What did Churchill do about the Holocaust?

Answer 1

It seems incredible to think now, in this age of great communication, that 70 years ago the Prime Minister of one of the most powerful empires this world has ever known was unaware of what was going on throughout Europe. What could Churchill do anyway ? He himself was responsible for Bengali Holocaust, 6 million starved Indians, and was racist and for eugenics. Britain was fighting for its very survival. But I am of the opinion that Churchill knew very little about what was happening in, say, southern Poland, until the Russians relieved these terrible places. Yes, anti semitism was commonly known in Britain before the war, but what this had resulted in in terms of the mass of murders was a wholly different scale. It was one thing, if you'll pardon my comparison, to be horrid to the Jews, but to kill millions of them was something different. Britain did not go to war over the Jews, it went to war, eventually, to prevent the further expansion of Germany in Europe. The sad truth is that the Holocaust was seen as a by product of WW2, largely unseen until 1945, one might think a blind eye was turned. I think there wrere two blind eyes. When the Allies arrived at Belsen the shock was palpable & the horror never for a moment envisaged. but the fact remains even had Churchill known there was little he could have done more than he did, at least as Prime Minister from 1940. I'm not sure the conjecture of what would have happened had he been in power before that time is worth consideration.

Answer 2

apparently the british didn't know about the holocaust until they accidently invaded one of the concentration camps thinking it was a military camp. when they freed the Jews from it they allowed them to beat up the nazi soldiers.

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That is an urban legend. The British government was very well informed by the Polish Underground (resistance) about the Holocaust from late 1941 on, but at first they were reluctant to believe the reports ... However, from about September-October 1942 on they did release some information to the media.

There was a public debate in the newspapers about what might be done. Pamphlets appeared (I even have a copy of one that appeared in Britain in 1943); a committee was set up to try to help the victims or 'do something', but the harsh reality was that in practical terms there was very little that Britain could do.

Answer 3

Yes. By mid 1942 at the latest all the Allied leaders knew in outline about the Holocaust. But

even they did not know the appalling extent of it until they began liberating the camps toward the end of the war.