Evening star., 1938-11-21
The Refugee Problem

PRESIDENT ROOSevelt'S inclusion IN
his Thanksgiving Day proclamation
of an appeal for prayers for "the un-
fortunate peoples in other lands, who
are in dire Distress" calls additional
attention to the victims of German
persecution and to crisis now rec
ognized to be world problem. It
far outstrips, of course, the dimen-
sions of purely Jewish problem; for
the anti-Semitic fury unloosed by the
Nazis is concurrent with oppression
and violence, of which Catholics and
Lutherans, too, are victims. It is
pagan racialism, not mere anti
Semitism, that is raging in the Reich.
1t is well that in this and other
countries, notably Great Britain, en-
ergies are not being squandered on
abuse of Hitlerism, but rather are
now concentrated on practical meas
ures for alleviating the crisis. How
to liberate and where to settle the
refugees is the question clamoring
for solution. 1t bristles with difflcul-
ties. Paramount among them is how
to reconcile the humanitarian i'm
pulse to extend asylum to helpless
souls with the economic realities
which must be faced by even the most
Hospitality inclined of nations, among
which America certainly is included.
Senator Borah is undoubtedly well
within the truth in asserting
that any attempt to liberalize our i'm
migration quota laws would provoke
tremendous opposition in Congress"
Mr.. Roosevelt has no thought of pro-
posing any such action. In lieu of
the German quota of 27,370 now es-
tablished, some Jewish leaders have
suggested the possibility of admitting
80,000-odd refugee immigrants i'm
mediately by "mortgaging" the
quotas for -39-4O. Yesterday a
Washington conference OF the United
Palestine Appeal said that there
is no more effective remedial recourse
in sight than immediate Jewish mi
grafton to Palestine.
Meantime, Great Britain has asked
several of her African colonies to
what extent they would welcome Ger
man refugees. This week Myron C.
Taylor. chairman of the Inter-G
ernmental Committee on Political
Refugees, is proceeding to London as
the United States representative to
discuss repatriation plans adopted by
the Evian refugee conference. The
Inter- Governmental Committee is
anxious to consult with Berlin about
these recommendations, but the
Nazis, on the eve of the desired nego-
tiations, have condemned them to
futility.
Basic in the Evian arrangements Is
the expectation that Germany would
not only share reasonably in the cost
of implementing them, but at least
would permit Jews to take away a
decent percentage of their own prop
erty, to enable them to start life
afresh in new homelands. During the
week end the Berlin authorities let it
be known Cd that they do not wish
to confer with Mr.. Rublee, perma-
nent director of the refugee commit
tee, and ca that Jews must leave
Germany penniless. GeneralI Goer-
ing's newspaper, the Essen National
Zeitung, said on Saturday: If any
one thinks Germany will permit Jews
to take a portion of their possessions
with them for their new settlement,
we can already reveal that this hope
will not be fulfilled, because there is
involved not Jewish wealth. but Ger
man money which Judah swindled,
extorted and otherwise drew from the
pockets of German racial comrades
somewhere or some time in the
Reich"
With Nazidom in such ruthless
mood, the prospect of solving the
refugee problem with reasonable sup
port from Germany is bleak in the
extreme. What the Hitlerites pro-
pose is to dump their Jewish popula-
ton upon the world as band of i'm
poverished vagrants. Since the
Pharaohs. mankind has known moth
ing quite so heartless.