The Evian Conference on the Refugee Question (Part D)
Source: S. Adler-Rudel, Year Book XIII of the Leo Baeck Institute (London 1968), p. 235-273
VIII
The memoranda mentioned in the Report of the Sub-Committee for the Reception of the Organisations provided a collection of extensive and informative material for the delegates of the various governments. Lack of space does not permit giving here even a summary review of all the memoranda, but some of them have to be singled out because of their special significance. The first of those was presented by the group most directly concerned - the Reichsvertretung der Juden in Deutschland (Jewish Council of Germany), whose representatives had had the courage to apply to the Nazi government for authorisation to attend the Conference and to hand in material concerning emigration from Germany. They, as well as the representatives of the Viennese Jewish community, had left their families behind. They knew that their relatives and all the Jews on German territory were being held as hostages until their return, and would have to bear the consequences of any incautious utterance at Evian likely to displease the Nazis.
It is with these considerations in mind that their Memorandum 32 must be read. It voices no protest against the injustices to which Jews were being submitted, and no complaints of the increasing discrimination and expulsion. One had to read between the lines in order to understand that the dry and businesslike wording of the Memorandum concealed a subdued but desperate appeal. Yet their cry that the Jews of Germany are determined to do everything within their power, both as to organisation and finance, to assist in any far-reaching plan for emigration from Germany' did not evoke the response expected by the signatories.
Another weighty document was the Memorandum of "certain Jewish Organisations concerned with the Refugees from Germany and Austria" 33 . It was perhaps the first time that so many different organisations from so many different countries united in signing the same document. It contained practical proposals for saving the Jews of Eastern and Central Europe and submitted estimates of the sums needed for the first stages of emigration and resettlement.
Of notable importance was the Memorandum of the Jewish Agency for Palestine in Jerusalem, which in the five years prior to the Evian Conference had carried out the largest rescue operation in bringing Jews from Germany to Palestine. It explained the practical possibilities, which Palestine could offer if the British Government changed its restrictive policy.
The Memorandum of the world Jewish Congress gave a carefully composed survey of the political and economic situation of the Jews in Eastern and Central Europe. It warned the Conference not to limit its efforts to Germany and Austria, as all Jewish communities were endangered by the anti-Semitic propaganda emanating from Germany 34 . In the internal negotiations held between individuals and in groups many of the Latin American delegates said with great frankness that the pressure applied by Germany prevented them from contemplating any action which might be regarded as even slightly critical of that country. Finally an agreement was reached to create, in accordance with President Roosevelt's suggestion, a permanent Intergovernmental Committee with its seat in London, instructed to act on behalf of involuntary migrants and refugees in co-operation with the existing international institutions, i.e. the Nansen Office and the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees at the League of Nations. The Intergovernmental Committee was to start its work immediately and to reconvene in London on the 3rd August.
In his closing speech on the 15th July the Chairman of the Conference, Mr. Taylor, summed up the results of the Conference as follows:
... I am happy to report that, due to the serious spirit of co-operation which has animated this first intergovernmental meeting, due to the deep-rooted conviction that we were dealing with a harrowing human problem, we have been able to recommend to our respective Governments the establishment of machinery that should, if we keep the wheels turning, bring about a real improvement in the lives and prospects of many millions of our fellow men.
We have done more. We have heard from the Governments of refuge and settle ment confidential statements, which hold out prospects for an increased reception of refugees within the framework of existing immigration laws and practices. We have had from the private organisations, estimates of the extent of the problem with which we are faced, together with proposals for a solution, which we shall take into account in formulating concrete plans for the continuation of our work.
Our work must, and it will continue, tirelessly, without interruption, in order that the hopes of the men, women and children, who have placed their faith in our efforts, may not be dispelled and their suffering embittered.
This meeting is merely a beginning. From this time forward, the Intergovernmental Committee is in permanent session. I shall expect the participating Governments to remain in close contact with the Chairman in the interim between the adjournment to-day and the reconvening at London...' 35
In the unfavourable climate of political uncertainty created by the occupation of Austria, the threatened dismantling of Czechoslovakia and the disturbances in Palestine, the unanimous adoption of the resolution to establish a permanent bureau was the one positive result of the Conference. (36) It was of small comfort to refugees, potential refugees and Jews in general, and a cruel disappointment for the Jewish representatives who had come to Evian. The great hopes, which they had entertained had been crushed by the vague phraseology and noncommittal attitude dominating the Conference. They instinctively knew what the government delegates pretended not to foresee namely that little would come out of negotiations which the Committee planned to hold with the German authorities.
