News & Events 2003-2004

Skeptics Explores Allies’ Inaction Toward Plight of Imprisoned Jews

Stuart Erdheim presented a Society of Skeptics program in the Armstrong-Hipkins Center for the Arts on April 27 on the topic, “Why Wasn’t Auschwitz Bombed by the Allies?” He began with an autobiographical note describing how he was drawn to the project, then framed the issue and presented a 20-minute portion of the film he directed in 2002, “They Looked Away.”

Questions surrounding the Allied inaction towards the plight of European Jewry in the 1930s and ’40s have aroused controversy for years. “They Looked Away” is the first documentary to offer evidence of what and when the Allies actually knew about the camps. Narrated by Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes,” the film presents never-before-seen footage and intelligence, as well as interviews with survivors and WWII pilots directly involved in Allied missions over Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

According to Dr. Marty Miller, who coordinates the Skeptics lecture series, “FDR, Ike, John McCloy, as well as camp survivors, are all part of the story. I have previewed a copy of the film and it is first-rate.”

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