"The U.S. and the Holocaust" Yearning to Breathe Free (1938-1942)

1 00:00:01,070 --> 00:00:03,244 Viewers like you make this program possible. 2 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,350 Support your local PBS station. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:13,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 4 00:00:19,916 --> 00:00:22,125 [Birds calling] 5 00:00:36,277 --> 00:00:38,728 [Horn honks] 6 00:00:38,762 --> 00:00:40,833 [Laughing] 7 00:00:40,868 --> 00:00:44,216 Daniel Mendelsohn: When I was a small child, 8 00:00:44,251 --> 00:00:46,460 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 00:00:46,494 --> 00:00:50,878 we would visit my grandpa and his wife 10 00:00:50,912 --> 00:00:52,949 down in Miami Beach. 11 00:00:54,502 --> 00:00:57,333 My grandfather was one of 7 siblings. 12 00:00:58,403 --> 00:01:03,097 5 immigrated to the States in the early twenties. 13 00:01:03,132 --> 00:01:07,343 They would gather together their old pals, 14 00:01:07,377 --> 00:01:10,967 and some of them would get very emotional 15 00:01:11,001 --> 00:01:14,074 when they saw me because they said I bore 16 00:01:14,108 --> 00:01:19,044 an uncanny resemblance to my great uncle Shmiel Jaeger. 17 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:22,461 ♪ 18 00:01:22,496 --> 00:01:26,983 I felt haunted by this guy because people looked at me 19 00:01:27,017 --> 00:01:29,296 and they thought of him. 20 00:01:29,330 --> 00:01:31,436 ♪ 21 00:01:31,470 --> 00:01:35,233 We had pictures of Shmiel and Ester, his wife, 22 00:01:35,267 --> 00:01:39,237 and these girls as they grew up in a provincial town 23 00:01:39,271 --> 00:01:42,550 in Eastern Poland 24 00:01:42,585 --> 00:01:45,726 because all through the 1920s they were sending pictures 25 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,901 as the girls were growing up. 26 00:01:48,936 --> 00:01:51,180 So we had pictures of them, 27 00:01:51,214 --> 00:01:53,596 and on the back of every picture, 28 00:01:53,630 --> 00:01:55,770 my grandfather always wrote, 29 00:01:55,805 --> 00:01:58,773 "Uncle Shmiel killed by the Nazis," 30 00:01:58,808 --> 00:02:01,742 or, "Aunt Ester killed by the Nazis." 31 00:02:01,776 --> 00:02:03,502 ♪ 32 00:02:03,537 --> 00:02:05,470 So I always wondered, "Why are there no stories 33 00:02:05,504 --> 00:02:07,403 about these people?" 34 00:02:07,437 --> 00:02:15,437 ♪ 35 00:02:19,932 --> 00:02:21,451 [Adolf Hitler speaking German] 36 00:02:51,688 --> 00:02:53,276 [Cheering] 37 00:02:53,311 --> 00:02:57,763 ♪ 38 00:02:57,798 --> 00:03:00,939 Narrator: In open defiance of the Versailles Treaty, 39 00:03:00,973 --> 00:03:04,391 Hitler had built a mighty military machine, 40 00:03:04,425 --> 00:03:08,533 then sent his forces to seize the Rhineland, Austria, 41 00:03:08,567 --> 00:03:11,674 and the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. 42 00:03:11,708 --> 00:03:13,917 ♪ 43 00:03:13,952 --> 00:03:16,161 The Nazis had relentlessly persecuted 44 00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:18,508 German and Austrian Jews, 45 00:03:18,543 --> 00:03:22,685 reducing their rights, expropriating their property, 46 00:03:22,719 --> 00:03:25,066 choking off their livelihoods, 47 00:03:25,101 --> 00:03:28,829 declaring them parasites, not citizens... 48 00:03:28,863 --> 00:03:30,313 ♪ 49 00:03:30,348 --> 00:03:33,972 And on the evening of November 9, 1938... 50 00:03:34,006 --> 00:03:37,389 Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass... 51 00:03:37,424 --> 00:03:42,118 Hitler unleashed Nazi mobs on Jews in cities and towns 52 00:03:42,152 --> 00:03:44,948 all over the newly expanded Germany, 53 00:03:44,983 --> 00:03:49,056 beating, burning, raping, killing, 54 00:03:49,090 --> 00:03:52,853 hoping to drive them all out of their country. 55 00:03:52,887 --> 00:03:54,475 ♪ 56 00:03:54,510 --> 00:03:57,478 Hundreds of thousands of German and Austrian Jews 57 00:03:57,513 --> 00:04:01,068 were now desperate to escape the Nazis. 58 00:04:01,102 --> 00:04:04,589 They knew their only hope lay in flight 59 00:04:04,623 --> 00:04:09,525 into friendly European countries or across the ocean 60 00:04:09,559 --> 00:04:11,665 to the United States. 61 00:04:11,699 --> 00:04:19,699 ♪ 62 00:04:24,505 --> 00:04:27,543 [Ship horn blows] 63 00:04:32,030 --> 00:04:35,551 Guünther Stern: I was getting ready, coming down the stairs, 64 00:04:35,585 --> 00:04:40,590 and the newspaper boy of the "St. Louis Star-Times" 65 00:04:40,625 --> 00:04:43,317 came along, and he was shouting, 66 00:04:43,352 --> 00:04:45,733 "Synagogues burning in Germany. 67 00:04:45,768 --> 00:04:47,804 Read all about it," 68 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,532 and, I... I... I... I... I didn't get it at first, 69 00:04:51,567 --> 00:04:55,640 and then I... I knew what it meant, 70 00:04:55,674 --> 00:05:01,162 and, I... it... it shattered another past... 71 00:05:01,197 --> 00:05:03,993 another part of my past, 72 00:05:04,027 --> 00:05:08,238 and that was the first inkling I got 73 00:05:08,273 --> 00:05:13,313 of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. 74 00:05:13,347 --> 00:05:15,729 Peter Hayes: At every American consulate in Germany, 75 00:05:15,763 --> 00:05:18,732 there were Jews seeking refuge because their houses 76 00:05:18,766 --> 00:05:21,355 had been pillaged overnight and so forth, 77 00:05:21,390 --> 00:05:24,116 and this was reported in American newspapers. 78 00:05:24,151 --> 00:05:27,810 The "Chicago Tribune," which was an isolationist newspaper 79 00:05:27,844 --> 00:05:29,225 in the middle of North America, 80 00:05:29,259 --> 00:05:31,123 had pictures of burning synagogues 81 00:05:31,158 --> 00:05:34,713 in early November 1938. 82 00:05:34,748 --> 00:05:36,277 Deborah Lipstadt: It's on the front pages 83 00:05:36,301 --> 00:05:38,165 of American newspapers. 84 00:05:38,199 --> 00:05:40,512 Some major newspapers have it 85 00:05:40,547 --> 00:05:46,311 on the front page day after day after day. 86 00:05:46,346 --> 00:05:48,382 People are shocked. 87 00:05:48,417 --> 00:05:50,626 ♪ 88 00:05:50,660 --> 00:05:55,562 In America, there is a tremendous response, 89 00:05:55,596 --> 00:05:57,874 even from those who don't want Jews coming 90 00:05:57,909 --> 00:05:59,807 and even from antisemitic sources 91 00:05:59,842 --> 00:06:03,121 because while being an antisemite is one thing, 92 00:06:03,155 --> 00:06:04,985 but this is a civilized country 93 00:06:05,019 --> 00:06:06,607 seemingly going crazy, 94 00:06:06,642 --> 00:06:09,541 seemingly completely out of control, 95 00:06:09,576 --> 00:06:12,717 and there is tremendous criticism. 96 00:06:12,751 --> 00:06:14,132 ♪ 97 00:06:14,166 --> 00:06:16,445 This is not merely a Jewish question, 98 00:06:16,479 --> 00:06:19,724 a Catholic question, a Protestant question, 99 00:06:19,758 --> 00:06:22,968 a political question or a labor question. 100 00:06:23,003 --> 00:06:25,971 It is one, however, that goes to the foundation 101 00:06:26,006 --> 00:06:30,286 upon which we have erected the America that has stood 102 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,738 all during our political life for the preservation 103 00:06:33,772 --> 00:06:35,429 of worldwide civilization. 104 00:06:35,464 --> 00:06:37,431 Any attack on a minority group 105 00:06:37,466 --> 00:06:41,193 in any country is an attack on democracy itself. 106 00:06:41,228 --> 00:06:43,817 Sheen: We might almost say that Nazi savagery 107 00:06:43,851 --> 00:06:46,060 against the Jew is the straw that broke 108 00:06:46,095 --> 00:06:47,648 the camel's back. 109 00:06:47,683 --> 00:06:49,754 [Applause] 110 00:06:49,788 --> 00:06:51,480 ♪ 111 00:06:51,514 --> 00:06:53,205 Narrator: At President Roosevelt's 112 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,760 weekly press conference, he said he could 113 00:06:55,794 --> 00:06:58,901 "scarcely believe that such a thing could occur 114 00:06:58,935 --> 00:07:01,179 in a 20th century civilization" 115 00:07:01,213 --> 00:07:04,113 and withdrew his ambassador from Berlin, 116 00:07:04,147 --> 00:07:07,427 the only world leader to do so. 117 00:07:07,461 --> 00:07:09,808 Lipstadt: Because of this public response, 118 00:07:09,843 --> 00:07:12,915 the Germans make a strategic decision. 119 00:07:12,949 --> 00:07:15,607 There will be... things will only get worse from here, 120 00:07:15,642 --> 00:07:17,367 but it's not going to be on the front pages 121 00:07:17,402 --> 00:07:19,404 of the newspaper. 122 00:07:19,439 --> 00:07:21,613 Hayes: FDR, who was normally very cautious 123 00:07:21,648 --> 00:07:24,444 about his policy, did the one thing in that interval 124 00:07:24,478 --> 00:07:26,722 that he could do by executive action. 125 00:07:26,756 --> 00:07:29,863 He said every Jew in America from Germany 126 00:07:29,897 --> 00:07:33,763 who was here on a tourist visa could now stay. 127 00:07:33,798 --> 00:07:36,352 Narrator: "It would be a cruel and inhumane thing 128 00:07:36,386 --> 00:07:39,528 to compel them to leave," Roosevelt told the press. 129 00:07:39,562 --> 00:07:43,704 "I cannot in any decent humanity throw them out." 130 00:07:43,739 --> 00:07:46,535 But when a reporter asked if there were plans 131 00:07:46,569 --> 00:07:49,848 for a "relaxation of our immigration restriction," 132 00:07:49,883 --> 00:07:54,025 the president answered only, "That is not in contemplation. 133 00:07:54,059 --> 00:07:56,717 We have the quota system." 134 00:07:56,752 --> 00:07:58,236 ♪ 135 00:07:58,270 --> 00:08:00,894 Roosevelt had no executive power to change 136 00:08:00,928 --> 00:08:02,274 that system. 137 00:08:02,309 --> 00:08:05,450 Only Congress could alter it. 138 00:08:05,485 --> 00:08:07,901 Mae Ngai: The people who thought that immigrants 139 00:08:07,935 --> 00:08:11,905 from Eastern and Southern Europe should be highly restricted, 140 00:08:11,939 --> 00:08:14,873 they were some of the worst white supremacists 141 00:08:14,908 --> 00:08:16,426 in the Congress, 142 00:08:16,461 --> 00:08:19,671 and they had deep-seated antisemitism, 143 00:08:19,706 --> 00:08:22,502 so they were at the forefront of making sure 144 00:08:22,536 --> 00:08:27,092 that as little would be done as possible 145 00:08:27,127 --> 00:08:29,750 for Jewish refugees. 146 00:08:29,785 --> 00:08:34,030 Man: This country belongs to the people of this country. 147 00:08:34,065 --> 00:08:37,862 I am not willing myself, while hundreds of thousands 148 00:08:37,896 --> 00:08:41,175 in this country are hungry, perhaps millions 149 00:08:41,210 --> 00:08:43,764 of children underfed, 150 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:46,422 and hordes of young boys and girls 151 00:08:46,456 --> 00:08:48,942 coming into active life seeking jobs 152 00:08:48,976 --> 00:08:55,051 without ability to get them, to let down the bars. 153 00:08:55,086 --> 00:08:57,467 Senator William Borah. 154 00:08:57,502 --> 00:08:58,641 ♪ 155 00:08:58,676 --> 00:09:00,436 Narrator: In the midterm elections, 156 00:09:00,470 --> 00:09:02,542 Republicans had increased their numbers 157 00:09:02,576 --> 00:09:04,682 in both the House and Senate. 158 00:09:04,716 --> 00:09:07,857 The president found himself more dependent than ever 159 00:09:07,892 --> 00:09:11,551 on conservative Southern Democratic committee chairmen, 160 00:09:11,585 --> 00:09:15,934 all opposed to allowing more refugees. 161 00:09:15,969 --> 00:09:18,178 The public remained overwhelmingly 162 00:09:18,212 --> 00:09:20,560 against any change. 163 00:09:20,594 --> 00:09:23,079 The "Christian Century" editorialized that 164 00:09:23,114 --> 00:09:26,393 admitting more Jews would just exacerbate 165 00:09:26,427 --> 00:09:30,915 what it called, "America's Jewish problem." 166 00:09:30,949 --> 00:09:32,513 Daniel Greene: Two weeks after Kristallnacht, 167 00:09:32,537 --> 00:09:34,643 Americans are asked two questions. 168 00:09:34,677 --> 00:09:36,299 "Do you disapprove of this?" 169 00:09:36,334 --> 00:09:37,749 And 94% of Americans say, 170 00:09:37,784 --> 00:09:39,613 "Yes, we disapprove of this." 171 00:09:39,648 --> 00:09:41,615 And then they're asked, "So should we let in 172 00:09:41,650 --> 00:09:44,480 Jewish exiles from Germany?" 173 00:09:44,514 --> 00:09:47,172 And more than 7 out of 10 say no. 174 00:09:47,207 --> 00:09:48,829 ♪ 175 00:09:50,624 --> 00:09:52,902 Narrator: In Germany, even some rank-and-file 176 00:09:52,937 --> 00:09:55,629 Nazi party members thought the brutality 177 00:09:55,664 --> 00:09:58,563 of Kristallnacht had been excessive, 178 00:09:58,598 --> 00:10:01,739 but Nazi leaders were more impressed by the fact 179 00:10:01,773 --> 00:10:05,570 that no one had lifted a hand in Germany to stop it, 180 00:10:05,605 --> 00:10:09,263 and they were unmoved by the outcry overseas. 181 00:10:09,298 --> 00:10:10,782 ♪ 182 00:10:10,817 --> 00:10:13,785 They decided to make life still more impossible 183 00:10:13,820 --> 00:10:16,236 for the hundreds of thousands of Jews 184 00:10:16,270 --> 00:10:19,032 still in harm's way. 185 00:10:19,066 --> 00:10:21,966 As what the Nazis called "atonement" for the murder 186 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,658 of the German diplomat in Paris that had been 187 00:10:24,693 --> 00:10:28,248 the pretext for Kristallnacht, the Jewish community was 188 00:10:28,282 --> 00:10:31,838 fined one billion Reichsmarks. 189 00:10:31,872 --> 00:10:34,530 They were made to clean up the rubble of their own houses 190 00:10:34,564 --> 00:10:37,326 and businesses and places of worship 191 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,467 and pay for it all themselves. 192 00:10:40,501 --> 00:10:43,021 The regime confiscated their radios, 193 00:10:43,056 --> 00:10:46,162 canceled their newspaper subscriptions. 194 00:10:46,197 --> 00:10:49,752 It expelled Jewish children from state schools, 195 00:10:49,787 --> 00:10:54,067 barred their parents from driving or owning a car, 196 00:10:54,101 --> 00:10:59,555 banned Jews from parks, cinemas, theaters, concert halls, 197 00:10:59,589 --> 00:11:02,144 and from those few professions that still 198 00:11:02,178 --> 00:11:04,387 had been open to them. 199 00:11:04,422 --> 00:11:08,702 Finally, Jewish Germans were banned from running businesses 200 00:11:08,737 --> 00:11:12,602 or buying or selling goods of any kind. 201 00:11:12,637 --> 00:11:14,639 ♪ 202 00:11:14,674 --> 00:11:17,504 Even getting out of the Reich now meant dropping 203 00:11:17,538 --> 00:11:19,471 into destitution. 204 00:11:19,506 --> 00:11:22,060 Emigrants were permitted to take with them 205 00:11:22,095 --> 00:11:24,304 just 10 Reichsmarks. 206 00:11:24,338 --> 00:11:25,650 ♪ 207 00:11:25,685 --> 00:11:28,895 Fully 5% of the fast-growing Reich budget 208 00:11:28,929 --> 00:11:32,899 would be funded by property looted from Jews. 209 00:11:32,933 --> 00:11:35,695 ♪ 210 00:11:35,729 --> 00:11:39,146 By the end of 1938, half of all the Jews remaining 211 00:11:39,181 --> 00:11:44,600 in Germany had applied for visas to the United States. 212 00:11:44,634 --> 00:11:47,396 Raymond Geist, the senior American diplomat 213 00:11:47,430 --> 00:11:51,952 still left at Berlin, feared he knew what was coming next. 214 00:11:51,987 --> 00:11:54,990 "The Germans have embarked on a program of annihilation 215 00:11:55,024 --> 00:11:58,752 of the Jews," he wrote to a colleague. 216 00:11:58,787 --> 00:12:03,274 "We shall be allowed to save the remnants if we choose." 217 00:12:03,308 --> 00:12:04,862 ♪ 218 00:12:04,896 --> 00:12:09,521 On January 30, 1939, the sixth anniversary 219 00:12:09,556 --> 00:12:11,972 of his taking power, the Fuhrer stood 220 00:12:12,007 --> 00:12:15,217 before the Reichstag and seemed to confirm 221 00:12:15,251 --> 00:12:17,667 Raymond Geist's prediction. 222 00:12:37,618 --> 00:12:40,035 [Cheering] 223 00:12:41,864 --> 00:12:45,281 Lipstadt: The time to stop a genocide is 224 00:12:45,316 --> 00:12:47,249 before it happens, 225 00:12:47,283 --> 00:12:49,665 and whether you're talking about World War II 226 00:12:49,699 --> 00:12:51,943 or you're talking about Turkey and the Armenians, 227 00:12:51,978 --> 00:12:55,050 the time to stop it is before it happens. 228 00:12:55,084 --> 00:12:58,467 So that when Hitler is speaking out and saying 229 00:12:58,501 --> 00:13:00,780 these horrendous things and Germany is 230 00:13:00,814 --> 00:13:03,817 disenfranchising Jews and conducting things 231 00:13:03,852 --> 00:13:07,959 like Kristallnacht, that's the time to take action. 232 00:13:07,994 --> 00:13:10,065 [Horns honking] 233 00:13:11,963 --> 00:13:16,002 Susan Hilsenrath: My father had a cousin who lived 234 00:13:16,036 --> 00:13:20,316 in the Bronx, and they had a pickle factory, 235 00:13:20,351 --> 00:13:24,424 and they figured that maybe they would help them come 236 00:13:24,458 --> 00:13:26,771 to the United States, 237 00:13:26,806 --> 00:13:28,946 but it was almost impossible 238 00:13:28,980 --> 00:13:31,741 because the United States had a quota, 239 00:13:31,776 --> 00:13:36,954 and I guess our family didn't fit into this quota. 240 00:13:36,988 --> 00:13:41,682 So my father had to think of some kind of way 241 00:13:41,717 --> 00:13:45,963 to get his children into a safe place. 242 00:13:45,997 --> 00:13:48,172 Joseph Hilsenrath: Our parents told us 243 00:13:48,206 --> 00:13:49,863 that we had to get out, 244 00:13:49,898 --> 00:13:54,454 leave, and that they would follow us 245 00:13:54,488 --> 00:13:58,216 and that we would go to, to France, 246 00:13:58,251 --> 00:14:04,878 where people would take children out of the country for money. 247 00:14:04,913 --> 00:14:07,570 Susan: My father had heard of this lady, 248 00:14:07,605 --> 00:14:11,712 a French lady, who smuggled children 249 00:14:11,747 --> 00:14:14,819 across the border into France, 250 00:14:14,854 --> 00:14:17,166 and I understand that he 251 00:14:17,201 --> 00:14:19,237 gave her all of the money 252 00:14:19,272 --> 00:14:21,136 to take my brother and me 253 00:14:21,170 --> 00:14:23,897 across the border. 254 00:14:23,932 --> 00:14:26,382 I was almost 10 years old by then, 255 00:14:26,417 --> 00:14:29,351 and my brother was 8, 256 00:14:29,385 --> 00:14:31,353 and... 257 00:14:31,387 --> 00:14:34,149 ♪ 258 00:14:34,183 --> 00:14:39,326 I remember it vaguely because the horror of being 259 00:14:39,361 --> 00:14:43,779 separated from my parents, I have pushed it 260 00:14:43,813 --> 00:14:46,955 way in the back of my mind. 261 00:14:46,989 --> 00:14:51,028 I can't remember how we got to the train station 262 00:14:51,062 --> 00:14:54,031 and how we said good-bye to them, 263 00:14:54,065 --> 00:14:56,792 but all I know now is, I mean, I'm a mother 264 00:14:56,826 --> 00:15:00,071 and I'm a grandmother, and the idea 265 00:15:00,106 --> 00:15:02,798 of... of sending my children away 266 00:15:02,832 --> 00:15:08,666 is... is... is... is un... is unbelievably horrible. 267 00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:11,980 I can't even imagine doing that. 268 00:15:12,014 --> 00:15:18,814 ♪ 269 00:15:19,988 --> 00:15:23,819 [Artie Shaw and Billie Holiday's "Any Old Time" playing] 270 00:15:23,853 --> 00:15:26,235 [Cheering and applause] 271 00:15:26,270 --> 00:15:34,270 ♪ 272 00:15:34,381 --> 00:15:38,972 Stern: There were, I guess, 3 elements that were 273 00:15:39,007 --> 00:15:42,803 my pathway to America. 274 00:15:42,838 --> 00:15:44,978 One was baseball, 275 00:15:45,013 --> 00:15:51,088 and secondly, it was music. 276 00:15:51,122 --> 00:15:54,229 I'd never heard jazz before... 277 00:15:54,263 --> 00:15:55,782 ♪ 278 00:15:55,816 --> 00:16:00,580 And the third entrance was through a girlfriend. 279 00:16:00,614 --> 00:16:02,099 ♪ 280 00:16:02,133 --> 00:16:05,757 We walked arm in arm, and those 281 00:16:05,792 --> 00:16:08,588 beautiful American songs, 282 00:16:08,622 --> 00:16:10,693 they were washing over us, 283 00:16:10,728 --> 00:16:14,283 and we were singing and feeling good 284 00:16:14,318 --> 00:16:18,253 at the few moments I had of that relaxing moment 285 00:16:18,287 --> 00:16:22,015 when I became somewhat more American. 286 00:16:22,050 --> 00:16:23,361 ♪ 287 00:16:23,396 --> 00:16:26,744 Holiday: ♪ Any old time you want me ♪ 288 00:16:26,778 --> 00:16:28,746 ♪ I am yours 289 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:31,852 ♪ For just the asking, darling 290 00:16:31,887 --> 00:16:33,613 ♪ Any old time... 291 00:16:33,647 --> 00:16:37,134 Narrator: Guünther Stern's girlfriend Ida Mae Schwartzberg 292 00:16:37,168 --> 00:16:40,275 had trouble pronouncing his name. 293 00:16:40,309 --> 00:16:44,279 Stern: My name, at school, was still Guünther. 294 00:16:44,313 --> 00:16:48,628 My girlfriend said, "I can't pronounce it. 295 00:16:48,662 --> 00:16:50,388 "That's a tongue twister. 296 00:16:50,423 --> 00:16:53,150 "I'll leave you the first two letters of your name 297 00:16:53,184 --> 00:16:55,014 "and add a 'y', and that's what 298 00:16:55,048 --> 00:16:57,016 I will call you... Guy." 299 00:16:57,050 --> 00:16:58,120 Heh! 300 00:17:00,157 --> 00:17:02,814 Man: Dear Guünther, We have been waiting for a letter 301 00:17:02,849 --> 00:17:05,162 from you for so long. 302 00:17:05,196 --> 00:17:07,267 It is comforting to hear from you, 303 00:17:07,302 --> 00:17:10,650 even if you have yet to accomplish anything for us. 304 00:17:10,684 --> 00:17:13,032 Please pull out all the stops, dear Guünther, 305 00:17:13,066 --> 00:17:16,138 so we can all be reunited. 306 00:17:16,173 --> 00:17:18,830 Narrator: Every few months, Guy received a letter 307 00:17:18,865 --> 00:17:22,179 from his parents back in Hildesheim, Germany, 308 00:17:22,213 --> 00:17:26,942 sometimes including photographs of his family. 309 00:17:26,976 --> 00:17:29,669 Stern: It really shows that one person 310 00:17:29,703 --> 00:17:31,809 is missing in there. 311 00:17:31,843 --> 00:17:34,674 Where the hell am I? 312 00:17:34,708 --> 00:17:36,503 I belong there. 