A few days ago, we talked about the British, and how they didn’t want the Allies to issue another public condemnation of the atrocities in Europe, arguing that it wouldn’t work and might make things worse for the Jews.
(This is a surprisingly common feeling at the time. At one meeting I found, a State Department official said that he didn’t think the United States should draw attention to the persecution of the Jews because…[wait for it, you’ll love this]…he was in Germany before the war and a Jewish person told him they didn’t want the US to draw any attention to their plight. Seriously.)
The State Department is in a weird position because they’ve been ordered to cooperate with the WRB but are still old guard themselves. This is an internal memo reacting to the WRB’s proposed answer to the British. “EUR [the Division of European Affairs] is unable to understand how the plight of the Jew can be ameliorated through an argument with the British government.”
