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Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1891-1967)
Soon after the Second World War ended, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. would
recall what he called "those terrible eighteen months" in Washington,
when "the Nazis were planning to exterminate all the Jews of Europe."
He went on to write, "officials dodged their grim responsibility,
procrastinated when concrete rescue schemes were placed before them,
and even suppressed information about atrocities." The terrible 18
months Morgenthau was referring to was the period between the summer
of 1942, when the State Department first heard of Hitler's plan to
murder Europe's Jews, and January of 1944, when President Roosevelt
set up the War Refugee Board, an institution that ultimately saved as
many as 200,000 Jewish lives. Although, as secretary of the treasury,
Morgenthau had few official opportunities to deal with the rescue
efforts, a series of events starting in mid-1943 meant that
Morgenthau and his staff at the Treasury played a key role in
Roosevelt's decision to set up an agency independent of the State
Department that would be charged with rescuing Europe's Jews.
Morgenthau was himself the grandson of a German Jewish immigrant. His
grandfather, Lazarus, arrived in New York in 1866 on the verge of
bankruptcy. As the promoter of his own consistently unsuccessful
inventions, which included among other things a label machine and a
tongue scraper, Lazarus Morgenthau was ultimately a failure in
America. That his grandson Henry Morgenthau, Jr. rose to a position
of such prominence in American politics had much to do with the
determination of Henry's father, who'd graduated from Columbia Law
School, gone on to make a fortune in real estate, and though he never
was given the place in President Woodrow Wilson's cabinet he had
fought so hard for, had nonetheless been appointed Ambassador to
Turkey.
His son's path to high office was easier. Henry Morgenthau Jr. left Cornell University
without graduating and, deciding to become a farmer, bought 1,000 acres of land in
Dutchess County, New York. As it turned out, the Mo
rgenthaus were now neighbors of the Roosevelts, and the two families became close
friends. When Roosevelt became governor of New York in 1928, he appointed Morgenthau
the chairman of his agricultural advisory commission.
When Roosevelt was elected President in 1932, Morgenthau became his Treasury Secretary.
Morgenthau was one of the few Jews surrounding the President, and was perhaps the most
concerned by the plight of Germany's Jews. At the end of 1938, realizing that Congress
was becoming increasingly unyielding on the num
ber of immigrants who could enter the country, he went to the President with a
different suggestion. He proposed that the United States acquire British and French
Guiana and in return cancel whatever Britain and France st
ill owed the United States on loans from World War I. According to Morgenthau's diary,
Roosevelt was not impressed. "It's no good," the President reportedly said. "It would
take the Jews five to 50 years to overcome the f
ever."
Nonetheless Morgenthau continued to bring news of rescue plans to the President's
attention. On February 13, 1943, a "New York Times" article offered the Jews of
Rumania some hope. It reported that the Rumanian government
was prepared to ship the 70,000 Rumanian Jews in Transnistria to a safe haven chosen
by the allies. In return, the Rumanians wanted approximately $130 per refugee to cover
expenses. Morgenthau immediately pointed the sto
ry out to the President, who suggested that Morgenthau ask the State Department to
look into the matter. Nothing ever came of the plan.
Later in the year, Morgenthau became much more involved in the rescue issue. The
sequence of events began in April of 1943, when Gerhart Riegner, the representative of
the World Jewish Congress in Geneva, sent a message t
o the U.S. with yet another rescue proposal. According to Riegner, if American Jewish
organizations made funds available, supplies could be sent to the Jews of
Transnistria. Additionally, Jewish children in the region cou
ld be moved to Palestine. And in France funds were needed to support hidden Jewish
children and to finance escapes of Jews to Spain.
