Emigration

Question 1

When + What happened at the Evian conference?

Answer 1

• July 1938
• 32 countries met to discuss the escalating problem of Jewish refugees
• A huge missed opportunity to help Jews - very low stats of numbers of jews countries were willing to take
• The Jewish representative invite (Golda Meir) was not even allowed to speak

Question 2

When + What was the Central office for Jewish Emigration?

Answer 2

• set up August 1938 by Adolf Eichmann
• purpose: make it easier for Austrian Jews to emigrate
• Central agencies were set up in Prague, Amsterdam and Berlin on the model of Vienna
• lasted until 1942 (when emigration was banned)

Question 3

What did the Policy of Emigration entail?

Answer 3

• Encouraging Jews to emigrate was the Nazi policy until around 1941
• 1933-38 : Voluntary emigration was encouraged
• 1938-41 : Controlled emigration was the policy

Question 4

Voluntary Emigration : stats and what it was?

Answer 4

• Overall, 150,000 jews left Germany voluntarily between march 1933 and nov 1938
• confusing because Nazis were encouraging emigration but threatening to take assets when people did so : contradictory
• Situation became more desperate after Reichkristallnacht

Question 5

Controlled Emigration: stats + what it was?

Answer 5

• 45,000 of Austria’s 180,000 were forced to emigrate
• the illegal seizure of Jewish property was used to fund the emigration of poorer jews
• suited the Nazis because the organisational duties had to be carried out by the Jews themselves not the nazis

Question 6

What was the Madagascar plan?

Answer 6

• First promoted by French antisemites in the 1930s but at the time it was a mere wild idea : but the rapid conquest of France by German armies in 1940 changed that)
• Foreign ministries proposed that the island should be taken from France to become a German mandate
• Vichy France would be responsible for resettling the french population (approx. 25k) in Madagascar to make it available as a ‘solution’ for the ‘jewish problem’
• The Nazis planned to send 4 million Jews to Madagascar
• since 1936, SS experts and RSHA led by Adolf Eichmann had been working on schemes for mass emigration to Palestine (but due to serious issues) Madagascar offered a bigger space with less political issues

Question 7

Why does the policy of Emigration fail?

Answer 7

• Logistically moving 2 mil people is not going to work
• Many didn’t want to leave and it was difficult for those who did
• The Evian conference proved unwillingness of other countries to ‘take’ Jews
• Many Jews mustn’t have felt an urgency in leaving: the years 1933-38 were fairly tame in terms of persecution and leaving would often mean being stripped of wealth
• Nazi over ambition? - they had no real plans or solid solution of where to put them

Question 8

What did the failed emigration potentially lead to?

Answer 8

• Nazi desperation in where to put the Jews (eg : attempt to move them to Serbia after Madagascar plan didn’t pan out)
• Nazis realise it is easier to kill them than to move them