Evian Conference

The Evian Conference was called by President Roosevelt in 1938. The purpose of the conference was to fix the refugee problem and save Jewish lives. This did not occur, because of many contributing factors. Many questions arose surrounding this failure, from how each nation reacted, to whether or not anti-Semitism was present, affecting the outcome of negotiations. But what is possibly the hardest to answer was what Roosevelt’s true intentions were? Was he truly acting to help the Jews, or portraying so for reputation purposes?

In March of 1938, President Roosevelt decided to call an international conference on the refugee crisis. This came as a shock to many, as the employment rate was at an all time low and the amount of restrictionists in Congress was at an all time high. Restrictionists would surely challenge the idea, as they were for immigration laws the way they were. It seemed ridiculous to think that anything could get done at the conference, unless immigration laws were modified so that a distinction between refugees and immigrants could be drawn. Other foreign countries weren’t any more enthusiastic about things.

The League of Nations was having it’s own struggles with the refugee problem. In addition, count

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Plans for immediate aid to the most urgent cases. This caused a swelling of public support for refugees, which Roosevelt decided to act upon. During the conference, attention was focused on the situation in Rumania and Poland. This did not stop IGC from having a meeting in London anyway, to finish the work started in Evian. Problems immediately arose, as the objectives were never clearly defined, and financial support was needed from the agencies that it was supposed to coordinate with. However this percentage increased, until Jews were left with none of their property. Chances for doing so hadn’t improved. Nazi propaganda was becoming widespread and spoke exclusively of Jews and rarely of political refugees. News of Adolf Eichmann’s continuos expulsion of Jews were related to Roosevelt by prominent refugees, who aroused sympathy in Roosevelt.

Appeals about Palestine opening it’s doors, despite British refusal, were common. Many Jewish organizations were refusing to support the Zionist cause, resulting in it’s apparent failure. Only Berlin spoke of the Jewish refugees specifically. They didn’t understand the Nazi mentality, and didn’t think that they truly believed a small Jewish community could really pose a threat to Germany. Stephen Wise said in a speech that the conference would be a “dismal failure,” unless Britain opened Palestine for resettlement.

The State Department, ready for British opposition in creation of a new agency, had assured Britain that no preemption of the work of other agencies would take place.

Approximate Word count = 3305
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)

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