During World War II, the US media was on top of all the action occurring in both the European and Pacific Theaters. As the fighting aspects of the war were highlighted, the horrific realities of the Holocaust were unfortunately ignored. Basing their knowledge off of what the media was telling them, Americans had a vague idea that the Germans were killing Jews. Sporadic details and a lack of emphasis helped foster American ignorance toward a travesty that really should not have been downplayed.
There are five reasons why the US media did not intensely or extensively cover the Holocaust. First, it was a distraction from the war's main goal. The utter most important thing to Americans was an Allied victory that resulted in a Nazi surrender. As bad as the Jews' plight was, saving them was not the main goal. The Allies had to win the war at all costs (Kersten).
Second, anti-semitic thoughts rested within many Americans. Third, many Americans did not believe it was possible for the Germans to be committing such atrocious acts. Fourth, journalists treaded around this topic lightly as to not violate any media policies that the US has laid out. Both the Associated Press and United Press received stories about the mass killings of the Jews, but these stories were simply ignored and never saw the light of day (Kersten).
Finally, the New York Times, one of the leading newspapers in America, did not cover the Holocaust. The reports it did have of the genocide were all condensed and buried deep within the paper. None of it was headline news (Kersten).
All of these are very intriguing reasons for the US's poor reporting job regarding the Holocaust. The second reason grabs my attention because the anti-semitism within many Americans stemmed from Jewish immigration into their country. One the US started tightening up on immigration laws, the number of Jewish refuges entering America began to drop. Sadly, as the number of Jewish immigrants fell, the death toll of the Holocaust began to rise ("The United States and the Holocaust.").
The tone for the US's media coverage of the Holocaust was set by the Allies' delayed response to condemn the inhumane acts of the Germans. The State Department received word of the Holocaust in August of 1942 but waited until December of that same year to pass it on to Stephen Wise, the president of the World Jewish Congress. Wise brought the Germans' mass killing policies to light, and the Allies condemned and warned Nazi Germany a few weeks later ( "The United States and the Holocaust." ).
Despite this public denouncement, American media did not publicize many aspects of the Holocaust. When it was covered, there was no headline status. The stories were hidden deep in the confines of newspapers. As I mentioned earlier, the one to spearhead this was the New York Times, It is definitely not the newspaper's fault for the poor coverage, but it did downplay the Holocaust one way or another ( "The United States and the Holocaust." ).
The Holocaust may have been ignored while it was going on, but its ramifications were very real. Six million Jews were gone and the survivors of the ordeal looked inhuman. Seeing pictures of starved, miserable Holocaust survivors really resonated with people all over the world (especially America) and made these people question why they had not known about this sooner. Many say that ignorance is bliss, but in this case the cruel Nazi treatment of the Jews should have been told to the whole world and taken seriously. Unfortunately, humanitarian efforts came too late. Unfortunately, they came six million Jewish lives too late.
Sources
Kersten, Mark. "The Awful Truth About Holocaust Reporting - And Its Legacy." Justice in Conflict. 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://justiceinconflict.org/2014/02/13/the-awful-truth-about-holocaust-reporting-and-its-legacy/>.
"The United States and the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 20 June 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005182>.
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