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

ability of a Jew to leave Germany and the demographics and a breakdown by age in
provide in table 6.
Table 6: Demographics of Jewish Population in Germany as of
January 1, 1938
Age Group Number Percent
All ages 350,000 100.0
Under 20 54,300 16.0
20-44 106,700 30.0
45-50 37,100 11.0
Over 50 151,900 43.0
Statistics based on information supplied to the Evian Conference by the Central
Organization of German Jewry. The predominance of older versus younger Jews was
due to emigration and falling birthrates. Arieh Tartakower, “The Jewish Refugees,” 324.
Taylor acknowledged the work of the League’s High Commission for Refugees
from Germany (HCR) and the Nansen Office but it was the official American view that
these organizations should serve a complementary role to a new body that would be
created by the Conference to deal with specific groups of refugees. Unlike the British
who wanted any permanent Intergovernmental Committee to be subsumed by the League,
the Americans wanted the new organization to be independent, noting that the League
had not demonstrated any “great interest” in the German and Austrian refugee problem
prior to the Roosevelt invitation and that it tended to limit “refugee work to juridical
protection.” The United States believed that Germany would cooperate to a greater
degree with a committee located outside of Geneva and membership on the committee
could more easily be restricted to receiving States.
Taylor also called for a confidential exchange of information between the
delegations regarding the “number and type” of refugees that would be acceptable to each
nation based on its current immigration and policies as well as identification of the
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