Josiah DuBois, an attorney at the United States Treasury Department during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, wrote the Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews. This important and courageous document was a forceful criticism of the State Department’s diplomatic, military and immigration policies that closed doors to Jewish refugees, refused the release of funds for rescuing Jews, and did little to ameliorate the Nazi persecution and murder of the European Jews. While antisemitism was rife in the State Department during the 30s and 40s, few were more instrumental in crippling efforts to help the beleaguered Jews of Europe than Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long - a personal friend of Roosevelt. Along with willfully obstructing rescue efforts, Long dramatically restricted Jewish immigration, advising consuls to place unmanageable, arbitrary, and constantly changing obstacles in the path of refugees hoping to become candidates for visas: exhorting consuls in one intradepartmental memo in June 1940, for example, to keep revising the evidential standards of proof that applicants would not be a financial burden on the state, and thus continue to “postpone, postpone, and postpone” the granting of American visas. His falsification of the number of Jewish refugees admitted to the U.S. ultimately led to his undoing: he was demoted in 1944 and retired from service.
The DuBois report was conveyed to FDR by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. and his tax adviser Randolph Paul. Against the backdrop of the isolationist and antisemitic rants of the America First Committee, and in the wake of the Great Depression, President Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board in 1944 under Executive Order 9417, declaring “…the policy of this Government to take all measures within its power to rescue the victims of enemy oppression who are in imminent danger of death and otherwise to afford such victims all possible relief and assistance consistent with the successful prosecution of the war.”
DuBois was named its general counsel and John Pehle its executive director. The authorization of humanitarian aid and rescue operations to protect Jews commenced immediately. The Board worked with the Swedish government helping subsidize Raoul Wallenberg’s humanitarian efforts in Budapest: forged IDs, protective identity documents – the Schutzpass – and safehouses were created to protect imperiled Hungarian Jews from deportation, saving as many as 100,000 Jews. Thousands of Jewish refugees were successfully evacuated from Axis territories such as Transnistria to safer areas. The WRB as well successfully prevailed upon FDR to shelter 982 European refugees – men, women, and children – at Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY where they lived behind a barbed wire fence. This would be America’s only camp for refugees. While the WRB released the first details of the mass murder of Jews at Auschwitz to the American people, they were unsuccessful in getting the War Department to bomb the Auschwitz gas chambers: it was not considered a military priority.
After the war, DuBois became deputy chief counsel for War Crimes in charge of the case against I.G. Farben, the chemical conglomerate utilizing Jewish slave labor at Auschwitz III- Monowitz; and part owner of Degesch, manufacturer of the chemical Zyklon B, used to murder Jews in concentration camp gas chambers.
--Michael D. Bulmash, K1966
Browse the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection.
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Acme Press Photo of Breckinridge Long
2022.1.53
Man seated with hand placed on papers on desk.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Acme Press Photo of Breckinridge Long after his nomination by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as United States’ Ambassador to Italy. He would be Assistant Secretary of State from 1940-1944. Long was known for his restrictive immigration policies and obstruction of initiatives to save Jews.
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Press Photograph of Cordell Hull with Henry Morgenthau
2019.2.197
Black and white photograph of three men in suits (Henry Morgenthau, Arthur de Sousa Costa, Cordell Hull) in front of three other men, none looking at camera. Back of photo includes “U.S. – BRAZIL SIGN FINANCIAL TREATY”
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Cordell Hull with Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury, 1937.
Cordell Hull was Secretary of State under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as well as a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in facilitating the creation of the United Nations. He was also instrumental in refusing any action that might have helped Jews persecuted by the Nazis.
When Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. recommended that passengers aboard the refugee ship SS St. Louis be allowed to debark with temporary tourist visas, Hull rejected the idea, citing the technicality that the passengers had no return address, thus consigning them to the fate of having to return to Europe where many would be murdered by the Nazis. When French and German government officials complained about the rescue activities of Varian Fry, Hull demanded that Fry return stateside immediately. When Fry refused, Hull had his passport revoked. Indeed, Eleanor Roosevelt had to circumvent Hull to help Jews board the Portuguese ship SS Quanza and receive visas. Roosevelt’s State Department under Hull and his assistant Breckinridge Long ensured that saving Jews being slowly crushed under the Nazi boot would not be a priority. Many more were allowed to perish who could have been rescued.
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Acme Press Photograph of Josiah DuBois, Jr.
2022.1.52
Man seated at desk with pencil in hand
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
DuBois' exposure of the State Department’s willful suppression of news about the Holocaust in Europe, and the relentless obstruction of opportunities for rescue of Jews, led to the creation of the War Refugee Board of which DuBois was general counsel.
