The U.S. and the Holocaust

History Series / 1 Season

Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south.

56m 9s

Life in Auschwitz

5m 22s / TV-MA

Holocaust survivor Eva Geiringer reflects on life in Auschwitz. In 1944, Americans first learned details of the camp when three escapees meticulously documented what they’d seen. When the War Refugee Board received the report from Switzerland, they made the firsthand testimony public, and it became headline news. But Americans still couldn't grasp the scale and scope of the crime.

Not Every Jew Died in a Concentration Camp

3m 49s / TV-MA

Award-winning memoirist Daniel Mendelsohn reflects on myths surrounding the Holocaust, like how people assume every Jew died in a concentration camp or gas chamber. But that’s only part of the story – they were killed in all different manners and unimaginable ways. The tragedy is that there were millions who couldn’t be rescued, and the particularity of what happened is already being erased.

The War Refugee Board & Hungary

5m 59s / TV-14

In 1944, President Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board – the only government agency created by any of the Allies specifically to do what it could for the Jews still under Nazi threat. Much of the Board’s most effective work was focused on Hungary with the help of fellow diplomats from neutral nations. It was still home to some 800,000 Jews, the largest remaining population in Europe.

US Bill to Save Refugee Children Hits Wall of Anti-Semitism

6m 39s / TV-14

In 1939, two senators introduced a bill to help refugee children enter the United States. It was backed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt – and opposed by the American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies. But no group was more adamantly opposed to admitting Jewish refugees than the German American Bund, led by the “American Fuhrer.”

Charles Lindbergh & The America First Committee

5m 31s / TV-14

In 1940, American public opinion for providing aid to Britain was slowly starting to change. Charles Lindbergh became the chief spokesman for a new isolationist organization dedicated to keeping America out of the war – the America First Committee. Founded by a handful of students at the Yale Law School, it soon became the largest anti-war organization in the history of the United States.

Susan & Joseph Arrive in America

7m 3s / TV-14

After the Germans occupied northern France, Susan and Joseph made their way from Versailles to the Chateau des Morelles, a home for Jewish children separated from their parents. Their father had gotten himself, his wife and youngest boy to the United States. But, when Susan and Joseph finally arrived at Ellis Island to join them, only their father was there to greet them.

The Rise of Eugenics in America

5m 54s / TV-14

By the early 1900s, many white protestant Americans came to fear they were about to be outnumbered and outbred by immigrants and their offspring. They embraced a new pseudo-science born in Britain, called eugenics. It falsely claimed you could eliminate everything from poverty and prostitution to disabilities if you stopped the individuals they dismissed as “socially defective” from reproducing.

Extended Trailer

1m 1s

The U.S. and the Holocaust, a new documentary by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein, examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, immigration and eugenics in the United States, and race laws in the American south. Premieres Sept. 18.

The Gradual Rise of Nazi Germany

6m 5s / TV-14

As Jewish children living in Germany, these Holocaust survivors saw their lives turn upside down when the Nazis came into power. But the changes didn’t happen overnight. Instead, they were gradual – step by step – and no one realized how much worse things would get.

The American Press in Germany

5m 43s / TV-14

It wasn’t easy for foreign correspondents to report what was really happening in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Sources were often too frightened to talk. Reporters were reluctant to quote witnesses by name for fear of betraying them to the secret police – called the Gestapo. But the best American journalists did write about what was going on, however much the Nazi government tried to hide it.

Official Trailer #3

31s

A story Americans have to reckon with. The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, immigration and eugenics in the United States, and race laws in the American south. Premieres Sept. 18.

Official Trailer #2

31s

A story Americans have to reckon with. The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, immigration and eugenics in the United States, and race laws in the American south. Premieres Sept. 18.

Teaser #1 'American as Apple Pie'

30s

"Exclusion of people, and shutting them out, has been as American as apple pie." The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, immigration and eugenics in the United States, and race laws in the American south. Premieres Sept. 18.

Teaser #2 'We are Challenged'

30s

"We're challenged to think of what we would have done, what we could have done, what we should have done." The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, immigration and eugenics in the United States, and race laws in the American south. Premieres Sept. 18.

Official Trailer #1

31s

A tragedy for the world - a reckoning for our nation. The U.S. and the Holocaust examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, immigration and eugenics in the United States, and race laws in the American south. Premieres Sept. 18.

Teaser #3 'Our Neighbors'

30s

Hear powerful stories and testimonies from survivors like Susan Warsinger (née Hilsenrath) in the The U.S. and the Holocaust, a film by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein. Premieres September 18.

Supported by