When did Americans first learn about the Holocaust?

Answer 1

The British government was informed by the Polish resistance in December 1941 but didn't want to know about it. Over the next twelve months or so more information reached the Allies, but didn't receive that much publicity.

Answer 2

The Soviet government knew from an early stage, and news of the first mass gassings reached the British and US governments in December 1941 but wass viewed with skepticism ...

In late 1942 some information about the Holocaust was released to the media and on 17 December 1942 the British government, together with 12 other Allied governments, issued a public condemnation of it.

Answer 3

As far as I know, in December 1941 from the Polish Resistance and from the British government (which also had information from the Polish Resistance). At that stage, both the US and British governments were skeptical about the reports they received.

Answer 4

From December 1941 onwards information reached Britain and the US from the Polish underground. Initially there was much skepticism about the accuracy of the reports. However, in November-December 1942 there was some discussion in the press in Britain of what, if anything, could be done to help the Jews, and in November 1942 the (London) News Chronicle first used the word a holocaust to describe what was happening in to the Jews Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.

There were reports in various other newspapers; there was even an article by Ben Hecht in Reader's Digest. In Britain a committee was set up to try to 'do something' to help the victims, but it achieved nothing.

It was known that the Nazis committed atrocities on a vast scale, but whether the public was aware that the Nazis were comitting genocide is doubtful.

It seems that very little of this information 'stuck' in the awareness of the general public - until the liberation of Bergen-Belsen and Dachau.

_________

1. The pre-war persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany was well known, but the genocide that started in 1941 was officially top secret and not that well known.

2. In 1941 reports reached Britain and the US from the Polish Underground about the systematic killing of the Jews. A British Foreign Office official wrote in the margin: "Bolshevist Propaganda?"

For a long time the Allies did not believe the reports and didn't want to know about what was happening. Part of the problem may have been that some of the early reports were exaggerated and not altogether credible. Moreover, Germany had an outstanding reputation as a civilized country ...

3. In late 1942/early 1943 the public seems to have become more aware, and there were open discussions in Britain and the U.S. about what could be done. However, there are indications that the government saw the issue as a distraction from the war effort and deflected interest in away from it.

Jan Karski, a top Polish courier twice spoke to President Roosevelt face to face about the Warsaw Ghetto and the genocide. All Roosevelt did was to reply that wrongdoers would be punished. Karski said that help was needed at once and that Nazis would not be put off by talk of punishment, to which Roosevelt said nothing.

4. Early in 1944 the U.S. government set up the War Refugee Board (with an annual budget of US$ 1 million only). It did manage to do some useful work.

4. In 1944 the Allies received very sound, detailed information from two men who had escaped from Auschwitz - Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler. This time there was a thunderous denunciation from the Allies.

5. Finally, Allied troops entered the camps, and were greeted by walking skeletons and indescribable horror ... This was extensively filmed and widely shown in cinemas.

6. The first major postwar trial (with 200 journalists from all over the world) took place in Septmeber-November 1945 at Lüneburg. Forty-five people were tried on charges relating to their actions at Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz. It was here that the world first heard about 'selections' at Auschwitz and other details of how the camps operated.

For some reason the reports and public discussions in 1942-43 seem not to have registered with the general public. In a war battles make much more interesting news than ongoing processes.

Answer 5

The media carried reports of the Holocaust from about the middle of 1942 onwards.

Answer 6

It is unclear whether 'help' means 'help to commit' or 'help to stop'.