In January 1944 President Roosevelt was shown the startling conclusions of a secret memorandum. Its title: acquiescence of this government in the murder of the Jews. The untold and shocking story behind this report - never before described in full - exposes the appalling apathy and callousness of our government, particularly the State Department, in the face of Nazi genocide. The report to President Roosevelt finally forced him to take the first steps to rescue the Jews - but why had it taken the United states so long to act? While six million died details for the first time the deliberate obstruction placed in the way of attempts to save the Jewish people from Hitler's “final solution.” Its thorough documentation comes from hitherto classified and unpublished official papers, worldwide interviews with participants, and research in archives in Washington, London, Paris, Jerusalem, Geneva, Rome and Hyde Park, New York. While six million died is a dramatic narrative of governmental indifference. Not only were specific opportunities for rescue ignored but over one million places on U.S. immigrant quotas were unfilled between the years 1933 and 1943. At the same time, by presenting the little known methods by which the U.S. War Refugee Board belatedly rescued hundreds of thousands of Jews near the end of the war, the book demonstrates what earlier efforts might have accomplished. It also contains revelations such as the rescue of 10s of thousands of Jews by Monsignor Angelo Roncalli, later to become Pope John XXIII. “The Nazi’s blatant announcement that they intended to destroy every Jew in Europe presented the United States and its allies with a clear-cut challenge,” writes the author in his introduction. “How this challenge was met is the subject of this report. If genocide is to be prevented in the future, we must understand how it happened in the past- not only in terms of the killers and the killed but of the bystanders.” -- From the book jacket.

Part 1. The bystanders. A plan for murder -- The atrocity stories -- Bermuda and Warsaw -- The reluctant rescuers -- Acquiescence of this government -- part 2. The victims. Wenn das Judenblut vom messer spritzt -- Likely to become a public charge -- The new Germany -- The Olympic spirit -- I cannot remain silent -- 1938: Evian -- 1938: the night of broken glass -- The attempt to buy lives -- Suffer little children -- The voyage of the St. Louis -- Prelude to the final solution -- part 3. The rescuers. The war refugee board -- Obstruction and rescue -- Free ports and false papers -- Rescue from Hungary -- Crimes of war, crimes of peace.