313 00:17:37,470 --> 00:17:40,197 Narrator: Guy tried again and again to find someone 314 00:17:40,231 --> 00:17:42,889 willing to put up a guarantee of as much 315 00:17:42,923 --> 00:17:46,203 as $5,000 to sponsor his family's coming 316 00:17:46,237 --> 00:17:48,964 to the United States... more than 3 times 317 00:17:48,998 --> 00:17:53,520 the average annual income of an American worker. 318 00:17:53,555 --> 00:17:55,246 He had no luck. 319 00:17:56,247 --> 00:18:00,286 Stern: And then, a miracle happened. 320 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:02,805 Narrator: One Friday, hitchhiking to work, 321 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,015 he was picked up by a man in a fancy car, 322 00:18:06,050 --> 00:18:09,260 who after hearing his story offered to help. 323 00:18:09,295 --> 00:18:11,745 Guy immediately set up an appointment for them 324 00:18:11,780 --> 00:18:14,990 to meet with a lawyer who had helped other families 325 00:18:15,024 --> 00:18:18,580 obtain affidavits of support. 326 00:18:18,614 --> 00:18:20,099 ♪ 327 00:18:20,133 --> 00:18:22,549 Stern: We went there on a Saturday morning, 328 00:18:22,584 --> 00:18:28,935 and the lawyer, a pompous, supercilious man, said, 329 00:18:28,969 --> 00:18:31,213 "And what's your occupation?" 330 00:18:31,248 --> 00:18:34,113 And he said, "I'm a gambler." 331 00:18:34,147 --> 00:18:36,701 And the lawyer said, 332 00:18:36,736 --> 00:18:38,496 "We can stop right here. 333 00:18:38,531 --> 00:18:41,568 "It says in the law, the person furnishing 334 00:18:41,603 --> 00:18:47,540 "the affidavit has to be a well-established, 335 00:18:47,574 --> 00:18:52,372 highly reputed person of the community." 336 00:18:52,407 --> 00:18:55,893 And I said, "Well, couldn't we say something 337 00:18:55,927 --> 00:18:58,033 like, 'businessman'?" 338 00:18:58,067 --> 00:19:00,415 This lawyer rose to his full height. 339 00:19:00,449 --> 00:19:04,384 "And deceive the U.S. Government?" 340 00:19:04,419 --> 00:19:09,286 And he added something else that was insulting. 341 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:13,428 The man took his hat and walked out. 342 00:19:13,462 --> 00:19:17,156 My great chance... 343 00:19:17,190 --> 00:19:22,713 rested on one damned lawyer. 344 00:19:22,747 --> 00:19:25,025 ♪ 345 00:19:25,060 --> 00:19:30,203 Here, a Jewish lawyer who saw all the niceties 346 00:19:30,238 --> 00:19:35,070 of the law and not the dilemma of life and death, 347 00:19:35,104 --> 00:19:37,452 which I had spread out. 348 00:19:37,486 --> 00:19:38,970 ♪ 349 00:19:39,005 --> 00:19:40,593 [Laughter] 350 00:19:40,627 --> 00:19:42,053 Newsreel announcer: 200 boys and girls wave a greeting 351 00:19:42,077 --> 00:19:44,424 to England, land of the free. 352 00:19:44,459 --> 00:19:47,013 They are between the ages 5 and 17. 353 00:19:47,047 --> 00:19:48,980 The advance guard of the first 5,000 Jewish 354 00:19:49,015 --> 00:19:52,087 and non-Aryan child refugees from Germany have been provided 355 00:19:52,121 --> 00:19:54,227 with a temporary home here while arrangements 356 00:19:54,262 --> 00:19:55,884 are made for them to emigrate. 357 00:19:55,918 --> 00:19:57,713 Narrator: After Kristallnacht, Britain 358 00:19:57,748 --> 00:20:01,924 had allowed 10,000 children... but not their parents... 359 00:20:01,959 --> 00:20:06,308 to escape Nazism in what was called the Kindertransport. 360 00:20:06,343 --> 00:20:07,906 Newsreel announcer: And the youngsters tuck in 361 00:20:07,930 --> 00:20:09,114 as if they hadn't a care in the world. 362 00:20:09,138 --> 00:20:11,624 Narrator: In February 1939, 363 00:20:11,658 --> 00:20:15,110 Democratic Senator Robert Wagner of New York 364 00:20:15,144 --> 00:20:18,424 and Republican Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers 365 00:20:18,458 --> 00:20:22,428 of Massachusetts introduced a new bill. 366 00:20:22,462 --> 00:20:25,258 Greene: The bill says, "Let's let in 10,0000 kids 367 00:20:25,293 --> 00:20:28,192 between the age of 5 and 14 per year," 368 00:20:28,227 --> 00:20:31,195 1939 and 1940, and, "Let's not count them 369 00:20:31,230 --> 00:20:34,129 against the immigration quota system." 370 00:20:34,163 --> 00:20:36,580 Narrator: The First Lady backed the bill. 371 00:20:36,614 --> 00:20:39,272 Her husband privately offered advice 372 00:20:39,307 --> 00:20:44,933 on how it might be passed but said nothing in public, 373 00:20:44,967 --> 00:20:46,521 but the American Legion, 374 00:20:46,555 --> 00:20:49,317 the Daughters of the American Revolution, 375 00:20:49,351 --> 00:20:53,010 and the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies 376 00:20:53,044 --> 00:20:55,288 were all opposed. 377 00:20:55,323 --> 00:20:58,326 They had favored some of the 60 bills that had 378 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:03,538 recently been introduced to reduce immigration quotas. 379 00:21:03,572 --> 00:21:06,092 Nell Irvin Painter: It's a xenophobic refusal. 380 00:21:06,126 --> 00:21:10,648 I can't explain it because it seems so cruel to me, 381 00:21:10,683 --> 00:21:14,721 especially given a country as big as the United States 382 00:21:14,756 --> 00:21:17,103 with plenty of space. 383 00:21:17,137 --> 00:21:20,175 I do understand it in terms of antisemitism. 384 00:21:20,209 --> 00:21:23,247 I don't want to understand that antisemitism 385 00:21:23,282 --> 00:21:26,595 could be so deep and so cruel. 386 00:21:26,630 --> 00:21:28,770 Father Coughlin: If I know the American public 387 00:21:28,804 --> 00:21:32,118 who fought the League of Nations propagandists... 388 00:21:32,152 --> 00:21:34,396 Narrator: Father Coughlin called for the creation 389 00:21:34,431 --> 00:21:37,434 of a national "Christian Front" to combat 390 00:21:37,468 --> 00:21:41,334 the influence of what he called "Communistic Jews" 391 00:21:41,369 --> 00:21:43,992 and claimed to his vast radio audience 392 00:21:44,026 --> 00:21:48,341 that Jewish businessmen were firing their Christian employees 393 00:21:48,376 --> 00:21:51,724 to make room for Jewish refugees. 394 00:21:51,758 --> 00:21:54,347 Coughlin: There is still the United States Senate 395 00:21:54,382 --> 00:21:58,489 with whom these forces must contend... 396 00:21:58,524 --> 00:22:00,353 Lipstadt: The restrictionists... the people 397 00:22:00,388 --> 00:22:02,459 who want to restrict immigration... 398 00:22:02,493 --> 00:22:06,221 the isolationists, the antisemites 399 00:22:06,255 --> 00:22:07,843 come out of the woodwork. 400 00:22:07,878 --> 00:22:10,881 Democrats, Republicans, people say things like, 401 00:22:10,915 --> 00:22:17,370 "Well, 10,000 ugly children will grow into 10,000 ugly adults." 402 00:22:17,405 --> 00:22:18,854 ♪ 403 00:22:18,889 --> 00:22:20,994 Woman as Eleanor Roosevelt: What has happened to us 404 00:22:21,029 --> 00:22:23,376 in this country? 405 00:22:23,411 --> 00:22:27,138 We have always been ready to receive the unfortunates 406 00:22:27,173 --> 00:22:29,762 from other countries, and though this may seem 407 00:22:29,796 --> 00:22:34,387 a generous gesture on our part, we have profited 408 00:22:34,422 --> 00:22:38,805 a thousand-fold by what they have brought us. 409 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:40,842 Eleanor Roosevelt. 410 00:22:40,876 --> 00:22:43,327 ♪ 411 00:22:43,362 --> 00:22:45,778 Narrator: No group was more adamantly opposed 412 00:22:45,812 --> 00:22:50,334 to admitting Jewish refugees than the German American Bund. 413 00:22:50,369 --> 00:22:52,405 [Drums tapping] 414 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:56,064 20,000 members would fill Madison Square Garden 415 00:22:56,098 --> 00:22:59,274 on Washington's Birthday. 416 00:22:59,308 --> 00:23:02,795 They were led by Fritz Kuhn, a German immigrant 417 00:23:02,829 --> 00:23:06,143 who fancied himself the "American Fuhrer." 418 00:23:06,177 --> 00:23:07,593 [Applause] 419 00:23:20,571 --> 00:23:22,262 [Applause] 420 00:23:27,923 --> 00:23:30,409 [Louder applause] 421 00:23:30,443 --> 00:23:31,893 Narrator: Other speakers railed 422 00:23:31,927 --> 00:23:35,172 against the president "Frank D. Rosenfeld" 423 00:23:35,206 --> 00:23:37,243 and his "Jew Deal." 424 00:23:37,277 --> 00:23:40,488 Kunze: We only call upon our leaders to awake 425 00:23:40,522 --> 00:23:45,147 to the fact that the Jew is as alien in body, mind, 426 00:23:45,182 --> 00:23:48,703 and soul as any other non-Aryan 427 00:23:48,737 --> 00:23:51,706 and that he is a thousand times more dangerous to us 428 00:23:51,740 --> 00:23:56,055 than all the others by reason of his parasitic nature. 429 00:23:56,089 --> 00:23:58,713 [Cheering and applause] 430 00:23:58,747 --> 00:24:02,475 ♪ 431 00:24:02,510 --> 00:24:06,065 [Audience members chanting, "Heil Hitler!"] 432 00:24:06,099 --> 00:24:08,861 ♪ 433 00:24:08,895 --> 00:24:11,622 Great floods of tears for a few hundred thousand 434 00:24:11,657 --> 00:24:15,488 job-taking so-called poor Jewish refugees, 435 00:24:15,523 --> 00:24:17,594 who incidentally in general... 436 00:24:17,628 --> 00:24:20,148 [Booing] 437 00:24:20,182 --> 00:24:24,670 have more of this world's goods than you or I will ever possess. 438 00:24:24,704 --> 00:24:28,087 [Applause] 439 00:24:28,121 --> 00:24:30,434 ♪ 440 00:24:30,469 --> 00:24:32,609 Narrator: A "Fortune" magazine poll found 441 00:24:32,643 --> 00:24:35,370 that only 1 in 10 respondents 442 00:24:35,404 --> 00:24:37,406 favored increasing quotas 443 00:24:37,441 --> 00:24:40,513 or making exemptions for refugees, 444 00:24:40,548 --> 00:24:43,378 and 4 out of 10 believed Jews had 445 00:24:43,412 --> 00:24:46,692 "too much power in the United States." 446 00:24:46,726 --> 00:24:53,802 ♪ 447 00:24:53,837 --> 00:24:58,358 It further found that 85% of American Protestants 448 00:24:58,393 --> 00:25:01,741 and 84% of Catholics opposed 449 00:25:01,776 --> 00:25:05,883 offering sanctuary to European refugees. 450 00:25:05,918 --> 00:25:09,887 So did more than a quarter of Jewish Americans. 451 00:25:09,922 --> 00:25:11,682 ♪ 452 00:25:11,717 --> 00:25:15,479 During hearings on the bill to admit some refugee children, 453 00:25:15,514 --> 00:25:18,309 a witness said that it should be passed 454 00:25:18,344 --> 00:25:21,347 because it was true to the American tradition 455 00:25:21,381 --> 00:25:24,143 of providing sanctuary for religious 456 00:25:24,177 --> 00:25:26,697 and political refugees. 457 00:25:26,732 --> 00:25:30,114 New York Congressman Samuel Dickstein 458 00:25:30,149 --> 00:25:32,289 gently corrected him. 459 00:25:32,323 --> 00:25:34,636 "This is the form of our government, 460 00:25:34,671 --> 00:25:39,538 "but as a matter of fact we have never done the things we preach. 461 00:25:39,572 --> 00:25:42,782 We talked about it." 462 00:25:42,817 --> 00:25:44,681 Hayes: The advocates of that bill, the people 463 00:25:44,715 --> 00:25:48,512 who submitted it, withdrew it, and they withdrew it 464 00:25:48,547 --> 00:25:50,963 because they thought if it comes to the floor 465 00:25:50,997 --> 00:25:54,000 it will open the way to other proposals 466 00:25:54,035 --> 00:25:58,626 to utterly stop all immigration into the United States. 467 00:25:58,660 --> 00:26:02,871 In 1939 for FDR, the most important political challenge 468 00:26:02,906 --> 00:26:05,391 he faced was getting the Congress 469 00:26:05,425 --> 00:26:07,704 to revoke the neutrality acts, 470 00:26:07,738 --> 00:26:10,120 the acts that restricted our ability to supply 471 00:26:10,154 --> 00:26:13,088 other countries if they became involved in a war 472 00:26:13,123 --> 00:26:14,918 with Nazi Germany. 473 00:26:14,952 --> 00:26:17,610 The relaxing of the immigration quotas 474 00:26:17,645 --> 00:26:21,614 was less important to him than that. 475 00:26:21,649 --> 00:26:23,512 To us looking back, we tend to think that 476 00:26:23,547 --> 00:26:25,825 the most important thing was the humanitarian crisis 477 00:26:25,860 --> 00:26:28,483 of the time, but of course if FDR 478 00:26:28,517 --> 00:26:31,659 had not succeeded in repealing the neutrality acts 479 00:26:31,693 --> 00:26:36,318 in 1939 and 1940, we might think otherwise. 480 00:26:41,910 --> 00:26:44,223 Mendelsohn: My grandfather, Abraham Jaeger, 481 00:26:44,257 --> 00:26:46,605 he emigrated with his older sister 482 00:26:46,639 --> 00:26:49,021 from this small town in Poland. 483 00:26:49,055 --> 00:26:53,646 My grandfather always, you know, prided himself 484 00:26:53,681 --> 00:26:56,511 once he got his citizenship on being an American. 485 00:26:56,545 --> 00:26:57,857 He celebrated everything, 486 00:26:57,892 --> 00:26:59,514 the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving. 487 00:26:59,548 --> 00:27:01,171 He loved it. 488 00:27:01,205 --> 00:27:09,205 ♪ 489 00:27:10,007 --> 00:27:13,079 Narrator: Abraham Jaeger's older brother Shmiel 490 00:27:13,114 --> 00:27:14,909 had not loved America. 491 00:27:14,943 --> 00:27:18,913 He had arrived in New York back in 1912, 492 00:27:18,947 --> 00:27:21,122 quickly saw that the teeming streets 493 00:27:21,156 --> 00:27:25,782 of the Lower East Side were not paved with gold. 494 00:27:25,816 --> 00:27:30,579 Woman: Shmiel saw the pushcarts on Delancey Street. 495 00:27:30,614 --> 00:27:34,514 The Jews who lived down in those Jewish areas 496 00:27:34,549 --> 00:27:36,275 was not his style. 497 00:27:36,309 --> 00:27:37,932 He was a gentleman, 498 00:27:37,966 --> 00:27:40,900 and he says, "At home, I have vineyards 499 00:27:40,935 --> 00:27:44,663 "and orchards and a beautiful house. 500 00:27:44,697 --> 00:27:46,354 What do I need America?" 501 00:27:46,388 --> 00:27:48,011 [Dog barking] 502 00:27:48,045 --> 00:27:50,945 Narrator: After less than a year, Shmiel Jaeger decided 503 00:27:50,979 --> 00:27:57,158 to return to his hometown Bolechow in eastern Poland. 504 00:27:57,192 --> 00:28:00,575 Eventually he married his sweetheart Ester, 505 00:28:00,609 --> 00:28:04,579 became a successful butcher, and had 4 daughters... 506 00:28:04,613 --> 00:28:08,859 Lorka, Frydka, Ruchele, and Bronia. 507 00:28:08,894 --> 00:28:11,034 ♪ 508 00:28:11,068 --> 00:28:14,589 Marlene: Shmiel was the oldest brother, 509 00:28:14,623 --> 00:28:18,697 and there was respect and reverence. 510 00:28:18,731 --> 00:28:21,389 They called him the mayor of the town. 511 00:28:21,423 --> 00:28:24,047 He was exceedingly handsome, 512 00:28:24,081 --> 00:28:27,188 and then they had all those darling children. 513 00:28:27,222 --> 00:28:28,810 ♪ 514 00:28:28,845 --> 00:28:31,330 Mendelsohn: My grandfather used to say with a sigh, 515 00:28:31,364 --> 00:28:33,988 you know, "My older brother wanted to be a big fish 516 00:28:34,022 --> 00:28:37,992 "in a small pond, so he went back to Bolechow, 517 00:28:38,026 --> 00:28:41,512 and he was a big fish in a small pond." 518 00:28:41,547 --> 00:28:43,929 And that was the right decision for him, 519 00:28:43,963 --> 00:28:50,349 as strange as that sounds, knowing what later happened. 520 00:28:50,383 --> 00:28:51,902 Narrator: In the late 1930s, 521 00:28:51,937 --> 00:28:55,112 antisemitism intensified in Poland. 522 00:28:55,147 --> 00:28:57,770 The Catholic Church and the right-wing government 523 00:28:57,805 --> 00:29:01,118 promoted boycotts of Jewish businesses. 524 00:29:01,153 --> 00:29:03,776 Politicians pressured Poland's Jews 525 00:29:03,811 --> 00:29:06,503 to leave the country. 526 00:29:06,537 --> 00:29:09,437 Gangs attacked their Jewish neighbors. 527 00:29:09,471 --> 00:29:12,785 Thugs threatened Shmiel on the street. 528 00:29:12,820 --> 00:29:15,892 Hanging over everything was the growing possibility 529 00:29:15,926 --> 00:29:19,999 of a German invasion, which would surely make life 530 00:29:20,034 --> 00:29:22,899 far more harsh. 531 00:29:22,933 --> 00:29:25,694 Man: From reading the papers, you know a little about what 532 00:29:25,729 --> 00:29:28,663 the Jews are going through here, but what you know 533 00:29:28,697 --> 00:29:31,321 is just one one-hundredth of it. 534 00:29:31,355 --> 00:29:34,634 When you go out into the street or drive on the road, 535 00:29:34,669 --> 00:29:37,016 you're barely 10% sure that you'll come back 536 00:29:37,051 --> 00:29:41,503 with a whole head or your legs in one piece. 537 00:29:41,538 --> 00:29:42,919 Shmiel. 538 00:29:42,953 --> 00:29:45,680 Narrator: "I know that in America life 539 00:29:45,714 --> 00:29:49,235 doesn't shine on everyone," he wrote to his relatives 540 00:29:49,270 --> 00:29:51,444 back in the United States. 541 00:29:51,479 --> 00:29:54,137 "Still, at least they aren't gripped 542 00:29:54,171 --> 00:29:56,898 by constant terror." 543 00:29:56,933 --> 00:29:59,176 [Crowd cheering] 544 00:29:59,211 --> 00:30:04,837 On March 15, 1939, German troops marched into Prague, 545 00:30:04,872 --> 00:30:08,910 the capital of what remained of Czechoslovakia. 546 00:30:08,945 --> 00:30:14,260 100,000 more Jews now fell into Hitler's hands. 547 00:30:14,295 --> 00:30:17,263 Hitler's promise of peace to Britain and France 548 00:30:17,298 --> 00:30:21,647 at Munich had lasted less than 6 months. 549 00:30:21,681 --> 00:30:24,339 "In a fortnight," he said, "no one will give it 550 00:30:24,374 --> 00:30:26,341 any thought." 551 00:30:26,376 --> 00:30:30,207 It was clear that Poland would be his next target. 552 00:30:30,242 --> 00:30:33,245 Hitler was sure that France and Britain would not dare 553 00:30:33,279 --> 00:30:35,109 intervene there either. 554 00:30:35,143 --> 00:30:38,457 "Our enemies are little worms," Hitler said. 555 00:30:38,491 --> 00:30:41,460 "I saw them at Munich." 556 00:30:41,494 --> 00:30:43,945 This time, Hitler was wrong. 557 00:30:43,980 --> 00:30:46,154 Britain and France finally saw 558 00:30:46,189 --> 00:30:47,397 the folly of trying to 559 00:30:47,431 --> 00:30:50,227 appease him further. 560 00:30:50,262 --> 00:30:52,505 If he attacked Poland, 561 00:30:52,540 --> 00:30:54,887 this time they would fight back. 562 00:30:54,922 --> 00:30:57,096 [Train whistle blowing] 563 00:30:57,131 --> 00:31:01,204 With war more likely than ever, more and more Jews 564 00:31:01,238 --> 00:31:04,483 were desperate to get off the continent. 565 00:31:04,517 --> 00:31:06,623 Sol Messinger: It was very difficult to get a visa 566 00:31:06,657 --> 00:31:08,349 to the United States, 567 00:31:08,383 --> 00:31:14,562 so our family decided that we would try to go to Cuba, 568 00:31:14,596 --> 00:31:16,840 mainly, I guess, because it was close 569 00:31:16,875 --> 00:31:19,118 to the United States. 570 00:31:19,153 --> 00:31:21,120 Narrator: The Cuban government was now selling 571 00:31:21,155 --> 00:31:24,813 refugees tourist visas that allowed them to land 572 00:31:24,848 --> 00:31:28,024 on the island and stay until their turn came 573 00:31:28,058 --> 00:31:31,199 to emigrate to the United States. 574 00:31:31,234 --> 00:31:35,514 Messinger: My mother finally managed to get a Cuban visa 575 00:31:35,548 --> 00:31:38,448 and tickets to go on the St. Louis, 576 00:31:38,482 --> 00:31:42,383 but then the problem was my father was still in Poland. 577 00:31:42,417 --> 00:31:45,041 He had been deported back. 578 00:31:45,075 --> 00:31:47,422 My mother wrote him. She said she had the visas, 579 00:31:47,457 --> 00:31:53,601 but she wasn't going to leave unless he could join us, 580 00:31:53,635 --> 00:31:57,294 and he wrote back, "Leave unless you want 581 00:31:57,329 --> 00:32:01,057 your son's blood on your hands." 582 00:32:01,091 --> 00:32:04,439 The day before we were supposed to leave for Hamburg, 583 00:32:04,474 --> 00:32:06,855 there was a knock on the door, and my mother screamed 584 00:32:06,890 --> 00:32:10,549 because she recognized my father's knock. 585 00:32:10,583 --> 00:32:12,516 Ran to the door, opened the door, 586 00:32:12,551 --> 00:32:14,415 and my father was there. 587 00:32:14,449 --> 00:32:16,969 He had gotten permission from the German government 588 00:32:17,004 --> 00:32:19,765 to come back to Germany for two days 589 00:32:19,799 --> 00:32:22,423 so we could leave together. 590 00:32:22,457 --> 00:32:24,080 ♪ 591 00:32:24,114 --> 00:32:26,979 So the next day, we went to Hamburg, 592 00:32:27,014 --> 00:32:30,914 and we got on the ship, the St. Louis. 593 00:32:30,949 --> 00:32:35,746 Narrator: The St. Louis left Hamburg on May 13, 1939, 594 00:32:35,781 --> 00:32:38,957 one of many ships carrying passengers anxious 595 00:32:38,991 --> 00:32:41,476 to escape the coming storm. 596 00:32:41,511 --> 00:32:45,239 ♪ 597 00:32:45,273 --> 00:32:49,139 More refugees got on at Cherbourg. 598 00:32:49,174 --> 00:32:53,868 Almost all of the 937 passengers were Jewish, 599 00:32:53,902 --> 00:32:57,354 most from Germany, some from Eastern Europe, 600 00:32:57,389 --> 00:33:00,081 and still others, like the Messingers, 601 00:33:00,116 --> 00:33:02,877 now officially "stateless." 602 00:33:02,911 --> 00:33:05,535 Messinger: We all were standing at the railing, 603 00:33:05,569 --> 00:33:09,021 looking at Germany getting a little and farther 604 00:33:09,056 --> 00:33:13,129 and farther away, and my father started crying, 605 00:33:13,163 --> 00:33:14,820 and my mother looked at him, and she says, 606 00:33:14,854 --> 00:33:16,546 "What are you crying about? 607 00:33:16,580 --> 00:33:20,032 We're finally together, you're... we're leaving Germany," 608 00:33:20,067 --> 00:33:23,001 and he said, "Well, of course, you're right, 609 00:33:23,035 --> 00:33:25,106 "but I'm crying because we're leaving 610 00:33:25,141 --> 00:33:28,730 "so many of our relatives here, and God only knows 611 00:33:28,765 --> 00:33:30,525 when we'll see them again." 612 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:32,562 ♪ 613 00:33:32,596 --> 00:33:36,773 Narrator: They traveled in comfort, dining, dancing, 614 00:33:36,807 --> 00:33:41,019 sunbathing, swimming in the ship's pool. 615 00:33:41,053 --> 00:33:43,883 The liner's captain Gustave Schroöder 616 00:33:43,918 --> 00:33:45,920 was an anti-Nazi. 617 00:33:45,954 --> 00:33:48,060 He saw to it that a portrait of Hitler 618 00:33:48,095 --> 00:33:51,546 was taken down during Friday night prayers 619 00:33:51,581 --> 00:33:54,618 and insisted that his crew treat his passengers 620 00:33:54,653 --> 00:33:58,415 with a kind of courtesy no Jewish person was afforded 621 00:33:58,450 --> 00:34:02,005 then anywhere under Hitler's control... 