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

Chapter 7
“Great Human Tragedy”
Once they had left their homeland they remained homeless; once they had left their state they
became stateless; once they had been deprived of their human rights they were rightless, the scum
of the earth. Nothing which was being done, no matter how stupid, no matter how many people
knew and foretold the consequences, could be undone or prevented. Every event had the finality
of a last judgment, a judgment that was passed neither by God nor by the devil, but looked rather
like the expression of some unredeemably stupid finality. 1
The “Report of the Sub-Committee for the Reception of Organizations
Concerned with the Relief of Political Refugees Coming from Germany (including
Austria)”, chaired by the Australian T.W. White, was submitted on July 9 and adopted on
July 14, 1938. This panel held only one session commencing on July 8 at 2:30 p.m.
Statements were heard from the League High Commissioner for Refugees, Sir Neill
Malcolm, and representatives from a variety of Jewish and non-Jewish relief
organizations such as the International Christian Committee for Non-Aryans, Jewish
Colonization Association and the American Joint Distribution Committee. 2 These groups,
listed in their entirety in Appendix C, were allowed to offer limited testimony, restricted
1 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (London, Allen & Unwin, 1967), 267.
2 Speakers included: Sir Neill Malcolm [League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from
Germany], Professor Norman Bentwich of the Council for German Jewry, Lord Marley of the World Ort
Union, Edouard Oungre of the Jewish Colonization Association, Mrs. Ormerod, the Rev. Father Odo,
Walter Adams, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, Dr. Arthur Ruppin of the Jewish Agency, Dr. Steinberg, Mr. Georg
Bernhard, Raoul Evrard, Rabbi Jonah Wise of the Joint Distribution Committee, Mr. Eppstein, Mr.
Goodman, Mr. Brotman, Leo Lambert, Mr. Gourevitch, Mr. Marcovici, Benjamin Akzin, Dr. Brutzkus, Dr.
Oskar Grun, Mr. Forcht and Madame Irene Harand.
219