,973 --> 00:03:04,391
Hitler had built
a mighty military machine,
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00:03:04,425 --> 00:03:08,533
then sent his forces to seize
the Rhineland, Austria,
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00:03:08,567 --> 00:03:11,674
and the Sudetenland
in Czechoslovakia.
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The Nazis had relentlessly persecuted
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00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:18,508
German and Austrian Jews,
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reducing their rights,
expropriating their property,
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00:03:22,719 --> 00:03:25,066
choking off their livelihoods,
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00:03:25,101 --> 00:03:28,829
declaring them parasites,
not citizens...
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00:03:30,348 --> 00:03:33,972
and on the evening
of November 9, 1938--
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Kristallnacht,
the Night of Broken Glass--
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00:03:37,424 --> 00:03:42,118
Hitler unleashed Nazi mobs
on Jews in cities and towns
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all over
the newly expanded Germany,
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00:03:44,983 --> 00:03:49,056
beating, burning,
raping, killing,
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00:03:49,090 --> 00:03:52,853
hoping to drive them all out
of their country.
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00:03:54,510 --> 00:03:57,478
Hundreds of thousands
of German and Austrian Jews
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00:03:57,513 --> 00:04:01,068
were now desperate
to escape the Nazis.
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00:04:01,102 --> 00:04:04,589
They knew their only
hope lay in flight
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00:04:04,623 --> 00:04:09,525
into friendly European countries
or across the ocean
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00:04:09,559 --> 00:04:11,665
to the United States.
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00:04:32,030 --> 00:04:35,551
Guünther Stern: I was getting
ready, coming down the stairs,
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and the newspaper boy
of the "St. Louis Star-Times"
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came along,
and he was shouting,
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00:04:43,352 --> 00:04:45,733
"Synagogues burning in Germany.
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Read all about it,"
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and, I--I--I--I--I
didn't get it at first,
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00:04:51,567 --> 00:04:55,640
and then I--I
knew what it meant,
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and, I--it--it shattered
another past--
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00:05:01,197 --> 00:05:03,993
another part of my past,
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00:05:04,027 --> 00:05:08,238
and that was
the first inkling I got
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00:05:08,273 --> 00:05:13,313
of Kristallnacht,
the Night of Broken Glass.
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Peter Hayes: At every American
consulate in Germany,
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there were Jews seeking refuge
because their houses
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00:05:18,766 --> 00:05:21,355
had been pillaged overnight
and so forth,
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00:05:21,390 --> 00:05:24,116
and this was reported
in American newspapers.
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The "Chicago Tribune," which
was an isolationist newspaper
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in the middle of North America,
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had pictures
of burning synagogues
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in early November 1938.
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Deborah Lipstadt:
It's on the front pages
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of American newspapers.
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Some major newspapers have it
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on the front page
day after day after day.
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People are shocked.
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00:05:50,660 --> 00:05:55,562
In America, there is
a tremendous response,
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even from those who don't want
Jews coming
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and even
from antisemitic sources
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because while being
an antisemite is one thing,
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but this is a civilized country
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seemingly going crazy,
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00:06:06,642 --> 00:06:09,541
seemingly completely
out of control,
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and there is
tremendous criticism.
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This is not merely
a Jewish question,
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a Catholic question,
a Protestant question,
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a political question
or a labor question.
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It is one, however,
that goes to the foundation
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upon which we have erected
the America that has stood
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all during our political life
for the preservation
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of worldwide civilization.
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Any attack on a minority group
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in any country is an attack
on democracy itself.
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We might almost say
that Nazi savagery
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against the Jew
is the straw that broke
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the camel's back.
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At President Roosevelt's
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weekly press conference,
he said he could
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"scarcely believe that such
a thing could occur
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in a 20th century civilization"
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00:07:01,213 --> 00:07:04,113
and withdrew his ambassador
from Berlin,
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the only world leader to do so.
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00:07:07,461 --> 00:07:09,808
Because
of this public response,
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the Germans make
a strategic decision.
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There will be--things will
only get worse from here,
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but it's not going to be
on the front pages
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of the newspaper.
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FDR, who was normally
very cautious
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about his policy, did
the one thing in that interval
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that he could do
by executive action.
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He said every Jew
in America from Germany
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who was here on a tourist visa
could now stay.
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"It would be
a cruel and inhumane thing
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to compel them to leave,"
Roosevelt told the press.
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"I cannot in any decent
humanity throw them out."
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But when a reporter
asked if there were plans
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for a "relaxation
of our immigration restriction,"
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the president answered only,
"That is not in contemplation.
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We have the quota system."
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Roosevelt had
no executive power to change
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00:08:00,928 --> 00:08:02,274
that system.
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Only Congress could alter it.
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Mae Ngai: The people who
thought that immigrants
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from Eastern and Southern Europe
should be highly restricted,
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00:08:11,939 --> 00:08:14,873
they were some of the worst
white supremacists
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00:08:14,908 --> 00:08:16,426
in the Congress,
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00:08:16,461 --> 00:08:19,671
and they had
deep-seated antisemitism,
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00:08:19,706 --> 00:08:22,502
so they were
at the forefront of making sure
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00:08:22,536 --> 00:08:27,092
that as little
would be done as possible
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00:08:27,127 --> 00:08:29,750
for Jewish refugees.
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00:08:29,785 --> 00:08:34,030
This country belongs
to the people of this country.
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I am not willing myself,
while hundreds of thousands
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00:08:37,896 --> 00:08:41,175
in this country are hungry,
perhaps millions
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00:08:41,210 --> 00:08:43,764
of children underfed,
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00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:46,422
and hordes of young boys
and girls
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00:08:46,456 --> 00:08:48,942
coming into
active life seeking jobs
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00:08:48,976 --> 00:08:55,051
without ability to get them,
to let down the bars.
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00:08:55,086 --> 00:08:57,467
Senator William Borah.
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In the midterm elections,
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00:09:00,470 --> 00:09:02,542
Republicans had
increased their numbers
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00:09:02,576 --> 00:09:04,682
in both the House and Senate.
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00:09:04,716 --> 00:09:07,857
The president found himself
more dependent than ever
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00:09:07,892 --> 00:09:11,551
on conservative Southern
Democratic committee chairmen,
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00:09:11,585 --> 00:09:15,934
all opposed
to allowing more refugees.
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00:09:15,969 --> 00:09:18,178
The public remained overwhelmingly
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00:09:18,212 --> 00:09:20,560
against any change.
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00:09:20,594 --> 00:09:23,079
The "Christian Century"
editorialized that
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00:09:23,114 --> 00:09:26,393
admitting more Jews
would just exacerbate
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00:09:26,427 --> 00:09:30,915
what it called,
"America's Jewish problem."
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00:09:30,949 --> 00:09:32,502
Daniel Greene: Two weeks
after Kristallnacht,
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Americans are asked
two questions.
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"Do you disapprove of this?"
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00:09:36,334 --> 00:09:37,749
And 94% of Americans say,
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00:09:37,784 --> 00:09:39,613
"Yes, we disapprove of this."
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00:09:39,648 --> 00:09:41,615
And then they're asked,
"So should we let in
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00:09:41,650 --> 00:09:44,480
Jewish exiles from Germany?"
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00:09:44,514 --> 00:09:47,172
And more than
7 out of 10 say no.
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In Germany,
even some rank-and-file
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Nazi party members
thought the brutality
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00:09:55,664 --> 00:09:58,563
of Kristallnacht
had been excessive,
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00:09:58,598 --> 00:10:01,739
but Nazi leaders were more
impressed by the fact
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00:10:01,773 --> 00:10:05,570
that no one had lifted
a hand in Germany to stop it,
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00:10:05,605 --> 00:10:09,263
and they were unmoved
by the outcry overseas.
158
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They decided to make life
still more impossible
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00:10:13,820 --> 00:10:16,236
for the hundreds
of thousands of Jews
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00:10:16,270 --> 00:10:19,032
still in harm's way.
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00:10:19,066 --> 00:10:21,966
As what the Nazis called
"atonement" for the murder
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00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,658
of the German diplomat
in Paris that had been
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00:10:24,693 --> 00:10:28,248
the pretext for Kristallnacht,
the Jewish community was
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00:10:28,282 --> 00:10:31,838
fined one billion Reichsmarks.
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00:10:31,872 --> 00:10:34,530
They were made to clean up
the rubble of their own houses
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00:10:34,564 --> 00:10:37,326
and businesses
and places of worship
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and pay for it all themselves.
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00:10:40,501 --> 00:10:43,021
The regime confiscated
their radios,
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00:10:43,056 --> 00:10:46,162
canceled
their newspaper subscriptions.
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00:10:46,197 --> 00:10:49,752
It expelled Jewish children
from state schools,
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00:10:49,787 --> 00:10:54,067
barred their parents
from driving or owning a car,
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00:10:54,101 --> 00:10:59,555
banned Jews from parks, cinemas,
theaters, concert halls,
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00:10:59,589 --> 00:11:02,144
and from those few
professions that still
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00:11:02,178 --> 00:11:04,387
had been open to them.
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00:11:04,422 --> 00:11:08,702
Finally, Jewish Germans were
banned from running businesses
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00:11:08,737 --> 00:11:12,602
or buying
or selling goods of any kind.
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00:11:14,674 --> 00:11:17,504
Even getting out
of the Reich now meant dropping
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00:11:17,538 --> 00:11:19,471
into destitution.
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00:11:19,506 --> 00:11:22,060
Emigrants were permitted
to take with them
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00:11:22,095 --> 00:11:24,304
just 10 Reichsmarks.
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00:11:25,685 --> 00:11:28,895
Fully 5%
of the fast-growing Reich budget
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00:11:28,929 --> 00:11:32,899
would be funded
by property looted from Jews.
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00:11:35,729 --> 00:11:39,146
By the end of 1938,
half of all the Jews remaining
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00:11:39,181 --> 00:11:44,600
in Germany had applied
for visas to the United States.
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00:11:44,634 --> 00:11:47,396
Raymond Geist, the senior
American diplomat
186
00:11:47,430 --> 00:11:51,952
still left at Berlin, feared
he knew what was coming next.
187
00:11:51,987 --> 00:11:54,990
"The Germans have embarked on
a program of annihilation
188
00:11:55,024 --> 00:11:58,752
of the Jews,"
he wrote to a colleague.
189
00:11:58,787 --> 00:12:03,274
"We shall be allowed to save
the remnants if we choose."
190
00:12:04,896 --> 00:12:09,521
On January 30, 1939,
the sixth anniversary
191
00:12:09,556 --> 00:12:11,972
of his taking power,
the Fuhrer stood
192
00:12:12,007 --> 00:12:15,217
before the Reichstag
and seemed to confirm
193
00:12:15,251 --> 00:12:17,667
Raymond Geist's prediction.
194
00:12:41,864 --> 00:12:45,281
The time to
stop a genocide is
195
00:12:45,316 --> 00:12:47,249
before it happens,
196
00:12:47,283 --> 00:12:49,665
and whether you're talking
about World War II
197
00:12:49,699 --> 00:12:51,943
or you're talking about Turkey
and the Armenians,
198
00:12:51,978 --> 00:12:55,050
the time to stop it is
before it happens.
199
00:12:55,084 --> 00:12:58,467
So that when Hitler is
speaking out and saying
200
00:12:58,501 --> 00:13:00,780
these horrendous things
and Germany is
201
00:13:00,814 --> 00:13:03,817
disenfranchising Jews
and conducting things
202
00:13:03,852 --> 00:13:07,959
like Kristallnacht,
that's the time to take action.
203
00:13:11,963 --> 00:13:16,002
Susan Hilsenrath: My father
had a cousin who lived
204
00:13:16,036 --> 00:13:20,316
in the Bronx,
and they had a pickle factory,
205
00:13:20,351 --> 00:13:24,424
and they figured that maybe
they would help them come
206
00:13:24,458 --> 00:13:26,771
to the United States,
207
00:13:26,806 --> 00:13:28,946
but it was almost impossible
208
00:13:28,980 --> 00:13:31,741
because the United States
had a quota,
209
00:13:31,776 --> 00:13:36,954
and I guess our family didn't
fit into this quota.
210
00:13:36,988 --> 00:13:41,682
So my father had to think
of some kind of way
211
00:13:41,717 --> 00:13:45,963
to get his children
into a safe place.
212
00:13:45,997 --> 00:13:48,172
Joseph Hilsenrath:
Our parents told us
213
00:13:48,206 --> 00:13:49,863
that we had to get out,
214
00:13:49,898 --> 00:13:54,454
leave, and that
they would follow us
215
00:13:54,488 --> 00:13:58,216
and that we would go to,
to France,
216
00:13:58,251 --> 00:14:04,878
where people would take children
out of the country for money.
217
00:14:04,913 --> 00:14:07,570
My father had heard
of this lady,
218
00:14:07,605 --> 00:14:11,712
a French lady,
who smuggled children
219
00:14:11,747 --> 00:14:14,819
across the border into France,
220
00:14:14,854 --> 00:14:17,166
and I understand that he
221
00:14:17,201 --> 00:14:19,237
gave her all of the money
222
00:14:19,272 --> 00:14:21,136
to take my brother and me
223
00:14:21,170 --> 00:14:23,897
across the border.
224
00:14:23,932 --> 00:14:26,382
I was almost 10 years old
by then,
225
00:14:26,417 --> 00:14:29,351
and my brother was 8,
226
00:14:29,385 --> 00:14:31,353
and...
227
00:14:34,183 --> 00:14:39,326
I remember it vaguely
because the horror of being
228
00:14:39,361 --> 00:14:43,779
separated from my parents,
I have pushed it
229
00:14:43,813 --> 00:14:46,955
way in the back of my mind.
230
00:14:46,989 --> 00:14:51,028
I can't remember how we got
to the train station
231
00:14:51,062 --> 00:14:54,031
and how we said
good-bye to them,
232
00:14:54,065 --> 00:14:56,792
but all I know now is,
I mean, I'm a mother
233
00:14:56,826 --> 00:15:00,071
and I'm a grandmother,
and the idea
234
00:15:00,106 --> 00:15:02,798
of--of sending my children away
235
00:15:02,832 --> 00:15:08,666
is--is--is--is un--
is unbelievably horrible.
236
00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:11,980
I can't even imagine
doing that.
237
00:15:34,381 --> 00:15:38,972
There were, I guess,
3 elements that were
238
00:15:39,007 --> 00:15:42,803
my pathway to America.
239
00:15:42,838 --> 00:15:44,978
One was baseball,
240
00:15:45,013 --> 00:15:51,088
and secondly, it was music.
241
00:15:51,122 --> 00:15:54,229
I'd never heard jazz before...
242
00:15:55,816 --> 00:16:00,580
and the third entrance
was through a girlfriend.
243
00:16:02,133 --> 00:16:05,757
We walked arm in arm,
and those
244
00:16:05,792 --> 00:16:08,588
beautiful American songs,
245
00:16:08,622 --> 00:16:10,693
they were washing over us,
246
00:16:10,728 --> 00:16:14,283
and we were singing
and feeling good
247
00:16:14,318 --> 00:16:18,253
at the few moments I had
of that relaxing moment
248
00:16:18,287 --> 00:16:22,015
when I became
somewhat more American.
249
00:16:23,396 --> 00:16:26,744
♪ Any old time
you want me ♪
250
00:16:26,778 --> 00:16:28,746
♪ I am yours
251
00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:31,852
♪ For just the asking, darling
252
00:16:31,887 --> 00:16:33,613
♪ Any old time...
253
00:16:33,647 --> 00:16:37,134
Guünther Stern's
girlfriend Ida Mae Schwartzberg
254
00:16:37,168 --> 00:16:40,275
had trouble
pronouncing his name.
255
00:16:40,309 --> 00:16:44,279
My name, at school,
was still Guünther.
256
00:16:44,313 --> 00:16:48,628
My girlfriend said,
"I can't pronounce it.
257
00:16:48,662 --> 00:16:50,388
"That's a tongue twister.
258
00:16:50,423 --> 00:16:53,150
"I'll leave you the first
two letters of your name
259
00:16:53,184 --> 00:16:55,014
"and add a 'y',
and that's what
260
00:16:55,048 --> 00:16:57,016
I will call you--Guy."
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00:16:57,050 --> 00:16:58,120
Heh!
262
00:17:00,157 --> 00:17:02,814
Dear Guünther, We have been
waiting for a letter
263
00:17:02,849 --> 00:17:05,162
from you for so long.
264
00:17:05,196 --> 00:17:07,267
It is comforting
to hear from you,
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00:17:07,302 --> 00:17:10,650
even if you have yet to
accomplish anything for us.
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00:17:10,684 --> 00:17:13,032
Please pull out all the stops,
dear Guünther,
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00:17:13,066 --> 00:17:16,138
so we can all be reunited.
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00:17:16,173 --> 00:17:18,830
Every few months,
Guy received a letter
269
00:17:18,865 --> 00:17:22,179
from his parents back in
Hildesheim, Germany,
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00:17:22,213 --> 00:17:26,942
sometimes including
photographs of his family.
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00:17:26,976 --> 00:17:29,669
It really shows
that one person
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00:17:29,703 --> 00:17:31,809
is missing in there.
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00:17:31,843 --> 00:17:34,674
Where the hell am I?
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00:17:34,708 --> 00:17:36,503
I belong there.
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00:17:37,470 --> 00:17:40,197
Guy tried again
and again to find someone
276
00:17:40,231 --> 00:17:42,889
willing to put up
a guarantee of as much
277
00:17:42,923 --> 00:17:46,203
as $5,000 to sponsor
his family's coming
278
00:17:46,237 --> 00:17:48,964
to the United States--
more than 3 times
279
00:17:48,998 --> 00:17:53,520
the average annual income
of an American worker.
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00:17:53,555 --> 00:17:55,246
He had no luck.
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00:17:56,247 --> 00:18:00,286
And then,
a miracle happened.
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00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:02,805
One Friday,
hitchhiking to work,
283
00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,015
he was picked up by a man
in a fancy car,
284
00:18:06,050 --> 00:18:09,260
who after hearing his story
offered to help.
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00:18:09,295 --> 00:18:11,745
Guy immediately set up
an appointment for them
286
00:18:11,780 --> 00:18:14,990
to meet with a lawyer
who had helped other families
287
00:18:15,024 --> 00:18:18,580
obtain affidavits of support.
288
00:18:20,133 --> 00:18:22,549
We went there
on a Saturday morning,
289
00:18:22,584 --> 00:18:28,935
and the lawyer, a pompous,
supercilious man, said,
290
00:18:28,969 --> 00:18:31,213
"And what's your occupation?"
291
00:18:31,248 --> 00:18:34,113
And he said, "I'm a gambler."
292
00:18:34,147 --> 00:18:36,701
And the lawyer said,
293
00:18:36,736 --> 00:18:38,496
"We can stop right here.
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00:18:38,531 --> 00:18:41,568
"It says in the law,
the person furnishing
295
00:18:41,603 --> 00:18:47,540
"the affidavit has to be
a well-established,
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00:18:47,574 --> 00:18:52,372
highly reputed person
of the community."
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00:18:52,407 --> 00:18:55,893
And I said,
"Well, couldn't we say something
298
00:18:55,927 --> 00:18:58,033
like, 'businessman'?"
299
00:18:58,067 --> 00:19:00,415
This lawyer rose to
his full height.
300
00:19:00,449 --> 00:19:04,384
"And deceive
the U.S. Government?"
301
00:19:04,419 --> 00:19:09,286
And he added something else
that was insulting.
302
00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:13,428
The man took
his hat and walked out.
303
00:19:13,462 --> 00:19:17,156
My great chance...
304
00:19:17,190 --> 00:19:22,713
rested on one damned lawyer.
305
00:19:25,060 --> 00:19:30,203
Here, a Jewish lawyer
who saw all the niceties
306
00:19:30,238 --> 00:19:35,070
of the law and not
the dilemma of life and death,
307
00:19:35,104 --> 00:19:37,452
which I had spread out.
308
00:19:40,627 --> 00:19:42,042
Newsreel announcer: 200 boys
and girls wave a greeting
309
00:19:42,077 --> 00:19:44,424
to England, land of the free.
310
00:19:44,459 --> 00:19:47,013
They are between
the ages 5 and 17.
311
00:19:47,047 --> 00:19:48,980
The advance guard
of the first 5,000 Jewish
312
00:19:49,015 --> 00:19:52,087
and non-Aryan child refugees
from Germany have been provided
313
00:19:52,121 --> 00:19:54,227
with a temporary home
here while arrangements
314
00:19:54,262 --> 00:19:55,884
are made for them to emigrate.
315
00:19:55,918 --> 00:19:57,713
After Kristallnacht, Britain
316
00:19:57,748 --> 00:20:01,924
had allowed 10,000 children--
but not their parents--
317
00:20:01,959 --> 00:20:06,308
to escape Nazism in what was
called the Kindertransport.
318
00:20:06,343 --> 00:20:07,896
Newsreel announcer:
And the youngsters tuck in
319
00:20:07,930 --> 00:20:09,104
as if they hadn't a care
in the world.
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00:20:09,138 --> 00:20:11,624
In February 1939,
321
00:20:11,658 --> 00:20:15,110
Democratic Senator
Robert Wagner of New York
322
00:20:15,144 --> 00:20:18,424
and Republican Congresswoman
Edith Nourse Rogers
323
00:20:18,458 --> 00:20:22,428
of Massachusetts introduced
a new bill.
324
00:20:22,462 --> 00:20:25,258
The bill says,
"Let's let in 10,0000 kids
325
00:20:25,293 --> 00:20:28,192
between the age
of 5 and 14 per year,"
326
00:20:28,227 --> 00:20:31,195
1939 and 1940,
and, "Let's not count them
327
00:20:31,230 --> 00:20:34,129
against the immigration
quota system."
328
00:20:34,163 --> 00:20:36,580
The First Lady
backed the bill.
329
00:20:36,614 --> 00:20:39,272
Her husband privately
offered advice
330
00:20:39,307 --> 00:20:44,933
on how it might be passed
but said nothing in public,
331
00:20:44,967 --> 00:20:46,521
but the American Legion,
332
00:20:46,555 --> 00:20:49,317
the Daughters
of the American Revolution,
333
00:20:49,351 --> 00:20:53,010
and the American Coalition
of Patriotic Societies
334
00:20:53,044 --> 00:20:55,288
were all opposed.
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00:20:55,323 --> 00:20:58,326
They had favored some
of the 60 bills that had
336
00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:03,538
recently been introduced to
reduce immigration quotas.
337
00:21:03,572 --> 00:21:06,092
Nell Irvin Painter:
It's a xenophobic refusal.
338
00:21:06,126 --> 00:21:10,648
I can't explain it
because it seems so cruel to me,
339
00:21:10,683 --> 00:21:14,721
especially given a country
as big as the United States
340
00:21:14,756 --> 00:21:17,103
with plenty of space.
341
00:21:17,137 --> 00:21:20,175
I do understand it
in terms of antisemitism.
342
00:21:20,209 --> 00:21:23,247
I don't want to understand
that antisemitism
343
00:21:23,282 --> 00:21:26,595
could be so deep and so cruel.
344
00:21:26,630 --> 00:21:28,770
Father Coughlin: If I know
the American public
345
00:21:28,804 --> 00:21:32,118
who fought the League
of Nations propagandists...
346
00:21:32,152 --> 00:21:34,396
Father Coughlin
called for the creation
347
00:21:34,431 --> 00:21:37,434
of a national "Christian Front"
to combat
348
00:21:37,468 --> 00:21:41,334
the influence of what he called
"Communistic Jews"
349
00:21:41,369 --> 00:21:43,992
and claimed to his vast
radio audience
350
00:21:44,026 --> 00:21:48,341
that Jewish businessmen were
firing their Christian employees
351
00:21:48,376 --> 00:21:51,724
to make room
for Jewish refugees.
