Americans and the Holocaust
March 17 - April 25, 2025
Public Guided Tours are available! Check our Exhibit Programming Calendar (right) to see available dates and times. The guided tour should take about 30-45 minutes.
If you attended a guided tour or a program hosted in conjunction with the Americans and the Holocaust exhibition, please fill out this short program survey: Program Survey Form
This exhibition raises challenging and important questions about this critical moment in American history. The introduction to the traveling exhibition reads: "What did Americans know? What more could have been done?”
Holocaust history raises essential questions about what the international community, including the United States, could have done to stop the rise of Nazism in Germany and its assault on Europe’s Jewish population.
By the time Nazi Germany forced the world into war, democratic civilization itself was at stake. The US military fought for almost four years to defend democracy, and more than 400,000 Americans died. American soldiers and civilians alike made enormous sacrifices to free Europe from Nazi oppression. Yet saving the Jewish population and others targeted for murder by the Nazi regime and its collaborators never became a priority.
The United States alone could not have prevented the Holocaust, but more could have been done to save some of the six million Jewish citizens who were killed. This exhibition examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide.
Founding Museum Chairman Elie Wiesel said, “There are no answers. And this Museum is not an answer; it is a question mark.” This idea has guided our thinking about this topic. We strive to provoke new inquiry and reflection among our visitors, both about history and about our roles and responsibilities today. The following questions, explored in the traveling exhibition, may be useful in framing your programs:
- What did Americans know?
- Did Americans help Jewish refugees?
- Why did Americans go to war?
- How did Americans respond to the Holocaust?
The Baxter County Library is one of 50 U.S. libraries newly selected to host Americans and the Holocaust, a traveling exhibition from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association (ALA) that examines the motives, pressures, and fears that shaped Americans’ responses to Nazism, war, and genocide in Europe during the 1930s and 1940s.
Following a highly successful tour to 50 libraries from 2021 to 2023, the touring library exhibition— based on the special exhibition of the same name at the Museum in Washington, D.C. — will travel to an additional 50 U.S. libraries from 2024 to 2026, covering wide distances from Hawaii and Alaska to Texas and New Hampshire.
Americans and the Holocaust will be on display at the Baxter County Library, along with a series of related special events, on March 17 of 2025.
The 1,100-square-foot exhibition examines various aspects of American society: the government, the military, refugee aid organizations, the media, and the general public. Drawing on a remarkable collection of primary sources from the 1930s and ’40s, the exhibition tells the stories of Americans who acted in response to Nazism, challenging the commonly held assumptions that Americans knew little and did nothing about the Nazi persecution and murder of Jews as the Holocaust unfolded. It provides a portrait of American society that shows how the Depression, isolationism, xenophobia, racism, and antisemitism shaped responses to Nazism and the Holocaust.
Americans and the Holocaust: A Traveling Exhibition for Libraries is an educational initiative made possible by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the American Library Association.
Americans and the Holocaust was made possible by the generous support of lead sponsors Jeannie & Jonathan Lavine. Additional major funding was provided by the Bildners — Joan & Allen z”l, Elisa Spungen & Rob, Nancy & Jim; and Jane and Daniel Och. The Museum's exhibitions are also supported by the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins Traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund, established in 1990.
About the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
A nonpartisan, federal educational institution, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, dedicated to ensuring the permanence of Holocaust memory, understanding, and relevance. Through the power of Holocaust history, the Museum challenges leaders and individuals worldwide to think critically about their role in society and to confront antisemitism and other forms of hate, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. For more information, visit ushmm.org.
About the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit ala.org.