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

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no longer survives.” 65 Another French paper warned that failure to act in a meaningful<br />

manner would hurl the “humane principles” espoused in the Rights <strong>of</strong> Man into the<br />

“abyss.” 66<br />

<strong>The</strong> Depression and its associated economic stresses were believed to foster<br />

the development <strong>of</strong> anti-Semitism for it was a “natural tendency” to blame a defenseless<br />

population for “disagreeable conditions.” Such a worldview predicted the proliferation <strong>of</strong><br />

Nazi anti-<strong>Jewish</strong> ideology as manifested by events in Poland, Rumania, Hungary and<br />

within some French political factions. 67<br />

Hatred <strong>of</strong> Jews, some believed, was the genesis<br />

<strong>of</strong> the refugee crisis and the convocation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Evian</strong> <strong>Conference</strong> was pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> its<br />

recognition by the international <strong>com</strong>munity. Its solution, however, depended upon the<br />

“Christian conscience” granting charity to the stateless; a humanitarian act that could not<br />

cause any recipient nation to be harmed. 68<br />

Some argued that the creation <strong>of</strong> a “class <strong>of</strong> unwanted people” was the natural<br />

consequence <strong>of</strong> political upheaval and cited earlier events such as the French and Russian<br />

Revolutions. 69<br />

<strong>The</strong> “booming guns <strong>of</strong> August 1914” marked the end <strong>of</strong> relatively free<br />

transit across national borders and led to governments enacting stricter passport<br />

controls. 70 A unique species <strong>of</strong> humanity, “Homo Europaicus,” appeared on the world<br />

65 L’Oeuvre (Victor Basch), June 26, 1938 cited in Katz, “Public Opinion,” 111. Victor Basch (1863-<br />

1944) was a Dreyfusard and a co-founder in 1898 <strong>of</strong> the League <strong>of</strong> Human Rights. He and his wife were<br />

murdered by the Vichy militia or Gestapo.<br />

66 Le Progès, Lyon, July 7, 1938. Ibid.<br />

67 Le XXème Siècle, Brussels, July 8, 1938. Ibid., 110.<br />

68 <strong>The</strong> Spectator, July 29, 1938. Ibid., 111.<br />

69 Le XXème Siècle, Brussels, July 7, 1938. Ibid., 108.<br />

70 John C. Torpey, “Passports and the Development <strong>of</strong> Immigration Controls in the North Atlantic World<br />

during the Long Nineteenth Century,” Andreas Fahmeir, Olivier Faron and Patrick Weill, eds., Migration<br />

141

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