The Roosevelt Administration and the Jewish Refugee Crisis

Americans were well aware of the horrors that were transpiring under the rule of Nazi Germany during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including the desire for thousands of Jewish refugees to find safe haven. Tragically, the nations of the world, including the United States, found various reasons to deny entrance or simply ignore the needs of refugees yearning to escape Hitler’s cruelty.

This talk will analyze the individuals who were instrumental in both pushing against and fighting for the rights of Jewish refugees, along with the conferences that failed to provide any meaningful assistance for those in desperate need.

Dr. Rich Quinlan graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1995 and spent twenty-seven years as a classroom teacher, working primarily with seventh and eighth grade students at the Green Vale School in Old Brookville, New York, along with adjunct work at Mercy College in the Bronx and Suffolk County Community College. While teaching on Long Island, he earned three master’s degrees from Long Island University. Dr. Quinlan was incredibly fortunate to be a part of the first doctoral cohort at Gratz College, graduating in August 2021 with a PhD in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and he is currently enrolled in the nation’s only master’s program specially addressing Antisemitism Studies, once again at Gratz. His dissertation addressed transitional justice and reconciliation in Burundi, but he has spoken at numerous locations on topics related to the Holocaust and the history of antisemitism. He is currently the Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education and Chair of the History Department at St. Elizabeth University in Morristown, New Jersey.