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

the world.” 179 On January 25 the Jewish Labor Committee held a mass protest rally in
New York City and on January 28 the Executive Committee of the World Jewish
Congress headed by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the American Jewish Congress on the
30 th , called upon the League to protect the rights of minorities within Rumania. 180
Secretary of State Hull, echoing earlier responses regarding the situation of Jews
within Poland (and also about Greater Germany), announced on January 6 that the United
States Government could not intervene in the internal affairs of another nation unless
American interests were threatened. 181
The American Minister to Rumania, Franklin
Mott Gunther, did, however, “unofficially” advise Goga on January 12 regarding
negative American (especially Jewish) opinion towards Rumania and its policies to
which the Prime Minister responded that such protests were “merely impudent!” The
Soviet Ambassador Mikhail Ostrovsky informed Goga that Rumanian policies had led his
presence in Bucharest to be “no longer useful” and consequently, he was returning to
Russia within ten days. The Rumanian Foreign Office replied publicly that the
Government “would in no way object to the departure of the Soviet Ambassador at an
even earlier date.” 182
The application of British, French and American diplomatic pressure, (as well as
the failure of the law to denaturalize Jews, a faltering economy and concerns about the
179 “Rumanian Jews Here Appeal to King Carol,” New York Times, January 17, 1938, 34.
180 Senator Charles L. McNary accused Rumania of violating the terms of the Minorities Treaty and
submitted a petition from the Executive Committee of the World Jewish Congress to the Council of the
League of Nations, Congressional Record Appendix, March 29, 1938, Third Session, vol. 10, 1220-1221;
“Mayor Denounces Rumanian Policy,” New York Times, January 25, 1938, 12.
181 Schneiderman, ed., American Jewish Yearbook Review of the Year 5698, 104.
182 “Rumania ‘Impudent,’” Time, January 24, 1938, 16.
115