352
00:21:51,758 --> 00:21:54,347
There is still
the United States Senate
353
00:21:54,382 --> 00:21:58,489
with whom these forces
must contend...
354
00:21:58,524 --> 00:22:00,353
The restrictionists--
the people
355
00:22:00,388 --> 00:22:02,459
who want to
restrict immigration--
356
00:22:02,493 --> 00:22:06,221
the isolationists,
the antisemites
357
00:22:06,255 --> 00:22:07,843
come out of the woodwork.
358
00:22:07,878 --> 00:22:10,881
Democrats, Republicans,
people say things like,
359
00:22:10,915 --> 00:22:17,370
"Well, 10,000 ugly children will
grow into 10,000 ugly adults."
360
00:22:18,889 --> 00:22:20,994
Woman as Eleanor Roosevelt:
What has happened to us
361
00:22:21,029 --> 00:22:23,376
in this country?
362
00:22:23,411 --> 00:22:27,138
We have always been ready to
receive the unfortunates
363
00:22:27,173 --> 00:22:29,762
from other countries,
and though this may seem
364
00:22:29,796 --> 00:22:34,387
a generous gesture
on our part, we have profited
365
00:22:34,422 --> 00:22:38,805
a thousand-fold
by what they have brought us.
366
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:40,842
Eleanor Roosevelt.
367
00:22:43,362 --> 00:22:45,778
No group was more
adamantly opposed
368
00:22:45,812 --> 00:22:50,334
to admitting Jewish refugees
than the German American Bund.
369
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:56,064
20,000 members would fill
Madison Square Garden
370
00:22:56,098 --> 00:22:59,274
on Washington's Birthday.
371
00:22:59,308 --> 00:23:02,795
They were led by Fritz Kuhn,
a German immigrant
372
00:23:02,829 --> 00:23:06,143
who fancied himself
the "American Fuhrer."
373
00:23:30,443 --> 00:23:31,893
Other speakers railed
374
00:23:31,927 --> 00:23:35,172
against the president
"Frank D. Rosenfeld"
375
00:23:35,206 --> 00:23:37,243
and his "Jew Deal."
376
00:23:37,277 --> 00:23:40,488
We only call upon
our leaders to awake
377
00:23:40,522 --> 00:23:45,147
to the fact that the Jew is
as alien in body, mind,
378
00:23:45,182 --> 00:23:48,703
and soul as any other non-Aryan
379
00:23:48,737 --> 00:23:51,706
and that he is a thousand times
more dangerous to us
380
00:23:51,740 --> 00:23:56,055
than all the others by reason
of his parasitic nature.
381
00:24:08,895 --> 00:24:11,622
Great floods of tears
for a few hundred thousand
382
00:24:11,657 --> 00:24:15,488
job-taking so-called
poor Jewish refugees,
383
00:24:15,523 --> 00:24:17,594
who incidentally in general...
384
00:24:20,182 --> 00:24:24,670
have more of this world's goods
than you or I will ever possess.
385
00:24:30,469 --> 00:24:32,609
A "Fortune"
magazine poll found
386
00:24:32,643 --> 00:24:35,370
that only 1 in 10 respondents
387
00:24:35,404 --> 00:24:37,406
favored increasing quotas
388
00:24:37,441 --> 00:24:40,513
or making exemptions
for refugees,
389
00:24:40,548 --> 00:24:43,378
and 4 out of 10 believed
Jews had
390
00:24:43,412 --> 00:24:46,692
"too much power
in the United States."
391
00:24:53,837 --> 00:24:58,358
It further found that 85%
of American Protestants
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00:24:58,393 --> 00:25:01,741
and 84% of Catholics opposed
393
00:25:01,776 --> 00:25:05,883
offering sanctuary
to European refugees.
394
00:25:05,918 --> 00:25:09,887
So did more than a quarter
of Jewish Americans.
395
00:25:11,717 --> 00:25:15,479
During hearings on the bill
to admit some refugee children,
396
00:25:15,514 --> 00:25:18,309
a witness said
that it should be passed
397
00:25:18,344 --> 00:25:21,347
because it was true
to the American tradition
398
00:25:21,381 --> 00:25:24,143
of providing sanctuary
for religious
399
00:25:24,177 --> 00:25:26,697
and political refugees.
400
00:25:26,732 --> 00:25:30,114
New York Congressman
Samuel Dickstein
401
00:25:30,149 --> 00:25:32,289
gently corrected him.
402
00:25:32,323 --> 00:25:34,636
"This is the form
of our government,
403
00:25:34,671 --> 00:25:39,538
"but as a matter of fact we have
never done the things we preach.
404
00:25:39,572 --> 00:25:42,782
We talked about it."
405
00:25:42,817 --> 00:25:44,681
The advocates
of that bill, the people
406
00:25:44,715 --> 00:25:48,512
who submitted it, withdrew it,
and they withdrew it
407
00:25:48,547 --> 00:25:50,963
because they thought
if it comes to the floor
408
00:25:50,997 --> 00:25:54,000
it will open the way
to other proposals
409
00:25:54,035 --> 00:25:58,626
to utterly stop all immigration
into the United States.
410
00:25:58,660 --> 00:26:02,871
In 1939 for FDR, the most
important political challenge
411
00:26:02,906 --> 00:26:05,391
he faced was getting
the Congress
412
00:26:05,425 --> 00:26:07,704
to revoke the neutrality acts,
413
00:26:07,738 --> 00:26:10,120
the acts that restricted
our ability to supply
414
00:26:10,154 --> 00:26:13,088
other countries if they became
involved in a war
415
00:26:13,123 --> 00:26:14,918
with Nazi Germany.
416
00:26:14,952 --> 00:26:17,610
The relaxing of
the immigration quotas
417
00:26:17,645 --> 00:26:21,614
was less important to him
than that.
418
00:26:21,649 --> 00:26:23,512
To us looking back, we tend
to think that
419
00:26:23,547 --> 00:26:25,825
the most important thing was
the humanitarian crisis
420
00:26:25,860 --> 00:26:28,483
of the time,
but of course if FDR
421
00:26:28,517 --> 00:26:31,659
had not succeeded in repealing
the neutrality acts
422
00:26:31,693 --> 00:26:36,318
in 1939 and 1940,
we might think otherwise.
423
00:26:41,910 --> 00:26:44,223
My grandfather,
Abraham Jaeger,
424
00:26:44,257 --> 00:26:46,605
he emigrated
with his older sister
425
00:26:46,639 --> 00:26:49,021
from this small town in Poland.
426
00:26:49,055 --> 00:26:53,646
My grandfather always,
you know, prided himself
427
00:26:53,681 --> 00:26:56,511
once he got his citizenship
on being an American.
428
00:26:56,545 --> 00:26:57,857
He celebrated everything,
429
00:26:57,892 --> 00:26:59,514
the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving.
430
00:26:59,548 --> 00:27:01,171
He loved it.
431
00:27:10,007 --> 00:27:13,079
Abraham Jaeger's
older brother Shmiel
432
00:27:13,114 --> 00:27:14,909
had not loved America.
433
00:27:14,943 --> 00:27:18,913
He had arrived in New York
back in 1912,
434
00:27:18,947 --> 00:27:21,122
quickly saw that
the teeming streets
435
00:27:21,156 --> 00:27:25,782
of the Lower East Side
were not paved with gold.
436
00:27:25,816 --> 00:27:30,579
Shmiel saw the pushcarts
on Delancey Street.
437
00:27:30,614 --> 00:27:34,514
The Jews who lived down
in those Jewish areas
438
00:27:34,549 --> 00:27:36,275
was not his style.
439
00:27:36,309 --> 00:27:37,932
He was a gentleman,
440
00:27:37,966 --> 00:27:40,900
and he says, "At home,
I have vineyards
441
00:27:40,935 --> 00:27:44,663
"and orchards
and a beautiful house.
442
00:27:44,697 --> 00:27:46,354
What do I need America?"
443
00:27:48,045 --> 00:27:50,945
After less than
a year, Shmiel Jaeger decided
444
00:27:50,979 --> 00:27:57,158
to return to his hometown
Bolechow in eastern Poland.
445
00:27:57,192 --> 00:28:00,575
Eventually he married
his sweetheart Ester,
446
00:28:00,609 --> 00:28:04,579
became a successful butcher,
and had 4 daughters--
447
00:28:04,613 --> 00:28:08,859
Lorka, Frydka, Ruchele,
and Bronia.
448
00:28:11,068 --> 00:28:14,589
Shmiel was
the oldest brother,
449
00:28:14,623 --> 00:28:18,697
and there was respect
and reverence.
450
00:28:18,731 --> 00:28:21,389
They called him
the mayor of the town.
451
00:28:21,423 --> 00:28:24,047
He was exceedingly handsome,
452
00:28:24,081 --> 00:28:27,188
and then they had all
those darling children.
453
00:28:28,845 --> 00:28:31,330
My grandfather
used to say with a sigh,
454
00:28:31,364 --> 00:28:33,988
you know, "My older brother
wanted to be a big fish
455
00:28:34,022 --> 00:28:37,992
"in a small pond,
so he went back to Bolechow,
456
00:28:38,026 --> 00:28:41,512
and he was a big fish
in a small pond."
457
00:28:41,547 --> 00:28:43,929
And that was
the right decision for him,
458
00:28:43,963 --> 00:28:50,349
as strange as that sounds,
knowing what later happened.
459
00:28:50,383 --> 00:28:51,902
In the late 1930s,
460
00:28:51,937 --> 00:28:55,112
antisemitism intensified
in Poland.
461
00:28:55,147 --> 00:28:57,770
The Catholic Church
and the right-wing government
462
00:28:57,805 --> 00:29:01,118
promoted boycotts
of Jewish businesses.
463
00:29:01,153 --> 00:29:03,776
Politicians pressured
Poland's Jews
464
00:29:03,811 --> 00:29:06,503
to leave the country.
465
00:29:06,537 --> 00:29:09,437
Gangs attacked
their Jewish neighbors.
466
00:29:09,471 --> 00:29:12,785
Thugs threatened Shmiel
on the street.
467
00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:15,892
Hanging over everything
was the growing possibility
468
00:29:15,926 --> 00:29:19,999
of a German invasion,
which would surely make life
469
00:29:20,034 --> 00:29:22,899
far more harsh.
470
00:29:22,933 --> 00:29:25,694
From reading the papers,
you know a little about what
471
00:29:25,729 --> 00:29:28,663
the Jews are going through here,
but what you know
472
00:29:28,697 --> 00:29:31,321
is just one one-hundredth of it.
473
00:29:31,355 --> 00:29:34,634
When you go out into the street
or drive on the road,
474
00:29:34,669 --> 00:29:37,016
you're barely 10% sure
that you'll come back
475
00:29:37,051 --> 00:29:41,503
with a whole head or your legs
in one piece.
476
00:29:41,538 --> 00:29:42,919
Shmiel.
477
00:29:42,953 --> 00:29:45,680
"I know that
in America life
478
00:29:45,714 --> 00:29:49,235
doesn't shine on everyone,"
he wrote to his relatives
479
00:29:49,270 --> 00:29:51,444
back in the United States.
480
00:29:51,479 --> 00:29:54,137
"Still, at least they
aren't gripped
481
00:29:54,171 --> 00:29:56,898
by constant terror."
482
00:29:59,211 --> 00:30:04,837
On March 15, 1939, German
troops marched into Prague,
483
00:30:04,872 --> 00:30:08,910
the capital of what
remained of Czechoslovakia.
484
00:30:08,945 --> 00:30:14,260
100,000 more Jews now fell
into Hitler's hands.
485
00:30:14,295 --> 00:30:17,263
Hitler's promise of peace
to Britain and France
486
00:30:17,298 --> 00:30:21,647
at Munich had lasted
less than 6 months.
487
00:30:21,681 --> 00:30:24,339
"In a fortnight," he said,
"no one will give it
488
00:30:24,374 --> 00:30:26,341
any thought."
489
00:30:26,376 --> 00:30:30,207
It was clear that Poland
would be his next target.
490
00:30:30,242 --> 00:30:33,245
Hitler was sure that France
and Britain would not dare
491
00:30:33,279 --> 00:30:35,109
intervene there either.
492
00:30:35,143 --> 00:30:38,457
"Our enemies are little worms,"
Hitler said.
493
00:30:38,491 --> 00:30:41,460
"I saw them at Munich."
494
00:30:41,494 --> 00:30:43,945
This time, Hitler was wrong.
495
00:30:43,980 --> 00:30:46,154
Britain and France finally saw
496
00:30:46,189 --> 00:30:47,397
the folly of trying to
497
00:30:47,431 --> 00:30:50,227
appease him further.
498
00:30:50,262 --> 00:30:52,505
If he attacked Poland,
499
00:30:52,540 --> 00:30:54,887
this time they would fight back.
500
00:30:57,131 --> 00:31:01,204
With war more likely than ever,
more and more Jews
501
00:31:01,238 --> 00:31:04,483
were desperate to get
off the continent.
502
00:31:04,517 --> 00:31:06,623
Sol Messinger: It was very
difficult to get a visa
503
00:31:06,657 --> 00:31:08,349
to the United States,
504
00:31:08,383 --> 00:31:14,562
so our family decided that
we would try to go to Cuba,
505
00:31:14,596 --> 00:31:16,840
mainly, I guess, because
it was close
506
00:31:16,875 --> 00:31:19,118
to the United States.
507
00:31:19,153 --> 00:31:21,120
The Cuban
government was now selling
508
00:31:21,155 --> 00:31:24,813
refugees tourist visas
that allowed them to land
509
00:31:24,848 --> 00:31:28,024
on the island and stay
until their turn came
510
00:31:28,058 --> 00:31:31,199
to emigrate
to the United States.
511
00:31:31,234 --> 00:31:35,514
My mother finally
managed to get a Cuban visa
512
00:31:35,548 --> 00:31:38,448
and tickets to go
on the St. Louis,
513
00:31:38,482 --> 00:31:42,383
but then the problem was
my father was still in Poland.
514
00:31:42,417 --> 00:31:45,041
He had been deported back.
515
00:31:45,075 --> 00:31:47,422
My mother wrote him.
She said she had the visas,
516
00:31:47,457 --> 00:31:53,601
but she wasn't going to leave
unless he could join us,
517
00:31:53,635 --> 00:31:57,294
and he wrote back, "Leave
unless you want
518
00:31:57,329 --> 00:32:01,057
your son's blood on your hands."
519
00:32:01,091 --> 00:32:04,439
The day before we were
supposed to leave for Hamburg,
520
00:32:04,474 --> 00:32:06,855
there was a knock on the door,
and my mother screamed
521
00:32:06,890 --> 00:32:10,549
because she recognized
my father's knock.
522
00:32:10,583 --> 00:32:12,516
Ran to the door,
opened the door,
523
00:32:12,551 --> 00:32:14,415
and my father was there.
524
00:32:14,449 --> 00:32:16,969
He had gotten permission
from the German government
525
00:32:17,004 --> 00:32:19,765
to come back to Germany
for two days
526
00:32:19,799 --> 00:32:22,423
so we could leave together.
527
00:32:24,114 --> 00:32:26,979
So the next day,
we went to Hamburg,
528
00:32:27,014 --> 00:32:30,914
and we got on the ship,
the St. Louis.
529
00:32:30,949 --> 00:32:35,746
The St. Louis
left Hamburg on May 13, 1939,
530
00:32:35,781 --> 00:32:38,957
one of many ships carrying
passengers anxious
531
00:32:38,991 --> 00:32:41,476
to escape the coming storm.
532
00:32:45,273 --> 00:32:49,139
More refugees got on
at Cherbourg.
533
00:32:49,174 --> 00:32:53,868
Almost all of
the 937 passengers were Jewish,
534
00:32:53,902 --> 00:32:57,354
most from Germany,
some from Eastern Europe,
535
00:32:57,389 --> 00:33:00,081
and still others,
like the Messingers,
536
00:33:00,116 --> 00:33:02,877
now officially "stateless."
537
00:33:02,911 --> 00:33:05,535
We all were
standing at the railing,
538
00:33:05,569 --> 00:33:09,021
looking at Germany getting
a little and farther
539
00:33:09,056 --> 00:33:13,129
and farther away,
and my father started crying,
540
00:33:13,163 --> 00:33:14,820
and my mother looked at him,
and she says,
541
00:33:14,854 --> 00:33:16,546
"What are you crying about?
542
00:33:16,580 --> 00:33:20,032
We're finally together,
you're--we're leaving Germany,"
543
00:33:20,067 --> 00:33:23,001
and he said, "Well, of course,
you're right,
544
00:33:23,035 --> 00:33:25,106
"but I'm crying because
we're leaving
545
00:33:25,141 --> 00:33:28,730
"so many of our relatives here,
and God only knows
546
00:33:28,765 --> 00:33:30,525
when we'll see them again."
547
00:33:32,596 --> 00:33:36,773
They traveled
in comfort, dining, dancing,
548
00:33:36,807 --> 00:33:41,019
sunbathing, swimming
in the ship's pool.
549
00:33:41,053 --> 00:33:43,883
The liner's captain
Gustave Schroöder
550
00:33:43,918 --> 00:33:45,920
was an anti-Nazi.
551
00:33:45,954 --> 00:33:48,060
He saw to it that
a portrait of Hitler
552
00:33:48,095 --> 00:33:51,546
was taken down
during Friday night prayers
553
00:33:51,581 --> 00:33:54,618
and insisted that his crew
treat his passengers
554
00:33:54,653 --> 00:33:58,415
with a kind of courtesy
no Jewish person was afforded
555
00:33:58,450 --> 00:34:02,005
then anywhere
under Hitler's control...
556
00:34:05,250 --> 00:34:07,114
but when the ship
reached Havana,
557
00:34:07,148 --> 00:34:10,013
it was clear that
something was wrong.
558
00:34:11,428 --> 00:34:16,192
Only 28 passengers
were allowed to come ashore.
559
00:34:16,226 --> 00:34:20,127
All the rest, over 900
people who had paid
560
00:34:20,161 --> 00:34:23,095
a corrupt Cuban official
back in Germany
561
00:34:23,130 --> 00:34:26,236
thousands of dollars
for their tourist visas,
562
00:34:26,271 --> 00:34:29,515
were ordered to stay on board.
563
00:34:29,550 --> 00:34:33,209
The next day,
it turned out that we were told
564
00:34:33,243 --> 00:34:37,247
that Cuba
had invalidated our visas.
565
00:34:37,282 --> 00:34:40,526
We had paid for them,
we had gotten them,
566
00:34:40,561 --> 00:34:43,702
we had gotten to Cuba
only to find out that
567
00:34:43,736 --> 00:34:47,395
they had invalidated our visas.
568
00:34:47,430 --> 00:34:49,777
Things had changed in Cuba
569
00:34:49,811 --> 00:34:51,986
since the St. Louis set sail.
570
00:34:52,020 --> 00:34:56,059
Antisemitism had always
been strong on the island,
571
00:34:56,094 --> 00:34:59,718
and some 4,000 mostly
Jewish refugees
572
00:34:59,752 --> 00:35:02,376
had settled there
in recent months.
573
00:35:02,410 --> 00:35:07,035
5 days before the St. Louis
sailed, 40,000 Cubans
574
00:35:07,070 --> 00:35:11,281
had gathered in Havana
to protest their presence.
575
00:35:11,316 --> 00:35:15,009
Nazi agents encouraged
rumors that the refugees
576
00:35:15,043 --> 00:35:17,460
would take Cuban jobs.
577
00:35:17,494 --> 00:35:19,979
The largest Cuban
newspaper's headline
578
00:35:20,014 --> 00:35:23,397
demanded "Out with the Jews!"
579
00:35:23,431 --> 00:35:27,435
Under the pressure,
the Cuban government reneged.
580
00:35:29,472 --> 00:35:32,958
For 6 days, friends
and relatives who had come
581
00:35:32,992 --> 00:35:37,135
to Cuba earlier circled
the ship in small boats,
582
00:35:37,169 --> 00:35:39,861
passing up fresh food
and shouting
583
00:35:39,896 --> 00:35:42,209
what encouragement they could.
584
00:35:44,866 --> 00:35:48,560
Finally, the Cuban government
ordered the St. Louis
585
00:35:48,594 --> 00:35:50,907
out of Havana Harbor.
586
00:35:52,322 --> 00:35:55,049
For 4 days,
the ship steamed aimlessly
587
00:35:55,083 --> 00:35:58,846
along the Florida coast,
her stunned passengers
588
00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,367
unsure where they were
now to go.
589
00:36:02,401 --> 00:36:04,369
I remember
it was dusk,
590
00:36:04,403 --> 00:36:07,889
and my father and I were
standing at the railing,
591
00:36:07,924 --> 00:36:10,029
and I saw some lights
in the distance,
592
00:36:10,064 --> 00:36:13,619
and I said to my father,
"What are those lights?"
593
00:36:13,654 --> 00:36:17,036
And he said, "Oh, that's
a city in the United States
594
00:36:17,071 --> 00:36:19,453
called Miami."
595
00:36:19,487 --> 00:36:22,835
So I've--I've been in Miami
since then,
596
00:36:22,870 --> 00:36:25,804
and whenever I walk
along the beach
597
00:36:25,838 --> 00:36:28,186
and look out at the water,
598
00:36:28,220 --> 00:36:32,466
I get this very strange feeling
because now
599
00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:38,748
I'm where I was dying to
be in the--in 1939.
600
00:36:38,782 --> 00:36:41,578
Some on board
the ship wired an appeal
601
00:36:41,613 --> 00:36:45,962
to President Roosevelt,
begging him to intervene.
602
00:36:45,996 --> 00:36:48,896
They did not receive a reply.
603
00:36:48,930 --> 00:36:52,106
Instead,
the State Department insisted
604
00:36:52,140 --> 00:36:54,419
that the passengers would have
to "Wait their turns
605
00:36:54,453 --> 00:36:58,285
"on the waiting list
and qualify for and obtain
606
00:36:58,319 --> 00:37:01,219
"immigration visas
before they may be admissible
607
00:37:01,253 --> 00:37:04,981
into the United States."
608
00:37:05,015 --> 00:37:08,260
That could take years.
609
00:37:08,295 --> 00:37:12,022
Canada wouldn't
take them either.
610
00:37:12,057 --> 00:37:15,854
The St. Louis turned
back toward Europe.
611
00:37:17,959 --> 00:37:19,858
The "New York Times."
612
00:37:19,892 --> 00:37:21,653
The saddest ship afloat today,
613
00:37:21,687 --> 00:37:24,103
the Hamburg-American liner
St. Louis,
614
00:37:24,138 --> 00:37:26,623
with 900 Jewish
refugees aboard,
615
00:37:26,658 --> 00:37:29,592
steaming back toward Germany
after a tragic week
616
00:37:29,626 --> 00:37:31,421
of frustration.
617
00:37:31,456 --> 00:37:35,287
No plague ship ever received
a sorrier welcome.
618
00:37:35,322 --> 00:37:40,292
At Havana, the St. Louis' decks
became a stage for human misery.
619
00:37:40,327 --> 00:37:42,812
There seems to be
no help for them now.
620
00:37:42,846 --> 00:37:47,230
The St. Louis will soon be home
with her cargo of despair.
621
00:37:48,335 --> 00:37:50,544
A Nazi journal gloated.
622
00:37:50,578 --> 00:37:53,892
"We say openly that we do not
want the Jews
623
00:37:53,926 --> 00:37:56,688
"while the democracies
keep on claiming that they are
624
00:37:56,722 --> 00:38:00,726
"willing to receive them
and then leave the guests
625
00:38:00,761 --> 00:38:03,108
out in the cold!"
