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

argued that the failure of the Great War victors to contest German violations of the Treaty
of Versailles proved that war was a futile means of resolving international conflicts. He
anticipated the abolition of freedom of religion, speech and the press in Austria and
predicted future Hitlerian expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. Recent events had
demonstrated that the European War had failed to preserve democracy on the Continent
and consequently, American attention and resources needed to remain focused at
home. 103
This theme that the United States should avoid foreign entanglements and focus
its resources on the needs of the American citizen would echo throughout the future
debates on national defense and immigration policies.
Washington Representative John M. Coffee addressed the National Jewish Unity
Conference at the Mecca Temple in New York City on March 12 and claimed that Jewish
persecution was not a unique phenomenon but rather the “Jewish problem” needed to be
viewed in its economic and social milieu. “Never in history have the ‘chosen people’
alone been chosen for oppression.” The destiny of the Jews was “inseparable from the
fate of all the common peoples of the world…The future of the Jews is the future of
democracy.” The “Jewish problem” would be forever solved if the problems of food,
shelter, jobs, clothing and freedom were eliminated. 104
103 Congressional Record Appendix, March 15, 1938, Seventy-Fifth Congress, Third Session, vol. 9,
1016-1017. Senator Thomas: June 17, 1883-February 11, 1953; Democratic Senator from Utah, 1933-
1951. A critic of Nazi anti-Semitic policies and a supporter of American rearmament he called for the
rescue of European Jews during the Second World War. “It is the first time in history that the physical
extermination of a whole people—the Jewish people—has become declared policy, in fact, one of the
major policies and war aims, of a powerful aggressive nation.” The rescue of Jews and creation of a Jewish
homeland in Palestine was “the last question on which we can afford to be silent or evasive.” November
1942, “Senator Elbert D. Thomas: A Courageous Voice against the Holocaust” available from
http://www.wymaninstitute.org/education/Elbert%20T.pdf ; Internet; last update 2004, accessed March 14,
2010.
104 Congressional Record Appendix, March 15, 1938, Seventy-Fifth Congress, Third Session, vol. 9,
1036-1037.
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