The Holocaust Diaries: Book Iii: A Homeland for the Just

By Leo V. Kanawada Jr.

Book Three

A HOMELAND FOR THE JUST

The Holocaust concerning Palestine and the licensing

problem and anti-Semitism in the State Department

during World War II

To assist in the rescuing of the Jews in Europe, Roosevelt and the WEJ see that the establishment of a homeland for the Jews in Palestine is a necessity. He not only condones the use of violence to attain this end, but also subscribes to elaborate schemes to bribe Arab leaders, specifically King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, in order to realize the formation of a Jewish State.

Also in defiance of Assistant Secretary of State, Breckinridge Long, and his colleagues at the State Department who attempt to thwart Roosevelt's Palestine policies and European rescue plans, Roosevelt simultaneously initiates and supports the covert transfer of "Joint and US funds to Joint and WEJ contacts in Europe to save, ransom, or assist Jews anywhere even if the funds fall into enemy hands as bribes or pad Nazi bank accounts. He agrees with the WEJ to violate US law and by-pass his anti-Semitic State Department. It is Henry Morgenthau and his boys at the Treasury Department who compile data and evidence that Long and his people are anti-Semitic and are intentionally blocking Roosevelt's Palestine policies and the licensing and transfer of funds to Europe. They submit a secret report to Roosevelt entitled PERSONAL REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT ON THE ACQUIESCENCE OF THIS GOVERNMENT IN THE MURDER OF THE JEWS, JANUARY 16, 1944, which documents State's anti-Semitic activities and, if made public, would inflict a severe blow to the Roosevelt administration particularly during a presidential election year. Within days of its presentation to Roosevelt, this report leads to the formation of Roosevelt's War Refugee Board and to its overt public mission to save European Jewry.

-- Leo V. Kanawada, Jr.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 18, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452057989

Leo V. Kanawada Jr.

Dr. Leo V. Kanawada, Jr. was born in 1941 in Flushing, Long Island, New York, and educated at Bucknell University, where he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education. His Master of Arts Degree in American History was awarded by The Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and his Ph.D. in History by St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York.

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Table of Contents

PROLOGUE

JANUARY 1, 1944

WASHINGTON, D.C.

PART ONE

SPRING OF 1943

1

SPRING 1943

WASHINGTON, D.C.

2

3

PART TWO

EARLY 1943

4

DECEMBER 1942

5

JANUARY 1943

6

APRIL 1943

7

MAY 1943

8

JUNE 1943

9

10

11

JULY 1943

12

JULY 22, 1943

13

AUGUST 15, 1943

14

AUGUST 21, 1943

15

AUGUST 22, 1943

16

SIX HOURS EARLIER, JUST AFTER DINNER

17

AUGUST 1943

PART THREE

LATE 1943

18

SEPTEMBER 1943

WASHINGTON, D.C.

19

20

21

OCTOBER 1943

WASHINGTON, D.C.

22

23

NOVEMBER 1943

WASHINGTON, D.C.

24

25

DECEMBER 1943

WASHINGTON, D.C.

26

27

28

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1943

29

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1943

30

31

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1943

32

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1943

33

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18,1943

34

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

35

36

MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1943

37

38

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1943

39

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1943

40

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1943

41

DECEMBER 29, 1943

PART FOUR

JANUARY 1944

42

JANUARY 7, 1944

43

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 1944

44

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1944

GEORGETOWN

45

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1944

46

JANUARY 27, 1944

AUTHOR’S NOTE ON SOURCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PROLOGUE

JANUARY 1, 1944

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THE WHITE HOUSE, ROOSEVELT’S BEDROOM

The man on the radio this morning claimed it was eight degrees Fahrenheit outside, but he couldn’t convince Roosevelt and Lucy of that.

The first day of the New Year brought a slashing, bone-chilling, frigid Arctic air mass into the nation’s capital. I had no trouble verifying that fact from my vantage point over here in my office at the Treasury Department.

Lucy said that the cloudless, blue sky was deceiving. It had to be ten to twenty degrees below zero out there because of the wind, the type of biting wind that caused your eyes to tear and your nose to run and the droplets running down your cheeks and onto your chin to freeze and turn into icicles.

Cozy and warm under a down-filled, white comforter in his bedroom on the second floor of the White House, they could see the trees bending and the brown and yellowish leaves swirling above the south lawn as the wind whipped between the stately white columns of the mansion and rattled every last wooden window within sight.

If it weren’t for Jerome and Anna holding my arms, I would’ve been blown across the lawn last night, Lucy said.

She looked up at Roosevelt, and then slowly slid her body on top of his. Warm enough, dear?

Uh, huh, he groaned. How could the happiest man in the world get any happier, he asked himself. He loved her smell and her laugh and the feel of her soft, silky flesh against his own. His large hands and muscular arms enveloped her and made her shiver from head to toe.

Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd was all that Eleanor wasn’t, he told himself, all that he ever wanted, as he fantasized about her on the back of his closed eyelids, picturing a prior stolen moment together when they were much younger, ever so much younger. In fact, he relished his recently revived relationship with her. And since Eleanor was celebrating New Year’s Eve with her friends in New York City last night somewhere in the vicinity of Times Square, he – with the encouragement and the chutzpah, he said, of his daughter, Anna – saw no reason to usher in the New Year alone.

