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

anticipated (and which proved to be a wrong assumption), could be coerced into
accepting European Jewish refugees. The British Dominions and Colonies were also
regarded as likely sites of resettlement. 7
Following Secretary of State Cordell Hull’s
advice Germany was not invited as Hull felt that it was improper to “negotiate with the
felon about his misdeeds.” 8
It was hoped that a form of international passport would be granted to these
stateless refugees along with a permis de sejour (residence permit) and permis de travail
(work permit). 9
Officially, the Conference was to deal with all refugees coming from
Germany and Austria but it was blatantly clear that the vast majority would be Jewish.
The United States Government had not communicated diplomatically with the German
Government (nor the League of Nations or High Commissioner for Refugees from
7 It was assumed by the American and European planners of the Evian Conference that the readiness of
Latin American countries to receive immigrants during earlier periods of migration would translate into an
acquiescence to accept Jewish refugees, especially in Argentina and Brazil. However, it was clear that the
Jewishness of the potential émigrés would play a critical role in opening (or closing) the doors to
immigration. A high level Brazilian official observed that “all the South American Republics made it clear
at Evian that they were repulsed by Jewish immigration [and would never] receive these subversive
elements who bring social disorder.” Others warned that such charity would lead members of the domestic
German minorities into the ranks of an enemy fifth column threatening national security. Brazil was
viewed as the Latin American nation with the greatest potential for receiving refugees and was specifically
“targeted.” However, the existence of domestic pro-National Socialist or anti-refugee groups was ignored
by the U.S. State Department. It was believed that the “similarity of outlook and traditional close
collaboration” between the two large Western Hemispheric states would bridge such gaps and gain
Brazilian cooperation. Jeff Lesser, Welcoming the Undesirables: Brazil and the Jewish Question (Berkeley,
CA: University of California Press, 1995), 112, 191-192, 199
8 Henry L. Feingold, The Politics of Rescue The Roosevelt Administration and the
Holocaust, 1938-1945 (Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1970), 27, 32.
Ultimately, the Latin American countries introduced or changed existing laws to severely limit or bar
completely Jewish immigration. Myron Taylor to Cordell Hull, August 5, 1938, Foreign Relations of the
United States, 1938, vol. 1, 760.
9 The Times, July 6, 1938, 15.
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