626
00:38:03,142 --> 00:38:05,317
"The resolve of most
of the people aboard,"
627
00:38:05,352 --> 00:38:08,251
one passenger wrote,
"is to die rather
628
00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:11,289
than to see Hamburg again."
629
00:38:11,323 --> 00:38:14,499
Captain Schroder considered
running his ship aground
630
00:38:14,533 --> 00:38:17,329
somewhere off
England or France,
631
00:38:17,364 --> 00:38:19,400
anything to keep the passengers
632
00:38:19,435 --> 00:38:22,265
from having to return
to Germany.
633
00:38:24,957 --> 00:38:27,581
A private relief
organization called
634
00:38:27,615 --> 00:38:30,929
The American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee,
635
00:38:30,963 --> 00:38:34,726
along with The Intergovernmental
Committee on Refugees,
636
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,350
negotiated furiously
with European governments,
637
00:38:38,385 --> 00:38:41,629
trying to get them to accept
the passengers.
638
00:38:43,562 --> 00:38:46,427
They managed to scrape
together the enormous sum
639
00:38:46,462 --> 00:38:51,605
of $500,000 and finally
convinced England, France,
640
00:38:51,639 --> 00:38:56,368
Belgium, and the Netherlands
to take them all in.
641
00:38:56,403 --> 00:38:59,198
"Our gratitude is
as immense as the ocean
642
00:38:59,233 --> 00:39:01,856
on which we are now floating,"
the passengers
643
00:39:01,891 --> 00:39:05,584
cabled to those who had
arranged their rescue.
644
00:39:08,553 --> 00:39:13,316
The St. Louis would dock
in Belgium, not Germany.
645
00:39:14,766 --> 00:39:16,906
We got word that
4 countries in Europe
646
00:39:16,940 --> 00:39:21,117
had agreed to split
the passengers up among them,
647
00:39:21,151 --> 00:39:24,292
and we ended up in Belgium.
648
00:39:24,327 --> 00:39:27,330
No one aboard
the St. Louis was returned
649
00:39:27,365 --> 00:39:32,370
to Germany,
but 254 of the passengers
650
00:39:32,404 --> 00:39:35,338
would be murdered
after the Nazis overran
651
00:39:35,373 --> 00:39:39,446
the countries that had given
them sanctuary.
652
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:45,003
Nearly 3/4 of the passengers
would survive.
653
00:40:09,476 --> 00:40:13,169
On August 23, 9 weeks
after the St. Louis
654
00:40:13,203 --> 00:40:16,206
returned to Europe,
the world was stunned
655
00:40:16,241 --> 00:40:19,347
by an announcement
from Moscow--
656
00:40:19,382 --> 00:40:21,971
the Nazi
and Soviet governments--
657
00:40:22,005 --> 00:40:24,387
sworn enemies for years--
658
00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:27,459
had signed a 10-year
non-aggression pact
659
00:40:27,494 --> 00:40:31,325
that would let Hitler and Stalin
destroy Poland
660
00:40:31,359 --> 00:40:35,674
and divide its territory
between them.
661
00:40:35,709 --> 00:40:41,646
Poland was home
to 3,300,000 Jews.
662
00:40:48,791 --> 00:40:52,450
On September 1, 1939,
Hitler launched
663
00:40:52,484 --> 00:40:57,800
his "Blitzkrieg,"
his "lightning war," on Poland.
664
00:40:59,042 --> 00:41:01,666
The Second World War had begun.
665
00:41:05,497 --> 00:41:08,293
"It's come at last,"
President Roosevelt said
666
00:41:08,327 --> 00:41:11,745
when he was awakened
with the news.
667
00:41:11,779 --> 00:41:14,092
"God help us all."
668
00:41:18,717 --> 00:41:21,996
As German warplanes attacked
Warsaw that evening,
669
00:41:22,031 --> 00:41:24,654
Chaim Kaplan,
the director of a Jewish school
670
00:41:24,689 --> 00:41:28,969
in that city,
made a note in his diary.
671
00:41:29,003 --> 00:41:32,110
"We are witnessing the dawn
of a new era in the history
672
00:41:32,144 --> 00:41:33,905
of the world," he wrote.
673
00:41:33,939 --> 00:41:36,528
"This war will indeed
bring destruction
674
00:41:36,563 --> 00:41:39,427
"upon human civilization.
675
00:41:39,462 --> 00:41:45,192
"As for the Jews, their danger
is 7 times greater.
676
00:41:45,226 --> 00:41:48,402
"Wherever Hitler treads,
there is no hope
677
00:41:48,436 --> 00:41:50,162
for the Jewish people."
678
00:41:51,854 --> 00:41:55,651
This nation
will remain a neutral nation,
679
00:41:55,685 --> 00:42:00,414
but I cannot ask that every
American remain neutral
680
00:42:00,448 --> 00:42:03,417
in thought, as well.
681
00:42:03,451 --> 00:42:08,802
Even a neutral has a right
to take account of facts.
682
00:42:08,836 --> 00:42:14,462
Even a neutral cannot be
asked to close his mind
683
00:42:14,497 --> 00:42:17,086
or to close his conscience.
684
00:42:19,226 --> 00:42:22,298
The president
and most of his fellow citizens
685
00:42:22,332 --> 00:42:24,714
sympathized
with the Nazis' victims,
686
00:42:24,749 --> 00:42:28,131
and some wanted to help France
and England as they went
687
00:42:28,166 --> 00:42:30,858
to war against Germany,
688
00:42:30,893 --> 00:42:33,620
but a far larger number
was still opposed
689
00:42:33,654 --> 00:42:36,968
to any American involvement
overseas for fear
690
00:42:37,002 --> 00:42:40,212
the Allies would pull
the United States
691
00:42:40,247 --> 00:42:42,318
into another war.
692
00:42:42,352 --> 00:42:44,147
And that I hate war...
693
00:42:44,182 --> 00:42:47,323
Roosevelt was
careful not to get too far
694
00:42:47,357 --> 00:42:50,119
ahead of public opinion.
695
00:42:50,153 --> 00:42:51,638
I hope
the United States
696
00:42:51,672 --> 00:42:54,572
will keep out of this war.
697
00:42:54,606 --> 00:42:57,471
I believe that it will,
698
00:42:57,505 --> 00:43:00,785
and I give you assurance
and reassurance
699
00:43:00,819 --> 00:43:03,270
that every effort
of your government
700
00:43:03,304 --> 00:43:06,791
will be directed
toward that end.
701
00:43:08,655 --> 00:43:11,036
The United States
was poorly prepared
702
00:43:11,071 --> 00:43:13,280
for conflict in any case.
703
00:43:13,314 --> 00:43:17,595
The segregated army was smaller
than that of Bulgaria,
704
00:43:17,629 --> 00:43:21,357
fewer than 190,000 men
in uniform,
705
00:43:21,391 --> 00:43:24,429
fitted out with tin hats
and leggings issued
706
00:43:24,463 --> 00:43:27,846
during the Great War
and carrying rifles
707
00:43:27,881 --> 00:43:30,884
designed in 1903.
708
00:43:30,918 --> 00:43:33,507
Meanwhile, the president
believed the best way
709
00:43:33,541 --> 00:43:37,373
to avoid having to enter
the war was to do all he could
710
00:43:37,407 --> 00:43:39,686
to aid France and England.
711
00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:42,758
He called Congress
into special session and asked
712
00:43:42,792 --> 00:43:45,553
it to end the embargo
on the sale of arms
713
00:43:45,588 --> 00:43:47,935
to belligerents so that
the Allies would be
714
00:43:47,970 --> 00:43:52,077
better prepared for whatever
Hitler did next.
715
00:43:52,112 --> 00:43:56,323
Isolationists flooded Washington
with antiwar messages.
716
00:43:58,946 --> 00:44:02,536
After 6 weeks
of sometimes bitter debate,
717
00:44:02,570 --> 00:44:05,297
Congress did lift the embargo
718
00:44:05,332 --> 00:44:09,405
but only if buyers paid cash.
719
00:44:09,439 --> 00:44:12,511
That same month,
a "Fortune" magazine poll
720
00:44:12,546 --> 00:44:16,205
found that only 20%
of Americans favored aiding
721
00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,759
the European democracies
722
00:44:18,794 --> 00:44:21,728
while 54% of the country
were happy
723
00:44:21,762 --> 00:44:24,938
for the United States to
trade with Nazis
724
00:44:24,972 --> 00:44:29,080
and democratic
governments alike.
725
00:44:29,114 --> 00:44:31,807
"What worries me,"
FDR wrote to a friend,
726
00:44:31,841 --> 00:44:35,362
"is that public opinion
over here is patting itself
727
00:44:35,396 --> 00:44:38,399
"on the back every morning
thanking God
728
00:44:38,434 --> 00:44:41,299
for the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans."
729
00:44:44,820 --> 00:44:46,925
Charles Lindbergh: I speak
tonight to those people
730
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:50,032
in the United States
of America who feel that
731
00:44:50,066 --> 00:44:52,966
the destiny of this country
does not call
732
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:56,832
for our involvement
in European wars.
733
00:44:56,866 --> 00:45:00,145
There was another
voice on the radio now, too,
734
00:45:00,180 --> 00:45:03,183
the voice of
the only American whose fame
735
00:45:03,217 --> 00:45:05,150
approached Roosevelt's,
736
00:45:05,185 --> 00:45:09,327
the celebrated aviator
Charles A. Lindbergh.
737
00:45:09,361 --> 00:45:12,779
His message was very different.
738
00:45:12,813 --> 00:45:15,229
These wars
in Europe are not wars
739
00:45:15,264 --> 00:45:18,198
in which our civilization
is defending itself
740
00:45:18,232 --> 00:45:21,132
against some Asiatic intruder.
741
00:45:21,166 --> 00:45:23,997
This is not a question
of banding together to defend
742
00:45:24,031 --> 00:45:27,069
the white race
against foreign invasion.
743
00:45:28,656 --> 00:45:31,452
We must not permit
our sentiment, our pity,
744
00:45:31,487 --> 00:45:33,558
or our personal feelings
of sympathy
745
00:45:33,592 --> 00:45:35,180
to obscure the issue,
746
00:45:35,215 --> 00:45:38,045
to affect our children's lives.
747
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,704
We must be as impersonal
as a surgeon with his knife.
748
00:45:43,016 --> 00:45:45,156
Lindbergh
had first visited Germany
749
00:45:45,190 --> 00:45:50,333
in 1936 at the invitation
of the American military attaché
750
00:45:50,368 --> 00:45:53,026
in Berlin,
who was eager to glean
751
00:45:53,060 --> 00:45:57,547
information about
the fast-growing Luftwaffe.
752
00:45:57,582 --> 00:46:01,344
He returned two more times.
753
00:46:01,379 --> 00:46:05,038
The Nazis did everything
they could to impress him,
754
00:46:05,072 --> 00:46:09,214
awarding him the Service Cross
of the German Eagle...
755
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,115
and Lindbergh was impressed.
756
00:46:13,149 --> 00:46:17,982
He admired the regime's virility
and emphasis on order.
757
00:46:18,016 --> 00:46:22,055
His wife Anne thought
Hitler "a very great man"
758
00:46:22,089 --> 00:46:27,025
maligned by what she called
"Jewish propaganda."
759
00:46:27,060 --> 00:46:29,062
The couple had
even considered moving
760
00:46:29,096 --> 00:46:32,513
to the leafy Berlin suburb
of Wannsee
761
00:46:32,548 --> 00:46:36,345
until Kristallnacht
made them rethink.
762
00:46:36,379 --> 00:46:39,831
"My admiration for
the Germans is constantly being
763
00:46:39,866 --> 00:46:43,179
dashed against some such
rock as this,"
764
00:46:43,214 --> 00:46:44,940
Lindbergh wrote privately.
765
00:46:44,974 --> 00:46:47,390
"I do not understand
these riots.
766
00:46:47,425 --> 00:46:52,016
"It seems contrary to their
sense of order and intelligence.
767
00:46:52,050 --> 00:46:55,502
"They have undoubtedly had
a difficult Jewish problem,
768
00:46:55,536 --> 00:47:01,163
but why is it necessary to
handle it so unreasonably?"
769
00:47:01,197 --> 00:47:04,822
On his voyage home
from Europe in 1938,
770
00:47:04,856 --> 00:47:08,826
Lindbergh had been irritated
by the number of Jewish refugees
771
00:47:08,860 --> 00:47:11,207
among his fellow passengers.
772
00:47:11,242 --> 00:47:14,866
"Imagine the United States
taking these Jews
773
00:47:14,901 --> 00:47:17,558
in addition to those
we already have,"
774
00:47:17,593 --> 00:47:19,388
he'd written in his diary.
775
00:47:19,422 --> 00:47:23,288
"There are too many places
like New York already.
776
00:47:23,323 --> 00:47:27,603
"A few Jews add strength
and character to a country,
777
00:47:27,637 --> 00:47:30,537
"but too many create chaos,
778
00:47:30,571 --> 00:47:33,885
"and we are getting too many.
779
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:39,166
This present immigration
will have its reaction."
780
00:47:39,201 --> 00:47:42,273
Our bond with Europe
is a bond of race
781
00:47:42,307 --> 00:47:45,655
and not of political ideology.
782
00:47:45,690 --> 00:47:48,451
It is the European race
we must preserve.
783
00:47:48,486 --> 00:47:50,868
Political progress will follow.
784
00:47:50,902 --> 00:47:55,010
Racial strength is vital,
politics, a luxury.
785
00:47:55,044 --> 00:47:58,599
If the white race is ever
seriously threatened,
786
00:47:58,634 --> 00:48:01,257
it may then be time for us
to take our part
787
00:48:01,292 --> 00:48:05,917
in its protection, to fight side
by side with English,
788
00:48:05,952 --> 00:48:09,127
French, and Germans,
but not with one
789
00:48:09,162 --> 00:48:12,372
against the other
for our mutual destruction.
790
00:48:14,201 --> 00:48:16,134
"If I should die tomorrow,
791
00:48:16,169 --> 00:48:19,586
I want you to know this,"
the president told a friend.
792
00:48:19,620 --> 00:48:24,142
"I am absolutely convinced
that Lindbergh is a Nazi."
793
00:48:25,799 --> 00:48:28,940
For the next 27 months,
Franklin Roosevelt
794
00:48:28,975 --> 00:48:32,668
and Charles Lindbergh would
engage in a bitter struggle
795
00:48:32,702 --> 00:48:36,983
over whose vision
of the country would prevail
796
00:48:37,017 --> 00:48:41,228
and about the future
of Western civilization itself.
797
00:48:51,342 --> 00:48:54,241
"Every war costs blood,"
Hitler had told
798
00:48:54,276 --> 00:48:56,934
his commanders just before
sending them
799
00:48:56,968 --> 00:49:01,214
into western Poland,
"and the smell of blood arouses
800
00:49:01,248 --> 00:49:04,838
"in man all the instincts
which have lain within us
801
00:49:04,872 --> 00:49:07,427
"since the beginning
of the world.
802
00:49:10,395 --> 00:49:16,367
A humane war exists only
in bloodless brains."
803
00:49:16,401 --> 00:49:19,404
There was nothing
bloodless, nothing humane,
804
00:49:19,439 --> 00:49:22,200
about the German assault.
805
00:49:22,235 --> 00:49:24,823
In the wake of the Panzer
divisions that pierced
806
00:49:24,858 --> 00:49:28,586
Poland's defenses,
thousands of SS troops
807
00:49:28,620 --> 00:49:30,760
and German infantrymen
fanned out
808
00:49:30,795 --> 00:49:33,315
across the countryside.
809
00:49:33,349 --> 00:49:36,904
Their goal was to destroy
the Polish state and reduce
810
00:49:36,939 --> 00:49:40,529
the Polish people
to a leaderless population
811
00:49:40,563 --> 00:49:42,910
of peasants and workers.
812
00:49:44,395 --> 00:49:47,432
Told that anyone who dared
resist the advancing
813
00:49:47,467 --> 00:49:50,746
master race was guilty
of "insolence,"
814
00:49:50,780 --> 00:49:52,748
within 5 weeks they had killed
815
00:49:52,782 --> 00:49:56,717
some 3,000 Polish
prisoners of war,
816
00:49:56,752 --> 00:49:59,858
destroyed
more than 530 villages,
817
00:49:59,893 --> 00:50:02,137
burned or blown up synagogues,
818
00:50:02,171 --> 00:50:06,831
and murdered at least
45,000 unarmed Poles--
819
00:50:06,865 --> 00:50:10,110
priests, professors,
political leaders,
820
00:50:10,145 --> 00:50:13,631
anyone thought capable
of mounting resistance,
821
00:50:13,665 --> 00:50:17,117
as well as Jews,
822
00:50:17,152 --> 00:50:19,154
and while the Germans
imposed their rule
823
00:50:19,188 --> 00:50:22,019
on western Poland,
the Soviet Union
824
00:50:22,053 --> 00:50:25,056
swallowed up its eastern half.
825
00:50:25,091 --> 00:50:30,820
150,000 Poles were drafted
into the Red Army.
826
00:50:30,855 --> 00:50:34,238
The Soviets shipped
200,000 civilians deemed
827
00:50:34,272 --> 00:50:38,035
dangerous to Kazakhstan
and Siberia,
828
00:50:38,069 --> 00:50:43,316
where tens of thousands froze
or starved to death.
829
00:50:43,350 --> 00:50:48,183
They also secretly shot
22,000 Polish officers
830
00:50:48,217 --> 00:50:51,082
and intellectuals
and buried their corpses
831
00:50:51,117 --> 00:50:55,983
in mass graves
in and around the Katyn Forest.
832
00:50:58,331 --> 00:51:01,817
Hitler's goal was always
a racially "pure,"
833
00:51:01,851 --> 00:51:04,578
steadily expanding
Greater Germany,
834
00:51:04,613 --> 00:51:07,857
but as it expanded,
it inevitably encompassed
835
00:51:07,892 --> 00:51:10,274
more and more Jews.
836
00:51:10,308 --> 00:51:13,691
Before the invasion, Poland
had the highest proportion
837
00:51:13,725 --> 00:51:15,969
of Jews in Europe.
838
00:51:16,003 --> 00:51:18,868
Nearly two million of them
lived in the region
839
00:51:18,903 --> 00:51:21,354
Germany had seized.
840
00:51:21,388 --> 00:51:24,495
Most were people
without means and access
841
00:51:24,529 --> 00:51:27,429
to diplomats or consulates
or well-connected
842
00:51:27,463 --> 00:51:30,915
family members abroad
or anyone else
843
00:51:30,949 --> 00:51:33,435
who could help them escape.
844
00:51:33,469 --> 00:51:38,198
More Jews lived in Warsaw
than remained in Germany.
845
00:51:38,233 --> 00:51:41,857
More lived in the city
of Lodz than in Berlin
846
00:51:41,891 --> 00:51:44,584
and Vienna combined.
847
00:51:44,618 --> 00:51:48,553
Nazi officials hatched
several schemes to rid
848
00:51:48,588 --> 00:51:52,074
the region of its Jews.
849
00:51:52,109 --> 00:51:54,145
The first would have
confined them
850
00:51:54,180 --> 00:51:59,012
to a "reservation" located
in a remote underpopulated area
851
00:51:59,046 --> 00:52:00,703
near Lublin,
852
00:52:00,738 --> 00:52:03,603
but that quickly
proved impractical.
853
00:52:03,637 --> 00:52:07,434
The Nazis offered
two million of them to Stalin,
854
00:52:07,469 --> 00:52:09,333
who did not want them.
855
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,443
In the meantime,
the Germans were driving
856
00:52:16,478 --> 00:52:20,413
Polish Jews into scores
of squalid, congested,
857
00:52:20,447 --> 00:52:24,727
fenced-off neighborhoods--
ghettos--whose residents,
858
00:52:24,762 --> 00:52:27,799
robbed of their possessions
and forced to wear
859
00:52:27,834 --> 00:52:32,666
a yellow star or a white armband
with the Star of David,
860
00:52:32,701 --> 00:52:35,531
were shot
if they strayed outside.
861
00:52:38,051 --> 00:52:40,329
The largest ghetto was
in Warsaw,
862
00:52:40,364 --> 00:52:44,644
where more than 400,000 men,
women, and children struggled
863
00:52:44,678 --> 00:52:48,199
to survive in an area
initially measuring
864
00:52:48,234 --> 00:52:51,478
less than two square miles.
865
00:52:51,513 --> 00:52:54,723
The ghettos served
two purposes for the Nazis.
866
00:52:54,757 --> 00:52:57,967
They provided
reliable pools of slave labor
867
00:52:58,002 --> 00:53:00,453
for the German war machine,
and they acted
868
00:53:00,487 --> 00:53:05,251
as holding pens for Jews,
now including many deported
869
00:53:05,285 --> 00:53:08,426
from what had been Austria
and Czechoslovakia,
870
00:53:08,461 --> 00:53:11,084
until the Nazi regime decided
where they were
871
00:53:11,118 --> 00:53:13,500
finally to be sent.
872
00:53:13,535 --> 00:53:18,333
More than 80,000 people would
die in the Warsaw ghetto alone
873
00:53:18,367 --> 00:53:21,439
of random shootings
by their German guards,
874
00:53:21,474 --> 00:53:26,237
typhoid, deliberate
starvation, and despair.
875
00:53:30,897 --> 00:53:34,763
In Bolechow, in eastern
Poland, Shmiel Jaeger heard
876
00:53:34,797 --> 00:53:40,251
about the German obliteration
of western Poland.
877
00:53:40,286 --> 00:53:42,633
Terrified of what might
happen next,
878
00:53:42,667 --> 00:53:47,258
he wrote again to his relatives
in America.
879
00:53:47,293 --> 00:53:50,227
Man as Shmiel: My darling sister
and brother-in-law,
880
00:53:50,261 --> 00:53:52,505
This is my mission:
881
00:53:52,539 --> 00:53:55,508
it's now the case that
many families can go
882
00:53:55,542 --> 00:54:00,375
and have already emigrated
to America provided that
883
00:54:00,409 --> 00:54:05,380
their families there put down
a $5,000 deposit,
884
00:54:05,414 --> 00:54:08,486
after which they can get
their brother and his wife
885
00:54:08,521 --> 00:54:10,661
and children out,
886
00:54:10,695 --> 00:54:13,457
and then they can get
the deposit back.
887
00:54:13,491 --> 00:54:16,563
Perhaps you could manage
to advance me the deposit.
888
00:54:16,598 --> 00:54:20,395
The idea is that with the money
in custody I won't,
889
00:54:20,429 --> 00:54:24,537
once I'm in America,
be a burden to anyone.
890
00:54:24,571 --> 00:54:26,677
You should make inquiries,
you should write
891
00:54:26,711 --> 00:54:31,302
that I'm the only one
in your family still in Europe
892
00:54:31,337 --> 00:54:34,478
and that I have training as
an auto mechanic
893
00:54:34,512 --> 00:54:41,312
and that I've already been
in America from 1912 to 1913.
894
00:54:41,347 --> 00:54:45,178
For my part, I am going
to post a letter,
895
00:54:45,212 --> 00:54:47,318
written in English,
to Washington,
896
00:54:47,353 --> 00:54:50,045
addressed to
President Roosevelt
897
00:54:50,079 --> 00:54:52,047
and will write that
all my siblings
898
00:54:52,081 --> 00:54:54,394
and my entire family are
in America
899
00:54:54,429 --> 00:54:57,742
and that my parents
are even buried there.
900
00:54:57,777 --> 00:54:59,779
Perhaps that will work,
901
00:54:59,813 --> 00:55:03,507
as I really want to get away
from this Gehenim
902
00:55:03,541 --> 00:55:08,719
with my dear wife and such
darling 4 children.
