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

government” was faced with the United States offering “manna from heaven” to the
global democracies. The conference, Wise believed, “served principally to sound a note
of humanity and protest” against the political and racial policies of dictatorial regimes.
“It was remarkable” that thirty two countries “practically agreed that the [refugee]
problem was one of humanity and not the concern of a few groups of people.” 136
The Rabbi’s optimistic opinion was not shared, however, by all in the Jewish
press who recognized that Central European Jewry had been effectively abandoned by
those who walked the halls of power. The Evian Conference effectively
buried the hopes of thousands upon thousands of unhappy victims of
totalitarianism. There was no obituary for the ill-fated parley, no taps
sounded at dusk. The press for the most part maintained a stoical
silence. Only the refugees who for a day saw the bright bubble of hope
in intergovernmental action mourned the death of democracy’s first
significant effort in behalf of disfranchised humanity. Their heads
bowed in despair, they marched in spirit behind the somber bier of the
conference. A world that had failed to hear their cries of pain could not
bear their funeral lamentations…
…The fact remains that the Evian Conference was a crashing failure, as
final in its failure as the Disarmament Conference, the Conference to
end Japan’s dismemberment of China…and most other international
parleys. Thirty-two nations came together, it is true, but how many
could have refused the invitation of a democracy as powerful as
America? That these nations were for the most part more interested in
running the gamut of amenities with other countries than in opening
their doors to refugees was demonstrated clearly enough during the
sessions at Evian. The presence of delegates from countries anxious to
dump surplus Jewish populations upon the Conference’s lap scarcely
gave the proceedings an air of success….
Sifted down, there is little left that is valid but the moral tone of the
Conference and the fact that machinery has been set in order for a
permanent refugee committee.
It is all very well for Dr. Wise to wax optimistic over the Conference
but to call it a success is like putting rouge on a corpse. It is small
comfort to the thousands whose hopes were dashed by the Conference
to be told that is moral tone was important. Nor will the totalitarian
states be greatly moved by the moral implications or be greatly alarmed
by the proposed August session in London…
There are times which call for more realistic approaches to world
problems than Dr. Wise’s Pollyanna utterances in regard to the Evian
Conference. Better to look the failure boldly in the face in order to
136 “Evian Conference Hailed by J.B. Wise,” New York Times, July 24, 1938, 19.
291