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

was predictable that “there was no hope” that such a consolidation of refugee offices
would result in any meaningful accomplishments. The League leadership was politically
conservative and averse to risk taking. In addition, the potential countries of permanent
refuge were limited in their willingness to admit involuntary exiles. 47 John George
Stoessinger had observed that the League was a house “divided against itself,” with
member states both supportive and opposed to international efforts at solving the refugee
crisis. 48
Many members believed that their parochial interests would be threatened by
any weakening or liberalization of their respective immigration policies and quotas. 49
Ultimately, the reluctant efforts of the League High Commission would be replaced by
those of Roosevelt’s Evian Conference and its creation, the Intergovernmental
Committee for Political Refugees from Germany.
Pessimistic views soon arose regarding the likelihood of success of the upcoming
refugee talks. Solomon Adler-Rudel commented on June 3, 1938 that the Evian
Conference was a “total improvisation” due to the lack of a working agenda. Harold
Ginsburg, a representative of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), was informed by
be authorized to issue travel documents” to Armenians who had survived the Genocide but would accept
Nansen Passports. Letter from the Acting Secretary of State to Drummond NARA 511.1 C1/7. The
Department of State advised the League Secretary-General that the U.S would not become a signatory to
the 1933 Refugee Convention, arguing that the “status of all persons coming to the United States of
America is fully defined by existing legislation…” The State Department also opposed the issuance of
Nansen-like travel documents for potential refugees still residing in their country of origin. Memorandum
from John Farr Simmons, Visa Division, March 3, 1934. NARA, 548.D 1/100. McDonald, while High
Commissioner, was informed by the Secretary of State that U.S. immigration policies were inflexible and
application of the Likely to become a Public Charge clause (LPC) would block entry of the vast majority of
German refugees unless they possessed sufficient monies. Hull to McDonald April 28, 1934, NARA
D.1/127.
47 Marrus, The Unwanted, 166.
48 Stoessinger, The Refugee, 32-33.
49 Loescher, The UNHCR, 29.
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