The United States, like many other countries, did not actively support the relocation of Jews fleeing the Nazis prior to World War II or even during the postwar period when details of Nazi atrocities emerged. In addition to a long history of restrictive immigration regulations, the US reluctance to assist with resettlement of Holocaust victims was influenced by economic and political factors including the Great Depression, the ten-year economic crisis that began in the United States in 1929 and resulted in high unemployment and a struggling economy. In the late 1930s, a temporary increase in the German immigration quota was widely criticized due to concerns that immigrants would take jobs from unemployed Americans. In fact, the public even supported the May 1939 US State Department decision to turn back a ship carrying Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis. The Nazis killed many of the frightened passengers after their fateful return to Europe.

    As the situation in Europe worsened, political officials in the United States continued to create barriers to European immigration, particularly Jewish immigration—restrictions influenced by both anti-Semitic sentiment and by concerns that Nazis or Communists might be among those wishing to immigrate. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ignored pleas from human rights organizations and American Jewish leaders who hoped that European Jews would be allowed to seek refuge in the United States. Instead, Roosevelt not only enforced strict immigration quotas but also encouraged the reinterpretation of immigration legislation in order to bar immigrants “likely to become a public charge.” Given European Jews’ huge financial losses during the Holocaust combined with the continuing high rates of unemployment throughout the United States, this change effectively banned most potential immigrants, especially those of Jewish descent. Once the United States entered the war, government officials instituted even stricter immigration limits until January 1944, when Henry Morgenthau Jr., the Jewish Secretary of the Treasury, finally persuaded Roosevelt to issue an executive order authorizing measures to “rescue victims of enemy oppression in imminent danger of death.” Even then, European refugees were not warmly welcomed.

    Fortunately, Noémi and her family’s move to the United States in early 1957 occurred during a period of increased openness to immigration, both on the popular level and the political level. As the Hungarian Revolution erupted, the attention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower was on averting a crisis in the Middle East after Israel responded to Egypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal by sending armed forces into Egypt. Concerned that the Soviet Union might come to the aid of Egypt and not wanting to antagonize the Soviets, the Eisenhower administration joined the United Nations in condemning the Soviets’ violent response to the Freedom Fighters in Hungary but ruled out military intervention. Although President Eisenhower did not provide direct assistance in stopping the Soviet assault, he used the Hungarian situation to rally opposition to communism and Soviet expansion and supported a temporary increase in Hungarian immigration, describing the refugees as anti-Communists who were seeking freedom from Soviet oppression. Additionally, the Hungarian Revolution and the violence of the Russian assault was the first international crisis covered by television news, which engendered public support for the refugees and assisted fundraising efforts to support the refugees’ resettlement in the United States and other countries.

    In November, 1956, the US Army participated in “Operation Mercy” by providing temporary housing for the over 30,000 Hungarian refugees authorized to enter the United States, including Noémi, her husband, and their two young sons. As the refugees awaited resettlement, they received a humanitarian welcome at Camp Kilmer, a New Jersey army camp originally built in 1942 for World War II soldiers awaiting transport to Europe. The refugees were soon welcomed in communities across the United States, and supports such as intensive English courses assisted the new arrivals in adjusting to their new communities. New legislation signed in July, 1958, provided the Hungarian refugees with legal residency status and a path to citizenship.

    On October 23, 1989, the Soviet-controlled Hungarian People’s Republic was dismantled and replaced by a multiparty democracy, and within two years, all Soviet forces had left the country. Although the end of the Cold War and Soviet dominance brought about a revival of Jewish religious institutions within Hungary, along with it came a resurgence of anti-Semitism, which has recently grown stronger in Hungary as well as in other European countries. Similarly, the United States has seen a spike in white nationalism and anti-Semitic incidents including vandalism, physical assaults, white supremacist rallies, and a mass shooting during Shabbat services at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018; this was the deadliest assault on Jews in US history. These circumstances have created an environment of fear and uncertainty for Jews in the United States as well as across Europe.