During these past several years, it was Anna who fulfilled his every wish concerning Lucy. On numerous occasions, she secretly escorted Lucy to the White House when Eleanor was out of town.

She wriggled and squirmed in his grasp as she described how windy it was last night when she and Anna pulled up in Anna’s car to the side door of the White House.

It was like a tropical nor’easter, Franklin. Like a hurricane, blowing at gale force. At one point there before I reached the side door, I thought that my bloomies would be ripped out from under my legs and by now be flying from the top of the Washington Monument.

Now that would truly be an historical site to behold. He laughed outloud and then said, And with this being an election year, that would undoubtedly cost me a ton of votes.

She grinned and whispered, Oh, I don’t know about that. I’ll bet there are millions and millions of citizens out there, both male and female and modern and unprudish, too, who would love to have you just stay put right here so that you and they could continue to enjoy moments like that and moments like this over and over and over again. I know I’d vote for it.

As she kissed his cheek, he held her even more lovingly and even more tenderly while he cursed the gods of his forefathers and the frigid waters off of Campobello and the freakish act of nature that robbed him of his manhood and of his Lucy.

JANUARY 16, 1944

THE WHITE HOUSE, OVAL OFFICE

It was as if they stole my soul, Franklin. Like they ripped out my heart and stomped on it. And did it all right in front of my face, I confessed.

I waited for the Boss to complete his perusal of our first, rough draft. I relished the title. My assistant general counsel at Treasury, Josiah DuBois, had chosen it for our eighteen-page narrative. You couldn’t miss it. It was emblazoned across the top of the cover sheet in bold-faced, capital letters. PERSONAL REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT ON THE ACQUIESCENCE OF THIS GOVERNMENT IN THE MURDER OF THE JEWS, JANUARY 16, 1944.

Cuts right to the quick, I thought. I remained focused on Roosevelt’s eyes – actually, I locked rock-solid on them as they darted back and forth, line to line, page to page, seemingly intent on absorbing each and every glaring indictment. And naturally, there were plenty.

At one point when Roosevelt raised his eyes, he said, If my memory serves me correctly, Henry, they started to swing from their own home-grown gallows, gallows of their own choosing and making, sometime back about last spring, didn’t they?

To most in the nation’s capital, I needed no introduction. Like the President of the United States, I was a New Dealer, but on many occasions lately, I was dubbed the administration’s most prominent Jew-Dealer, ranking naturally just behind the Boss.

Although many reasons existed as to why we acquired such a title, the most obvious one for this accolade stemmed from the struggle we waged against Breckinridge Long and his boys over at the State Department and their differences with us regarding our Palestine policies and the licensing of funds slated for distribution throughout Europe to save and preserve the millions of Jews – my lancemen – trapped in Nazi-controlled nations.

That they did. Correct. About eight months ago. It’s all in there, Franklin.

They were a thorn in our side even then, weren’t they, on rescue and on Palestine. Weren’t they?

Correct, again. And it’s high time that we insert the dagger and remove the ‘Long’ cancer. Lance it and then press on with a rescue commission of our own, using even more of your own people.

I vividly remember, Henry, how upset you were back then and at other occasions throughout the remainder of the year. How was your memory on this report, by the way, when you and your boys put it together? Did it ring true, as fresh and as clear as ever?

Indeed it did, Franklin. Yes, indeed it did.

PART ONE

SPRING OF 1943

JANUARY 1943

THE STATE DEPARTMENT

Swerving to miss one pothole after another on Independence Avenue – another government entity neglected due to the war effort – the cabbie cursed and simultaneously apologized to the rabbi, Stephen Wise, as he darted past the Washington Monument en route to the State Department building. Cooler January weather was finally arriving in Washington, but you could not ascertain this fact from Stephen in the back seat of the cab. He was hot under the collar.

Greeted by Welles at the diplomatic entrance at State, the two gentlemen conversed politely as they made their way up to Welles’s office on the second floor.

As I told you on the phone, Wise lamented, I was shocked when I received Riegner’s report from Sidney. Sidney Silverman was a Labor Party member of Parliament and the chairman of the British section of the World Jewish Congress.

You were shocked? The Chief and I couldn’t believe our eyes when Missy burst into the Oval Office, carrying Riegner’s report as if she had hot coals in her hand.

The Chief has reason to believe that the report is true, then? Wise asked as they entered the office of the undersecretary.

Sit down, Stephen. Please. Welles pointed to the couch.

Thank you, Sumner.

I’ll just call for some tea and cakes for us. Wise opened the Riegner folder as Welles completed the call.

I can’t believe that such a thing is happening, and we are so powerless to stop this little butcher. I only wish the Chief had the armies, the armed forces, the planes, the bombs, the assassins, the –  His voice rose louder and louder as he leaned forward on the edge of the couch. The secret power of a saint to crush the life out of that madman.

