49 Fall 2026 Congressman Lantos responded that antisemitism was not merely one more irritant in a long list of unpleasant societal phenomena, but a significant and growing problem that affected one particular group. “I’m unaware of an outbreak of anti-Episcopalian feeling throughout Europe,” Lantos noted; it was Jews who were under attack.11 Lantos also pointed out that despite State’s professed concern about according unfair preference to the Jews, “the [State] Department currently has statutorily mandated offices on Tibet, Women, Human Trafficking, and Religious Freedom.”12 Nevertheless — and despite the support of major Jewish organizations for the Lantos bill — the State Department’s opposition prevented the legislation from advancing. Historical Parallels Although there were significant differences between the circumstances of the 1930s and those of 2004, the State Department’s position against “singling out” Jews for special attention was somewhat reminiscent of a troubling chapter in America’s past. During the Nazi era, the State Department and other Roosevelt administration agencies downplayed the Jewish identity of Hitler’s victims, even though the Nazis singled out Jews for persecution. Calling attention to the unique suffering of the Jews would have created pressure on the administration to do something in response, and President Roosevelt’s policy was to refrain from utilizing even minimal resources to assist Jewish refugees. FDR emphasized in a 1938 statement that while he “deplored [the] ill-treatment of human beings anywhere, the domestic policies of other nations are of no concern to the United States.”13 Blurring the identity of the victims was a way of dismissing the plight of the Jews in Europe as merely one of many unfortunate occurrences in a harsh world, none of which was America’s business. “The refugee problem should not be considered as being confined to persons of any particular race or faith,” the State Department declared in defining the terms of an Anglo-American conference held in Bermuda in 1943, ostensibly to explore ways to help the Jews.14 A meeting of the American, British, and Soviet foreign ministers in Moscow in October 1943 issued a statement threatening postwar punishment for Nazi war crimes against conquered populations. It mentioned “French, Dutch, Belgian or Norwegian hostages ... Cretan peasants ... the people of Poland”— but not Europe’s Jews.15 The Jews were not even mentioned in President Roosevelt’s 1944 message commemorating the first anniversary of the Jewish revolt against the Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto.16 The State Department’s efforts to block the Lantos bill because it would “afford special status” to the Jews thus echoed the mindset of its predecessors in the 1940s, by viewing the Jews as a people whose suffering deserved no special attention, even when they were being singled out for persecution. Building an Interfaith Coalition These historical parallels persuaded my colleagues and me at the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies to become involved in the Lantos controversy. The Wyman Institute’s mission is to promote scholarship and public education concerning America’s response to Nazism and the Holocaust. Prof. Wyman’s 1984 book, The Abandonment of the Jews, remains the definitive study of the subject. In the autumn of 2004, we prepared a petition to Secretary Powell, urging the State Department to withdraw its opposition to the Lantos bill. We argued that “It is the anti-Semites who are singling out Jews, and that is why the fight against anti-Semitism deserves specific, focused attention.”17 11. Janine Zacharia, “Lantos Intolerance,” JERUSALEM POST (July 23, 2004). 12. Letter from Rep. Lantos to Secretary Powell (July 19, 2004) (Office of Congressman Tom Lantos), available at https:// forward.com/news/5089/state-department-opposes-new-antisemitism-office/ 13. “Roosevelt Hits Alien Subversive Forces, Lauds B’nai B’rith at Dinner to Cohen,” JTA (May 13, 1938), at 2-3. 14. David S. Wyman, THE ABANDONMENT OF THE JEWS: AMERICA AND THE HOLOCAUST 1941-1945. 107 (Pantheon 1984). 15. Id. at 154-155. 16. Id. at 337. 17. Wyman Institute et al. to Powell (Sept. 10, 2004) (David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, Washington, DC). The letter is discussed in https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/prominent-americans-push-powell-to-supportto-anti-semitism-bill
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=