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

Ultimately, the activities of the IGCR and its two directors, Rublee and his
successor Sir Herbert Emerson, were relegated to the realm of “diplomatic
representations” dealing with the permanent placement of refugees residing in temporary
havens. Limited public awareness of the “gravity” of the Jewish situation within
territories controlled by Germany (before and after the start of hostilities) and the
outbreak of the war itself essentially ended any chance of achieving a realistic solution to
the German and Austrian (and Czech) refugee crisis. 23
A fundamental question remains: was there any chance for success of the Evian
Conference and its offspring, the Intergovernmental Committee for Political Refugees
from Germany? Lord Winterton succinctly summarized the basic flaws of the meeting
during a Parliamentary debate on April 6, 1939, but continued to avoid any linkage with
Palestine:
The whole Evian Committee without exception [was] not prepared to
admit the principle that they are either under a moral obligation or that
it is practically possible from the point of public support in their
respective countries to admit financial liability for the transfer and
upkeep in the countries or for the permanent settlement of refugees.
Every one of these 32 Governments [was] faced with unemployment
difficulties. Every one of them is frightened of the possible growth of
an anti-Semitic and anti-foreign feeling if it is felt that more is being
done for foreigners than for their own people. There [was] no chance
of getting an alteration in that principle.
The last thing that would induce the Reich Government to be
reasonable about the amount of property taken by Jews out of Germany
would be for the Evian Governments to assume liability for the transfer
and maintenance of these people… 24
27.
23 Jacques Vernant, The Refugee in the Post-War World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1953),
21 Great Britain, Parliamentary Debates, 345: 3082, 3084 cited in Hamerow, Why We Watched, 110.
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