Évian Conference

Évian Conference

The Évian Conference was convened at the initiative of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in July 1938 to discuss the problem of Jewish refugees. For nine days, from July 6 to July 15, delegates from thirty-two countries met at Évian-les-Bains, France. Twenty-four voluntary organizations also attended, as observers, many of whom presented plans orally and in writing. [ [http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/chronology/1933-1938/1938/chronology_1938_7.html July 6-15: Évian Conference ] ] The fact that the conference did not pass a resolution condemning the German treatment of Jews was widely used in Nazi propaganda. [ [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/evian2.html quoting from "Voelkischer Beobachter," North German edition, 13 July 1938 from Yad Vashem] ] The lack of action further emboldened Hitler in his assault on European Jewry.

Background

The 1935 Nuremberg Laws made German Jews, already persecuted, stateless refugees in their own country. By 1938, some 150,000 out of about 500,000 German Jews had fled Germany, mostly to "Palestine-Eretz Israel", but British immigration quotas prevented many from emigrating (Jews had to have over 1000 pounds in cash to enter Palestine-EI outside the quota). In March 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and made the 200,000 Jews of Austria stateless refugees. In September 1938 Britain granted Hitler the right to occupy the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, and in March 1939 Hitler occupied the remainder of the country. This made a further 200,000 Jews stateless.In 1939 the British closed Palestine to further Jewish migration, and Jewish refugees could no longer find countries willing to let them immigrate.

Before the Conference, the United States and Great Britain made an agreement: the British promised not to bring up the fact that the U.S. was not filling its immigration quotas, and the Americans refrained from mentioning Palestine as a possible destination for the refugees.Fact|date=July 2007

Proceedings

In the course of the conference, the delegates expressed sympathy for the refugees, but offered only excuses for not letting in more refugees.

No high-level official was sent by the U.S. Instead, American businessman Myron C. Taylor, a friend of Roosevelt, represented the U.S. at the conference and stated that the American contribution was to make the German and Austrian immigration quota fully available. The Australian delegate noted: "as we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one."cite web |url=http://www.holocaust.com.au/mm/i_australia.htm |title=Australian Memories Of The Holocaust |format= |work= |accessdate=2008-05-17] The French delegate stated that France had reached "the extreme point of saturation as regards admission of refugees," a sentiment repeated by most other representatives. The only country willing to accept many Jews was the Dominican Republic, but the offer lacked specificity.

In her autobiography "My Life" (1975), Golda Meir described her outrage being in "the ludicrous capacity of the [Jewish] observer from Palestine, not even seated with the delegates, although the refugees under discussion were my own people...." After the conference, Meir told the press: "There is only one thing I hope to see before I die and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore." [ [http://www.mscd.edu/~golda/GOLDA%20MEIR%20OUTLINE.pdf Golda Meir: An Outline of a Unique Life. A Chronological Survey of Golda Meir’s Life and Legacy] by Norman Provizer and Claire Wright]
Chaim Weizmann was quoted in "The Manchester Guardian" as saying: "The world seemed to be divided into two parts – those places where the Jews could not live and those where they could not enter." ["Manchester Guardian", May 23, 1936, cited in A.J. Sherman, "Island Refuge, Britain and the Refugees from the Third Reich, 1933–1939", (London, Elek Books Ltd, 1973), p.112, also in [http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/evian/evian.html The Evian Conference — Hitler's Green Light for Genocide] by Annette Shaw]

Aftermath

Noting "that the involuntary emigration of people in large numbers has become so great that it renders racial and religious problems more acute, increases international unrest, and may hinder seriously the processes of appeasement in international relations," the Évian Conference established the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (ICR) with the purpose to "approach the governments of the countries of refuge with a view to developing opportunities for permanent settlement." The ICR received little authority or support from its member nations and fell into inaction.

Who was present at the Conference

National delegations

References

See also

*Kristallnacht (November 9 1938)
*The Holocaust
*Bermuda Conference
*British Mandate of Palestine
*White Paper of 1939
*SS "St. Louis"
*International response to the Holocaust

External links

* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/evian.html Decisions Taken at the Évian Conference]
* [http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/month_in_holocaust/july/july_lexicon/EVIAN_CONFERENCE.html The Évian Conference] at Yad Vashem
* [http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_evian.php What was The Évian Conference?]
* [http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/evian/evian.html The Évian Conference - Hitler's Green Light for Genocide]


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