903
00:55:08,753 --> 00:55:11,066
Shmiel.
904
00:55:11,100 --> 00:55:12,654
Shmiel had no way of knowing
905
00:55:12,688 --> 00:55:16,071
that there were more than
100,000 other Poles ahead
906
00:55:16,105 --> 00:55:18,176
of him on the waiting list.
907
00:55:18,211 --> 00:55:19,730
With the current quota system,
908
00:55:19,764 --> 00:55:22,940
it would be more
than 12 years before his family
909
00:55:22,974 --> 00:55:26,357
would be eligible for a visa.
910
00:55:26,392 --> 00:55:29,015
We knew,
we--we all understood
911
00:55:29,049 --> 00:55:31,051
that there was big trouble.
912
00:55:31,086 --> 00:55:34,365
It was very sad.
913
00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:37,092
My mother would send
clothing or whatever
914
00:55:37,126 --> 00:55:38,783
they would need for the winter,
915
00:55:38,818 --> 00:55:42,097
and all of the family was
involved because they were
916
00:55:42,131 --> 00:55:47,067
all here and all feeling
guilty that Shmiel
917
00:55:47,102 --> 00:55:49,622
had not come.
918
00:55:49,656 --> 00:55:53,695
They were all trying
to get money together to send.
919
00:55:53,729 --> 00:55:56,974
They met, they talked
to the richer members
920
00:55:57,008 --> 00:55:59,804
of the family,
921
00:55:59,839 --> 00:56:03,118
and everyone was concerned,
922
00:56:03,152 --> 00:56:05,879
but no one could do anything.
923
00:56:07,674 --> 00:56:09,400
My grandfather
was a foreman
924
00:56:09,435 --> 00:56:11,816
in a braids
and trimmings factory.
925
00:56:11,851 --> 00:56:15,475
I'm sure if he had $5,000
he would have done anything,
926
00:56:15,510 --> 00:56:17,235
but I think it's also
an important part
927
00:56:17,270 --> 00:56:19,548
of this story,
this sort of guilt,
928
00:56:19,583 --> 00:56:23,380
the huge amount of guilt
in the American Jewish community
929
00:56:23,414 --> 00:56:25,174
after because then,
of course, you say,
930
00:56:25,209 --> 00:56:26,452
"Oh, I should have done more,"
931
00:56:26,486 --> 00:56:30,248
but, again, that's not fair.
932
00:56:30,283 --> 00:56:33,873
People really had
a hard time imagining
933
00:56:33,907 --> 00:56:38,395
what was actually
going to unfold.
934
00:56:40,845 --> 00:56:43,676
As soon as German
troops had occupied Vienna
935
00:56:43,710 --> 00:56:47,645
in 1938, Eva Geiringer's
father Erich had resolved
936
00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:50,579
to find his wife Fritzi,
his son Heinz,
937
00:56:50,614 --> 00:56:55,860
and daughter Eva a new home
out from under the Nazi threat.
938
00:56:55,895 --> 00:56:58,898
By early 1940,
he had managed to get them
939
00:56:58,932 --> 00:57:01,314
to Amsterdam.
940
00:57:01,348 --> 00:57:02,764
Eva Geiringer: The Dutch were
quite different
941
00:57:02,798 --> 00:57:06,388
from the Austrians--
very welcoming.
942
00:57:06,423 --> 00:57:09,564
Everybody wanted
to be my best friend.
943
00:57:09,598 --> 00:57:13,153
I was blonde and blue-eyed,
and so everybody said,
944
00:57:13,188 --> 00:57:16,329
"You look like
a Dutch little girl."
945
00:57:16,363 --> 00:57:19,194
So we settled in, and we
thought, "Well, that is it.
946
00:57:19,228 --> 00:57:21,161
We'll be here together
as a family,"
947
00:57:21,196 --> 00:57:23,578
and we were actually
quite happy.
948
00:57:23,612 --> 00:57:25,718
The Geiringers
found themselves living
949
00:57:25,752 --> 00:57:28,721
in the same apartment block
as Otto Frank,
950
00:57:28,755 --> 00:57:31,240
his wife Edith,
and their two daughters
951
00:57:31,275 --> 00:57:33,450
Margot and Annelies.
952
00:57:33,484 --> 00:57:37,523
The Franks had fled
Germany 6 years earlier.
953
00:57:37,557 --> 00:57:40,871
All the children
came to play after school
954
00:57:40,905 --> 00:57:43,632
on this big open area,
955
00:57:43,667 --> 00:57:46,290
and then, one day,
a little girl came to me,
956
00:57:46,324 --> 00:57:48,292
realized I was new there,
957
00:57:48,326 --> 00:57:50,950
and she introduced herself
and said her name
958
00:57:50,984 --> 00:57:53,366
is "Anna Frank."
959
00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:56,196
Both Eva Geiringer
and Anne Frank
960
00:57:56,231 --> 00:57:57,681
were 10 years old that winter
961
00:57:57,715 --> 00:58:02,444
and both attended
the same Montessori School.
962
00:58:02,479 --> 00:58:05,482
She was very,
very much outspoken,
963
00:58:05,516 --> 00:58:07,829
very sure of herself.
964
00:58:07,863 --> 00:58:12,937
She was definitely already more
intellectual than I was.
965
00:58:12,972 --> 00:58:14,870
She was a big chatterbox.
966
00:58:14,905 --> 00:58:17,494
In school, she was called
"Mrs. Quack-Quack."
967
00:58:17,528 --> 00:58:19,599
She had to stay behind
very often to write
968
00:58:19,634 --> 00:58:22,429
hundreds of lines
that she's not going to talk
969
00:58:22,464 --> 00:58:25,087
so much in class.
970
00:58:25,122 --> 00:58:28,435
She was already interested
in boys.
971
00:58:28,470 --> 00:58:30,852
When I told her I had
an older brother,
972
00:58:30,886 --> 00:58:32,647
her eyes grew very big,
and she said,
973
00:58:32,681 --> 00:58:36,340
"When can I come and meet him?"
974
00:58:36,374 --> 00:58:38,342
Anne Frank's
father tried to stay
975
00:58:38,376 --> 00:58:41,587
optimistic about the future,
reminding everyone
976
00:58:41,621 --> 00:58:44,279
that the Netherlands had been
able to remain neutral
977
00:58:44,313 --> 00:58:45,832
during World War I
978
00:58:45,867 --> 00:58:49,353
and should be able
to do so again,
979
00:58:49,387 --> 00:58:51,804
but he could not hide his
underlying anxiety
980
00:58:51,838 --> 00:58:55,911
from a cousin, who was now
living safely in London,
981
00:58:55,946 --> 00:58:59,018
writing her that he worried
most about his daughters
982
00:58:59,052 --> 00:59:03,919
but didn't dare confide
his concern to their mother.
983
00:59:03,954 --> 00:59:07,026
His cousin offered to care
for them in England.
984
00:59:07,060 --> 00:59:09,960
He thanked her for her kindness
but was sure
985
00:59:09,994 --> 00:59:12,894
neither he nor his wife
could bear to part
986
00:59:12,928 --> 00:59:15,586
with their girls.
987
00:59:15,621 --> 00:59:19,072
Otto Frank was still waiting for
his family's visa application
988
00:59:19,107 --> 00:59:22,973
to the United States
to come up for review.
989
00:59:23,007 --> 00:59:27,598
More than 300,000 other people
were waiting, too.
990
00:59:29,876 --> 00:59:34,053
A 7-month lull followed
the invasion of Poland.
991
00:59:34,087 --> 00:59:37,125
To American isolationists,
it seemed to be proof
992
00:59:37,159 --> 00:59:41,439
that events in Europe were
nothing to worry about.
993
00:59:41,474 --> 00:59:44,511
Republican Senator
William Borah of Idaho
994
00:59:44,546 --> 00:59:46,997
called it the "Phony War"...
995
00:59:54,349 --> 00:59:56,834
but on April 9, 1940,
996
00:59:56,869 --> 01:00:00,148
the Phony War
became real again.
997
01:00:00,182 --> 01:00:05,602
40,000 German troops surged
across the Danish border.
998
01:00:05,636 --> 01:00:09,502
Denmark surrendered
by nightfall.
999
01:00:09,536 --> 01:00:12,885
German paratroopers filled
the skies over Norway,
1000
01:00:12,919 --> 01:00:16,716
driving its government
into exile.
1001
01:00:16,751 --> 01:00:20,582
Then, on May 10,
10 Panzer divisions,
1002
01:00:20,617 --> 01:00:23,240
2,500 aircraft,
1003
01:00:23,274 --> 01:00:26,588
and 3 1/3 million
German ground troops
1004
01:00:26,623 --> 01:00:29,833
stormed into France
and the Low Countries--
1005
01:00:29,867 --> 01:00:34,182
Belgium, Luxembourg,
and the Netherlands.
1006
01:00:34,216 --> 01:00:39,912
We heard guns shooting
and the drones of airplane,
1007
01:00:39,946 --> 01:00:41,534
and we all got up,
1008
01:00:41,568 --> 01:00:44,192
and we had a little
Bakelite radio.
1009
01:00:44,226 --> 01:00:46,919
The German army
invaded Holland and Belgium...
1010
01:00:46,953 --> 01:00:49,991
Listened to that,
and the newscaster said,
1011
01:00:50,025 --> 01:00:51,751
"Very bad news.
1012
01:00:51,786 --> 01:00:54,720
"The Germans are trying to
invade our country,
1013
01:00:54,754 --> 01:00:58,378
but we are going to
defend ourselves."
1014
01:00:58,413 --> 01:01:00,070
At Otto Frank's office,
1015
01:01:00,104 --> 01:01:04,039
his employees remembered,
his face turned white as reports
1016
01:01:04,074 --> 01:01:08,630
of the attack continued
to come in over the radio.
1017
01:01:08,665 --> 01:01:11,495
The Germans threatened to bomb
the port of Rotterdam
1018
01:01:11,529 --> 01:01:14,325
unless the Dutch surrendered.
1019
01:01:14,360 --> 01:01:16,396
They tried to surrender...
1020
01:01:17,846 --> 01:01:21,816
and the Luftwaffe bombed
the city anyway.
1021
01:01:26,579 --> 01:01:28,961
Over 900 people were killed
1022
01:01:28,995 --> 01:01:32,965
and more than 85,000
left homeless.
1023
01:01:32,999 --> 01:01:36,140
The United States consulate
was burned, too,
1024
01:01:36,175 --> 01:01:40,351
and with it, Otto Frank's
application for visas
1025
01:01:40,386 --> 01:01:44,493
to bring his family to America.
1026
01:01:44,528 --> 01:01:47,738
Every port the Germans
overran closed off
1027
01:01:47,773 --> 01:01:52,847
yet another avenue
of escape for refugees.
1028
01:01:52,881 --> 01:01:55,090
France was next.
1029
01:01:55,125 --> 01:01:58,715
Its supposedly invincible
5-million-man army
1030
01:01:58,749 --> 01:02:01,925
would collapse
in just a few weeks.
1031
01:02:07,137 --> 01:02:09,656
Tonight over
the once peaceful roads
1032
01:02:09,691 --> 01:02:14,213
of Belgium and France,
millions are now moving,
1033
01:02:14,247 --> 01:02:18,838
running from their homes
to escape bombs and shells
1034
01:02:18,873 --> 01:02:22,739
and fire and machine-gunning,
without shelter,
1035
01:02:22,773 --> 01:02:24,913
and almost wholly without food.
1036
01:02:24,948 --> 01:02:28,296
They stumble on,
knowing not where the end
1037
01:02:28,330 --> 01:02:30,091
of the road will be.
1038
01:02:31,782 --> 01:02:33,370
"These are
ominous days,"
1039
01:02:33,404 --> 01:02:36,891
Roosevelt told Congress
on May 16,
1040
01:02:36,925 --> 01:02:40,032
"days whose swift
and shocking developments force
1041
01:02:40,066 --> 01:02:44,691
every neutral nation
to look to its defenses."
1042
01:02:44,726 --> 01:02:47,798
He called for an increase
in aircraft production
1043
01:02:47,833 --> 01:02:53,597
from 2,100 planes
a year to 50,000.
1044
01:02:53,631 --> 01:02:56,324
To isolationists like
Charles Lindbergh,
1045
01:02:56,358 --> 01:03:00,052
the president and other
unseen forces were taking
1046
01:03:00,086 --> 01:03:05,333
another step toward U.S.
involvement in the war.
1047
01:03:05,367 --> 01:03:07,542
The only reason
that we are in danger
1048
01:03:07,576 --> 01:03:10,062
of becoming involved
in this war is because
1049
01:03:10,096 --> 01:03:13,444
there are powerful elements
in America who desire
1050
01:03:13,479 --> 01:03:15,930
us to take part.
1051
01:03:15,964 --> 01:03:19,174
They represent a small
minority of the American people,
1052
01:03:19,209 --> 01:03:21,521
but they control much
of the machinery
1053
01:03:21,556 --> 01:03:23,972
of influence and propaganda.
1054
01:03:24,007 --> 01:03:27,148
They seize every
opportunity to push us
1055
01:03:27,182 --> 01:03:29,529
closer to the edge.
1056
01:03:29,564 --> 01:03:31,980
It is time
for the underlying character
1057
01:03:32,015 --> 01:03:34,949
of this country to rise
and assert itself,
1058
01:03:34,983 --> 01:03:38,228
to strike down these elements
of personal profit
1059
01:03:38,262 --> 01:03:39,885
and foreign interest.
1060
01:03:41,921 --> 01:03:44,475
A week later,
battered British
1061
01:03:44,510 --> 01:03:47,720
and Belgian troops,
along with what little was left
1062
01:03:47,754 --> 01:03:50,274
of French forces, began fleeing
1063
01:03:50,309 --> 01:03:53,277
across the English Channel
from Dunkirk,
1064
01:03:53,312 --> 01:03:57,316
leaving behind tons
of arms and materiel.
1065
01:04:00,491 --> 01:04:03,770
The United Kingdom
now stood alone.
1066
01:04:03,805 --> 01:04:06,877
Many on both sides
of the Atlantic agreed
1067
01:04:06,912 --> 01:04:08,775
with the assessment
of Roosevelt's
1068
01:04:08,810 --> 01:04:13,504
ambassador in London
Joseph P. Kennedy.
1069
01:04:13,539 --> 01:04:16,922
"Britain," he said,
"is doomed."
1070
01:04:29,037 --> 01:04:31,488
My brother and I,
we were in one of the crowds
1071
01:04:31,522 --> 01:04:35,630
when the Germans
came marching in,
1072
01:04:35,664 --> 01:04:40,773
and all I knew is we had
to hurry up and get away.
1073
01:04:40,807 --> 01:04:43,465
Susan
and Joseph Hilsenrath's parents
1074
01:04:43,500 --> 01:04:46,261
had arranged for them
to be smuggled out of Germany
1075
01:04:46,296 --> 01:04:49,126
into France,
where the children had endured
1076
01:04:49,161 --> 01:04:53,061
a precarious sanctuary
for 8 months.
1077
01:04:53,096 --> 01:04:57,652
They hoped their parents
had also gotten out of Germany.
1078
01:04:57,686 --> 01:05:00,413
In fact, they had managed
to get visas
1079
01:05:00,448 --> 01:05:02,208
and make it to America,
1080
01:05:02,243 --> 01:05:04,693
first the father
and then their mother
1081
01:05:04,728 --> 01:05:07,938
and baby brother
several months later,
1082
01:05:07,973 --> 01:05:11,528
but Susan and Joseph
weren't sure where they were
1083
01:05:11,562 --> 01:05:14,082
or how they would be reunited.
1084
01:05:15,428 --> 01:05:18,224
They had lived
with a young cousin in Paris,
1085
01:05:18,259 --> 01:05:20,951
then with a series
of foster families
1086
01:05:20,986 --> 01:05:25,611
until June 14 when the Germans
had entered the city.
1087
01:05:27,613 --> 01:05:30,961
Everybody was going
on the bus, on bicycles
1088
01:05:30,996 --> 01:05:34,413
and cars and walking,
trying to get out,
1089
01:05:34,447 --> 01:05:36,415
to get to Versailles.
1090
01:05:40,074 --> 01:05:42,835
All of these people
marched to the--
1091
01:05:42,869 --> 01:05:45,182
to the palace,
and the mayor of the town,
1092
01:05:45,217 --> 01:05:51,016
he got the idea of giving
everybody a burlap sack.
1093
01:05:51,050 --> 01:05:53,225
They have these beautiful
gardens in the back
1094
01:05:53,259 --> 01:05:55,606
of the palace,
and way in the corner,
1095
01:05:55,641 --> 01:05:57,298
they had a big haystack,
1096
01:05:57,332 --> 01:06:00,887
and so all of the people
took their burlap sack
1097
01:06:00,922 --> 01:06:03,752
and filled it up with hay.
1098
01:06:03,787 --> 01:06:05,858
Then we had a mattress.
1099
01:06:05,892 --> 01:06:08,965
We took our mattress,
and we all walked
1100
01:06:08,999 --> 01:06:12,002
into the palace,
and there's this beautiful room
1101
01:06:12,037 --> 01:06:14,694
called the Hall of Mirrors,
1102
01:06:14,729 --> 01:06:17,283
and we slept in the palace.
1103
01:06:18,905 --> 01:06:21,391
For a few days, we were there,
and everything
1104
01:06:21,425 --> 01:06:23,013
seemed to be fine,
1105
01:06:23,048 --> 01:06:26,465
but then we heard that
same sound of the marching.
1106
01:06:26,499 --> 01:06:29,330
We heard tanks,
and we saw people going
1107
01:06:29,364 --> 01:06:31,539
on motorcycles,
1108
01:06:31,573 --> 01:06:35,474
and there was a one car
at the head of this caravan,
1109
01:06:35,508 --> 01:06:38,028
and out came a German officer,
1110
01:06:38,063 --> 01:06:41,894
and he wanted to talk
to the mayor of the town,
1111
01:06:41,928 --> 01:06:45,104
and he did not know
how to speak any French,
1112
01:06:45,139 --> 01:06:48,452
and the mayor of the town
did not know how
1113
01:06:48,487 --> 01:06:50,730
to speak any German.
1114
01:06:50,765 --> 01:06:52,594
So somebody in the crowd
says, "Oh, there's
1115
01:06:52,629 --> 01:06:55,045
"this girl who's in the palace,
and she knows
1116
01:06:55,080 --> 01:06:57,151
how to speak German."
1117
01:06:57,185 --> 01:06:59,774
I was standing there,
and I looked at this--
1118
01:06:59,808 --> 01:07:01,672
at this German officer.
1119
01:07:01,707 --> 01:07:04,296
He was as tall
as the ceiling,
1120
01:07:04,330 --> 01:07:08,058
and--and--and--
and I was so afraid,
1121
01:07:08,093 --> 01:07:10,129
but at the end
of the conversation,
1122
01:07:10,164 --> 01:07:12,787
the Nazi officer
bent down to me,
1123
01:07:12,821 --> 01:07:14,513
and he said, "Little girl,
1124
01:07:14,547 --> 01:07:18,448
how come you know how to
speak German so well?"
1125
01:07:18,482 --> 01:07:22,693
And I said to him,
"The French schools
1126
01:07:22,728 --> 01:07:24,316
"are really very good,
and I learned
1127
01:07:24,350 --> 01:07:27,353
how to speak German
in the French schools."
1128
01:07:27,388 --> 01:07:31,806
And so he clicked his heels,
and he shook my hand,
1129
01:07:31,840 --> 01:07:34,119
and he walked away.
1130
01:07:40,504 --> 01:07:42,782
With Hitler's
conquest of Poland
1131
01:07:42,817 --> 01:07:45,095
and western Europe,
President Roosevelt
1132
01:07:45,130 --> 01:07:48,719
had understood that the ongoing
refugee crisis
1133
01:07:48,754 --> 01:07:52,240
was sure to turn
into a catastrophe.
1134
01:07:52,275 --> 01:07:56,210
"It is not enough to indulge
in horrified humanitarianism,
1135
01:07:56,244 --> 01:08:00,283
empty resolutions,
and pious words," he said.
1136
01:08:00,317 --> 01:08:03,113
Safe havens had to be
found quickly
1137
01:08:03,148 --> 01:08:05,943
for these "desperate people."
1138
01:08:05,978 --> 01:08:08,705
Before war broke out,
he had been unwilling
1139
01:08:08,739 --> 01:08:11,328
to go against public opinion
and call
1140
01:08:11,363 --> 01:08:15,125
for American immigration quotas
to be expanded,
1141
01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:18,128
in part because he knew
if he did so Congress
1142
01:08:18,163 --> 01:08:21,166
might well
close them off altogether.
1143
01:08:22,374 --> 01:08:24,790
Behind the scenes,
he had pressured
1144
01:08:24,824 --> 01:08:27,793
Latin American countries
into accepting
1145
01:08:27,827 --> 01:08:31,969
some 40,000 Jews in flight
from Hitler,
1146
01:08:32,004 --> 01:08:35,041
but no other nations had
proved any more welcoming
1147
01:08:35,076 --> 01:08:37,354
to refugees than they had been
1148
01:08:37,389 --> 01:08:40,702
before the Second
World War began,
1149
01:08:40,737 --> 01:08:44,258
and now, Roosevelt and much
of the American public
1150
01:08:44,292 --> 01:08:48,193
had begun to view would-be
immigrants differently,
1151
01:08:48,227 --> 01:08:51,437
not as victims
but as potential threats
1152
01:08:51,472 --> 01:08:55,234
to the security
of the United States.
1153
01:08:55,269 --> 01:08:56,684
You'd think
from the number of spies
1154
01:08:56,718 --> 01:08:57,788
they've been sending
over here that
1155
01:08:57,823 --> 01:08:59,135
we're at war
with Germany.
1156
01:08:59,169 --> 01:09:00,308
It looks more
as if Germany were
1157
01:09:00,343 --> 01:09:02,552
at war with us.
1158
01:09:02,586 --> 01:09:04,692
"Confessions
of a Nazi Spy,"
1159
01:09:04,726 --> 01:09:08,040
made by Warner Bros.,
the only movie company
1160
01:09:08,074 --> 01:09:09,697
to have pulled out of Germany
1161
01:09:09,731 --> 01:09:12,596
rather than do business
with Hitler's regime,
1162
01:09:12,631 --> 01:09:16,290
was the first overtly
anti-Nazi film made
1163
01:09:16,324 --> 01:09:19,431
by a major Hollywood studio.
1164
01:09:19,465 --> 01:09:22,019
The movie was based loosely
on the story
1165
01:09:22,054 --> 01:09:26,092
of a real German spy ring
broken up by the FBI,
1166
01:09:26,127 --> 01:09:30,200
and it captured a growing sense
of public panic.
1167
01:09:30,235 --> 01:09:32,685
The sudden terrifying swiftness
1168
01:09:32,720 --> 01:09:36,241
with which the Western European
democracies collapsed
1169
01:09:36,275 --> 01:09:39,727
under Hitler's assault
led many to assume
1170
01:09:39,761 --> 01:09:42,074
he must have had
help from within.
1171
01:09:43,282 --> 01:09:46,216
The American ambassador to
France claimed the collapse
1172
01:09:46,251 --> 01:09:48,908
of that country had been
in part the work
1173
01:09:48,943 --> 01:09:52,498
of native Communists
and Nazi agents,
1174
01:09:52,533 --> 01:09:54,051
some of whom, he alleged,
1175
01:09:54,086 --> 01:09:58,228
had entered the country
as Jewish refugees.
1176
01:09:58,263 --> 01:10:01,818
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
said the bureau
1177
01:10:01,852 --> 01:10:04,372
was now receiving 3,000 tips
1178
01:10:04,407 --> 01:10:07,237
about possible espionage
every day,
1179
01:10:07,272 --> 01:10:12,794
and hired 150 more agents
to seek out Nazi spies,
1180
01:10:12,829 --> 01:10:16,315
who were called
Fifth Columnists.
