The Myth of Rescue

Arguing that the rescue of the Jewish people has been consistently misinterpreted,The Myth of Rescuestates that no Jew who perished in the Holocaust could have been saved by any action of the Western Allies. Presenting what was actually known of the Holocaust at the time and what actions were realistically possible, William D. Rubinstein traces the development of the arguments surrounding the debate and debunks the "myths" that were generated in the 1970s and '80s: the myth of the closed-door immigration policies in the years 1933-40 and the plans for rescue proposed by the democracies--including the bombing of concentration camps, the possibility that the War Refugee Board could have saved more Jews, and the rumors of negotiations between the democracies and Nazis to save Jewish lives. Since its publication in mid 1997,The Myth of Rescuehas commanded attention from all fronts, prompting a range of reactions--from vitriolic criticism to high praise. In this paperbackedition, William D. Rubinstein addresses his critics in a new introduction, and armed with astounding scholarship, comments further on the many alleged lost opportunities for saving Jews available to the Allies.

William D. Rubinstein is Professor of History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth