Eleven days after the Anschluss, as the persecution spree ruled out the possibility of an orderly departure of refugees from Germany and Austria, President Roosevelt proposed an international conference at Evian, on the shore of Lake Geneva in France, to ease the emigration of refugees and to establish a new international organisation that would elaborate an overall solution to the refugee problem. Roosevelt noted that none of the participating countries should be expected to modify its refugee admission policy.
Between July 6-15, representatives of 29 states met in Evian to discuss the international refugee problem. 24 voluntary organisations also attended, as observers, many of whom presented plans orally and in writing. The conference was governmental; neither the refugees themselves nor representative organisations of refugees participated. The various countries' delegates explained why they could not take in masses of refugees from Germany and Austria. The conference achieved almost no success in opening any country's gates to the refugees, and by the time it adjourned, there was a public consensus that it had failed to find them a safe haven.