1181
01:10:17,765 --> 01:10:19,698
And the government
alleged just conspired
1182
01:10:19,732 --> 01:10:23,598
to provide secret information to
an unnamed foreign government.
1183
01:10:23,633 --> 01:10:26,429
A country can be
attacked from 4 sides,
1184
01:10:26,463 --> 01:10:28,362
but there's actually
a fifth side
1185
01:10:28,396 --> 01:10:30,398
from which it can be attacked,
and that's from within,
1186
01:10:30,433 --> 01:10:32,814
if you have spies
in your midst.
1187
01:10:32,849 --> 01:10:36,508
There's a great fear that the
Germans are sending over spies,
1188
01:10:36,542 --> 01:10:37,992
and they were.
1189
01:10:38,026 --> 01:10:40,477
There were spies for Germany.
1190
01:10:40,512 --> 01:10:46,621
But the fear of spies intersects
with the antisemitism.
1191
01:10:46,656 --> 01:10:49,900
The fear of spies intersects
with the anti-immigration,
1192
01:10:49,935 --> 01:10:52,420
anti-refugee sentiment.
1193
01:10:52,455 --> 01:10:54,595
The "New York
Herald Tribune,"
1194
01:10:54,629 --> 01:10:57,701
one of the most respected
newspapers in America,
1195
01:10:57,736 --> 01:11:01,429
claimed that 42 Nazi agents
had supposedly
1196
01:11:01,464 --> 01:11:05,053
been recruited from among
German "half" Jews
1197
01:11:05,088 --> 01:11:07,780
and "quarter" Jews.
1198
01:11:07,815 --> 01:11:11,474
The "Saturday Evening Post"
charged that Nazi spies
1199
01:11:11,508 --> 01:11:17,031
passing as refugees had
infiltrated Europe and America.
1200
01:11:17,065 --> 01:11:19,930
Less than 3% of Americans believed
1201
01:11:19,965 --> 01:11:24,072
Washington was doing enough
to combat subversion.
1202
01:11:25,591 --> 01:11:27,352
In the summer of 1940,
1203
01:11:27,386 --> 01:11:31,321
an Alien Registration Act
sailed through Congress,
1204
01:11:31,356 --> 01:11:35,221
requiring non-citizens
over the age of 14
1205
01:11:35,256 --> 01:11:37,776
to be registered
and fingerprinted
1206
01:11:37,810 --> 01:11:41,435
and sharply curtailing
their rights to free speech
1207
01:11:41,469 --> 01:11:44,472
and political participation.
1208
01:11:44,507 --> 01:11:47,544
"Something curious is happening
to us in this country,"
1209
01:11:47,579 --> 01:11:50,616
Eleanor Roosevelt
wrote in her column,
1210
01:11:50,651 --> 01:11:52,929
"and I think it is time
we stopped
1211
01:11:52,963 --> 01:11:55,449
"and took stock of ourselves.
1212
01:11:55,483 --> 01:11:59,349
"Are we going to be swept away
from our traditional attitude
1213
01:11:59,384 --> 01:12:03,802
toward civil liberty by hysteria
about 'Fifth Columnists'?"
1214
01:12:05,493 --> 01:12:07,357
But the president
told the press
1215
01:12:07,392 --> 01:12:10,498
that he had been told
that in several countries
1216
01:12:10,533 --> 01:12:14,399
Jewish refugees had become
spies for the Germans,
1217
01:12:14,433 --> 01:12:17,091
involuntary spies,
he explained,
1218
01:12:17,125 --> 01:12:19,404
because if
they didn't agree to spy,
1219
01:12:19,438 --> 01:12:22,165
the Nazi government
back home had told them,
1220
01:12:22,199 --> 01:12:23,960
"We are frightfully sorry,
1221
01:12:23,994 --> 01:12:26,169
"but your old father
and old mother
1222
01:12:26,203 --> 01:12:28,930
"will be taken out and shot.
1223
01:12:28,965 --> 01:12:31,519
Of course," the President continued,
1224
01:12:31,554 --> 01:12:34,695
"it applies to a very, very
small percentage
1225
01:12:34,729 --> 01:12:38,146
of refugees
coming out of Germany."
1226
01:12:38,181 --> 01:12:39,907
Of course, a refugee
would be
1227
01:12:39,941 --> 01:12:41,633
the worst person to be a spy.
1228
01:12:41,667 --> 01:12:44,429
A refugee doesn't speak
the language,
1229
01:12:44,463 --> 01:12:46,292
speaks the language
with an accent.
1230
01:12:46,327 --> 01:12:49,399
A refugee doesn't know
the ways to work their self
1231
01:12:49,434 --> 01:12:51,436
into the woodwork and not
be noticeable.
1232
01:12:51,470 --> 01:12:55,267
But nonetheless, there is
this irrational fear.
1233
01:12:55,301 --> 01:12:57,511
No one says a nation should
let people in
1234
01:12:57,545 --> 01:13:01,135
that is going to
harm it or weaken it,
1235
01:13:01,169 --> 01:13:03,896
but the evidence
was nonexistent.
1236
01:13:03,931 --> 01:13:07,313
Assistant Secretary
of State Breckinridge Long
1237
01:13:07,348 --> 01:13:10,489
and many of his colleagues
thought, without evidence,
1238
01:13:10,524 --> 01:13:14,320
that Jewish refugees were
especially dangerous.
1239
01:13:14,355 --> 01:13:19,325
A wealthy contributor
to Roosevelt's first
presidential campaign,
1240
01:13:19,360 --> 01:13:23,951
Long had served for 3 years as
FDR's ambassador to Italy
1241
01:13:23,985 --> 01:13:27,541
and was semi-retired when
Roosevelt called him back
1242
01:13:27,575 --> 01:13:31,752
to government service to
run the Visa Division.
1243
01:13:31,786 --> 01:13:34,513
Hundreds of thousands of
desperate people,
1244
01:13:34,548 --> 01:13:37,999
most of them Jews, were already
on the waiting list
1245
01:13:38,034 --> 01:13:40,070
for American visas,
1246
01:13:40,105 --> 01:13:43,039
and more were lining up
every day.
1247
01:13:43,073 --> 01:13:45,731
Long was unmoved.
1248
01:13:45,766 --> 01:13:49,459
To him, every train or ship
carrying Jews
1249
01:13:49,494 --> 01:13:52,842
out of Nazi Europe represented
what he called,
1250
01:13:52,876 --> 01:13:57,018
"a perfect opening for Germany
to load the United States
1251
01:13:57,053 --> 01:13:59,158
with Nazi agents."
1252
01:13:59,193 --> 01:14:02,403
Long's goal, he confided to
his diary,
1253
01:14:02,438 --> 01:14:06,131
was "practically
stopping immigration."
1254
01:14:06,165 --> 01:14:10,515
Breckinridge Long is
working every which way
1255
01:14:10,549 --> 01:14:14,553
to prevent Jews from coming
into this country.
1256
01:14:14,588 --> 01:14:17,453
When people are
desperate to get out,
1257
01:14:17,487 --> 01:14:21,491
he is amongst those helping
to create the barriers.
1258
01:14:21,526 --> 01:14:25,184
Long especially
loathed Rabbi Stephen Wise,
1259
01:14:25,219 --> 01:14:27,532
whom he found sanctimonious,
1260
01:14:27,566 --> 01:14:31,605
because he spoke so often
of the courage of men and women
1261
01:14:31,639 --> 01:14:34,539
fleeing from
torture by dictators.
1262
01:14:34,573 --> 01:14:39,233
"Only an infinitesimal fraction
are of that category,"
1263
01:14:39,267 --> 01:14:41,891
Long noted in his diary.
1264
01:14:42,995 --> 01:14:44,997
One of
the lessons of this history
1265
01:14:45,032 --> 01:14:47,552
is something else was
always more important
1266
01:14:47,586 --> 01:14:51,176
for the Americans
than aiding Jews.
1267
01:14:51,210 --> 01:14:56,871
But we see some Americans
who don't respond that way.
1268
01:14:56,906 --> 01:15:00,392
If I'd been a man,
I would have joined the Navy
1269
01:15:00,426 --> 01:15:04,051
and seen the world,
but since I was a woman,
1270
01:15:04,085 --> 01:15:07,951
I joined the Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee.
1271
01:15:07,986 --> 01:15:10,402
Laura Margolis.
1272
01:15:10,436 --> 01:15:12,542
While official
American policy
1273
01:15:12,577 --> 01:15:15,200
remained rigid
and restricted,
1274
01:15:15,234 --> 01:15:17,582
individual women
and men working
1275
01:15:17,616 --> 01:15:20,377
for dozens of Jewish organizations,
1276
01:15:20,412 --> 01:15:23,242
including the National
Refugee Service
1277
01:15:23,277 --> 01:15:25,797
and the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society,
1278
01:15:25,831 --> 01:15:27,315
did all they could,
1279
01:15:27,350 --> 01:15:30,802
wherever in the world they
could, to help.
1280
01:15:30,836 --> 01:15:34,081
They would coordinate
loans, legal counsel,
1281
01:15:34,115 --> 01:15:37,947
ocean liner tickets,
and jobs for newcomers.
1282
01:15:37,981 --> 01:15:43,193
Without their help, tens of
thousands of Jewish refugees
1283
01:15:43,228 --> 01:15:46,576
would never have made it
to America.
1284
01:15:46,611 --> 01:15:49,510
They worked alongside other
committed Americans
1285
01:15:49,545 --> 01:15:53,341
from the YMCA, the Unitarian
Service Committee,
1286
01:15:53,376 --> 01:15:57,311
and the American
Friends Service Committee.
1287
01:15:57,345 --> 01:15:59,589
By the summer of 1940,
1288
01:15:59,624 --> 01:16:02,903
the focus of their relief
and rescue operations
1289
01:16:02,937 --> 01:16:04,801
was in southern France.
1290
01:16:06,734 --> 01:16:09,150
Germany occupied
only the western
1291
01:16:09,185 --> 01:16:11,256
and northern regions of France.
1292
01:16:11,290 --> 01:16:14,604
The south was left in
the hands of a collaborationist
1293
01:16:14,639 --> 01:16:18,919
French government
with headquarters at Vichy.
1294
01:16:18,953 --> 01:16:23,855
Some 50,000 refugees
from 42 countries were interned
1295
01:16:23,889 --> 01:16:28,756
in 93 squalid,
overcrowded camps.
1296
01:16:28,791 --> 01:16:31,863
Tens of thousands more
remained free,
1297
01:16:31,897 --> 01:16:35,280
trying to keep one step ahead
of the French police,
1298
01:16:35,314 --> 01:16:37,213
who were required to hand over
1299
01:16:37,247 --> 01:16:41,010
any refugees
the Germans demanded.
1300
01:16:41,044 --> 01:16:44,530
Scores of eminent artists
and intellectuals
1301
01:16:44,565 --> 01:16:47,568
were thought to be
in immediate danger.
1302
01:16:49,018 --> 01:16:52,331
To help, a group of prominent
writers in New York
1303
01:16:52,366 --> 01:16:55,403
formed the Emergency Rescue Committee.
1304
01:16:55,438 --> 01:16:58,890
Eleanor Roosevelt talked
her husband into asking
1305
01:16:58,924 --> 01:17:02,652
the reluctant State Department
to issue a limited number
1306
01:17:02,687 --> 01:17:06,518
of emergency visitor's visas.
1307
01:17:06,552 --> 01:17:08,934
I remembered what
I had seen in Germany.
1308
01:17:08,969 --> 01:17:11,488
I knew what would happen
to the refugees
1309
01:17:11,523 --> 01:17:13,905
if the Gestapo
got hold of them.
1310
01:17:13,939 --> 01:17:16,908
I could not remain idle as
long as I had any chance at all
1311
01:17:16,942 --> 01:17:20,463
of saving even a few
of its intended victims.
1312
01:17:20,497 --> 01:17:23,224
It was my duty to help them.
1313
01:17:23,259 --> 01:17:25,123
Varian Fry.
1314
01:17:27,643 --> 01:17:30,576
Varian Fry,
a 32-year-old writer
1315
01:17:30,611 --> 01:17:33,131
and member of
the Emergency Rescue Committee,
1316
01:17:33,165 --> 01:17:37,860
volunteered to go to France
and try to get the refugees out.
1317
01:17:37,894 --> 01:17:40,725
He was every inch
the Harvard-educated
1318
01:17:40,759 --> 01:17:43,175
intellectual he appeared to be,
1319
01:17:43,210 --> 01:17:47,697
but as a foreign
correspondent visiting
Germany 5 years earlier,
1320
01:17:47,732 --> 01:17:50,838
he'd witnessed attacks
on Jews that left him
1321
01:17:50,873 --> 01:17:54,739
with a visceral loathing
for the Nazis.
1322
01:17:54,773 --> 01:17:58,639
He arrived in Marseille
on August 15, 1940,
1323
01:17:58,674 --> 01:18:02,436
with $3,000 in cash
strapped to his leg
1324
01:18:02,470 --> 01:18:06,060
and a list of 200
distinguished women and men
1325
01:18:06,095 --> 01:18:09,754
thought to be somewhere
in Vichy, France.
1326
01:18:11,031 --> 01:18:14,206
Man as Fry: It is the non-French
refugees among whom
1327
01:18:14,241 --> 01:18:16,277
one finds the greatest misery.
1328
01:18:16,312 --> 01:18:21,041
They are being crushed in
one of the most gigantic
vises in history.
1329
01:18:21,075 --> 01:18:24,078
They have literally been
condemned to death here,
1330
01:18:24,113 --> 01:18:27,979
or at best to confinement
in detention camps,
1331
01:18:28,013 --> 01:18:30,602
a fate little better
than death.
1332
01:18:32,293 --> 01:18:35,952
He took room 307
at the Hotel Splendide
1333
01:18:35,987 --> 01:18:37,574
and went to work.
1334
01:18:37,609 --> 01:18:40,232
News quickly spread that
an American
1335
01:18:40,267 --> 01:18:41,924
with visas had arrived.
1336
01:18:41,958 --> 01:18:44,961
Refugees knocked
at his door at all hours,
1337
01:18:44,996 --> 01:18:47,964
filled the hallways,
and lined the stairs.
1338
01:18:47,999 --> 01:18:52,900
25 letters a day turned up
for him at the reception desk.
1339
01:18:52,935 --> 01:18:56,041
The telephone rarely
stopped ringing.
1340
01:18:59,286 --> 01:19:03,083
The American Vice Consul in
Marseilles Hiram Bingham Jr.
1341
01:19:03,117 --> 01:19:04,705
and some of his colleagues
1342
01:19:04,740 --> 01:19:07,294
were happy to help whenever
they could.
1343
01:19:07,328 --> 01:19:10,780
Bingham was the son
of a senator from Connecticut.
1344
01:19:10,815 --> 01:19:14,473
His Groton classmates had called
him "Righteous Bingham"
1345
01:19:14,508 --> 01:19:16,786
for his earnestness.
1346
01:19:16,821 --> 01:19:20,652
He, too, had seen Nazi
brutality first-hand,
1347
01:19:20,686 --> 01:19:23,172
and he believed it his duty
to obtain
1348
01:19:23,206 --> 01:19:27,521
"as many visas as I could
for as many people,"
1349
01:19:27,555 --> 01:19:30,593
and was sometimes willing
to break the rules.
1350
01:19:30,627 --> 01:19:33,769
He allowed the fugitive
German Jewish novelist
1351
01:19:33,803 --> 01:19:36,875
Lion Feuchtwanger to hide
in his villa
1352
01:19:36,910 --> 01:19:40,534
and then cooperated in smuggling
him out of the country
1353
01:19:40,568 --> 01:19:42,329
with Reverend Waitstill Sharp,
1354
01:19:42,363 --> 01:19:48,093
a veteran rescue worker for
the Unitarian Service Committee.
1355
01:19:48,128 --> 01:19:51,821
In order to emigrate to
the United States from Vichy,
1356
01:19:51,856 --> 01:19:55,998
each refugee required
an American immigration visa,
1357
01:19:56,032 --> 01:19:59,380
visas for neutral Portugal
and Spain,
1358
01:19:59,415 --> 01:20:01,762
a steamship ticket from Lisbon,
1359
01:20:01,797 --> 01:20:04,661
and an exit visa from France.
1360
01:20:05,731 --> 01:20:07,837
Each took time to obtain
1361
01:20:07,872 --> 01:20:10,564
and each had
an expiration date.
1362
01:20:10,598 --> 01:20:13,601
By the time the last
document was procured,
1363
01:20:13,636 --> 01:20:15,603
another had often expired,
1364
01:20:15,638 --> 01:20:20,850
requiring the whole
laborious process to
begin all over again.
1365
01:20:22,645 --> 01:20:24,440
To get around this system,
1366
01:20:24,474 --> 01:20:27,132
Varian Fry helped to
smuggle refugees
1367
01:20:27,167 --> 01:20:30,826
across the Pyrenees
into Spain.
1368
01:20:30,860 --> 01:20:34,346
He assembled a staff
of 46 volunteers
1369
01:20:34,381 --> 01:20:38,592
that included refugees,
young American men and women,
1370
01:20:38,626 --> 01:20:42,389
a French gendarme,
and a Viennese cartoonist
1371
01:20:42,423 --> 01:20:44,425
who proved an adept forger
1372
01:20:44,460 --> 01:20:47,428
of documents
and official stamps.
1373
01:20:47,463 --> 01:20:51,536
Fry worked closely with
American Jewish organizations
1374
01:20:51,570 --> 01:20:55,989
that provided crucial financial
support from Portugal
1375
01:20:56,023 --> 01:20:59,440
and with sympathetic diplomats
from other countries--
1376
01:20:59,475 --> 01:21:02,650
Mexican, Brazilian, Siamese,
1377
01:21:02,685 --> 01:21:05,999
and an especially empathetic
Chinese consul,
1378
01:21:06,033 --> 01:21:09,002
whose formal-looking documents
in Mandarin
1379
01:21:09,036 --> 01:21:11,176
were rarely
challenged at the border
1380
01:21:11,211 --> 01:21:14,283
because neither French
nor German officials
1381
01:21:14,317 --> 01:21:16,457
could read them.
1382
01:21:16,492 --> 01:21:20,082
Man as Fry: It's stimulating to
be outside the law.
1383
01:21:20,116 --> 01:21:24,362
The experiences of 10, 15,
and even 20 years
1384
01:21:24,396 --> 01:21:26,709
have been pressed into one.
1385
01:21:26,743 --> 01:21:31,369
Sometimes I feel as if I
had lived my whole life.
1386
01:21:33,819 --> 01:21:35,994
Reports of what
Fry was up to
1387
01:21:36,029 --> 01:21:38,272
eventually
reached Washington.
1388
01:21:38,307 --> 01:21:41,931
Secretary of State Cordell Hull
himself cabled
1389
01:21:41,966 --> 01:21:44,037
the Marseille consulate that
1390
01:21:44,071 --> 01:21:47,523
"This Government cannot--
repeat cannot--
1391
01:21:47,557 --> 01:21:52,045
"countenance the activities
of Mr. Fry and other persons,
1392
01:21:52,079 --> 01:21:55,980
however well-meaning
their motives may be."
1393
01:21:56,014 --> 01:21:59,811
The State Department tried to
force Fry out of France,
1394
01:21:59,845 --> 01:22:02,641
but he somehow managed
to remain in Marseille
1395
01:22:02,676 --> 01:22:04,402
for another 7 months
1396
01:22:04,436 --> 01:22:09,027
until Vichy police escorted him
out of the country.
1397
01:22:12,237 --> 01:22:16,069
Together, Fry and Bingham,
whom Fry remembered
1398
01:22:16,103 --> 01:22:19,796
as his "partner in the crime of
saving lives,"
1399
01:22:19,831 --> 01:22:21,246
are thought to have rescued
1400
01:22:21,281 --> 01:22:24,870
at least 2,000 people
from the Nazis.
1401
01:22:26,838 --> 01:22:28,944
Some were the celebrated
people Fry
1402
01:22:28,978 --> 01:22:31,291
had been sent to save,
1403
01:22:31,325 --> 01:22:35,191
including the harpsichordist
Wanda Landowska,
1404
01:22:35,226 --> 01:22:37,953
the film director
Max Ophuls,
1405
01:22:37,987 --> 01:22:40,507
the sculptor Jacques Lipschitz,
1406
01:22:40,541 --> 01:22:42,750
the philosopher Hannah Arendt,
1407
01:22:42,785 --> 01:22:46,685
and the artists Max Ernst,
Marcel Duchamp,
1408
01:22:46,720 --> 01:22:49,930
and Marc Chagall.
1409
01:22:51,000 --> 01:22:54,210
But also among them were
hundreds of men,
1410
01:22:54,245 --> 01:22:58,042
women, and children
who were not well-known,
1411
01:22:58,076 --> 01:23:01,666
just human beings
in need of help.
1412
01:23:10,364 --> 01:23:13,022
Hello, America,
this is Edward Murrow
1413
01:23:13,057 --> 01:23:15,059
speaking from London.
1414
01:23:15,093 --> 01:23:17,233
There were more German planes
over the coast of Britain today
1415
01:23:17,268 --> 01:23:19,822
than at any time since
the war began.
1416
01:23:22,756 --> 01:23:24,137
Anti-aircraft guns were...
1417
01:23:24,171 --> 01:23:26,277
In the summer
and fall of 1940,
1418
01:23:26,311 --> 01:23:31,316
as Britain was under relentless
attack from German bombs,
1419
01:23:31,351 --> 01:23:36,632
President Roosevelt ran for
an unprecedented third term.
1420
01:23:36,666 --> 01:23:39,117
He would have to persuade
voters that,
1421
01:23:39,152 --> 01:23:42,155
while he opposed American entry
into the war,
1422
01:23:42,189 --> 01:23:45,158
he also needed to
provide aid to Britain,
1423
01:23:45,192 --> 01:23:48,678
as the last, best hope
of defeating Hitler,
1424
01:23:48,713 --> 01:23:50,715
and to ready
the United States
1425
01:23:50,749 --> 01:23:53,683
for conflict if it came,
as well.
1426
01:23:54,615 --> 01:23:57,032
On September 16, 1940,
1427
01:23:57,066 --> 01:24:00,759
he signed into law
the first peacetime draft
1428
01:24:00,794 --> 01:24:03,072
in the history of the country.
1429
01:24:03,107 --> 01:24:05,833
To the 16 million
young men
1430
01:24:05,868 --> 01:24:07,318
who will register today,
1431
01:24:07,352 --> 01:24:12,012
I say that democracy
is your cause,
1432
01:24:12,047 --> 01:24:14,359
the cause of youth.
1433
01:24:15,602 --> 01:24:17,535
The odds
against the democracies
1434
01:24:17,569 --> 01:24:19,330
had lengthened further.
1435
01:24:19,364 --> 01:24:23,437
Germany was now allied
with fascist Italy in Europe
1436
01:24:23,472 --> 01:24:28,235
and Imperial Japan
in Asia--the Axis.
1437
01:24:29,926 --> 01:24:33,068
Roosevelt's Republican
opponent Wendell Willkie,
1438
01:24:33,102 --> 01:24:36,381
nominated just a few days
after France fell,
1439
01:24:36,416 --> 01:24:40,489
shared Roosevelt's belief that
Britain had to be helped.
1440
01:24:40,523 --> 01:24:45,080
Now, so did nearly 3/4
of the American people.
1441
01:24:45,114 --> 01:24:49,084
Public opinion was slowly
beginning to change.
