The Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany were written to persecute Jews and other non-Aryans and exclude them from social, economic and political life in Germany. Under Nazi leadership, their German citizenship was revoked and they were persecuted by the government.
The vast majority of German citizens stood by and did nothing as these measures were enacted; this was due in part to government intimidation, but it was also because of pre-existing antisemitic beliefs that permeated society.
Even during Kristallnacht—the first state-sponsored violent attack on Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)—citizens stood by or joined in the destruction. Thus, many were indifferent to Jewish suffering.
In Nazi Germany, there were no inherent natural rights for any person and for its Jewish inhabitants, even the most basic right, the right to life, was denied. American democracy, though imperfect, promises freedom and equal representation.
To many persecuted by Nazism in the 1930s and 40s, America, therefore, served as a beacon of hope.