622 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:03,938 ♪ 623 00:34:03,972 --> 00:34:05,215 [Ship horn blowing] 624 00:34:05,250 --> 00:34:07,114 but when the ship reached Havana, 625 00:34:07,148 --> 00:34:10,013 it was clear that something was wrong. 626 00:34:10,048 --> 00:34:11,394 ♪ 627 00:34:11,428 --> 00:34:16,192 Only 28 passengers were allowed to come ashore. 628 00:34:16,226 --> 00:34:20,127 All the rest, over 900 people who had paid 629 00:34:20,161 --> 00:34:23,095 a corrupt Cuban official back in Germany 630 00:34:23,130 --> 00:34:26,236 thousands of dollars for their tourist visas, 631 00:34:26,271 --> 00:34:29,515 were ordered to stay on board. 632 00:34:29,550 --> 00:34:33,209 Messinger: The next day, it turned out that we were told 633 00:34:33,243 --> 00:34:37,247 that Cuba had invalidated our visas. 634 00:34:37,282 --> 00:34:40,526 We had paid for them, we had gotten them, 635 00:34:40,561 --> 00:34:43,702 we had gotten to Cuba only to find out that 636 00:34:43,736 --> 00:34:47,395 they had invalidated our visas. 637 00:34:47,430 --> 00:34:49,777 Narrator: Things had changed in Cuba 638 00:34:49,811 --> 00:34:51,986 since the St. Louis set sail. 639 00:34:52,020 --> 00:34:56,059 Antisemitism had always been strong on the island, 640 00:34:56,094 --> 00:34:59,718 and some 4,000 mostly Jewish refugees 641 00:34:59,752 --> 00:35:02,376 had settled there in recent months. 642 00:35:02,410 --> 00:35:07,035 5 days before the St. Louis sailed, 40,000 Cubans 643 00:35:07,070 --> 00:35:11,281 had gathered in Havana to protest their presence. 644 00:35:11,316 --> 00:35:15,009 Nazi agents encouraged rumors that the refugees 645 00:35:15,043 --> 00:35:17,460 would take Cuban jobs. 646 00:35:17,494 --> 00:35:19,979 The largest Cuban newspaper's headline 647 00:35:20,014 --> 00:35:23,397 demanded "Out with the Jews!" 648 00:35:23,431 --> 00:35:27,435 Under the pressure, the Cuban government reneged. 649 00:35:27,470 --> 00:35:29,437 ♪ 650 00:35:29,472 --> 00:35:32,958 For 6 days, friends and relatives who had come 651 00:35:32,992 --> 00:35:37,135 to Cuba earlier circled the ship in small boats, 652 00:35:37,169 --> 00:35:39,861 passing up fresh food and shouting 653 00:35:39,896 --> 00:35:42,209 what encouragement they could. 654 00:35:42,243 --> 00:35:44,832 ♪ 655 00:35:44,866 --> 00:35:48,560 Finally, the Cuban government ordered the St. Louis 656 00:35:48,594 --> 00:35:50,907 out of Havana Harbor. 657 00:35:52,322 --> 00:35:55,049 For 4 days, the ship steamed aimlessly 658 00:35:55,083 --> 00:35:58,846 along the Florida coast, her stunned passengers 659 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,367 unsure where they were now to go. 660 00:36:02,401 --> 00:36:04,369 Messinger: I remember it was dusk, 661 00:36:04,403 --> 00:36:07,889 and my father and I were standing at the railing, 662 00:36:07,924 --> 00:36:10,029 and I saw some lights in the distance, 663 00:36:10,064 --> 00:36:13,619 and I said to my father, "What are those lights?" 664 00:36:13,654 --> 00:36:17,036 And he said, "Oh, that's a city in the United States 665 00:36:17,071 --> 00:36:19,453 called Miami." 666 00:36:19,487 --> 00:36:22,835 So I've... I've been in Miami since then, 667 00:36:22,870 --> 00:36:25,804 and whenever I walk along the beach 668 00:36:25,838 --> 00:36:28,186 and look out at the water, 669 00:36:28,220 --> 00:36:32,466 I get this very strange feeling because now 670 00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:38,748 I'm where I was dying to be in the... in 1939. 671 00:36:38,782 --> 00:36:41,578 Narrator: Some on board the ship wired an appeal 672 00:36:41,613 --> 00:36:45,962 to President Roosevelt, begging him to intervene. 673 00:36:45,996 --> 00:36:48,896 They did not receive a reply. 674 00:36:48,930 --> 00:36:52,106 Instead, the State Department insisted 675 00:36:52,140 --> 00:36:54,419 that the passengers would have to "Wait their turns 676 00:36:54,453 --> 00:36:58,285 "on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain 677 00:36:58,319 --> 00:37:01,219 "immigration visas before they may be admissible 678 00:37:01,253 --> 00:37:04,981 into the United States." 679 00:37:05,015 --> 00:37:08,260 That could take years. 680 00:37:08,295 --> 00:37:12,022 Canada wouldn't take them either. 681 00:37:12,057 --> 00:37:15,854 The St. Louis turned back toward Europe. 682 00:37:17,959 --> 00:37:19,858 Man: The "New York Times." 683 00:37:19,892 --> 00:37:21,653 The saddest ship afloat today, 684 00:37:21,687 --> 00:37:24,103 the Hamburg-American liner St. Louis, 685 00:37:24,138 --> 00:37:26,623 with 900 Jewish refugees aboard, 686 00:37:26,658 --> 00:37:29,592 steaming back toward Germany after a tragic week 687 00:37:29,626 --> 00:37:31,421 of frustration. 688 00:37:31,456 --> 00:37:35,287 No plague ship ever received a sorrier welcome. 689 00:37:35,322 --> 00:37:40,292 At Havana, the St. Louis' decks became a stage for human misery. 690 00:37:40,327 --> 00:37:42,812 There seems to be no help for them now. 691 00:37:42,846 --> 00:37:47,230 The St. Louis will soon be home with her cargo of despair. 692 00:37:47,265 --> 00:37:48,300 ♪ 693 00:37:48,335 --> 00:37:50,544 Narrator: A Nazi journal gloated. 694 00:37:50,578 --> 00:37:53,892 "We say openly that we do not want the Jews 695 00:37:53,926 --> 00:37:56,688 "while the democracies keep on claiming that they are 696 00:37:56,722 --> 00:38:00,726 "willing to receive them and then leave the guests 697 00:38:00,761 --> 00:38:03,108 out in the cold!" 698 00:38:03,142 --> 00:38:05,317 "The resolve of most of the people aboard," 699 00:38:05,352 --> 00:38:08,251 one passenger wrote, "is to die rather 700 00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:11,289 than to see Hamburg again." 701 00:38:11,323 --> 00:38:14,499 Captain Schroder considered running his ship aground 702 00:38:14,533 --> 00:38:17,329 somewhere off England or France, 703 00:38:17,364 --> 00:38:19,400 anything to keep the passengers 704 00:38:19,435 --> 00:38:22,265 from having to return to Germany. 705 00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:24,923 ♪ 706 00:38:24,957 --> 00:38:27,581 A private relief organization called 707 00:38:27,615 --> 00:38:30,929 The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 708 00:38:30,963 --> 00:38:34,726 along with The Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, 709 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,350 negotiated furiously with European governments, 710 00:38:38,385 --> 00:38:41,629 trying to get them to accept the passengers. 711 00:38:41,664 --> 00:38:43,528 ♪ 712 00:38:43,562 --> 00:38:46,427 They managed to scrape together the enormous sum 713 00:38:46,462 --> 00:38:51,605 of $500,000 and finally convinced England, France, 714 00:38:51,639 --> 00:38:56,368 Belgium, and the Netherlands to take them all in. 715 00:38:56,403 --> 00:38:59,198 "Our gratitude is as immense as the ocean 716 00:38:59,233 --> 00:39:01,856 on which we are now floating," the passengers 717 00:39:01,891 --> 00:39:05,584 cabled to those who had arranged their rescue. 718 00:39:05,619 --> 00:39:08,518 ♪ 719 00:39:08,553 --> 00:39:13,316 The St. Louis would dock in Belgium, not Germany. 720 00:39:13,351 --> 00:39:14,731 ♪ 721 00:39:14,766 --> 00:39:16,906 Messinger: We got word that 4 countries in Europe 722 00:39:16,940 --> 00:39:21,117 had agreed to split the passengers up among them, 723 00:39:21,151 --> 00:39:24,292 and we ended up in Belgium. 724 00:39:24,327 --> 00:39:27,330 Narrator: No one aboard the St. Louis was returned 725 00:39:27,365 --> 00:39:32,370 to Germany, but 254 of the passengers 726 00:39:32,404 --> 00:39:35,338 would be murdered after the Nazis overran 727 00:39:35,373 --> 00:39:39,446 the countries that had given them sanctuary. 728 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:45,003 Nearly 3/4 of the passengers would survive. 729 00:39:48,455 --> 00:39:52,148 ♪ 730 00:39:52,182 --> 00:39:54,288 [Newsreel announcer speaking Russian] 731 00:40:09,476 --> 00:40:13,169 Narrator: On August 23, 9 weeks after the St. Louis 732 00:40:13,203 --> 00:40:16,206 returned to Europe, the world was stunned 733 00:40:16,241 --> 00:40:19,347 by an announcement from Moscow... 734 00:40:19,382 --> 00:40:21,971 the Nazi and Soviet governments... 735 00:40:22,005 --> 00:40:24,387 sworn enemies for years... 736 00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:27,459 had signed a 10-year non-aggression pact 737 00:40:27,494 --> 00:40:31,325 that would let Hitler and Stalin destroy Poland 738 00:40:31,359 --> 00:40:35,674 and divide its territory between them. 739 00:40:35,709 --> 00:40:41,646 Poland was home to 3,300,000 Jews. 740 00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:44,614 [Air raid siren] 741 00:40:44,649 --> 00:40:46,685 [People shouting] 742 00:40:48,791 --> 00:40:52,450 On September 1, 1939, Hitler launched 743 00:40:52,484 --> 00:40:57,800 his "Blitzkrieg," his "lightning war," on Poland. 744 00:40:57,834 --> 00:40:59,008 [Explosion] 745 00:40:59,042 --> 00:41:01,666 The Second World War had begun. 746 00:41:05,497 --> 00:41:08,293 "It's come at last," President Roosevelt said 747 00:41:08,327 --> 00:41:11,745 when he was awakened with the news. 748 00:41:11,779 --> 00:41:14,092 "God help us all." 749 00:41:18,717 --> 00:41:21,996 As German warplanes attacked Warsaw that evening, 750 00:41:22,031 --> 00:41:24,654 Chaim Kaplan, the director of a Jewish school 751 00:41:24,689 --> 00:41:28,969 in that city, made a note in his diary. 752 00:41:29,003 --> 00:41:32,110 "We are witnessing the dawn of a new era in the history 753 00:41:32,144 --> 00:41:33,905 of the world," he wrote. 754 00:41:33,939 --> 00:41:36,528 "This war will indeed bring destruction 755 00:41:36,563 --> 00:41:39,427 "upon human civilization. 756 00:41:39,462 --> 00:41:45,192 "As for the Jews, their danger is 7 times greater. 757 00:41:45,226 --> 00:41:48,402 "Wherever Hitler treads, there is no hope 758 00:41:48,436 --> 00:41:50,162 for the Jewish people." 759 00:41:50,197 --> 00:41:51,819 ♪ 760 00:41:51,854 --> 00:41:55,651 Roosevelt: This nation will remain a neutral nation, 761 00:41:55,685 --> 00:42:00,414 but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral 762 00:42:00,448 --> 00:42:03,417 in thought, as well. 763 00:42:03,451 --> 00:42:08,802 Even a neutral has a right to take account of facts. 764 00:42:08,836 --> 00:42:14,462 Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind 765 00:42:14,497 --> 00:42:17,086 or to close his conscience. 766 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,191 ♪ 767 00:42:19,226 --> 00:42:22,298 Narrator: The president and most of his fellow citizens 768 00:42:22,332 --> 00:42:24,714 sympathized with the Nazis' victims, 769 00:42:24,749 --> 00:42:28,131 and some wanted to help France and England as they went 770 00:42:28,166 --> 00:42:30,858 to war against Germany, 771 00:42:30,893 --> 00:42:33,620 but a far larger number was still opposed 772 00:42:33,654 --> 00:42:36,968 to any American involvement overseas for fear 773 00:42:37,002 --> 00:42:40,212 the Allies would pull the United States 774 00:42:40,247 --> 00:42:42,318 into another war. 775 00:42:42,352 --> 00:42:44,147 Roosevelt: And that I hate war... 776 00:42:44,182 --> 00:42:47,323 Narrator: Roosevelt was careful not to get too far 777 00:42:47,357 --> 00:42:50,119 ahead of public opinion. 778 00:42:50,153 --> 00:42:51,638 Roosevelt: I hope the United States 779 00:42:51,672 --> 00:42:54,572 will keep out of this war. 780 00:42:54,606 --> 00:42:57,471 I believe that it will, 781 00:42:57,505 --> 00:43:00,785 and I give you assurance and reassurance 782 00:43:00,819 --> 00:43:03,270 that every effort of your government 783 00:43:03,304 --> 00:43:06,791 will be directed toward that end. 784 00:43:06,825 --> 00:43:08,620 ♪ 785 00:43:08,655 --> 00:43:11,036 Narrator: The United States was poorly prepared 786 00:43:11,071 --> 00:43:13,280 for conflict in any case. 787 00:43:13,314 --> 00:43:17,595 The segregated army was smaller than that of Bulgaria, 788 00:43:17,629 --> 00:43:21,357 fewer than 190,000 men in uniform, 789 00:43:21,391 --> 00:43:24,429 fitted out with tin hats and leggings issued 790 00:43:24,463 --> 00:43:27,846 during the Great War and carrying rifles 791 00:43:27,881 --> 00:43:30,884 designed in 1903. 792 00:43:30,918 --> 00:43:33,507 Meanwhile, the president believed the best way 793 00:43:33,541 --> 00:43:37,373 to avoid having to enter the war was to do all he could 794 00:43:37,407 --> 00:43:39,686 to aid France and England. 795 00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:42,758 He called Congress into special session and asked 796 00:43:42,792 --> 00:43:45,553 it to end the embargo on the sale of arms 797 00:43:45,588 --> 00:43:47,935 to belligerents so that the Allies would be 798 00:43:47,970 --> 00:43:52,077 better prepared for whatever Hitler did next. 799 00:43:52,112 --> 00:43:56,323 Isolationists flooded Washington with antiwar messages. 800 00:43:56,357 --> 00:43:58,912 ♪ 801 00:43:58,946 --> 00:44:02,536 After 6 weeks of sometimes bitter debate, 802 00:44:02,570 --> 00:44:05,297 Congress did lift the embargo 803 00:44:05,332 --> 00:44:09,405 but only if buyers paid cash. 804 00:44:09,439 --> 00:44:12,511 That same month, a "Fortune" magazine poll 805 00:44:12,546 --> 00:44:16,205 found that only 20% of Americans favored aiding 806 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:18,759 the European democracies 807 00:44:18,794 --> 00:44:21,728 while 54% of the country were happy 808 00:44:21,762 --> 00:44:24,938 for the United States to trade with Nazis 809 00:44:24,972 --> 00:44:29,080 and democratic governments alike. 810 00:44:29,114 --> 00:44:31,807 "What worries me," FDR wrote to a friend, 811 00:44:31,841 --> 00:44:35,362 "is that public opinion over here is patting itself 812 00:44:35,396 --> 00:44:38,399 "on the back every morning thanking God 813 00:44:38,434 --> 00:44:41,299 for the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans." 814 00:44:41,333 --> 00:44:43,163 ♪ 815 00:44:43,197 --> 00:44:44,785 [Radio stations changing] 816 00:44:44,820 --> 00:44:46,925 Charles Lindbergh: I speak tonight to those people 817 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:50,032 in the United States of America who feel that 818 00:44:50,066 --> 00:44:52,966 the destiny of this country does not call 819 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:56,832 for our involvement in European wars. 820 00:44:56,866 --> 00:45:00,145 Narrator: There was another voice on the radio now, too, 821 00:45:00,180 --> 00:45:03,183 the voice of the only American whose fame 822 00:45:03,217 --> 00:45:05,150 approached Roosevelt's, 823 00:45:05,185 --> 00:45:09,327 the celebrated aviator Charles A. Lindbergh. 824 00:45:09,361 --> 00:45:12,779 His message was very different. 825 00:45:12,813 --> 00:45:15,229 Lindbergh: These wars in Europe are not wars 826 00:45:15,264 --> 00:45:18,198 in which our civilization is defending itself 827 00:45:18,232 --> 00:45:21,132 against some Asiatic intruder. 828 00:45:21,166 --> 00:45:23,997 This is not a question of banding together to defend 829 00:45:24,031 --> 00:45:27,069 the white race against foreign invasion. 830 00:45:27,103 --> 00:45:28,622 ♪ 831 00:45:28,656 --> 00:45:31,452 We must not permit our sentiment, our pity, 832 00:45:31,487 --> 00:45:33,558 or our personal feelings of sympathy 833 00:45:33,592 --> 00:45:35,180 to obscure the issue, 834 00:45:35,215 --> 00:45:38,045 to affect our children's lives. 835 00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,704 We must be as impersonal as a surgeon with his knife. 836 00:45:41,739 --> 00:45:42,981 ♪ 837 00:45:43,016 --> 00:45:45,156 Narrator: Lindbergh had first visited Germany 838 00:45:45,190 --> 00:45:50,333 in 1936 at the invitation of the American military attaché 839 00:45:50,368 --> 00:45:53,026 in Berlin, who was eager to glean 840 00:45:53,060 --> 00:45:57,547 information about the fast-growing Luftwaffe. 841 00:45:57,582 --> 00:46:01,344 He returned two more times. 842 00:46:01,379 --> 00:46:05,038 The Nazis did everything they could to impress him, 843 00:46:05,072 --> 00:46:09,214 awarding him the Service Cross of the German Eagle... 844 00:46:09,249 --> 00:46:10,526 ♪ 845 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,115 And Lindbergh was impressed. 846 00:46:13,149 --> 00:46:17,982 He admired the regime's virility and emphasis on order. 847 00:46:18,016 --> 00:46:22,055 His wife Anne thought Hitler "a very great man" 848 00:46:22,089 --> 00:46:27,025 maligned by what she called "Jewish propaganda." 849 00:46:27,060 --> 00:46:29,062 The couple had even considered moving 850 00:46:29,096 --> 00:46:32,513 to the leafy Berlin suburb of Wannsee 851 00:46:32,548 --> 00:46:36,345 until Kristallnacht made them rethink. 852 00:46:36,379 --> 00:46:39,831 "My admiration for the Germans is constantly being 853 00:46:39,866 --> 00:46:43,179 dashed against some such rock as this," 854 00:46:43,214 --> 00:46:44,940 Lindbergh wrote privately. 855 00:46:44,974 --> 00:46:47,390 "I do not understand these riots. 856 00:46:47,425 --> 00:46:52,016 "It seems contrary to their sense of order and intelligence. 857 00:46:52,050 --> 00:46:55,502 "They have undoubtedly had a difficult Jewish problem, 858 00:46:55,536 --> 00:47:01,163 but why is it necessary to handle it so unreasonably?" 859 00:47:01,197 --> 00:47:04,822 On his voyage home from Europe in 1938, 860 00:47:04,856 --> 00:47:08,826 Lindbergh had been irritated by the number of Jewish refugees 861 00:47:08,860 --> 00:47:11,207 among his fellow passengers. 862 00:47:11,242 --> 00:47:14,866 "Imagine the United States taking these Jews 863 00:47:14,901 --> 00:47:17,558 in addition to those we already have," 864 00:47:17,593 --> 00:47:19,388 he'd written in his diary. 865 00:47:19,422 --> 00:47:23,288 "There are too many places like New York already. 866 00:47:23,323 --> 00:47:27,603 "A few Jews add strength and character to a country, 867 00:47:27,637 --> 00:47:30,537 "but too many create chaos, 868 00:47:30,571 --> 00:47:33,885 "and we are getting too many. 869 00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:39,166 This present immigration will have its reaction." 870 00:47:39,201 --> 00:47:42,273 Lindbergh: Our bond with Europe is a bond of race 871 00:47:42,307 --> 00:47:45,655 and not of political ideology. 872 00:47:45,690 --> 00:47:48,451 It is the European race we must preserve. 873 00:47:48,486 --> 00:47:50,868 Political progress will follow. 874 00:47:50,902 --> 00:47:55,010 Racial strength is vital, politics, a luxury. 875 00:47:55,044 --> 00:47:58,599 If the white race is ever seriously threatened, 876 00:47:58,634 --> 00:48:01,257 it may then be time for us to take our part 877 00:48:01,292 --> 00:48:05,917 in its protection, to fight side by side with English, 878 00:48:05,952 --> 00:48:09,127 French, and Germans, but not with one 879 00:48:09,162 --> 00:48:12,372 against the other for our mutual destruction. 880 00:48:12,406 --> 00:48:14,167 ♪ 881 00:48:14,201 --> 00:48:16,134 Narrator: "If I should die tomorrow, 882 00:48:16,169 --> 00:48:19,586 I want you to know this," the president told a friend. 883 00:48:19,620 --> 00:48:24,142 "I am absolutely convinced that Lindbergh is a Nazi." 884 00:48:24,177 --> 00:48:25,764 ♪ 885 00:48:25,799 --> 00:48:28,940 For the next 27 months, Franklin Roosevelt 886 00:48:28,975 --> 00:48:32,668 and Charles Lindbergh would engage in a bitter struggle 887 00:48:32,702 --> 00:48:36,983 over whose vision of the country would prevail 888 00:48:37,017 --> 00:48:41,228 and about the future of Western civilization itself. 889 00:48:41,263 --> 00:48:42,920 [Bombs whistling] 890 00:48:42,954 --> 00:48:46,095 ♪ 891 00:48:46,130 --> 00:48:48,235 [Explosion] 892 00:48:48,270 --> 00:48:51,307 ♪ 893 00:48:51,342 --> 00:48:54,241 "Every war costs blood," Hitler had told 894 00:48:54,276 --> 00:48:56,934 his commanders just before sending them 895 00:48:56,968 --> 00:49:01,214 into western Poland, "and the smell of blood arouses 896 00:49:01,248 --> 00:49:04,838 "in man all the instincts which have lain within us 897 00:49:04,872 --> 00:49:07,427 "since the beginning of the world. 898 00:49:07,461 --> 00:49:10,361 ♪ 899 00:49:10,395 --> 00:49:16,367 A humane war exists only in bloodless brains." 900 00:49:16,401 --> 00:49:19,404 There was nothing bloodless, nothing humane, 901 00:49:19,439 --> 00:49:22,200 about the German assault. 902 00:49:22,235 --> 00:49:24,823 In the wake of the Panzer divisions that pierced 903 00:49:24,858 --> 00:49:28,586 Poland's defenses, thousands of SS troops 904 00:49:28,620 --> 00:49:30,760 and German infantrymen fanned out 905 00:49:30,795 --> 00:49:33,315 across the countryside. 906 00:49:33,349 --> 00:49:36,904 Their goal was to destroy the Polish state and reduce 907 00:49:36,939 --> 00:49:40,529 the Polish people to a leaderless population 908 00:49:40,563 --> 00:49:42,910 of peasants and workers. 909 00:49:42,945 --> 00:49:44,360 ♪ 910 00:49:44,395 --> 00:49:47,432 Told that anyone who dared resist the advancing 911 00:49:47,467 --> 00:49:50,746 master race was guilty of "insolence," 912 00:49:50,780 --> 00:49:52,748 within 5 weeks they had killed 913 00:49:52,782 --> 00:49:56,717 some 3,000 Polish prisoners of war, 914 00:49:56,752 --> 00:49:59,858 destroyed more than 530 villages, 915 00:49:59,893 --> 00:50:02,137 burned or blown up synagogues, 916 00:50:02,171 --> 00:50:06,831 and murdered at least 45,000 unarmed Poles... 917 00:50:06,865 --> 00:50:10,110 priests, professors, political leaders, 918 00:50:10,145 --> 00:50:13,631 anyone thought capable of mounting resistance, 919 00:50:13,665 --> 00:50:17,117 as well as Jews, 920 00:50:17,152 --> 00:50:19,154 and while the Germans imposed their rule 921 00:50:19,188 --> 00:50:22,019 on western Poland, the Soviet Union 922 00:50:22,053 --> 00:50:25,056 swallowed up its eastern half. 923 00:50:25,091 --> 00:50:30,820 150,000 Poles were drafted into the Red Army. 924 00:50:30,855 --> 00:50:34,238 The Soviets shipped 200,000 civilians deemed 925 00:50:34,272 --> 00:50:38,035 dangerous to Kazakhstan and Siberia, 926 00:50:38,069 --> 00:50:43,316 where tens of thousands froze or starved to death. 