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Breckinridge Long Signed Letter on U.S. Department of State Letterhead, with Embossed Crest
2016.1.18
Typewritten letter to Mr. Basil O'Connor, singed by Breckinridge Long.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Long sends his thanks to Basil (Doc) O'Connor, FDR's law partner and close personal advisor, for a congratulatory note regarding Long's recent appointment as Assistant Secretary of State. Long's responsibilities in his new role included overseeing immigration policy, including the admission to the United States of refugees from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. However, Long obstructed rescue efforts, restricted immigration of European refugees - especially Jews - seeking to avoid persecution and murder in Europe, and falsified figures of refugees actually admitted to the United States. He forbade consuls to accept information from unofficial sources on what was in fact happening to the Jews in Europe under Hitler. Josiah DuBois, Jr.'s heroic exposure of Long's obstructionist efforts to deny American visas to Jews led ultimately to his demotion in 1944. It is estimated that under Long's tenure, 90 percent of the quota places available to these immigrants were never filled, placing 190,000 people in jeopardy who might have been saved from the Nazi atrocities. Long retired to his Laurel, Maryland, Georgian Manor house where he bred horses, rode to hounds and was an active participant in Southern Maryland society.
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Memorial Service for Jewish Dead in Madison Square Garden
2014.1.302
Front: A pair of oversize tablets with the Ten Commandments on them are in the background of a large group of people. The group appears to be armymen and civilians, consisting of both men and women, stand in a row with the flags of allied nations behind them. There is a table with three chairs, the men in those chairs facing towards the Ten Commandments. Below them are a group of cantors dressed in all white with hats and tallis on, singing. Back: A glued-on news release describing the event in faded paper. New York, N.Y.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Wire photo with message verso: New York, N.Y.- The stirring spectacle "We will never die," was presented tonight in Madison Square Garden as a memorial for the 2,000,000 murdered Jewish civilians of Europe. Here, during the final scene, cantors sing the Jewish memorial song for the dead. Credit Line (ACME). 3-9-43
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Bermuda Conference Program
2015.2.181
Grey cover with black printed text in English.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Program for the Bermuda Refugee Conference concerning a proposal “For the Rescue of Jews;” see also the related letter (copy) from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, co-chairman of the Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish affairs, to Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles (2015.2.182). By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Nazis intended to liquidate European Jewry. Jewish groups in the United States and United Kingdom beseeched their governments to take defensive action. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, president of both the American and the World Jewish Congresses, wanted to help ease the plight of German Jews through boycotting German goods and increasing emigration from the Third Reich. His pleas to Franklin Delano Roosevelt were largely ignored, and there was little interest among non-Jews in doing anything to help European Jews. As the news of the "final solution" became increasingly apparent, the American Jewish Committee joined with seven other organizations to form the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs. This group submitted a proposal to the Bermuda Conference. With Jewish groups in both United States and Britain demanding their respective governments to arrive at potential solutions to help the Jews living under German occupation, the two governments met together at Hamilton, Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss this topic. The American presentation was led by Princeton University President Dr. Harold W. Dodds. However, with neither the U.S. willing to lift immigration quotas, nor the British willing to remove prohibitions on Jewish refuge in Palestine, the Bermuda Conference was not able to save a single Jew.
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Bermuda Conference Letter from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise
2015.2.182
Three typed pages on American Jewish Congress Letterhead.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
Letter (copy) from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, co-chairman of the Joint Emergency Committee for European Jewish affairs, to Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles concerning the Program for the Rescue of Jews (see 2015.2.181). By the end of 1942 it was clear that the Nazis intended to liquidate European Jewry. Jewish groups in the United States and United Kingdom beseeched their governments to take defensive action. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, president of both the American and the World Jewish Congresses, wanted to help ease the plight of German Jews through boycotting German goods and increasing emigration from the Third Reich. His pleas to Franklin Delano Roosevelt were largely ignored, and there was little interest among non-Jews in doing anything to help European Jews. As the news of the "final solution" became increasingly apparent, the American Jewish Committee joined with seven other organizations to form the Joint Emergency Committee on European Jewish Affairs. This group submitted a proposal to the Bermuda Conference. With Jewish groups in both United States and Britain demanding their respective governments to arrive at potential solutions to help the Jews living under German occupation, the two governments met together at Hamilton, Bermuda on April 19, 1943 to discuss this topic. The American presentation was led by Princeton University President Dr. Harold W. Dodds. However, with neither the U.S. willing to lift immigration quotas, nor the British willing to remove prohibitions on Jewish refuge in Palestine, the Bermuda Conference was not able to save a single Jew.
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One of 982 Jewish Refugees at Fort Ontario, Dorrit Blumenkranz Samples a Hot Dog
2014.1.46
Front: An image of a young girl, Dorrit Blumenkanz, holding a hot dog. Back: Typewritten information about image.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
From information attached to this International News Photos wire photo verso: Six-year-old Dorrit Blumenkanz is one of 982 Jewish refugees from Vienna finding shelter at Fort Ontario in Oswego, N.Y. Refugees were assured that “whenever there is a knock at your door, it will be a friendly one.”
Dorrit would eventually settle in the United States, marry and have children. But it would not surprise anyone who sees this press photo to learn that she would go on to a career as a restaurateur in New York, initially specializing in desserts based upon culinary delights she remembered from her youth in Vienna and Italy, but ultimately developing a successful restaurant, bakery, and catering company.