1442
01:24:50,361 --> 01:24:53,674
But soon after Roosevelt
agreed to provide Britain
1443
01:24:53,709 --> 01:24:56,091
with 50 old destroyers,
1444
01:24:56,125 --> 01:24:59,128
Charles Lindbergh became
the chief spokesman
1445
01:24:59,163 --> 01:25:02,235
for a new isolationist organization
1446
01:25:02,269 --> 01:25:05,962
dedicated to keeping America
out of the war--
1447
01:25:05,997 --> 01:25:08,517
the America First Committee.
1448
01:25:08,551 --> 01:25:11,140
France has now
been defeated,
1449
01:25:11,175 --> 01:25:15,627
and despite the propaganda
and confusion of recent months,
1450
01:25:15,662 --> 01:25:19,942
it is now obvious that
England is losing the war.
1451
01:25:19,976 --> 01:25:21,702
I believe...
1452
01:25:26,362 --> 01:25:29,262
And I have been
forced to the conclusion
1453
01:25:29,296 --> 01:25:32,161
that we cannot win
this war for England
1454
01:25:32,196 --> 01:25:35,406
regardless of how much
assistance we send.
1455
01:25:35,440 --> 01:25:40,204
That is why the America First
Committee has been formed.
1456
01:25:40,238 --> 01:25:42,930
It was founded
by a handful of students
1457
01:25:42,965 --> 01:25:45,036
at the Yale Law School
1458
01:25:45,070 --> 01:25:46,865
and run by a National Committee
1459
01:25:46,900 --> 01:25:51,284
that at various times included
General Robert E. Wood,
1460
01:25:51,318 --> 01:25:53,941
chairman of the board
of Sears Roebuck,
1461
01:25:53,976 --> 01:25:56,599
the head of the United States
Olympic Committee
1462
01:25:56,634 --> 01:25:58,291
Avery Brundage,
1463
01:25:58,325 --> 01:26:01,121
the automobile
magnate Henry Ford,
1464
01:26:01,156 --> 01:26:04,193
World War I ace
Eddie Rickenbacker,
1465
01:26:04,228 --> 01:26:07,886
Lillian Gish, the star
of "Birth of a Nation,"
1466
01:26:07,921 --> 01:26:09,957
and Theodore Roosevelt's
daughter
1467
01:26:09,992 --> 01:26:13,375
Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
1468
01:26:13,409 --> 01:26:16,964
The Committee soon had
some 800,000 members
1469
01:26:16,999 --> 01:26:20,899
in 450 chapters all across
the country,
1470
01:26:20,934 --> 01:26:23,454
the largest anti-war
organization
1471
01:26:23,488 --> 01:26:26,250
in the history
of the United States.
1472
01:26:27,906 --> 01:26:29,805
Despite the opposition,
1473
01:26:29,839 --> 01:26:32,946
FDR was reelected to
a third term
1474
01:26:32,980 --> 01:26:36,467
and soon proposed
a Lend-Lease bill,
1475
01:26:36,501 --> 01:26:39,504
allowing him to supply Britain
with more
1476
01:26:39,539 --> 01:26:44,233
desperately-needed military
and naval supplies.
1477
01:26:44,268 --> 01:26:49,411
I ask this Congress
for authority and for funds
1478
01:26:49,445 --> 01:26:53,208
sufficient to manufacture
additional munitions
1479
01:26:53,242 --> 01:26:55,969
and war supplies of many kinds
1480
01:26:56,003 --> 01:26:58,661
to be turned over
to those nations
1481
01:26:58,696 --> 01:27:01,975
which are now in actual war
1482
01:27:02,009 --> 01:27:05,012
with aggressor nations.
1483
01:27:05,047 --> 01:27:09,672
The bill was
designated HR 1776
1484
01:27:09,707 --> 01:27:14,229
in hope that voters would see
its passage as patriotic.
1485
01:27:14,263 --> 01:27:18,094
Isolationists called
it the dictator bill.
1486
01:27:19,234 --> 01:27:21,857
Charles Lindbergh
testified against it.
1487
01:27:21,891 --> 01:27:25,378
He favored neither a British
nor a German victory,
1488
01:27:25,412 --> 01:27:29,105
he said, and warned that U.S.
entry into the war
1489
01:27:29,140 --> 01:27:31,591
would be "the greatest disaster
this country
1490
01:27:31,625 --> 01:27:33,386
has ever gone through."
1491
01:27:33,420 --> 01:27:37,182
FDR denounced him
as an appeaser.
1492
01:27:37,217 --> 01:27:40,462
Isolationist and antisemitic
groups now flooded
1493
01:27:40,496 --> 01:27:44,189
the halls of the Capitol to
oppose the new bill,
1494
01:27:44,224 --> 01:27:48,021
including black-clad members of
a self-proclaimed
1495
01:27:48,055 --> 01:27:51,162
"Mothers' Movement" who
cursed legislators
1496
01:27:51,196 --> 01:27:54,165
and insisted
that Jews were behind
1497
01:27:54,199 --> 01:27:58,307
what they believed to be
Roosevelt's rush toward war.
1498
01:27:59,998 --> 01:28:03,623
It's not
just something that
is hypothetical.
1499
01:28:03,657 --> 01:28:05,383
England can fall.
1500
01:28:05,418 --> 01:28:08,559
Hitler will take over all
of the European continent.
1501
01:28:08,593 --> 01:28:12,770
And America First fails to see
the danger
1502
01:28:12,804 --> 01:28:14,737
to the world at large.
1503
01:28:14,772 --> 01:28:17,982
Tyrants will go as far
as you allow them to go.
1504
01:28:18,016 --> 01:28:19,949
They're always
testing the waters.
1505
01:28:19,984 --> 01:28:23,090
Can I go further?
Can I push stronger?
1506
01:28:23,125 --> 01:28:25,852
And the America First
and the isolationists
1507
01:28:25,886 --> 01:28:28,095
refuse to acknowledge that.
1508
01:28:29,511 --> 01:28:33,998
In the end,
the Lend-Lease bill passed.
1509
01:28:34,032 --> 01:28:36,138
Newsreel announcer:
Guns and munitions of all sorts
1510
01:28:36,172 --> 01:28:39,141
pour into Britain
as almost hourly convoys
1511
01:28:39,175 --> 01:28:41,626
from the States bring
their precious cargos.
1512
01:28:41,661 --> 01:28:44,457
The original $7 billion
of lend-lease aid
1513
01:28:44,491 --> 01:28:46,390
has already been allocated.
1514
01:28:46,424 --> 01:28:49,393
Now Congress studies final
passage of another 6 billion,
1515
01:28:49,427 --> 01:28:52,016
and Britain studies
invading the continent
1516
01:28:52,050 --> 01:28:56,054
with arms made in the U.S.A.
1517
01:28:59,368 --> 01:29:02,613
When the German
invasion was over,
1518
01:29:02,647 --> 01:29:05,340
we were glad we were in
Vichy, France,
1519
01:29:05,374 --> 01:29:08,239
not under the control
of the Germans.
1520
01:29:09,516 --> 01:29:11,794
There was still
an American embassy there.
1521
01:29:11,829 --> 01:29:13,278
My father could go there
1522
01:29:13,313 --> 01:29:16,109
and pursue our visa to
the United States.
1523
01:29:17,041 --> 01:29:19,388
Sol Messinger
and his parents,
1524
01:29:19,423 --> 01:29:23,461
having been turned away
from Cuba on the St. Louis,
1525
01:29:23,496 --> 01:29:26,257
had now managed to escape
from Belgium
1526
01:29:26,291 --> 01:29:29,156
after the Germans invaded.
1527
01:29:29,191 --> 01:29:34,541
They made it to a small village
in Vichy, France--Savignac.
1528
01:29:34,576 --> 01:29:37,993
But after a few months,
they were arrested
1529
01:29:38,027 --> 01:29:41,065
and put in a French
internment camp.
1530
01:29:41,099 --> 01:29:44,482
My father
found out that there
was an underground,
1531
01:29:44,517 --> 01:29:47,002
which helped people to escape,
1532
01:29:47,036 --> 01:29:50,385
so we planned to escape.
1533
01:29:50,419 --> 01:29:55,182
My mother and I,
it was Christmas Eve,
1534
01:29:55,217 --> 01:29:57,633
and the French soldiers
were drunk,
1535
01:29:57,668 --> 01:30:01,396
and we simply walked past
the French soldiers.
1536
01:30:06,711 --> 01:30:10,301
We had decided we would
go back to Savignac.
1537
01:30:10,335 --> 01:30:14,063
It's the only place that
we knew in France.
1538
01:30:14,098 --> 01:30:17,619
So we got on a train.
1539
01:30:17,653 --> 01:30:19,552
Of course, you were
not allowed
1540
01:30:19,586 --> 01:30:23,348
to be on a train
without papers.
1541
01:30:23,383 --> 01:30:26,628
Fortunately, nobody asked
us for our papers.
1542
01:30:28,595 --> 01:30:32,185
But my father was
still in the camp.
1543
01:30:32,219 --> 01:30:35,499
On New Year's Day,
we were standing outside,
1544
01:30:35,533 --> 01:30:39,330
and in the distance we saw
4 men walking towards us,
1545
01:30:39,364 --> 01:30:41,919
one of whom was my father.
1546
01:30:41,953 --> 01:30:44,162
He had escaped,
1547
01:30:44,197 --> 01:30:46,579
so we were reunited again.
1548
01:30:48,546 --> 01:30:52,377
It was just incredibly lucky.
1549
01:30:59,350 --> 01:31:03,147
Otto Frank was
ordinarily a cautious man,
1550
01:31:03,181 --> 01:31:07,220
content to keep a low profile
and go about his business
1551
01:31:07,254 --> 01:31:09,878
in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.
1552
01:31:11,396 --> 01:31:15,504
But one day, he made
an uncharacteristically
incautious remark
1553
01:31:15,539 --> 01:31:20,060
to a Gentile employee's husband
whom he didn't know well.
1554
01:31:20,095 --> 01:31:21,890
When the man expressed confidence
1555
01:31:21,924 --> 01:31:24,375
that Germany
would win the war soon,
1556
01:31:24,409 --> 01:31:27,378
Frank had disagreed.
1557
01:31:27,412 --> 01:31:29,932
The man turned out to be
a Nazi sympathizer
1558
01:31:29,967 --> 01:31:34,212
who wrote a letter to
the Gestapo denouncing Frank.
1559
01:31:34,247 --> 01:31:37,940
A member of the Dutch fascist
party intercepted the letter
1560
01:31:37,975 --> 01:31:41,323
and demanded money to keep
quiet about it.
1561
01:31:41,357 --> 01:31:44,429
Now, subject to blackmail
and fearful
1562
01:31:44,464 --> 01:31:46,155
that the Germans would come
for him
1563
01:31:46,190 --> 01:31:48,330
and his family at any time,
1564
01:31:48,364 --> 01:31:52,783
Otto Frank stepped up
his efforts to try to get
to the United States,
1565
01:31:52,817 --> 01:31:55,682
despite the fact that
his visa application
1566
01:31:55,717 --> 01:31:59,306
had been destroyed
in the bombing of Rotterdam.
1567
01:31:59,341 --> 01:32:04,553
In desperation, Frank turned to
an old friend--Charley Straus.
1568
01:32:04,588 --> 01:32:06,866
Straus knew the Roosevelts,
1569
01:32:06,900 --> 01:32:10,421
was the administrator of
the Federal Housing Authority,
1570
01:32:10,455 --> 01:32:13,079
and his father had been
a co-owner
1571
01:32:13,113 --> 01:32:15,219
of Macy's department store.
1572
01:32:17,048 --> 01:32:20,327
April 30, 1941.
1573
01:32:20,362 --> 01:32:23,296
Perhaps you remember that we
have two girls.
1574
01:32:23,330 --> 01:32:25,470
It is for the sake
of the children mainly
1575
01:32:25,505 --> 01:32:26,920
that we have to care for.
1576
01:32:26,955 --> 01:32:30,683
Our own fate is of less importance.
1577
01:32:30,717 --> 01:32:36,585
The consul asks a bank deposit
of about $5,000 for us 4.
1578
01:32:36,620 --> 01:32:40,589
You are the only person
I know that I can ask.
1579
01:32:40,624 --> 01:32:44,628
Would it be possible for you to
give a deposit in my favor?
1580
01:32:44,662 --> 01:32:47,285
Who can tell if there is
still a chance to leave Europe
1581
01:32:47,320 --> 01:32:49,771
by the time this
letter is going to arrive?
1582
01:32:49,805 --> 01:32:53,395
I am still indebted to you,
and I shall always be.
1583
01:32:53,429 --> 01:32:55,811
As ever, Yours, Otto.
1584
01:32:58,193 --> 01:33:02,231
Straus and his wife
agreed to put up the money,
1585
01:33:02,266 --> 01:33:07,478
but by that time
the State Department
had changed its rules.
1586
01:33:07,512 --> 01:33:10,481
Consulates had been
ordered to deny a visa
1587
01:33:10,515 --> 01:33:13,484
to anyone with close relatives
in Germany
1588
01:33:13,518 --> 01:33:17,419
or any of the countries it had
annexed or occupied
1589
01:33:17,453 --> 01:33:20,456
out of fear of foreign agents.
1590
01:33:20,491 --> 01:33:24,426
In 1941, you see
a series of rule changes
1591
01:33:24,460 --> 01:33:28,085
that are designed to make it
even harder
1592
01:33:28,119 --> 01:33:30,259
for refugees to get in.
1593
01:33:30,294 --> 01:33:31,882
It's not only that
it's complicated
1594
01:33:31,916 --> 01:33:33,400
to line up the paperwork,
1595
01:33:33,435 --> 01:33:36,541
the State Department is moving
the bar on them.
1596
01:33:37,853 --> 01:33:41,443
If I had my way, I would
today build a wall
1597
01:33:41,477 --> 01:33:45,654
about the United States
so high and so secure
1598
01:33:45,689 --> 01:33:48,830
that not a single alien
or foreign refugee
1599
01:33:48,864 --> 01:33:51,453
from any country
upon the face of this earth
1600
01:33:51,487 --> 01:33:54,352
could possibly scale
or ascend it.
1601
01:33:55,457 --> 01:33:58,667
Senator Robert Reynolds.
1602
01:33:58,702 --> 01:34:00,427
Senator Robert Reynolds
1603
01:34:00,462 --> 01:34:02,050
of North Carolina,
1604
01:34:02,084 --> 01:34:04,915
chairman of the powerful
Military Affairs Committee
1605
01:34:04,949 --> 01:34:08,263
charged that Jews were
"systematically building
1606
01:34:08,297 --> 01:34:10,817
a Jewish empire
in this country"
1607
01:34:10,852 --> 01:34:15,684
and called for still more
obstacles to immigration.
1608
01:34:15,719 --> 01:34:19,550
He also organized a group
called the Vindicators
1609
01:34:19,584 --> 01:34:22,139
to hunt down
illegal immigrants.
1610
01:34:24,348 --> 01:34:27,938
Meanwhile, in response to
President Roosevelt's decision
1611
01:34:27,972 --> 01:34:32,080
to freeze German and Italian
assets in the United States,
1612
01:34:32,114 --> 01:34:35,670
Germany and Italy ordered
American consulates
1613
01:34:35,704 --> 01:34:37,775
to close in their countries
1614
01:34:37,810 --> 01:34:41,779
and all the countries
they occupied, as well.
1615
01:34:41,814 --> 01:34:45,438
Now, for anyone waiting
in those countries,
1616
01:34:45,472 --> 01:34:48,337
there would be
no American visas.
1617
01:34:49,891 --> 01:34:53,308
American Friends Service
Committee, Rome.
1618
01:34:53,342 --> 01:34:55,551
All immigration to the U.S. stopped,
1619
01:34:55,586 --> 01:34:58,762
thereby robbing
many people of their hopes.
1620
01:34:58,796 --> 01:35:02,248
They could not understand what
difference one day should make
1621
01:35:02,282 --> 01:35:05,423
and are naturally unable to
reconcile themselves
1622
01:35:05,458 --> 01:35:07,115
to the arbitrariness of laws
1623
01:35:07,149 --> 01:35:11,119
that affect their whole
futures so disastrously.
1624
01:35:11,153 --> 01:35:13,604
Another thing that
discourages us somewhat
1625
01:35:13,638 --> 01:35:15,399
is the general attitude
of Americans
1626
01:35:15,433 --> 01:35:18,816
toward the problems with which
we have been working.
1627
01:35:18,851 --> 01:35:22,061
Really I am so tired
of having well-meaning
1628
01:35:22,095 --> 01:35:25,823
and opinionated people
tell me about the Jews
1629
01:35:25,858 --> 01:35:28,032
and sounding off
to the effect of,
1630
01:35:28,067 --> 01:35:30,621
"Why don't we use
all this splendid zeal
1631
01:35:30,655 --> 01:35:35,074
and energy for some really
American activity?"
1632
01:35:35,108 --> 01:35:37,490
Marjorie McClelland.
1633
01:35:43,392 --> 01:35:46,395
This is not
the Second World War.
1634
01:35:46,430 --> 01:35:50,227
This is the Great Racial War.
1635
01:35:50,261 --> 01:35:51,918
The meaning of this war,
1636
01:35:51,953 --> 01:35:54,369
and the reason we are
fighting out there,
1637
01:35:54,403 --> 01:35:59,995
is to decide whether the German
and Aryan will prevail
1638
01:36:00,030 --> 01:36:04,310
or if the Jew will rule
the world.
1639
01:36:04,344 --> 01:36:06,553
Hermann Goering.
1640
01:36:15,735 --> 01:36:19,843
On June 22, 1941,
without any warning
1641
01:36:19,877 --> 01:36:23,950
to his supposed
ally Josef Stalin,
1642
01:36:23,985 --> 01:36:28,368
Hitler sent 3 vast army groups
into the Soviet Union
1643
01:36:28,403 --> 01:36:30,923
along a thousand-mile front
1644
01:36:30,957 --> 01:36:34,340
with 3,550 tanks,
1645
01:36:34,374 --> 01:36:37,653
2,770 aircraft,
1646
01:36:37,688 --> 01:36:40,035
and 600,000 horses
1647
01:36:40,070 --> 01:36:46,041
to haul weapons and supplies
across Russia's vast distances.
1648
01:36:54,981 --> 01:36:57,950
Hitler's goal was what it
had always been,
1649
01:36:57,984 --> 01:37:02,471
to enslave or eliminate
the peoples of Eastern Europe
1650
01:37:02,506 --> 01:37:04,957
and establish
a continental Reich
1651
01:37:04,991 --> 01:37:08,581
meant to last a thousand years.
1652
01:37:08,615 --> 01:37:11,446
The Red Army fell back.
1653
01:37:15,312 --> 01:37:18,694
Nearly 6 million
Soviet soldiers would fall
1654
01:37:18,729 --> 01:37:22,733
into German hands
during the coming months.
1655
01:37:22,767 --> 01:37:25,287
Well over half of them died,
1656
01:37:25,322 --> 01:37:30,810
most of them worked to death
or deliberately starved.
1657
01:37:33,019 --> 01:37:35,297
Once Germany
invades the Soviet Union
1658
01:37:35,332 --> 01:37:37,852
with the idea of destroying
the Soviet Union,
1659
01:37:37,886 --> 01:37:41,648
mass murder can take place.
1660
01:37:41,683 --> 01:37:44,824
To Hitler, the Soviet Union
is not a state.
1661
01:37:44,859 --> 01:37:46,999
The rule of law does not apply.
1662
01:37:47,033 --> 01:37:50,243
This is not even an occupation.
1663
01:37:50,278 --> 01:37:55,939
These are just wild
territories inhabited
by undefined peoples.
1664
01:37:57,319 --> 01:37:59,908
When the Germans arrived,
the Germans could say,
1665
01:37:59,943 --> 01:38:02,462
"You've had this terrible period
of Soviet oppression.
1666
01:38:02,497 --> 01:38:05,534
"And you know who was at fault?
You know who ran it?
1667
01:38:05,569 --> 01:38:07,812
It was the Jews."
1668
01:38:07,847 --> 01:38:11,886
Everywhere, Jews
were special targets.
1669
01:38:11,920 --> 01:38:14,578
They're killing
Jews in two ways.
1670
01:38:14,612 --> 01:38:16,407
First, they are
starving Jews to death
1671
01:38:16,442 --> 01:38:20,032
in the ghettos that they have
established in occupied Poland.
1672
01:38:20,066 --> 01:38:22,586
Then they also decide that when
they invade the Soviet Union,
1673
01:38:22,620 --> 01:38:24,208
they're going
to shoot people.
1674
01:38:25,727 --> 01:38:27,936
Specialists were
enlisted to follow
1675
01:38:27,971 --> 01:38:32,354
the advancing army and hunt
down and kill Jewish men
1676
01:38:32,389 --> 01:38:35,323
and partisans who dared
wage guerilla war
1677
01:38:35,357 --> 01:38:36,876
against the invaders,
1678
01:38:36,911 --> 01:38:39,637
along with other groups deemed
to be hostile,
1679
01:38:39,672 --> 01:38:44,470
inferior, or loyal to
the Soviet regime.
1680
01:38:44,504 --> 01:38:49,371
3,000 men of the Einsatzgruppen,
Operations Groups,
1681
01:38:49,406 --> 01:38:51,442
were in overall charge,
1682
01:38:51,477 --> 01:38:55,136
but they were soon reinforced
by other killing units--
1683
01:38:55,170 --> 01:39:00,141
20,000 SS men, 30,000
German Order Police,
1684
01:39:00,175 --> 01:39:04,076
and ordinary soldiers
from the German Army.
1685
01:39:04,110 --> 01:39:08,218
At first, the Einsatzgruppen
encouraged pogroms,
1686
01:39:08,252 --> 01:39:12,463
sometimes standing by while
Latvians, Lithuanians,
1687
01:39:12,498 --> 01:39:14,155
Poles, and Ukrainians
1688
01:39:14,189 --> 01:39:17,503
rounded up and murdered their
Jewish neighbors.
1689
01:39:19,608 --> 01:39:22,059
In scores of cities and towns,
1690
01:39:22,094 --> 01:39:24,959
Gentiles acting independently
1691
01:39:24,993 --> 01:39:28,272
also slaughtered
thousands of Jews.
1692
01:39:40,319 --> 01:39:42,735
But the Germans soon
took over most
1693
01:39:42,769 --> 01:39:45,186
of the killing themselves.
1694
01:39:45,220 --> 01:39:49,811
They shot only Jewish men
in the beginning,
1695
01:39:49,845 --> 01:39:52,883
then started killing women
and children
1696
01:39:52,917 --> 01:39:54,954
who, their officers told them,
1697
01:39:54,989 --> 01:39:58,751
acted as the partisans'
eyes and ears.
1698
01:39:59,994 --> 01:40:02,617
And they're basically
going to round them up
1699
01:40:02,651 --> 01:40:04,412
as the German armies advance,
1700
01:40:04,446 --> 01:40:06,966
and they're going to shoot them
into ditches,
1701
01:40:07,001 --> 01:40:11,695
liquidate them in forests,
wipe them out.
1702
01:40:15,250 --> 01:40:20,497
They shot 24,000 Jews
at Kamenets-Podolski,
1703
01:40:20,531 --> 01:40:23,983
28,000 at Vinnytsia,
1704
01:40:24,018 --> 01:40:29,609
nearly 34,000 at Babi Yar
outside Kiev.
1705
01:40:33,786 --> 01:40:36,306
It was all meant
to be secret,
1706
01:40:36,340 --> 01:40:39,481
but many German soldiers
carried cameras
1707
01:40:39,516 --> 01:40:43,071
so that they could send
snapshots and home movies
1708
01:40:43,106 --> 01:40:46,937
to show their families
what their husbands and sons
1709
01:40:46,971 --> 01:40:50,285
and fathers were doing
as they moved east.
