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Evian Conference
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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. The fact that the conference did not pass a resolution condemning the German treatment of Jews was widely used in Nazi propaganda.
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Encyclopedia
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. The fact that the conference did not pass a resolution condemning the German treatment of Jews was widely used in Nazi propaganda. 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 600,000 German Jews had fled Germany, mostly to Palestine, but British immigration quotas prevented many from emigrating. 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 admit them.
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.
Proceedings
In the course of the conference, the delegates expressed sympathy for the refugees, but they did not commit themselves to let more refugees in.
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." 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."
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."
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
| Country | Delegation |
|---|
 |
- Dr Tomas A. Le Breton, Ambassador in France
- Carlos A. Pardo, Secretary-General of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations
|  | Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas W. White, DFC, VD, MP, Minister for Trade and CustomsAlfred Thorpe Stirling, Australian liaison officer in the Foreign Office, LondonA. W. Stuart-Smith, Australia House, London |  | Robert de Foy, Chief of the Belgian State Security ServiceJ. Schneider, Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade |  | Simón Iturri Patiño, Minister in France, the Bolivian "Tin King"Adolfo Costa du Rels, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations |  | Hélio Lobo, Minister first class, Member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Expert:- Jorge Olinto de Oliveira, Permanent Delegate, First Secretary of the Brazilian Legation
| | | Humphrey Hume Wrong, Permanent Delegate to the League of NationsExpert:- W. R. Little, Commissioner for European Emigration in London
|  | Fernando García Oldini, Minister in Switzerland and Representative at the International Labour Organization, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary |  | Luis Cano, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister PlenipotentiaryProf. J. M. Yepes, Legal Adviser to the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister PlenipotentiaryAbelardo Forero Benavides, Secretary to the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations |  | Prof. Luís Dobles Segreda, Chargé d'Affaires in Paris |  | Dr. Juan Antiga Escobar, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Switzerland, permanent Delegate to the League of Nations |  | Gustav Rasmussen, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Troels Hoff, of the Ministry of Justice | | | Virgilio Trujillo Molina, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in France and Belgium, brother of the dictator Rafael Leónidas TrujilloDr. Salvador E. Paradas, Chargé d'Affaires, representing the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations |  | Alejandro Gastelu Concha, Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations, Consul-General in Geneva |  | Victor Henry Bérenger, AmbassadorBressy, Minister Plenipotentiary, Deputy Director of the International Unions at the Ministry of Foreign AffairsCombes, Director in the Ministry of the InteriorGeorges Coulon, of the Foreign MinistryFourcade, Head of Department in the Ministry of the InteriorFrançois Seydoux, official of the Bureau for European Affairs in the Foreign MinistryBaron Brincard, official of the Bureau for League of Nations Affairs in the Foreign Ministry |  | José Gregorio Diaz, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in France |  | Léon R. Thébaud, Commercial Attaché in Paris, with the rank of Minister |  | Mauricio Rosal, Consul in Paris, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | | | Francis Thomas Cremins, Permanent Delegate to the League of NationsJohn Duff, Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of JusticeWilliam Maguire, Second Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce | | | Primo Villa Michel, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in the Netherlands Manuel Tello Barraud, Chargé d'Affaires representing the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations | | | W. C. Beucker Andreae, Head of the Legal Department in the Ministry of Foreign AffairsR. A. Verwey, Director of the State Insurance Office for the Unemployed in the Ministry of Social WelfareI. P. Hooykaas, Adviser in the Ministry of Justice |  | C. B. Burdekin, OBE, from the New Zealand High Commissioner’s Office in London |  | Constantino Herdocia, minister in Great Britain and France, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary |  | Michael Hansson, President of the Nansen International Office for Refugees, which received the Nobel Peace Prize later the same yearC. N. S. Platou, Director-General in the Ministry of JusticeFinn Moe, journalist, representative of the private organizations for refugees in MorwayAdviser:- R. Konstad, Director of the Norwegian Central Passport Office
