Through case studies of Jewish refugees who attempted to escape Nazi persecution by emigrating to the United States during the Holocaust, students will learn about America’s restrictive immigration laws in the 1920s, the difficulties European Jewish refugees faced in trying to navigate those laws in the 1930s and 1940s, and how the experience impacted these individuals.

Students will examine how the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 (in effect from 1924-1965) affected three families trying to escape Nazi persecution in Europe. In a lesson extension, students have the option to learn about the contemporary global refugee crisis and consider the similarities and differences between the refugee crisis in the 1930s and 1940s and the crisis the world faces today.