927 00:50:43,350 --> 00:50:48,183 They also secretly shot 22,000 Polish officers 928 00:50:48,217 --> 00:50:51,082 and intellectuals and buried their corpses 929 00:50:51,117 --> 00:50:55,983 in mass graves in and around the Katyn Forest. 930 00:50:56,018 --> 00:50:58,296 ♪ 931 00:50:58,331 --> 00:51:01,817 Hitler's goal was always a racially "pure," 932 00:51:01,851 --> 00:51:04,578 steadily expanding Greater Germany, 933 00:51:04,613 --> 00:51:07,857 but as it expanded, it inevitably encompassed 934 00:51:07,892 --> 00:51:10,274 more and more Jews. 935 00:51:10,308 --> 00:51:13,691 Before the invasion, Poland had the highest proportion 936 00:51:13,725 --> 00:51:15,969 of Jews in Europe. 937 00:51:16,003 --> 00:51:18,868 Nearly two million of them lived in the region 938 00:51:18,903 --> 00:51:21,354 Germany had seized. 939 00:51:21,388 --> 00:51:24,495 Most were people without means and access 940 00:51:24,529 --> 00:51:27,429 to diplomats or consulates or well-connected 941 00:51:27,463 --> 00:51:30,915 family members abroad or anyone else 942 00:51:30,949 --> 00:51:33,435 who could help them escape. 943 00:51:33,469 --> 00:51:38,198 More Jews lived in Warsaw than remained in Germany. 944 00:51:38,233 --> 00:51:41,857 More lived in the city of Lodz than in Berlin 945 00:51:41,891 --> 00:51:44,584 and Vienna combined. 946 00:51:44,618 --> 00:51:48,553 Nazi officials hatched several schemes to rid 947 00:51:48,588 --> 00:51:52,074 the region of its Jews. 948 00:51:52,109 --> 00:51:54,145 The first would have confined them 949 00:51:54,180 --> 00:51:59,012 to a "reservation" located in a remote underpopulated area 950 00:51:59,046 --> 00:52:00,703 near Lublin, 951 00:52:00,738 --> 00:52:03,603 but that quickly proved impractical. 952 00:52:03,637 --> 00:52:07,434 The Nazis offered two million of them to Stalin, 953 00:52:07,469 --> 00:52:09,333 who did not want them. 954 00:52:09,367 --> 00:52:14,165 ♪ 955 00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,443 In the meantime, the Germans were driving 956 00:52:16,478 --> 00:52:20,413 Polish Jews into scores of squalid, congested, 957 00:52:20,447 --> 00:52:24,727 fenced-off neighborhoods... ghettos... whose residents, 958 00:52:24,762 --> 00:52:27,799 robbed of their possessions and forced to wear 959 00:52:27,834 --> 00:52:32,666 a yellow star or a white armband with the Star of David, 960 00:52:32,701 --> 00:52:35,531 were shot if they strayed outside. 961 00:52:35,566 --> 00:52:38,016 ♪ 962 00:52:38,051 --> 00:52:40,329 The largest ghetto was in Warsaw, 963 00:52:40,364 --> 00:52:44,644 where more than 400,000 men, women, and children struggled 964 00:52:44,678 --> 00:52:48,199 to survive in an area initially measuring 965 00:52:48,234 --> 00:52:51,478 less than two square miles. 966 00:52:51,513 --> 00:52:54,723 The ghettos served two purposes for the Nazis. 967 00:52:54,757 --> 00:52:57,967 They provided reliable pools of slave labor 968 00:52:58,002 --> 00:53:00,453 for the German war machine, and they acted 969 00:53:00,487 --> 00:53:05,251 as holding pens for Jews, now including many deported 970 00:53:05,285 --> 00:53:08,426 from what had been Austria and Czechoslovakia, 971 00:53:08,461 --> 00:53:11,084 until the Nazi regime decided where they were 972 00:53:11,118 --> 00:53:13,500 finally to be sent. 973 00:53:13,535 --> 00:53:18,333 More than 80,000 people would die in the Warsaw ghetto alone 974 00:53:18,367 --> 00:53:21,439 of random shootings by their German guards, 975 00:53:21,474 --> 00:53:26,237 typhoid, deliberate starvation, and despair. 976 00:53:26,272 --> 00:53:30,862 ♪ 977 00:53:30,897 --> 00:53:34,763 In Bolechow, in eastern Poland, Shmiel Jaeger heard 978 00:53:34,797 --> 00:53:40,251 about the German obliteration of western Poland. 979 00:53:40,286 --> 00:53:42,633 Terrified of what might happen next, 980 00:53:42,667 --> 00:53:47,258 he wrote again to his relatives in America. 981 00:53:47,293 --> 00:53:50,227 Man as Shmiel: My darling sister and brother-in-law, 982 00:53:50,261 --> 00:53:52,505 This is my mission: 983 00:53:52,539 --> 00:53:55,508 it's now the case that many families can go 984 00:53:55,542 --> 00:54:00,375 and have already emigrated to America provided that 985 00:54:00,409 --> 00:54:05,380 their families there put down a $5,000 deposit, 986 00:54:05,414 --> 00:54:08,486 after which they can get their brother and his wife 987 00:54:08,521 --> 00:54:10,661 and children out, 988 00:54:10,695 --> 00:54:13,457 and then they can get the deposit back. 989 00:54:13,491 --> 00:54:16,563 Perhaps you could manage to advance me the deposit. 990 00:54:16,598 --> 00:54:20,395 The idea is that with the money in custody I won't, 991 00:54:20,429 --> 00:54:24,537 once I'm in America, be a burden to anyone. 992 00:54:24,571 --> 00:54:26,677 You should make inquiries, you should write 993 00:54:26,711 --> 00:54:31,302 that I'm the only one in your family still in Europe 994 00:54:31,337 --> 00:54:34,478 and that I have training as an auto mechanic 995 00:54:34,512 --> 00:54:41,312 and that I've already been in America from 1912 to 1913. 996 00:54:41,347 --> 00:54:45,178 For my part, I am going to post a letter, 997 00:54:45,212 --> 00:54:47,318 written in English, to Washington, 998 00:54:47,353 --> 00:54:50,045 addressed to President Roosevelt 999 00:54:50,079 --> 00:54:52,047 and will write that all my siblings 1000 00:54:52,081 --> 00:54:54,394 and my entire family are in America 1001 00:54:54,429 --> 00:54:57,742 and that my parents are even buried there. 1002 00:54:57,777 --> 00:54:59,779 Perhaps that will work, 1003 00:54:59,813 --> 00:55:03,507 as I really want to get away from this Gehenim 1004 00:55:03,541 --> 00:55:08,719 with my dear wife and such darling 4 children. 1005 00:55:08,753 --> 00:55:11,066 Shmiel. 1006 00:55:11,100 --> 00:55:12,654 Narrator: Shmiel had no way of knowing 1007 00:55:12,688 --> 00:55:16,071 that there were more than 100,000 other Poles ahead 1008 00:55:16,105 --> 00:55:18,176 of him on the waiting list. 1009 00:55:18,211 --> 00:55:19,730 With the current quota system, 1010 00:55:19,764 --> 00:55:22,940 it would be more than 12 years before his family 1011 00:55:22,974 --> 00:55:26,357 would be eligible for a visa. 1012 00:55:26,392 --> 00:55:29,015 Marlene: We knew, we... we all understood 1013 00:55:29,049 --> 00:55:31,051 that there was big trouble. 1014 00:55:31,086 --> 00:55:34,365 It was very sad. 1015 00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:37,092 My mother would send clothing or whatever 1016 00:55:37,126 --> 00:55:38,783 they would need for the winter, 1017 00:55:38,818 --> 00:55:42,097 and all of the family was involved because they were 1018 00:55:42,131 --> 00:55:47,067 all here and all feeling guilty that Shmiel 1019 00:55:47,102 --> 00:55:49,622 had not come. 1020 00:55:49,656 --> 00:55:53,695 They were all trying to get money together to send. 1021 00:55:53,729 --> 00:55:56,974 They met, they talked to the richer members 1022 00:55:57,008 --> 00:55:59,804 of the family, 1023 00:55:59,839 --> 00:56:03,118 and everyone was concerned, 1024 00:56:03,152 --> 00:56:05,879 but no one could do anything. 1025 00:56:05,914 --> 00:56:07,640 ♪ 1026 00:56:07,674 --> 00:56:09,400 Mendelsohn: My grandfather was a foreman 1027 00:56:09,435 --> 00:56:11,816 in a braids and trimmings factory. 1028 00:56:11,851 --> 00:56:15,475 I'm sure if he had $5,000 he would have done anything, 1029 00:56:15,510 --> 00:56:17,235 but I think it's also an important part 1030 00:56:17,270 --> 00:56:19,548 of this story, this sort of guilt, 1031 00:56:19,583 --> 00:56:23,380 the huge amount of guilt in the American Jewish community 1032 00:56:23,414 --> 00:56:25,174 after because then, of course, you say, 1033 00:56:25,209 --> 00:56:26,452 "Oh, I should have done more," 1034 00:56:26,486 --> 00:56:30,248 but, again, that's not fair. 1035 00:56:30,283 --> 00:56:33,873 People really had a hard time imagining 1036 00:56:33,907 --> 00:56:38,395 what was actually going to unfold. 1037 00:56:38,429 --> 00:56:40,811 ♪ 1038 00:56:40,845 --> 00:56:43,676 Narrator: As soon as German troops had occupied Vienna 1039 00:56:43,710 --> 00:56:47,645 in 1938, Eva Geiringer's father Erich had resolved 1040 00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:50,579 to find his wife Fritzi, his son Heinz, 1041 00:56:50,614 --> 00:56:55,860 and daughter Eva a new home out from under the Nazi threat. 1042 00:56:55,895 --> 00:56:58,898 By early 1940, he had managed to get them 1043 00:56:58,932 --> 00:57:01,314 to Amsterdam. 1044 00:57:01,348 --> 00:57:02,774 Eva Geiringer: The Dutch were quite different 1045 00:57:02,798 --> 00:57:06,388 from the Austrians... very welcoming. 1046 00:57:06,423 --> 00:57:09,564 Everybody wanted to be my best friend. 1047 00:57:09,598 --> 00:57:13,153 I was blonde and blue-eyed, and so everybody said, 1048 00:57:13,188 --> 00:57:16,329 "You look like a Dutch little girl." 1049 00:57:16,363 --> 00:57:19,194 So we settled in, and we thought, "Well, that is it. 1050 00:57:19,228 --> 00:57:21,161 We'll be here together as a family," 1051 00:57:21,196 --> 00:57:23,578 and we were actually quite happy. 1052 00:57:23,612 --> 00:57:25,718 Narrator: The Geiringers found themselves living 1053 00:57:25,752 --> 00:57:28,721 in the same apartment block as Otto Frank, 1054 00:57:28,755 --> 00:57:31,240 his wife Edith, and their two daughters 1055 00:57:31,275 --> 00:57:33,450 Margot and Annelies. 1056 00:57:33,484 --> 00:57:37,523 The Franks had fled Germany 6 years earlier. 1057 00:57:37,557 --> 00:57:40,871 Geiringer: All the children came to play after school 1058 00:57:40,905 --> 00:57:43,632 on this big open area, 1059 00:57:43,667 --> 00:57:46,290 and then, one day, a little girl came to me, 1060 00:57:46,324 --> 00:57:48,292 realized I was new there, 1061 00:57:48,326 --> 00:57:50,950 and she introduced herself and said her name 1062 00:57:50,984 --> 00:57:53,366 is "Anna Frank." 1063 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:56,196 Narrator: Both Eva Geiringer and Anne Frank 1064 00:57:56,231 --> 00:57:57,681 were 10 years old that winter 1065 00:57:57,715 --> 00:58:02,444 and both attended the same Montessori School. 1066 00:58:02,479 --> 00:58:05,482 Geiringer: She was very, very much outspoken, 1067 00:58:05,516 --> 00:58:07,829 very sure of herself. 1068 00:58:07,863 --> 00:58:12,937 She was definitely already more intellectual than I was. 1069 00:58:12,972 --> 00:58:14,870 She was a big chatterbox. 1070 00:58:14,905 --> 00:58:17,494 In school, she was called "Mrs. Quack-Quack." 1071 00:58:17,528 --> 00:58:19,599 She had to stay behind very often to write 1072 00:58:19,634 --> 00:58:22,429 hundreds of lines that she's not going to talk 1073 00:58:22,464 --> 00:58:25,087 so much in class. 1074 00:58:25,122 --> 00:58:28,435 She was already interested in boys. 1075 00:58:28,470 --> 00:58:30,852 When I told her I had an older brother, 1076 00:58:30,886 --> 00:58:32,647 her eyes grew very big, and she said, 1077 00:58:32,681 --> 00:58:36,340 "When can I come and meet him?" 1078 00:58:36,374 --> 00:58:38,342 Narrator: Anne Frank's father tried to stay 1079 00:58:38,376 --> 00:58:41,587 optimistic about the future, reminding everyone 1080 00:58:41,621 --> 00:58:44,279 that the Netherlands had been able to remain neutral 1081 00:58:44,313 --> 00:58:45,832 during World War I 1082 00:58:45,867 --> 00:58:49,353 and should be able to do so again, 1083 00:58:49,387 --> 00:58:51,804 but he could not hide his underlying anxiety 1084 00:58:51,838 --> 00:58:55,911 from a cousin, who was now living safely in London, 1085 00:58:55,946 --> 00:58:59,018 writing her that he worried most about his daughters 1086 00:58:59,052 --> 00:59:03,919 but didn't dare confide his concern to their mother. 1087 00:59:03,954 --> 00:59:07,026 His cousin offered to care for them in England. 1088 00:59:07,060 --> 00:59:09,960 He thanked her for her kindness but was sure 1089 00:59:09,994 --> 00:59:12,894 neither he nor his wife could bear to part 1090 00:59:12,928 --> 00:59:15,586 with their girls. 1091 00:59:15,621 --> 00:59:19,072 Otto Frank was still waiting for his family's visa application 1092 00:59:19,107 --> 00:59:22,973 to the United States to come up for review. 1093 00:59:23,007 --> 00:59:27,598 More than 300,000 other people were waiting, too. 1094 00:59:27,633 --> 00:59:29,842 ♪ 1095 00:59:29,876 --> 00:59:34,053 A 7-month lull followed the invasion of Poland. 1096 00:59:34,087 --> 00:59:37,125 To American isolationists, it seemed to be proof 1097 00:59:37,159 --> 00:59:41,439 that events in Europe were nothing to worry about. 1098 00:59:41,474 --> 00:59:44,511 Republican Senator William Borah of Idaho 1099 00:59:44,546 --> 00:59:46,997 called it the "Phony War"... 1100 00:59:47,031 --> 00:59:49,344 [Bicycle bell rings] 1101 00:59:49,378 --> 00:59:51,622 [Airplanes flying] 1102 00:59:54,349 --> 00:59:56,834 but on April 9, 1940, 1103 00:59:56,869 --> 01:00:00,148 the Phony War became real again. 1104 01:00:00,182 --> 01:00:05,602 40,000 German troops surged across the Danish border. 1105 01:00:05,636 --> 01:00:09,502 Denmark surrendered by nightfall. 1106 01:00:09,536 --> 01:00:12,885 German paratroopers filled the skies over Norway, 1107 01:00:12,919 --> 01:00:16,716 driving its government into exile. 1108 01:00:16,751 --> 01:00:20,582 Then, on May 10, 10 Panzer divisions, 1109 01:00:20,617 --> 01:00:23,240 2,500 aircraft, 1110 01:00:23,274 --> 01:00:26,588 and 3 1/3 million German ground troops 1111 01:00:26,623 --> 01:00:29,833 stormed into France and the Low Countries... 1112 01:00:29,867 --> 01:00:34,182 Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. 1113 01:00:34,216 --> 01:00:39,912 We heard guns shooting and the drones of airplane, 1114 01:00:39,946 --> 01:00:41,534 and we all got up, 1115 01:00:41,568 --> 01:00:44,192 and we had a little Bakelite radio. 1116 01:00:44,226 --> 01:00:46,919 Newscaster: The German army invaded Holland and Belgium... 1117 01:00:46,953 --> 01:00:49,991 Geiringer: Listened to that, and the newscaster said, 1118 01:00:50,025 --> 01:00:51,751 "Very bad news. 1119 01:00:51,786 --> 01:00:54,720 "The Germans are trying to invade our country, 1120 01:00:54,754 --> 01:00:58,378 but we are going to defend ourselves." 1121 01:00:58,413 --> 01:01:00,070 Narrator: At Otto Frank's office, 1122 01:01:00,104 --> 01:01:04,039 his employees remembered, his face turned white as reports 1123 01:01:04,074 --> 01:01:08,630 of the attack continued to come in over the radio. 1124 01:01:08,665 --> 01:01:11,495 The Germans threatened to bomb the port of Rotterdam 1125 01:01:11,529 --> 01:01:14,325 unless the Dutch surrendered. 1126 01:01:14,360 --> 01:01:16,396 They tried to surrender... 1127 01:01:17,846 --> 01:01:21,816 and the Luftwaffe bombed the city anyway. 1128 01:01:26,579 --> 01:01:28,961 Over 900 people were killed 1129 01:01:28,995 --> 01:01:32,965 and more than 85,000 left homeless. 1130 01:01:32,999 --> 01:01:36,140 The United States consulate was burned, too, 1131 01:01:36,175 --> 01:01:40,351 and with it, Otto Frank's application for visas 1132 01:01:40,386 --> 01:01:44,493 to bring his family to America. 1133 01:01:44,528 --> 01:01:47,738 Every port the Germans overran closed off 1134 01:01:47,773 --> 01:01:52,847 yet another avenue of escape for refugees. 1135 01:01:52,881 --> 01:01:55,090 France was next. 1136 01:01:55,125 --> 01:01:58,715 Its supposedly invincible 5-million-man army 1137 01:01:58,749 --> 01:02:01,925 would collapse in just a few weeks. 1138 01:02:01,959 --> 01:02:03,616 [Gunfire] 1139 01:02:03,650 --> 01:02:07,102 [Man shouting in German] 1140 01:02:07,137 --> 01:02:09,656 Roosevelt: Tonight over the once peaceful roads 1141 01:02:09,691 --> 01:02:14,213 of Belgium and France, millions are now moving, 1142 01:02:14,247 --> 01:02:18,838 running from their homes to escape bombs and shells 1143 01:02:18,873 --> 01:02:22,739 and fire and machine-gunning, without shelter, 1144 01:02:22,773 --> 01:02:24,913 and almost wholly without food. 1145 01:02:24,948 --> 01:02:28,296 They stumble on, knowing not where the end 1146 01:02:28,330 --> 01:02:30,091 of the road will be. 1147 01:02:30,125 --> 01:02:31,748 ♪ 1148 01:02:31,782 --> 01:02:33,370 Narrator: "These are ominous days," 1149 01:02:33,404 --> 01:02:36,891 Roosevelt told Congress on May 16, 1150 01:02:36,925 --> 01:02:40,032 "days whose swift and shocking developments force 1151 01:02:40,066 --> 01:02:44,691 every neutral nation to look to its defenses." 1152 01:02:44,726 --> 01:02:47,798 He called for an increase in aircraft production 1153 01:02:47,833 --> 01:02:53,597 from 2,100 planes a year to 50,000. 1154 01:02:53,631 --> 01:02:56,324 To isolationists like Charles Lindbergh, 1155 01:02:56,358 --> 01:03:00,052 the president and other unseen forces were taking 1156 01:03:00,086 --> 01:03:05,333 another step toward U.S. involvement in the war. 1157 01:03:05,367 --> 01:03:07,542 Lindbergh: The only reason that we are in danger 1158 01:03:07,576 --> 01:03:10,062 of becoming involved in this war is because 1159 01:03:10,096 --> 01:03:13,444 there are powerful elements in America who desire 1160 01:03:13,479 --> 01:03:15,930 us to take part. 1161 01:03:15,964 --> 01:03:19,174 They represent a small minority of the American people, 1162 01:03:19,209 --> 01:03:21,521 but they control much of the machinery 1163 01:03:21,556 --> 01:03:23,972 of influence and propaganda. 1164 01:03:24,007 --> 01:03:27,148 They seize every opportunity to push us 1165 01:03:27,182 --> 01:03:29,529 closer to the edge. 1166 01:03:29,564 --> 01:03:31,980 It is time for the underlying character 1167 01:03:32,015 --> 01:03:34,949 of this country to rise and assert itself, 1168 01:03:34,983 --> 01:03:38,228 to strike down these elements of personal profit 1169 01:03:38,262 --> 01:03:39,885 and foreign interest. 1170 01:03:39,919 --> 01:03:41,887 ♪ 1171 01:03:41,921 --> 01:03:44,475 Narrator: A week later, battered British 1172 01:03:44,510 --> 01:03:47,720 and Belgian troops, along with what little was left 1173 01:03:47,754 --> 01:03:50,274 of French forces, began fleeing 1174 01:03:50,309 --> 01:03:53,277 across the English Channel from Dunkirk, 1175 01:03:53,312 --> 01:03:57,316 leaving behind tons of arms and materiel. 1176 01:03:57,350 --> 01:04:00,457 ♪ 1177 01:04:00,491 --> 01:04:03,770 The United Kingdom now stood alone. 1178 01:04:03,805 --> 01:04:06,877 Many on both sides of the Atlantic agreed 1179 01:04:06,912 --> 01:04:08,775 with the assessment of Roosevelt's 1180 01:04:08,810 --> 01:04:13,504 ambassador in London Joseph P. Kennedy. 1181 01:04:13,539 --> 01:04:16,922 "Britain," he said, "is doomed." 1182 01:04:16,956 --> 01:04:19,856 ♪ 1183 01:04:29,037 --> 01:04:31,488 Susan: My brother and I, we were in one of the crowds 1184 01:04:31,522 --> 01:04:35,630 when the Germans came marching in, 1185 01:04:35,664 --> 01:04:40,773 and all I knew is we had to hurry up and get away. 1186 01:04:40,807 --> 01:04:43,465 Narrator: Susan and Joseph Hilsenrath's parents 1187 01:04:43,500 --> 01:04:46,261 had arranged for them to be smuggled out of Germany 1188 01:04:46,296 --> 01:04:49,126 into France, where the children had endured 1189 01:04:49,161 --> 01:04:53,061 a precarious sanctuary for 8 months. 1190 01:04:53,096 --> 01:04:57,652 They hoped their parents had also gotten out of Germany. 1191 01:04:57,686 --> 01:05:00,413 In fact, they had managed to get visas 1192 01:05:00,448 --> 01:05:02,208 and make it to America, 1193 01:05:02,243 --> 01:05:04,693 first the father and then their mother 1194 01:05:04,728 --> 01:05:07,938 and baby brother several months later, 1195 01:05:07,973 --> 01:05:11,528 but Susan and Joseph weren't sure where they were 1196 01:05:11,562 --> 01:05:14,082 or how they would be reunited. 1197 01:05:15,428 --> 01:05:18,224 They had lived with a young cousin in Paris, 1198 01:05:18,259 --> 01:05:20,951 then with a series of foster families 1199 01:05:20,986 --> 01:05:25,611 until June 14 when the Germans had entered the city. 1200 01:05:25,645 --> 01:05:27,578 [Marching footsteps] 1201 01:05:27,613 --> 01:05:30,961 Susan: Everybody was going on the bus, on bicycles 1202 01:05:30,996 --> 01:05:34,413 and cars and walking, trying to get out, 1203 01:05:34,447 --> 01:05:36,415 to get to Versailles. 1204 01:05:36,449 --> 01:05:40,039 ♪ 1205 01:05:40,074 --> 01:05:42,835 All of these people marched to the... 1206 01:05:42,869 --> 01:05:45,182 to the palace, and the mayor of the town, 1207 01:05:45,217 --> 01:05:51,016 he got the idea of giving everybody a burlap sack. 1208 01:05:51,050 --> 01:05:53,225 They have these beautiful gardens in the back 1209 01:05:53,259 --> 01:05:55,606 of the palace, and way in the corner, 1210 01:05:55,641 --> 01:05:57,298 they had a big haystack, 1211 01:05:57,332 --> 01:06:00,887 and so all of the people took their burlap sack 1212 01:06:00,922 --> 01:06:03,752 and filled it up with hay. 1213 01:06:03,787 --> 01:06:05,858 Then we had a mattress. 1214 01:06:05,892 --> 01:06:08,965 We took our mattress, and we all walked 1215 01:06:08,999 --> 01:06:12,002 into the palace, and there's this beautiful room 1216 01:06:12,037 --> 01:06:14,694 called the Hall of Mirrors, 1217 01:06:14,729 --> 01:06:17,283 and we slept in the palace. 1218 01:06:18,905 --> 01:06:21,391 For a few days, we were there, and everything 1219 01:06:21,425 --> 01:06:23,013 seemed to be fine, 1220 01:06:23,048 --> 01:06:26,465 but then we heard that same sound of the marching. 1221 01:06:26,499 --> 01:06:29,330 We heard tanks, and we saw people going 1222 01:06:29,364 --> 01:06:31,539 on motorcycles, 1223 01:06:31,573 --> 01:06:35,474 and there was a one car at the head of this caravan, 1224 01:06:35,508 --> 01:06:38,028 and out came a German officer, 1225 01:06:38,063 --> 01:06:41,894 and he wanted to talk to the mayor of the town, 1226 01:06:41,928 --> 01:06:45,104 and he did not know how to speak any French, 1227 01:06:45,139 --> 01:06:48,452 and the mayor of the town did not know how 1228 01:06:48,487 --> 01:06:50,730 to speak any German. 