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HIST 675: Seminar in History - U.S. and the Holocaust (Dr. Nienkamp): Responses to Kristallnacht and the Lead-up to American Involvement in the Second World War

Designed for students in HIST 675 U.S. and the Holocaust, this guide provides readers with insight into America’s response to the Third Reich’s treatment of its Jewish population, the Holocaust itself, and its aftermath by providing access to primary sour

Open Access Resources

State Department, Office of the Historian: Foreign Relations of the United States - Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration (1933–1945)

*Each FRUS volume contains keyword searches and filter options. 

**A digital facsimile of FRUS is from 1861-1960 is also available here.  A project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago Libraries, this is a nearly complete run with missing volumes added as they are acquired and processed.

Select Papers

1938

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - Austria

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - Germany

1939

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - Events Leading to the Outbreak of War in Europe

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - General, Beginning of European Phase of World War II

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - Germany

1940

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - France, Persecution of Jews by Germany Occupation and Vichy Government

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - British Commonwealth, Effects of the European War upon the Situation in Palestine

1941

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - General, Correspondence from Ambassador Scotten to the Secretary of State Regarding Jewish Immigration to the Dominican Republic

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - British Commonwealth, Attitude of the United States toward Zionist and Arab Agitation in the Middle East

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - France, Persecution of Jews by Germany Occupation and Vichy Government

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers  - Soviet Union, Allied Declarations Condemning German Atrocities in Occupied Territories 

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - Europe, Rumanian Confiscation of Jewish Property

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - Europe, Vichy France's Treatment of the "Jewish Question"

FRUS: Diplomatic Papers - General, Memorandum concerning Intergovernmental Committee on Political Refugees

Electronic Journals & Newspapers

Resources w/ Limited Full-Text Access

USHMM History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust

The USHMM has created an ongoing crowd-sourced archive containing American newspaper coverage of and reaction to key events and policies related to the Hitlerite Regime's persecution of European Jews as well as important antecedents.

Each event page contains a synopsis, creator-supplied keywords, suggested bibliography.  Indexed and full-text items are located under each event page's "VIEW ALL RESEARCH ON THIS EVENT" tab.  

1938

Kristallnacht and the Aftermath

American Antisemitism: The Coughlin Controversy and Backlash

1939

The St. Louis Incident and the Humanitarian Crisis

The Wagner-Rogers "Child Refugee" Bill and Restrictive Immigration 

1941

Reactions to anti-Jewish Actions in German-Occupied Europe

Lindbergh, America First, and Isolationism

Suggested Readings