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

efugees “dispassionately, in spite of the tragic circumstances surrounding their plight.”
Visitors’ visas would be granted only if the alien had a permanent residence in their
country of origin (an impossibility in Nazi Germany when the policy of forced
emigration was adopted) and documentation of the means to return home as well as a
certificate of good character and behavior to be obtained from the local German and
Austrian police. 55
Having achieved “almost nothing of substance” Frank Brecher has argued that
the creation of the Intergovernmental Committee on Political Refugees from Germany
merely served to extend the longevity of the Evian Conference “under a new name” that
would serve as a “face-saving device” for the Roosevelt Administration. None of the
participating countries was committed to any particular plan of action and the official
financing of the IGCR would be limited with the bulk provided by private Jewish and
non-Jewish sources. 56
Jewish Congressmen also lacked the will to pursue modification of the
immigration laws. Representatives Emanuel Celler (NY), Adolph Sabath (Illinois) and
four others approached George Messersmith on April 17, 1938 regarding the facilitation
of refugee immigration and the consolidation of unused national quotas. They were
warned that such actions could prompt a nativist reaction and a call for more restrictive
55 Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, History of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 96 th
Congress, 2 nd Session, Committee Print, December 1980, 43; Frances Perkins to Cornelia Bryce Pinchot,
December 21, 1939, Frances Perkins papers, 1939 Correspondence File, General Records of the Labor
Department, Record Group 174, National Archives, Washington, D.C. cited in Tichenor, Dividing Lines,
161-162.
56 Brecher, Reluctant Ally, 63.
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