Hannah Wolinsky: FDR and the Jews Pre- Holocaust

I am so glad I attended this lecture on FDR and his attitude towards Jews before the holocaust. Having a grandmother and having had a grandfather who are/were holocaust survivors, I like to gain as much knowledge as possible regarding the holocaust. 

Initially, I thought this lecture would be about FDR during the holocaust, but I liked that it dealt with events prior to the holocaust. I liked this because after receiving a fairly extensive Jewish education at Jewish private school most of my life, I still don't know much about what was happening outside Europe during the rise of the Nazis. 

I enjoyed learning about the different and adaptable aspects to Roosevelt's personality. This lecture got me thinking about what it must have been like to be president of the United States during such a tragic time in history. At the end of the lecture, when the audience was asking questions, it was noted how Roosevelt did not want to get involved in a war for petty reasons, or just to save a limited number of people. Roosevelt was accused of driving the United States into the war because of the Jews. He did not want the world to see World War II as a "Jewish war." This portrays the many conflicts that must have been going on in Roosevelt's mind when considering how to help the Jews of Europe, but still remaining as a favorable president. In addition to fearing resentment from the United States, Roosevelt's wife was never a leader when it came to helping the Jews. Eleanor Roosevelt actually grew up in an anti-semitic family. She eventually out-grew her antisemitism but certainly was not passionate about helping the Jews, as FDR was. This is very interesting to me! I like not only learning about Roosevelt (a male) and his influence in helping the Jews, but also learning about an influential female’s approach to what was going on.

Hearing the true story behind the mythical SS St. Louis story was cool and it was relieving to learn that most (2/3) of the Jews on the ship survived. Going along with this SS St. Louis story, I learned about some of the places that accepted Jews and the circumstances under which they accepted Jews. Also, I thought the briefly mentioned idea that Shang Hai was one of the only places to accept Jews without a visa was really intriguing.

There are many other aspects to this lecture that were new and compelling to me. Overall, I really enjoyed it :)