1229 01:06:50,765 --> 01:06:52,594 So somebody in the crowd says, "Oh, there's 1230 01:06:52,629 --> 01:06:55,045 "this girl who's in the palace, and she knows 1231 01:06:55,080 --> 01:06:57,151 how to speak German." 1232 01:06:57,185 --> 01:06:59,774 I was standing there, and I looked at this... 1233 01:06:59,808 --> 01:07:01,672 at this German officer. 1234 01:07:01,707 --> 01:07:04,296 He was as tall as the ceiling, 1235 01:07:04,330 --> 01:07:08,058 and... and... and... and I was so afraid, 1236 01:07:08,093 --> 01:07:10,129 but at the end of the conversation, 1237 01:07:10,164 --> 01:07:12,787 the Nazi officer bent down to me, 1238 01:07:12,821 --> 01:07:14,513 and he said, "Little girl, 1239 01:07:14,547 --> 01:07:18,448 how come you know how to speak German so well?" 1240 01:07:18,482 --> 01:07:22,693 And I said to him, "The French schools 1241 01:07:22,728 --> 01:07:24,316 "are really very good, and I learned 1242 01:07:24,350 --> 01:07:27,353 how to speak German in the French schools." 1243 01:07:27,388 --> 01:07:31,806 And so he clicked his heels, and he shook my hand, 1244 01:07:31,840 --> 01:07:34,119 and he walked away. 1245 01:07:40,504 --> 01:07:42,782 Narrator: With Hitler's conquest of Poland 1246 01:07:42,817 --> 01:07:45,095 and western Europe, President Roosevelt 1247 01:07:45,130 --> 01:07:48,719 had understood that the ongoing refugee crisis 1248 01:07:48,754 --> 01:07:52,240 was sure to turn into a catastrophe. 1249 01:07:52,275 --> 01:07:56,210 "It is not enough to indulge in horrified humanitarianism, 1250 01:07:56,244 --> 01:08:00,283 empty resolutions, and pious words," he said. 1251 01:08:00,317 --> 01:08:03,113 Safe havens had to be found quickly 1252 01:08:03,148 --> 01:08:05,943 for these "desperate people." 1253 01:08:05,978 --> 01:08:08,705 Before war broke out, he had been unwilling 1254 01:08:08,739 --> 01:08:11,328 to go against public opinion and call 1255 01:08:11,363 --> 01:08:15,125 for American immigration quotas to be expanded, 1256 01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:18,128 in part because he knew if he did so Congress 1257 01:08:18,163 --> 01:08:21,166 might well close them off altogether. 1258 01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:22,339 ♪ 1259 01:08:22,374 --> 01:08:24,790 Behind the scenes, he had pressured 1260 01:08:24,824 --> 01:08:27,793 Latin American countries into accepting 1261 01:08:27,827 --> 01:08:31,969 some 40,000 Jews in flight from Hitler, 1262 01:08:32,004 --> 01:08:35,041 but no other nations had proved any more welcoming 1263 01:08:35,076 --> 01:08:37,354 to refugees than they had been 1264 01:08:37,389 --> 01:08:40,702 before the Second World War began, 1265 01:08:40,737 --> 01:08:44,258 and now, Roosevelt and much of the American public 1266 01:08:44,292 --> 01:08:48,193 had begun to view would-be immigrants differently, 1267 01:08:48,227 --> 01:08:51,437 not as victims but as potential threats 1268 01:08:51,472 --> 01:08:55,234 to the security of the United States. 1269 01:08:55,269 --> 01:08:56,694 Man: You'd think from the number of spies 1270 01:08:56,718 --> 01:08:57,799 they've been sending over here that 1271 01:08:57,823 --> 01:08:59,135 we're at war with Germany. 1272 01:08:59,169 --> 01:09:00,319 It looks more as if Germany were 1273 01:09:00,343 --> 01:09:02,552 at war with us. 1274 01:09:02,586 --> 01:09:04,692 Narrator: "Confessions of a Nazi Spy," 1275 01:09:04,726 --> 01:09:08,040 made by Warner Bros., the only movie company 1276 01:09:08,074 --> 01:09:09,697 to have pulled out of Germany 1277 01:09:09,731 --> 01:09:12,596 rather than do business with Hitler's regime, 1278 01:09:12,631 --> 01:09:16,290 was the first overtly anti-Nazi film made 1279 01:09:16,324 --> 01:09:19,431 by a major Hollywood studio. 1280 01:09:19,465 --> 01:09:22,019 The movie was based loosely on the story 1281 01:09:22,054 --> 01:09:26,092 of a real German spy ring broken up by the FBI, 1282 01:09:26,127 --> 01:09:30,200 and it captured a growing sense of public panic. 1283 01:09:30,235 --> 01:09:32,685 The sudden terrifying swiftness 1284 01:09:32,720 --> 01:09:36,241 with which the Western European democracies collapsed 1285 01:09:36,275 --> 01:09:39,727 under Hitler's assault led many to assume 1286 01:09:39,761 --> 01:09:42,074 he must have had help from within. 1287 01:09:43,282 --> 01:09:46,216 The American ambassador to France claimed the collapse 1288 01:09:46,251 --> 01:09:48,908 of that country had been in part the work 1289 01:09:48,943 --> 01:09:52,498 of native Communists and Nazi agents, 1290 01:09:52,533 --> 01:09:54,051 some of whom, he alleged, 1291 01:09:54,086 --> 01:09:58,228 had entered the country as Jewish refugees. 1292 01:09:58,263 --> 01:10:01,818 FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover said the bureau 1293 01:10:01,852 --> 01:10:04,372 was now receiving 3,000 tips 1294 01:10:04,407 --> 01:10:07,237 about possible espionage every day, 1295 01:10:07,272 --> 01:10:12,794 and hired 150 more agents to seek out Nazi spies, 1296 01:10:12,829 --> 01:10:16,315 who were called Fifth Columnists. 1297 01:10:16,350 --> 01:10:17,730 ♪ 1298 01:10:17,765 --> 01:10:19,698 Martyn: And the government alleged just conspired 1299 01:10:19,732 --> 01:10:23,598 to provide secret information to an unnamed foreign government. 1300 01:10:23,633 --> 01:10:26,429 Lipstadt: A country can be attacked from 4 sides, 1301 01:10:26,463 --> 01:10:28,362 but there's actually a fifth side 1302 01:10:28,396 --> 01:10:30,409 from which it can be attacked, and that's from within, 1303 01:10:30,433 --> 01:10:32,814 if you have spies in your midst. 1304 01:10:32,849 --> 01:10:36,508 There's a great fear that the Germans are sending over spies, 1305 01:10:36,542 --> 01:10:37,992 and they were. 1306 01:10:38,026 --> 01:10:40,477 There were spies for Germany. 1307 01:10:40,512 --> 01:10:46,621 But the fear of spies intersects with the antisemitism. 1308 01:10:46,656 --> 01:10:49,900 The fear of spies intersects with the anti-immigration, 1309 01:10:49,935 --> 01:10:52,420 anti-refugee sentiment. 1310 01:10:52,455 --> 01:10:54,595 Narrator: The "New York Herald Tribune," 1311 01:10:54,629 --> 01:10:57,701 one of the most respected newspapers in America, 1312 01:10:57,736 --> 01:11:01,429 claimed that 42 Nazi agents had supposedly 1313 01:11:01,464 --> 01:11:05,053 been recruited from among German "half" Jews 1314 01:11:05,088 --> 01:11:07,780 and "quarter" Jews. 1315 01:11:07,815 --> 01:11:11,474 The "Saturday Evening Post" charged that Nazi spies 1316 01:11:11,508 --> 01:11:17,031 passing as refugees had infiltrated Europe and America. 1317 01:11:17,065 --> 01:11:19,930 Less than 3% of Americans believed 1318 01:11:19,965 --> 01:11:24,072 Washington was doing enough to combat subversion. 1319 01:11:25,591 --> 01:11:27,352 In the summer of 1940, 1320 01:11:27,386 --> 01:11:31,321 an Alien Registration Act sailed through Congress, 1321 01:11:31,356 --> 01:11:35,221 requiring non-citizens over the age of 14 1322 01:11:35,256 --> 01:11:37,776 to be registered and fingerprinted 1323 01:11:37,810 --> 01:11:41,435 and sharply curtailing their rights to free speech 1324 01:11:41,469 --> 01:11:44,472 and political participation. 1325 01:11:44,507 --> 01:11:47,544 "Something curious is happening to us in this country," 1326 01:11:47,579 --> 01:11:50,616 Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her column, 1327 01:11:50,651 --> 01:11:52,929 "and I think it is time we stopped 1328 01:11:52,963 --> 01:11:55,449 "and took stock of ourselves. 1329 01:11:55,483 --> 01:11:59,349 "Are we going to be swept away from our traditional attitude 1330 01:11:59,384 --> 01:12:03,802 toward civil liberty by hysteria about 'Fifth Columnists'?" 1331 01:12:03,836 --> 01:12:05,459 ♪ 1332 01:12:05,493 --> 01:12:07,357 But the president told the press 1333 01:12:07,392 --> 01:12:10,498 that he had been told that in several countries 1334 01:12:10,533 --> 01:12:14,399 Jewish refugees had become spies for the Germans, 1335 01:12:14,433 --> 01:12:17,091 involuntary spies, he explained, 1336 01:12:17,125 --> 01:12:19,404 because if they didn't agree to spy, 1337 01:12:19,438 --> 01:12:22,165 the Nazi government back home had told them, 1338 01:12:22,199 --> 01:12:23,960 "We are frightfully sorry, 1339 01:12:23,994 --> 01:12:26,169 "but your old father and old mother 1340 01:12:26,203 --> 01:12:28,930 "will be taken out and shot. 1341 01:12:28,965 --> 01:12:31,519 Of course," the President continued, 1342 01:12:31,554 --> 01:12:34,695 "it applies to a very, very small percentage 1343 01:12:34,729 --> 01:12:38,146 of refugees coming out of Germany." 1344 01:12:38,181 --> 01:12:39,907 Lipstadt: Of course, a refugee would be 1345 01:12:39,941 --> 01:12:41,633 the worst person to be a spy. 1346 01:12:41,667 --> 01:12:44,429 A refugee doesn't speak the language, 1347 01:12:44,463 --> 01:12:46,292 speaks the language with an accent. 1348 01:12:46,327 --> 01:12:49,399 A refugee doesn't know the ways to work their self 1349 01:12:49,434 --> 01:12:51,436 into the woodwork and not be noticeable. 1350 01:12:51,470 --> 01:12:55,267 But nonetheless, there is this irrational fear. 1351 01:12:55,301 --> 01:12:57,511 No one says a nation should let people in 1352 01:12:57,545 --> 01:13:01,135 that is going to harm it or weaken it, 1353 01:13:01,169 --> 01:13:03,896 but the evidence was nonexistent. 1354 01:13:03,931 --> 01:13:07,313 Narrator: Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long 1355 01:13:07,348 --> 01:13:10,489 and many of his colleagues thought, without evidence, 1356 01:13:10,524 --> 01:13:14,320 that Jewish refugees were especially dangerous. 1357 01:13:14,355 --> 01:13:19,325 A wealthy contributor to Roosevelt's first presidential campaign, 1358 01:13:19,360 --> 01:13:23,951 Long had served for 3 years as FDR's ambassador to Italy 1359 01:13:23,985 --> 01:13:27,541 and was semi-retired when Roosevelt called him back 1360 01:13:27,575 --> 01:13:31,752 to government service to run the Visa Division. 1361 01:13:31,786 --> 01:13:34,513 Hundreds of thousands of desperate people, 1362 01:13:34,548 --> 01:13:37,999 most of them Jews, were already on the waiting list 1363 01:13:38,034 --> 01:13:40,070 for American visas, 1364 01:13:40,105 --> 01:13:43,039 and more were lining up every day. 1365 01:13:43,073 --> 01:13:45,731 Long was unmoved. 1366 01:13:45,766 --> 01:13:49,459 To him, every train or ship carrying Jews 1367 01:13:49,494 --> 01:13:52,842 out of Nazi Europe represented what he called, 1368 01:13:52,876 --> 01:13:57,018 "a perfect opening for Germany to load the United States 1369 01:13:57,053 --> 01:13:59,158 with Nazi agents." 1370 01:13:59,193 --> 01:14:02,403 Long's goal, he confided to his diary, 1371 01:14:02,438 --> 01:14:06,131 was "practically stopping immigration." 1372 01:14:06,165 --> 01:14:10,515 Lipstadt: Breckinridge Long is working every which way 1373 01:14:10,549 --> 01:14:14,553 to prevent Jews from coming into this country. 1374 01:14:14,588 --> 01:14:17,453 When people are desperate to get out, 1375 01:14:17,487 --> 01:14:21,491 he is amongst those helping to create the barriers. 1376 01:14:21,526 --> 01:14:25,184 Narrator: Long especially loathed Rabbi Stephen Wise, 1377 01:14:25,219 --> 01:14:27,532 whom he found sanctimonious, 1378 01:14:27,566 --> 01:14:31,605 because he spoke so often of the courage of men and women 1379 01:14:31,639 --> 01:14:34,539 fleeing from torture by dictators. 1380 01:14:34,573 --> 01:14:39,233 "Only an infinitesimal fraction are of that category," 1381 01:14:39,267 --> 01:14:41,891 Long noted in his diary. 1382 01:14:42,995 --> 01:14:44,997 Greene: One of the lessons of this history 1383 01:14:45,032 --> 01:14:47,552 is something else was always more important 1384 01:14:47,586 --> 01:14:51,176 for the Americans than aiding Jews. 1385 01:14:51,210 --> 01:14:56,871 But we see some Americans who don't respond that way. 1386 01:14:56,906 --> 01:15:00,392 Woman: If I'd been a man, I would have joined the Navy 1387 01:15:00,426 --> 01:15:04,051 and seen the world, but since I was a woman, 1388 01:15:04,085 --> 01:15:07,951 I joined the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. 1389 01:15:07,986 --> 01:15:10,402 Laura Margolis. 1390 01:15:10,436 --> 01:15:12,542 Narrator: While official American policy 1391 01:15:12,577 --> 01:15:15,200 remained rigid and restricted, 1392 01:15:15,234 --> 01:15:17,582 individual women and men working 1393 01:15:17,616 --> 01:15:20,377 for dozens of Jewish organizations, 1394 01:15:20,412 --> 01:15:23,242 including the National Refugee Service 1395 01:15:23,277 --> 01:15:25,797 and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, 1396 01:15:25,831 --> 01:15:27,315 did all they could, 1397 01:15:27,350 --> 01:15:30,802 wherever in the world they could, to help. 1398 01:15:30,836 --> 01:15:34,081 They would coordinate loans, legal counsel, 1399 01:15:34,115 --> 01:15:37,947 ocean liner tickets, and jobs for newcomers. 1400 01:15:37,981 --> 01:15:43,193 Without their help, tens of thousands of Jewish refugees 1401 01:15:43,228 --> 01:15:46,576 would never have made it to America. 1402 01:15:46,611 --> 01:15:49,510 They worked alongside other committed Americans 1403 01:15:49,545 --> 01:15:53,341 from the YMCA, the Unitarian Service Committee, 1404 01:15:53,376 --> 01:15:57,311 and the American Friends Service Committee. 1405 01:15:57,345 --> 01:15:59,589 By the summer of 1940, 1406 01:15:59,624 --> 01:16:02,903 the focus of their relief and rescue operations 1407 01:16:02,937 --> 01:16:04,801 was in southern France. 1408 01:16:04,836 --> 01:16:06,700 ♪ 1409 01:16:06,734 --> 01:16:09,150 Germany occupied only the western 1410 01:16:09,185 --> 01:16:11,256 and northern regions of France. 1411 01:16:11,290 --> 01:16:14,604 The south was left in the hands of a collaborationist 1412 01:16:14,639 --> 01:16:18,919 French government with headquarters at Vichy. 1413 01:16:18,953 --> 01:16:23,855 Some 50,000 refugees from 42 countries were interned 1414 01:16:23,889 --> 01:16:28,756 in 93 squalid, overcrowded camps. 1415 01:16:28,791 --> 01:16:31,863 Tens of thousands more remained free, 1416 01:16:31,897 --> 01:16:35,280 trying to keep one step ahead of the French police, 1417 01:16:35,314 --> 01:16:37,213 who were required to hand over 1418 01:16:37,247 --> 01:16:41,010 any refugees the Germans demanded. 1419 01:16:41,044 --> 01:16:44,530 Scores of eminent artists and intellectuals 1420 01:16:44,565 --> 01:16:47,568 were thought to be in immediate danger. 1421 01:16:47,603 --> 01:16:48,983 ♪ 1422 01:16:49,018 --> 01:16:52,331 To help, a group of prominent writers in New York 1423 01:16:52,366 --> 01:16:55,403 formed the Emergency Rescue Committee. 1424 01:16:55,438 --> 01:16:58,890 Eleanor Roosevelt talked her husband into asking 1425 01:16:58,924 --> 01:17:02,652 the reluctant State Department to issue a limited number 1426 01:17:02,687 --> 01:17:06,518 of emergency visitor's visas. 1427 01:17:06,552 --> 01:17:08,934 Man: I remembered what I had seen in Germany. 1428 01:17:08,969 --> 01:17:11,488 I knew what would happen to the refugees 1429 01:17:11,523 --> 01:17:13,905 if the Gestapo got hold of them. 1430 01:17:13,939 --> 01:17:16,908 I could not remain idle as long as I had any chance at all 1431 01:17:16,942 --> 01:17:20,463 of saving even a few of its intended victims. 1432 01:17:20,497 --> 01:17:23,224 It was my duty to help them. 1433 01:17:23,259 --> 01:17:25,123 Varian Fry. 1434 01:17:25,157 --> 01:17:27,608 ♪ 1435 01:17:27,643 --> 01:17:30,576 Narrator: Varian Fry, a 32-year-old writer 1436 01:17:30,611 --> 01:17:33,131 and member of the Emergency Rescue Committee, 1437 01:17:33,165 --> 01:17:37,860 volunteered to go to France and try to get the refugees out. 1438 01:17:37,894 --> 01:17:40,725 He was every inch the Harvard-educated 1439 01:17:40,759 --> 01:17:43,175 intellectual he appeared to be, 1440 01:17:43,210 --> 01:17:47,697 but as a foreign correspondent visiting Germany 5 years earlier, 1441 01:17:47,732 --> 01:17:50,838 he'd witnessed attacks on Jews that left him 1442 01:17:50,873 --> 01:17:54,739 with a visceral loathing for the Nazis. 1443 01:17:54,773 --> 01:17:58,639 He arrived in Marseille on August 15, 1940, 1444 01:17:58,674 --> 01:18:02,436 with $3,000 in cash strapped to his leg 1445 01:18:02,470 --> 01:18:06,060 and a list of 200 distinguished women and men 1446 01:18:06,095 --> 01:18:09,754 thought to be somewhere in Vichy, France. 1447 01:18:11,031 --> 01:18:14,206 Man as Fry: It is the non-French refugees among whom 1448 01:18:14,241 --> 01:18:16,277 one finds the greatest misery. 1449 01:18:16,312 --> 01:18:21,041 They are being crushed in one of the most gigantic vises in history. 1450 01:18:21,075 --> 01:18:24,078 They have literally been condemned to death here, 1451 01:18:24,113 --> 01:18:27,979 or at best to confinement in detention camps, 1452 01:18:28,013 --> 01:18:30,602 a fate little better than death. 1453 01:18:32,293 --> 01:18:35,952 Narrator: He took room 307 at the Hotel Splendide 1454 01:18:35,987 --> 01:18:37,574 and went to work. 1455 01:18:37,609 --> 01:18:40,232 News quickly spread that an American 1456 01:18:40,267 --> 01:18:41,924 with visas had arrived. 1457 01:18:41,958 --> 01:18:44,961 Refugees knocked at his door at all hours, 1458 01:18:44,996 --> 01:18:47,964 filled the hallways, and lined the stairs. 1459 01:18:47,999 --> 01:18:52,900 25 letters a day turned up for him at the reception desk. 1460 01:18:52,935 --> 01:18:56,041 The telephone rarely stopped ringing. 1461 01:18:56,076 --> 01:18:57,733 [Telephone ringing] 1462 01:18:57,767 --> 01:18:59,251 ♪ 1463 01:18:59,286 --> 01:19:03,083 The American Vice Consul in Marseilles Hiram Bingham Jr. 1464 01:19:03,117 --> 01:19:04,705 And some of his colleagues 1465 01:19:04,740 --> 01:19:07,294 were happy to help whenever they could. 1466 01:19:07,328 --> 01:19:10,780 Bingham was the son of a senator from Connecticut. 1467 01:19:10,815 --> 01:19:14,473 His Groton classmates had called him "Righteous Bingham" 1468 01:19:14,508 --> 01:19:16,786 for his earnestness. 1469 01:19:16,821 --> 01:19:20,652 He, too, had seen Nazi brutality first-hand, 1470 01:19:20,686 --> 01:19:23,172 and he believed it his duty to obtain 1471 01:19:23,206 --> 01:19:27,521 "as many visas as I could for as many people," 1472 01:19:27,555 --> 01:19:30,593 and was sometimes willing to break the rules. 1473 01:19:30,627 --> 01:19:33,769 He allowed the fugitive German Jewish novelist 1474 01:19:33,803 --> 01:19:36,875 Lion Feuchtwanger to hide in his villa 1475 01:19:36,910 --> 01:19:40,534 and then cooperated in smuggling him out of the country 1476 01:19:40,568 --> 01:19:42,329 with Reverend Waitstill Sharp, 1477 01:19:42,363 --> 01:19:48,093 a veteran rescue worker for the Unitarian Service Committee. 1478 01:19:48,128 --> 01:19:51,821 In order to emigrate to the United States from Vichy, 1479 01:19:51,856 --> 01:19:55,998 each refugee required an American immigration visa, 1480 01:19:56,032 --> 01:19:59,380 visas for neutral Portugal and Spain, 1481 01:19:59,415 --> 01:20:01,762 a steamship ticket from Lisbon, 1482 01:20:01,797 --> 01:20:04,661 and an exit visa from France. 1483 01:20:05,731 --> 01:20:07,837 Each took time to obtain 1484 01:20:07,872 --> 01:20:10,564 and each had an expiration date. 1485 01:20:10,598 --> 01:20:13,601 By the time the last document was procured, 1486 01:20:13,636 --> 01:20:15,603 another had often expired, 1487 01:20:15,638 --> 01:20:20,850 requiring the whole laborious process to begin all over again. 1488 01:20:20,885 --> 01:20:22,610 ♪ 1489 01:20:22,645 --> 01:20:24,440 To get around this system, 1490 01:20:24,474 --> 01:20:27,132 Varian Fry helped to smuggle refugees 1491 01:20:27,167 --> 01:20:30,826 across the Pyrenees into Spain. 1492 01:20:30,860 --> 01:20:34,346 He assembled a staff of 46 volunteers 1493 01:20:34,381 --> 01:20:38,592 that included refugees, young American men and women, 1494 01:20:38,626 --> 01:20:42,389 a French gendarme, and a Viennese cartoonist 1495 01:20:42,423 --> 01:20:44,425 who proved an adept forger 1496 01:20:44,460 --> 01:20:47,428 of documents and official stamps. 1497 01:20:47,463 --> 01:20:51,536 Fry worked closely with American Jewish organizations 1498 01:20:51,570 --> 01:20:55,989 that provided crucial financial support from Portugal 1499 01:20:56,023 --> 01:20:59,440 and with sympathetic diplomats from other countries... 1500 01:20:59,475 --> 01:21:02,650 Mexican, Brazilian, Siamese, 1501 01:21:02,685 --> 01:21:05,999 and an especially empathetic Chinese consul, 1502 01:21:06,033 --> 01:21:09,002 whose formal-looking documents in Mandarin 1503 01:21:09,036 --> 01:21:11,176 were rarely challenged at the border 1504 01:21:11,211 --> 01:21:14,283 because neither French nor German officials 1505 01:21:14,317 --> 01:21:16,457 could read them. 1506 01:21:16,492 --> 01:21:20,082 Man as Fry: It's stimulating to be outside the law. 1507 01:21:20,116 --> 01:21:24,362 The experiences of 10, 15, and even 20 years 1508 01:21:24,396 --> 01:21:26,709 have been pressed into one. 1509 01:21:26,743 --> 01:21:31,369 Sometimes I feel as if I had lived my whole life. 1510 01:21:31,403 --> 01:21:33,785 ♪ 1511 01:21:33,819 --> 01:21:35,994 Narrator: Reports of what Fry was up to 1512 01:21:36,029 --> 01:21:38,272 eventually reached Washington. 1513 01:21:38,307 --> 01:21:41,931 Secretary of State Cordell Hull himself cabled 1514 01:21:41,966 --> 01:21:44,037 the Marseille consulate that 1515 01:21:44,071 --> 01:21:47,523 "This Government cannot... repeat cannot... 1516 01:21:47,557 --> 01:21:52,045 "countenance the activities of Mr. Fry and other persons, 1517 01:21:52,079 --> 01:21:55,980 however well-meaning their motives may be." 1518 01:21:56,014 --> 01:21:59,811 The State Department tried to force Fry out of France, 1519 01:21:59,845 --> 01:22:02,641 but he somehow managed to remain in Marseille 1520 01:22:02,676 --> 01:22:04,402 for another 7 months 1521 01:22:04,436 --> 01:22:09,027 until Vichy police escorted him out of the country. 