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

“modern nomads” deserved rescue and if the meeting was successful the name of
Franklin Roosevelt would be “blessed by present and future generations.” The
Dominican Republic (with a population of 1.5 million) was ready and willing to make its
contribution by the awarding of especially “advantageous concessions” to German and
Austrian refugees provided they were “agriculturists with an unimpeachable record” that
met the requirements of national immigration laws. The Republic possessed ample and
productive land, social stability and the Department of Agriculture would provide settlers
land, seed and technical support. “Recognized scientists,” who through their teaching
skills rendered “valuable service” to the country, would also be considered as special
exceptions to immigration rules and regulations. Molina concluded with the hope that the
Evian Conference would be “like a peaceful, limpid lake, whose health giving waters
assuage the thirst and add to the fertility of the lands that border it.” 36
Generalissimo Trujillo viewed the Evian Conference as an opportunity to
refurbish his reputation following an October 1937 conflict with Haiti in which 8,000-
12,000 Haitians residing in the northwestern region of the Dominican Republic were
massacred in order to “obliterate Haitian ethnicity” within its borders. 36 The dictator
announced, during May 1938, that he had been the only one of his countrymen
possessing the “inflexibility of will” to deal with the “Haitian question.” 37 By July
Trujillo attempted to create a new international image by wrapping himself in the
36 “Proceedings,” July 9, 1938, 32.
36 A number of studies from 1937 to 1987 have suggested that the Haitian death toll was 500-37,000.
37 Legation report, May 19, 1938, 839.51/4604, RG 59, NA cited in Eric Paul Roorda, The Dictator Next
Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930-1945
(Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), 142.
212