|  | Dr. Ernesto Hoffmann, Consul-General in Geneva and Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary |  | Gustavo A. Wiengreen, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Hungary | | | Francisco García Calderón Rey, Minister in France, with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary |  | Gösta Engzell, Head of the Legal Department in the Ministry of Foreign AffairsC. A. M. de Hallenborg, Head of Section in the Ministry of Foreign AffairsSecretary of the Delegation- E. G. Drougge, Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance
|  | Dr. Heinrich Rothmund, Head of the Police Division of the Federal Department of Justice and PoliceHenri Werner, Lawyer, Police Division of the Federal Department of Justice and Police | | | Edward Turnour, 6th Earl Winterton, MP, Chancellor of the Duchy of LancasterSir Charles Michael Palairet, KCMG, Minister PlenipotentiaryAdvisers:- Sir John Shuckburgh, KCMG, CB, Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office
- J. G. Hibbert, MC, Director at the Colonial Office
- E. N. Cooper, OBE, Director at the Home Office
- R. M. Makins, Assistant Adviser on League of Nations Questions in the Foreign Office, secretary of the delegation
Secretaries to Earl Winterton: | | | Myron Charles Taylor, Ambassador on Special MissionAdviser:- James Grover McDonald, President of the "President Roosevelt Consultive Committee for Political Refugees"
Technical Advisers:- Robert T. Pell, Division of European Affairs, State Department
- George L. Brandt, formerly head of the Visa Division in the State Department
Secretary of the Delegation:- Hayward G. Hill, Consul in Geneva
Assistant to James McDonald:- George L. Warren, Executive Secretary of the "President Roosevelt Consultive Committee for Political Refugees"
|  | Dr. Alfredo Carbonell Debali, Delegate Plenipotentiary | | | Carlos Aristimuño Coll, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in France |
Other participants in the Conference
| Organization | Representatives |
|---|
| High Commission for Refugees from Germany |
| | General Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Committee | Jean Paul-Boncour, Secretary-GeneralGabrielle Boisseau, Assistant to the Secretary-GeneralJ. Herbert, interpreterEdward Archibald Lloyd, interpreterLouis Constant E. Muller, translatorWilliam David McAfee, translatorMézières, treasurer |
Private organizations represented at the Conference
- Agudas Israel World Organization, London
- Alliance Israélite Universelle, Paris
- American,British, Belgian, French, Dutch, and Swiss Catholic Committees for Aid to Refugees
- American Joint Distribution Committee, Paris
- Association de colonisation juive, Paris
- Association of German Scholars in Distress Abroad, London
- Bureau international pour le respect du droit d'asyle et l'aide aux réfugiés politiques, Paris
- Central Bureau for the Settlement of German Jews, London
- Central Committee for Refugees from Germany, Prague
- Centre de recherches de solutions au problème juif, Paris
- Comité d'aide et d'assistance aux victimes de l'anti-semitisme en Allemagne, Brussels
- Comite for Bijzondere Joodsche Belangen, Amsterdam
- Comité international pour le placement des intellectuels réfugiés, Geneva
- Comité pour la défense des droits des Israélites en Europe centrale et orientale, Paris
- Committee of Aid for German Jews, London
- Council for German Jewry, London
- Emigration Advisory Committee, London
- Fédération des émigrés d'Autriche, Paris
- Fédération internationale des émigrés d'Allemagne, Paris
- Freeland Association, London
- German Committee of the Quaker Society of Friends, London
- HICEM, Paris
- International Christian Committee for Non-Aryans, London
- Internationale ouvrière et socialiste, Paris and Brussels
- Jewish Agency for Palestine, London
- The Joint Foreign Committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association, London
- Komitee für die Entwicklung der grossen jüdischen Kolonisation, Zürich
- League of Nations Union, London
- New Zionist Organization, London
- ORT, Paris
- Royal Institute of International Affairs, London
- Schweizer Hilfszentrum für Flüchtlinge, Basel
- Service international de migration, Geneva
- Service universitaire international, Geneva
- Société d'émigration et de colonisation juive Emcol, Paris
- Society for the Protection of Sciences and Studies, London
- Union des Sociétés OSE, Paris
- World Jewish Congress, Paris
The Press
The international press was represented by about two hundred journalists, chiefly the League of Nations correspondents of the leading daily and weekly newspapers and news agencies. This is an incomplete list of the papers and agencies, and their reporters.
- Aftenbladet, Oslo
- Algemeen Handelsblad
- Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen
- Chicago Daily News - Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker
- Chicago Tribune
- Corriere della Sera, Milan
- Daily Express, London
- Daily Herald, London
- The Daily Telegraph, London - Noel Panter
- La Dernière Heure, Brussels
- Gazette de Lausanne
- Journal de Genève
- Journal des Nations, Geneva
- Lidové Noviny, Brno - Bohuš Beneš, nephew of Edvard Beneš
- Magyar Távirati Iroda, Budapest
- The Manchester Guardian - Robert Edward Dell
| Neue Zürcher ZeitungNews Chronicle - Vernon BartlettNew York Herald TribuneThe New York Times - Clarence StreitNieuwe Rotterdamsche CourantL'Osservatore Romano, VaticanPrager PressePrager Tagblatt - Hans HabeLa Prensa, Buenos AiresReuters, LondonLa Stampa, TurinDe Telegraaf, The HagueLe Temps, ParisThe Times, LondonTribune de GenèveUjság, BudapestVölkischer Beobachter, Munich |
See also
External links
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