1522 01:22:09,062 --> 01:22:12,203 ♪ 1523 01:22:12,237 --> 01:22:16,069 Together, Fry and Bingham, whom Fry remembered 1524 01:22:16,103 --> 01:22:19,796 as his "partner in the crime of saving lives," 1525 01:22:19,831 --> 01:22:21,246 are thought to have rescued 1526 01:22:21,281 --> 01:22:24,870 at least 2,000 people from the Nazis. 1527 01:22:24,905 --> 01:22:26,803 ♪ 1528 01:22:26,838 --> 01:22:28,944 Some were the celebrated people Fry 1529 01:22:28,978 --> 01:22:31,291 had been sent to save, 1530 01:22:31,325 --> 01:22:35,191 including the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, 1531 01:22:35,226 --> 01:22:37,953 the film director Max Ophuls, 1532 01:22:37,987 --> 01:22:40,507 the sculptor Jacques Lipschitz, 1533 01:22:40,541 --> 01:22:42,750 the philosopher Hannah Arendt, 1534 01:22:42,785 --> 01:22:46,685 and the artists Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, 1535 01:22:46,720 --> 01:22:49,930 and Marc Chagall. 1536 01:22:51,000 --> 01:22:54,210 But also among them were hundreds of men, 1537 01:22:54,245 --> 01:22:58,042 women, and children who were not well-known, 1538 01:22:58,076 --> 01:23:01,666 just human beings in need of help. 1539 01:23:01,700 --> 01:23:05,601 ♪ 1540 01:23:05,635 --> 01:23:07,983 [Air raid siren] 1541 01:23:10,364 --> 01:23:13,022 Murrow: Hello, America, this is Edward Murrow 1542 01:23:13,057 --> 01:23:15,059 speaking from London. 1543 01:23:15,093 --> 01:23:17,244 There were more German planes over the coast of Britain today 1544 01:23:17,268 --> 01:23:19,822 than at any time since the war began. 1545 01:23:22,756 --> 01:23:24,137 Anti-aircraft guns were... 1546 01:23:24,171 --> 01:23:26,277 Narrator: In the summer and fall of 1940, 1547 01:23:26,311 --> 01:23:31,316 as Britain was under relentless attack from German bombs, 1548 01:23:31,351 --> 01:23:36,632 President Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented third term. 1549 01:23:36,666 --> 01:23:39,117 He would have to persuade voters that, 1550 01:23:39,152 --> 01:23:42,155 while he opposed American entry into the war, 1551 01:23:42,189 --> 01:23:45,158 he also needed to provide aid to Britain, 1552 01:23:45,192 --> 01:23:48,678 as the last, best hope of defeating Hitler, 1553 01:23:48,713 --> 01:23:50,715 and to ready the United States 1554 01:23:50,749 --> 01:23:53,683 for conflict if it came, as well. 1555 01:23:54,615 --> 01:23:57,032 On September 16, 1940, 1556 01:23:57,066 --> 01:24:00,759 he signed into law the first peacetime draft 1557 01:24:00,794 --> 01:24:03,072 in the history of the country. 1558 01:24:03,107 --> 01:24:05,833 Roosevelt: To the 16 million young men 1559 01:24:05,868 --> 01:24:07,318 who will register today, 1560 01:24:07,352 --> 01:24:12,012 I say that democracy is your cause, 1561 01:24:12,047 --> 01:24:14,359 the cause of youth. 1562 01:24:15,602 --> 01:24:17,535 Narrator: The odds against the democracies 1563 01:24:17,569 --> 01:24:19,330 had lengthened further. 1564 01:24:19,364 --> 01:24:23,437 Germany was now allied with fascist Italy in Europe 1565 01:24:23,472 --> 01:24:28,235 and Imperial Japan in Asia... the Axis. 1566 01:24:29,926 --> 01:24:33,068 Roosevelt's Republican opponent Wendell Willkie, 1567 01:24:33,102 --> 01:24:36,381 nominated just a few days after France fell, 1568 01:24:36,416 --> 01:24:40,489 shared Roosevelt's belief that Britain had to be helped. 1569 01:24:40,523 --> 01:24:45,080 Now, so did nearly 3/4 of the American people. 1570 01:24:45,114 --> 01:24:49,084 Public opinion was slowly beginning to change. 1571 01:24:50,361 --> 01:24:53,674 But soon after Roosevelt agreed to provide Britain 1572 01:24:53,709 --> 01:24:56,091 with 50 old destroyers, 1573 01:24:56,125 --> 01:24:59,128 Charles Lindbergh became the chief spokesman 1574 01:24:59,163 --> 01:25:02,235 for a new isolationist organization 1575 01:25:02,269 --> 01:25:05,962 dedicated to keeping America out of the war... 1576 01:25:05,997 --> 01:25:08,517 the America First Committee. 1577 01:25:08,551 --> 01:25:11,140 Lindbergh: France has now been defeated, 1578 01:25:11,175 --> 01:25:15,627 and despite the propaganda and confusion of recent months, 1579 01:25:15,662 --> 01:25:19,942 it is now obvious that England is losing the war. 1580 01:25:19,976 --> 01:25:21,702 I believe... 1581 01:25:21,737 --> 01:25:24,395 [Cheering and applause] 1582 01:25:26,362 --> 01:25:29,262 And I have been forced to the conclusion 1583 01:25:29,296 --> 01:25:32,161 that we cannot win this war for England 1584 01:25:32,196 --> 01:25:35,406 regardless of how much assistance we send. 1585 01:25:35,440 --> 01:25:40,204 That is why the America First Committee has been formed. 1586 01:25:40,238 --> 01:25:42,930 Narrator: It was founded by a handful of students 1587 01:25:42,965 --> 01:25:45,036 at the Yale Law School 1588 01:25:45,070 --> 01:25:46,865 and run by a National Committee 1589 01:25:46,900 --> 01:25:51,284 that at various times included General Robert E. Wood, 1590 01:25:51,318 --> 01:25:53,941 chairman of the board of Sears Roebuck, 1591 01:25:53,976 --> 01:25:56,599 the head of the United States Olympic Committee 1592 01:25:56,634 --> 01:25:58,291 Avery Brundage, 1593 01:25:58,325 --> 01:26:01,121 the automobile magnate Henry Ford, 1594 01:26:01,156 --> 01:26:04,193 World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker, 1595 01:26:04,228 --> 01:26:07,886 Lillian Gish, the star of "Birth of a Nation," 1596 01:26:07,921 --> 01:26:09,957 and Theodore Roosevelt's daughter 1597 01:26:09,992 --> 01:26:13,375 Alice Roosevelt Longworth. 1598 01:26:13,409 --> 01:26:16,964 The Committee soon had some 800,000 members 1599 01:26:16,999 --> 01:26:20,899 in 450 chapters all across the country, 1600 01:26:20,934 --> 01:26:23,454 the largest anti-war organization 1601 01:26:23,488 --> 01:26:26,250 in the history of the United States. 1602 01:26:26,284 --> 01:26:27,872 ♪ 1603 01:26:27,906 --> 01:26:29,805 Despite the opposition, 1604 01:26:29,839 --> 01:26:32,946 FDR was reelected to a third term 1605 01:26:32,980 --> 01:26:36,467 and soon proposed a Lend-Lease bill, 1606 01:26:36,501 --> 01:26:39,504 allowing him to supply Britain with more 1607 01:26:39,539 --> 01:26:44,233 desperately-needed military and naval supplies. 1608 01:26:44,268 --> 01:26:49,411 Roosevelt: I ask this Congress for authority and for funds 1609 01:26:49,445 --> 01:26:53,208 sufficient to manufacture additional munitions 1610 01:26:53,242 --> 01:26:55,969 and war supplies of many kinds 1611 01:26:56,003 --> 01:26:58,661 to be turned over to those nations 1612 01:26:58,696 --> 01:27:01,975 which are now in actual war 1613 01:27:02,009 --> 01:27:05,012 with aggressor nations. 1614 01:27:05,047 --> 01:27:09,672 Narrator: The bill was designated HR 1776 1615 01:27:09,707 --> 01:27:14,229 in hope that voters would see its passage as patriotic. 1616 01:27:14,263 --> 01:27:18,094 Isolationists called it the dictator bill. 1617 01:27:19,234 --> 01:27:21,857 Charles Lindbergh testified against it. 1618 01:27:21,891 --> 01:27:25,378 He favored neither a British nor a German victory, 1619 01:27:25,412 --> 01:27:29,105 he said, and warned that U.S. entry into the war 1620 01:27:29,140 --> 01:27:31,591 would be "the greatest disaster this country 1621 01:27:31,625 --> 01:27:33,386 has ever gone through." 1622 01:27:33,420 --> 01:27:37,182 FDR denounced him as an appeaser. 1623 01:27:37,217 --> 01:27:40,462 Isolationist and antisemitic groups now flooded 1624 01:27:40,496 --> 01:27:44,189 the halls of the Capitol to oppose the new bill, 1625 01:27:44,224 --> 01:27:48,021 including black-clad members of a self-proclaimed 1626 01:27:48,055 --> 01:27:51,162 "Mothers' Movement" who cursed legislators 1627 01:27:51,196 --> 01:27:54,165 and insisted that Jews were behind 1628 01:27:54,199 --> 01:27:58,307 what they believed to be Roosevelt's rush toward war. 1629 01:27:58,342 --> 01:27:59,964 ♪ 1630 01:27:59,998 --> 01:28:03,623 Lipstadt: It's not just something that is hypothetical. 1631 01:28:03,657 --> 01:28:05,383 England can fall. 1632 01:28:05,418 --> 01:28:08,559 Hitler will take over all of the European continent. 1633 01:28:08,593 --> 01:28:12,770 And America First fails to see the danger 1634 01:28:12,804 --> 01:28:14,737 to the world at large. 1635 01:28:14,772 --> 01:28:17,982 Tyrants will go as far as you allow them to go. 1636 01:28:18,016 --> 01:28:19,949 They're always testing the waters. 1637 01:28:19,984 --> 01:28:23,090 Can I go further? Can I push stronger? 1638 01:28:23,125 --> 01:28:25,852 And the America First and the isolationists 1639 01:28:25,886 --> 01:28:28,095 refuse to acknowledge that. 1640 01:28:29,511 --> 01:28:33,998 Narrator: In the end, the Lend-Lease bill passed. 1641 01:28:34,032 --> 01:28:36,138 Newsreel announcer: Guns and munitions of all sorts 1642 01:28:36,172 --> 01:28:39,141 pour into Britain as almost hourly convoys 1643 01:28:39,175 --> 01:28:41,626 from the States bring their precious cargos. 1644 01:28:41,661 --> 01:28:44,457 The original $7 billion of lend-lease aid 1645 01:28:44,491 --> 01:28:46,390 has already been allocated. 1646 01:28:46,424 --> 01:28:49,393 Now Congress studies final passage of another 6 billion, 1647 01:28:49,427 --> 01:28:52,016 and Britain studies invading the continent 1648 01:28:52,050 --> 01:28:56,054 with arms made in the U.S.A. 1649 01:28:59,368 --> 01:29:02,613 Messinger: When the German invasion was over, 1650 01:29:02,647 --> 01:29:05,340 we were glad we were in Vichy, France, 1651 01:29:05,374 --> 01:29:08,239 not under the control of the Germans. 1652 01:29:09,516 --> 01:29:11,794 There was still an American embassy there. 1653 01:29:11,829 --> 01:29:13,278 My father could go there 1654 01:29:13,313 --> 01:29:16,109 and pursue our visa to the United States. 1655 01:29:17,041 --> 01:29:19,388 Narrator: Sol Messinger and his parents, 1656 01:29:19,423 --> 01:29:23,461 having been turned away from Cuba on the St. Louis, 1657 01:29:23,496 --> 01:29:26,257 had now managed to escape from Belgium 1658 01:29:26,291 --> 01:29:29,156 after the Germans invaded. 1659 01:29:29,191 --> 01:29:34,541 They made it to a small village in Vichy, France... Savignac. 1660 01:29:34,576 --> 01:29:37,993 But after a few months, they were arrested 1661 01:29:38,027 --> 01:29:41,065 and put in a French internment camp. 1662 01:29:41,099 --> 01:29:44,482 Messinger: My father found out that there was an underground, 1663 01:29:44,517 --> 01:29:47,002 which helped people to escape, 1664 01:29:47,036 --> 01:29:50,385 so we planned to escape. 1665 01:29:50,419 --> 01:29:55,182 My mother and I, it was Christmas Eve, 1666 01:29:55,217 --> 01:29:57,633 and the French soldiers were drunk, 1667 01:29:57,668 --> 01:30:01,396 and we simply walked past the French soldiers. 1668 01:30:01,430 --> 01:30:03,018 [Train whistle blows] 1669 01:30:03,052 --> 01:30:06,677 ♪ 1670 01:30:06,711 --> 01:30:10,301 We had decided we would go back to Savignac. 1671 01:30:10,335 --> 01:30:14,063 It's the only place that we knew in France. 1672 01:30:14,098 --> 01:30:17,619 So we got on a train. 1673 01:30:17,653 --> 01:30:19,552 Of course, you were not allowed 1674 01:30:19,586 --> 01:30:23,348 to be on a train without papers. 1675 01:30:23,383 --> 01:30:26,628 Fortunately, nobody asked us for our papers. 1676 01:30:26,662 --> 01:30:28,561 ♪ 1677 01:30:28,595 --> 01:30:32,185 But my father was still in the camp. 1678 01:30:32,219 --> 01:30:35,499 On New Year's Day, we were standing outside, 1679 01:30:35,533 --> 01:30:39,330 and in the distance we saw 4 men walking towards us, 1680 01:30:39,364 --> 01:30:41,919 one of whom was my father. 1681 01:30:41,953 --> 01:30:44,162 He had escaped, 1682 01:30:44,197 --> 01:30:46,579 so we were reunited again. 1683 01:30:46,613 --> 01:30:48,512 ♪ 1684 01:30:48,546 --> 01:30:52,377 It was just incredibly lucky. 1685 01:30:54,379 --> 01:30:56,520 [Trolley clangs] 1686 01:30:59,350 --> 01:31:03,147 Narrator: Otto Frank was ordinarily a cautious man, 1687 01:31:03,181 --> 01:31:07,220 content to keep a low profile and go about his business 1688 01:31:07,254 --> 01:31:09,878 in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. 1689 01:31:11,396 --> 01:31:15,504 But one day, he made an uncharacteristically incautious remark 1690 01:31:15,539 --> 01:31:20,060 to a Gentile employee's husband whom he didn't know well. 1691 01:31:20,095 --> 01:31:21,890 When the man expressed confidence 1692 01:31:21,924 --> 01:31:24,375 that Germany would win the war soon, 1693 01:31:24,409 --> 01:31:27,378 Frank had disagreed. 1694 01:31:27,412 --> 01:31:29,932 The man turned out to be a Nazi sympathizer 1695 01:31:29,967 --> 01:31:34,212 who wrote a letter to the Gestapo denouncing Frank. 1696 01:31:34,247 --> 01:31:37,940 A member of the Dutch fascist party intercepted the letter 1697 01:31:37,975 --> 01:31:41,323 and demanded money to keep quiet about it. 1698 01:31:41,357 --> 01:31:44,429 Now, subject to blackmail and fearful 1699 01:31:44,464 --> 01:31:46,155 that the Germans would come for him 1700 01:31:46,190 --> 01:31:48,330 and his family at any time, 1701 01:31:48,364 --> 01:31:52,783 Otto Frank stepped up his efforts to try to get to the United States, 1702 01:31:52,817 --> 01:31:55,682 despite the fact that his visa application 1703 01:31:55,717 --> 01:31:59,306 had been destroyed in the bombing of Rotterdam. 1704 01:31:59,341 --> 01:32:04,553 In desperation, Frank turned to an old friend... Charley Straus. 1705 01:32:04,588 --> 01:32:06,866 Straus knew the Roosevelts, 1706 01:32:06,900 --> 01:32:10,421 was the administrator of the Federal Housing Authority, 1707 01:32:10,455 --> 01:32:13,079 and his father had been a co-owner 1708 01:32:13,113 --> 01:32:15,219 of Macy's department store. 1709 01:32:15,253 --> 01:32:17,014 ♪ 1710 01:32:17,048 --> 01:32:20,327 Man: April 30, 1941. 1711 01:32:20,362 --> 01:32:23,296 Perhaps you remember that we have two girls. 1712 01:32:23,330 --> 01:32:25,470 It is for the sake of the children mainly 1713 01:32:25,505 --> 01:32:26,920 that we have to care for. 1714 01:32:26,955 --> 01:32:30,683 Our own fate is of less importance. 1715 01:32:30,717 --> 01:32:36,585 The consul asks a bank deposit of about $5,000 for us 4. 1716 01:32:36,620 --> 01:32:40,589 You are the only person I know that I can ask. 1717 01:32:40,624 --> 01:32:44,628 Would it be possible for you to give a deposit in my favor? 1718 01:32:44,662 --> 01:32:47,285 Who can tell if there is still a chance to leave Europe 1719 01:32:47,320 --> 01:32:49,771 by the time this letter is going to arrive? 1720 01:32:49,805 --> 01:32:53,395 I am still indebted to you, and I shall always be. 1721 01:32:53,429 --> 01:32:55,811 As ever, Yours, Otto. 1722 01:32:55,846 --> 01:32:58,158 ♪ 1723 01:32:58,193 --> 01:33:02,231 Narrator: Straus and his wife agreed to put up the money, 1724 01:33:02,266 --> 01:33:07,478 but by that time the State Department had changed its rules. 1725 01:33:07,512 --> 01:33:10,481 Consulates had been ordered to deny a visa 1726 01:33:10,515 --> 01:33:13,484 to anyone with close relatives in Germany 1727 01:33:13,518 --> 01:33:17,419 or any of the countries it had annexed or occupied 1728 01:33:17,453 --> 01:33:20,456 out of fear of foreign agents. 1729 01:33:20,491 --> 01:33:24,426 Greene: In 1941, you see a series of rule changes 1730 01:33:24,460 --> 01:33:28,085 that are designed to make it even harder 1731 01:33:28,119 --> 01:33:30,259 for refugees to get in. 1732 01:33:30,294 --> 01:33:31,882 It's not only that it's complicated 1733 01:33:31,916 --> 01:33:33,400 to line up the paperwork, 1734 01:33:33,435 --> 01:33:36,541 the State Department is moving the bar on them. 1735 01:33:37,853 --> 01:33:41,443 Man: If I had my way, I would today build a wall 1736 01:33:41,477 --> 01:33:45,654 about the United States so high and so secure 1737 01:33:45,689 --> 01:33:48,830 that not a single alien or foreign refugee 1738 01:33:48,864 --> 01:33:51,453 from any country upon the face of this earth 1739 01:33:51,487 --> 01:33:54,352 could possibly scale or ascend it. 1740 01:33:55,457 --> 01:33:58,667 Senator Robert Reynolds. 1741 01:33:58,702 --> 01:34:00,427 Narrator: Senator Robert Reynolds 1742 01:34:00,462 --> 01:34:02,050 of North Carolina, 1743 01:34:02,084 --> 01:34:04,915 chairman of the powerful Military Affairs Committee 1744 01:34:04,949 --> 01:34:08,263 charged that Jews were "systematically building 1745 01:34:08,297 --> 01:34:10,817 a Jewish empire in this country" 1746 01:34:10,852 --> 01:34:15,684 and called for still more obstacles to immigration. 1747 01:34:15,719 --> 01:34:19,550 He also organized a group called the Vindicators 1748 01:34:19,584 --> 01:34:22,139 to hunt down illegal immigrants. 1749 01:34:22,173 --> 01:34:24,313 ♪ 1750 01:34:24,348 --> 01:34:27,938 Meanwhile, in response to President Roosevelt's decision 1751 01:34:27,972 --> 01:34:32,080 to freeze German and Italian assets in the United States, 1752 01:34:32,114 --> 01:34:35,670 Germany and Italy ordered American consulates 1753 01:34:35,704 --> 01:34:37,775 to close in their countries 1754 01:34:37,810 --> 01:34:41,779 and all the countries they occupied, as well. 1755 01:34:41,814 --> 01:34:45,438 Now, for anyone waiting in those countries, 1756 01:34:45,472 --> 01:34:48,337 there would be no American visas. 1757 01:34:48,372 --> 01:34:49,856 ♪ 1758 01:34:49,891 --> 01:34:53,308 Woman: American Friends Service Committee, Rome. 1759 01:34:53,342 --> 01:34:55,551 All immigration to the U.S. stopped, 1760 01:34:55,586 --> 01:34:58,762 thereby robbing many people of their hopes. 1761 01:34:58,796 --> 01:35:02,248 They could not understand what difference one day should make 1762 01:35:02,282 --> 01:35:05,423 and are naturally unable to reconcile themselves 1763 01:35:05,458 --> 01:35:07,115 to the arbitrariness of laws 1764 01:35:07,149 --> 01:35:11,119 that affect their whole futures so disastrously. 1765 01:35:11,153 --> 01:35:13,604 Another thing that discourages us somewhat 1766 01:35:13,638 --> 01:35:15,399 is the general attitude of Americans 1767 01:35:15,433 --> 01:35:18,816 toward the problems with which we have been working. 1768 01:35:18,851 --> 01:35:22,061 Really I am so tired of having well-meaning 1769 01:35:22,095 --> 01:35:25,823 and opinionated people tell me about the Jews 1770 01:35:25,858 --> 01:35:28,032 and sounding off to the effect of, 1771 01:35:28,067 --> 01:35:30,621 "Why don't we use all this splendid zeal 1772 01:35:30,655 --> 01:35:35,074 and energy for some really American activity?" 1773 01:35:35,108 --> 01:35:37,490 Marjorie McClelland. 1774 01:35:43,392 --> 01:35:46,395 Man: This is not the Second World War. 1775 01:35:46,430 --> 01:35:50,227 This is the Great Racial War. 1776 01:35:50,261 --> 01:35:51,918 The meaning of this war, 1777 01:35:51,953 --> 01:35:54,369 and the reason we are fighting out there, 1778 01:35:54,403 --> 01:35:59,995 is to decide whether the German and Aryan will prevail 1779 01:36:00,030 --> 01:36:04,310 or if the Jew will rule the world. 1780 01:36:04,344 --> 01:36:06,553 Hermann Goering. 1781 01:36:08,072 --> 01:36:09,660 [Explosion] 1782 01:36:15,735 --> 01:36:19,843 Narrator: On June 22, 1941, without any warning 1783 01:36:19,877 --> 01:36:23,950 to his supposed ally Josef Stalin, 1784 01:36:23,985 --> 01:36:28,368 Hitler sent 3 vast army groups into the Soviet Union 1785 01:36:28,403 --> 01:36:30,923 along a thousand-mile front 1786 01:36:30,957 --> 01:36:34,340 with 3,550 tanks, 1787 01:36:34,374 --> 01:36:37,653 2,770 aircraft, 1788 01:36:37,688 --> 01:36:40,035 and 600,000 horses 1789 01:36:40,070 --> 01:36:46,041 to haul weapons and supplies across Russia's vast distances. 1790 01:36:54,981 --> 01:36:57,950 Hitler's goal was what it had always been, 1791 01:36:57,984 --> 01:37:02,471 to enslave or eliminate the peoples of Eastern Europe 1792 01:37:02,506 --> 01:37:04,957 and establish a continental Reich 1793 01:37:04,991 --> 01:37:08,581 meant to last a thousand years. 1794 01:37:08,615 --> 01:37:11,446 The Red Army fell back. 1795 01:37:15,312 --> 01:37:18,694 Nearly 6 million Soviet soldiers would fall 1796 01:37:18,729 --> 01:37:22,733 into German hands during the coming months. 1797 01:37:22,767 --> 01:37:25,287 Well over half of them died, 1798 01:37:25,322 --> 01:37:30,810 most of them worked to death or deliberately starved. 1799 01:37:33,019 --> 01:37:35,297 Snyder: Once Germany invades the Soviet Union 1800 01:37:35,332 --> 01:37:37,852 with the idea of destroying the Soviet Union, 1801 01:37:37,886 --> 01:37:41,648 mass murder can take place. 1802 01:37:41,683 --> 01:37:44,824 To Hitler, the Soviet Union is not a state. 1803 01:37:44,859 --> 01:37:46,999 The rule of law does not apply. 1804 01:37:47,033 --> 01:37:50,243 This is not even an occupation. 1805 01:37:50,278 --> 01:37:55,939 These are just wild territories inhabited by undefined peoples. 1806 01:37:55,973 --> 01:37:57,285 ♪ 1807 01:37:57,319 --> 01:37:59,908 When the Germans arrived, the Germans could say, 1808 01:37:59,943 --> 01:38:02,462 "You've had this terrible period of Soviet oppression. 1809 01:38:02,497 --> 01:38:05,534 "And you know who was at fault? You know who ran it? 1810 01:38:05,569 --> 01:38:07,812 It was the Jews." 1811 01:38:07,847 --> 01:38:11,886 Narrator: Everywhere, Jews were special targets. 1812 01:38:11,920 --> 01:38:14,578 Hayes: They're killing Jews in two ways. 1813 01:38:14,612 --> 01:38:16,407 First, they are starving Jews to death 1814 01:38:16,442 --> 01:38:20,032 in the ghettos that they have established in occupied Poland. 1815 01:38:20,066 --> 01:38:22,586 Then they also decide that when they invade the Soviet Union, 1816 01:38:22,620 --> 01:38:24,208 they're going to shoot people. 1817 01:38:25,727 --> 01:38:27,936 Narrator: Specialists were enlisted to follow 1818 01:38:27,971 --> 01:38:32,354 the advancing army and hunt down and kill Jewish men 1819 01:38:32,389 --> 01:38:35,323 and partisans who dared wage guerilla war 1820 01:38:35,357 --> 01:38:36,876 against the invaders, 1821 01:38:36,911 --> 01:38:39,637 along with other groups deemed to be hostile, 1822 01:38:39,672 --> 01:38:44,470 inferior, or loyal to the Soviet regime. 