Évian Conference 1938

The Evian Conference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Évian_Conference

In the summer of 1938, delegates from thirty-two countries met at the French resort of Evian. Roosevelt chose not to send a high-level official, such as the secretary of state, to Evian; instead, Myron C. Taylor, a businessman and close friend of Roosevelt's, represented the U.S. at the conference. During the nine-day meeting, delegate after delegate rose to express sympathy for the refugees. But most countries, including the United States and Britain, offered excuses for not letting in more refugees.

Responding to Evian, the German government was able to state with great pleasure how "astounding" it was that foreign countries criticized Germany for their treatment of the Jews, but none of them wanted to open the doors to them when "the opportunity offer[ed]."

Even efforts by some Americans to rescue children failed: the Wagner-Rogers bill, an effort to admit 20,000 endangered Jewish refugee children, was not supported by the Senate in 1939 and 1940. Widespread racial prejudices among Americans -- including antisemitic attitudes held by the U.S. State Department officials -- played a part in the failure to admit more refugees.

 

Very interesting, I never heard about this conference. Another forgotten aspect of history. Evian is more famous for the 1962 Conference which ended the Algeria War.

 

Certainly an emotive issue, but inevitably that website is not without bias and it's somewhat disingenuous of the writer to mention Kristallnacht before even introducing the conference, which had actually taken place several months previously. I'd also take issue with the use of the word pogrom in that context.

 

For a balanced view of the proceedings and consequences of the Évian Conference, placed in the context of the time, I'd suggest reading the relevant sections of Robert Kee's book "The World We Left Behind: a chronicle of the year 1939" (US title: "1939: In the Shadow of War").

 

The Jewish question of nazi Germany was known before the war.

Check the following site also starting from the middle part of it:

The ugly story behind a breakfast meat