Accomplices: Churchill, Roosevelt and the Holocaust

308 Pages·2011·2.09 MB·English

by  Alexander J. Groth

Groth:michman.qxd 5/18/2011 1:57 PM Page 1
67
6487
STUDIES
This volume asserts that there was tacit cooperation in the Nazi extermina-
A IN MODERN
tion of the Jewish population of Europe by British Prime Minister Winston lex EUROPEAN HISTORY
a
n
Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Second d
e
World War. Although the Allies publicly recognized the Nazi massacre of the r J
Jews in the London Declaration of December 17, 1942, the policies they pur- . G
r
o Accomplices
sued allowed the genocide to continue. They did so, the author claims, in t
h
three ways: (1) refusal to publicly and personally speak about and against the
Nazi extermination of the Jews; (2) refusal to commit even one soldier, one
A
plane, or one warship to any forcible opposition to the “Final Solution”
c
throughout the Second World War; and (3) obstruction of Jewish escape from c
o
Churchill, Roosevelt,
Hitler’s Europe. This book explores the motivation for the policies Churchill m
and Roosevelt pursued.
p
l and the Holocaust
i
c
e
s
C
H
U
ALEXANDER J. GROTH is a Holocaust survivor, most of whose family
R
C
perished during the Nazi “Final Solution.” He received his Ph.D. from H
I
L
Columbia University and his B.A. magna cum laude from the City College L
,

R
of New York. He is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University
O
of California, Davis, where he has taught since 1962, specializing in com- O
S
E
parative politics. Groth is the author and editor of numerous books includ- V
E
L
ing Comparative Politics (1971); People’s Poland (1972); Public Policy Across T
,

A
Nations (1985); Lincoln (1996); Democracies Against Hitler (1999); and, N
D
most recently, Holocaust Voices(2003).
T
H
E
H
O
L
O
C
A
U
S
T
P Alexander J. Groth
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
PETER LANG PUBLISHING
www.peterlang.com
Groth:michman.qxd 5/18/2011 1:57 PM Page 1
67
6487
STUDIES
This volume asserts that there was tacit cooperation in the Nazi extermina-
A IN MODERN
tion of the Jewish population of Europe by British Prime Minister Winston lex EUROPEAN HISTORY
a
n
Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Second d
e
World War. Although the Allies publicly recognized the Nazi massacre of the r J
Jews in the London Declaration of December 17, 1942, the policies they pur- . G
r
o Accomplices
sued allowed the genocide to continue. They did so, the author claims, in t
h
three ways: (1) refusal to publicly and personally speak about and against the
Nazi extermination of the Jews; (2) refusal to commit even one soldier, one
A
plane, or one warship to any forcible opposition to the “Final Solution”
c
throughout the Second World War; and (3) obstruction of Jewish escape from c
o
Churchill, Roosevelt,
Hitler’s Europe. This book explores the motivation for the policies Churchill m
and Roosevelt pursued.
p
l and the Holocaust
i
c
e
s
C
H
U
ALEXANDER J. GROTH is a Holocaust survivor, most of whose family
R
C
perished during the Nazi “Final Solution.” He received his Ph.D. from H
I
L
Columbia University and his B.A. magna cum laude from the City College L
,

R
of New York. He is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University
O
of California, Davis, where he has taught since 1962, specializing in com- O
S
E
parative politics. Groth is the author and editor of numerous books includ- V
E
L
ing Comparative Politics (1971); People’s Poland (1972); Public Policy Across T
,

A
Nations (1985); Lincoln (1996); Democracies Against Hitler (1999); and, N
D
most recently, Holocaust Voices(2003).
T
H
E
H
O
L
O
C
A
U
S
T
P Alexander J. Groth
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
PETER LANG PUBLISHING
www.peterlang.com
Accomplices
Studies in Modern European History

Frank J. Coppa
General Editor

Vol. 67

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Alexander J. Groth

Accomplices

Churchill, Roosevelt,
and the Holocaust

PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Groth, Alexander J.
Accomplices: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the Holocaust / Alexander J. Groth.
p. cm. — (Studies in modern European history; v. 67)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945). 2. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—
Causes. 3. World War, 1939–1945—Jews—Rescue. 4. Jews—Germany—
History—1933–1945. 5. Germany—Politics and government—1933–1945.
6. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945. 7. United States—
Foreign relations—1933–1945. 8. United States—Politics and government—
1933–1945. 9. Churchill, Winston, 1871–1947. 10. Great Britain—
Foreign relations—1936–1945. 11. Great Britain—Politics and government—
1936–1945. I. Title.
D804.3.G76 940.53’18—dc23 2011018761
ISBN 978-1-4331-1463-2
ISSN 0893-6897
E­ISBN 978­1­4539­0580­7

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data is available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

The responsibility for the Holocaust has been a subject of debate for over half a decade.
Some have placed the responsibility on Hitler alone, others have implicated the Nazi
movement, while still others have found all Germans culpable. Some have implicated
non-Germans in the genocide including Pope Pius XII, Winston Churchill, and Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. The present work focuses on the failure of Churchill and Roosevelt
to take more active steps to stop the extermination of European Jewry and therefore
depicts them as accomplices of sorts. The position cataloged in the pages which follow
reflects the stance of the author and not that of the editor of the series or the publisher.

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.

© 2011 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Printed in Germany
To the Memory of the Martyrs and the Heroes, including especially
Szmuel Zygielbojm
Janusz Korczak
Mordecai Anielewicz
Jakub Goldwasser
Marian Goldwasser
Adam Goldwasser
Marysia Hasenfus-Gross
Chaim Hasenfus
Isaac Hasenfus
Adela Hasenfus
Maksymilian Zirler

Table of Contents
Terms of Reference................................................................................ix
Preface...................................................................................................xi
1. Overview...............................................................................................1
2. The War—Constraints and Opportunities...........................................43
3. The Importance of Silence..................................................................71
4. A Policy of Physical Non-Interference.............................................101
5. Delivering Jews to the Gas Chambers...............................................131
6. Clues to Behavior..............................................................................185
7. Chroniclers and Commentators: A Question of Inference................225
8. Epilogue............................................................................................279
Index..................................................................................................285