The Evian Conference of 1938 and the Jewish Refugee Crisis

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 1-10

3. Roosevelt Calls the Meeting

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 11-19

4. Initial Responses to the Invitation

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 21-32

5. The Big Three: Taylor, Bérenger, Winterton

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 33-42

6. Introductory Statements

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 43-54

7. The Delegates Speak

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 55-80

8. The Sub-Committees

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 81-93

9. Evian: The Dénouement

   • Paul R. Bartrop

   Pages 95-106

10. Back Matter

    Pages 107-128

    PDF

This book provides the first dedicated study of the Evian Conference of July 1938, an international initiative called by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  While on the surface the conference appeared as an attempt to alleviate the distress faced by Jews being forced out of Germany and Austria, in reality it only served to demonstrate that the nations of the world were not willing to accept Jews as refugees. Since the Holocaust, a generally-held assumption has been that the Evian Conference represented a lost opportunity to save Germany’s Jews, and that the conference failed to rescue the Jews of Europe. In this study, Paul Bartrop argues that in fact it did not fail when measured against the original reasons for which it was called. Exposing many of the myths surrounding the meeting, this work addresses a glaring lacuna in the literature of the Holocaust, and places the so-called 'failure' of the Evian Conference into its proper context. 

• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Holocaust
• Final Solution
• Shoah
• Third Reich
• religion and society

“Paul Bartrop has written a provocative and eminently readable book employing a wide range of previously unexplored sources and challenging the hitherto widely accepted view that the Evian Conference failed to achieve its objectives. The Evian Conference of 1938 and the Jewish Refugee Crisis should prove an indispensable resource for historians of the Holocaust and the period which preceded it.” (Michael Cohen, Jewish Holocaust Centre, Australia)

• Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, USA

  Paul R. Bartrop

Paul R. Bartrop is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, USA. He is an award-winning author, co-author, editor and co-editor of several major works in the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as well as author of numerous scholarly articles.

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