Telephone : - Abbey 6077-78-79.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE.
Director: Mr. GEORGE RUBLER,
1, CENTRAL BUILDINGS
WESTMINSTER,
LONDON, S.W.1.
October 17, 1938
Dear Mr. Adler-Rudel:
I have for acknowledgement your letter of October 13th, and the situation, which you describe is one of profound interest to me. You, of course, may be assured of my moral support in your efforts to find places of tonal settlement for these people, however, at this time, it is impossible for me to state specifically what I shall be able to do, since it is the function of this office to negotiate with the German Government and the several Governments of final settlement to the end that a framework can be constructed within which orderly emigration from Germany may take place,
Faithfully yours,
S. Adler-Rudel, Esq.,
Woburn house,
Upper Woburn Place,
W. C. 1.
In order to achieve practical results, the countries represented at Evian would have had to undertake a radical modification of their restrictions on immigration and to relinquish their reliance on the framework of existing laws. The United States of America and Great Britain showed no invocation to admit a larger number, with the smaller countries following suit, while political considerations on the part of Whitehall severely limited admission into Palestine.
Today, thirty years later, the Evian Conference overshadowed by the horrors of the "Final Solution", we remember Evian as an episode in the struggle to save Jews in the most tragic period of their history. Looking back, one cannot help thinking what results the Conference might possibly have yielded if, at that time, a Jewish State had already been in existence.
IX
The Conference did not achieve the full aims outlined by President Roosevelt. It had not set up an organisation to deal with all refugees. As the pressing problem of Germany and Austria demanded immediate and urgent attention, the adopted resolution recommended that the scope of the Committee's activities be limited for the time being to finding a solution to the problem of thcountries.
The next session of the Intergovernmental Committee took place on the 3rd August, 1938 in London in the presence of the delegates of twenty-seven governments. It confirmed the establishment of a permanent bureau in London, elected Myron Taylor as its Chairman and appointed as its director George Rublee, a prominent lawyer and friend of President Roosevelt's. He immediately tried to enter into negotiations with the German Government, which had appointed Dr. Hjalmar Schacht and Ministerialrat Herbert Wohlfahrt as its representatives. But the German authorities systematically sabotaged Rublee's efforts, and it took many months until they finally agreed to meet the Committee's representatives.
As feared, the negotiations for the transfer of at least part of the prospective emigrants' capital did not yield any tangible results. In the meantime, the Nazi Government intensified the persecution of Jews, adding those of the Sudetenland and subsequently of all Czechoslovakia to the number of their victims and robbing all of them of their remaining property. The ever-increasing tension on the international scene and, ultimately, the outbreak of World War II made further work virtually illusory. The little that was achieved bore no relation to the hopes, which had been aroused. In spite of good will 37 , it all ended in failure.
References:
32. See Appendix I.
33. Already mentioned. See page 239 [of this article].
34. The last three memoranda are reproduced in the classic work of Arieh Tartakower and Kurt R. Grossmann, The Jewish Refugee , Institute for Jewish Affairs, New York 1944.
35. Proceedings of the Intergovernmental Committee.
36. See Appendix II.
37. See facsimile overleaf of Rublee's letter to Mr. Adler-Rudel of the 17th October 1938.
APPENDIX I
FOR THE CONFERENCE AT EVIAN
THE REICHSVERTRETUNG DER JUDEN IN DEUTSCHLAND
(Jewish Council of Germany)
Organisation formed by all the Jewish communities and societies of Germany (excluding Austria); to direct, prepare, finance and carry out the Jewish emigration from Germany, takes pleasure in submitting for your consideration the enclosed memorandum and statistics.
The Jews of Germany are determined to do everything within their power, both as to organisation and finance to assist in any far-reaching plan for their emigration from Germany.
