European Jewish Refugees and U.S. Immigration Policies: Before, During, and After World War II

US immigration policy has almost always been controversial. Today it inspires dialogue about best practices in addressing the problem of huge numbers of refugees, many of whom are fleeing violence and persecution, who seek access to the United States. Adolf Hitler mounted a ferocious campaign against European Jewry, culminating in the notorious death camps that murdered 6 million Jews.

As storm clouds gathered, what was US policy toward admitting European Jews prior to World War II? What effect did the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 and the quota systems that arose from them have on the fate of the hundreds of thousands of European Jews fearing for their lives? How can we best understand the rationale behind those policies, and the voices raised in protest against them?

Once the horror of the concentration camps had become apparent, did US immigration policy change?  What role did churches, nonprofits, and the United Nations play in supporting displaced persons after World War II? All these questions and more will be discussed in this presentation.    

About the presenter: Dr. Frances T. Pilch is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the United States Air Force Academy, where she served on the faculty for 17 years. She was awarded her B.A. from the University of Connecticut and her M.A. and Ph.D. in International Relations from Yale University. At the Air Force Academy she developed and taught a course titled “War Crimes, Genocide, and Human Rights.” Her areas of expertise are International Law and Gender Violence. In fall 2017 she was a Visiting Lecturer in Political Science at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She has served as a Fulbright-Hays Scholar in South Africa and a Fulbright Scholar in Mongolia, where she taught International Law at the School of Diplomacy, National University of Mongolia, in Ulaanbaatar. In 2011-12 she was named the Case Carnegie Colorado Professor of the Year.