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

offend the Jews rather than the Arabs.” 95
Sir Herbert Emerson provided the British
Government with a definition of “refugee” which would be utilized to control the
numbers of Jews allowed via quota to enter Palestine. According to this definition a
refugee was a person who had “fled his country” for another locale due to fears that “his
life was in jeopardy.” Jews would not be considered refugees as long as they remained
within Germany proper, albeit “oppressed” and “pursued” by an intolerant government
and society. They remained “responsible for their own fate.” Therefore, the rescue work
of Sir Herbert began only when the potential refugee crossed the frontier of the Reich. 96
Some Jews, however, strongly doubted the success of the Conference. S.A.
Whaley, the Jewish Principal Secretary of Finance in the United Kingdom, predicted that
the meeting would result in a “fiasco.” He noted that few governments were currently
admitting significant numbers of refugees and were unlikely to alter their entry policies.
He expected the uttering of “platonic sympathies” from the various delegations and
believed that the creation of the Intergovernmental Committee for Political Refugees
would not serve any “useful purpose” and, in fact, might interfere with the functions of
the League’s High Commissioner. 97
The Dutch Committee for Jewish Refugees advised
relief organizations within The Netherlands not to send memoranda or petitions to the
meeting as it had been “earnestly advised by the Foreign Office and the [Ministry of]
95 Bat Ye’Or and Miriam Kochan, Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide (Cranbury, NJ:
Associated University Presses, 2002), 355.
96 Meier Sompolinsky, Britain and the Holocaust: The Failure of Anglo-Jewish Leadership? (Brighton,
UK: Sussex Academic Press, 1999), 43.
97 S.D. Waley to Sir Frederick Phillips, memorandum, Evian Conference, June 17, 1938 cited in London,
Whitehall, 88.
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