The Forsaken Promise

Gr 9 Up—For 200 years, many Christian denominations unsuccessfully promoted a Jewish haven in the Holy Land. Then the Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised a homeland in Palestine, as it was known before 1948, for Jews around the world. Britain endorsed the declaration. Yet, because of its economic ties to Arab countries, Britain reneged and subsequently interfered with millions of Jews who were denied entry into Palestine in the years before World War II. After 22 years of draconian limits to Jewish settlement, Britain came out with "The White Paper" policy in 1939, essentially ending all Jewish immigration into the region. In this alarming documentary, Britain is seen as an instigator of turmoil in the Middle East, trying to appease the oil-rich nations and keep Jewish immigration to barely a trace. Thus, European Jews were stranded, unable to escape Hitler's Nazi terror. Britain simultaneously fought the Nazis and inadvertently assisted in the imprisonment and slaughter of millions of Jews; an irony that is inescapable. Only when the famed refugee ship Exodus was turned away from Haifa and sent back to Europe did the world community exert enough pressure on Britain to abide by the Balfour Declaration. Replete with documentary film footage, this history will unsettle viewers' image of Britain as a moral force during WWII and after. Teachers will want to preview carefully, as there are graphic depictions of mass graves, death camp victims, and other Nazi-imposed atrocities.—Robin Levin, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum