Description
Book SynopsisBased on recently discovered documents, Rafael Medoff reassesses the hows and whys behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration’s fateful policies concerning European Jewry during the Holocaust.
Trade Review"Judicious and nuanced."—Drew Darien,
Journal of American History"Meticulously documented . . . sober . . . an important contribution to our understanding of the American government's response to the Holocaust, and that of Franklin D. Roosevelt at the helm of power."—
American Historical Review"
The Jews Should Keep Quiet is the culmination of more than three decades of research, and it is devastating. Few readers will come away from Rafael Medoff ’s book without their view of FDR having been signicantly changed."—David G. Dalin,
Jewish Review of Books"Readers with an interest in World War II, 20th-century political history, Jewish history, and the Holocaust should find this an incisive and insightful exploration of the leading figures of this period."—
Library Journal, starred review
"With meticulous detail, Medoff documents the entwined failures of an indifferent president and a sycophantic Jewish leader."—Jerold Auerbach,
Algemeiner"An essential study shedding further light on a watershed period, attempting a challenging balanced approach with irrefutable evidence condemning two major figures whose close collaboration ultimately carried disastrous consequences."—
CCAR Journal/The Reform Jewish Quarterly"This sad chapter in the history of American Jewry should serve as a keen example to all in today's Jewish community that we cannot assume that liberal, left-wing ideology is inherently pro-Jewish."—Alan Jay Gerber,
Jewish Star"T
he Jews Should Keep Quiet is a historical accounting of lies, deceptions and subterfuge promulgated by Roosevelt and his administration on American Jews and their leaders together with the struggles of Wise, as a recognized Jewish leader, and the American Jewish community against the tide of growing anti-Semitism and a racially-biased president. Medoff, as a first-rate historian of the Holocaust, clearly communicates what my poorly educated immigrant grandmother instinctively recognized, 'Roosevelt was a great president, except for the Jews.'"—Fred Reiss,
San Diego Jewish World"Readers interested in American Jewish history or American politics will definitely want to read this unsettling, but important, work."—Rabbi Rachel Esserman,
Reporter"Rafael Medoff . . . has come closer than anyone before him to explaining the inexplicable. He does so in a new book titled,
The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust."—Sol Stern,
Tablet MagazineTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: “If Only He Would Do Something for My People!”
1. “Nothing but Indifference”
2. In Search of Havens
3. Silence and Its Consequences
4. Suppressing the Dissidents
5. The Politics of Rescue
6. FDR, Wise, and Palestine
7. The Failure to Bomb Auschwitz
8. Antisemitism in the White House
Conclusion: A President’s Strategy and a Rabbi’s Anguish
Notes
Bibliography
Index
