Review by Ian Keogh

Before World War II, journalist Alan Cranston read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in the original German and discovered the American edition was a sanitised version omitting the Nazi leader’s racist views; a cruise liner packed with Jewish refugees was turned away from the USA in 1939; Josiah Dubois learned his country was suppressing stories about extermination camps; and when Jan Karski made his way from Poland to the USA in 1943 he found few prepared to act on his stories of the Warsaw ghetto and death camps.

These are stories known to historians, but probably not to most informed Americans, which alone makes a very compelling case for Whistleblowers. Yet by digging deeper into them Rafael Medoff and Dean Motter unearth extremely unsettling information. The first two cases are bad enough, if occurring before the outbreak of World War II, but while US troops entering the war eventually turned the tide, the conduct of the US government is far from admirable in other respects. There’s no doubt President Roosevelt knew of concentration camps long before the general public, but he didn’t act to save Jews until almost forced to so. Whether for political reasons as generously assumed, or outright racism, the US State Department in 1943 under Brekinridge Long actively obstructed the admission of Jewish refugees into the USA. Dubois eventually headed up an underfunded and continually obstructed War Refugee Board yet managed to save around 200,000 people. So many more could have been saved.

Historian Medoff tells the stories simply and efficiently, maintaining a matter of fact tone despite jaw-dropping revelations, while Motter’s art takes the same approach, avoiding sensationalism and prioritising clarity. Knowing how much more the USA could have done in spite of a massive contribution is an unwelcome truth, and there’s little comfort in discovering public exposure eventually led to Long’s resignation in disgrace.

Packed with revelations from Cranston being sued by Hitler for copyright to Karski later losing job opportunities for being from a now Communist country, Whistleblowers is a timely reminder of how politicians will so often prioritise their own concerns over those of humanity. At a time when attitudes toward refugees are again being poisoned, it’s eye-opening and jaw-dropping.