December 17, 1942:
- "Pressure from members of Parliament, from Jewish groups in England, from the Anglican Church, from the British press, and from the Polish government-in-exile persuades the Allied governments to publish their first official recognition of atrocities in Poland.
The Allied nations--Great Britain, United States, Soviet Union, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia, and the French National Committee--officially condemn the Nazis' 'bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination.'
They vow to punish those responsible.
Several U.S. State Department officials try to block this declaration.
All previous and following declarations neglect to mention Jews. - "Accepting the United States government position that the Jews being massacred by the Germans can be helped only by a total and unconditional Allied victory over Germany, the American press continues to treat the Holocaust as just another war story, and is unwilling to discuss the systematic annihilation of the Jews.
Given the Allied governments' knowledge of the Holocaust at this time, waiting until the Allied Armed Forces have achieved a total victory over the Germans indicates that the Allied governments have accepted the probablility that the majority of European Jews will be killed before the Germans can be stopped. - "Jewish inmates at the labor camp at Kruszyna, Poland, near Radom, attack guards with knives and fists. Six prisoners are killed and four escape; See December 18, 1942."
- Internment Camps in the U.S.
"Paranoia and panic followed the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
Japanese Americans living in the western United States--including those born in the States--were rounded up at government decree, often with little warning, leaving behind their homes, businesses, and most of their belongings.
"Some 110,000 people were imprisoned at ten camps, including Heart Mountain in Wyoming and Manzanar in the Owens Valley of California.
Conditions at the camps were primitive and harsh.
Manzanar, located west of Death Valley, was surrounded by barbed wire as well as guards on watchtowers.
The crude barracks provided little relief during the intense heat of the summer or the bitter cold of the winter.
"Isolated from their friends and relatives, demeaned and robbed of their rights, some committed suicide.
Many young men sought to escape the camps and prove their loyalty by volunteering for service in the armed forces.
Despite winning numerous medals for heroism in the European Theater, Japanese-American soldiers were told upon their return to American shores, "We don't serve Japs here."
American-government reparations for these illegal internments did not begin in earnest until the 1990s."
"Far from their homeland, Polish-Jewish refugees gather in a wooden shelter that functions as their synagogue on the Caribbean island of Jamaica.
Fleeing persecution, they had reached Portugal, where the Joint Distribution Committee was able to arrange a journey for them and 150 others to Jamaica.
Housed in a refugee camp, they awaited visas that would allow them to travel to the United States or various Latin American countries."
"Richard Glücks was the direct supervisor of Rudolf Höss and other concentration-camp commandants.
Besides selecting the site for Auschwitz, Glücks was responsible for the medical "services" rendered at the camp and the slave-labor operations that bolstered the German war efforts.
He decided how many prisoners were selected for gassing and slave labor.
He was last seen in a naval hospital near the Danish border; whether he committed suicide or was murdered by Jews seeking revenge has yet to be resolved."
- Stutthof
"Stutthof, located in Poland about 20 miles east of Danzig, became the first camp established on Polish territory.
Opened in September 1939, it began as a harsh labor camp for civilian POWs, who were later joined by Danes and others. In early 1942 Stutthof was transformed into a concentration camp and became the hub of a constellation of camps.
"Jews from the Baltic states, Hungary, and other camps were sent to Stutthof in 1944.
The majority were women. Many died from hard labor, starvation, and disease.
Others were gassed or thrown alive into the crematorium.
"As Soviet forces neared Stutthof in the winter of 1944-45, some Jews were sent on death marches; others died crossing the Baltic by boat.
Many were so weak that they survived for only hours after their liberation in May 1945.
About 65,000 people died at Stutthof."