I know, Stephen, I know. Welles rose from his desk and sat next to Wise.

Touching the papers, pushing them away from him to the other side of the coffee table, Wise turned to Welles and calmly whispered, Do you and the Chief really believe these accusations? These atrocities? Has anyone else seen Riegner’s report? Are there other secret cables or messages from reliable eyewitnesses being smuggled or transmitted out of Germany?

Stephen, I wish I knew all the answers. Suffice it to say that Franklin and I believe every single word of it.

I thought you did.

You know the Chief, Stephen. He’d like to be in Berlin yesterday if he could, but –  Welles paused. The British, as you have no doubt read in the newspapers, are only moving slowly in North Africa and our Russian friends are struggling with a mammoth German army at Stalingrad. Who knows when WE can penetrate fortress Europe. Who knows when ANY refugees will ever be able to penetrate OUT of fortress Europe, now that Hitler has closed all borders. Things do not look good. And who is to say that these reports from Riegner can be confirmed.

I know.

I just checked with my colleagues in the Division of European Affairs about this matter. They cannot confirm – here, listen to their memo.

Welles reached for a piece of paper from under his desk blotter.

Here. ‘It cannot be confirmed, once refugees from any area of Europe have reached Germany, that they are to be exterminated. Rather, it is our understanding that they are to be put to work – to labor on behalf of the German machine as is the case with Polish and Soviet and other prisoners-of-war who are now working for their daily sustenance in Germany.’

Oh, how I wish that I could believe that statement.

You and me both, Stephen. You and me both. Welles sighed.

The tea arrived and provided a needed respite in the conversation. Wise knew, however, from the train of Welles’s remarks that Riegner’s report would best be kept out of the public eye until Roosevelt and Welles were convinced that all accusations could be verified. But he decided to ask anyway.

So, my friend, what do you and the Chief think is the best course to take? What should I do so as to not upset the apple cart?

Welles laughed. You mean you haven’t guessed already?

I think I have, Wise resigned himself to the proverbial inevitable. I also want to be a good American soldier for the Chief and not upset our war aims nor the up-coming election.

Welles concurred. That seems like the best approach to take, Stephen, at least until we can confirm Riegner’s information here at State and not just rely on Jewish authorities. I know you remember the propaganda coming out of London during World War One describing German atrocities in Belgium, and how they were eventually proven false.

Yes.

Even prior to this war, so many false reports from around the world, accusations, stories of atrocities, surfaced to influence and shape public opinion here in this country.

I know.

And for the sake and fate of those Jews now trapped inside Hitler’s borders – however small or large their number, however rich or poor, whether refugee or emaciated escapee – we here in the United States must not, ever, give out information that proves false. We cannot allow the opposition press and the public and other hostile groups here to have a field day. We can’t let them say that the Jews in America are dashing our war aims, diverting our boys to Jewish desires, exercising too much control over our government and our president.

Yes.

Look at this Gallup poll. This is a nation-wide survey just completed. Forty-four percent of our population thinks that Jews have too much power in the United States. AND eighteen percent believe – get this – eighteen percent believe Hitler was right in taking power away from the Jews in Germany.

Unbelievable.

I don’t have to tell you, Stephen, that it is going to be difficult enough – as the Chief says – to assist and rescue our Jewish brethren in Europe by whatever means we try. And God knows we are trying, Stephen. But we must continue to do it quietly, covertly, without public outcries and protests, without the ugly head of anti-Semitism rising any higher than it already has.

Yes.

Wait until you see the opposition that develops in Congress to what the Chief wants to do, the opposition from our so-called friends in countries around the world, from people here in our State Department – not to mention countries in Europe whose governments are dominated by Hitler and by Nazi sympathizers or by fascist parties that abhor and loathe the hundreds of thousands, the millions, of Jews who inhabit THEIR land.

Sumner, I – 

Let’s not inflame our people, Stephen. No one – and I’ll bet, not even most of our Jewish friends – will believe that such a mass extermination, such a racial cleansing, is occurring. We must be able to provide more positive proof. As you know, the Chief and the WEJ is working for you, for us, for them. We’ll continue to work and plan quietly, privately, and initiate new schemes and programs along the way.

Good.

Just keep in mind, Stephen, the enormous opposition he faces. It won’t be easy.

I know, Sumner. God help him.

… Notes written by Herbert Feis, a confidant and assistant to Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles at the State Department, found in a legal folder along with Henry Morgenthau’s papers and his diary for 1943

*

JANUARY 1943

THE WHITE HOUSE, THE OVAL OFFICE

What time did you tell Stephen to call? Roosevelt asked, brushing crumbs from his lap. Apple pie a la mode, one of his favorite desserts.

Around ten. Welles passed on the dessert. He said he was sweet enough. He poured the tea for Roosevelt and himself.

Good. That’ll give us plenty of time. Would you like to hear about Winnie and me at Casablanca, or would you first like to give me the bad news from Riegner? I know that’s why Stephen is calling. Gerhart Riegner was Stephen’s contact in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Yes. Stephen received his copy of Riegner’s report as did Hull, Breck,