Ich erlebte USA im Krieg – “I Experienced the USA at War, ” a dark and anti-Semitic publication by the German journalist and author August Wilhelm Halfeld, who resided in the United States during World War II to expose its weaknesses and label Jews as Germany’s number one enemy in America. Published by Verlag Scherl, Berlin, 1942 – First Edition – Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise’s copy, signed on the title page. German.
The author was arrested along with numerous German and Italian journalists and imprisoned by the American FBI at Ellis Island from mid-December 1941 to early May 1942. He closely observed political developments in America, blending sharp anti-American and anti-Semitic propaganda with an allegedly “factual” portrayal of life in the United States. Halfeld mocks American materialism, claiming that skyscrapers hide the shacks in which miserable Americans live. He asserts that President Roosevelt has become entirely subservient to the Jews, dragging England into a war “against us” (the Germans) under their influence. Halfeld argues that Americans themselves refer to the war as “Roosevelt’s War” and ridicules the American economy, particularly the causes of the Great Depression, blaming the economic and political failures of the United States on “Roosevelt’s Jewish advisors.” He claims that Roosevelt is medically unfit to serve as president and that the senior figures closest to him are Jews or half-Jews, describing their “deeds” in detail while repeatedly citing their Jewish origins as the root of their deceit and desire for domination.
Halfeld attempts to present a false image that the majority of the American populace opposes the United States’ involvement in the war, using excerpts from the American press to support his claim. He writes that the Jews, the “kings of the dollar, ” are responsible for bringing the U.S. into the war as a way to protect their skyscraper fortresses built during the “false prosperity years” while American soldiers die on the battlefield. The book frequently incorporates caricatures of Roosevelt published in the American press to argue that even the American public despises him and falsely depicts the United States as losing on every European front.
The book is accompanied by dozens of photographs and illustrations (by Brenner) that portray Roosevelt and his Jewish associates in a mocking manner, as well as street scenes and everyday life in America, all described with an anti-Semitic and anti-American tone. One photograph shows stereotypical Jews with the caption: “Such figures can be found everywhere in the big cities of the American East.” Another photo of a Jewish street corner features a Yiddish sign stating, “Roosevelt wants to conquer the world.” Many images mock Roosevelt himself, among others. The cover design by Richard Blank features the Statue of Liberty with a bleeding question mark rising from it.
Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise (1874–1949): President of the Zionist Organization of America, a Reform rabbi, and a leading figure in American Jewry during the first half of the 20th century. He played a central role in American Zionism and efforts to rescue European Jewry during the Holocaust. Born in Budapest to a lineage of Orthodox rabbis, Wise’s family immigrated to the United States, where his father served as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel Anshei Emeth in Brooklyn. Wise was a Zionist, in contrast to most Reform rabbis of the time, and participated in the Second Zionist Congress in 1898. In November 1942, Wise held a press conference following the receipt of the Riegner Telegram, revealing that the Nazis were deporting Jews from all occupied territories to Poland, where they were being murdered. He stated that over two million had already been killed. During the Holocaust, Wise worked quietly to influence President Roosevelt to act to save Jews, but his efforts were largely unsuccessful. Wise was among the leaders who met with Jan Karski, a Polish resistance fighter who was smuggled to the West to inform the Allies about the destruction of European Jewry. After the Holocaust, Wise supported the Zionist movement and led the Zionist Organization of America. From 1946 to 1949, he chaired the Zionist Executive Committee.
192 pages. Condition: Good to very good.
