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

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INTRODUCTION<br />

On Rosh Hashanah it is written,<br />

On Yom Kippur it is sealed:<br />

How many shall pass on, how many shall <strong>com</strong>e to be;<br />

Who shall live and who shall die;<br />

Who shall see ripe age and who shall not;<br />

Who shall perish by fire and who by water;<br />

Why by sword and who by beast;<br />

Who by hunger and who by thirst;<br />

Why by earthquake and who by plague;<br />

Who by strangling and who by stoning;<br />

Who shall be secure and who shall be driven;<br />

Who shall be tranquil and who shall be troubled;<br />

Who shall be poor and who shall be rich;<br />

Who shall be humbled and who exalted.<br />

But REPENTENCE, PRAYER and CHARITY<br />

temper judgment’s severe decree. 1<br />

1938 was a portentous year in the history <strong>of</strong> German and Austrian Jewry and<br />

ultimately for the Jews <strong>of</strong> Europe. <strong>The</strong> Anschluss or annexation <strong>of</strong> Austria by Nazi<br />

Germany on March 12 signaled to the world that Jews could no longer survive within the<br />

German <strong>com</strong>munity. Faced with an existential threat and unable to adopt the time<br />

honored stratagem <strong>of</strong> accepting the status <strong>of</strong> a protected but second class and subordinate<br />

minority, the Jews <strong>of</strong> Germany were once more forced upon the road <strong>of</strong> the wanderer<br />

seeking sanctuary and resettlement.<br />

<strong>The</strong> American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, seemed to <strong>of</strong>fer such<br />

salvation through his call for the creation <strong>of</strong> an international conference to deal with this<br />

1 Central <strong>Conference</strong> <strong>of</strong> American Rabbis, Gates <strong>of</strong> Repentance: <strong>The</strong> New Union Prayerbook for the<br />

Days <strong>of</strong> Awe (New York: Central <strong>Conference</strong> <strong>of</strong> American Rabbis and Union <strong>of</strong> Liberal and Progressive<br />

Synagogues, 1978), 313-314.<br />

1

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