1823 01:38:44,504 --> 01:38:49,371 3,000 men of the Einsatzgruppen, Operations Groups, 1824 01:38:49,406 --> 01:38:51,442 were in overall charge, 1825 01:38:51,477 --> 01:38:55,136 but they were soon reinforced by other killing units... 1826 01:38:55,170 --> 01:39:00,141 20,000 SS men, 30,000 German Order Police, 1827 01:39:00,175 --> 01:39:04,076 and ordinary soldiers from the German Army. 1828 01:39:04,110 --> 01:39:08,218 At first, the Einsatzgruppen encouraged pogroms, 1829 01:39:08,252 --> 01:39:12,463 sometimes standing by while Latvians, Lithuanians, 1830 01:39:12,498 --> 01:39:14,155 Poles, and Ukrainians 1831 01:39:14,189 --> 01:39:17,503 rounded up and murdered their Jewish neighbors. 1832 01:39:17,537 --> 01:39:19,574 ♪ 1833 01:39:19,608 --> 01:39:22,059 In scores of cities and towns, 1834 01:39:22,094 --> 01:39:24,959 Gentiles acting independently 1835 01:39:24,993 --> 01:39:28,272 also slaughtered thousands of Jews. 1836 01:39:28,307 --> 01:39:36,307 ♪ 1837 01:39:40,319 --> 01:39:42,735 But the Germans soon took over most 1838 01:39:42,769 --> 01:39:45,186 of the killing themselves. 1839 01:39:45,220 --> 01:39:49,811 They shot only Jewish men in the beginning, 1840 01:39:49,845 --> 01:39:52,883 then started killing women and children 1841 01:39:52,917 --> 01:39:54,954 who, their officers told them, 1842 01:39:54,989 --> 01:39:58,751 acted as the partisans' eyes and ears. 1843 01:39:59,994 --> 01:40:02,617 Hayes: And they're basically going to round them up 1844 01:40:02,651 --> 01:40:04,412 as the German armies advance, 1845 01:40:04,446 --> 01:40:06,966 and they're going to shoot them into ditches, 1846 01:40:07,001 --> 01:40:11,695 liquidate them in forests, wipe them out. 1847 01:40:11,729 --> 01:40:15,216 ♪ 1848 01:40:15,250 --> 01:40:20,497 Narrator: They shot 24,000 Jews at Kamenets-Podolski, 1849 01:40:20,531 --> 01:40:23,983 28,000 at Vinnytsia, 1850 01:40:24,018 --> 01:40:29,609 nearly 34,000 at Babi Yar outside Kiev. 1851 01:40:29,644 --> 01:40:33,751 ♪ 1852 01:40:33,786 --> 01:40:36,306 It was all meant to be secret, 1853 01:40:36,340 --> 01:40:39,481 but many German soldiers carried cameras 1854 01:40:39,516 --> 01:40:43,071 so that they could send snapshots and home movies 1855 01:40:43,106 --> 01:40:46,937 to show their families what their husbands and sons 1856 01:40:46,971 --> 01:40:50,285 and fathers were doing as they moved east. 1857 01:40:52,287 --> 01:40:56,498 "Up here in what was Latvia things are pretty Jewified," 1858 01:40:56,533 --> 01:40:58,742 one soldier told his family, 1859 01:40:58,776 --> 01:41:02,401 "and in this case no quarter is given." 1860 01:41:04,058 --> 01:41:06,784 Snyder: Every photograph we have has to stand in 1861 01:41:06,819 --> 01:41:09,235 for many, many, many, many other, 1862 01:41:09,270 --> 01:41:10,892 hundreds of other shooting pits, 1863 01:41:10,926 --> 01:41:13,343 which are not actually recorded. 1864 01:41:15,345 --> 01:41:18,037 These images are taken for purposes, 1865 01:41:18,072 --> 01:41:21,144 which broaden our sense of horror. 1866 01:41:21,178 --> 01:41:23,111 ♪ 1867 01:41:23,146 --> 01:41:24,951 Because it's not just that the event took place 1868 01:41:24,975 --> 01:41:26,287 and has been recorded. 1869 01:41:26,321 --> 01:41:31,878 It's that this is a trophy photo. 1870 01:41:33,259 --> 01:41:35,399 And they're horrible in yet another way. 1871 01:41:35,434 --> 01:41:39,748 This is typical and not exceptional. 1872 01:41:39,783 --> 01:41:42,026 ♪ 1873 01:42:06,189 --> 01:42:08,570 Narrator: One Einsatzgruppen commander 1874 01:42:08,605 --> 01:42:10,917 remembered the routine. 1875 01:42:13,023 --> 01:42:15,715 There were 15-man firing squads. 1876 01:42:15,750 --> 01:42:17,924 One bullet per Jew. 1877 01:42:23,758 --> 01:42:29,557 One firing squad of 15 executed 15 Jews at a time. 1878 01:42:29,591 --> 01:42:32,387 He thought he and his men had killed 1879 01:42:32,422 --> 01:42:37,047 somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000. 1880 01:42:37,081 --> 01:42:39,394 They'd lost count. 1881 01:42:40,809 --> 01:42:43,157 ♪ 1882 01:42:43,191 --> 01:42:46,643 Mendelsohn: Two million Eastern European Jews were killed 1883 01:42:46,677 --> 01:42:50,129 just in what they now call the Shoah by bullets. 1884 01:42:50,164 --> 01:42:52,200 ♪ 1885 01:42:52,235 --> 01:42:57,240 I'll never forget a survivor that I interviewed. 1886 01:42:57,274 --> 01:43:02,762 He said, "You know, as it was happening to us, 1887 01:43:02,797 --> 01:43:04,592 "we couldn't believe it, 1888 01:43:04,626 --> 01:43:07,733 so how was anybody else gonna believe it?" 1889 01:43:07,767 --> 01:43:12,600 If they to whom it was happening could scarcely believe 1890 01:43:12,634 --> 01:43:16,535 the savagery and the sadism and the depravity 1891 01:43:16,569 --> 01:43:19,710 of what was happening, how are the relatives in America 1892 01:43:19,745 --> 01:43:22,299 even possibly going to imagine? 1893 01:43:22,334 --> 01:43:24,163 ♪ 1894 01:43:24,198 --> 01:43:26,234 Narrator: The Einsatzgruppen eventually 1895 01:43:26,269 --> 01:43:29,272 reached Bolechow in eastern Poland. 1896 01:43:29,306 --> 01:43:32,378 It was home to some 3,000 Jews, 1897 01:43:32,413 --> 01:43:38,315 including Shmiel Jaeger, his wife, and 4 daughters. 1898 01:43:38,350 --> 01:43:41,560 Mendelsohn: These people are now statistics, 1899 01:43:41,594 --> 01:43:46,427 particularly now, as their individual stories recede, 1900 01:43:46,461 --> 01:43:49,361 but they were not statistics to themselves. 1901 01:43:49,395 --> 01:43:53,261 Every one of them died in a different way. 1902 01:43:53,296 --> 01:43:57,990 The third daughter, Ruchele, was taken by herself. 1903 01:43:58,024 --> 01:44:03,133 The first roundup in the town happened in the autumn of 1941. 1904 01:44:03,167 --> 01:44:05,722 There was a roundup of about 1,000 people. 1905 01:44:05,756 --> 01:44:07,724 That was the first action. 1906 01:44:07,758 --> 01:44:09,312 And she just happened to be 1907 01:44:09,346 --> 01:44:10,899 in the wrong place at the wrong time. 1908 01:44:10,934 --> 01:44:12,142 She was out of the house. 1909 01:44:12,176 --> 01:44:13,361 She was walking through the town. 1910 01:44:13,385 --> 01:44:15,249 She got caught in this roundup. 1911 01:44:15,283 --> 01:44:18,010 These people were held in a local 1912 01:44:18,044 --> 01:44:19,977 Catholic community center, 1913 01:44:20,012 --> 01:44:22,532 and people were raped and tortured 1914 01:44:22,566 --> 01:44:24,603 over about 24 hours. 1915 01:44:24,637 --> 01:44:26,501 ♪ 1916 01:44:26,536 --> 01:44:31,161 And then they were taken to a site just outside of the town 1917 01:44:31,195 --> 01:44:34,889 where there was an old salt mine, 1918 01:44:34,923 --> 01:44:36,856 and they were all shot. 1919 01:44:36,891 --> 01:44:43,415 ♪ 1920 01:44:43,449 --> 01:44:48,558 Man: Vilna, Lithuania. March 2, 1941. 1921 01:44:48,592 --> 01:44:53,217 Elsa, today I'm sending you a postcard. 1922 01:44:53,252 --> 01:44:56,013 I want to make sure that maybe you will receive 1923 01:44:56,048 --> 01:44:59,638 a last postal item from me. 1924 01:44:59,672 --> 01:45:01,467 If something happens, 1925 01:45:01,502 --> 01:45:04,505 I would want there to be somebody who would remember 1926 01:45:04,539 --> 01:45:08,474 that someone named David Berger had once lived. 1927 01:45:09,579 --> 01:45:11,788 This will make things easier for me 1928 01:45:11,822 --> 01:45:13,686 in the difficult moments. 1929 01:45:13,721 --> 01:45:17,034 ♪ 1930 01:45:17,069 --> 01:45:19,209 Farewell. 1931 01:45:27,631 --> 01:45:30,324 Narrator: For many months, British intelligence 1932 01:45:30,358 --> 01:45:32,187 had been decoding top-secret 1933 01:45:32,222 --> 01:45:34,880 German communications from the front. 1934 01:45:35,846 --> 01:45:40,126 In August, the messages were filled with mysterious numbers, 1935 01:45:40,161 --> 01:45:42,681 which they only gradually realized 1936 01:45:42,715 --> 01:45:45,235 were evidence of the systematic murder 1937 01:45:45,269 --> 01:45:49,170 of all the Jews living in every town and village 1938 01:45:49,204 --> 01:45:53,105 the Nazis overran on the Eastern Front. 1939 01:45:53,139 --> 01:45:55,763 Hayes: During the summer of 1941 when the Germans 1940 01:45:55,797 --> 01:45:57,143 were invading the Soviet Union 1941 01:45:57,178 --> 01:45:59,905 and liquidating Jews in their path, 1942 01:45:59,939 --> 01:46:03,909 Winston Churchill got an intercept of the reports 1943 01:46:03,943 --> 01:46:07,050 that the shooting units were sending back to Berlin. 1944 01:46:07,084 --> 01:46:10,467 "Yesterday we shot X number of people." 1945 01:46:10,502 --> 01:46:13,090 Then the reports were broken down as time passed 1946 01:46:13,125 --> 01:46:15,472 to men, women, children, 1947 01:46:15,507 --> 01:46:19,303 Jews, Communists, so forth. 1948 01:46:19,338 --> 01:46:22,237 Narrator: The intelligence continued to come in. 1949 01:46:22,272 --> 01:46:26,207 367 shot on one day. 1950 01:46:26,241 --> 01:46:29,728 468 two days later. 1951 01:46:29,762 --> 01:46:33,766 1,625 the next day. 1952 01:46:33,801 --> 01:46:36,976 3,000 5 days after that. 1953 01:46:37,011 --> 01:46:41,222 6 days later more than 5,000. 1954 01:46:41,256 --> 01:46:44,398 So many dead so regularly recorded 1955 01:46:44,432 --> 01:46:46,952 that the intelligence service concluded that, 1956 01:46:46,986 --> 01:46:50,611 "The fact that the German police are killing all Jews 1957 01:46:50,645 --> 01:46:53,337 "that fall into their hands should by now 1958 01:46:53,372 --> 01:46:55,754 "be sufficiently well appreciated. 1959 01:46:55,788 --> 01:46:58,998 "It is not therefore proposed to continue reporting 1960 01:46:59,033 --> 01:47:03,451 these butcheries specially, unless so requested." 1961 01:47:03,486 --> 01:47:05,833 The numbers would no longer be included 1962 01:47:05,867 --> 01:47:09,733 in the Prime Minister's intelligence briefings. 1963 01:47:09,768 --> 01:47:12,322 His problem was that if he announced to the world 1964 01:47:12,356 --> 01:47:13,944 that he had these reports, 1965 01:47:13,979 --> 01:47:16,257 the Germans would know they were being intercepted. 1966 01:47:16,291 --> 01:47:18,466 He couldn't do anything about the shooting, 1967 01:47:18,501 --> 01:47:20,986 and he couldn't do anything to alert the wider world 1968 01:47:21,020 --> 01:47:24,852 to how extensive the shooting was. 1969 01:47:24,886 --> 01:47:26,854 ♪ 1970 01:47:26,888 --> 01:47:28,580 Erbelding: I would argue that Nazi Germany 1971 01:47:28,614 --> 01:47:31,997 believes that it's fighting two wars. 1972 01:47:32,031 --> 01:47:33,481 It's fighting a military war, 1973 01:47:33,516 --> 01:47:35,310 and it's fighting a genocidal war. 1974 01:47:35,345 --> 01:47:36,829 The military war, obviously, 1975 01:47:36,864 --> 01:47:39,694 begins when Nazi Germany invades Poland. 1976 01:47:39,729 --> 01:47:42,490 The genocidal war begins two years later 1977 01:47:42,525 --> 01:47:45,389 when the Nazis abandon any idea 1978 01:47:45,424 --> 01:47:47,564 that the Jews are going to emigrate and decide, 1979 01:47:47,599 --> 01:47:52,569 instead, to round them up and to murder them en masse. 1980 01:47:53,536 --> 01:47:55,089 Narrator: The Nazis had assumed 1981 01:47:55,123 --> 01:47:58,644 Britain could not hold out for long, 1982 01:47:58,679 --> 01:48:02,614 and back in the summer of 1940, Adolf Eichmann, 1983 01:48:02,648 --> 01:48:07,101 the SS officer in charge of forced Jewish emigration, 1984 01:48:07,135 --> 01:48:11,588 was ordered to draw up plans to use captured British ships 1985 01:48:11,623 --> 01:48:16,248 to transport all the Jews of Europe to Madagascar, 1986 01:48:16,282 --> 01:48:18,837 a French island in the Indian Ocean, 1987 01:48:18,871 --> 01:48:22,461 where they would die of exposure and starvation. 1988 01:48:22,496 --> 01:48:23,980 ♪ 1989 01:48:24,014 --> 01:48:26,672 But Britain had not surrendered. 1990 01:48:26,707 --> 01:48:30,262 And so, if the Jews of Europe were to be eliminated, 1991 01:48:30,296 --> 01:48:33,023 SS commander Heinrich Himmler concluded 1992 01:48:33,058 --> 01:48:37,131 they would have to be eliminated on the European continent. 1993 01:48:37,165 --> 01:48:38,926 ♪ 1994 01:48:38,960 --> 01:48:43,793 On July 31, 1941, Hermann Goering would ask 1995 01:48:43,827 --> 01:48:47,659 the SS second-in-command Reinhard Heydrich 1996 01:48:47,693 --> 01:48:51,386 to come up with what he called "an overall solution 1997 01:48:51,421 --> 01:48:55,805 to the Jewish question in the German sphere." 1998 01:48:55,839 --> 01:48:58,290 Heydrich's plan had to be "noiseless," 1999 01:48:58,324 --> 01:49:00,223 SS planners said, 2000 01:49:00,257 --> 01:49:02,639 and therefore easily kept secret, 2001 01:49:02,674 --> 01:49:05,504 and it had to be "humane," they insisted, 2002 01:49:05,539 --> 01:49:08,818 not in order to ease the deaths of victims, 2003 01:49:08,852 --> 01:49:12,718 but to spare the feelings of those murdering them. 2004 01:49:14,858 --> 01:49:18,172 [Bells clanging] 2005 01:49:18,206 --> 01:49:20,381 [Susan speaking German] 2006 01:49:56,831 --> 01:49:59,006 ♪ 2007 01:49:59,040 --> 01:50:02,354 Narrator: After the Germans occupied northern France, 2008 01:50:02,388 --> 01:50:04,839 Susan Hilsenrath and her brother Joseph 2009 01:50:04,874 --> 01:50:08,705 had managed to make their way from Versailles to Vichy 2010 01:50:08,740 --> 01:50:10,707 and the Chateau des Morelles, 2011 01:50:10,742 --> 01:50:13,020 a group home for Jewish children 2012 01:50:13,054 --> 01:50:15,747 who had been separated from their parents, 2013 01:50:15,781 --> 01:50:21,097 financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. 2014 01:50:21,131 --> 01:50:23,375 Susan: They wanted to send us to school, 2015 01:50:23,409 --> 01:50:25,757 to the public school in France. 2016 01:50:25,791 --> 01:50:29,726 But the people in the village wouldn't let 2017 01:50:29,761 --> 01:50:32,142 those children from the Chateau Morelles 2018 01:50:32,177 --> 01:50:34,420 mix with their children. 2019 01:50:34,455 --> 01:50:38,839 We kept writing to our parents all the time. 2020 01:50:38,873 --> 01:50:41,393 Narrator: Their father had managed to get himself, 2021 01:50:41,427 --> 01:50:45,604 his wife, and youngest boy to the United States, 2022 01:50:45,639 --> 01:50:48,745 and was now feverishly trying to gather Susan 2023 01:50:48,780 --> 01:50:51,852 and Joseph to them as well. 2024 01:50:51,886 --> 01:50:55,165 Joseph: He made a pest of himself 2025 01:50:55,200 --> 01:50:56,477 at the State Department. 2026 01:50:56,511 --> 01:50:58,790 He wrote them letters, begged. 2027 01:50:58,824 --> 01:51:00,481 ♪ 2028 01:51:00,515 --> 01:51:03,657 I have to be so thankful. 2029 01:51:05,797 --> 01:51:08,454 Without him, we would never have made it. 2030 01:51:09,870 --> 01:51:13,356 Susan: One day the director of the children's home, 2031 01:51:13,390 --> 01:51:17,429 she called me to her office, and I was really scared 2032 01:51:17,463 --> 01:51:19,845 because only when you had problems 2033 01:51:19,880 --> 01:51:22,952 did you go to that director's office. 2034 01:51:22,986 --> 01:51:25,195 And she was sitting behind her desk, 2035 01:51:25,230 --> 01:51:27,957 and she said to me, "Suzie! 2036 01:51:27,991 --> 01:51:31,201 You are going to go to the United States." 2037 01:51:31,236 --> 01:51:32,651 ♪ 2038 01:51:32,686 --> 01:51:36,103 Our parents had found us. 2039 01:51:36,137 --> 01:51:39,451 Narrator: Susan and Joseph's passage had been arranged 2040 01:51:39,485 --> 01:51:41,833 and paid for by the New York-based 2041 01:51:41,867 --> 01:51:45,837 Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. 2042 01:51:45,871 --> 01:51:50,082 Susan: My brother and I went to Marseilles on the train, 2043 01:51:50,117 --> 01:51:52,878 and there we met, like, 50 children 2044 01:51:52,913 --> 01:51:57,641 that were all going to go on the Serpa Pinto from Lisbon 2045 01:51:57,676 --> 01:52:00,368 to come to the United States. 2046 01:52:00,403 --> 01:52:06,271 ♪ 2047 01:52:06,305 --> 01:52:10,482 They put all of the 50 children in the bottom 2048 01:52:10,516 --> 01:52:12,449 on the lowest deck of the ship 2049 01:52:12,484 --> 01:52:14,279 and in the front of the ship, 2050 01:52:14,313 --> 01:52:16,350 and we were all in one room. 2051 01:52:16,384 --> 01:52:18,179 And we had these double-decker 2052 01:52:18,214 --> 01:52:21,562 and triple-decker beds. 2053 01:52:21,596 --> 01:52:24,047 And they told us we weren't allowed to mingle 2054 01:52:24,082 --> 01:52:25,808 with the crowd. 2055 01:52:25,842 --> 01:52:33,842 ♪ 2056 01:52:35,541 --> 01:52:39,891 Finally, it was time to get to the United States, 2057 01:52:39,925 --> 01:52:44,309 and they told all the children that the next morning at 6:00 2058 01:52:44,343 --> 01:52:47,519 we were going to pass the Statue of Liberty. 2059 01:52:47,553 --> 01:52:49,003 Of course we had learned 2060 01:52:49,038 --> 01:52:52,006 what the Statue of Liberty was all about. 2061 01:52:52,041 --> 01:52:55,389 So they told us to be on deck to see it. 2062 01:52:55,423 --> 01:52:57,184 ♪ 2063 01:52:57,218 --> 01:53:01,844 At exactly 6:00, that fog went up like this, 2064 01:53:01,878 --> 01:53:05,261 like the curtain at an opera or at a concert 2065 01:53:05,295 --> 01:53:07,056 or at a play went up like that, 2066 01:53:07,090 --> 01:53:09,817 and right there just as it was going up 2067 01:53:09,852 --> 01:53:13,269 was the Statue of Liberty. 2068 01:53:13,303 --> 01:53:15,271 Joseph: The fog lifted. 2069 01:53:15,305 --> 01:53:22,485 ♪ 2070 01:53:22,519 --> 01:53:24,452 And there it was. 2071 01:53:24,487 --> 01:53:28,422 ♪ 2072 01:53:28,456 --> 01:53:30,355 After all this... 2073 01:53:30,389 --> 01:53:33,151 ♪ 2074 01:53:33,185 --> 01:53:34,808 It's even worse now. 2075 01:53:34,842 --> 01:53:38,363 After all these years, 2076 01:53:38,397 --> 01:53:41,159 to taste freedom, do you... 2077 01:53:41,193 --> 01:53:46,716 ♪ 2078 01:53:46,750 --> 01:53:49,995 It was just remarkable. 2079 01:53:50,030 --> 01:53:52,653 And, and the effects, apparently, 2080 01:53:52,687 --> 01:53:55,207 has never left me. 2081 01:53:55,242 --> 01:53:59,763 I realized that I didn't have to worry about getting killed, 2082 01:53:59,798 --> 01:54:03,250 which is... was part of your being, 2083 01:54:03,284 --> 01:54:09,532 and that you're going to be able to live and grow old... 2084 01:54:10,498 --> 01:54:12,846 and have a life. 2085 01:54:12,880 --> 01:54:17,885 ♪ 2086 01:54:17,920 --> 01:54:20,405 Newsreel announcer: A cargo of innocents from embattled Europe. 2087 01:54:20,439 --> 01:54:24,064 Arriving in New York aboard the Portuguese liner Serpa Pinto, 2088 01:54:24,098 --> 01:54:27,619 these youngest refugees are originally from Germany, Poland, 2089 01:54:27,653 --> 01:54:29,276 Czechoslovakia, and Spain, 2090 01:54:29,310 --> 01:54:32,106 but the war has made them wanderers. 2091 01:54:32,141 --> 01:54:35,006 ♪ 2092 01:54:35,040 --> 01:54:37,905 Susan: So we had to go to Ellis Island, 2093 01:54:37,940 --> 01:54:40,011 and there we found out everything 2094 01:54:40,045 --> 01:54:42,910 that we needed to know about the United States. 2095 01:54:42,945 --> 01:54:44,981 We learned about food, 2096 01:54:45,016 --> 01:54:47,811 and we learned that they had this white bread. 2097 01:54:47,846 --> 01:54:49,917 We could squash it up and push it 2098 01:54:49,952 --> 01:54:51,712 and make a little ball out of it. 2099 01:54:51,746 --> 01:54:54,301 You could bite into it, and it was so good. 2100 01:54:54,335 --> 01:54:57,891 And then they told us it was called Wonder Bread, 2101 01:54:57,925 --> 01:55:01,273 and we were so happy to be eating it. 2102 01:55:01,308 --> 01:55:03,689 ♪ 2103 01:55:03,724 --> 01:55:07,176 The next thing we learned is that the children in the United States 2104 01:55:07,210 --> 01:55:11,421 had candy that you could eat all day long. 2105 01:55:11,456 --> 01:55:15,494 And you... it was just stayed in your mouth all day long. 2106 01:55:15,529 --> 01:55:19,740 And then we, of course, learned that it was chewing gum. 2107 01:55:19,774 --> 01:55:21,328 It's just so exciting 2108 01:55:21,362 --> 01:55:24,262 because we knew we had come to the place 2109 01:55:24,296 --> 01:55:28,611 where we were going to be reunited with our parents. 2110 01:55:28,645 --> 01:55:30,820 ♪ 2111 01:55:30,854 --> 01:55:33,029 Narrator: Susan and Joseph's father had been 2112 01:55:33,064 --> 01:55:36,791 at the pier in lower Manhattan to welcome them to America. 2113 01:55:36,826 --> 01:55:39,035 But their mother was not with him. 2114 01:55:39,070 --> 01:55:41,106 They did not see her until they arrived 2115 01:55:41,141 --> 01:55:44,799 at the family's new home in Washington, D.C. 2116 01:55:45,835 --> 01:55:47,181 Joseph: When we arrived, 2117 01:55:47,216 --> 01:55:52,635 I expected some emotional response. 2118 01:55:52,669 --> 01:55:54,499 But she just lay there 2119 01:55:54,533 --> 01:55:56,363 and barely even smiled. 2120 01:55:56,397 --> 01:56:01,713 My father explained to me that she was mentally ill. 2121 01:56:01,747 --> 01:56:04,474 Susan: I don't talk about it. 2122 01:56:04,509 --> 01:56:06,235 I couldn't understand 2123 01:56:06,269 --> 01:56:09,307 that there was nothing between us. 2124 01:56:09,341 --> 01:56:12,241 I just couldn't, "Hey, I'm your child, and I'm back," 2125 01:56:12,275 --> 01:56:15,865 and she just didn't understand. 2126 01:56:15,899 --> 01:56:20,974 Eventually, she ended up in the hospital. 2127 01:56:21,008 --> 01:56:23,183 Joseph: We don't know what happened to her. 2128 01:56:23,217 --> 01:56:25,979 While my father was here in the United States, 2129 01:56:26,013 --> 01:56:29,637 she was in Germany with my younger brother. 2130 01:56:29,672 --> 01:56:34,194 They were alone for about 4 to 6 months. 2131 01:56:34,228 --> 01:56:37,266 ♪ 2132 01:56:37,300 --> 01:56:40,614 When I left her, she was perfectly normal. 2133 01:56:40,648 --> 01:56:42,340 ♪ 2134 01:56:42,374 --> 01:56:44,307 And I really don't know what happened. 2135 01:56:44,342 --> 01:56:47,966 I asked frequently if she was beaten 2136 01:56:48,001 --> 01:56:51,970 or traumatized, but I never got an answer. 2137 01:56:52,005 --> 01:56:53,558 Not from her, certainly, 2138 01:56:53,592 --> 01:56:56,492 and my father just didn't want to talk about it. 2139 01:56:56,526 --> 01:56:58,597 ♪ 2140 01:56:58,632 --> 01:57:00,979 And she never recovered. 