International response to the Holocaust
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While many civilians risked their lives during the Holocaust in order to save the millions of European Jews, Roma, homosexuals and other "undesirables," international bodies received heavy criticism for failure to act due to the post-war belief that intervention could have saved a substantial number of people and not have deflected from the war effort.[1]
| The Holocaust |
|---|
| Early elements |
| Racial policy · Nazi eugenics · Nuremberg Laws · Euthanasia · Concentration camps (list) |
| Jews |
| Jews in Nazi Germany, 1933 to 1939 |
|
Ghettos: Warsaw · Łódź · Lwów · Kraków · Theresienstadt · Kovno |
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Einsatzgruppen: Babi Yar · Rumbula · Paneriai · Odessa |
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Death camps: Auschwitz · Belzec · Chełmno · Majdanek · Treblinka · Sobibór · Jasenovac · Warsaw |
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End of World War II: Death marches · Berihah · Displaced persons |
| Other victims |
|
East Slavs · Poles · Serbs · Roma · Homosexuals · Jehovah's Witnesses |
| Responsible parties |
|
Nazi Germany: Hitler · Eichmann · Heydrich · Himmler · SS · Gestapo · SA |
| Lists |
| Survivors · Victims · Rescuers |
| Resources |
| The Destruction of the European Jews Phases of the Holocaust Functionalism vs. intentionalism |
Contents |
[edit] Response During the Holocaust
[edit] Evian Conference
The Evian Conference was convened at initiative of the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in July, 1938 to discuss the problem of Jewish refugees. For nine days, from July 6 to July 15, delegates from thirty-two countries met at Évian-les-Bains, France. However, not much was accomplished, since most western countries were reluctant to accept Jewish refugees. The conference did not pass a resolution condemning German treatment of the Jews.
[edit] Inaction of the Red Cross
The International Red Cross did relatively little to save Jews during the Holocaust and discounted reports of the organized Nazi genocide, such as of the murder of Polish Jewish prisoners that took place at Lublin that the Red Cross discounted. At the time, the Red Cross justified its inaction by suggesting that aiding Jewish prisoners would harm its ability to help other Allied POWs. In addition, the Red Cross claimed that if it would take a major stance to improve the situation of those European Jews, the neutrality of Switzerland, where the International Red Cross was based, would be jeopardized. Today, the Red Cross acknowledges its passivity during the Holocaust, and has apologized for this.[1]
[edit] Pope Pius XII
Although Pope Pius XII did not publicly speak out against the murder of the Jews during the Holocaust, the Vatican did take action to save many Jews in Italy from deportation, including sheltering several hundred Jews in the catacombs of St. Peter's Basilica. In his Christmas addresses of 1941 and 1942, the pontiff was forceful on the topic but did not mention the Nazis by name. The Pope encouraged the bishops to speak out against the Nazi regime and to open the religious houses in their dioceses to hide Jews. In recent years, the Vatican has expressed its remorse for not speaking out with more authority against the genocide.[2]
[edit] Response After the Holocaust
[edit] Genocide
Towards the end of WWII, Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer of Polish-Jew descent, aggressively pursued within the halls of the United Nations and the United States government the recognition of genocide as a crime. Largely due to his efforts and the support of his lobby, the United Nations was propelled into action. In response to Lemkin's arguments, the United Nations adopted the term in 1948 when it passed the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
[edit] Universal Declaration of Human Rights
After the atrocities of World War II and the planned extermination of Jews during the Holocaust, it was believed that the UN and its United Nations Charter did not sufficiently clarify the rights it protected. Inspired by these events, John Peters Humphrey of Canada led the effort to link human rights and ethics, and universalize basic rights for the peoples of the world. He was supported by Eleanor Roosevelt of the United States, René Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and P. C. Chang of China, and others. The vote in the General Assembly passed unanimously, but eight countries (the entire Soviet bloc, South Africa and Saudi Arabia) chose to abstain.
[edit] Nuremberg Trials
The international response to the war crimes of World War II and the Holocaust was to establish the Nuremberg international tribunal. Three major wartime powers, the USA, USSR and Great Britain, agreed to punish those responsible. The trials brought human rights into the domain of global politics, redefined morality at the global level, and gave political currency to the concept of crimes against humanity, where individuals rather than governments were held accountable for war crimes.[2]
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[edit] See also
- The Holocaust
- World War II
- Role of the international community in the Rwandan Genocide
- Righteous Among the Nations