They trust that all governments participating and interested in carrying out such a plan may see their way clear towards offering the chance of a new existence to the Jewish emigrants from Germany.
F0R THE CONFERENCE AT EVIAN
I. Vital Statistics of the Jews in Germany
Number of Jews in Germany (Jews by creed only)
Their age structure
Their occupational structure
Planned emigration is necessary
II. Administrative and financial problems of immigration
1. Problems arising out of the laws and regulations dealing with immigration
Stabilising the regulations
Uniform handling of the regulations
Facilitating the formalities
Landing money instead of blocked deposits
The family as the unit for landing money
Facilitating requests for immigrants
Contract Labour
Colonising
Immigration of children and youth
Special facilities for the subsequent immigration of the immediate family
Directing the emigration
2. The financial aspects of a play of emigration
Financing emigration
Financing immigration
Transferring moneys out of Germany
I. VITAL STATISTICS OF THE JEWS IN GERMANY
The following figures from the vital statistics of the Jeers of Germany are presented with a view to facilitating an estimate of the number of Jeers able to emigrate from Germany.
Number of Jews in Germany (Jews by creed only)
According to the last available official census there were in Germany 505.000 Jews by creed as of June 16. 1933. This figure includes Jews in the Saar Basin which number has been estimated as of that same date.
The number of Jews by creed as of the beginning of 1933, has been estimated to be approximately 522.000.
According to the available figures the Jewish population has decreased, during the period from January 1933 to January 1938, through an excess of deaths over births of approximately 26.000.- through emigration of approximately 130.000.- total decrease approximately 156.000.
Emigration in considerable numbers having started as early as January 1933, the decrease should be deducted from the number of Jews at the beginning of 1933 (not from the figure as of June 16. 1933). Accordingly the number of Jews by creed as of the end of 1937 must be estimated to be approximately 366.000.
Considering the emigration at the excess of deaths over births during the first half of 1938, the Jewish population of Germany can be estimated to be approximately 350.000.
Exhibit 1 is an estimate of the number of Jews emigrating according to the countries of immigration, from the beginning of 1933 to the beginning of 1938. In this connection "country of immigration" means the country in which the emigrant settled definitely.
Accordingly, the re-migration of non-German Jews from Germany is not separately estimated. Furthermore, an attempt has been made to estimate the number of those emigrants who left the country of their first choice for another country. Accordingly, the figures contained in the schedule refer to those countries where the Jewish emigrants from Germany have definitely settled. It appears that 42% of the Jewish emigrants have settled overseas, 33% in Palestine (Exhibit 2). The balance, about one quarter of the emigrants, has been absorbed by European countries.
It is estimated that there were about 200.000 Jews in Austria at the time of the "Anschluss", so that there are about 550.000 Jews in all of Germany at the present time. There are no exact figures available as to the Jews of Austria and as a consequence all figures mentioned herein refer only to the Jewish population of the "old" Reich.
Age Structure:
There are no statistics available as of the beginning of 1938 regarding the age structure of the Jews of Germany- It has accordingly been necessary to make an estimate based on the last official census that of 1933, in order to arrive at these figures. We shall then be able to appraise more accurately the number of those eligible for emigration.
Exhibit 3 shows the distribution of the Jews over the various age groups on the basis of an estimated total of 350.000. Of these are:
19 years and under
16%
(54.300)
20ΓÇö44 years
30%
(106.700)
45ΓÇö50 years
11%
(37.100)
over 50 years
43%
(151.900)
It follows from this age-structure of the Jesus of Germany that it will be necessary to primarily arrange for the emigration of the younger members of families. They will be most likely to adapt themselves successfully to their new circumstances and having taken root will then be able to arrange for their relations to follow them.
Occupational structure
The occupational structure is another item of importance in appraising the eligibility of prospective emigrants. The figures of the 1933 census can no longer be used as a basis owing to the far-reaching changes, which the occupational structure of the German Jews underwent since 1933. On the other hand there are no exact figures of recent date available. However to illustrate the occupational structure of those eligible for emigration, exhibit 4 lists, according to occupation, all applicants during the first quarter of 1938 for information regarding emigration abroad.
