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

conference remained cognizant of its inherent limitations there was a danger of creating
“false hopes” and eventually “cruel disillusions.” Referring to the Conference of
Migration for Colonizing Purposes convoked by the International Labor Office in Geneva
Oldini warned that any potential emigration was intimately bound up with the issues of
“production and unemployment” and the exportation of “surplus production” which
would result from the rapid expansion of the labor pool. Bearing in mind the domestic
effects of the Great Depression he warned that Chile would cooperate in this “noble
effort…to alleviate human suffering” as long as it did not compromise native productivity
and employment. The admission of any aliens would be based upon the “framework of
existing legislation and regulations,” as outlined in the initial American invitation. Each
potential immigrant would be viewed as an individual case and consequently, Chile could
not bind itself to any “formal obligations” or to “broad, general solutions” but would
remain open to and provide the “most cordial consideration” to any plan outlined by the
Committee and would study with the “utmost goodwill” any reasonable project that
would diminish the suffering of a group of people that “evokes the anxiety and sympathy
of mankind.” 12
The Foreign Office did, however, enact new regulations limiting
permanent residency to immigrants who were “farmers, capitalists, agricultural colonists
or industrialist…” 13 Dissenting domestic voices, such as Senate Deputy José Irarrazaval,
called for “keeping the Chilean traditional door open to all political refugees.” He
12 “Proceedings,” July 9, 1938, 27-28. Garcia served as the Chilean Minister in Switzerland and as its
representative to the International Labor Organization with rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary.
13 The Southern Israelite, May 13, 1938, 1.
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