The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

areas, resulting in injury and death. Cuza informed a German newspaper on February 9,
1938 that the Government would resort to pogroms if the Western democracies failed to
accept involuntary Jewish refugees. 175 Clear intimations of the precarious position of the
Jews within Rumania led many to decide to leave the country but the question of where
to re-settle remaining unsettled.
American attempts were made to intercede on the behalf of the Rumanian Jews.
Senator James J. Davis (PA) introduced a resolution on January 3, 1938 calling on the
President to inform the Senate of any anti-Semitic “edicts” enacted by the Rumanian
Government and to utilize his “good offices to obtain a peaceful settlement of proposed
threats” to minority groups. 176 On January 6 Representative William Sirovich (NY) and
January 25 Representative Hamilton Fish, Jr. (NY) announced similar resolutions calling
on FDR to intervene “in the name of humanity against the shameful treatment” of
Rumanian minorities and to sever diplomatic relations should the need arise. 177 The
American Jewish Committee passed a resolution at its 31 st annual meeting condemning
Rumania's violation of the Minorities Treaty signed after the end of the Great War. 178 The
United Rumanian Jews of America endorsed a petition to King Carol, signed by Jewish
and non-Jewish Rumanians, urging the Government to avoid any actions that would
“remove the name of Rumania from the roster of enlightened and humane countries of
175 Schneiderman, ed., American Jewish Yearbook Review of the Year 5698, 287-288, 296.
176 Ibid., 104.
177 “The Tragedy of Racial Minorities in Rumania: Extension of Remarks of Hon. William L. Sirovich of
New York in the House of Representatives,” Congressional Record Appendix, Seventy-Fifth Congress,
Third Session, 99-103.
178 Schneiderman, ed., American Jewish Yearbook Review of the Year 5698, 104.
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