Period postcard of Evian-les-Bains, the site of the 1938 International Conference on Refugees.

The Evian Conference

Background: The Refugee Crisis

Between 1933 and 1941, the Nazis aimed to make Germany judenrein (cleansed of Jews) by making life so difficult for them that they would be forced to leave the country. By 1938, about 150,000 German Jews, one in four, had already fled the country. After Germany annexed Austria in March 1938, however, an additional 185,000 Jews were brought under Nazi rule. Many Jews were unable to find countries willing to take them in.

Many German and Austrian Jews tried to go to the United States but could not obtain the visas needed to enter. In the midst of the Great Depression, many Americans believed that refugees would compete with them for jobs and overburden social programs set up to assist the needy.

Congress had set up immigration quotas in 1924 that limited the number of immigrants and discriminated against groups considered racially and ethnically undesirable. These quotas remained in place even after President Franklin D. Roosevelt, responding to mounting political pressure, called for an international conference to address the refugee problem.

Refugee Conference in Evian

In the summer of 1938, delegates from 32 countries met at the French resort of Evian. Roosevelt chose not to send a high-level official, such as the secretary of state, to the Evian Conference. Instead, Myron C. Taylor, a businessman and close friend of Roosevelt's, represented the United States 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.

The Evian Conference: Outcomes

With the exception of the tiny Dominican Republic, no country was willing to accept more refugees. However, one result of the conference was the establishment of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees (ICR), which would continue to work on the refugee problem.

Responding to the conference proceedings in 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]."

A few months later, in November 1938, the Nazi regime incited violent pogroms against Jews. Even though that news was widely reported, Americans remained reluctant to welcome Jewish refugees. 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 US State Department officials—played a part in the failure to admit more refugees.

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Glossary