Franklin D. Roosevelt
“They All Could Have Been Saved”Thursday, May 2, 2013 by Lance J. Sussman | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus personally rescued 50 Jewish children from Nazi-era Vienna and brought them home to Philadelphia. A new documentary tells their story—and contrasts it with the apathy shown by their community.
World War II and the Impossibility of Polish HistoryWednesday, February 27, 2013 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Must any history of Poland in the Second World War therefore put the Jews and the Holocaust at the center? If it does not, is that originality or revisionism?
Jews and Human Rights In Europe: the Unfulfilled PromiseFriday, December 28, 2012 by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
While many German war criminals escaped prosecution, the European Court of Human Rights may soon outlaw brit milah across Europe. [Part II of II]
Hans Bethe and the Problem of “Jewish Genius”Monday, October 15, 2012 by Alex Joffe | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Few topics make Jews more uncomfortable than the question of “Jewish genius.” While Jews happily point to the extraordinary scientific accomplishments of their co-religionists, discussion of the genetic or cultural basis of these achievements causes squirming and denials.
Editors' Picks
Ghosts of Scandals Past Rafael Medoff, JNS. Seventy years ago, FDR used the IRS to target a group lobbying for the rescue of Jews from Nazi Germany; but Roosevelt's investigators ended up as sympathizers.
FDR and the Jews Marc Fisher, Moment. “Roosevelt sounded at times like a Zionist, at times like a skeptic about Palestine’s capacity to absorb new settlers, and at times, when speaking to anti-Semites, like an anti-Semite himself.”
Roosevelt, Hoover, and the Jews Harry Stein, City Journal. While Roosevelt was resisting calls to admit child refugees from Germany (and badmouthing Jews in private), his predecessor was out campaigning on behalf of European Jewry.
The Birth of the Jewish Vote Rafael Medoff, Los Angeles Times. In 1944, as American Jews became frustrated with FDR’s indifference to the fate of Jewish refugees, Benzion Netanyahu saw an opportunity to give them a voice in U.S. politics.