This is a very important day for the WRB, not just because it marks the end of the third chapter of my dissertation.  On March 24, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt, as part of his press conference, read a Statement on Atrocities in which he condemned Nazi persecution, particularly against the Jews, and vowed that the perpetrators would be punished after Allied victory.  Members of the United Nations (meaning the Allies, who referred to themselves throughout the war as the United Nations) issued a public statement in December 1942 condemning Nazi atrocities and promising post-war justice, but nothing since.  So FDR’s statement was a big deal, and was broadcast all over the world, made into leaflets, summarized in the international press, and reached enemy-occupied Europe. It’s hard to say whether or not it made a difference–that’s part of the problem with psychological warfare, the impact is hard to measure. But I read a survivor memoir the other day in which he mentions having heard FDR’s promise before he was deported, so it at least got into Hungary.   Oh, and Pehle is officially director now.