2141 01:57:01,014 --> 01:57:05,156 ♪ 2142 01:57:07,123 --> 01:57:09,401 Roosevelt: America has been attacked. 2143 01:57:09,436 --> 01:57:15,166 The United States Ship Kearny is not just a Navy ship. 2144 01:57:15,200 --> 01:57:17,754 She belongs to every man, woman, 2145 01:57:17,789 --> 01:57:21,310 and child in this nation. 2146 01:57:21,344 --> 01:57:26,522 Narrator: On September 11, 1941, after a German submarine 2147 01:57:26,556 --> 01:57:29,456 engaged with the U.S. destroyer Kearny, 2148 01:57:29,490 --> 01:57:33,736 President Roosevelt ordered the Navy to attack on sight 2149 01:57:33,770 --> 01:57:37,084 any German or Italian vessels operating 2150 01:57:37,119 --> 01:57:39,431 in American defensive waters, 2151 01:57:39,466 --> 01:57:44,229 which he had expanded halfway across the Atlantic. 2152 01:57:44,264 --> 01:57:49,821 U.S. entry into the war now seemed very close. 2153 01:57:49,855 --> 01:57:55,171 Roosevelt: When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, 2154 01:57:55,206 --> 01:57:58,968 you do not wait until he has struck 2155 01:57:59,002 --> 01:58:01,729 before you crush him. 2156 01:58:01,764 --> 01:58:04,422 These Nazi submarines and raiders 2157 01:58:04,456 --> 01:58:08,874 are the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic... 2158 01:58:08,909 --> 01:58:11,222 Narrator: That same evening, Charles Lindbergh 2159 01:58:11,256 --> 01:58:15,226 spoke at an America First rally in Des Moines, Iowa. 2160 01:58:15,260 --> 01:58:18,194 In the strongest language he had ever used, 2161 01:58:18,229 --> 01:58:20,403 he charged that there were 3 groups 2162 01:58:20,438 --> 01:58:22,854 pressing the country toward war... 2163 01:58:22,888 --> 01:58:26,306 the British, the Roosevelt administration, 2164 01:58:26,340 --> 01:58:28,584 and the Jews. 2165 01:58:28,618 --> 01:58:30,827 "Instead of agitating for war, 2166 01:58:30,862 --> 01:58:32,553 "the Jewish groups in this country 2167 01:58:32,588 --> 01:58:35,832 should be opposing it in every way," he warned, 2168 01:58:35,867 --> 01:58:37,593 "for they will be among the first 2169 01:58:37,627 --> 01:58:39,319 "to feel its consequences. 2170 01:58:39,353 --> 01:58:41,873 "Tolerance is a virtue that depends 2171 01:58:41,907 --> 01:58:43,771 "upon peace and strength. 2172 01:58:43,806 --> 01:58:48,983 History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation." 2173 01:58:49,018 --> 01:58:51,365 And he went still further. 2174 01:58:51,400 --> 01:58:54,057 "Large Jewish ownership and influence 2175 01:58:54,092 --> 01:58:57,440 "in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, 2176 01:58:57,475 --> 01:58:59,304 and our government," he charged, 2177 01:58:59,339 --> 01:59:04,171 "constituted a great danger to our country." 2178 01:59:04,206 --> 01:59:07,278 This time, the press exploded. 2179 01:59:07,312 --> 01:59:11,247 ♪ 2180 01:59:11,282 --> 01:59:13,491 "Liberty" magazine called Lindbergh 2181 01:59:13,525 --> 01:59:16,839 "The most dangerous man in America." 2182 01:59:16,873 --> 01:59:21,084 The "New York Herald Tribune" accused him of antisemitism 2183 01:59:21,119 --> 01:59:24,433 and appealing to the "dark forces of prejudice 2184 01:59:24,467 --> 01:59:26,435 and intolerance." 2185 01:59:26,469 --> 01:59:29,265 Republican Wendell Willkie called his speech 2186 01:59:29,300 --> 01:59:32,372 "The most un-American talk made in my time 2187 01:59:32,406 --> 01:59:36,479 by any person of national reputation." 2188 01:59:36,514 --> 01:59:40,932 "The voice is Lindbergh's," said the "San Francisco Chronicle." 2189 01:59:40,966 --> 01:59:45,212 "The words were the words of Hitler and Goebbels." 2190 01:59:45,247 --> 01:59:47,283 Greene: The reaction in the press 2191 01:59:47,318 --> 01:59:50,597 to Lindbergh's speech is resoundingly negative. 2192 01:59:50,631 --> 01:59:53,462 People start to ask, "Is Lindbergh a Nazi?" 2193 01:59:53,496 --> 01:59:57,293 The "Des Moines Register" runs a front-page editorial cartoon 2194 01:59:57,328 --> 01:59:59,985 with Lindbergh up on the podium 2195 02:00:00,020 --> 02:00:02,919 and Hitler down below applauding him. 2196 02:00:02,954 --> 02:00:05,991 But I also wonder, is it fair to say 2197 02:00:06,026 --> 02:00:07,924 that Lindbergh is saying out loud 2198 02:00:07,959 --> 02:00:11,652 what a lot of Americans think privately? 2199 02:00:11,687 --> 02:00:13,275 And I think he is. 2200 02:00:13,309 --> 02:00:15,242 ♪ 2201 02:00:15,277 --> 02:00:17,865 Narrator: Lindbergh was unrepentant, 2202 02:00:17,900 --> 02:00:20,143 but America First never recovered 2203 02:00:20,178 --> 02:00:22,905 from the damage his speech had done. 2204 02:00:22,939 --> 02:00:25,942 Fritz Kuhn, the self-styled Fuhrer 2205 02:00:25,977 --> 02:00:27,703 of the German American Bund, 2206 02:00:27,737 --> 02:00:31,983 was already in Sing Sing for tax fraud and embezzlement 2207 02:00:32,017 --> 02:00:33,847 and would eventually be deported 2208 02:00:33,881 --> 02:00:36,470 as the agent of a foreign power. 2209 02:00:36,505 --> 02:00:39,542 And the National Association of Broadcasters 2210 02:00:39,577 --> 02:00:42,200 had already banned Father Coughlin, 2211 02:00:42,235 --> 02:00:46,618 the antisemitic radio priest, from the airwaves. 2212 02:00:46,653 --> 02:00:49,794 But mostly Catholic anti-Jewish gangs 2213 02:00:49,828 --> 02:00:52,935 affiliated with his Christian Front continued 2214 02:00:52,969 --> 02:00:56,835 to terrorize Jewish neighborhoods in New York and Boston, 2215 02:00:56,870 --> 02:01:00,908 desecrating synagogues, smashing Jewish storefronts, 2216 02:01:00,943 --> 02:01:03,014 and beating Jewish children 2217 02:01:03,048 --> 02:01:05,741 while Irish-American police officers 2218 02:01:05,775 --> 02:01:07,950 often looked the other way. 2219 02:01:07,984 --> 02:01:10,435 ♪ 2220 02:01:10,470 --> 02:01:13,438 Meanwhile, American newspapers had reported 2221 02:01:13,473 --> 02:01:16,959 that Jews were being deported to ghettos in Poland 2222 02:01:16,993 --> 02:01:22,033 and labor camps in the German-occupied Soviet Union. 2223 02:01:22,067 --> 02:01:24,587 But their readers had no way of knowing 2224 02:01:24,622 --> 02:01:29,523 that the Nazis had already begun the mass-murder of Jews, 2225 02:01:29,558 --> 02:01:32,319 that they were actually determined to eliminate 2226 02:01:32,354 --> 02:01:34,252 all the Jews of Europe, 2227 02:01:34,287 --> 02:01:36,323 and that they had found a new, 2228 02:01:36,358 --> 02:01:39,878 more efficient method of doing it... 2229 02:01:39,913 --> 02:01:42,191 gas. 2230 02:01:42,225 --> 02:01:46,575 At Hitler's direct order, Nazi doctors in 6 locations 2231 02:01:46,609 --> 02:01:49,992 had been using commercially-produced carbon monoxide 2232 02:01:50,026 --> 02:01:53,927 as one of the methods by which to kill tens of thousands 2233 02:01:53,961 --> 02:01:56,378 of men, women, and children, 2234 02:01:56,412 --> 02:01:59,104 mental patients, disabled people, 2235 02:01:59,139 --> 02:02:01,728 infants with birth defects. 2236 02:02:01,762 --> 02:02:05,766 The Nazis called them all "useless eaters." 2237 02:02:05,801 --> 02:02:11,738 It was eugenics carried to its most grotesque extreme. 2238 02:02:11,772 --> 02:02:15,707 The demand for commercial carbon monoxide grew so large 2239 02:02:15,742 --> 02:02:19,055 it threatened to outstrip production. 2240 02:02:19,090 --> 02:02:20,781 Then, the Germans realized 2241 02:02:20,816 --> 02:02:24,647 that the exhaust produced by a motorized van, 2242 02:02:24,682 --> 02:02:28,064 piped into an airtight compartment at the back, 2243 02:02:28,099 --> 02:02:31,378 could kill groups of people at a time. 2244 02:02:31,413 --> 02:02:35,106 The Einsatzgruppen ordered up some 30 of them for use 2245 02:02:35,140 --> 02:02:38,247 in the occupied Soviet Union. 2246 02:02:38,281 --> 02:02:41,388 In October, SS chief Heinrich Himmler 2247 02:02:41,423 --> 02:02:43,563 ordered his men and the Gestapo 2248 02:02:43,597 --> 02:02:47,774 to officially end all emigration of Jews from Germany 2249 02:02:47,808 --> 02:02:51,191 or any of the lands it had conquered. 2250 02:02:51,225 --> 02:02:53,642 From then on, occupied Europe 2251 02:02:53,676 --> 02:02:56,645 was to be a vast prison for Jews 2252 02:02:56,679 --> 02:03:01,270 from which there was to be no escape but death. 2253 02:03:01,304 --> 02:03:04,549 All that remained was to set up a coordinated, 2254 02:03:04,584 --> 02:03:07,932 continent-wide system to feed Jews 2255 02:03:07,966 --> 02:03:10,866 into the Nazi killing machine. 2256 02:03:10,900 --> 02:03:15,249 In late November, the high-ranking SS officer 2257 02:03:15,284 --> 02:03:18,425 Reinhard Heydrich invited representatives 2258 02:03:18,460 --> 02:03:22,325 of all the Nazi ministries that would have to be involved 2259 02:03:22,360 --> 02:03:26,364 to a secret meeting to be held on December 9. 2260 02:03:26,399 --> 02:03:28,228 ♪ 2261 02:03:29,850 --> 02:03:33,336 That meeting would have to be postponed. 2262 02:03:40,447 --> 02:03:42,242 Hitler was in his headquarters 2263 02:03:42,276 --> 02:03:44,969 on Sunday evening, December 7, 2264 02:03:45,003 --> 02:03:46,798 when an aide brought him the news 2265 02:03:46,833 --> 02:03:50,146 that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. 2266 02:03:50,181 --> 02:03:54,323 The Fuhrer claimed to be surprised but delighted. 2267 02:03:54,357 --> 02:03:57,050 Now he couldn't lose the war, he said, 2268 02:03:57,084 --> 02:04:00,191 because in Japan, "We have an ally which has never 2269 02:04:00,225 --> 02:04:03,366 been conquered in 3,000 years." 2270 02:04:03,401 --> 02:04:06,335 And with the United States now presumably forced 2271 02:04:06,369 --> 02:04:09,303 to focus its attention on the Pacific, 2272 02:04:09,338 --> 02:04:11,927 it would no longer be able to aid Britain 2273 02:04:11,961 --> 02:04:14,377 or the Soviet Union. 2274 02:04:14,412 --> 02:04:17,242 In any case, he believed America had become 2275 02:04:17,277 --> 02:04:18,796 "a decayed country. 2276 02:04:18,830 --> 02:04:20,625 Half-Judaized," he said, 2277 02:04:20,660 --> 02:04:23,041 "and the other half Negrified, 2278 02:04:23,076 --> 02:04:26,804 where everything is built on the dollar." 2279 02:04:26,838 --> 02:04:31,602 On December 11, Germany and Italy, Japan's allies, 2280 02:04:31,636 --> 02:04:35,606 declared war on the United States. 2281 02:04:35,640 --> 02:04:40,611 Congressional opposition to fighting fascism vanished overnight. 2282 02:04:40,645 --> 02:04:45,374 The United States was now at war around the world. 2283 02:04:47,410 --> 02:04:48,757 The following evening, 2284 02:04:48,791 --> 02:04:50,724 Hitler gathered the administrators 2285 02:04:50,759 --> 02:04:55,142 of all the districts in his expanding Reich. 2286 02:04:55,177 --> 02:04:57,524 The killing of Jews, he informed them, 2287 02:04:57,559 --> 02:04:59,561 was already underway 2288 02:04:59,595 --> 02:05:02,529 and now was to be undertaken everywhere 2289 02:05:02,564 --> 02:05:04,773 "without sentimentality." 2290 02:05:04,807 --> 02:05:08,880 All of them were expected to participate. 2291 02:05:08,915 --> 02:05:14,541 On January 20, 1942, in a lakeside villa in Wannsee, 2292 02:05:14,576 --> 02:05:16,957 the German suburb where the Lindberghs 2293 02:05:16,992 --> 02:05:18,856 had once hoped to live, 2294 02:05:18,890 --> 02:05:22,549 Reinhard Heydrich's delayed meeting of the Nazi bureaucrats 2295 02:05:22,584 --> 02:05:26,622 who would be responsible for the extermination of the Jews 2296 02:05:26,657 --> 02:05:31,006 finally convened in secret. 2297 02:05:31,040 --> 02:05:34,319 Heydrich began by revealing the sheer scale 2298 02:05:34,354 --> 02:05:36,080 of the job at hand. 2299 02:05:36,114 --> 02:05:39,704 There were 11 million Jews living in Europe, he claimed, 2300 02:05:39,739 --> 02:05:43,570 a total he had reached in part by including those currently 2301 02:05:43,605 --> 02:05:47,747 out of German reach in Spain, England and Ireland, 2302 02:05:47,781 --> 02:05:50,991 Switzerland, Portugal, and Sweden. 2303 02:05:51,026 --> 02:05:53,994 For the time being, the Germans would accelerate 2304 02:05:54,029 --> 02:05:58,481 the deportation of Jews to ghettos and concentration camps 2305 02:05:58,516 --> 02:06:00,863 in Nazi-occupied Poland, 2306 02:06:00,898 --> 02:06:05,661 then put them to work at hard labor wherever they were needed. 2307 02:06:05,696 --> 02:06:08,319 He was confident that most would die 2308 02:06:08,353 --> 02:06:10,942 of what he called "natural causes"... 2309 02:06:10,977 --> 02:06:16,361 starvation, exposure, exhaustion. 2310 02:06:16,396 --> 02:06:18,260 But those who did survive, 2311 02:06:18,294 --> 02:06:22,816 as well as those declared unfit for labor in the first place, 2312 02:06:22,851 --> 02:06:24,542 were to be killed, 2313 02:06:24,577 --> 02:06:29,616 a fate Heydrich referred to as "special treatment." 2314 02:06:29,651 --> 02:06:32,930 Jews were to die because of who they were. 2315 02:06:32,964 --> 02:06:34,966 ♪ 2316 02:06:35,001 --> 02:06:38,867 The Nazis would also kill millions of non-Jews... 2317 02:06:38,901 --> 02:06:44,735 Soviet POWs, Belarussians, Ukrainians, Poles, 2318 02:06:44,769 --> 02:06:47,945 Russians, and Roma and Sinti peoples. 2319 02:06:47,979 --> 02:06:52,052 They also locked away gay men and Jehovah's Witnesses 2320 02:06:52,087 --> 02:06:56,367 because their faith forbade them from serving in any army 2321 02:06:56,401 --> 02:07:00,233 or saluting any flag, including Hitler's. 2322 02:07:00,267 --> 02:07:02,545 ♪ 2323 02:07:02,580 --> 02:07:06,757 Hayes: One of the things people can easily forget about the Holocaust 2324 02:07:06,791 --> 02:07:08,655 is that the core of it occurred 2325 02:07:08,690 --> 02:07:12,279 in a fierce and short period of time. 2326 02:07:12,314 --> 02:07:14,627 3/4 of the victims of the Holocaust 2327 02:07:14,661 --> 02:07:16,836 died in only 20 months. 2328 02:07:16,870 --> 02:07:18,527 ♪ 2329 02:07:18,561 --> 02:07:21,737 Narrator: The Nazis created 4 killing centers, 2330 02:07:21,772 --> 02:07:24,913 dedicated solely to murder, 2331 02:07:24,947 --> 02:07:29,607 all hidden away in the heart of what had once been Poland... 2332 02:07:29,642 --> 02:07:31,367 ♪ 2333 02:07:31,402 --> 02:07:34,681 Chelmno, where Nazi records list the murders 2334 02:07:34,716 --> 02:07:38,236 of at least 145,000 people 2335 02:07:38,271 --> 02:07:40,998 during its first 12 months alone. 2336 02:07:41,032 --> 02:07:44,035 Belzec, where an average of 2,000 Jews 2337 02:07:44,070 --> 02:07:47,452 would die every day for 10 months... 2338 02:07:47,487 --> 02:07:50,732 600,000 human beings. 2339 02:07:50,766 --> 02:07:51,871 Sobibor, 2340 02:07:51,905 --> 02:07:55,288 where somewhere between 167,000 2341 02:07:55,322 --> 02:07:58,567 and 200,000 would be murdered. 2342 02:07:58,601 --> 02:08:03,089 And Treblinka, where 925,000 would die, 2343 02:08:03,123 --> 02:08:09,889 280,000 of them in a single month in the summer of 1942. 2344 02:08:09,923 --> 02:08:11,166 ♪ 2345 02:08:11,200 --> 02:08:14,583 Chelmno did all its killing in gas vans. 2346 02:08:14,617 --> 02:08:17,862 The other 3 relied on permanent gas chambers 2347 02:08:17,897 --> 02:08:21,728 for which carbon monoxide was provided by the engines 2348 02:08:21,763 --> 02:08:24,075 of captured Soviet tanks. 2349 02:08:24,110 --> 02:08:26,491 ♪ 2350 02:08:26,526 --> 02:08:29,391 The Jewish victims of these killing centers 2351 02:08:29,425 --> 02:08:31,704 were overwhelmingly Polish, 2352 02:08:31,738 --> 02:08:34,327 but they came from everywhere the Nazis 2353 02:08:34,361 --> 02:08:36,847 could lay their hands on them. 2354 02:08:36,881 --> 02:08:40,609 The killing centers were supervised by the SS, 2355 02:08:40,643 --> 02:08:44,613 but guarded mostly by Eastern European support troops, 2356 02:08:44,647 --> 02:08:46,960 usually Soviet prisoners of war 2357 02:08:46,995 --> 02:08:49,894 who were recruited to serve the Reich. 2358 02:08:49,929 --> 02:08:54,519 Some Jews were forced into guiding victims to their deaths 2359 02:08:54,554 --> 02:08:56,383 and disposing of their bodies 2360 02:08:56,418 --> 02:09:02,079 in return for being allowed to live at least a little longer. 2361 02:09:02,113 --> 02:09:06,600 These 4 centers alone would be responsible for the death 2362 02:09:06,635 --> 02:09:10,397 of more than 1.5 million human beings. 2363 02:09:10,432 --> 02:09:13,400 ♪ 2364 02:09:13,435 --> 02:09:15,817 6 days after the Wannsee meeting, 2365 02:09:15,851 --> 02:09:18,785 Himmler ordered that two prisoner of war camps 2366 02:09:18,820 --> 02:09:22,789 in occupied Poland, Majdanek and Auschwitz, 2367 02:09:22,824 --> 02:09:27,449 be transformed into additional killing centers, 2368 02:09:27,483 --> 02:09:30,314 where 1,400,000 more 2369 02:09:30,348 --> 02:09:35,215 innocent men, women, and children would be murdered. 2370 02:09:35,250 --> 02:09:38,149 ♪ 2371 02:09:44,224 --> 02:09:46,399 Stern: The Navy had a placard, 2372 02:09:46,433 --> 02:09:48,573 "If you have language skills, 2373 02:09:48,608 --> 02:09:53,061 "understanding of the 3 enemies, their psychology, 2374 02:09:53,095 --> 02:09:56,167 come to our recruiting quarters." 2375 02:09:56,202 --> 02:09:58,273 Narrator: Soon after Pearl Harbor, 2376 02:09:58,307 --> 02:10:01,759 along with tens of thousands of other young men, 2377 02:10:01,794 --> 02:10:06,177 Guy Stern volunteered to join the armed forces. 2378 02:10:06,212 --> 02:10:10,457 Stern: I was received by a Navy ensign. 2379 02:10:10,492 --> 02:10:13,081 And he asked me about my skills. 2380 02:10:13,115 --> 02:10:18,707 I told him I was very good in German writing 2381 02:10:18,741 --> 02:10:20,847 and that in talking and so forth 2382 02:10:20,882 --> 02:10:23,470 and understood Germany. 2383 02:10:23,505 --> 02:10:25,852 And he said, "Yeah, that's good. 2384 02:10:25,887 --> 02:10:27,958 But I hear an accent." 2385 02:10:27,992 --> 02:10:31,271 Well, so, I said, "Well, yes." 2386 02:10:31,306 --> 02:10:35,206 And he said, "Were you born here in the U.S.?" 2387 02:10:35,241 --> 02:10:36,518 I said, "No." 2388 02:10:36,552 --> 02:10:38,865 He said, "Well, can't use you." 2389 02:10:38,900 --> 02:10:40,384 Narrator: A few months later, 2390 02:10:40,418 --> 02:10:43,042 Stern was drafted into the Army 2391 02:10:43,076 --> 02:10:45,976 and assigned to the intelligence branch. 2392 02:10:46,010 --> 02:10:47,322 ♪ 2393 02:10:47,356 --> 02:10:50,256 His parents, younger brother, and sister 2394 02:10:50,290 --> 02:10:53,328 remained trapped in Hildesheim, Germany, 2395 02:10:53,362 --> 02:10:56,227 and occasionally managed to get a letter out 2396 02:10:56,262 --> 02:10:59,541 to Guy's uncle and aunt. 2397 02:10:59,575 --> 02:11:02,061 Man: My dearest, Benno and Ethel, 2398 02:11:02,095 --> 02:11:04,270 We have grown quite despondent, 2399 02:11:04,304 --> 02:11:09,171 for if you cannot help us, nothing can be done. 2400 02:11:09,206 --> 02:11:12,623 No doubt Guünther is going to great trouble to help us. 2401 02:11:12,657 --> 02:11:15,626 Please support him by word and deed. 2402 02:11:15,660 --> 02:11:17,628 Help him cope with disappointments 2403 02:11:17,662 --> 02:11:20,976 and lighten his burdens. 2404 02:11:21,011 --> 02:11:23,668 You write that Guünther has grown strong. 2405 02:11:23,703 --> 02:11:26,326 If only I could see him again. 2406 02:11:26,361 --> 02:11:28,294 Write us often. 2407 02:11:28,328 --> 02:11:31,573 For now, I send my heartfelt greetings. 2408 02:11:31,607 --> 02:11:34,334 Yours, Julius. 2409 02:11:34,369 --> 02:11:36,302 ♪ 2410 02:11:36,336 --> 02:11:40,306 Stern: I studied these letters for the high sign. 2411 02:11:40,340 --> 02:11:43,067 There was one substitution. 2412 02:11:43,102 --> 02:11:48,141 There's a Hebrew-Yiddish word, "enmishova," 2413 02:11:48,176 --> 02:11:52,076 it means I'm lying, or I am saying the contrary. 2414 02:11:52,111 --> 02:11:56,253 So I knew when they substituted that, 2415 02:11:56,287 --> 02:11:59,532 that was bad news, indeed, 2416 02:11:59,566 --> 02:12:01,948 because everything they said now, 2417 02:12:01,983 --> 02:12:06,988 "We are comfortable," means they had horrible circumstances. 2418 02:12:07,022 --> 02:12:08,472 ♪ 2419 02:12:08,506 --> 02:12:14,685 Until I got one letter that spoke of deportation, 2420 02:12:14,719 --> 02:12:20,242 and my anxieties were overriding. 2421 02:12:20,277 --> 02:12:24,902 Narrator: In March 1942, all the Jews in Hildesheim 2422 02:12:24,937 --> 02:12:28,630 were ordered to assemble in the town square. 2423 02:12:28,664 --> 02:12:31,978 Government cameramen were on hand to record 2424 02:12:32,013 --> 02:12:34,981 the supposedly humane way in which they, 2425 02:12:35,016 --> 02:12:37,811 including Guy Stern's family, 2426 02:12:37,846 --> 02:12:40,573 were being deported to "the East." 2427 02:12:40,607 --> 02:12:44,232 ♪ 2428 02:12:44,266 --> 02:12:49,375 Later, Stern's parents managed to smuggle a letter to him 2429 02:12:49,409 --> 02:12:51,929 from inside the Warsaw Ghetto. 2430 02:12:51,964 --> 02:12:55,588 ♪ 2431 02:12:55,622 --> 02:12:59,626 Stern: It had a sense of finality about it 2432 02:12:59,661 --> 02:13:01,628 and was crushing. 2433 02:13:01,663 --> 02:13:08,394 ♪ 2434 02:13:08,428 --> 02:13:13,916 The despair was in every word. 2435 02:13:13,951 --> 02:13:17,334 I don't think you could be in the Warsaw Ghetto, 2436 02:13:17,368 --> 02:13:23,133 and even my father's unsuppressable optimism, 2437 02:13:23,167 --> 02:13:26,343 there was even a straw of a hope. 2438 02:13:26,377 --> 02:13:30,657 ♪ 2439 02:13:30,692 --> 02:13:35,041 So I was fighting my war, 2440 02:13:35,076 --> 02:13:38,838 as well as the American War. 2441 02:13:38,872 --> 02:13:41,979 If there was a glimmer of a hope, 2442 02:13:42,014 --> 02:13:47,053 I was trying to keep it alive to shorten this outrage, 2443 02:13:47,088 --> 02:13:51,678 this horror as best I personally could. 2444 02:13:51,713 --> 02:13:56,062 ♪ 2445 02:13:58,478 --> 02:14:06,478 ♪ 2445 02:14:07,305 --> 02:15:07,526 Support us and become VIP member to remove all ads from www.OpenSubtitles.org