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

wanted to be heard, so there was no united front, and the goyim said, ‘To hell with all of
them!’” 52
Ernst Marcus observed that the Jewish representatives lacked the requisite
economic “knowledge nor knew the means for the realization of projects.”
Consequently, the “undue haste” with which Jews had to present their case, constrained
by a limited time frame and practical experience, heralded the “tragedy… [that] was
nearing its clear peak, the annihilation. The gates had already been closed before us.” 53
The Jewish leadership in the United Kingdom, Central and Eastern Europe and
the Americas was divided over Zionism and the issue of Palestine. The non-Zionists
argued that Jews did not represent a specific nationality and consequently should not be
granted the status of a State but rather a protectorate. They believed the Mandate,
however, should not place any limitations upon Jewish immigration. The Zionists, such
as Chaim Weizmann, opposed the diversion of Diaspora resources from Palestine despite
progressive British restrictions on Jewish immigration. David Ben-Gurion maintained
that Palestine must remain the central focus of Jewish rescue. Advising the Zionist
Executive in a December 11, 1938 letter he asserted that:
…if the Jews are faced with a choice between the refugee problem and
rescuing Jews from concentration camps on the one hand, and aid for
the national museum in Palestine on the other, the Jewish sense of pity
will prevail and our people’s entire strength will be directed at aid for
the refugees in the various countries. Zionism will vanish from the
agenda and … also from Jewish public opinion. We are risking
Zionism’s very existence if we allow the refugee problem to be
separated from the Palestine problem. 54
52 Beit-Zvi, “Post-Ugandan Zionism,” 150.
53 Ernst Marcus, “The German Foreign Office and the Palestine Question, 1933-1939,” Yad Vashem
Studies 2 (1958), 194.
54 Yigal Elam, Introduction to Zionist History (Tel Aviv: 1972), 125-127; Tony Greenstein, “Zionism
and the Holocaust,” (June 2006) available from
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/mideast/greenstein/zionism2.htm#n46; Internet; accessed
May 14, 2010.
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