State Historical Society of Iowa
Following its defeat in World War I and the punitive peace treaty that followed, Germany fell into a deep and extended economic depression. Nationalist leaders found a willing audience when they looked for scapegoats who could be blamed for the country's troubles. Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party claimed that the Jewish people were traitors during the war and a blight on the nation. Hitler claimed that the Aryan race (northern Europeans) were genetically superior to all others and that the Jews were inferior. When he rose to power in the early 1930s, he began to impose punitive policies to punish and shame the Jews.
With the start of the war, Jews were rounded up and forced into work camps to make war supplies for their Nazi captors. They imposed similar policies on nations that they conquered, including France and eastern Europe. As the war progressed, the Nazis moved to even harsher measures until they reached the "ultimate solution" to the Jewish question: extermination of all Jews under their control. Concentration camps began the grisly process of killing Jews in massive numbers. Allied troops that began liberating these camps in 1945 were shocked at Nazi inhumanity, and German leaders responsible for giving such orders were tried and convicted in the Nuremburg Trials by international courts for their crimes.
While America knew about pre-war Nazi discrimination against the Jews, it did little to protest or demand an end to it. There was a heated debate in the nation about American involvement in or isolation from European disputes. The U.S. refused to expand its immigration policies to accept more Jews fleeing from Nazi persecution.
Iowa played a peripheral role in the debate on Nazi persecution. Some Iowans who traveled to Europe, including some Jewish Iowans, reported on disturbing trends in Germany. One connection stands out. In 1939, a teacher in the southeast Iowa town of Danville arranged for her students to select names pen pals from a list. Margaret Wagner, 10, chose a girl her own age who lived in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The girl's name was Anne Frank. Margaret and Anne wrote several letters back and forth until Anne stopped writing. Margaret did not know why.
The reason was that Anne and her family had gone into hiding where they would stay for several years until they were discovered by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp where Anne died. After the war, Anne Frank's diary written as the family was in hiding, was discovered and became one of the most famous documents in the Jewish experience under Nazi oppression. Today, a museum in Danville, The Anne Frank Connection, tells the story of the two girls. Their letters are on display, one of the two places in the world where visitors can see the correspondence itself.
In 2013, there was a groundbreaking for the Iowa Holocaust Memorial on the grounds of the Iowa Capitol. Today, it stands as a grim reminder of the Nazi genocide and a memorial to those who suffered it.
| Holocaust and America's Response to Other Genocides Source Set Teaching Guide |
| Printable Image and Document Guide |
This telegram was sent by Sir G. Ogilvie Forbes in Berlin, Germany, about the damage that occurred during Kristallnacht to many Jewish properties. Kristallnacht, also known as the "Night of Broken Glass," refers to the violent anti-Jewish pogrom...
This telegram, stored in the United Kingdom's National Archives, is from Gerhart Riegner to S.S. Silverman, both members of the World Jewish Congress. The focus of the telegram is rumors that the Nazis are rounding up and deporting millions of Jewish ...
This letter was sent from the Central Leadership of the Movement of Working Classes in Poland to the leader of the British Labour Party, Clement Attlee. The letter focuses on the ill-treatment of the Jewish people in Europe. Attlee would become prime mini...
This photograph shows residents of Nordhausen, Germany, digging mass graves for prisoners who were murdered in a concentration camp. The photo was taken in April 1945 by a member of the U.S. Army, which liberated the camp.
This photograph captures an unidentified German concentration camp at the time of liberation by the U.S. Army on April 20, 1945. The photo shows a small building with barbed wire fencing around it. These camps, which were located all over German-occupied ...
This photograph shows an emaciated 23-year-old Czech man being held up by two other men. This young man was suffering from dysentery — a severe infection of the intestines — at a Nazi concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany. He was found by th...
American journalist and radio broadcaster Dorothy Thompson, right, is shown talking to U.S. Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers, left, after she testified before the Joint Congressional Committee on Immigration. Thompson, an influential female voice at the time, tol...
