Advocate for the Doomed: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1932-1935

The private diary of James G. McDonald (1886-1964) offers a unique and hitherto unknown source on the early history of the Nazi regime and the Roosevelt administration's reactions to Nazi persecution of German Jews. Considered for the post of U.S. ambassador to Germany at the start of FDR's presidency, McDonald traveled to Germany in 1932 and met with Hitler soon after the Nazis came to power. Fearing Nazi intentions to remove or destroy Jews in Germany, in 1933 he became League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and sought aid from the international community to resettle outside the Reich Jews and others persecuted there. In late 1935 he resigned in protest at the lack of support for his work. This is the eagerly awaited first of a projected three-volume work that will significantly revise the ways that scholars and the world view the antecedents of the Holocaust, the Shoah itself, and its aftermath.

Table of Contents:
Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Young Man from Indiana by Barbara McDonald Stewart 1. Foreshadowing: Summer-Fall 1932 2. The Nazi Revolution: Winter 1932-Spring 1933 3. American Reactions: Late April-May 1933 4. Alerting Others: June-August 1933 5. Lobbying for League Action: September 1933 6. High Commissioner: October 1933 7. A Bridge from Lausanne to Berlin: November 1933 8. Proposal for a Corporation: December 1933 9. Washington's Views: January 1934 10. Testing Germany/Family Crisis: February 1934 11. Raising Funds: March 1934 12. The "Jewish Question" in Europe: April 1934 13. Emigration Options?: May 1934 14. Turn for the Worse: June 1934 15. Visit to the Saar: July 1934 16. The League Keeps its Distance: August 1934 17. The Climate in Geneva: September 1934 18. Criticism is Easy: October 1934 19. Grand Tour: November 1934 20. Home Leave: December 1934 21. The Catholic Connection: January 1935 22. A Diplomatic Maneuver: February 1935 23. Brazil: March 1935 24. South American Survey: April 1935 25. Regret and Relief: May 1935 26. Downsizing: June 1935 27. Liquidation Plans: July 1935 Conclusionby Richard Breitman Index

About the Author :
Richard Breitman is Professor of History at American University. His books include The Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final Solution and (with Alan Kraut) American Refugee Policy and European Jewry, 1933–1945(IUP, 1988). He is editor of the journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland. Barbara McDonald Stewart has taught at George Mason University and is author of United States Government Policy on Refugees from Nazism, 1933–1940. She lives in Vienna, Virginia. Severin Hochberg is a historian at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Review :
"It was not only for the sake of Jews but for the larger cause of freedom, justice, and equal treatment for all human beings everywhere, whatever their race, religion or nationality, that I--a blond 'Aryan,' offspring of Scotch Canadian and Midwest American stock, a teacher and student by profession and inclination--became a champion for Jewish aspirations and equal human rights." James G. McDonald, 1951