1710
01:40:52,287 --> 01:40:56,498
"Up here in what was Latvia
things are pretty Jewified,"
1711
01:40:56,533 --> 01:40:58,742
one soldier told his family,
1712
01:40:58,776 --> 01:41:02,401
"and in this case no quarter
is given."
1713
01:41:04,058 --> 01:41:06,784
Every photograph
we have has to stand in
1714
01:41:06,819 --> 01:41:09,235
for many, many, many,
many other,
1715
01:41:09,270 --> 01:41:10,892
hundreds of other
shooting pits,
1716
01:41:10,926 --> 01:41:13,343
which are not
actually recorded.
1717
01:41:15,345 --> 01:41:18,037
These images are taken
for purposes,
1718
01:41:18,072 --> 01:41:21,144
which broaden
our sense of horror.
1719
01:41:23,146 --> 01:41:24,940
Because it's not just
that the event took place
1720
01:41:24,975 --> 01:41:26,287
and has been recorded.
1721
01:41:26,321 --> 01:41:31,878
It's that this is
a trophy photo.
1722
01:41:33,259 --> 01:41:35,399
And they're horrible
in yet another way.
1723
01:41:35,434 --> 01:41:39,748
This is typical
and not exceptional.
1724
01:42:06,189 --> 01:42:08,570
One
Einsatzgruppen commander
1725
01:42:08,605 --> 01:42:10,917
remembered the routine.
1726
01:42:13,023 --> 01:42:15,715
There were 15-man
firing squads.
1727
01:42:15,750 --> 01:42:17,924
One bullet per Jew.
1728
01:42:23,758 --> 01:42:29,557
One firing squad of 15
executed 15 Jews at a time.
1729
01:42:29,591 --> 01:42:32,387
He thought he and his
men had killed
1730
01:42:32,422 --> 01:42:37,047
somewhere between 60,000
and 70,000.
1731
01:42:37,081 --> 01:42:39,394
They'd lost count.
1732
01:42:43,191 --> 01:42:46,643
Two million Eastern
European Jews were killed
1733
01:42:46,677 --> 01:42:50,129
just in what they now call
the Shoah by bullets.
1734
01:42:52,235 --> 01:42:57,240
I'll never forget a survivor
that I interviewed.
1735
01:42:57,274 --> 01:43:02,762
He said, "You know, as it was
happening to us,
1736
01:43:02,797 --> 01:43:04,592
"we couldn't believe it,
1737
01:43:04,626 --> 01:43:07,733
so how was anybody
else gonna believe it?"
1738
01:43:07,767 --> 01:43:12,600
If they to whom it was
happening could scarcely believe
1739
01:43:12,634 --> 01:43:16,535
the savagery and the sadism
and the depravity
1740
01:43:16,569 --> 01:43:19,710
of what was happening,
how are the relatives in America
1741
01:43:19,745 --> 01:43:22,299
even possibly going to imagine?
1742
01:43:24,198 --> 01:43:26,234
The Einsatzgruppen eventually
1743
01:43:26,269 --> 01:43:29,272
reached Bolechow
in eastern Poland.
1744
01:43:29,306 --> 01:43:32,378
It was home to some
3,000 Jews,
1745
01:43:32,413 --> 01:43:38,315
including Shmiel Jaeger,
his wife, and 4 daughters.
1746
01:43:38,350 --> 01:43:41,560
These people
are now statistics,
1747
01:43:41,594 --> 01:43:46,427
particularly now, as their
individual stories recede,
1748
01:43:46,461 --> 01:43:49,361
but they were not
statistics to themselves.
1749
01:43:49,395 --> 01:43:53,261
Every one of them died in
a different way.
1750
01:43:53,296 --> 01:43:57,990
The third daughter, Ruchele,
was taken by herself.
1751
01:43:58,024 --> 01:44:03,133
The first roundup in the town
happened in the autumn of 1941.
1752
01:44:03,167 --> 01:44:05,722
There was a roundup
of about 1,000 people.
1753
01:44:05,756 --> 01:44:07,724
That was the first action.
1754
01:44:07,758 --> 01:44:09,312
And she just happened to be
1755
01:44:09,346 --> 01:44:10,899
in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
1756
01:44:10,934 --> 01:44:12,142
She was out of the house.
1757
01:44:12,176 --> 01:44:13,350
She was walking
through the town.
1758
01:44:13,385 --> 01:44:15,249
She got caught in this roundup.
1759
01:44:15,283 --> 01:44:18,010
These people were held
in a local
1760
01:44:18,044 --> 01:44:19,977
Catholic community center,
1761
01:44:20,012 --> 01:44:22,532
and people were raped
and tortured
1762
01:44:22,566 --> 01:44:24,603
over about 24 hours.
1763
01:44:26,536 --> 01:44:31,161
And then they were
taken to a site just
outside of the town
1764
01:44:31,195 --> 01:44:34,889
where there
was an old salt mine,
1765
01:44:34,923 --> 01:44:36,856
and they were all shot.
1766
01:44:43,449 --> 01:44:48,558
Vilna, Lithuania.
March 2, 1941.
1767
01:44:48,592 --> 01:44:53,217
Elsa, today I'm
sending you a postcard.
1768
01:44:53,252 --> 01:44:56,013
I want to make sure that
maybe you will receive
1769
01:44:56,048 --> 01:44:59,638
a last postal item from me.
1770
01:44:59,672 --> 01:45:01,467
If something happens,
1771
01:45:01,502 --> 01:45:04,505
I would want there to be
somebody who would remember
1772
01:45:04,539 --> 01:45:08,474
that someone named David Berger
had once lived.
1773
01:45:09,579 --> 01:45:11,788
This will make
things easier for me
1774
01:45:11,822 --> 01:45:13,686
in the difficult moments.
1775
01:45:17,069 --> 01:45:19,209
Farewell.
1776
01:45:27,631 --> 01:45:30,324
For many months,
British intelligence
1777
01:45:30,358 --> 01:45:32,187
had been decoding top-secret
1778
01:45:32,222 --> 01:45:34,880
German communications
from the front.
1779
01:45:35,846 --> 01:45:40,126
In August, the messages were
filled with mysterious numbers,
1780
01:45:40,161 --> 01:45:42,681
which they only
gradually realized
1781
01:45:42,715 --> 01:45:45,235
were evidence
of the systematic murder
1782
01:45:45,269 --> 01:45:49,170
of all the Jews living
in every town and village
1783
01:45:49,204 --> 01:45:53,105
the Nazis overran
on the Eastern Front.
1784
01:45:53,139 --> 01:45:55,763
During the summer
of 1941 when the Germans
1785
01:45:55,797 --> 01:45:57,143
were invading the Soviet Union
1786
01:45:57,178 --> 01:45:59,905
and liquidating Jews
in their path,
1787
01:45:59,939 --> 01:46:03,909
Winston Churchill got
an intercept of the reports
1788
01:46:03,943 --> 01:46:07,050
that the shooting units were
sending back to Berlin.
1789
01:46:07,084 --> 01:46:10,467
"Yesterday we shot
X number of people."
1790
01:46:10,502 --> 01:46:13,090
Then the reports were
broken down as time passed
1791
01:46:13,125 --> 01:46:15,472
to men, women, children,
1792
01:46:15,507 --> 01:46:19,303
Jews, Communists, so forth.
1793
01:46:19,338 --> 01:46:22,237
The intelligence
continued to come in.
1794
01:46:22,272 --> 01:46:26,207
367 shot on one day.
1795
01:46:26,241 --> 01:46:29,728
468 two days later.
1796
01:46:29,762 --> 01:46:33,766
1,625 the next day.
1797
01:46:33,801 --> 01:46:36,976
3,000 5 days after that.
1798
01:46:37,011 --> 01:46:41,222
6 days later more than 5,000.
1799
01:46:41,256 --> 01:46:44,398
So many dead
so regularly recorded
1800
01:46:44,432 --> 01:46:46,952
that the intelligence service
concluded that,
1801
01:46:46,986 --> 01:46:50,611
"The fact that the German police
are killing all Jews
1802
01:46:50,645 --> 01:46:53,337
"that fall into
their hands should by now
1803
01:46:53,372 --> 01:46:55,754
"be sufficiently
well appreciated.
1804
01:46:55,788 --> 01:46:58,998
"It is not therefore proposed
to continue reporting
1805
01:46:59,033 --> 01:47:03,451
these butcheries specially,
unless so requested."
1806
01:47:03,486 --> 01:47:05,833
The numbers would no longer
be included
1807
01:47:05,867 --> 01:47:09,733
in the Prime Minister's
intelligence briefings.
1808
01:47:09,768 --> 01:47:12,322
His problem was that if he
announced to the world
1809
01:47:12,356 --> 01:47:13,944
that he had these reports,
1810
01:47:13,979 --> 01:47:16,257
the Germans would know
they were being intercepted.
1811
01:47:16,291 --> 01:47:18,466
He couldn't do anything
about the shooting,
1812
01:47:18,501 --> 01:47:20,986
and he couldn't do anything to
alert the wider world
1813
01:47:21,020 --> 01:47:24,852
to how extensive
the shooting was.
1814
01:47:26,888 --> 01:47:28,580
I would
argue that Nazi Germany
1815
01:47:28,614 --> 01:47:31,997
believes that it's
fighting two wars.
1816
01:47:32,031 --> 01:47:33,481
It's fighting a military war,
1817
01:47:33,516 --> 01:47:35,310
and it's fighting
a genocidal war.
1818
01:47:35,345 --> 01:47:36,829
The military war, obviously,
1819
01:47:36,864 --> 01:47:39,694
begins when Nazi Germany
invades Poland.
1820
01:47:39,729 --> 01:47:42,490
The genocidal war begins
two years later
1821
01:47:42,525 --> 01:47:45,389
when the Nazis abandon any idea
1822
01:47:45,424 --> 01:47:47,564
that the Jews are going to
emigrate and decide,
1823
01:47:47,599 --> 01:47:52,569
instead, to round them up
and to murder them en masse.
1824
01:47:53,536 --> 01:47:55,089
The Nazis had assumed
1825
01:47:55,123 --> 01:47:58,644
Britain could not
hold out for long,
1826
01:47:58,679 --> 01:48:02,614
and back in the summer of 1940,
Adolf Eichmann,
1827
01:48:02,648 --> 01:48:07,101
the SS officer in charge of
forced Jewish emigration,
1828
01:48:07,135 --> 01:48:11,588
was ordered to draw up plans to
use captured British ships
1829
01:48:11,623 --> 01:48:16,248
to transport all the Jews
of Europe to Madagascar,
1830
01:48:16,282 --> 01:48:18,837
a French island
in the Indian Ocean,
1831
01:48:18,871 --> 01:48:22,461
where they would die
of exposure and starvation.
1832
01:48:24,014 --> 01:48:26,672
But Britain had
not surrendered.
1833
01:48:26,707 --> 01:48:30,262
And so, if the Jews of Europe
were to be eliminated,
1834
01:48:30,296 --> 01:48:33,023
SS commander
Heinrich Himmler concluded
1835
01:48:33,058 --> 01:48:37,131
they would have to be eliminated
on the European continent.
1836
01:48:38,960 --> 01:48:43,793
On July 31, 1941,
Hermann Goering would ask
1837
01:48:43,827 --> 01:48:47,659
the SS second-in-command
Reinhard Heydrich
1838
01:48:47,693 --> 01:48:51,386
to come up with what he called
"an overall solution
1839
01:48:51,421 --> 01:48:55,805
to the Jewish question in
the German sphere."
1840
01:48:55,839 --> 01:48:58,290
Heydrich's plan had to
be "noiseless,"
1841
01:48:58,324 --> 01:49:00,223
SS planners said,
1842
01:49:00,257 --> 01:49:02,639
and therefore easily
kept secret,
1843
01:49:02,674 --> 01:49:05,504
and it had to be "humane,"
they insisted,
1844
01:49:05,539 --> 01:49:08,818
not in order to ease
the deaths of victims,
1845
01:49:08,852 --> 01:49:12,718
but to spare the feelings of
those murdering them.
1846
01:49:59,040 --> 01:50:02,354
After the Germans
occupied northern France,
1847
01:50:02,388 --> 01:50:04,839
Susan Hilsenrath and her
brother Joseph
1848
01:50:04,874 --> 01:50:08,705
had managed to make their way
from Versailles to Vichy
1849
01:50:08,740 --> 01:50:10,707
and the Chateau des Morelles,
1850
01:50:10,742 --> 01:50:13,020
a group home
for Jewish children
1851
01:50:13,054 --> 01:50:15,747
who had been separated
from their parents,
1852
01:50:15,781 --> 01:50:21,097
financed by the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee.
1853
01:50:21,131 --> 01:50:23,375
They wanted to send
us to school,
1854
01:50:23,409 --> 01:50:25,757
to the public school in France.
1855
01:50:25,791 --> 01:50:29,726
But the people
in the village wouldn't let
1856
01:50:29,761 --> 01:50:32,142
those children from
the Chateau Morelles
1857
01:50:32,177 --> 01:50:34,420
mix with their children.
1858
01:50:34,455 --> 01:50:38,839
We kept writing to our
parents all the time.
1859
01:50:38,873 --> 01:50:41,393
Their father had
managed to get himself,
1860
01:50:41,427 --> 01:50:45,604
his wife, and youngest
boy to the United States,
1861
01:50:45,639 --> 01:50:48,745
and was now feverishly
trying to gather Susan
1862
01:50:48,780 --> 01:50:51,852
and Joseph to them as well.
1863
01:50:51,886 --> 01:50:55,165
He made a pest
of himself
1864
01:50:55,200 --> 01:50:56,477
at the State Department.
1865
01:50:56,511 --> 01:50:58,790
He wrote them letters, begged.
1866
01:51:00,515 --> 01:51:03,657
I have to be so thankful.
1867
01:51:05,797 --> 01:51:08,454
Without him, we would
never have made it.
1868
01:51:09,870 --> 01:51:13,356
One day the director of
the children's home,
1869
01:51:13,390 --> 01:51:17,429
she called me to her office,
and I was really scared
1870
01:51:17,463 --> 01:51:19,845
because only when
you had problems
1871
01:51:19,880 --> 01:51:22,952
did you go to
that director's office.
1872
01:51:22,986 --> 01:51:25,195
And she was sitting behind
her desk,
1873
01:51:25,230 --> 01:51:27,957
and she said to me, "Suzie!
1874
01:51:27,991 --> 01:51:31,201
You are going to go to
the United States."
1875
01:51:32,686 --> 01:51:36,103
Our parents had found us.
1876
01:51:36,137 --> 01:51:39,451
Susan and Joseph's
passage had been arranged
1877
01:51:39,485 --> 01:51:41,833
and paid for by
the New York-based
1878
01:51:41,867 --> 01:51:45,837
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
1879
01:51:45,871 --> 01:51:50,082
My brother and I went to
Marseilles on the train,
1880
01:51:50,117 --> 01:51:52,878
and there we
met, like, 50 children
1881
01:51:52,913 --> 01:51:57,641
that were all going to go on
the Serpa Pinto from Lisbon
1882
01:51:57,676 --> 01:52:00,368
to come to the United States.
1883
01:52:06,305 --> 01:52:10,482
They put all of the 50
children in the bottom
1884
01:52:10,516 --> 01:52:12,449
on the lowest deck
of the ship
1885
01:52:12,484 --> 01:52:14,279
and in the front of the ship,
1886
01:52:14,313 --> 01:52:16,350
and we were all in one room.
1887
01:52:16,384 --> 01:52:18,179
And we had these double-decker
1888
01:52:18,214 --> 01:52:21,562
and triple-decker beds.
1889
01:52:21,596 --> 01:52:24,047
And they told us we weren't
allowed to mingle
1890
01:52:24,082 --> 01:52:25,808
with the crowd.
1891
01:52:35,541 --> 01:52:39,891
Finally, it was time to
get to the United States,
1892
01:52:39,925 --> 01:52:44,309
and they told all the children
that the next morning at 6:00
1893
01:52:44,343 --> 01:52:47,519
we were going to pass
the Statue of Liberty.
1894
01:52:47,553 --> 01:52:49,003
Of course we had learned
1895
01:52:49,038 --> 01:52:52,006
what the Statue of Liberty
was all about.
1896
01:52:52,041 --> 01:52:55,389
So they told us to be
on deck to see it.
1897
01:52:57,218 --> 01:53:01,844
At exactly 6:00,
that fog went up like this,
1898
01:53:01,878 --> 01:53:05,261
like the curtain
at an opera or at a concert
1899
01:53:05,295 --> 01:53:07,056
or at a play went up like that,
1900
01:53:07,090 --> 01:53:09,817
and right there just as it was
going up
1901
01:53:09,852 --> 01:53:13,269
was the Statue of Liberty.
1902
01:53:13,303 --> 01:53:15,271
The fog lifted.
1903
01:53:22,519 --> 01:53:24,452
And there it was.
1904
01:53:28,456 --> 01:53:30,355
After all this...
1905
01:53:33,185 --> 01:53:34,808
It's even worse now.
1906
01:53:34,842 --> 01:53:38,363
After all these years,
1907
01:53:38,397 --> 01:53:41,159
to taste freedom, do you...
1908
01:53:46,750 --> 01:53:49,995
It was just remarkable.
1909
01:53:50,030 --> 01:53:52,653
And, and the effects, apparently,
1910
01:53:52,687 --> 01:53:55,207
has never left me.
1911
01:53:55,242 --> 01:53:59,763
I realized that I didn't have to
worry about getting killed,
1912
01:53:59,798 --> 01:54:03,250
which is--was part
of your being,
1913
01:54:03,284 --> 01:54:09,532
and that you're going to be
able to live and grow old...
1914
01:54:10,498 --> 01:54:12,846
and have a life.
1915
01:54:17,920 --> 01:54:20,405
Newsreel announcer: A cargo of
innocents from embattled Europe.
1916
01:54:20,439 --> 01:54:24,064
Arriving in New York aboard the
Portuguese liner Serpa Pinto,
1917
01:54:24,098 --> 01:54:27,619
these youngest refugees are
originally from Germany, Poland,
1918
01:54:27,653 --> 01:54:29,276
Czechoslovakia, and Spain,
1919
01:54:29,310 --> 01:54:32,106
but the war has
made them wanderers.
1920
01:54:35,040 --> 01:54:37,905
So we had to go to
Ellis Island,
1921
01:54:37,940 --> 01:54:40,011
and there we
found out everything
1922
01:54:40,045 --> 01:54:42,910
that we needed to know
about the United States.
1923
01:54:42,945 --> 01:54:44,981
We learned about food,
1924
01:54:45,016 --> 01:54:47,811
and we learned that they had
this white bread.
1925
01:54:47,846 --> 01:54:49,917
We could squash it up
and push it
1926
01:54:49,952 --> 01:54:51,712
and make a little
ball out of it.
1927
01:54:51,746 --> 01:54:54,301
You could bite into it,
and it was so good.
1928
01:54:54,335 --> 01:54:57,891
And then they told us it
was called Wonder Bread,
1929
01:54:57,925 --> 01:55:01,273
and we were so happy
to be eating it.
1930
01:55:03,724 --> 01:55:07,176
The next thing we learned
is that the children
in the United States
1931
01:55:07,210 --> 01:55:11,421
had candy that you could eat
all day long.
1932
01:55:11,456 --> 01:55:15,494
And you--it was just stayed
in your mouth all day long.
1933
01:55:15,529 --> 01:55:19,740
And then we, of course, learned
that it was chewing gum.
1934
01:55:19,774 --> 01:55:21,328
It's just so exciting
1935
01:55:21,362 --> 01:55:24,262
because we knew we had come
to the place
1936
01:55:24,296 --> 01:55:28,611
where we were going to be
reunited with our parents.
1937
01:55:30,854 --> 01:55:33,029
Susan
and Joseph's father had been
1938
01:55:33,064 --> 01:55:36,791
at the pier in lower Manhattan
to welcome them to America.
1939
01:55:36,826 --> 01:55:39,035
But their mother
was not with him.
1940
01:55:39,070 --> 01:55:41,106
They did not see her
until they arrived
1941
01:55:41,141 --> 01:55:44,799
at the family's new
home in Washington, D.C.
1942
01:55:45,835 --> 01:55:47,181
When we arrived,
1943
01:55:47,216 --> 01:55:52,635
I expected some
emotional response.
1944
01:55:52,669 --> 01:55:54,499
But she just lay there
1945
01:55:54,533 --> 01:55:56,363
and barely even smiled.
1946
01:55:56,397 --> 01:56:01,713
My father explained to me
that she was mentally ill.
1947
01:56:01,747 --> 01:56:04,474
I don't talk about it.
1948
01:56:04,509 --> 01:56:06,235
I couldn't understand
1949
01:56:06,269 --> 01:56:09,307
that there was
nothing between us.
1950
01:56:09,341 --> 01:56:12,241
I just couldn't, "Hey, I'm
your child, and I'm back,"
1951
01:56:12,275 --> 01:56:15,865
and she just
didn't understand.
1952
01:56:15,899 --> 01:56:20,974
Eventually, she ended up
in the hospital.
1953
01:56:21,008 --> 01:56:23,183
We don't know what
happened to her.
1954
01:56:23,217 --> 01:56:25,979
While my father was here
in the United States,
1955
01:56:26,013 --> 01:56:29,637
she was in Germany
with my younger brother.
1956
01:56:29,672 --> 01:56:34,194
They were alone
for about 4 to 6 months.
1957
01:56:37,300 --> 01:56:40,614
When I left her,
she was perfectly normal.
1958
01:56:42,374 --> 01:56:44,307
And I really don't
know what happened.
1959
01:56:44,342 --> 01:56:47,966
I asked frequently
if she was beaten
1960
01:56:48,001 --> 01:56:51,970
or traumatized,
but I never got an answer.
1961
01:56:52,005 --> 01:56:53,558
Not from her, certainly,
1962
01:56:53,592 --> 01:56:56,492
and my father just didn't
want to talk about it.
1963
01:56:58,632 --> 01:57:00,979
And she never recovered.
1964
01:57:07,123 --> 01:57:09,401
America
has been attacked.
1965
01:57:09,436 --> 01:57:15,166
The United States Ship Kearny
is not just a Navy ship.
1966
01:57:15,200 --> 01:57:17,754
She belongs to every
man, woman,
1967
01:57:17,789 --> 01:57:21,310
and child in this nation.
1968
01:57:21,344 --> 01:57:26,522
On September 11, 1941,
after a German submarine
1969
01:57:26,556 --> 01:57:29,456
engaged with the U.S. destroyer Kearny,
1970
01:57:29,490 --> 01:57:33,736
President Roosevelt ordered
the Navy to attack on sight
1971
01:57:33,770 --> 01:57:37,084
any German or Italian
vessels operating
1972
01:57:37,119 --> 01:57:39,431
in American defensive waters,
1973
01:57:39,466 --> 01:57:44,229
which he had expanded halfway
across the Atlantic.
1974
01:57:44,264 --> 01:57:49,821
U.S. entry into the war
now seemed very close.
1975
01:57:49,855 --> 01:57:55,171
When you see
a rattlesnake poised to strike,
1976
01:57:55,206 --> 01:57:58,968
you do not wait
until he has struck
1977
01:57:59,002 --> 01:58:01,729
before you crush him.
1978
01:58:01,764 --> 01:58:04,422
These Nazi submarines
and raiders
1979
01:58:04,456 --> 01:58:08,874
are the rattlesnakes
of the Atlantic...
