After the war, when Adolf Eichmann was on trial as a war criminal, he contended that Germany wouldn't have begun its annihilation program in 1940 if other nations had been willing to receive Jews. I was young in the 1930s and '40s. I remember America's pervading prejudice. At the Holocaust Museum, shame came over me as I realized that most Americans in my youth simply didn't care what happened to Europe's Jews. If all people have a potential for cruelty, they also have compassion.
Societies can learn and change.
The Holocaust Museum is a horrible place, but every American should go there. We all need to be reminded that bigotry can produce the unthinkable. We need a jolt to make us adamant about protecting everyone's human rights.