According to this schedule, which we think is representative of the whole, there were, out of a total of 14.800 prospective emigrants 29% business men and office employees, 18% craftsmen, 6% professional men, 4% workmen, 4% domestic help and 3.6% farmers. It is evident from this schedule - which should merely serve as an example - that there are among the prospective emigrants those that might easily be expected to be absorbed into the economy of their new country. In addition, by arranging for additional training and retraining, steps are being taken to prepare especially those of younger age, for emigration and speedy absorption into the economic life. Details as to the extent of the re-training already undecontained in exhibit 5. All measures likely to increase the efficiency of our emigrants at manual work, especially as regards the crafts and farming, are constantly being extended so as to insure their speedy absorption by their new country.
While in the case of people of younger age it is training in the handicrafts and manual labour which is being emphasised so that they may be absorbed with ease, there will be found among those of higher age a corresponding number of experts in all other occupations. Five generations of Jews have, we think, conclusively demonstrated their efficiency as manufacturers and businessmen, as technicians and engineers, as well as craftsmen and farmers.
In corroboration of these accomplishments during a period when they were not restrained in their activities, let us cite the part the Jews of Germany took in building up Palestine. The large number of them that work on the agricultural settlements and cook employment as workers in the cities is proof of the fact that the Jews are willing and able to do any, even the hardest kind of manual work. The Jewish families settled on the I.C.A. farms in the Argentine also demonstrate that the Jews will make good farmers.
Planned emigration is necessary:
As a result of developments in Germany the Jews are being eliminated in an ever increasing degree from the political, social and economic spheres of the country so that, with the sphere of their lives constantly being narrowed is being endangered the economic basis of their lives. Obviously, a certain proportion of the Jewish population of Germany will have to stay in Germany, as, for lack of suitable employment abroad, reasons of age, health, or a financial or personal nature, they are not yet ready or can never expect to be able to emigrate from Germany. Aside from this there exists, however, a very strong desire to emigrate from Germany among all classes of Jews. But whereas, formerly the possibility to emigrate was primarily a problem to be answered according to the qualities of the individual involved, conditions have lately undergone a steady change so that it is now almost exclusively a question of using all possibilities to immigrate.
In order, therefore, to save from complete ruin a population as able and willing to work as the Jews of Germany, it will be necessary to find new outlets for them. Furthermore, their emigration must be planned in such a way that, through modifications of the laws regulating immigration, the other countries of the world will be enabled to absorb, over a period of a fear years, those of the Jews of Germany that are able to leave the country.
II. ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL PROBLEMS OF IMMIGRATION
In recent years the Jews of Germany have taken all measures to facilitate emigration. For their effectiveness, however, they had to rely on the willingness of the countries of the world to admit Jewish immigrants, in spite of the individual efforts, of those willing co emigrate and the collective attempts of the Jewish organisations to find possibilities for immigration, a satisfactory solution of the question has yet to be found. There exists on the one hand an extraordinarily strong pressure to emigrate while on the other hand the facilities for the admission of immigrants to other countries are strictly limited. Furthermore, part of the Jewish population in the countries of Eastern Europe, too, is faced by necessity to emigrate. There is then the danger of the countries of immigration of an unregulated and ill-prepared emigration, constituting a problem of international dimensions.
The burden resulting from the admission of refugees, which is the term applied by the receiving countries to the ill-prepared immigrants, has already resulted in a great number of restrictions being placed on immigration and a number of large countries have, for all practical purposes, stopped immigration completely, though economically they might be able yet to absorb some. If, on the other hand, immigrants have undergone a specialised training both in their future work and in the language and the customs of their new country, Jewish immigrants from Germany coming as they do from a country known for its highly developed methods of business and organisation, might well contribute cowards the economic progress and future development of their near country both through their work and their financial resources.
It will be necessary, therefore, to regulate the Jewish emigration in such a way as to prevent the coming into existence of a new class of refugees with the problems inherent in it. The emigrants should rather be distributed according to their abilities over countries willing to admit them, in such numbers and at such times as the countries involved can absorb them.
Such regulation should deal particularly with the problems arising out of the laws and regulations dealing with immigration (1) and with the financial pre-requisites (2) for the admission and absorption of the emigrants in their new country.
