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

130,000 slots allocated to the German quota actually entered the United States. 17 The
German allotment for was 25,957 but only 12,532 visas were issued and 13,425 remained
unused (51%). The annual Austrian quota in the same year was 1,413 with 424 issued
and 989 unused (62%). The amalgamation of both groups generated 27,370 annual visas
but merely 12,956 were issued and 14,414 remained unused (52%). Appendix E provides
a global breakdown of the 1937 Jewish population and Tables 2 and 5 provide
information regarding Jewish emigration from Greater Germany and Austria.
The number of potential refugees, however, surpassed the quantity of annual
visas available for a number of years. By June 30, 1937 applications submitted to
American Consulates in Germany and Austria had exceeded one hundred thousand and
was expected to rise following the Anschluss. Many candidates were excluded due to
bureaucratic technicalities that would require amending the immigration law. Potential
immigrants had to provide proof of employment or an attestation that they would not
become public charges. Confirmation of good conduct had to be provided by the Gestapo
in addition to all of the necessary documents needed to leave Germany by a specified
17 Adler-Rudel, “The Evian Conference,” 237. The LPC clause, enacted by Herbert Hoover’s Executive
Order of September 8, 1930, barred immigrants who were expected to end up on the public dole. The
American immigration service assignment of quota numbers was based on the émigrés place of birth. It
was estimated that only twenty or thirty percent of the two hundred thousand Jews residing in Austria at the
time of the Anschluss were actually born within the territorial bounds of post-WWI and pre-Anschluss
Austria. Consequently, under a strict interpretation of birthplace by the State Department it was estimated
that seventy to eighty percent of refugees (although born within the Austrian part of the former Austro-
Hungarian Empire, would be considered non-Austrian and hence, barred from inclusion in the combined
German and Austrian quotas. “Merged Quota Hits Exodus of Austrians,” The Southern Israelite, April 15,
1938, 1; “Post-War Map Changes May Block Exodus of Austrian Jews to America,” The Sentinel, April
14, 1938, 43. The number of Jewish refugees was also affected by an unwillingness or inability of many
German Jews to leave their homeland due to an underestimation of the risks posed by Hitler and his regime
and a desire to retain their identity as Germans. The Racial Laws of 1935 and a steadily declining status
within the Reich brought many Jews to face the reality of the situation and the need to flee the country.
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