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''The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust 1941–1945'', published in 1984, is an influential book by David S. Wyman, former Josiah DuBois professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Wyman is currently the chairman of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. ''The Abandonment of the Jews'' has been well received by most (though not all—see below) historians, and has won numerous prizes and widespread recognition, including "the National Jewish Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Award, the Present Tense Literary Award, the Stuart Bernath Prize from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the Theodore Saloutos Award of the Immigration History Society, and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award."〔http://thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1002〕 ==Wyman's argument== In response to Nazi determination and concerted action to remove Jews from Europe—by any means necessary—the non-Axis world closed many possibilities for immigration to other countries. For example, legal immigration to safety in Palestine—an area that had been assigned by the League of Nations as a Jewish Homeland for Jews who were not safe in their original countries—was severely limited by the British in 1939; and many nations simply refused to allow European Jews entry to their countries. As Nazi Germany gained power and inherited larger Jewish populations in conquered territories (e.g. Poland) the policies in most nations were either to completely eliminate the Jewish presence (in the case of Axis countries) or to discourage Jewish immigration (in the case of non-Axis countries.) The closing of the immigration possibilities in America is covered by Wyman in his 1968 book ''Paper Walls: America and the Refugee Crisis, 1938-1941''.〔''Paper Walls: America and the Refugee Crisis, 1938-1941'' (University of Massachusetts Press, 1968) ISBN 0-87023-040-9〕 Wyman continues to document this aspect of World War II history in ''The Abandonment of the Jews'', which covers the period of 1941-1945, when America and the Allies fought against Germany and the Final Solution Holocaust progressed to its most lethal stages. Wyman summarizes his principal findings in the Preface (presented below in edited precis): # The American State Department and the British Foreign Office had no intention of rescuing large number of European Jews. On the contrary, they continually feared that Germany or other Axis nations might release tens of thousands of Jews into Allied hands. Any such exodus would have placed intense pressure on Britain to open Palestine and the United States to take in more Jewish refugees ... Consequently, their polices were aimed at obstructing rescue possibilities .... #Authenticated information that the Nazis were systematically exterminating European Jewry was made public ... in November 1942. President Roosevelt did nothing ... for fourteen months, then moved only because ... political pressures .... #The War Refugee Board ... received little power, almost no cooperation ... and grossly inadequate funding. (Contributions from Jewish organizations .... covered 90 percent of the WRB's costs)... save approximately 200,000 Jews and at least 20,000 non-Jews. # ... State Department ... policies, only 21,000 refugees were allowed to enter ... during ... war with Germany ... 10 percent of the number who could have been legally admitted .... # .... factors hampered (rescue) ... anti-Semitism and anti-immigration attitudes, ... entrenched in Congress; the mass medias's failure ... near silence of the Christian churches and almost all of their leadership (with notable exceptions, e.g. the Archbishop of Canterbury, or New York's Archbishop Francis Spellman); indifference ... President's failure .... # American Jewish leaders ... failure to assign top priority to the rescue issue. # In 1944 the United States ... rejected several appeals to bomb the Auschwitz gas chambers and railroads ... in the very months that ... numerous massive American bombing raids were taking place with fifty miles of Auschwitz. Twice ... bombers struck ... not five miles from the gas chambers. # ... much more could have been done to rescue the Jews, if a real effort had been made .... the reasons repeatedly invoked by government official for not being able to rescue Jews could be put aside when it came to other Europeans who needed help. # ... Roosevelt's indifference ... the worst failure of his presidency. # ... the American rescue record was better than that of Great Britain, Russia, or the other Allied nations ... because of the work of the War Refugee Board ... American Jewish organizations ... provide most of the WRB's funding, and the overseas rescue operations of several Jewish organizations.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. x, xi〕 ''The Abandonment of the Jews'' argues that American (and British) political leaders during the Holocaust, including President Roosevelt, turned down proposals that could have saved hundreds of thousands of European Jews from death in German concentration camps.〔"Abandonment of the Jews", pp. 244, 24; 172, 173.〕 Wyman documents, for example, how Roosevelt repeatedly refused asylum to Jewish refugees〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 47; 82; 115-118; 264-266.〕 and failed to order the bombing of railway lines leading to Auschwitz.〔"Abandonment of the Jews", p. 295.〕 At the same time, most Jewish leaders in America and in Palestine did little to pressure these governments to change their policy.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 157-177; 328-330; 345-348.〕 Some American newspapers, including the New York Times, are said to have under-reported or buried reports off their front pages, and not just for reasons of anti-Semitism. The Times was owned by Jews, but they may have wanted not to appear as Jewish advocates in their coverage.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 26, 38, 76, 299n, 321〕 Wyman examines the documents suggesting that the U.S. and British governments turned down numerous proposals to accept European Jews. The issue was raised at a White House conference on March 27, 1943 of top American and British wartime leaders, including President Roosevelt, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, presidential advisor Harry Hopkins, and the British Ambassador to Washington, Lord Halifax. Hull raised the question of having the Allies offer to accept 60,000 to 70,000 Jews from Bulgaria, a German ally.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 96-100.〕 Eden reportedly objected, citing the risk that Hitler may take up similar offers for the Jews of Germany and Poland, and said "... and there simply are not enough ships and means of transportation to handle them."〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', p. 97.〕 Wyman writes that, because of a combination of nativism, anti-Semitism and an unwillingness to act on any proposal not of direct strategic value, thousands and possibly millions of Jews died who might otherwise have been saved. He documents numerous cases where the Allies found resources (such as shipping) to give aid and rescue to tens of thousands of non-Jewish refugees, while at the same time denying similar aid or rescue efforts to Jews. For instance, he documents how the British turned back endangered Jews from Mandatory Palestine, while at the same time they generously accepted between 9,000 and 12,000 non-Jewish Greek and 1,800 non-Jewish Polish refugees into Palestine.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 338, 339.〕 He cites many cases where US and British authorities turned down offers by Nazis to exchange Jews for resources, often with documentation on how the Allies appeared to fear that there would be so many Jews that it could strain the Allies' war effort. He also documents the efforts of the US State Dept. to deny asylum to endangered Jews, and the failure of the American Jewish establishment to put sufficient pressure on US politicians (e.g. President Roosevelt) to engage in effective rescue operations. Breckinridge Long, one of the four assistant secretaries of state, and a clique of other State Department executives, figure prominently in many episodes in this history. Wyman documents how Long and his colleagues repeatedly obstructed measures that would have effectively rescued Jews.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 104-142.〕 Wyman cites several organizations as comparatively effective in rescue efforts, particularly some Orthodox Jewish organizations, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Revisionist Zionist faction called the 'Bergsonites,' which took their name from their leader, the so-called "Peter H. Bergson," which was actually the English nom-de-guerre of Hillel Kook, a Palestinian Jew and nephew of Rav Abraham Isaac Kook who was associated with the radical armed underground group Irgun Zvai Leumi. "Bergson" came to the United States to form the 'American Friends of a Jewish Palestine,' the 'Committee for a Jewish Army,' and other efforts to rescue European Jewry.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', p. 85.〕 Wyman is particularly critical of the mainstream American Jewish and Zionist leadership, who were ineffective in their rescue efforts and often prioritized the fight against American anti-Semitism and strengthening the Zionist position for a post-war Jewish commonwealth in Palestine (Israel) above the need to rescue Jews from Nazi persecution.〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', pp. 3-18; 327-330.〕 In the chapter on 'Responsibility' Wyman has a sub-section titled 'What Might Have Been Done' in which he acknowledges that the possibilities for rescue were "narrowed by the Nazis' determination to wipe out the Jews" and that "War conditions themselves made rescue difficult... most likely it would not have been possible to rescue millions." He contends, however, that "without impeding the war effort, additional tens of thousands -- probably hundreds of thousands -- could have been saved."〔''Abandonment of the Jews'', p. 331〕 He then presents a selection of twelve programs that were proposed (among others) during the Holocaust that could have been effective if only they had been tried. His selection included (in edited precis):
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