Dissension in the Face of the Holocaust: The 1941 American Debate over Antisemitism

In 1941, the Council for Democracy sponsored a debate on the causes and appropriate responses to antisemitism. The Council consisted of intellectuals and community leaders representing a spectrum of disciplinary and religious backgrounds. Divided in their assessment of the problem and the most effective way to explain it to the American public, Council members ultimately agreed not to emphasize the role of antisemitism in Nazi ideology. Their concern was to avoid the impression that, in a war against Germany, Americans would be fighting for the sake of "Jewish" interests. Thus, the Council's publications and broadcasts characterized antisemitism as a foreign import and as part of Nazi Germany's broader threat to democracy, Christianity, and Western civilization.