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Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

John J. McCloy's Letter to John W. Pehle Concerning the Bombing of Auschwitz

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The revelations in the reports by escapees were accompanied by actions intended to deter the Nazis from further crimes. These intensified in connection with reports that Jews from German-occupied Hungary were being deported to Auschwitz and murdered in the gas chambers. This news roused public opinion to protest in order to stop the extermination and save those who remained alive. These efforts were accompanied by appeals to bomb the Auschwitz gas chambers and crematoria, and the rail lines that led to them. Various people and organizations, mostly Jewish, directed these appeals primarily to the US government. They turned out to be ineffective. The War Department held the view that military resources should not be used for non-military purposes, and that the proposed air raids were “unfeasible” because they would have required the diversion of air power needed for success on other fronts.  

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John Pehle Letter on Bombing of Auschwitz
Page 2 of Pehle Letter

Short Answer Questions

1. Based on this letter, what is one reason McCloy urges the government not to bomb Auschwitz?

2. How does McCloy’s decision regarding Auschwitz compare with other major wartime decisions, such as the U.S. involvement in the bombing of civilian targets in Japan and Germany? 

3. How does McCloy’s letter reflect the U.S. government’s broader response to the Holocaust? Was there a reluctance within the Roosevelt administration to take direct action to stop the Nazi Holocaust? 

Sources

Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy to War Refugee Board Director John Pehle. (2021). Ushmm.org. https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/assistant-secretary-of-war-john-mccloy-to-war-refugee-board-director-john-pehle/collection/us-government-rescue-efforts