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“The Golden Door” (Beginnings-1938)
After decades of maintaining open borders, a xenophobic backlash prompts Congress to pass its first laws restricting immigration. Meanwhile, in Germany, Hitler and the Nazis begin their persecution of Jewish people, causing many to try to flee to neighboring countries or America. Franklin Roosevelt and other world leaders are concerned by the growing refugee crisis but fail to coordinate a response.
Episode Clips
The Gradual Rise of Nazi Germany
Lives turned upside down when Nazis came to power. But changes didn’t happen overnight.
The American Press in Germany
It wasn’t easy for journalists to report what was happening in Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
The Rise of Eugenics in America
By the early 1900s, many white Americans embraced a pseudo-science called eugenics.
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