It was the Treasury Department's responsibility to issue the licenses required to send
funds overseas. The State Department, however, didn't inform Morgenthau's staffers
about Riegner's plan until late June. Once aware of
what was involved, the Treasury Department rapidly approved the license. But because
of further State Department delays and the procrastination of the U.S. legation in
Bern, the license was not transmitted to Riegner unt
il late December. This was eight months after Riegner had first proposed his plan. In
struggling against State Department obstructionism, the Treasury Department discovered
that the State Department had at one point actua
lly instructed the U.S. legation in Bern to block more information
about the Holocaust from reaching the U.S. Treasury Department
staffers were so incensed by this callous indifference, they
presented Morgenthau with a searing, 18-page critique of the
Administration's failure to help the Jews of Europe. They entitled it
"Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in
the Murder of the Jews." Morgenthau was also aware of political
pressure mounting on Capitol Hill for an independent rescue agency.
Cognizant of the possible political scandal if Roosevelt didn't seize
the initiative, he urged FDR to set up an organization to deal with
the refugee crisis. The President responded immediately, issuing an
executive order on January 22, 1944 that established the War Refugee
Board (WRB).
Before the end of the war, Morgenthau was to clash with the State
Department again. This time the issue was the future of Germany. The
Treasury Secretary put forward a proposal that came to be known as
the Morgenthau Plan. In order to prevent Germany from rearming, he
advocated dismantling heavy industry and closing the country's mines.
He also had a drastic suggestion regarding Germany's young people.
"Well, if you let the young children of today be brought up by SS
Troopers who are indoctrinated with Hitlerism, aren't you simply
going to raise another generation of Germans who will want to wage
war?" he noted in his diary. "Don't you think the thing to do is to
take a leaf from Hitler's book and completely remove these children
from their parents and make them wards of the state, and have ex-US
Army officers, English Army officers and Russian Army officers run
these schools and have these children learn the true spirit of
democracy?" State Department Officials strongly opposed the plan.
Harry S. Truman rejected it when he became president.
Morgenthau didn't remain long in public office after Roosevelt's
death. After leaving the Treasury Department in July of 1945, he
spent much of the rest of his life working with Jewish
philanthropies.
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End<{{{
From
http://humanities.uwe.ac.uk/corehistorians/powers/text/s1lafe.htm
}}}>Begin
� - W. Lafeber, ed., Origins of the Cold War, Problems in American
History (New York and Chichester: Wiley, 1971), pp. 107-111
The Morgenthau Plan �
TOP SECRET: PROGRAM TO PREVENT FROM STARTING A WORLD WAR III
1. Demilitarization of Germany. It should be the aim of the Allied
Forces to accomplish the complete demilitarization of Germany in the
shortest possible period of time after surrender. This means
completely disarming the German Army and people (including the
removal or destruction of all war material), the total destruction of
the whole German armament industry, and the removal or destruction of
other key industries which are basic to military strength.
2. New Boundaries of Germany.
(a) Poland should get that part of East Prussia which doesn't go to
the U.S.S.R. and the southern portion of Silesia.
(b) France should get the Saar and the adjacent territories bounded
by the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers.
(c) As indicated in 4 below an International Zone should be created
containing the Ruhr and the surrounding industrial areas.
3. Partitioning of New Germany. The remaining portion of Germany
should be divided into two autonomous, independent states, (a) a
South German state comprising Bavaria, Wuerttemberg, Baden and some
smaller areas and (b) a North German state comprising a large part of
the old state of Prussia, Saxony, Thuringia and several smaller
states.
There shall be a custom union between the new South German state and
Austria, which will be restored to her pre-1938 political borders.
4. The Ruhr Area. (The Ruhr, surrounding industrial areas, including
the Rhineland, the Keil Canal, and all German territory north of the
Keil Canal.
Here lies the heart of German industrial power. This area should not
only be stripped of all presently existing industries; but so
weakened and controlled that it can not in the foreseeable future
become an industrial area. The following steps will accomplish this:
(a) Within a short period, if possible not longer than 6 months after
the cessation of hostilities, all industrial plants and equipment not
destroyed by military action shall be completely dismantled and
transported to Allied Nations as restitution. All equipment be
removed from the mines and the mines closed.
(b) The area should be made an international zone to be governed by
an international security organization to be established by the
United Nations. In governing the area the international organization
should be guided by policies designed to further the above stated
objective.
5. Restitution and Reparation. Reparations, in the form of future
payments and deliveries, should not be demanded. Restitution and
reparation shall be effected by the transfer of existing German
resources and territories, e.g.,
(a) by restitution of property looted by the Germans in territories
occupied by them;
(b) by transfer of German territory and German private rights in
industrial property situated in such territory to invaded countries
and the international organization under the program of partition;
(c) by the removal and distribution among devastated countries of
industrial plants and equipment situated within the International
Zone and the North and South German states delimited in the section
on partition;
(d) by forced German labor outside Germany; and
(e) by confiscation of all German assets of any character whatsoever
outside of Germany.
6. Education and Propaganda.
(a) All schools and universities will be closed until an Allied
commission of Education has formulated an effective reorganization
program. It is contemplated that it may require a considerable period
of time before any institutions of higher education are reopened.
Meanwhile the education of German students in foreign universities
will not be prohibited. Elementary schools will be reopened as
quickly as appropriate teachers and textbooks are available.
(b) All German radio stations and newspapers, magazines, weeklies,
etc. shall be discontinued until adequate controls are established
and an appropriate program formulated.
7. Political Decentralization. The military administration in Germany
in the initial period should be carried out with a view toward the
eventual partitioning of Germany. To facilitate partitioning and to
assure its permanence the military authorities should be guided by
the following principles:
(a) Dismiss all policy-making officials of the Reich government and
deal primarily with local governments.
(b) Encourage the reestablishment of state governments in each of the
states (Lander) corresponding to 18 states into which Germany is
presently divided and in addition make the Prussian provinces
separate states.
(c) Upon the partition of Germany, the various state governments
should be encouraged to organize a federal government for each of the
newly partitioned areas. Such new governments should be in the form
of a large degree of local autonomy.
8. Responsibility of Military for Local German Economy. The sole
purpose of the military in control of the German economy shall be to
facilitate military operations and military occupation. The Allied
Military Government shall not assume responsibility for such economic
problems as price controls, rationing, unemployment, production,
reconstruction, distribution, consumption, housing, or
transportation, or take any measures designed to maintain or
strengthen the German economy, except those which are essential to
military operations. The responsibility for sustaining the German
people with such facilities as may be available under the
circumstances.
9. Controls Over Development of German Economy. During a period of at
least twenty years after surrender adequate controls, including
controls over foreign trade and tight restrictions on capital
imports, shall be maintained by the United Nations designed to
prevent in the newly-established states the establishment or
expansion of key industries basic to the German military potential
and to control other key industries.
10. Agrarian Program. All large estates should be broken up and
divided among the peasants and the system of primogeniture and entail
should be abolished.
11. Punishment of War Crimes and Treatment of Special Groups. A
program for the punishment of certain war crimes and for the
treatment of Nazi organizations and other special groups is contained
in section 11 [not printed].
12. Uniforms and Parades.
(a) No German shall be permitted to wear, after an appropriate period
of time following the cessation of hostilities, any military uniform
or any uniform of any quasi military organizations.
(b) No military parades shall be permitted anywhere in Germany and
all military bands shall be disbanded.
13. Aircraft. All aircraft (including gliders), whether military or
commercial, will be confiscated for later disposition. No German
shall be permitted to operate or to help operate any aircraft,
including those owned by foreign interests.
14. United States Responsibilities. Although the United States would
have full military and civilian representation on whatever
international commission or commissions may be established for the
execution of the whole German program, the primary responsibility for
the policing of Germany and for civil administration in Germany
should be assumed by the military forces of Germany's continental
neighbors. Specifically, these should include Russian, French,
Polish, Czech, Yugoslav, Norwegian, Dutch and Belgian soldiers.
Under this program United States troops could be withdrawn within a
relatively short time.
End<{{{
"I am confident that the whole history of the human race contains no
such horrible episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions
of the past seem almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings
of the Armenian race in 1915."
--Henry Morgenthau, Sr. US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
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believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
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A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
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It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
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--- Ernest Hemingway
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