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

efugees. Belgium had been a signatory to the Convention relating to the International
Status of refugees (Geneva, October 18, 1933), The Provisional Arrangement Concerning
the Status of Refugees Coming from Germany (Geneva, July 4, 1936) and had
participated in (but not yet ratified) the creation of the Geneva Convention of February
10, 1938 that was to supplant the 1936 Arrangement. As a consequence, the Belgian
Nation had received 8,800 Russian and assimilated refugees: 2,000 Germans, 800
Austrians, 3,000 Spanish children and 120 adults, 250 Italians and 80 Stateless
refugees—totaling 15,050. The country was geographically small in size with a dense
population of 7,800,000 of whom 319,230 were aliens. Approximately 250,000 were
unemployed. Although it was obvious that Belgium had responded in the “most loyal
and generous manner” to the international agreements on refugees current conditions
(German anti-Jewish policies, the need to maintain friendly relations with the Reich and
threats of mass expulsions from Eastern European countries) prevented, “to her great
regret,” the possibility of assuming “fresh international obligations” entailing unknown
consequences which might overwhelm “her practical possibilities.” Belgian actions
were based on the proportionate responses of the other nations and the “hope that, with
patience, openings may be found in overseas territories…” 62
Lt. Colonel Thomas Walter White, the head of the Australian delegation and
chair of the Conference’s second sub-committee, acknowledged that Australia had
62 “Proceedings,” July 7, 1938, 18-19. Robert de Foy collaborated with the Germans before and during
the Belgian occupation. General Eggert Reeder, the chief of the Wehrmacht in Brussels had informed
Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reichssicherheidshauptamt (RHSA) or German State Security, in 1943
that “’De Foy had in the months preceding the invasion closely collaborated with the RHSA and with
Heydrich himself, to whom he had provided important material.’” Paul Belien “Belgian Authorities
Destroy Holocaust Records,” August 31, 2006, The Brussels Journal available from
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1287; Internet; accessed August 15, 2010.
177