ENOUGH BLAME TO GO AROUND
The U.S. and the Holocaust: A new documentary by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein: PBS, Sept. 18, 2022 — The U.S. and the Holocaust is a three-part, six-hour series that examines America’s response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. Americans consider themselves a “nation of immigrants,” but as the catastrophe of the Holocaust unfolded in Europe, the United States proved unwilling to open its doors to more than a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of desperate people seeking refuge.
Even American Jews Ignored the Holocaust: Nora Berman, Forward, Sept. 8, 2022 — In the opening minutes of “The U.S. and the Holocaust” — a new three-part Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein documentary, we hear the blunt truth that still haunts our nation today: “The exclusion of people and shutting them out has been as American as Apple pie.” The documentary lets no one — including American Jews — off the hook.
Ken Burns’ Holocaust Documentary May be Hard on America, But Not Hard Enough: Rafael Medoff and Monty Penkower, Times of Israel, Sept. 18, 2022
Why Democracies Are So Slow to Respond to Evil: Dara Horn, The Atlantic, Sept. 16, 2022
My Grandparents’ Impossible Situation: Carol Ungar, Tablet, Sept. 16, 2022
Bad News for the Jews: How Six US And UK Media Moguls Aided the Nascent Nazi Regime: JP O’Malley, Times of Israel, Aug. 12, 2022
Ken Burns Turns His Lens on the American Response to the Holocaust: James McAuley, New Yorker, Sept. 18, 2022 — When we begin “The U.S. and the Holocaust”—a six-and-a-half-hour, three-part documentary about America’s actions during one of history’s greatest atrocities, the Nazis’ attempted extermination of the Jews—we find ourselves in 1933 Frankfurt, where a bourgeois German-Jewish family is going out for an afternoon promenade.
America and the Holocaust: A Filmmaker’s Perspective: Martin Ostrow, Isranet, Sept. 18, 2022 — As the producer and director of a PBS film on America’s response to the Holocaust some years ago, I was at first delighted to learn that Ken Burns has now likewise made a film for broadcast on PBS about how our country responded to the Nazi genocide. But some advance publicity for the broadcast raises questions as to whether his film will accurately portray key issues such as U.S. refugee policy and the failure to bomb Auschwitz.
How the NYT Missed the Story of the Holocaust While It Was Happening: Laurel Leff, History News Network, Apr. 4, 2005– What did The New York Times report about the Holocaust and how did its coverage affect America’s response to the Nazi genocide?
What Americans Know About the Holocaust: Pew Research Center, Jan. 22, 2020 – Most U.S. adults know what the Holocaust was and approximately when it happened, but fewer than half can correctly answer multiple-choice questions about the number of Jews who were murdered or the way Adolf Hitler came to power, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
‘Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski’ Review: Dramatically Bearing Witness: Charles Isherwood, WSJ, Sept. 15, 2022 — The broad-brush and rosy-hued understanding of America’s involvement in World War II resembles an old western movie, with the cavalry rushing in to save the day. There is an appealing romanticism in this view, but today even nonhistorians recognize its simplicity, or rather its distorted view of history, particularly with regard to the incomprehension—a gentle term—of the extent of the Holocaust.
Two Sisters Survived Auschwitz Together, Moved to America To Fulfill Father’s Dream. They Died Days Apart in Alabama.: Zach Jewell, Daily Wire, Sept. 8, 2022 — Two Jewish sisters, who long outlived the Nazi regime, died 10 days apart in Alabama.
How to Explain the ‘Timid’ Reaction of American Jewish Leaders to Kristallnacht?: Matt Lebovic, Times of Israel, Nov. 10, 2018 — When American Jews learned of Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht pogrom 80 years ago, the community’s leaders were determined to keep a lid on people’s emotions.
Jews Slam Appointment of Holocaust-Denying Judge to Greek Supreme Court: World Israel News, Sept. 10, 2022 — The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) is criticizing the appointment of the Greek Supreme Court’s new vice president for her previous support of an antisemite and Holocaust denier.
Ken Burns Documentary Explores America’s Response to the Holocaust: ABC News, Sept. 18, 2022 — Co-directors Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein join ABC News Live to discuss their new documentary, “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” which explores America’s failure to respond to the humanitarian crisis.
Screening of “America and The Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference” with Chris Boian, UNHCR: YouTube, Nov. 16, 2021 — HMTC, in conjunction with the David Taub Reel Upstander Film Series, presents a screening of “America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference.” The film explores American antisemitism during the Holocaust, the apathy of the U.S. State Department, and the deliberate suppression of information that European Jews were slated for genocide. Additional comments and discussion is provided by Christopher Boian from the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.