nd the comfort of their fellow prisoners. However, long exposure to camp life often left some concerned only for their personal survival and became cruel and inhuman to the other Jews in the camp. (Weisel)How could the United States not respond to such horrible conditions? There were many factors that contributed to the decision not to help the quickly fading Jewish race. Germany blocked its borders to keep Jews from escaping and this problem was compounded by the fact that America had greatly reduced the number of immigrants they were allowing through their borders. During the Great Depression, Americans did not want foreigners coming in and competing for jobs. This fear created a total anti-alien attitude throughout society, which blended into anti-Semitism.In the years leading up to the war, the United States was in the midst of a depression. These internal struggles were another contributing factor to the US position not to act. The president had also decided to take a position of neutrality concerning the conflict abroad. Action against these camps would have been an act of war, which would have pulled the US into a conflict of which they did not want to be a part.Economic prosperity during the years of the war did not lessen the American’s xenophobia. Everyone feared that the depression would return after the conflict subsided and did not want foreign competition from the fleeing refugees. Veterans’ organizations such as the VWF (Veterans of Foreign Wars) wanted to ensure that there would be a job for every returning soldier. Even many members of congress were against refugee immigration and several bills were passed to lower quotas. (Wyman) Anti-Semitism also ran high in the United States in the decade leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Over a hundred anti-Semitic organizations were distributing hate propaganda. When the war started, leaders of these organizations such as William Dudley Pelley, w...
