Comparing WWII’s Jewish Refugees to Today’s Syrians

The social media churn has unearthed an old poll from 1939 about attitudes toward allowing political refugees fleeing Germany to enter the United States:

Ishaan Tharoor, foreign affairs writer for the Washington Post, and Dara Lind, explainer journalist for VOX, take us back to 1939 when mostly Jewish refugees fleeing fascist states in Europe weren’t allowed into the U.S. and explain what this says about American attitudes toward refugees, then and now.

Now: we're looking at the analogy comparing today's Syrian refugees to German Jews during WWII. pic.twitter.com/Iv5ZlSv9Ao

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 23, 2015

Here's the 1939 poll, taken after Kristallnacht. @ishaantharoor says the analogy is in the nature of US response. pic.twitter.com/Dw1EiICTtF

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) November 23, 2015