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

suitable for mass migration. Since Ireland lacked colonies it was reluctant to recommend
that other nations assume a burden that Eire could not share. The Irish Government did
have the sincere faith that a feasible solution for the “mass of human suffering” could be
found but he warned that “the greater the hopes” offered by potential sites of resettlement
the “greater may be the pressure” exerted upon “these unfortunate creatures” by those
nations that sought to expel unwanted minorities. 5
Léon R. Thébaud, the Haitian Commercial Attaché to France (with rank of
Minister), declared that his country had limited ability to admit refugees and would give
preference to agriculturists or specialized technicians “of thoroughly healthy stock,” who
were easily absorbable into the local community and who possessed sufficient assets. 6
The Swiss representative to the Evian Conference was the Chief of the Federal
Police for Foreigners (Eidgenössische Fremdenpolizei), Heinrich Rothmund, who also
held the position of Chief of Immigration from 1919-1954. He epitomized the insincerity
and the duplicitous nature of the congress. Rothmund expressed the “greatest sympathy”
for those forced to flee their homeland and acknowledged that the refugee crisis as a
whole was of “particular interest” to his Government. Switzerland was a desirable
destination for refugees (along with France and Holland) due to its proximity to Germany
and Austria, its tradition of granting asylum, liberal constitutionalism and political
neutrality. He noted that aliens already comprised nine percent of the total population in
a country faced with high levels of unemployment. Domestic fears of being overrun by
stateless foreigners forced Switzerland to serve only as a nation of transit. Jews were not
5 “Proceedings,” July 11, 1938, 36. See also Dermot Keogh, Jews in Twentieth-Century Ireland:
Refugees; Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust (Cork, Ireland: Cork University, 1998), 119-120.
6 “Proceedings,” July 11, 1938, 38-39.
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