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

Joseph Tenenbaum, one of the leaders of the American economic boycott against
Germany, presciently warned that failure to act at the planned talks would result in a
“campaign of extermination of the six million Jews living under the shadow of Hitler.” 10
The Executive Council of Churches of Christ in America adopted a resolution on March
25 supportive of the Presidential invitation. “We rejoice in the action of our State
Department in appealing for international cooperation to provide a haven of relief” within
the United States and abroad for “all refugees from Austria. We commend the cause of
these new victims to the prayer and active support of the churches of America.” 11
Popular support was reflected in various newspapers. Foreign correspondent,
columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Anne O’Hare McCormick described the
“heartbreaking” scenes of long lines of Jews seeking visas from U.S. Consulates abroad
while “waiting in suspense” for the outcome of the Evian Conference. She believed that
the issue facing America and the world was not how many “unemployed” could be added
to the national rolls of the unemployed. Rather, the world faced a fundamental “test of
civilization.” Could America accept the moral guilt, McCormick asked, if Germany was
allowed to continue with its blatant “policy of extermination” of the Jewish people? 12
Some writers to the Editor shared the sentiments of Carrie Chapman Catts and
suggested that the United States expel Nazi sympathizers and replace them with anti-
Nazis seeking to leave Germany. 13 British journalist Wickham Steed castigated Prime
10 Boycott: Nazi Goods and Services (March-April 1938), 3 cited in Spear, “The United States and the
Persecution of German Jews,” 242.
11 Schneiderman, ed., American Jewish Year Book Review of the Year 5698, 98.
12 Anne O’Hare McCormick, “Europe,” New York Times, July 4, 1938, 12.
13 Washington Post, March 30, 1938, 6.
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