Starving children in the Warsaw ghetto

Information regarding mass murders of Jews began to reach the free world soon after the beginning of the systematic shooting of the Jews in the Soviet Union in late June 1941. During 1942, reports of a Nazi plan to murder all the Jews – including details on methods, numbers, and locations – reached Allied and neutral leaders from many sources. Despite the fact that the information was available, Allies faced with Nazi threat to destroy the civilized world, were chiefly preoccupied with fighting the war. In December 1942 they issued a proclamation condemning the extermination of the Jewish people and declared that the perpetrators would be punished. As a rule, however, the Allies tended to adopt a policy that the Jews would be saved through victory over Nazi Germany and hardly any efforts or means were diverted to the rescue of Jews.