The U.S. and the Holocaust

“History cannot be looked at in isolation,” says Ken Burns. “While we rightly celebrate American ideals of democracy and our history as a nation of immigrants, we must also grapple with the fact that American institutions and policies, like segregation and the brutal treatment of indigenous populations, were influential in Hitler’s Germany. And it cannot be denied that, although we accepted more refugees than any other sovereign nation, America could have done so much more to help the millions of desperate people fleeing Nazi persecution.” “Exploring this history and putting the pieces together of what we knew and what we did has been a revelation,” says Lynn Novick. “During the Second World War, millions of Americans fought and sacrificed to defeat fascism, but even after we began to understand the scope and scale of what was happening to the Jewish people of Europe, our response was inadequate and deeply flawed. This is a story with enormous relevance today as we are still dealing with questions about immigration, refugees and who should be welcomed into the United States.” “At the center of our narrative is the moving and inspiring first-hand testimony of witnesses who were children in the 1930s,” says Sarah Botstein, a longtime producing partner of Burns and Novick who is making her directorial debut on this film. “They share wrenching memories of the persecution, violence and flight that they and their families experienced as they escaped Nazi Europe and somehow made it to America. Their survival attests to the truth of the remark made by journalist Dorothy Thompson that ‘for thousands and thousands of people a piece of paper with a stamp on it is the difference between life and death.'”

“The U.S. and the Holocaust” received 3 Primetime Emmy Award nominations in 2023 – for Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series, Outstanding Directing For A Nonfiction Program and Outstanding Writing For A Nonfiction Program.