Potus Geeks Book Review: 1944 - FDR and the Year That Changed History by Jay Winik
In his masterful 2015 work 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History, author Jay Winik critically examines the actions and inaction of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the world witnessed the second world war and the horrendous occurrence of Adolph Hitler's "final solution" which led to the killing of approximately six million European Jews. This book is not, as its title might suggest, a biography of President Franklin Roosevelt, nor a study of how Roosevelt engineered his fourth consecutive electoral victory. At its essence, this is the story of the Holocaust. It is also a damning indictment of how the inaction of Roosevelt's State Department ignored (and by doing so enabled) the Nazi atrocities to continue.
This book is not for the faint of heart or for the squeamish. Winik is quite graphic in his description of what took place in camps like Auschwitz and Dachau. He does so, not for shock value, but because of the importance for mankind to never forget what took place, and hopefully to learn from the lessons of what happened to millions of Jews during Adolph Hitler's horrific tenure. While respectful to Roosevelt and to his legacy, and while acknowledging many of Roosevelt's successes and strength's as president, Winik makes a strong case to show how Roosevelt and many in his State Department, including Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long, willfully obstructed the provision of aid and rescue to European Jews who were bound for Hitler's Death Camps. These men not only sought to prevent the release of news about the atrocities being committed, but also threatened those who tried to bring these atrocities to the world's attention. They prevented the immigration of Jews fleeing the death camps from coming to the United States and other safe havens, prevented military aid that could have been accomplished with little effort, and ran bureaucratic interference on those seeking to provide rescue and humanitarian aid to the persecuted. Winik exposes what was surely a national disgrace and does so in a dignified but powerful manner.
Winik also tells the reader about many courageous individuals who sought to help the Jews and to bring to the world's attention the urgency of the situation. These include Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, two Auschwitz inmates who were able to escape the death camp and report to the world their first-hand observations of these atrocities. Eduard Schulte was a German industrialist whose conscience would not allow him to stand idly by and who fed information to the Allies about the death camps, information that was largely ignored. Henry Morgenthau was Roosevelt's secretary of the treasury, who battled obstructionist bureaucrats to convince Roosevelt to create the War Refugee Board, an agency intended to help the persecuted Jews. But in spite of the heroic efforts of these too few, Winik points out that there was much that wasn't done to prevent the killings, and there is much to accept responsibility for.
While Roosevelt will forever be considered and remembered as one of the greatest presidents, Winik points out this glaring and shameful aspect of Roosevelt's legacy. Roosevelt's failing health and his insistence in holding on to power when he was physically unable to meet the demands of confronting one of the most significant and atrocious aspects of the Nazi war machine must be taken into account when one considers FDR's legacy.
This is obviously not a feel good book, and there can be no happy ending to follow the mass murder of six million men women and children. It is a story that is difficult to read, but it is a story that must be told and one which must be remembered. Jay Winik ably meets this daunting challenge with an excellent ability as historian. He gives voice to a conscience that is necessary to preserve a valuable but painful lesson of history.
This book is not for the faint of heart or for the squeamish. Winik is quite graphic in his description of what took place in camps like Auschwitz and Dachau. He does so, not for shock value, but because of the importance for mankind to never forget what took place, and hopefully to learn from the lessons of what happened to millions of Jews during Adolph Hitler's horrific tenure. While respectful to Roosevelt and to his legacy, and while acknowledging many of Roosevelt's successes and strength's as president, Winik makes a strong case to show how Roosevelt and many in his State Department, including Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long, willfully obstructed the provision of aid and rescue to European Jews who were bound for Hitler's Death Camps. These men not only sought to prevent the release of news about the atrocities being committed, but also threatened those who tried to bring these atrocities to the world's attention. They prevented the immigration of Jews fleeing the death camps from coming to the United States and other safe havens, prevented military aid that could have been accomplished with little effort, and ran bureaucratic interference on those seeking to provide rescue and humanitarian aid to the persecuted. Winik exposes what was surely a national disgrace and does so in a dignified but powerful manner.
Winik also tells the reader about many courageous individuals who sought to help the Jews and to bring to the world's attention the urgency of the situation. These include Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, two Auschwitz inmates who were able to escape the death camp and report to the world their first-hand observations of these atrocities. Eduard Schulte was a German industrialist whose conscience would not allow him to stand idly by and who fed information to the Allies about the death camps, information that was largely ignored. Henry Morgenthau was Roosevelt's secretary of the treasury, who battled obstructionist bureaucrats to convince Roosevelt to create the War Refugee Board, an agency intended to help the persecuted Jews. But in spite of the heroic efforts of these too few, Winik points out that there was much that wasn't done to prevent the killings, and there is much to accept responsibility for.
While Roosevelt will forever be considered and remembered as one of the greatest presidents, Winik points out this glaring and shameful aspect of Roosevelt's legacy. Roosevelt's failing health and his insistence in holding on to power when he was physically unable to meet the demands of confronting one of the most significant and atrocious aspects of the Nazi war machine must be taken into account when one considers FDR's legacy.
This is obviously not a feel good book, and there can be no happy ending to follow the mass murder of six million men women and children. It is a story that is difficult to read, but it is a story that must be told and one which must be remembered. Jay Winik ably meets this daunting challenge with an excellent ability as historian. He gives voice to a conscience that is necessary to preserve a valuable but painful lesson of history.