When the US kept immigrants out

What's most chilling about Mr Dobbs's book is how his account of the early years of World War II echoes our politics today

THE UNWANTED: America, Auschwitz, and a Village Caught in Between

Michael Dobbs

343 pages, Alfred A Knopf, $29.95
 
On the morning of November 10, 1938, Hedy Wachenheimer rode her bike from her small village of Kippenheim to school in the next village. A Jewish girl of 14, Wachenheimer was accustomed to being ostracised. But that day felt different. On her way to school, she saw that the windows of Jewish businesses had been smashed. As she waited for lessons to begin, the usually gentle principal pointed at her and yelled, “Get out, you dirty Jew!”
 
Kristallnacht