Purdue University Press, 2009 157 pages
Contents
Acknowledgments
This book describes what Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., did to help bring about the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust. It is neither a biography of DuBois nor a comprehensive history of the War Refugee Board, the U.S. govement rescue agency that he helped bring into existence and of which he was a leader. Those are books that remain to be written. DuBois’s own memoir, The Devil’s Chemists, mentioned .
Foreword
American heroes come in different varieties—soldiers who distinguish them-selves on the battlefield, political leaders who inspire a nation, sports figures who lift us up from our everyday lives with their athletic accomplishments. In his excellent book, Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust, Rafael Medoff makes it clear .
An American Hero of the Holocaust
For all its villains and victims, the history of the Holocaust also has its share of heroes, although painfully few. Th ere were villagers who risked their lives by sheltering Jewish children. Th ere were individuals such as Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg who protected Jews through an array of ruses. Th ere were a handful of diplomats like Chiune Sugihara of Japan and Feng-Shan Ho of China .
The Struggle for U.S. Rescue Action
When Josiah DuBois began working in the Treasury Department in 1935, the last thing he expected was that it would involve him in the affairs of Europe’s Jews. Even after he retued, in 1940, to the Treasury after a hiatus, and was assigned to combat Nazi economic penetration of the Weste Hemisphere, he had little inkling as to what lay ahead. It seemed to be an ordinary govement job. It would soon tu .
The Acquiescence of this Govement in the Murder of the Jews
The full text of the pivotal report to Secretary Morgenthau follows. Authored by Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., the report was initialed by Randolph Paul for the Foreign Funds Control Unit of the Treasury Department. Page numbers of the original document are indicated in brackets .
Confronting the President
The title of DuBois’s report, Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of this Govement in the Murder of the Jews, left no doubt that the contents were political dynamite. But DuBois knew the report would have an impact only if Morgenthau were prepared to use it. The treasury secretary was reluctant to approach President Roosevelt on the rescue issue, preferring to go through the regular .
The War Refugee Board in Action
On January 22, 1944, two days before the Gillette–Rogers rescue resolution was scheduled for a vote before the full Senate, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9417 establishing the War Refugee Board.? Gillette and Rogers promptly withdrew their resolution. Since Morgenthau and his aides had played such a key role in bringing the board into existence, it is not surprising that the board became .
The War Refugee Board: A Summary of Its Achievements
Executive Order 9417 establishing the War Refugee Board endowed it with great potential. It directed the State, Treasury, and War Departments to provide what-ever help the board needed to implement its rescue programs, subject only to the stipulation that they be consistent with the successful prosecution of the war. In addition, it required all other govement agencies to comply with the board’s .
Epilogue
Shortly after the war ended, the War Refugee Board, having fulfilled its designated purpose, was disbanded. During the year to follow, DuBois served on U.S. delegations to talks in Berlin, Moscow, and Tokyo about postwar reconstruction. In May 1946, he concluded his govement service, and the DuBois family moved back to New Jersey. There DuBois joined his brother Herb’s private law .
Appendix
Executive Order 9417 Establishing a War Refugee Board
Whereas it is the policy of this Govement to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war .
Appendix
Declaration by the President of the United States
t is, therefore, fitting that we should again proclaim our determination that none who participate in such acts of savagery shall go unpunished. The United Nations have made it clear that they will pursue the guilty and deliver them up in order that justice be done. Let that waing now be repeated so that no one shall fail to hear and understand. Let it be clearly understood that this applies not only .
Appendix
Leaflet to be Dropped over Germany
There are within your midst large numbers of persons forced-labor battalions and in concentration camps. Without regard to their nationality and whether they are Jewish or otherwise, Germans, these are my orders: You shall disregard any order from whatever source, to molest, or otherwise harm or persecute any of these people. As the Allied armies, already firmly on German soil, advance, we .
Appendix
The State Department Changes Its Position on Nazi War Crimes
n a statement defining the American position on the question, Mr. Grew said this Govement has made forthright and far-reaching proposals to the Allies for ways of carrying out this intention. While he would not disclose details to keep the information from the enemy, he said it was clear that the American people want the guilty to be punished and he emphasized that the Department .
Selected Bibliography
ndex
About the Author
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies (www.WymanInstitute.org), which focuses on issues related to America’s response to the Holocaust. Dr. Medoff is the author of seven books about the Holocaust, Zionism, and the history of American Jewry, including, most recently, A Race against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust .
Contents
Acknowledgments
This book describes what Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., did to help bring about the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust. It is neither a biography of DuBois nor a comprehensive history of the War Refugee Board, the U.S. govement rescue agency that he helped bring into existence and of which he was a leader. Those are books that remain to be written. DuBois’s own memoir, The Devil’s Chemists, mentioned .
Foreword
American heroes come in different varieties—soldiers who distinguish them-selves on the battlefield, political leaders who inspire a nation, sports figures who lift us up from our everyday lives with their athletic accomplishments. In his excellent book, Blowing the Whistle on Genocide: Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., and the Struggle for a U.S. Response to the Holocaust, Rafael Medoff makes it clear .
An American Hero of the Holocaust
For all its villains and victims, the history of the Holocaust also has its share of heroes, although painfully few. Th ere were villagers who risked their lives by sheltering Jewish children. Th ere were individuals such as Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg who protected Jews through an array of ruses. Th ere were a handful of diplomats like Chiune Sugihara of Japan and Feng-Shan Ho of China .
The Struggle for U.S. Rescue Action
When Josiah DuBois began working in the Treasury Department in 1935, the last thing he expected was that it would involve him in the affairs of Europe’s Jews. Even after he retued, in 1940, to the Treasury after a hiatus, and was assigned to combat Nazi economic penetration of the Weste Hemisphere, he had little inkling as to what lay ahead. It seemed to be an ordinary govement job. It would soon tu .
The Acquiescence of this Govement in the Murder of the Jews
The full text of the pivotal report to Secretary Morgenthau follows. Authored by Josiah E. DuBois, Jr., the report was initialed by Randolph Paul for the Foreign Funds Control Unit of the Treasury Department. Page numbers of the original document are indicated in brackets .
Confronting the President
The title of DuBois’s report, Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of this Govement in the Murder of the Jews, left no doubt that the contents were political dynamite. But DuBois knew the report would have an impact only if Morgenthau were prepared to use it. The treasury secretary was reluctant to approach President Roosevelt on the rescue issue, preferring to go through the regular .
The War Refugee Board in Action
On January 22, 1944, two days before the Gillette–Rogers rescue resolution was scheduled for a vote before the full Senate, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9417 establishing the War Refugee Board.? Gillette and Rogers promptly withdrew their resolution. Since Morgenthau and his aides had played such a key role in bringing the board into existence, it is not surprising that the board became .
The War Refugee Board: A Summary of Its Achievements
Executive Order 9417 establishing the War Refugee Board endowed it with great potential. It directed the State, Treasury, and War Departments to provide what-ever help the board needed to implement its rescue programs, subject only to the stipulation that they be consistent with the successful prosecution of the war. In addition, it required all other govement agencies to comply with the board’s .
Epilogue
Shortly after the war ended, the War Refugee Board, having fulfilled its designated purpose, was disbanded. During the year to follow, DuBois served on U.S. delegations to talks in Berlin, Moscow, and Tokyo about postwar reconstruction. In May 1946, he concluded his govement service, and the DuBois family moved back to New Jersey. There DuBois joined his brother Herb’s private law .
Appendix
Executive Order 9417 Establishing a War Refugee Board
Whereas it is the policy of this Govement to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war .
Appendix
Declaration by the President of the United States
t is, therefore, fitting that we should again proclaim our determination that none who participate in such acts of savagery shall go unpunished. The United Nations have made it clear that they will pursue the guilty and deliver them up in order that justice be done. Let that waing now be repeated so that no one shall fail to hear and understand. Let it be clearly understood that this applies not only .
Appendix
Leaflet to be Dropped over Germany
There are within your midst large numbers of persons forced-labor battalions and in concentration camps. Without regard to their nationality and whether they are Jewish or otherwise, Germans, these are my orders: You shall disregard any order from whatever source, to molest, or otherwise harm or persecute any of these people. As the Allied armies, already firmly on German soil, advance, we .
Appendix
The State Department Changes Its Position on Nazi War Crimes
n a statement defining the American position on the question, Mr. Grew said this Govement has made forthright and far-reaching proposals to the Allies for ways of carrying out this intention. While he would not disclose details to keep the information from the enemy, he said it was clear that the American people want the guilty to be punished and he emphasized that the Department .
Selected Bibliography
ndex
About the Author
Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies (www.WymanInstitute.org), which focuses on issues related to America’s response to the Holocaust. Dr. Medoff is the author of seven books about the Holocaust, Zionism, and the history of American Jewry, including, most recently, A Race against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust .