Paper Walls: America and the Refugee Crisis 1938-1941

In this essential companion to The Abandonment of the Jews, David S. Wyman examines American policy on the refugees in the years leading up to World War II. For almost four agonizing years from 1938 to 1941, German Jews tried to leave their country. Barred from the United States by restrictive immigration policies, millions ultimately were killed, and a mere 150,000 finally found haven in this country. How could such a tragedy have come about? Wyman's answer is that America's public resistance had four bases: unemployment, nationalism, anti-Semitism, and, later, fear of fifth columnists disguised as refugees. In this thorough and even-handed analysis, Wyman concludes that this was essentially what the American people wanted.