Editor’s note: This commentary is by Amy Carst, who is a writer, speaker and advocate for human rights. She has experience working in East Africa and the Middle East, has lived in Uganda, and travels frequently to these parts of the world. She researches and writes about immigrant and refugee resettlement for various media outlets, immigration attorneys, and immigrant-rights organizations around the world. She lives in central Vermont with her husband and three children.
[T]he Holocaust. I feel confident that most people reading this column would agree that the Holocaust was an absolute atrocity, one which should never be allowed to occur again. More than 6 million Jews were wiped off the face of the earth during this horrifically dark period in history. If you had been alive during the Holocaust, would you have spoken out against the senseless killing of millions of people? Would you have taken action?
I think we’d all like to believe that we would have stood on the right side of history. But to believe that, we’d have to believe we were in the extreme minority of Americans at the time. The fact is, about 83 percent of Americans were opposed to the admittance of Jewish refugees from Europe during the Holocaust. Why were 83 percent of Americans opposed to the resettlement of Jewish refugees during World War II? The two main drivers of this opposition were economic concerns and fear that communist infiltrators and Nazi spies would “sneak in” with the innocents. Sound familiar?
When we ask ourselves how so many millions of people could be tortured and killed while the rest of the world sat by and did nothing, we first have to understand how the story begins. In the 1930s, with the rise of the Nazi Party and its ideology of racial and national superiority, policies and laws were implemented for the purpose of stigmatizing and punishing “outsiders.” For example, Jews were prohibited from living in certain areas and from working in certain occupations. Combined with anti-Semitic propaganda, these new policies intended to make life in Germany so hard for Jews they would have no choice but to leave. Prior to 1941, Jews were encouraged to leave. Then things changed.
As public perception of Jews changed, violence against them began to rise. In 1938, synagogues, homes and businesses were burned. Many began to flee for their lives, seeking refuge in other parts of Europe and abroad. As Nazi occupation began to spread across Europe, neighboring countries were no longer safe. Desperate to escape, refugees had to look beyond their European neighbors. At the Evian Conference in France, delegates from 32 countries met to discuss the plight of the refugees. The outcome? Although each nation’s representative expressed sympathy for the refugees, they agreed that the global economic depression made it impossible to increase immigration quotas.
Even though refugee resettlement has proven, time and time again, to be of great benefit to local and national economies, and even though the threat of being killed by a terrorist on U.S. soil is almost zero, we continue to turn away innocent refugees.
The United States was no exception. The Great Depression had taken its toll on Americans, and the vast majority feared that accepting refugees would place an impossible burden on the economy. In addition to economic concerns, Americans were also fearful of the refugees. Anti-Semitic propaganda and many religious leaders and prominent businessmen — including Henry Ford — helped spread that fear. A popular radio personality at the time, Father Charles Coughlin, preached about the threat of Jewish refugees. He accused them of financial crimes, and claimed they were trying to take over the world. These fears, along with fears of Nazi spies and communist infiltrators, combined to create an exceedingly dangerous climate for Jews in Europe and around the world. More than 6 million Jews were tortured and killed as the rest of the world either turned a blind eye or actively participated in the murders.
And there you have it. How could the world sit by while millions of innocent people were killed? That’s how.
And it’s happening again.
Why are we so afraid of Syrian refugees and refugees from other predominantly Muslim countries? Once again, the most commonly cited concerns are economics and fear of the “bad ones” sneaking in with the innocents. Even though refugee resettlement has proven, time and time again, to be of great benefit to local and national economies, and even though the threat of being killed by a terrorist on U.S. soil is almost zero, we continue to turn away innocent refugees. Anti-Muslim propaganda is even more prevalent than anti-Semitic propaganda could have ever been, thanks to social and mainstream media, both of which would have us believe that terrorists are hiding in every closet, under every bed, behind every door.
Never again. A sentiment often associated with the Holocaust, “never again” is our reminder to never again allow such an atrocity to take place under our watch. Yet here we are, again. In 1940, Jews were as hated and feared as Muslims are today. History is repeating itself. Don’t sit back and watch.
