Questions for Class Discussion

1. In what ways were the refugees from Hitlers anti-Semitic persecutions similar to other immigrant groups, and in what ways were they different?
   
   
2. How did the earlier history of American Jewish immigration affect the experience of the Holocaust refugees in America and how did that history shape Americas policy toward those refugees attempting to enter American borders?
   
   
3. Was American government policy toward the refugees, and toward the Holocaust generally, an adequate response to the crisis?
   
   

Suggested Student Exercises

• Use various aids (photographs, films, documents) to illustrate the Holocaust. Consider why many of the refugees felt grateful to America for providing a haven, but frustrated at their inability to do more for their fellow Jews.
  
  
• Use some examples of the work of Jewish refugee artists, composers, scientists, or writers (e.g., Marc Chagall, Kurt Weill, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, and Erich Fromm) to illustrate the refugee immigrants cultural contribution to America. Consider how such contributions may have differed from the second- and third-generation cultural achievements of some other immigrant groups.