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

The Evian Conference, the Wagner-Rogers bill of 1939, the Hennings Bill of
1940 and the Bermuda Conference of 1943 illustrate the diverse attitudes and approaches
adopted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his Administration, Congress and the
American public as well as the global community in dealing with European immigration
and refugee issues. 2
Whereas the Evian Conference and Wagner-Rogers bill were
regarded as a measure primarily favoring German and Austrian Jews that subsequently
failed, the Hennings bill was an attempt to rescue British Christian refugee children
(although not refugees in the true sense—not fleeing persecution but potential bombing)
that, after receiving widespread public and governmental support, successfully made its
way through Congress and was written into law. The sentiments and actions of the
American public, Roosevelt, the departments of his Administration and the legislative
branch and their international counterparts demonstrated similarities but also many
contradictions and inconsistencies during these 1938-1940 events. These differences
have led to disparate and controversial perceptions of the adequacy of the American and
worldwide response and the assessment of responsibility during the years of the pre-war
period and the Holocaust.
Various opinions have been offered regarding the reactions of Roosevelt and the
democratic nations to this humanitarian calamity. Some writers have asserted that FDR
could have done more to aid the refugees but instead abandoned them to their collective
fate. Others claim that given the economic, social and political context and climate of the
2 The Wagner-Rogers Bill called for the entry of 20,000 Jewish and non-Aryan children into the United
States outside of the annual quota from Germany and Austria (27,370)—10,000 in 1939 and 10,000 in
1940. The Hennings Bill offered an Amendment to the Neutrality Act allowing American “mercy” ships to
transport British Christian children, in unlimited numbers outside the quota to the United States during a
time of war. The Bermuda Conference of April 1943 was convened by the United States and the United
Kingdom ostensibly to consider the issue of wartime Jewish refugees at a time the Allies were aware of the
Final Solution but it too, like its Evian predecessor, was set up to fail.
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