Spotlight On Students
The Richard Alan Sarnoff Prize in Jewish Studies
This year’s Sarnoff award in Jewish Studies, presented at the Humanities Awards Ceremony in May, went to Martin Drob. Martin was a History Major with a strong interest in Jewish Studies, who wrote his Senior Project about the United States’ response to the Holocaust.
My senior project was a historical investigation into the United States’ response to the Holocaust, on a political and social level. I analyzed everything from immigration policy and quota limitations, to the various initiatives that President Roosevelt was both willing and unwilling to take, to comparing the United States’ response to that of Britain. My main focus, however, was on Rabbi Stephen Wise, whose bravery and leadership brought the news of the Holocaust to the United States. Wise was able to put pressure on FDR to create the War Refugee Board which saved thousands of Jewish lives towards the end of the war.