
Anne Frank and her family were also denied entry as refugees to the U.S - gscott
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/11/24/anne-frank-and-her-family-were-also-denied-entry-as-refugees-to-the-u-s/?utm_term=.5230c9fd2675
======
siculars
Among other folks as well [0]. Of note, the US was not the only country to
turn away refugees during WWII. Also of note, from what I've read, refugee
immigration has been temporarily halted from certain countries with the
exemption being refugees from minority religions in those countries.

[0]
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_St._Louis](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_St._Louis)

~~~
dwightgunning
I also read the same regarding minority religions. Although the price I saw
was only citing a draft of the executive order. I wonder when, they haven't
already, publish the final version.

The countries to which the bans apply are all majority Muslim, so the
exemption would apply to non-Muslims.

~~~
siculars
Had similar exemptions been applied in war-time Europe the Franks may well
have been saved.

~~~
matt4077
This specific exception would obviously not have made any sense back then,
considering the vast majority of refugees belonged to the minority religion.

I actually just tried to find out what the attitude towards jewish refugees
was in the US and happened upon this eerily pertinent passage:

    
    
        Out of fear that the Nazis could smuggle spies and
        saboteurs in with refugees, immigration officials
        tightened visa policies for immigrants and non-
        immigrants. The State Department urged its diplomatic
        consuls in Europe to screen potential immigrants
        carefully, including those fleeing persecution,
    

(from
[https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007094](https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007094))

------
davidf18
Under the British Mandate of The League of Nations Britain was obligated to
allow Jewish immigration to what is now Israel. In fact originally Hitler
wanted European Jews to go there.

But the British broke their mandate with "The White Paper" in 1939 which
severely limited Jewish immigration to their land.

If America had run the mandate instead of the British there probably would not
have been The Holocaust and many millions more Jews would be alive today in
Israel including presumably Anne Frank.

See:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Paper_of_1939](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Paper_of_1939)

~~~
dublinclontarf
If only Britain, France or the US had stopped Germany with force when it
invaded the Rhineland, then the war may never have happened.

~~~
madaxe_again
If only the Dawes and Young plans didn't make another war inevitable, solely
to generate wealth for US businesses.

We can go on in this silly vein all day...

------
w00tw00tw00t
Saudi men committed the terrorist act of 9/11 and the Orlando shooter was of
Afghani origin. But Trump banned people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen & Sudan.
What kind of logic is that?

I disagree wholeheartedly with the idea that the United States of America
should ban people based on their country of origin. That is UnAmerican. But I
do find the above illogical and very fishy.

------
skissane
The way the US and other countries abandoned Jews to genocide was shameful.

And I do think that Western countries (such as the US and my own country of
Australia) should take more refugees, including Syrian refugees.

However, I'd question the parallel the article tries to draw between between
victims and survivors of the Holocaust and contemporary Syrian refugees –
every Jew fleeing the Nazi regime was under a very serious risk of falling
victim to genocide, whether or not they realised it at the time. By contrast,
I don't think the vast majority of Syrian refugees are fleeing genocide. While
genocide has been occurring in Syria (e.g. ISIS' genocide of Yazidis), the
actual or potential victims of those genocides are a small minority of the
total Syrian refugee population.

~~~
pavelmelnichuk
Everyone in the west always forgets thats Jews were not the only ones that
were victimized by the Nazis, and I feel that this is too often misrepresented
from the general knowledge pool of most people in society.

More soviets died there than Jews, and in fact more Non-Jews died there than
Jews. Why does everyone ignore that?

Number of Deaths Jews: up to 6 million Soviet civilians: around 7 million
Soviet prisoners of war: around 3 million Non-Jewish Polish civilians: around
1.8 million Serb civilians: 312,000 People with disabilities: up to 250,000
Roma (Gypsies): 196,000–220,000 Jehovah's Witnesses: Around 1,900 Repeat
criminal offenders: at least 70,000

[https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008193](https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10008193)

~~~
siculars
All true, but that's standard warfare stuff. Only certain populations were
targeted for extermination. Jews were not the only ones but Russians certainly
were not.

------
redsummer
Number of Syrian refugees let in to Israel: ZERO

And it's right next door.

~~~
dogma1138
Israel has been treating wounded Syrians since the conflict started.

The number of Syrian refugees fleeing to Israel is also nearly zero, 70 years
of propaganda would do it for it as well as Israel not being a welfare state.

Overall you can say the same thing about most Gulf nations, only with one
exception they have more cash than both Israel and Sweden and they are both
culturally and ethnically more similar.

Considering that many of the Muslim refugees are Sunni, a better question
would be why didn't Saudi Arabia and rest of the Oil club didn't take most if
not all of them.

~~~
redsummer
Which country is geographically closer to Syria? Israel or Sweden?

~~~
dogma1138
Which country is geographically closer Turkey or Sweden? Greece or Sweden?
Italy or Sweden? Bulgaria or Sweden?

They run to Sweden for a lot of reasons geography isn't one of them, and it's
not because all of the other countries are hell holes.

They don't go to Israel because 70 years of government propaganda makes them
think they'll eat their babies.

It didn't stop Israel from treating 1000's of wounded and many of them are not
reported because crossing to Israel is a death sentence to anyone who wants to
return to Syria or their families.

------
WillPostForFood
policy by anecdote?

~~~
andrewclunn
I make all my political and ideological choices based on analogies using
Hitler or Nazis. Then I post about them on sites related to technology and
downvote anyone who doesn't tow the line. It's called being a decent human
being!!!

------
vinhboy
Didn't Einstein come to US as a refugee? I guess we'll never know what we're
missing out on.

------
temarsden
What does this have to do with hacker news?

~~~
matt4077
Hackers are people, my friend.

~~~
Veratyr
So are all the other people on earth. There are other outlets for general
interest news. The appeal of HN to me is that it's limited specifically to
tech-related news.

~~~
jonathanstrange
I just don't get these types of complaints (on dying ./ they are doing the
same thing over and over). There are hundreds of tech-related stories every
day and it's not as if somebody forces you to click on the Anne Frank link so
you can complain about it.

------
DarkKomunalec
Controlling who may enter your country is exactly what the Nazis would do.

~~~
dogma1138
Darn, I guess the 190 or so nations that issue passports and check them at the
border are all Nazi's... man I didn't realize that the TMITHC on Amazon was
reality TV.

------
cronjobber
Over the top political agitation like this (or Scott Aaronson's from
yesterday) used to get flagged reliably. Why not anymore?

~~~
stupidcar
Because it's no longer over the top?

~~~
cronjobber
If you mean that "elected president is literally Hitler" and related themes
have been mainstreamed so thoroughly and quickly as to be the new normal
_already_... I think you should be afraid of the power of the press more than
of any merely elected president.

~~~
croon
Hitler wasn't Hitler when he was appointed.

A multi-car pile-up isn't one 5 minutes before it happens either.

I agree that one shouldn't cry wolf and exaggerate too often, but it's equally
ignorant to not take things seriously, whether it be a fact-opposing
president, mass surveillence legislation or anti consumer net unneutrality,
that are all just steps that are hard to reverse once in place, and are
building towards something much worse.

