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

populations and the availability of undeveloped lands. 59 The Dutch delegate, the Head of
the Directorate of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, M.W.C. Beucker-
Andreae, expressed his sympathy and acknowledged The Netherlands’ “age-old tradition
[of] granting generous hospitality,” but, he declared, the small nation had reached the
saturation point and could no longer accept additional refugees except in extraordinary
circumstances. 24,000-25,000 had already been admitted into a country with a
population of nine million. The enactment of more stringent entrance policies was
mandated, it was believed, by unfavorable economic conditions, fears of offending the
Hitler regime and concerns of jeopardizing its policy of neutrality in the event of war.
The nation could only serve as a temporary way station on the route to other sites of
permanent resettlement. Four hundred thousand Dutch citizens were unemployed leading
the authorities to encourage the emigration of its own nationals as a means of decreasing
population density and joblessness. The Government would cooperate in the
establishment of training centers for Jewish refugees to facilitate transmigration. In
addition, its overseas colonial possessions were deemed unsuitable for the resettlement of
European Whites due to unfavorable climate. 60 Dutch borders were closed to German
Jewish refugees by November 1938 and any refugees who had managed to gain entry
would be arrested and interned in isolated special work camps. 61
The Belgian delegate, Robert de Foy, the director of the Belgian Sûreté de
l’Etat, highlighted Belgium's role in admitting and assimilating Russian and Armenian
59 Report of Norman Bentwich, cited in Marrus, Unwanted, 147; St. Petersburg Times, July 7, 1938.
60 “Proceedings of the Evian Conference,” July 7, 1938, 22.
61 “Jews on Knees Beg Netherlands Entry,” New York Times, November 14, 1938, 7; “Escaped Germans
Turned Back by Dutch,” The Times, November 25, 1938, 13.
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