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

Visas would be required of all refugees possessing Austrian or German passports. 67 The
“potential threat” of the admission of “enemy agents” among the Jewish refugees was
also touted as a rationale for restricting immigration. 68 Similar fears would greatly
influence immigration policies of the United States following the outbreak of the
European War in September 1939 and would be used as justification by the
Administration for severely limiting the entry of aliens from Germany and Austria.
Sir Andrew Noble, an expert on artillery and explosives, observed that the Home
Office regarded the “visa system as more humane than a scheme of uncontrolled
immigration” as it would be less likely that emigrants would be barred from entry at their
port of call. 69
The Government would be spared the “ultimate” embarrassment of
returning a refugee to the Reich who faced the real possibility of imprisonment within the
concentration camp system. 70
The press echoed such sentiments warning that an open
door policy would create selection problems for the immigration authorities and inflict
“hardships” on all who had undertaken “fruitless journeys across the continent.” 71 The
Foreign Office did attempt to achieve some form of balance between humanitarianism,
the British historical tradition of admitting forced exiles and the interests of the nation
and viewed it “extremely undesirable to restrict more than absolutely necessary the
67 PRO Kew, FO372/3282, T3398/3272/378, Robinson to Bland, March 14, 1938 cited in Romain “The
Anschluss,” 89, 90.
68 PRO FO 371/22317, R2907/137/3 A. Noble March 21, 1938 cited in Romain, “The Anschluss,” 97.
69 PRO FO 371/22317, R2907/137/3 March 21, 1938 cited in Romain, “The Anschluss”, 91.
70 C.B. McAlpine (Aliens Department) memorandum, March 1, 1938, PRO HO (Home Office) 213/94
cited in Romain, “The Anschluss,” 93.
71 The Daily Telegraph, March 23, 1938 cited in Romain, “The Anschluss,” 91.
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