This seminar addresses how the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt responded to the Holocaust—the greatest horror of World War II. Although the systematic mass murder of Jews did not begin until after Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, American citizens’ attitudes toward Jews and U.S. immigration policies directly affected the ability of many European Jews to flee persecution. As early as 1942, the British and U.S. governments acquired credible evidence that Nazi Germany perpetrated genocide against Europe’s Jewish population. The seminar further considers what the United States could and should have done to prevent or ameliorate the Holocaust.

This program will be conducted as a discussion, utilizing primary source documents as the only readings, and with the Discussion Leader facilitating the conversation, instead of lecturing or presenting. Registrants, therefore, are highly encouraged to read all the documents in advance and come ready with questions. Teachers will receive a Letter of Attendance at the conclusion of the seminar.