The U.S. State Department and the Failure to Rescue: New Evidence on the Missed Opportunity at Bergen-Belsen

Both the Allies and the Germans detained and interned noncombatant "enemy" aliens during the war. When it suited their purposes, Nazi leaders looked to trade Jews for Germans being held by the Allies. The Nazis even built a special camp at Bergen-Belsen for Jews who could be used as bargaining chips. However, the U.S. State Department, under pressure from British and American intelligence, undermined a proposed exchange of such Jews for Germans from Latin America. Although large numbers of Germans were willing to be repatriated, American officials feared that doing so would help the Third Reich's war effort. They also suspected that the Jews being traded to the Allies were spies. Although the United States did eventually reverse its stance and tried to rescue these Jews, it was too late to save most of them.