Evian Conference

"The difficulty in getting to any sort of agreement and the insistence on points of disagreement rather than points of accord must have proved a spectacle far from edifying to the non-sectarian organizations also present. I think that it was at this point in the conference that somebody discovered that Evian written backwards becomes 'naive.'" -American Jewish Committee

Delegates to the Evian Conference, where the fate of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany was discussed. US delegate Myron Taylor is third from left. France, July 1938. Source: Associated Press

"As we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one.” -Thomas W. White, Minister for Trade and Customs (Australia's response)

 On July 7, 1938, a conference was held in Evian, France. At this conference 32 delegates discussed what should be done for Jews in Germany. Many countries expressed concern, however, most were unwilling to provide help. 

" We see that one likes to pity the Jews as long as one can use this pity for a wicked agitation against Germany, but that no State is prepared to fight the cultural disgrace of Central Europe by accepting a few thousand Jews. Thus the Conference serves to justify Germany’s policy against Jewry." -Article from The German Danziger Vorposten Newspaper

​
For example, Great Britain claimed that due to high unemployment rates, they wouldn’t be able to raise their quotas. Australia thought that by increasing its quotas for refugees, a racial issue would arise. Countries could not take more immigrants because of population levels and depression.

This picture shows Myron Taylor, the American representative, delivering a speech at the Evian Conference. Source: Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority

This is a map demonstrating the different quotas of different countries: Associated Press

I don't think that anyone who didn't live through it can understand what I felt at Evian - a mixture of sorrow, rage, frustration, and horror. I wanted to get up and scream.... "Don't you know that these so-called numbers are human beings, people who may spend the rest of their lives in concentration camps, or wandering around the world like lepers, if you don't let them in?"
​-Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel

​

The Dominican Republic was the only country that volunteered to raise its quota to 100,000 immigrants. Overall, the conference accomplished very little and didn’t provide much help for German Jews.

"I can only hope that the other world which has such deep sympathy for these criminals [Jews] will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We on our part are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries, for all I care, even on luxury ships." -Adolf Hitler (Hitler's response to the Evian Conference)

North America