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

laws from the House and Senate by inciting the “temper of Congress.” 57
Consequently,
the Congressmen agreed and pledged themselves to discourage any such new legislation.
Messersmith himself was pessimistic over the prospects of the Evian Conference
believing that Germany intended to utilize the refugee crisis as a means of pressuring the
United States into bilateral trade talks or provide other forms of assistance to aid the
German economy. Any financial aid, he believed, would be diverted into German
rearmament. Consequently, he opposed the creation of the IGCR due to its goal of
entering into negotiations with the Reich and would have “counseled against its
formation.” 58 Along with Assistant Secretary of State Robert Walton Moore and the
Chief of the European Division of the State Department Jay Pierrepont Moffat he
believed that more could be accomplished via the League’s International Labor
Organization rather than the establishment of a new committee. 59
Messersmith was also concerned about overtures from Poland regarding the
emigration of its own Jewish population and he concluded that “humanitarianism was
encouraging brutality.” He opposed any alteration of the annual immigration quotas,
viewing the Jewish refugees “less as innocent victims” than the unknowing means of
introducing “Nazi subversion” that would threaten domestic social and economic
stability. The diplomat did fear that if the Conference was successful then America faced
a potential inundation of refugees which he strove to prevent. He complained that Jewish
professors, academics and other professionals seeking entry visas were sending him the
57 Stiller, George S. Messersmith, 123.
58 Ibid., 125.
39.
59 March 18, 23, and 25, 1938, Moffat Diary, Moffat Papers cited in Shafir, “George S. Messersmith,”
329