A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust

In his landmark bestseller The Abandonment of the Jews David Wyman exhaustively detailed Americas failure to help rescue the victims of Nazi genocide. But one man Peter Bergson led a tireless battle against that tide of indifference making it impossible for American leaders to plead ignorance of the German atrocities. Now Wyman along with Rafael Medoff tells for the first time the story of the man who led Americas most effective campaign to rescue victims of the Holocaust. A Race Against Death utilizes extensive firsthand interviews to present Peter Bergsons own account of his remarkable life and struggles. Facing deportation from America and threats on his life Bergson employed every conceivable method to influence policy and public opinion: he personally hounded Congressmen to support a rescue; placed controversial full-page ads in major newspapers demanding action; and drew a record crowd of 40 000 to a rally and memorial pageant at Madison Square Garden. Award-winning historian David Wyman is the definitive authority on Americas actionand inactionduring the Holocaust. In A Race Against Death he and Rafael Medoff return to this tragic era in American history and chronicle one of its few heroes.