The Wreckage

World War II and the Holocaust were turning points for American Jews, shaping Jewish American identity, memory, and culture for generations. In this bonus episode, taped live with a studio audience at Sound Lounge in New York City, acclaimed writer Julie Salamon hosts a panel discussion that delves into the anxieties, cultural shifts, and reactions to global events in the postwar years. This episode features historian and author of GI Jews Deborah Dash Moore, historian and author of Black Power, Jewish Politics Marc Dollinger, and AJHS executive director and writer of The Wreckage Gemma R. Birnbaum.

In a 1946 letter to Secretary of State James Byrnes, President Harry Truman proclaimed, “I’m tired of babying the Soviets.” Once the United States’ strongest anti-Fascist ally, the Soviet Union was rapidly becoming its greatest enemy, and fears that the Soviets would have access to atomic weapons led to an unprecedented era of paranoia and spying. Oppenheimer was not the only Jewish American to be a target of anti-Communist proceedings, and as Communism continued to spread across Europe and Asia, suspicion at home only continued to escalate. This week we're joined by Dr. Jonathan Brent, CEO of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

On August 6, 1945, the United States became the first, and thus far only, nation to deploy the atomic bomb in a time of war. After the war, “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Jewish American theoretical physicist and director of the Manhattan Project lab at Los Alamos, joined the Atomic Energy Commission, and would soon find himself at odds with his former professional ally, Lewis Strauss. This week, we're joined by Pulitzer-prize winning co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer Kai Bird.

The events of World War II and its immediate aftermath had significant influence on American Jewish political identity. In the wake of the Holocaust, and as the extent of the destruction continued to be revealed, many Jewish Americans took it upon themselves on both local and national levels to tell the story of what happened, advocate for the victims, and lobby for changes to international law to try and prevent future atrocities. Through political activism, literature, liturgy, and more, individuals such as Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born lawyer who served on the legal team of Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal Robert H. Jackson and himself a survivor, spent the years following World War II seeking justice and remembrance for those who were lost. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Hasia Diner, author of We Remember with Reverence and Love: American Jews and the Myth of Silence After the Holocaust.

It is estimated that after World War II, 140,000 Holocaust survivors settled in the United States. These refugees, the majority of whom were between 20 and 40 years old, largely came to the United States due to efforts from HIAS, USNA, and other organizations. Once they arrived, these survivors worked to build new careers, start families, and find community among their neighbors. Even as they acclimated, survivors faced an uphill battle as they overcame language barriers, post-traumatic stress, and remaining antisemitic and xenophobic sentiments in America. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Hasia Diner, author of We Remember with Reverence and Love: American Jews and the Myth of Silence After the Holocaust.

After World War II, organizations like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), Hadassah, and the United Service for New Americans (USNA) provided critical resources to help evacuate and resettle survivors who were living in displaced persons camps - camps that were often the very same prisons where they were incarcerated during the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands of refugees came to the United States, Canada, Mandatory Palestine, and other communities around the world due in large part to the advocacy and efforts of these aid organizations to break past restrictive immigration quotas. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Gemma R. Birnbaum, executive director of AJHS.

“In battle, you kept your wits about you. Don’t relax that caution now,” warned the ominous voice-over in the 1945 training film, Your Job in Germany. “The German lust for conquest is not dead. It’s merely undercover.” As the Allied powers worked to govern Europe, Jewish American GI’s were stationed around the continent. As demobilization - the process of bringing American military personnel home after the war’s end - escalated, the United States found itself understaffed, and many Jewish American GI’s remained in Europe to support efforts to maintain order and rebuild. For those at home, programs like the GI Bill paved the way for a postwar life. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Deborah Dash Moore, author of GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation.

Throughout World War II, more than 1,000 American rabbis volunteered to serve their country through chaplaincy service, with more than 300 American Jewish chaplains entering active duty. After the war, sixty of these rabbis remained in Europe and beyond, and were among the first witnesses to the true extent of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in pursuit of “the final solution.” The work was arduous, and oftentimes at odds with American military policy, which deemed all those displaced persons who were stateless, including Jewish victims who had survived the Holocaust, “enemies of the state.” It was through advocacy, determination, and great personal risk that the rabbis were able to help displaced persons find new lives in the United States and other nations. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Ronit Stahl, author of Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America.

In the weeks following V-E Day, the Allied powers were faced with the daunting task of governing Germany and all formerly Nazi-controlled territories. Hitler was dead, the Third Reich had fallen, and it was now up to the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and France to rebuild the continent following the devastation of the war in Europe – all while the war in the Pacific continued to rage on. With Europe in ruins, the Allied nations began the work to restore systems of law, rebuild the economy, and lead the re-education of the German people. Narrated by Rebecca Naomi Jones and featuring Gavriel Rosenfeld, author of The Fourth Reich: The Specter of Nazism from World War II to the Present.