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

no longer survives.” 65 Another French paper warned that failure to act in a meaningful
manner would hurl the “humane principles” espoused in the Rights of Man into the
“abyss.” 66
The Depression and its associated economic stresses were believed to foster
the development of anti-Semitism for it was a “natural tendency” to blame a defenseless
population for “disagreeable conditions.” Such a worldview predicted the proliferation of
Nazi anti-Jewish ideology as manifested by events in Poland, Rumania, Hungary and
within some French political factions. 67
Hatred of Jews, some believed, was the genesis
of the refugee crisis and the convocation of the Evian Conference was proof of its
recognition by the international community. Its solution, however, depended upon the
“Christian conscience” granting charity to the stateless; a humanitarian act that could not
cause any recipient nation to be harmed. 68
Some argued that the creation of a “class of unwanted people” was the natural
consequence of political upheaval and cited earlier events such as the French and Russian
Revolutions. 69
The “booming guns of August 1914” marked the end of relatively free
transit across national borders and led to governments enacting stricter passport
controls. 70 A unique species of humanity, “Homo Europaicus,” appeared on the world
65 L’Oeuvre (Victor Basch), June 26, 1938 cited in Katz, “Public Opinion,” 111. Victor Basch (1863-
1944) was a Dreyfusard and a co-founder in 1898 of the League of Human Rights. He and his wife were
murdered by the Vichy militia or Gestapo.
66 Le Progès, Lyon, July 7, 1938. Ibid.
67 Le XXème Siècle, Brussels, July 8, 1938. Ibid., 110.
68 The Spectator, July 29, 1938. Ibid., 111.
69 Le XXème Siècle, Brussels, July 7, 1938. Ibid., 108.
70 John C. Torpey, “Passports and the Development of Immigration Controls in the North Atlantic World
during the Long Nineteenth Century,” Andreas Fahmeir, Olivier Faron and Patrick Weill, eds., Migration
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