David Sword Wyman was born on March 6, 1929, in Weymouth, Massachusetts and died on March 14, 2018.
He was the author of several books on the responses of the United States to Nazi Germany’s persecution of and programs to exterminate Jews.
David Wyman the son of Ruth (Sword) and Hollis Judson Wyman, a teacher.
David’s grandparents were Protestant ministers.
He received an A.B. in history from Boston University and a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University.
From 1966 until his retirement in 1991, Wyman taught in the History Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he also chaired the Judaic studies program.
David Sword Wyman held an honorary doctoral degree from Hebrew Union College and Yeshiva University, both in New York City.
David Sword Wyman was the current chairman of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Washington, D.C.
Allegedly Deborah Lipstadt characterizes Wyman’s book, Paper Walls; America and the Refugee Crisis, as having stood for many years as “one of the most important books,” on American immigration policy in the Nazi years.
In Paper Walls Wyman discusses the combination of antisemitism, nativistic nationalism, economic crisis and isolationism that made rescue inconceivable.
Wyman’s position shifted during his later work.
He died at 98 years old.