This newspaper article from CIO News highlights the atrocities Nazis committed against the Jewish people. The president of the labor union, Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), Philip Murray, is quoted as saying that the United States needs to &quo...
This document is the certificate of naturalization for Ernest Michael Bressler, who is the husband of Steffy Bressler. The Austrian couple came to America to flee the Holocaust and were resettled in Des Moines. Both were able to become citizens of the Uni...
This telegram was sent by Steffy Bressler, a Jewish woman who escaped the Holocaust and resettled in Des Moines, Iowa. Bressler wrote to Dr. Friedrich Willman seeking information on the whereabouts of her brother in Germany. The telegram was written on Ju...
This registration letter was for Helga Levy, a Holocaust survivor who resettled in Des Moines, Iowa. The registration letter also included her alien registration card. This documentation allowed her to apply for citizenship in the United States.
This postcard was mailed to people in the United States asking for financial assistance or volunteers to help with aging Holocaust survivors. This postcard was addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Mazie" in Des Moines, Iowa.
This registration letter was for Helga Levy, a Holocaust survivor who resettled in Des Moines, Iowa. The registration letter also included her alien registration card. This documentation allowed her to apply for citizenship in the United States.
This postcard was mailed to people in America asking for financial assistance or volunteers to help with aging Holocaust survivors. This postcard was addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Mazie" in Des Moines, Iowa.
This letter was written to Burundi President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya from U.S. President Bill Clinton. In the letter, Clinton expresses concern about the violence in the country and promises to send Ambassador Madeline Albright to the country to stress t...
This May 9, 2004, photograph taken by Konrad Fiedler, shows a group of Sudanese women and children refugees at Camp Mile, located in the country of Chad. The refugees had just received fresh rations. This camp opened four days before this photograph was t...
This May 10, 2004, photograph taken by Konrad Fiedler, shows a Sudanese woman holding a baby, with a group of children and women behind her, at Tine Camp, a refugee camp in the country of Chad. According to Konrad Fiedler, "The Sudanese refugees of C...
This U.S. Senate resolution from 2007 called on the Chinese government to assist in stopping the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
In 2014, the United State Senate unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the grim anniversary of genocide in the African country of Rwanda. The resolution affirmed that it was committed to preventing genocide.
This 36-minute-long video features Brian Wakley, chief executive of nongovernmental organization Cord, discussing "Waging Peace: Building a New Life in Chad After Conflict for the Victims of Darfur" in a program sponsored by the African and Midd...
This is the main website for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which is based in Washington, D.C. The website offers many online resources, such as major photo collections, research articles and online testimonials of Holocaust survivors.
This website for the United Kingdom's National Archives includes primary sources related to the Holocaust.
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. This is the memorial's official website, which includes large digital collections of photos, videos, etc., about the Holocaust, its victims and it survivors.
This website is based out of the Mitchell Hamlin School of Law and includes genocide-related educator materials.
Listed below are the Iowa Core Social Studies content anchor standards that are best reflected in this source set. The content standards applied to this set are elementary-age level and encompass the key disciplines that make up social studies for seventh-grade students.
| No. | Standard Description |
| SS.7.13. | Identify social, political and economic factors that can influence our thoughts and behavior. |
| SS.7.15. | Distinguish and apply the powers and responsibilities of global citizens, interest groups and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts. (21st century skills) |
| SS.7.21. | Evaluate the push and pull factors involved in human population movement and patterns. |
| SS.7.24. | Analyze connections among historical events and developments in contemporary global issues. |
| SS.7.27. | Analyze the role that Iowa plays in contemporary global issues. |
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<h2 class="support-question-title">S.Res. 458, A Resolution from the U.S. Congress Recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month and Honoring Holocaust Survivors, May 22, 2014</h2>
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<h2>Description</h2>
<p>This U.S. Senate resolution recognized May 2014 as Jewish American Heritage Month. The resolution also expressed appreciation for the contributions made to the United States by the survivors of the Holocaust and encouraged the people of the United States ...</p>
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