1980
01:58:08,909 --> 01:58:11,222
That same evening,
Charles Lindbergh
1981
01:58:11,256 --> 01:58:15,226
spoke at an America First
rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
1982
01:58:15,260 --> 01:58:18,194
In the strongest
language he had ever used,
1983
01:58:18,229 --> 01:58:20,403
he charged that there were
3 groups
1984
01:58:20,438 --> 01:58:22,854
pressing the country
toward war--
1985
01:58:22,888 --> 01:58:26,306
the British, the Roosevelt administration,
1986
01:58:26,340 --> 01:58:28,584
and the Jews.
1987
01:58:28,618 --> 01:58:30,827
"Instead of agitating
for war,
1988
01:58:30,862 --> 01:58:32,553
"the Jewish groups
in this country
1989
01:58:32,588 --> 01:58:35,832
should be opposing it in
every way," he warned,
1990
01:58:35,867 --> 01:58:37,593
"for they will
be among the first
1991
01:58:37,627 --> 01:58:39,319
"to feel its consequences.
1992
01:58:39,353 --> 01:58:41,873
"Tolerance is a virtue
that depends
1993
01:58:41,907 --> 01:58:43,771
"upon peace and strength.
1994
01:58:43,806 --> 01:58:48,983
History shows that it cannot
survive war and devastation."
1995
01:58:49,018 --> 01:58:51,365
And he went still further.
1996
01:58:51,400 --> 01:58:54,057
"Large Jewish ownership
and influence
1997
01:58:54,092 --> 01:58:57,440
"in our motion pictures,
our press, our radio,
1998
01:58:57,475 --> 01:58:59,304
and our government,"
he charged,
1999
01:58:59,339 --> 01:59:04,171
"constituted a great
danger to our country."
2000
01:59:04,206 --> 01:59:07,278
This time, the press exploded.
2001
01:59:11,282 --> 01:59:13,491
"Liberty" magazine
called Lindbergh
2002
01:59:13,525 --> 01:59:16,839
"The most dangerous man
in America."
2003
01:59:16,873 --> 01:59:21,084
The "New York Herald Tribune"
accused him of antisemitism
2004
01:59:21,119 --> 01:59:24,433
and appealing to
the "dark forces of prejudice
2005
01:59:24,467 --> 01:59:26,435
and intolerance."
2006
01:59:26,469 --> 01:59:29,265
Republican Wendell Willkie
called his speech
2007
01:59:29,300 --> 01:59:32,372
"The most un-American talk made
in my time
2008
01:59:32,406 --> 01:59:36,479
by any person
of national reputation."
2009
01:59:36,514 --> 01:59:40,932
"The voice is Lindbergh's," said
the "San Francisco Chronicle."
2010
01:59:40,966 --> 01:59:45,212
"The words were the words
of Hitler and Goebbels."
2011
01:59:45,247 --> 01:59:47,283
The reaction
in the press
2012
01:59:47,318 --> 01:59:50,597
to Lindbergh's speech is
resoundingly negative.
2013
01:59:50,631 --> 01:59:53,462
People start to ask,
"Is Lindbergh a Nazi?"
2014
01:59:53,496 --> 01:59:57,293
The "Des Moines Register" runs
a front-page editorial cartoon
2015
01:59:57,328 --> 01:59:59,985
with Lindbergh up
on the podium
2016
02:00:00,020 --> 02:00:02,919
and Hitler down below
applauding him.
2017
02:00:02,954 --> 02:00:05,991
But I also wonder,
is it fair to say
2018
02:00:06,026 --> 02:00:07,924
that Lindbergh
is saying out loud
2019
02:00:07,959 --> 02:00:11,652
what a lot of Americans
think privately?
2020
02:00:11,687 --> 02:00:13,275
And I think he is.
2021
02:00:15,277 --> 02:00:17,865
Lindbergh was unrepentant,
2022
02:00:17,900 --> 02:00:20,143
but America First
never recovered
2023
02:00:20,178 --> 02:00:22,905
from the damage
his speech had done.
2024
02:00:22,939 --> 02:00:25,942
Fritz Kuhn,
the self-styled Fuhrer
2025
02:00:25,977 --> 02:00:27,703
of the German American Bund,
2026
02:00:27,737 --> 02:00:31,983
was already in Sing Sing
for tax fraud and embezzlement
2027
02:00:32,017 --> 02:00:33,847
and would eventually
be deported
2028
02:00:33,881 --> 02:00:36,470
as the agent
of a foreign power.
2029
02:00:36,505 --> 02:00:39,542
And the National
Association of Broadcasters
2030
02:00:39,577 --> 02:00:42,200
had already banned
Father Coughlin,
2031
02:00:42,235 --> 02:00:46,618
the antisemitic radio priest,
from the airwaves.
2032
02:00:46,653 --> 02:00:49,794
But mostly Catholic
anti-Jewish gangs
2033
02:00:49,828 --> 02:00:52,935
affiliated with
his Christian Front continued
2034
02:00:52,969 --> 02:00:56,835
to terrorize Jewish
neighborhoods in
New York and Boston,
2035
02:00:56,870 --> 02:01:00,908
desecrating synagogues, smashing
Jewish storefronts,
2036
02:01:00,943 --> 02:01:03,014
and beating Jewish children
2037
02:01:03,048 --> 02:01:05,741
while Irish-American
police officers
2038
02:01:05,775 --> 02:01:07,950
often looked the other way.
2039
02:01:10,470 --> 02:01:13,438
Meanwhile, American
newspapers had reported
2040
02:01:13,473 --> 02:01:16,959
that Jews were being
deported to ghettos in Poland
2041
02:01:16,993 --> 02:01:22,033
and labor camps in the
German-occupied Soviet Union.
2042
02:01:22,067 --> 02:01:24,587
But their readers had
no way of knowing
2043
02:01:24,622 --> 02:01:29,523
that the Nazis had already begun
the mass-murder of Jews,
2044
02:01:29,558 --> 02:01:32,319
that they were actually
determined to eliminate
2045
02:01:32,354 --> 02:01:34,252
all the Jews of Europe,
2046
02:01:34,287 --> 02:01:36,323
and that they had found a new,
2047
02:01:36,358 --> 02:01:39,878
more efficient method
of doing it--
2048
02:01:39,913 --> 02:01:42,191
gas.
2049
02:01:42,225 --> 02:01:46,575
At Hitler's direct order,
Nazi doctors in 6 locations
2050
02:01:46,609 --> 02:01:49,992
had been using
commercially-produced
carbon monoxide
2051
02:01:50,026 --> 02:01:53,927
as one of the methods by which
to kill tens of thousands
2052
02:01:53,961 --> 02:01:56,378
of men, women, and children,
2053
02:01:56,412 --> 02:01:59,104
mental patients,
disabled people,
2054
02:01:59,139 --> 02:02:01,728
infants with birth defects.
2055
02:02:01,762 --> 02:02:05,766
The Nazis called them
all "useless eaters."
2056
02:02:05,801 --> 02:02:11,738
It was eugenics carried to
its most grotesque extreme.
2057
02:02:11,772 --> 02:02:15,707
The demand for commercial
carbon monoxide grew so large
2058
02:02:15,742 --> 02:02:19,055
it threatened
to outstrip production.
2059
02:02:19,090 --> 02:02:20,781
Then, the Germans realized
2060
02:02:20,816 --> 02:02:24,647
that the exhaust produced
by a motorized van,
2061
02:02:24,682 --> 02:02:28,064
piped into an airtight
compartment at the back,
2062
02:02:28,099 --> 02:02:31,378
could kill groups of people
at a time.
2063
02:02:31,413 --> 02:02:35,106
The Einsatzgruppen ordered up
some 30 of them for use
2064
02:02:35,140 --> 02:02:38,247
in the occupied Soviet Union.
2065
02:02:38,281 --> 02:02:41,388
In October, SS chief
Heinrich Himmler
2066
02:02:41,423 --> 02:02:43,563
ordered his men and the Gestapo
2067
02:02:43,597 --> 02:02:47,774
to officially end all emigration
of Jews from Germany
2068
02:02:47,808 --> 02:02:51,191
or any of the lands
it had conquered.
2069
02:02:51,225 --> 02:02:53,642
From then on, occupied Europe
2070
02:02:53,676 --> 02:02:56,645
was to be a vast prison
for Jews
2071
02:02:56,679 --> 02:03:01,270
from which there was to be
no escape but death.
2072
02:03:01,304 --> 02:03:04,549
All that remained was
to set up a coordinated,
2073
02:03:04,584 --> 02:03:07,932
continent-wide system
to feed Jews
2074
02:03:07,966 --> 02:03:10,866
into the Nazi killing machine.
2075
02:03:10,900 --> 02:03:15,249
In late November,
the high-ranking SS officer
2076
02:03:15,284 --> 02:03:18,425
Reinhard Heydrich invited representatives
2077
02:03:18,460 --> 02:03:22,325
of all the Nazi ministries that
would have to be involved
2078
02:03:22,360 --> 02:03:26,364
to a secret meeting to
be held on December 9.
2079
02:03:29,850 --> 02:03:33,336
That meeting would
have to be postponed.
2080
02:03:40,447 --> 02:03:42,242
Hitler was in his headquarters
2081
02:03:42,276 --> 02:03:44,969
on Sunday evening, December 7,
2082
02:03:45,003 --> 02:03:46,798
when an aide brought him
the news
2083
02:03:46,833 --> 02:03:50,146
that Japan had
attacked Pearl Harbor.
2084
02:03:50,181 --> 02:03:54,323
The Fuhrer claimed to be
surprised but delighted.
2085
02:03:54,357 --> 02:03:57,050
Now he couldn't lose
the war, he said,
2086
02:03:57,084 --> 02:04:00,191
because in Japan, "We have
an ally which has never
2087
02:04:00,225 --> 02:04:03,366
been conquered in 3,000 years."
2088
02:04:03,401 --> 02:04:06,335
And with the United States
now presumably forced
2089
02:04:06,369 --> 02:04:09,303
to focus its attention
on the Pacific,
2090
02:04:09,338 --> 02:04:11,927
it would no longer
be able to aid Britain
2091
02:04:11,961 --> 02:04:14,377
or the Soviet Union.
2092
02:04:14,412 --> 02:04:17,242
In any case, he believed
America had become
2093
02:04:17,277 --> 02:04:18,796
"a decayed country.
2094
02:04:18,830 --> 02:04:20,625
Half-Judaized," he said,
2095
02:04:20,660 --> 02:04:23,041
"and the other half Negrified,
2096
02:04:23,076 --> 02:04:26,804
where everything
is built on the dollar."
2097
02:04:26,838 --> 02:04:31,602
On December 11, Germany
and Italy, Japan's allies,
2098
02:04:31,636 --> 02:04:35,606
declared war on
the United States.
2099
02:04:35,640 --> 02:04:40,611
Congressional opposition
to fighting fascism
vanished overnight.
2100
02:04:40,645 --> 02:04:45,374
The United States was now
at war around the world.
2101
02:04:47,410 --> 02:04:48,757
The following evening,
2102
02:04:48,791 --> 02:04:50,724
Hitler gathered
the administrators
2103
02:04:50,759 --> 02:04:55,142
of all the districts
in his expanding Reich.
2104
02:04:55,177 --> 02:04:57,524
The killing of Jews,
he informed them,
2105
02:04:57,559 --> 02:04:59,561
was already underway
2106
02:04:59,595 --> 02:05:02,529
and now was to be
undertaken everywhere
2107
02:05:02,564 --> 02:05:04,773
"without sentimentality."
2108
02:05:04,807 --> 02:05:08,880
All of them were
expected to participate.
2109
02:05:08,915 --> 02:05:14,541
On January 20, 1942,
in a lakeside villa in Wannsee,
2110
02:05:14,576 --> 02:05:16,957
the German suburb
where the Lindberghs
2111
02:05:16,992 --> 02:05:18,856
had once hoped to live,
2112
02:05:18,890 --> 02:05:22,549
Reinhard Heydrich's
delayed meeting of
the Nazi bureaucrats
2113
02:05:22,584 --> 02:05:26,622
who would be responsible for
the extermination of the Jews
2114
02:05:26,657 --> 02:05:31,006
finally convened in secret.
2115
02:05:31,040 --> 02:05:34,319
Heydrich began by revealing
the sheer scale
2116
02:05:34,354 --> 02:05:36,080
of the job at hand.
2117
02:05:36,114 --> 02:05:39,704
There were 11 million Jews
living in Europe, he claimed,
2118
02:05:39,739 --> 02:05:43,570
a total he had reached in part
by including those currently
2119
02:05:43,605 --> 02:05:47,747
out of German reach in Spain,
England and Ireland,
2120
02:05:47,781 --> 02:05:50,991
Switzerland,
Portugal, and Sweden.
2121
02:05:51,026 --> 02:05:53,994
For the time being, the Germans
would accelerate
2122
02:05:54,029 --> 02:05:58,481
the deportation of Jews to
ghettos and concentration camps
2123
02:05:58,516 --> 02:06:00,863
in Nazi-occupied Poland,
2124
02:06:00,898 --> 02:06:05,661
then put them to work at
hard labor wherever they
were needed.
2125
02:06:05,696 --> 02:06:08,319
He was confident that most
would die
2126
02:06:08,353 --> 02:06:10,942
of what he called
"natural causes"--
2127
02:06:10,977 --> 02:06:16,361
starvation,
exposure, exhaustion.
2128
02:06:16,396 --> 02:06:18,260
But those who did survive,
2129
02:06:18,294 --> 02:06:22,816
as well as those declared unfit
for labor in the first place,
2130
02:06:22,851 --> 02:06:24,542
were to be killed,
2131
02:06:24,577 --> 02:06:29,616
a fate Heydrich referred to as
"special treatment."
2132
02:06:29,651 --> 02:06:32,930
Jews were to die because
of who they were.
2133
02:06:35,001 --> 02:06:38,867
The Nazis would also kill
millions of non-Jews--
2134
02:06:38,901 --> 02:06:44,735
Soviet POWs, Belarussians,
Ukrainians, Poles,
2135
02:06:44,769 --> 02:06:47,945
Russians, and Roma
and Sinti peoples.
2136
02:06:47,979 --> 02:06:52,052
They also locked away gay men
and Jehovah's Witnesses
2137
02:06:52,087 --> 02:06:56,367
because their faith forbade them
from serving in any army
2138
02:06:56,401 --> 02:07:00,233
or saluting any flag,
including Hitler's.
2139
02:07:02,580 --> 02:07:06,757
One of the things
people can easily forget
about the Holocaust
2140
02:07:06,791 --> 02:07:08,655
is that the core
of it occurred
2141
02:07:08,690 --> 02:07:12,279
in a fierce and short
period of time.
2142
02:07:12,314 --> 02:07:14,627
3/4 of the victims
of the Holocaust
2143
02:07:14,661 --> 02:07:16,836
died in only 20 months.
2144
02:07:18,561 --> 02:07:21,737
The Nazis created
4 killing centers,
2145
02:07:21,772 --> 02:07:24,913
dedicated solely to murder,
2146
02:07:24,947 --> 02:07:29,607
all hidden away in the heart of
what had once been Poland...
2147
02:07:31,402 --> 02:07:34,681
Chelmno, where Nazi records list
the murders
2148
02:07:34,716 --> 02:07:38,236
of at least 145,000 people
2149
02:07:38,271 --> 02:07:40,998
during its first 12 months alone.
2150
02:07:41,032 --> 02:07:44,035
Belzec, where an average
of 2,000 Jews
2151
02:07:44,070 --> 02:07:47,452
would die every day
for 10 months--
2152
02:07:47,487 --> 02:07:50,732
600,000 human beings.
2153
02:07:50,766 --> 02:07:51,871
Sobibor,
2154
02:07:51,905 --> 02:07:55,288
where somewhere between 167,000
2155
02:07:55,322 --> 02:07:58,567
and 200,000
would be murdered.
2156
02:07:58,601 --> 02:08:03,089
And Treblinka,
where 925,000 would die,
2157
02:08:03,123 --> 02:08:09,889
280,000 of them in a single
month in the summer of 1942.
2158
02:08:11,200 --> 02:08:14,583
Chelmno did all its
killing in gas vans.
2159
02:08:14,617 --> 02:08:17,862
The other 3 relied
on permanent gas chambers
2160
02:08:17,897 --> 02:08:21,728
for which carbon monoxide
was provided by the engines
2161
02:08:21,763 --> 02:08:24,075
of captured Soviet tanks.
2162
02:08:26,526 --> 02:08:29,391
The Jewish victims of
these killing centers
2163
02:08:29,425 --> 02:08:31,704
were overwhelmingly Polish,
2164
02:08:31,738 --> 02:08:34,327
but they came from
everywhere the Nazis
2165
02:08:34,361 --> 02:08:36,847
could lay their hands on them.
2166
02:08:36,881 --> 02:08:40,609
The killing centers were
supervised by the SS,
2167
02:08:40,643 --> 02:08:44,613
but guarded mostly by
Eastern European support troops,
2168
02:08:44,647 --> 02:08:46,960
usually Soviet prisoners of war
2169
02:08:46,995 --> 02:08:49,894
who were recruited to serve
the Reich.
2170
02:08:49,929 --> 02:08:54,519
Some Jews were forced into
guiding victims to their deaths
2171
02:08:54,554 --> 02:08:56,383
and disposing of their bodies
2172
02:08:56,418 --> 02:09:02,079
in return for being allowed to
live at least a little longer.
2173
02:09:02,113 --> 02:09:06,600
These 4 centers alone would be
responsible for the death
2174
02:09:06,635 --> 02:09:10,397
of more than 1.5 million
human beings.
2175
02:09:13,435 --> 02:09:15,817
6 days after
the Wannsee meeting,
2176
02:09:15,851 --> 02:09:18,785
Himmler ordered that
two prisoner of war camps
2177
02:09:18,820 --> 02:09:22,789
in occupied Poland,
Majdanek and Auschwitz,
2178
02:09:22,824 --> 02:09:27,449
be transformed into additional
killing centers,
2179
02:09:27,483 --> 02:09:30,314
where 1,400,000 more
2180
02:09:30,348 --> 02:09:35,215
innocent men, women,
and children would be murdered.
2181
02:09:44,224 --> 02:09:46,399
The Navy had a placard,
2182
02:09:46,433 --> 02:09:48,573
"If you have language skills,
2183
02:09:48,608 --> 02:09:53,061
"understanding of the 3 enemies,
their psychology,
2184
02:09:53,095 --> 02:09:56,167
come to our
recruiting quarters."
2185
02:09:56,202 --> 02:09:58,273
Soon after
Pearl Harbor,
2186
02:09:58,307 --> 02:10:01,759
along with tens of thousands of
other young men,
2187
02:10:01,794 --> 02:10:06,177
Guy Stern volunteered
to join the armed forces.
2188
02:10:06,212 --> 02:10:10,457
I was received
by a Navy ensign.
2189
02:10:10,492 --> 02:10:13,081
And he asked me
about my skills.
2190
02:10:13,115 --> 02:10:18,707
I told him I was very good
in German writing
2191
02:10:18,741 --> 02:10:20,847
and that in talking
and so forth
2192
02:10:20,882 --> 02:10:23,470
and understood Germany.
2193
02:10:23,505 --> 02:10:25,852
And he said, "Yeah,
that's good.
2194
02:10:25,887 --> 02:10:27,958
But I hear an accent."
2195
02:10:27,992 --> 02:10:31,271
Well, so, I said,
"Well, yes."
2196
02:10:31,306 --> 02:10:35,206
And he said, "Were you
born here in the U.S.?"
2197
02:10:35,241 --> 02:10:36,518
I said, "No."
2198
02:10:36,552 --> 02:10:38,865
He said, "Well, can't use you."
2199
02:10:38,900 --> 02:10:40,384
A few months later,
2200
02:10:40,418 --> 02:10:43,042
Stern was drafted into the Army
2201
02:10:43,076 --> 02:10:45,976
and assigned
to the intelligence branch.
2202
02:10:47,356 --> 02:10:50,256
His parents, younger
brother, and sister
2203
02:10:50,290 --> 02:10:53,328
remained trapped in
Hildesheim, Germany,
2204
02:10:53,362 --> 02:10:56,227
and occasionally managed to
get a letter out
2205
02:10:56,262 --> 02:10:59,541
to Guy's uncle and aunt.
2206
02:10:59,575 --> 02:11:02,061
My dearest, Benno
and Ethel,
2207
02:11:02,095 --> 02:11:04,270
We have grown quite despondent,
2208
02:11:04,304 --> 02:11:09,171
for if you cannot help us,
nothing can be done.
2209
02:11:09,206 --> 02:11:12,623
No doubt Guünther is going to
great trouble to help us.
2210
02:11:12,657 --> 02:11:15,626
Please support him
by word and deed.
2211
02:11:15,660 --> 02:11:17,628
Help him cope
with disappointments
2212
02:11:17,662 --> 02:11:20,976
and lighten his burdens.
2213
02:11:21,011 --> 02:11:23,668
You write that Guünther
has grown strong.
2214
02:11:23,703 --> 02:11:26,326
If only I could see him again.
2215
02:11:26,361 --> 02:11:28,294
Write us often.
2216
02:11:28,328 --> 02:11:31,573
For now, I send
my heartfelt greetings.
2217
02:11:31,607 --> 02:11:34,334
Yours, Julius.
2218
02:11:36,336 --> 02:11:40,306
I studied these letters
for the high sign.
2219
02:11:40,340 --> 02:11:43,067
There was one substitution.
2220
02:11:43,102 --> 02:11:48,141
There's a Hebrew-Yiddish
word, "enmishova,"
2221
02:11:48,176 --> 02:11:52,076
it means I'm lying, or I am
saying the contrary.
2222
02:11:52,111 --> 02:11:56,253
So I knew when they
substituted that,
2223
02:11:56,287 --> 02:11:59,532
that was bad news, indeed,
2224
02:11:59,566 --> 02:12:01,948
because everything they said now,
2225
02:12:01,983 --> 02:12:06,988
"We are comfortable," means they
had horrible circumstances.
2226
02:12:08,506 --> 02:12:14,685
Until I got one letter
that spoke of deportation,
2227
02:12:14,719 --> 02:12:20,242
and my anxieties
were overriding.
2228
02:12:20,277 --> 02:12:24,902
In March 1942,
all the Jews in Hildesheim
2229
02:12:24,937 --> 02:12:28,630
were ordered to assemble
in the town square.
2230
02:12:28,664 --> 02:12:31,978
Government cameramen were
on hand to record
2231
02:12:32,013 --> 02:12:34,981
the supposedly humane way
in which they,
2232
02:12:35,016 --> 02:12:37,811
including Guy Stern's family,
2233
02:12:37,846 --> 02:12:40,573
were being deported to
"the East."
2234
02:12:44,266 --> 02:12:49,375
Later, Stern's parents managed
to smuggle a letter to him
2235
02:12:49,409 --> 02:12:51,929
from inside the Warsaw Ghetto.
2236
02:12:55,622 --> 02:12:59,626
It had a sense of
finality about it
2237
02:12:59,661 --> 02:13:01,628
and was crushing.
2238
02:13:08,428 --> 02:13:13,916
The despair was in every word.
2239
02:13:13,951 --> 02:13:17,334
I don't think you could
be in the Warsaw Ghetto,
2240
02:13:17,368 --> 02:13:23,133
and even my father's
unsuppressable optimism,
2241
02:13:23,167 --> 02:13:26,343
there was even
a straw of a hope.
2242
02:13:30,692 --> 02:13:35,041
So I was fighting my war,
2243
02:13:35,076 --> 02:13:38,838
as well as the American War.
2244
02:13:38,872 --> 02:13:41,979
If there was a glimmer
of a hope,
2245
02:13:42,014 --> 02:13:47,053
I was trying to keep it alive
to shorten this outrage,
2246
02:13:47,088 --> 02:13:51,678
this horror as best I
personally could.
170273
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